form alone was available to express those modifications which are
indicated by the imperfect, perfect, pluperfect, and aorist tenses
of the classical languages.

Instances of all these sources of uncertainty meet us very early
in Genesis. In the very first verse we have a word, [Hebrew
script], which has great latitude of meaning. It is either the
earth as a whole (ver. 1), or the land as distinguished from the
water (ver. 10), or a particular country (ii. 11). In many cases,
as in all these, the context at once determines the sense to be
chosen; but there are other cases in which considerable difficulty
arises. The whole question of the universality of the deluge
turns, in a great degree, upon the signification which is assigned
to this same word in the sixth and following chapters. In the
second verse we have another word, [Hebrew script], which is
capable of various interpretations. It is used throughout the
Bible in the three distinct meanings of "wind," "breath," and
"spirit." Where we read, "And the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters," the Jewish paraphrase is, "And a wind of God
(i.e. a great wind) moved," &c. Here there is nothing in the
context to assist us in determining the sense to be chosen; but,
as will be seen in the sequel, modern science indicates that the
Jewish interpretation is untenable, and that our translation is,
consequently, the correct one. As an instance of confusion of
time, we may refer to ii. 19. In our translation this verse seems
to place the creation of animals after that of man; but in xii. 1,
the very same form is translated by the pluperfect, "Now the Lord
had said unto Abram." It ought evidently to be translated in the
same way here: "And out of the ground the Lord God had formed,"
&c. In ii. 5, on the other hand, the pluperfect might with