the narrative of the Creation as proving the duty of marital faithfulness.
When the famous declaration was added to the record in Genesis cannot be determined, but at least we may be sure that it represents a prophetic handling of the primitive material designed to correct current practice in the direction of monogamy. "The primitive Hebrew tradition," observes Bishop Ryle, "is made, through the Divine Spirit, the first step in the stairway of Divine Revelation."[1]
Historically the order of moral attainment was otherwise. Man did not begin with monogamy, but reached that stage of moral advance by a long and gradual progress; but monogamy did represent the true demands of human nature in this particular of sexual intercourse, and therefore was fitly set in the forefront of the prophetic version of human origins as indicating, in advance of the history, the ideal which would determine its course. Read as record of fact, the narrative may be
- ↑ See "Early Narratives of Genesis," p. 29.
