299. Moses has just finished telling the children of Israel that he has been able to make the sea part its waves so that they may walk across unharmed.
307, 308. This passage is obscure in meaning.
310. The tribe of Judah lead the way. They are followed by the tribe of Reuben (v. 331) and then by the tribe of Simeon (v. 340). This order is perhaps taken from Numbers, chapter ii.
331. The Children of Israel are called "sailors" in the poem, but no satisfactory explanation has been made of the usage.
354. This refers to God's promise to Abraham. See Genesis 15:18; 22:17.
[Aside from Cædmon's Hymn, the only Old English poems whose author we know are four bearing the name of Cynewulf, _Christ_, _Juliana_, _Elene_, and _The Fates of the Apostles_. In these he signs his name by means of runes inserted in the manuscript. These runes, which are at once letters of the alphabet and words, are made to fit into the context. They are [image: Anglo-Saxon runes: cen,yr,nyd,eoh,wynn,ur,lagu,feoh]
Several other poems have been ascribed to Cynewulf, especially _Andreas_, _The Dream of the Rood_, _Guthlac_, _The Phoenix_, and _Judith_. Except for internal evidence there is no proof of the authorship of these poems. The Riddles were formerly thought to be by Cynewulf, but recent scholars have, with one notable exception, abandoned that theory.
Many reconstructions of the life of Cynewulf have been undertaken. The most reasonable theories seem to be that he was Cynewulf, Bishop of Lindisfarne, who died about 781; or that he was a priest, Cynewulf, who executed a decree in 803. There is no real proof that either of these men was the poet. For a good discussion of the Cynewulf question, see Strunk, _Juliana_, pp. xvii-xix, and Kennedy, _The Poems of Cynewulf_, Introduction.
Of the signed poems of Cynewulf, selections are here given from _Christ_ and _Elene_.]
[Critical edition: Cook, _The Christ of Cynewulf_, Boston, 1900. Text and translation: Gollancz, _Cynewulf's Christ_, London, 1892. Translation: Kennedy, _The Poems of Cynewulf_, pp. 153, ff. The poem consists of three parts:
1. Advent, largely from the Roman breviary. 2. Ascension, taken from an Ascension sermon of Pope Gregory. 3. Second coming of Christ, taken from an alphabetical Latin hymn on the Last Judgment, quoted by Bede.