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Un dee symboles suivants apparattra sur la derniire image de cheque microfiche, ;^elon Ie cas: ie symbols — ► signifie "A SUIVRE ", Ie symhole V signifie 'FIN ". Les cartas, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre filmte i des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque Ie document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clich*, il eet filmi A partfr de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant Ie nombro d'imeges n4ces»aire. Lee diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. rata eiure, a 1 t2X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 J\ OS riL THE SCRIPTURES DEFENDED; BBINO A REPLY TO BISHOP COLENSO'S BOOK, OH TBI PENTATEUCH AND THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. ThB law or TIHK LOED IS PBEFBOT, CONVERTINa THK BOVh l « Tub testimony of the Lord is sheb, MaKIMO wish THB SIMPLE. Psalm zix., 7. Fob vbkily I bat unto you, till heaven and eaeth pass, onb jot OE one tittle shall in no wise PA83 FHOM THB LAW, TILL ALL BB FUL- FILLED. — Matt, v., 18. By J. M. HIRSCHFELDER, Lbctubfe on Oeiental Liteeature, Univ. Coll., Toronto, AvOwrofan Euayontht Spirit and Characterittict of Hebrtw Poelry. TORONTO: HENRY ROWSELL, KING STREET. 1863. L.P. BSlSSS. CbS^li s KOWSILL * ELLIS, FRIMTBB8, KIMQ BTBKIT, TOEONTO. PREPAOB. When I published the first of iho following sories of arti- cles I had no intention of undertaking the responsible and laborious task of writing a full reply to Bishop Colenso's book on the Pentateuch, my object was merely to allay the jxcitemcnt which the announcement of such a heretical work from the pen of so eminent a prelate was then creating. From extracts which had appeared in some of the leading journals, it was impossible not to perceive th-^ t a fatal blow was aimed at the Scriptures, and consequently at Christi- anity ; and the instrument being wielded by an emine^ mathematician and dignitary of the church of England, it *is not to be wondered at that the minds of the lovers of the Bible should at first have been somewhat disturbed. Indeed, for a time, the chief topic of conversation was Bishop Co- lenao's new book: and thinking that, under the circum- stances, a few general remarks be>\ring upon the subject might not be unwelcome to the public, I determined, as the book had not yet reached this country, merely to throw out a few observations, showing how strange it was that the almost numberless commentators and critics, both ancient and modern, should not have perceived those discrepancies, if such had existed, which the Bishop of Natal professed to nave discovered in the Pentateuch and Book of Joshua. When the book at last came to hand, and I saw the sub- jects which were taken up, and the max^ner in which they were treated, and being likewise informed that the book met with an unprecedented sale here, I felt it my duty to refute It with as little delay as possible. There appeared to ^ > great danger that the conscientiousness which the Bishop seemmgly evinces in having undertaken this responsible work' —showing no concern whether the step he had taken would aifect him m a pecuniary point of view or not— and the 3o(l3n hr. PRRFAOB. bio mannor m „l„oh i„, arguraont. aro laid «-« '» «P- Being repeatedly requested to publish the articles which •ppeared in the Leader in a hoik, I have det rm Lid ^ comply w.th the wishes so frequently expressed, and at .be ~:r. 1 ° "■"'"'"■'y-' onfy .0 add import n tiuT ri!'.K r, '""°'""" """'■ "'■'«'' i '«'P« the reader will find both useful and interesting. Having now briefly stated the reasons which induced me to undertake so responsible a task, I shall in the neH pla"e offer a few cursory remarks on Bishop Colenso's book itself In writmg my replies, it was of course necessary to ex- »mme carefully all the statements and argument, which Dr Colenso brought forward, and whilst thus engaged the ques- ^o„ would frequently present itself .o my miL-had' the Bishop really any eonception of the magnitude and serious- ness of the work which he has taken upon himself to per- fw 1 "■"'' r ? J r" '""•'^'y •'""e myself to belfeve that any one who called himself a Christian could possibly have given expression to such views as aro set forth in the I PRlifAOI. ▼. book, which simply reduce tho writings of Mobos to the level of tho oxtravagunt tales '>f tho impostor Mohammed. It is vain for Dr. Colenso to conceal his real design by i-uch Ian- guagc as tho following: "And tho truth in tho present nistance, as I have said, is this, that tho Pentateuch, as a whole, was not written by Moses, and that, with respect to some, at least tho chief portions of tho story, it cannot bo regarded as historically true. It does not, therefore, cease to ♦ contain the true word of God,' with ail things necessary for salvation,' to be * profitable for doctrine, reproof, correc- tior, instruction in righteousness' "-pago 65. The covor- :njr -8 artfully woven, but the texture is too fine and trans- ;^a'ert to answn the purpose. Wo arc to bolicvo that tho accounts of tho eroLtion, »,ho fall of man, and tho deluge, are .>c/hwig but fiotionH : that the whole narrative of the Exod i, inc^udinr tie givirg or tho Mosaic law, is only an idle tale ; bvit ihtif, rjtwiinstuDding all this, the Pentateuch still c.n- tams '• all things necessary for salvation." Truly, tho man that can , erduade h.meelf to adopt such a creed muse pos- sess extraordinary powers of imagination. I need hardly say that it is altogether against tho plain teaching of Scrip- ture, but it is even opposed to common sense. Dr. Colenso does not r>oint out to his renders tho portions of the Penta- teuch which, according to his [opinion, "contain tho true word of God," he merely asserts that there are some ; but I would ask Dr. Colenso by what process was he enabled to discover the genuine from the spurious portions ? I main- tain, that if the Pentateuch contains "absolute, palpable self-contradictions," as the Bishop will have it, then it is beyond the power of the finite understanding of man to find out which IS fictitious and which is true.* We have here no alternative ; we must either receive the whole Pentateuch as tho inspired Word of God, and as absolutely true, or reject the whole as absolutely false. If we deny the truth of the principal events recorded in the Mosaic writings, what proof have we that there ever existed such soriptural person- ages as are mentioned there ? Ifc will, perhaps, be said that fi. PRBFAOR. IS! t tho traditioM of nations in all pai-tii of tho globo toitify to thoir having existed ; but do thoy not alio spoak of tho prin- cipal oronta whiuh are immotUately connected with their namoa i What tradition makea woniion of Noah and ia silent M to tho dclugo ? Among what people is the name of MoscH known, without its being known as that of tho groat leader a»>d law-giver of iMraol ? Bishop Colcnso, however, evidently foresees what the adoption of his novel views regarding tho Pentateuch must necessarily lead to, and that is nothing less than the rejec- tion of the whole liible an an intpired book, and ho seems to prepare tho way lor such a result. It ia impossible not to perceive tho drift of such language as the following :— " Our belief in tho living Ood remains as sure ns ever, though not tho Pentateuch only, but the whole lliblo wore removed." And a little frtrthci on he says, " But there will be others of a different stamp— meek, lowly, loving souls, who are walk- ing drily with Ood, and have been taught to consider a belief h tho historical veracity of the story of tho Exodus as an essential part of their religion, upon which, indeed, as it seems to them, tho whole fabric of their faith and hope in God is based. It is not really so : tho light of God's love did noc shino less truly on pious minds when ' Enoch walked with God' of old, thojigh there was then no Bible in exist- ence, than it does now. And it is perhaps God's will that we shall be taught in this our day, among other precious lessons, not to build up our faith upon a book, though it bo the Biblo itself, but to realise more truly tho blessedness of knowing that ITo himself, tho living God, our Father and Friend, is nearer and closer to us than any book can bo"— pp. 53, 54. Or, iif plain language, that wo may have a reli- gion without a Bible, and consequently without a Saviour and without any divine laws for our guidance, but which may' notwithstanding, bo acceptable unto God. Such, reader, are tho doctrines promulgated by Bishop Colenso, and well may he exclaim, "What tho end may be, God only, the God of truth, can foresee"— p. 46. I'HKFAOI. fU. Tb«w are iimnv initaneef on record ui bioKraphiot of •ciontifio nion, of iimi.y yoarn, if not of whole life ti;»ri, boing •p«nt iu tho inycitigalionof uubjooti boforo thojr were fiuallr n*l»oro(l into the world; inul thin wu« particularly tho oauo iH tho prornulKutioti of notiio new hypothosiM which confliotoa With long cMtablishoil Hystonji, or commonly received opin- ions. If such, then, ha^ boon tho practice in .loaling with ■ocular nmttorH, how inlinitoly more careful ought ho to bo who dealH with subjooti. appertaining to tho Hacrcd Soripturo. •nd religion. Tho ancient Itabbies had a wholo«omo maxim warning tho wiao men to bo careful of their words, loHt tho disciples who camo after them might discover tho place of bitter waters, (i. e. false doctrine,) and drink of it, and die, and tho name of heaven bo thereby profaned. It might reason- ably bo expected that tho novel views with which Dr. Colenso has startled tho religious world, uro at least the result of many years of careful and serious study of tho sub- jeot, seeing how deeply they affect the JJible and tho Chris- tian religion. Such, however, is not tho case, for ho dis- tinctly tells U8 that " in January, 18G1," he had •• not oven begun to enter on these enquiries," though ho "fully in- tended to do so," on his " return t:) Natal"— p. 12. Tho .opinions which Dr. Colenso has adopted, therefore, do not oven como to us with the recommendation of having been deliberately and carefully considered, but are seemingly only of a mushroom growth ; and tho attentive reader will, no doubt, pause here and ask himself whether it is likely that if such "dLjrepancios and palpable self-contradictions" existed m the Pentateuch they could possibly have escaped the notico of tho thousands of critics and commentators, many of whom spent their whole lives in tho study of Scrip- ture, and other branches of learning immediately connected with it. Again, it might reasonably bo expected that in such a icrious and momentous undertaking, Dr. Colenso would have first sought the opinions of some able men, before ho "launched" his "bark upon tho flood," which might unex« pectedly carry tim into a tempcst^tossed ocean of doubt and vm. PBIfAOI. tliibolief. Such » oovrM would htve on)/ been c^niiitont with the uauiil practice ndoptod beforo venturing upon an Importttiit cmtt'rpriic. Kut the Hinhop proferr^ii to tnut aitogothvr to hilt own un.3comi)lished in the full Extent of their natural Signifioa- tion ; and therefore to express the Meaning of the Prophet, it seems sufficient to say, That fearful calamiiies should come upon the King of Babylon; that his people should fall into the Hand of their Enemies; and that all Orders and Degrees of Men (here represented by Sun, Mom, and Stars) should be utterly dissolved : For this is all that the Eastern Nations (as well aa the Greeks, Latins, and Arabians) even to this day do mean by these pomp- ous Expressions."* Were such a mode of translation to be adopted, the result would be that we should read in our divine service the individual commonta of the translatoi-s wherever an explanation was required, instead of the Word of God itself; we should have, not a versidn of the sacred Scriptures, but a para- phrase, which after all might be' replete with wrong interpreta- tions. "On the whole, fully impressed as I am with the extreme diffi- culty nay, I may say the utter impossibility, of producing a translation of the Bible which should be regarded as altogether free from objection, — one which would give geaeral satisfaction to all classes of English readers, particularly when we consider the great diversity of opinions that exist on religious matters, the correctness of which entirely depends upon the rendering of those passages of Scripture upon which they are based, and when we further consider the danger of too great a freedom being exercised in their revisal by those entrusted with the work,— I must con- fess that I greatly doubt the propriety of interfering with the present time-hallowed version. Far better would it be that its defects be supplied from time to time by commentaries, or in any other suitable way, than by disturbing a version so affectionately cherished by millions." There have not been wanting'at all times reckless persons who were ever ready to cast imputations upon Holy Writ, as containing many inconsistencies — or as some have more boldly * Prflpftrfttory Discourse to his Hip.tr^ptr r.? tha 'Rihis Ht^'.-.^.s. ?* tk.-. Tii^ti^.-.i- of our Present TranBlation." See'also Essay for a new Transktiou. " PREFACE. as?. styled them, direct contradictions ; and manv of them — like a drowning man, who will eagerly grasp at a raw, as the last resource to save his life — have seized upon every little mis- translation in our version in their attacku upon the Bible. These attccks were frequently made by persons who either knew nothing of the Hebrew language at all, or who had only a superficial knowledge of it, and as their assertions could therefore not be based upon a rigid and critical exami- nation of the subject, there was little difficulty in refuting them ; still there was always danger of some, who were not capable of judging for themselves, being misled by them. That the reader may better understand the foregoing remarks, 1 shall adduce here a few of the passages which have been held up by some as containing inconsistencies, but which are in reality nothing more than mistranslations. In Gen. i., 2, it is said, "And the earth was without form and void." Here it has been objected to, and I must say, very justly, " that it is impossible to conceive how any thing material can possibly subsist *■ without form.* " Matter, as wise logicians say, Oannot without fci-ni subsist ; And form, say I, as well as they, Must fail, if matter brings no grist. —Swift. The diflSculty, however, is entirely removed when we appeal to the original Hebrew, where we read, " And the earth was thohu vavohu, lit., de3olatene33 and emptiness — t. e.f desolate and empty, or without covering of any kind ; abstract nouns being often employed in Hebrew instead of adjectives. The meaning of the passage now becomes per- fectly obvious. The earth, after its creation, was desolate and empty^ inasmuch as no organised beings existed upon it — they had not yet been summoned into being, or made by the Creator. The English version has been followed by the French, " sans forme et vide," and these alone have <(. itTl 4.u« rr y LUC -I.£l>I~ gum of Onkelos, (Chaldee version), gives "tsadya verekonya," XVI. PRBPACB. I. #., detolate and empti/^the Syr»ao " tuh vevuh," i. «., deaolate and empty—the Vulgate, " inanis et vacua/' t. «.] emptt/ and void— the German, " wUsto und leer," detolate and empty— the Italian, "una coaa deaerta e vacua, t. «., a thing uninhabited and empty— the Spanish, "dosnuda y vacia," %. e., hare and empty. In Gen. iii., 7, we read, "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked ; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." The term "sewed" in the above passage is highly objectionable, as it would imply that the implements for sewing were known in Paradise ; and has frequently been held up as an inconsistency by the oppo- nents of Scripture. The Hebrew verb (taphar) to tew, sig- nifies also to adjust— to plait— and should have been ren- dered here, " and they adjusted fig-leaves together." So, again, Job xvi., 15, "I have" (English version) "sewed sackcloth upon my skin." This is impossible ; it should have been translated, " I have adjusted sackcloth upon my skin." The word " apron" is also too deffnite a term, airdle would have been a better rendering of the Hebrew "word chagorah. In the following verse we have the not very intelligible expression, " And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden," but which would have been better rendered, " And they heard the voice of the Lord God resounding in the garden " The Hebrew verb (halach,) to walk, when used in connexion with (kol) voice, sometimes assumes the signification to sound— to resound'. It is used again in this sense in Uxod. xix., 19, " And when (kol) the voice of the trumpet (holech) was sounding long," where the translators have rendered the verb correctly bv "sounding." *' ^ Again, Deut. xxv., 9, we read, "Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto the man that will not build up his brother's honsf»." The rite alluded to in this passage is still observed by the PRBPAOE. tyii. 8Ig- Israelites, though the occasions on which recourbc is had to ifc, are indeed very rare. The translation, "anc' spit in his face," has very justly given much offence to the Jews, as it represents them practising a custom which would hardly bo countenanced, even among savages. Besides, it lias been urged by the opponents of the Bible, " that God in his greatness, could never have instituted a rite so degrading and repulsive." I am, however, happy to have an opportunity to testify that such a custom is never practiced, and still more so in being able to shew that it is not at all commanded in Scripture which simply requires the brother's wife to spit out " bephanav" before him, or in Ma presence. In the Hebrew the word presence can only bo expressed by (paneh), I e \ face, hence, with the preposition (bo) in, and the pronom- inal suffix (av) his, we have the word (bephanav,) which is, therefore, as correctly rendered in his presence, or before him, as "in his face." So, for example, Deut. vii., 24, " There shall no mun be able to stand hephaneeha, i.e., " in thy presence," or, as in the English version, "before thee." See also Beut. ix. 25; Josh. xxi. 42. Kabbi Shalom Hak- kohen, who ought to be well acquainted with the rites of his nation, rendered it in his German translation, " Speie vor ihm aus," i.e., spit out before him. It cannot be denied that a great service would be rendered to the sacred Scriptures, if the defects of the English version would be 'emedied ; it would not only have the effect of dis- arming, to a great extent, the apponents of Scripture, but would likewise tend to render many passages perfectly clear, which are now almost entirely unintelligible to the ordinary reader. But, however desirable a revision of the authorised version may be, I must repeat, that if ever undertaken— which I suppose will sooner or later be the case— it should be done with the greatest caution, and under no considera. tion, I trust will an entire new translation ever be attempted for, I am fully persuaded that the result would prove anv thing but satisfactory, c XVIU. PRSrACJE. ■ The (liflGlouUies in translating, even from one of our modern languages, into another of the same family, mu»t lioccssorily bo very groat, inasmuch as every language hae its idioms, and every nation its peculiar terms of expreBiion,. congenial to its vornaculer tongue, which, when divested of their native garb, and attired in a foreign dress, loie, at least, much of their original force and beauty, if they do not become so disfigured as to bo no longer recognised. Yet all that has been stated as regards the ordinary diffi- culties of translating, f£.lb fur short of these encountered in rendering the inspired writing of the Old Testamen* into a language of a foreign climo. For the Hebrew, as has been aptly observed, "is the language of man in his infancy, ere his reasoning powers have supplanted his feelings: simple in structure, childlike, truthful in expression, the very language of the heart in the hopaehold affections, in the ardour of faith or the abyss of despair ; or if dignified, sublime in simple majesty, recalling, in the commonest metaphors, the tent, the desert, the paa Loral life of the patriarchial ages; and can we translate such a language as this into that of times and people who have grown grey in philosophy, and the world, and who are artificial or callous in those feeling which the Hebrews expressed with the honest fervour of youth ? No, the Hebrew muse, as aforetime, hangs her harp on the willows, and refuses to sing her native songs in a strange land." * In presenting to the public the following replies to Bishop Colenso's objections to the Pentateuch, I must crave the reader's indulgence for all imperfections. I have endea- voured to make my replies as complete as possible, and should any of them have failed to bo fully satisfactory, I trust the fault will be considered as lying with me, and not be regarded as aduiitting of no bettor defence, for I feel confident that all the objections urged Vy Dr. Colenso admit of a full and perfect explanation. I have studiously avoided *Mr. Jt Niohol«on. \n Ilia nrofana tn Tn-«M><. tInKr 'i = Ill to say any thing that might in tho loa«t give offence to the Bishop, or in anyway bo hurtful to his foolingt. for, although our opinioni,, a8 regards tho Pentateuch, are as opposite to each other as are tho polos. I still entertain tho highest respect for hun as an eminent scholar. I may have made use, at times, of strong language, which might probably bo deemed somewhat severe, but for which I shall offer no other apology than that I was defending tho sacred Scriptures. Should th.3 volume bo favourably received by the public ^Hhall .mmedi.tcly-if a kind Providence p.rmits-take ,' Bishop Colenso's second book on the Pentateuch. J. M. H. University CoLLEaB, Toronto, March the mh, 1803. l!(«n ARTICLE I. GENERAL REMARKS. In the LemUr of November 20th, there wa8 pub- lished an editoria! containing some remarks upon a work lately published in England, by no less a personage than the Bishop of Natal. From the extracts there given, it certainly appears to be a curious production, even surpassing the Essays and Reviews in presumption and boldness, for the author seems to speak in a tone, as if it were impossible for him to have arrived at false conclusions. "If my conclusions," says the Prelate. " were only specula- tion, if they were only matters of higher or lower probability, I feel that I should have no right to ex- press them at all in this way, and thus, it may be, disturb painfully the faith of many. But the main result of my examination of the Pentateuch, namely, that the narrative, whatever may be its value and meaning, cannot be regarded as historically true, is not, unless I greatly deceive myself, a doubtful mat ter of speculation at all, it is a simple question of facts." And he then goes on to say, that the greatest part of the Pentateuch is mere fiction. How must the reader shu'Ider in perusing this enunciation, to be told that, what he had cherished from his youth, as being the infallible word of God, anu given to be his guide and comforter, is nothing 5') m SI but llctiori— ulTiipriiiK "f oriouliil fancy. But whiitt the lover of Itoly Writ will l.o j,,8tly „h.«k«l at Huch T10W8 tt« tlio.H« pn.iimlKntod by the llisliop of Natal an.l shortly boforo hiiu by „„„ „ „,i„,p j^„^^^^ Uiviiica, yd ho ,imy rest imjurcil that tlio Olii r.«tamc.,l wl,i..|, Hloo,l (h., „.,t „r Hovral lho„M„d you. ^ will |,u«« throUKh IhiH ord,. :| u, i, 1,^, ,i„„o llirouKli many already, un.l »hine (orlh only with iiicreusuU light. ^ It is of eour.10 inipowjib:,., for t|,o prcgont, to enter upon any arKiinienlH with the Iti.^ho,,, uulil wo »oe upon what groumLsho e.(abli«h,.. hi» abortion* ; but . .unst otnke every ,,er»o„ ns a.nazingly HtrLngo ilmt these iliserep^ncies should not have boon Ui«. c«vore.l by tho colebrate.l Uabbie.s who tra..„latod t. 3 I ontatcueh Iron, the Hebrew into (Jreel<, called .0 rfcptuaguu version. Or by the famous Onkelos, the author o lh„ Chaldeo version of ih„ book.s o Moses, who nourished about (1/ly years before the Chnstmn era ; or by the Uabbies whose nau.os (U.ur,sh „. that celebrated Jewish work called the iaimud, ami whcse ai.squi,,itions clearly indicate that they were men of great researeh. Or by li-t celebrated body of Jewish doc.ors, generally callcrd Masontes who .' rt-ok tbo laborious task of the ievs>ouof the );'... ..u. A.! loose no doubt were as good Ilebrcw .senolars, and as « .,1 versed in Serin- ture as the Bishop of Natal, and the authors of the S "■ r^f'- . ^' " '■' "^''y """ "■« '"vines from t e earlies penod of the Christian church, who spent the.r who lives in tho study of tho Biblo, as .s attested by their volumnious works still exla«t "'^^■r .^y': t ^ f ■4 u ilil have overlooko'l iiiattok« go rooweiitoua, or that they wouhl Imvc knowin^^'Iy shot their cytt to false rocordH in tho Bible if Huch hud existed? What could httvc imn Ihair object in duuignedly blinding thoir imdorHlundiiig? It cortuinly was not for tho loveof ranieortlu, profipoctofgain. Ephraim the Syrian divmc, was a man of strict cons^iientioua feeling, and is HjKiken of in great praV us well by (ho GrcekH, Honmns, f^^yptianH and Arn ..-lians, as by the SyrikHH ; bis cornnimituries and hr»rnilic8 woio held ii. mioh i^reat onUmn that they wore road to the t'ongrogatiouH after tho reading of the Scriptur«« .^le had a perfect knovir|p.ij^o of tho Hebrew, Hyriac, Greek and Egyptian languages. Theodore, another learned Syrian divine, who flourished in the fifth century, also ^roU, » commentary on the whole liiblo, which was highly -steemod. Tho Greek and Latin fathers whore all men of groat learning, and assiduous ir tho ntudy ol tho Holy Scriptures, and Homo of them also in the s.udy of philosophy ; but neither the Greek, Syrian, nor Latin fathers could perceive any thing contradictory or unreason- able in tho Pentateuch so as to shako thoir belief regarding the authenticity or inspiration of the five books of Moses. The close investigation of the Bible led some of them, indeed, to adopt peculiar opinions as to tho interpretation and application of certain portions of S(3ripture, but as to its bcin- tiie infallible Word of God, iu this respect thev woto of one mind. And where had the host of eminent modern tiewish commeLtators their iiJ^a ««f *^ u -•-%.:■, ii'u-v i,\j iiiivu seen those terrible thiiigH in tlie five books of Moses wliieh Dr. Colenso seems to Imve discovered? Is it likely that such a man iid Moses Maimonides, a learned Iheolojrijm, a j)roromid philosopher nndemi- neat physician, skilled in Hebrew, Arabic, Chaldee, U reek, and somi; modern languaj in a concise manner the death of • Moses ; it can, therefore, not have been written by him. It was probably added by Joshua, his successor, in order to complete the whole work. In the chapter be.orc the last, however, Moses gives his parting blessing to the tribes, so that only the last chapter could have been added. Now, will any reasonable man say that the Pentateuch is any less the Penta- teuch because there were twelve verses added to it at the end ? Certainly not. When Christ, therefore, speaks of Moses, be means, not here a chapter and there a chapter, but his whole writing, just as when he speaks of the prophets, he means their entire writ- ings. But Dr. Colenso was evidently not satisfied with his own explanu.ion, but goes on : ^ '^' Secondly, and more generally, it may be said that, in mai.i«g use or sucii expressions, ' our Lord ' did but accommo- date His words to the current popular language of the day." 31 I perfectly ajj;rco with tlio Uisbo|) in this. The ancient Jews always understood, by tlio book of Mosoi), llio law of Moses, or the book of the law of Moses, or simply Moses— when not referring to his mime — the entire Pentateuch. If, indeed, Christ meant by "Moses" merely certain portion.^? -^f the Pentateuch which wore written by him, as distinct froi.! others written by a l*soudo-Moses, how could the Jews possibly have known to what portions ho referred, for it is certain that in this rcHpcct they had not the light which the l^ishop of Natal professes Ui possess. But Bishop Colenso apparently had some doubts as to whether ho had succeeded in satisfying the reader on tlds im[)or(unt poin't. He therefore adds :i third explanation : " Lastly" ho says, "it is perfectly consistent with the most entire ami sincere belief in our Lord's divinity, to hold, as many do, that, when ho vouchsafed to bcoume a ' son of man,' betook our nature fully, and voluntarily entered into all the conditions of humanity, and, among others, into that which makes our growth in all ordinary knowledge gradual and limited. We arc expressly told, in Luke ii., 52, that * Jesus increased in wisdom, as well as in stature.' It is not supposed that, in his human nature, he was ac piainted, more than any educated Jew of tho age, with the mysteries of all modern sciences " This argument really does not merit refutation. Surely our Saviour, who, by his supernatural knoic- leuge, was enabled to foretell future events, sue!: as the destruction of Jerusalem, or that one of his dispinlos VVnnhl Lotrnv h'tirt rw ihni^ Pofnr horrkVf Hip cock crow would deny him thrice, &c., must, also, by 86 the same knmt^ledfe, havo known \h\ ' Mosos wns the anthor of tho IVntutouch. ITo porforniod his stupon- doiis miracles l)y \m almighty power, and by his divine uivlom ho knew all tilings, both past and future ; and to deny this, is in ettect denying the divinity of Christ. But "at what period, then, of his life upon earth," a»kfi Dr. Colengo, " is it to be supposed tlmt lie had granted to him, n8 tho Son of Man, supcrimturally, full and accurate inform*, tion on these points, bo that ho should ho oxpncted to speak about tho Pentateuch in other terras than any devout Jew of that day woidd havo empl^yf*!?'' The answer is given in Luke ii., 40 : "And tho child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom ; and tho grace of Uod was npon ITim." Indeed, the only incident recorded, belonging to the early life of Jesus, is, that at tho ago of twelve years he went up with his pare.its to Jerusalem, and there sat among the learned doctors composing the Sanhedrim, " both hearing them, and asking them 43 reason why they are mentioned is obvious, inasmuch aa Hezron was one of the direct ancestors of David and of Christ— see Matt, i., 3. The sons of Jacob had already been enumerated in the genealogy of Isaac, but in Gen. Ixvi. we have the genealogy of Jacob ; and as Ilartmann justly observes, *' In giving this genealogy, it would indeed be of little conse- quence to inform us where the grand-children were born, but highly important indeed not to omit any in the enumeration. Otherwise it were reasonable to expect a second genealogical view, relative to the increine of the patriarchal family in Egypt. But such statistical information is not to be found." The design of the sacred writer evidently was, to give the number of Jabob's family who was living at the time of his death, with a view to shew the wonderful increase of the Israelites during their stay in Egypt. Hence we read in Exodus i., 5, "And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls," and in verse 7, "And the children of Jacob were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceedingly mighty, and the land was filled with them;" compare also Deut. x., 22. I maintain, therefore, that the occurrence of the names of Hezron and Hamul in this genealogical account of Jacob's family does not necessarily imply that they went with him into Egypt. Indeed, it is very doubtful whether the four sons of Reuben, mentioned in this genealogy, had all been born at the time of the descent into Egypt. We read in Grenesis ylii ."^T '* a^a T?o,ibn« ^..^i.^ unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring m^^:w:'^^^^mi^^m 44 him (Benjamin) not unto thee;" from which it would appear that at that time he had only two sons, or he would not have limited the otl'er to that number. The same may be said as regards some of the sons of Benjamin, ho is so constantly represented as a young man (see Gen. xliii., 8, 29; xliv., 20, 30, 31) that one can hardly conceive that ho should at that time have had already ten sons, when, at the farthest, he could only have been twenty-four years old. Dr. Colenso, in reply to Hengstenburg, says, "A whole ycav appears to have elapsed, according to the Btory, between the first journey and the second, (xlv., 6,) and after that, some time elapsed before Jacob went down to Egypt. At all events, the interval between the time of Reuben's speech and that of Jacob's migration, was quite long enough for two sons to have been born to Reuben in the land of Canaan." I am ready to admit that such may possibly have been the case, still the chances are in favour of their having been born in Egypt. As regards the ten sons of Benjamin, he remarks, "We have shewn above that Benjamin, though called a 'youth,' was now more than twenty-two years old, according to the story, at the time of Jacob's migration. It is, there- fore, quite possible that he may have had ten sons, perhaps by several wives." It is just "possible" that such may have bee i the case, though, I must say, highly improbable. I will not take up the line of argument here, which Dr. Colenso has adopted throughout his book— that unless a thing is distinctly mentioned, we must not assume the possibility of its having taken place. ISuch a rule would here be altogether fatal to his own arguments. 46 it would ns, or he number, the sons ted as a 30, 31) at that farthest, )ld. Dr. ng to the iT., 6,) and i down to time of ^uite long n the land >ly have ' of their the ten b called a according is, there- perhaps 3ee 1 the I will lich Dr. k — that lust not 1 place, his own Dr. Colenso seems to lay great stre«?s upon the expression, "All the souls that came with Jacob into Egjjpt^ whicli came out of his loins, were threescore and six;" but he must have been aware that the term "all" is frequently used in Hebrew a& it is often with us, in a limited sense, referring frequently only to the greatest part of the things spoken of. In Gen. vi., 17, we read, "And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy (kol) all flesh wherein is the breath of life, frooi under heaven;" but "all" cannot include Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, nor those living creatures which could subsist in the water. Again, in Exod. ix., 25, it is said, "And the hail smote {kol) every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field," and yet in chapter x., 16, we read, that thejlocusts "did eat (A:o/) every herb of the land, and {kol) all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left," and many more examples might be adduced. We frequently make use of similar expressions, for instance, when we say "All the Pcles are in arms," we do not wish to be understood all without an exception. And so, likewise, when it is said, "All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt," it may mean the greatest number of them, though not necessarily "all." That this is the correct view of the subject is quite evident from ch. xlvi., 27, where it is said, {kol) "all the souls of the house ot Jacob which came into Egypt were three score and ten ;" but in this number are included Joseph and his two sons who were there alreadv — the two latter, indfpd were born there. ^i^^-^-^^Ki "'«■■" '.;<■;•" •*• ' i«' lli Bi itfiiiiiii 46 TJm discrepancy which Dr. Colenso finds in the passage before us admits, however, of another ex- planation. If we taice the expression in Genesis xxxviii., 1, "And it came to pass at that time," in a hirger sense, and suppose the events recorded in this chapter to have taken place some years before Joseph was soldjnto Egypt, in that case Hezron and Hamul might have been born in the land of Canaan, considering that the Hebrews married at an exrly age— I have known marriages in Germany to have taken phice at the age of thirteen, though this is very rarely the case. The reader will perceive, on referring to the Bible, (hat this chapter interrupts the narrative of Joseph, merely for the purpose of introducing some particulars connected with the family history of Judah, which are chiefly important as having a bear- ing upon the geneaology of our Saviour. It was, probably, introduced here as being the most con- venient place, although, as stated before, the events had previously transpired. The celebrated Jewish commentator, Aben Ezra, has pointed out that the phrase, "at that time," is sometimes used in an indefinite sense, referring to occurrences which had taken place many years ago, as, for example, Deut. X., 7, it is said, "From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah," but in verse 8, the sacred writer ^oes on to say, "At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the Ark of the covenant of the Lord, which, according to Num. iii., 6, had taken place thirty-eight years ago. Le Clerk she> ^s that in the New Testament, also, the phrases "at that time," 47 "in those days," are, in several instances, used in a larger sense. Though this view of the subject has been adopted by several able writers, I must still say that the explanation which I have first given is, in my opinion, the most satisfactory of the two. I quite agree with Dr. C«>'enso,that the argument of Hengstenberg, Kurtz, and Poole, who maintain that " Hczron and Hamul, though born in Egypt, may yet be said to have come down among those who came into Egypt, because they came hither in their father's loins," is exceedingly feeble and unsatisfac- tory, but it is no proof that the statement in thp Mosaic narrative must involve "a manifest contradiction." All it amounts to is, that these writers have taken a wrong view of the subject, and, surely, there is nothing strange in this, when we know that the ablest nen in other learned professions have, at times, formed wrong ideas, ^, - ^ nceive )rm all 49 But the very fact, that the lunguugo, if taken in its strict seuHe, speuks «)l anubHulute inijMwsibility, would itflcll surely loiul us to infer that tho words of the auiuor eunnot be rightly rendered or underslo^.-.,>^.....j*,.,.i^_^3^.„.^^..-.«.ate.....i.- ^^;*....,....j. 52 and two waggons, Num. iii., 26, 26, iv., 24, 28. The Kohathites carried the ark, the table of shew bread, &c. These they had to carry upon their should- ers, Num. iii., 31, iv., 4-15, vii., 9. The Merarites, who haa under their charge the more substantial parts of the tabernacle, such as the 1 rs, boards and pillars, &c., had four waggons and eip it oxen allowed, Num. iii., 36, 37, iv., 31, 32, vii., 8. But when the camp halted for a time in one place, then these families pitched their tents in the proximity of the tabernacle, namely, the Gershonites on the west, Num. iii., 23! the Kohathites on the south, Num. iii., 29, the Mera- rites on the north, Num. iii., 35, and the priests on the east. Num. iii., 38. And their duty, whilst the tabernacle was stationary, was to assist Aaron and his sons in taking care of and attending on the tabernaclr only they wore not allowed to take part in the sei ices of the altar. Num. xviii., 2-7. It is true that, except the general command that the Levites should have the care of the tabernacle, it is not specially recorded in what particulars they were to assist the priests, for it is merely stated " that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee," Num. xviii., 2; but as the prohibition is clearly laid down, that " they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar," Num. xviii., 3, of course it follows that in every thing else they were to render their services to the priests, and among those, the bringing of water, wood, or carrying out of the bullock, with all that pertains to it, out of the camp to be burned, &c. As the reader has now before him an outline of PW i; .A 53 the manner in which the tabernacle was moved from place to place by the Levites, I would ask, is the description, as given in the book of Numbers, such a one as would be given if it wore mere fiction ? "What impostor would have troubled himsolf with particularising what portion was carried by this or that family, or have dreamed of specifying the number of oxen and waggons that were assigned according to the weight and quantity that was to be carried, or would have cared as to what family pitched its tent east or west, south or north ? No, it appears to me, that the more we "look the plain facts in the face," the more becomes the truth of the Mosaic narrative apparent. But Dr. Colenso objects also to the distance that the refuse of these sacrifices would have had to -be carried, and the wood and water that would have had to be fetched from the outside of this great camp, besides other great inconveniences which must arise in such a vast and crowded camp. He says : " The two millions of people, without making any allowance for the tabernacle itself, and its court, and the 44,000 Levites who pitched around about it, the camp must have covered, the people being crowded as thickly as possible, an area of 8,000,000 of square yards, or more than 1,652 acres of ground," — pages 85, 86. And a little further on he remarks : "Upon this very moderate estimate, then, which in truth is far within the mark, we must imagine a vast encam| great Hebrew Legislator." From what has been said, we may now sum up the results as follows : and fir we have shown that so far from " the priest having himself to carry on his back, on foot, from St. Paul's to the skirts of the Metropolis," the skin and flesh, the head and legs, the inwards and dung, even the whole bullock, there were 8,580 Levites to perform that work, and that they had merely to carry it to the outside of the square formed by the camp of the Levites, which would hardlv exceed half ? a mile in anv direction. H 58 And so likewise as to the bringing of wood and water, if these were not at hand. Secondly, inasmuch as the other tribes pitched their camps also in the form of a square, and each tribe ta' jg up as much room as was necessary — for there was no want of room — the people had only "to carry out their rubbish" to the outside of their respective camps, and so likewise in bringing wood and water, if it was not nearer at hand. There was not the slightest necessity for the occupants of one camp to pass through the camp of another, for any purpose whatever. And it is well to observe here, that this order of encampment was maintained whenever the entire company baited. Dr. Colenso's objection, with regard to the supply of wood and water for the wants of such a multitude in the wil- derness, is answered in the next article. ■MMiii^^i ARTICLE V. SUPPLY OF WOOD AND WATER IN THE WILDERNESS. Bishop Colenso in his book, p. 86, remarks : "From the outside of this great camp, wood and water would have had to bo fetched for all purposes, if, indeed, such supplies of wood or water, for the want of such a multitude ns this, could have boon found at all in the wilder- ness—under Sinai, for instance, where they are said to have encamped for nearly twelve months together. How much wood would remain in such a neighbourhood after a month's consumption of the city of London, eren at midsummer." It IS hardly possible to judge, from the present state of a country, what its capabilities and resources may have been upwards of 3,000 years ago. The hand of man, and the action of the elements, may have effected such material changes during so many centuries, as to alter altogether the appearance of a country. The name of Black Forest would scarcely now be considered an appropriate appellation of that district of Germany, forming one of the four circles of the kijjgdora of Wiirtemberg, its dense woods having given place to large towns and thriving vil- lages, surrounded by well cultivated fields j and without going to the continent of Europe, we may find numerous illnstrnflnna ATTon IT. +k;oi ^ > I 'I i: 60 tively new country. The conclusion, therefore, at which Dr. Colcnso seems to have arrived, that be- cause the desert throu^rh which the Israelites wander- ed does not now furnish any large quantity of wood, that therefore it could never have done so, is alto- gether unreasonable. Happily, however, we can bring somethiug more than mere conjectures in sup- port of the truth of the Mosaic narrative. The rude hand of the Bodawin, and the torrents which descend with great violence from every moun- tain during the rainy season, and rush through the numerous wadys— Or water courses of the desert of Sinai— together with the terrific storms which often sweep over the wilderness, have no doubt all con- tributed to render the peninsula of Sinai such a waste as it at this time presents to the traveller ; still there remains sufiicient evidence to show conclu- sively that its resources must have been far greater 3,000 years ago. In the first place, I may remark here, that the English terms wilderness, desert, do not always con- vey the correct sense of the Hebrew word midbar, which properly denotes an uncultivated tract of land, an open country, or open fields, adapted for pasture ; hence we have in Scripture such expressions as "the pastures of the open fields," rendered in the English version, "the pastures of the wilderness," Psal. Ixv., 13, Eng.ver., verse 12—" the open country and its cities," Eng. ver., " the wilderness and its cities," Isa. xlii., 2. But as in the east uncultivated lands, and extended plains, from the excessive heat and long drought, soon become barren, hence the word is also employed sometimes to denote a sterile region. 61 The use of the ITobrcw word midbar docs there- fore not necessarily imply that tho place denoted thereby is void of vegetation. It is well known that even tho desert of Arabia, which is entirely burned up with excessive drouj?ht in summer, fur- nishes after tho autumnal rains plenty of pasture for the (locks of the Bedawin durinjij tho entire winter and sprinjr, and it is only when tho dry season com- mences, that they retire to the mountains, or such districts where pasture and water may bo obtained. In the second i)lace, I may observe, that at the time when tho Lsraclitos passed through the penin- sula of Sinai, it was already inhabited by powerful nations, such as tho Midiunites and Amalekites. The latter, especially, must have been a numerous people, since they were able to cope with the Israel- ites--Exod. xvii. If, then, tho peninsula of Sinai furnished sufficient wood for these nations, surely Dr. Colenso will admit that it is no great stretch of imagination on our part to assume, that it likewise furnished sufficient for the Israelites, who, after all, did not remain for any very great length of time in one place. But without going so far back, there is little diffi- culty in proving that even in modern times there existed plenty of wood in the peninsula. The shittim of Scripture, and al su?it of the Arabians, from which the gum arable is obtained, is an acacia which obtains a great height ; its wood is very hard, and when old resembles ebony. It was from this wood that the tabernacle and its furniture were „' ....,.,.,., ^^ii ixtiT vii-v;ii3 icciiiy luiii liiio tree 62 grows plentifully in Egypt and Arabia, and that it is still found in some fiarts of tho desert. Dr. Sliaw Bays: ** Tho acacia tree being much tho largest and moat com- mon tree in those deserts (Arabia Potrcea) wo have sorao reason to conjocturo that tho shittim wood was tho wood of tho aoacia." Dr. Kitto, in speaking of shitlim trees, remarks, tho required species is found in either tho acacia gummiftra, or in tho acacia seyei, or rather in both. They botli grow abundantly in tho valleys of that region in which tho Israelites wandered for forty years, and both 8ui)ply products which must have rendered them of much value to tho iHraolites. Dr. Robinson says : " The only trees throughout this region are the ttirfa, properly a tamarisk, witli long narrow loaves and without thorns, the same on which tho manna (Arabic, monn) is else- where found ; and tho tidh or sei/al, said by tho Arabs to be identical, a species of very thorny acacia, producing a little gum arabic of an inferior quality. This tho Arabs sometimes gather and sell, when not too lazy." Mr. Stanley, canon of Canterbury, in his work entitled, " Sinai and Palestine," observes : "■ Charcoal from tho acacia is, in fact, the chief, perhaps it might be said tho only, tralFic of tho peninsula. Camels are constantly mot, loaded with this wood, on tho way between Cairo and Suez. And as this probably has been carried on in a great degree by the monks of tho convent, it may account for the fact, that whereas in the valleys of the western end the eastern clusters, this tree abounds more or less, yet in the central cluster itself, to which mgdern traditions certainly, and geographical considerations proba- '/,.^!iiV, - -•'^y^--T 68 biy, point as the raouutiun of the burning "thorn," and tho •oene of tho building of tho Ark, and all tho utonsiU of the Tabernaclo from this very wood, thoro ia now not a single acacia to bo Boon." In another plaeo tho same author remarks : "A fire, a pipo, lit v. 'or a grovo of desert trees, may clear away tho vegetation .'f a whole valley." Uiippel, another eantern traveller, observes : " The acacia trees have been of lato years ruthlessly destroyed by tho Bedawins for the sake of charcoal ; espo- cially since they have been compelled by tho Paaha of Egypt to pay a tribute in chorcoal for an assauU committed on tho Mecca caravan in tho year 1823." Besides tho aeaeiu, there are still to be met with in tho the desert the palm tree and tho tamarisk ; from tho latter there exudes a kind of gum called by the Arabs fnanna, tliough it bears very littlo resemblanco to the manna of the Israelites. These trees, no doubt, were formerly very plentiful in the peninsula of Sinai, particularly tho latter, as it is one of the few trees which will grow to a great size even in tho arid desert ; it was always esteemed on account of the excellence of its wood, which was converted into charcoal, a fact which will readily account for there being so few remaining. I have stated before, that the winter torrents may have con- tributed greatly in effecting the destruction of the trees in the peninsula. Burckhardt tells us that traces of such a devastation were pointed out to him on tho eastern side of Mount Sinai, as having oc- curred within half a century before his visit. Well- StPfVfl annfboT* anaini^n 4-..«^«11 1, _ J • -i -. • I 04 tructioii jwintod out to him as baTlng taken place near Tor in 1 832. Mr. StuiUey has justly observed : " That tho greater nbun.lnnco of vegetation would, u.; it ii well known, have furniihed a greater abundance ot* water, and thin wouhl have reacted on tho vegetation, from which the inoarijj of BubsUtenco would bo procured " Tho gardens at Ayun Musa— the wells of Moses —under tho earo of French and Kn^lish agents IVoni Suez, and the «,Mrdens in tho valleys of Jebel Musa— mountain of Moses— under tho earo of the monks of tho convent of St. Catherine, show what may bo done by a" careful use of such water and soil as tho desert affords. Dr. Uobinson, in speaking of tho latter garden, remarks : "Tho number and variety of fruit ^reos ig aurnriHing, and testifies to tho fine temperature and vivifying power of tho climate, provided there bo a supply of wiiter. The almond trees ure very largo, and had been long out of blossom, tho apricot trees aro also largo, and, like tho apple trees, were now in full bloom. There aro also poars, pomegranates, figs, quinces, mulberries, olives, and many vinos ; besides other trees and shrubs in great variety." May not largo traris of tho peninsula of Sinai have been highly cultivated in former days, when it was iidiabited by a more numerous and more intel- lectual and industrious peo[)lo than the Arabs are, which now dwell there? According to Monconys', even as late as tho seventeenth century, tho i)laiu of Ilahah in front of the convent, which is now altogether bare, was then " uno grando champagne V€rie-.^'a vast green plain." (Journal de Voy, p. 420.) 1 think enough has been said to satisfy the most fastidious, thatDr.Colenso'sobjection,asto thepossi- , lity of a wffidcnt ,,,m„,Uy of w«o,| bci„K ohtamcl ilio sacred nurmtivo no where alludoM fn H.« iierreu, that it was foiin* In sufflciont ,. ^y Without hi,i,atio^ r :: z T:r:r Plaeo, it w„.ol„ai„o.l from na,....! , l,*:' L,;"" S;:i';:::t:;;'L:rtj-'^''-^^^^^^^ power as long as the ol.joct may bo ohiaZfT natura mea,.s. Wi.on the I.aeliL «: ' t, [ -a bitter ountam-ti.ey couW not drinl< its watTr and began to mur,„„r against Moses, but did God provide good water for them by a mirkelo No H showed Moses "a tree," Exod xv 1? l,i . l " he had oast some of it into .he watir ^ad 'ts: eT The fountain obtained its name Marah, ,il„ I ' b tterness and is now by the natives ealled Hfwar2 its water being still bitter, and is eonsiderrd by fh ' Arabs as the worst water in the whole penS. The Hebrew word /.<.! r^nci— i :- .. I <-'"n»uu. xho -, iva(...=v.,u 'IB iingdsa version, 66 "a tree," denotes both a tree, and wood, w'thout reference as to any particular species. It is, how- ever, worthy of notice, that in the peninsula of Sinai there is frequently met with a small thorny shrub, called by the Arabs ghurkud, which bears a fruit something like the biubeny, very juicy but somewhat acid. This shrub is i)articula:-ly found to grow around all the brackish or bittci- fountains. Now, may not the Israelites, as Burckhardt has sug- gested, have used "■ tuc juice of these berries," or what I think more in accordance with the significa- tion of the Hebrew word els, the wood of the shrub to render the water more palatable. Thus Provi- dence seems to have provided an easy remedy to render these bitter fountains useful to the inhabitants or travellers that may chance to pass that way. From the silence of the sacred narrative as Colenso remarks, page 118 : '"^^'''gation. Dr. " The people, we are told, were siinn),-„^ m. But there was „„ „iraculo„, prZworof L. T , "f ""• and flocks. Thoy were left iT T "'' ^""^ ""> ^"'^^ could, i„ th.^ iohl^rbletilderf::''^.'" ""^"''"- ^ '% .^°'l''j"««'''"-theron,hesays, fon. years whioh they spent inT:iZ:"°\:L't I I I i 'm*f'&,~f„vm tho wilderness (.f q.n .,, ""'^ ^^^ ^'»^o^«'^*'^rwi, vvuuLrncss ol hin, muldar jumin, (ho wilderness 01 1 aran, muibar t.r, (he wilderness of vIllZ these (ho wilderness of Zin is (he most te nble ami on cxammin, the passages quoted by Dr Co to 1 will be seen that thev rofov i.. *i • f' ^^'^"^^' '' to the enlirn A. -^ ***" ''"''*•«"' ^"'^ "ot I" lue entire Arabian desert Tl.n n-o* W by Dr Cole„s„/i/Lt '^ "r rS ployed m the original ; thoTirst, being tho , sua! one" l.n M ' " ■"'™"'^' '''"<''' ''"notes a waste place ; ,|,e passage, therefore, means, that whither m the more fertil<. portion of the desert ,r„ 7. • most desolate part of it, God assisS Is' "a 'd "^ii%ris^s:i:rL™"«4"°'^^^^^ u 111. , wimtrness, that we and our ptHJa should die there r &c. To what part of the Ir^ bmn desert does the pronoun '' this" r^fe . I^he" roader will find the answer in the firs verse '' Then came the children -' ^— - • - - ' ^^^^ ^41 Israel into the d j^u, m 78 f m the nrst month/' (i. e., of tho fortieth year of their wandering, Ac.) Second verso, "And there wa« no water," Ac. Third verRo, • And tho pt-oplo chodo with McHOH," Ac. To appease J.o rniirmurinj? of the people (fod miraculously supplied them 'vilh water from the rock ; hut the I.sraolites did not re- main long in this place. J)r. Colenso should have qnoted hero from the beginning of the chapter, and not merely such a i>ortion of it as suited his views. But Dr. Colenso quotes also Deut. viil., 15 : " Beware that thou forgot not Jehovah, thy QoO, who led thee through that groat an.] terrible wildorn ss, wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water." Surely it would not have greatly swelled tho pages of Dr. Colenso s book to have giver tho remaining part of the verse, " who brought thee forih ^/ater out of the rock of flint ;".but the mentioning of the bringing forth water from the rock in conn xion with the expression 'great and terrible wilderness " would have shown too clearly that the wilderness of *Zia is meant here. It is worthy of notice, that, in the next verse, where Moses i-eprcsents to the Israel- ites how they had been providentially fed with manna, he uses the ordinary term midbar, wildernobS. I have yet to examine another and tho last quota- tion which Dr. Colenso adduces, namely, Jer. ii., 6. "Neither said they, where is Jehovah, that brought us out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, tnrough a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of tho shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelled." r^KtS^-jjJ- » 70 /erfl^'r^fXTtir,!'"? '"'f '"^'^ "^'^ ^''^ ^"'^'•« W0.1H are employed na ^ ^Sl^r!.^^ ttn open country or pasture krwi ' /^"'""^' E»«li«h version 'wi . ' ''«"^«''ed iu the meruMv . •, ^''•^^''•"^'««." unci '>.,/, ^^.^^^/^ land ofdowrlH 'rul !i " '' ''•''■'"""• "» **uv. \Kvi., J7, J'sulm XXXV 7 '-J^ '^""^^s that the part denoted by mid/mr i-turo land. ,nu«t have boo of adinercUeh.^i ' Ur. Colcnso might have .spared himself the troublo of quol,„g so largely from modern travellers L order to establish " the present sterility olteAra all T. '" '"" "''" " was so 3,000 years ago The present desolate state of the peninsula If S.ua, as well as that of Palestine, Edumea Ph li Ua &o ,s the natural result of thede ^pula^on of th e countries, and is, therefore, in itself an..n...l.M! i i 80 •mf proof of the accomplishment of aneieiit prophecy, -ind of the "..imUablo truths of Holy Scripture. In connexion with this subject, I may mention another circumstance, from which the inference may be drawn, that there must have existed even an unusual amount of fertility in the peninsula during the forty years' wandering of the Israelite^. The sacred writer informs us, that the manna was always accompanied by "dew," see Exodus xvi., .14, Num xi., 9, and it is well known when the dew does fall in the east it completely moistens the ground. and kcops in a fertile condition lands which would otherwise be sterile and desolate. In these countries, therefore, where no rain falls from April to September, and tne heat of the sun being at the same time very strong, those dews are blessings, the value of which can hardly be sufficiently appreciated in a country wLevo no long droughts prevail. The advantage of these abundant dews is, however, not generally en- joyed, except in hilly regions or in confined valleys ; in extensive plains and deserts hardly any dew falls from the middle of May to the middle of August. We may therefore infer, since the dew fell daily with the manna, these plains enjoyed an unnsual fertility during the dry summer season. The importance which the Orientals attached to the dew and the great advantages that are derived from it, may be gathered from many passages in Scripture ; thus Isaac, in blessing Jacob, says, "Therefore God give thee of the dew ot Heaven and the fatness of the earth"— Gen. xxvii., 28. " Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon 81 you"— ii. Sam i 91 ti „ Mo.,csi„ his sublime par in. [dlT'"'' "''' """^ % doctnne shall drop as the rain?^' My speech shall distil as tho dew. Deut. xxxii., 1, 2. -.. .^ . -v_ ,......_,. t. . „_.,.,. ^ ... .^ .,..,,.. ,. . ,, _^ ., ,,_,.,. ^ - ■ ■ ■" -^' '■"--' ..•*^^. - -' . ,. f-. ^^^ ^ ^ „;„ip»'** * _- .:.''^._.' y . ARTICLE VI r. TEMPERATURE OF PALESTINE. If Dr. Colenso has failed to discover any dis- crepancies in the Mosaic narrative of the Exodus, it certainly was not for the want of having diligently searched for them, or for the want of having pressed into his service every little circumstance that might possibly favour his argumonts. The Bishop appa- rently met in one of the works of ITcngstenberg, a quotation from Ruppell's Travels in the East, to the effect, that " in the mountainous districts it is very cold in the winter nights. Sometimes the water in the monastery of St. Catherine freezes even in Feb- ruary." He also read, that a Mr. Fazakerly, who ascended the mountains of Moses and St. Catherine in the month of February, " found a good deal of snow ;" and likewise that Josephus says, Ant. iii., 7, 4, "the weather was inclined to snow." As the reader will not be able to find the last quotation, for there seems to be some mistake in the reference, I will supply another instance : " But when Herod had reached Sepphoris (the metropolis of Galilee) in a very great snow, he took the city with nit difficulty." Josephus, Wars, B. iii., ch. xvi., p. 2. "Here," observes Dr. Colenso : (( "We have another question raised, which is rot generally v. • » F'^^^^L^f, iKmXmmXiixmMfsimmV^Mi 3» .-%rs.--'».:"v.w. 83 have ^.«;« L:^':,7' wZ' '':,""''"^'r'' """ -" vogcation of .,,„ ne^. bill ^'.f "l™''^' "'« -•"'? daily cooking i,cccssitin,r,fr,- ' ""' ""'^ f" season r'-ivfjal, 135. ""'"'"'^ ""^ "^ ""' «■"« That snow sometimes folia in -d^i .• onco or twice in flvn *„„ P;*^^^'""' "»" may mean, inaoed, i. Cs in 14 t ;rt ::? 'T" ' " ^'"■^' think it woHh thei. .Mr ^ 1 ^To luf ^''T order that the reader may see I,': l^J^'j^. .^" conclusions are which Di- r-..!. ^^^^"^vaga^t the the pa«ge. wi^rehh himse :". ^d Tn'"" here a few quotations from l.„ ' ''"'"S'^" who resided some 1^^ inT, ? '"'T "' P'""^""^ Sehwarz, who ::s' ^s S;^^^^^ Holy Land, gives the S^tlZT^'r "Descriptive Geography of PaIe"Le' '' '" ""^ Mr. Murray, who resided for six years at n cus, says : ^^^® ^'' ^amas- >'*% \^m :^. . m: If' if! 84 "January and February are the coldest months, but frost is seldom seen and the eld is not severe. 1 have never known the thermometer full below 23° or rise above d^."" Snow falls in the higher altitudes, though it is very rare in the low ph.ms."-Murray's Hand-book of Syria and Palestine, vol. i, page xlviii. " The cold of winter is not severe, and the ground Is never frozen. Snow falls more or less, but even in the higher lands ifc does not lie long on the ground. Thunder and lightning are frequent in the winter."-/r/«t>'» Encyclopaedia of Biblical LiLy art. Palestine, page 038. Dr. Colenso may well say that the "question" which ho here raised " is not generally taken in consideration at all ;" the reason is quite obvious, it is such a frivolous one that no one but himself thought it worthy of notice. I have already shown that there must have existed plenty of wood for fuel in those days in the peninsula of Sinai, and if, therefore, it should have so happened, that a few nights during the very short winter season were unusually cold, I can see no reason why the Israelities should have suffered from the "piercing cold f when they had the means for relief so readily at hand? I am prepared to bring forward additional testimony from the writings of both ancient and modern travellers to show, that the tamarisk and acacia trees, besides a variety of shrubs, grow plenti- fully in the peninsula of Sinai, should the proofs which I have already given be deemed insufficient. That those trees are not now met with on the regular caravan routes, is nothing more than what is to be expected. But to r urn again to the flocks and herds ; Dr. Colenso remarks, page 119, -°*4 ■'%' ^m 86 therefore, wc may niesum . . , ' ^■°"'- "•' *• "»''. '- -.iHio™ of .hoop and oxe„'cC:Va„T "'"''"'"'• ""' allowed to add "., nrin„- I '.■ ^^ "fi no' infulliMe ^ord of God h^r^f'^' "'^ ^""« "« «>« w.so,„ewiiittotito:;'S^^ hereto fhe Israolifp« en ,™^.^^^^'^^^^e ascribes aut'iority. The herds I^ffit ^* '"'P'"™' r veV:obHrtr"'T '' '^ '™« "^ ""^^ - numbe Tnl'tS- ?f "^, "if ^'"''""'""^ "■« over, pases lOy llni , , i=t''™"°g '^e Pass- much cattle"-Exod xii SS J f.. ' ''"" ^"'■^ .reatly di,„™shed by ^:;i\h\T'rerT %ypt :,uaiis.^S;:^LXr^r^hr .en th,s miraculous provision of ■'flesh/ iin2d' the Israehtes had such a large number ;f heeo al' oxen at ^and as Dr. Cole„so\ould make „ beii "e they must havehad? In the second year the I ae, ^^- if^^r^m^^'^w^ 8G ites murmured a^ain for flesh, and their lanj^uagc clearly indicates that meat had not formed a common article of their food. " Who shall give us flesh to eat ? But now our soul is dried away ; there is nothing at all, besides this manna, before our eyes"— - Num. xi., 4, C. Hoar also what Moses said on that occasion : " Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this i)eople ? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh that we may eat"— Num. xi., 13. What, •' two millions of sheep and oxen close at hand," and not enough flesh to feed two millions of people including children of all ages? The probability is,' that the children of Israel had no more cattle with them during their wandering in the peninsula of femai than was necessary for sacrifices, for beasts of burden, and to supply milk and perhaps occasion- ally meat. Of the cattle, goats no doubt constituted the greatest number, as they always formed the principal part of the Hebrew flocks. The goat is better pleased with the neglected wild than the cultivated fields of art ; it delights in the shrubby mountain, as its favourite food is the tops of bou-hs or the tender bark of young trees ; it bears both heat and cold as long as the latter is not too severe The milk of the goat is sweet and nourishing, and from its skin the leathern bottles to contain wine and other liquids are made in the Levant. The goat is still a favourite with the present inhabitants of the Arabian desert, who keep them in large numbers and certainly is well fitted for the place ; it likewise mcreases very rapidlyjn warm climates. I cannot see why the Israelites should have fared fi&g"-- (Tj--- ■'^i^ ^^' ¥ .:?,"j5^V P-:f.^&'* j^mfsei 87 80 badly di occasioiiallp meat /l,^„ , '""'V "''''•'■ """l "o doubt "■ey woro™'„l t ';.:"'"'''^ "»' - '>««" - "'0... to be rtiscontemod ^^"'^ "^'"^ ""■'"I '''o'-e time tho chief pZeTsLl T ■ T''''"''''^ and siipplid tho hard! ' .'"°" ".^ "'« "iluibitanls, l-uKer, cheese and oa biJ M '"" """" "'«"""'. '"^fed of, as it was^ do Kca ; IV'^ ""^ ^^''''"° exF--.isivo ; the skins ZT^ '"' "'"^ '"""'' '00 '■Thus, i„ ,.c , ;;t ;2"' ^'^''^'' "'«'" »» ^""i^- ■•etreats, whc-o th L, S:';;:;'"':' '""""'»">-' of i-octe, heaths, andXXn' f °'>'>' " =^ene »MS of soil, (he e sLn n T ''""'' "^ ^''•«''^''^''- goats abou them S f"'""!'' ^'"'^ "'^'^ ""^s of necessaries of ] fe £ ,h ""^'' "''" "'"' ="' "'« are in affluent eircumstanenr . , . """'-^ '''''o case have been dilTe u vkh ,t r ""'^ "'""'" «>« addition had an ab^ndan 1 r " ^''''"^'^''' '''"' '» provided for .he™?! X; irr,"'™"'"""^'^ themselves unspeakable toil ^ndl, ,""'°"«'" "''«» -d death, it wa's as a n „ nVCt el"'" '" "^ and sensual appetites nnrl ,, "^^ their gross and against God, f 'r ll^V wt '~f^ -^^"-n years in accomnlishinrro "^^^e to spend forty Weperforn^eS ; rX'tl''^' '''' "'°^^' that although the chaZl I ' '^ """'^ *^ ^'^''^> ° ' ^^«sen and favoured people of God, '»5«3il ?^^HC^ ■*4. 88 yet tliat any disobedience on their |)art to the will of God would be visited with condign punisiiment. "But," observes Dr. Colen«o, "It cannot be suppoMod, us some have snggcsted, that tho flocks and herds wore scattered far and wide, during the sojourn of tho people in the wildornesa, and so were able the more easily to find pasture. Tho story says nothing, and implies nothing, whatever of this ; but as far as it proves any thing, it proves tho contrary, since wo find tho whole body of the pooglo together, on all occasions specified in the history."— Page 19. And what should have prevented the flocks and herds from being scattered among the numerous Sinaic valleys, where there 'was plenty of pasture and a good supply of water ; or from being led to tho most suitable pasture grounds that the place aflforded ? It is true, the narrative does not ex- pressly say so, nor can it be reasonably expected that it should. It was a t11 known and established practice, from the earliest times, that herds and flocks were taken from place to place in search of pasture ; and there was therefore no necessity of its being here particularly mentioned. It is absurd to expect that the sacred writer should have noticed every little incident connected with the Exodus. "But," argues Dr. Oolenso, " If indeed, they had been so dispersed, thoy would surely have required to bo guarded by large bodies of armed men, from the attacks of the Amalekites, Midianites, and others.'' And go, no doubt, every herd would probably be accompanied by an escort, though in i-eality there was little danger of their being in the least molested. 89 o.l.er in.,abi,an;,r i'^ :„:r f"-, «-"« '"e l""-'lly venture to aivo an^T' ?"' "'"^ ''''"''' desert homes. '^''"""""' '° '•'"J^y poaceabljr ti.e.r f cannot forboiM fr» «^»- t co«s.«„tiy uses :^vorr• «:::;■''"" °r ''"^"^'' 'he Mosaic narral/v/ , ■ f ^ '" '"f^'-e'ice to very bad .as": "s" t ekn ^'f^i, r."" "'"^'' '^ - offcnsivetoairroni,, „ ? ., '" ^^ exceedingly is proved tot „ ,f '", :"" ""' "•^"•'"- term slor;,, i„ ;„ ,,"'„"• , ^'"n "^vare that the ''-'or,, b'nt ae rd th'etr""' "^""'^ "'^ « r.age it is only applied to a i7T "''"' "' ''"" How grating it^.iK/",: J^"^*-"-- eompositi^ expressions as '■ the storl ?r ,^ ? '" ^"^ '""='' »'o^y of the PeninsalaT'^;/,/^:^'-"'" T " '"* cannot be regarded as bein. ov^r Jnt '"1^' '^^ take olTence in seein- snni, ""7","«»s"'ve when we -ttestory of [1:e^Z''"'Z7^ "'''''"'''" X.AUUUS — the Mosaic storj " to celebrate the Passover. ''"'* "'^l"'™'! He assumes that by " takin,, *. '0 a lamb, two millils of i ?■" "■<"'™'-»Se number 200,000 Iambs of .,,„;:: ;l/'XV"°:''' "^"'^' "'»" «qu,.-e 100,000. Lot us t uir'.I, ° '"'^ ""^^ '>■»»" PO- tbat tbey required 15(1; 00 "we" m "'"^' '"" ^P" '''"°;t"'-"^^-^'--^'-ori:::r;e:::aS 00 800,000 UmU of tho first year iiUog„tl,or." Hut hn on lo ■•y t^t liiinbn thiU worn killed fur tho 1* Hut thoMo woro n<>l ull. j.',,,-. if tho l/iO.OOO M.toviM- o<»iiipriii(>t| ull tho uinloit of that yoftr, thoro woiil.l hnvo h of that yimr for tho inoro.»so of tho fl-M-k } nml m tho won no rmiA or woihorn Juft BIUIIO .1 . lilt ' ••••■• ••" tliv DI*U|U thiMK wouhl tako pliico ouch hiu'commIvo your, thoro would novor ho ,u.y r-Mun or wo.hor^ but owo nhoop iunuinorHhlo IfiNtoud, th on. c> lAO.OOO, wo niiiy HiippoN,. 'JOD.OOO ninio luinhH of tho lliMt your, und '-M)(»,(k"»() n.„„ilo luuil uil»!4, niuk n« •lOO.O'iO lun.bH of iho (ir»t your ullo;;oihor. Now. a nhoop- mu«ler, oxporioncod in Austn.liu and NutuI, infornH n.o that tho totui numbor of nhoop, in an uvorugo Hock of ull a«os, wdl ho about fivo tinioM that of tho inoroa«o in ono hcu- ■on of lambing.. So that dOO.OOO lan.I.H of fho first year nnplioM u ll.Kk of 2.()0(),000 nhoop and iambn of all aKcs. I akin-, thon, into aoomint tho fuot that thoy had also larijo herd, 'ovon vory much oultio/ wo may fuirly r.-rkon that tho HobrcwH must havo posHos.so.l at this lin.o, aooor.linK to tho.tury, nioro than two n.illions of shoep and oxon "~ r«go 110. Cok'iiso has (ailo.l (o mukoout nfrnod ease, it was not for tho want .)f JiavinK tnod hard |„ ,|,) so. Josi^phiis ••« l.iH " Wars of the Jows." h. vi.. eh. !). ,>. 0, rockona ton persons on an avvra-o to a hunh ; hut ho says "many of m aro twenty in a eonipanv;' Hut .lose- pliUH speaks hero of what was tl.o (,,iMtom in his time when (he Israelites had been settled npwards of a tliousand years in tho Holy J.and. Knrz, whom tho iJishop qnoles. allows also " lifteon or twenty " no doubt upon (he authority of Josephus. But tlic question here is, iH>t what this one or that one allows but what does Scripture allow? ]}ishop Oolenso' therefore, in taking those writers as his authority' 91 has foun.lcMl hiHc, joulation upon n number, for which lio luis not tho HliKl.t.vst McTiplumI uull.ority Oa tun.iug to Hxml. xii.. 2. wo reua': " Bpeuk yo unto all 11,0 congreKutiou of fHraH, HuyluK. In Iho ti'nth (lay o| Huh n.outh lUoy hI.uII take lo tlu... every nma nch lauih nvntk u luinb, u.conlinK to ihu liouHo ot fulhtTH, u lun.l, (or u Houmu." Iloro (Iwmi tho .pioHiiou urinnM, wimt an, wo to ut,.l.r.stan.l l,y' the cxproHHlou, " house of luthc.rH ?" 1 1 cannot mean inourly u lun.b to every rath(M-'H house ,u' hous(.hol,l for, in that ease the uouu«.. ,..., huher, would huve been employed in the siuKular, see (ien. xxiv., 23 XXXI. 30. The true import of the phrase in (uiestiotl "lUst th..refore be determined by examining in what sense It IS em{)Ioye.l in other places. Now I have already stated, that tin. (.hihircm of Israel wore ar- ranged into tribes, dcnoiod by the Hebrew terms-^ sUevatim mattoth , these were again divi.led into mnhpachnfh, /. ,., families, and the familie.s wero again mib.livi.led int.. minor divisions termed btth avolh I ,., houses of fathers, ancestral houses, or l«ouseh.>lds. Thus, we tind in Num. i., 2. that tho numl)er.ol the children of Israel was taken, '< /emish- pechotham leveth avotham,^^ after their families, and alter their houses of fathers, or households. These hou.ses of lathers or households had their rashe i e chiefs or h.uuls, see Kxod. vi., 14. Num. i., 4. Now' 1 llnnk, there can be no doubt, that such a minor division IS meant by theexr)ression/cw.'A avolh i e house of fathers, in the passage un.ler discussion- and in that case there may have been forty or fifty persons-or even more if two households joined IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) V ^ {./ rA 1.0 I.I u;|^ 12.5 ^ flii 11112.2 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 .4 5/' ► % <^ /a /J 'c^l /^ Photographic Sciences Coiporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 92 together— for each lamb. The Egyptian sheep are very large, and a lamb "of the first year" would be more than enough for fifty persons. 'Besides, it must be remembered, that the pasohal lamb was not in- tended to be feasted upon, but was to be partaken of as a religious and solemn rite. Allowing then forty persons as an average for a lamb, which I think is an exceedingly moderate number, considering that children of all ages ars included, we would, in that case, require 50,000 lambs, instead of 150,000 as Dr. Colenso will have it. But does Scripture say, that they must necessarily have been "lambs"? Certainly not. The Hebrew word seh, denotes either ••a lamb" or "kid/' and in chapter xii., 5, it is dis- tinctly stated, "Ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats." Supposing, now. there had been a scarcity of lambs of the first year, that half of the number required were taken from the goats ; the number of lambs would be reduced to 25,000, which, adapting Dr. Colenso's own calculation, (see above ) would imply that the Israelites at that time pos- sessed 125,000, and not " 2,000,000 sheepand lambs of all ages." From the time the Israelites left Egypt until they came into the Holy Land, they only cele- brated once the Passover, and that was at the end of the first year, whilst encamped near Sinai, Num. ix., 5 ; nor do the Scriptures make mention of any sacrifices being off^ered during the last thirty-eio-ht years' wandering in the desert ; indeed, from the fact that even the right of circumci :ion being sus- pended during that time, we may infer that none were ofifered. ARTICLE VIII. IlSrSTITUTION OF THE PASSOVER. As the Mosaic narrative is altogether silent as to the number of cattle possessed by the Israelites either during their abode in Egypt, or whilst wander- ing in the desert of Arabia, to give any specidc number must necessarily be mere conjecture ' nor does It form an essential part of the history of the Jews. A history of England would be perfect without stating the number of cattle owned by the inhabitants— Macaulay certainly does not give it in his "History of England." The Israelites, being a pastoral people, would no doubt at all times keep such numerous herds and flocks as the localities which they occupied permitted them to do. Dr. Colenso calculates that the Israelites must have had " 2,000,000 of sheep and lambs of all ages " and then, with the assistance of "experienced sheep- masters," tries to show that " the sheep alone would have required 400,000 acres of grazing land-an extent of country considerably larger than the whole county of Herefordshire or Bedfordshire— besides that which would be required for the oxen, and that, too, by allowing ">e sheep to an acre," although according to the information he had received, "in New Zealand there are few spots where sheep can 94 be kept two to the acre ; in other places, one can be kept per acre. In Australia, some sheep runs are estimated to carry one sheep to an acre, and these I think are of the besi quality."— Page 111. As I have reduced the 2,000,00o'of sheep ascrib 1 to the Israelites by Dr. Colenso to 125,000, 1 might well have dismissed the subject here without any further comment ; but being desirous of examining every point of the Bishop's argument, and not having myself any experience in the management of sheep, I consulted Professor Buckland, who told me "that it was perfectly absurd to compare the wild pasture plains of Australia with the rich and fertile land of Egypt. In Australia tlwusands of acres of sheep run may be had for a mere nominal rent." The name Goshen, is apparently of Semitic and not of Egyptian origir, for it occurs also as the name of a city and its environs in the south of Palestine, Josh, xiii., 2, 1st Sam. xvii., 8. As the name is not mentioned by any of the Greek geographers, various opinions existed at one time as to its exact locality ; the best scholars of the present day, how- ever, agree that it was the name of that part of Lower Egygt lying east of the Pelusian branch of the Nile, comprehending the modern province esh-Shurkiyeh! This province in every respect answers to the allusion made to the land of G oshen in Scripture. Jacob and his family dwelling in this territory might well be said to be near Joseph, whether the court of Pharaoh was at Memphis, or what is most probable at Zoan, i e., Tanis, where, according to Psalm Ixxviii., 12,' the miracles of Moses were performed. "When Jacob 96 went down into Egypt, ■■ he sent Jndah before him unto Josepl,, to direct his face nnto Goshen ; and they came mto the land of Goshen"— Gen xlvi 28 And Joseph went np to meet Israel his father, unto Goshen, v. 29. TJ.is shows that the territory must have hcen situated between the frontier of Palestine and the residence of Jcseph; and points clearly to the province of esh-Shurkiyeh. The land ol Goshen IS further said to have been ■■the best of the land " r=.v ",■•• ^',''"'' ^""^ npparenlly is the province of ^h-Shurkiyeh to the present day. Dr. Kobinson . "^'^"'!.^' "y ""y ^^ C»i--». I m«t besides the two mentioned, namely, Dinah and Serah. Why only IhcHO two are mentioned will bo explained in another article, indeed, it is dis- tinctly stated, Oeri. xlvi., 7, th.U there went down with him, " his daughters and his sons' daughters;" and as Jacob nad onlv one daughter, it is very prob- able that his daughters-in-law maybe included in the expression, "his daughters •"' but what are we to understand by " his sons' daughters?" U can cer- tainly not mean Serah, the daughter of Asher, who is the only one mentioned. But, exclaims Dr. Colenso, " it is certainly strange that, among ull the sixty-nine children and great- grand-childrcn of Jacob, who went down with him into Egypt, there should be only one daughter men- tioned, and one grand-daughter. The very number- ing of these two amougthe " seventy souls" shows that the females "out of the loins of Jacob," were not omitted intentionally," — page 162. There is nothing whatever strange in the omission. The sacred writer mentions only such names as are necessary to the full comprehension of the narrative, and we may rest assured, that, whenever a female name is given exclusive of others, there existed some reason for it which was well understood then, although it may not appear quite evident to us at this distant period of time. That such was the constant practice, will be seen on comparing other genealogical lists. Among all the (descendants of Esau, Gen. xiixvi., only one daufirhter is mentioned, yerse 22, Agiain, amonor 115 one the hnndrods of sons named in 1 Chron. vi *lx., there are only ton (laughters mentioned. 80 amonj? all the names and genealogies in the Orst eleven chapters of Oene:^i^ only five names of females occur. Will Dr. Oolenao say, that in all these cases there were no other females than those who are mentioned ? Certainly not. It world be absurd to do so ; and he has, therefore, no grounds for saying that the mentioning of only one daughter, and one grand- daughter in the household of Jacob " is only another indication of the unhistorical character of the whole account."— Page 163. But, coutinues Bishop Colenso, " The twelve sons of Jacob then, as ajypears from the above., had between them fifty-three sons, that is, on the averot^o 4i each. Let us suppose that they increased in this way from generation to generation. Then in the fint generation, that of Kohath, there would be fifty- four males, (according to the story fifty-three, or rather only fifty-one, since Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan, Gen. x'.vi., 12, without issue.) In the second, that of Amram, 243. In the third, that of Mom and Aaron, 1094, and in the fourth, that of Joshua and Eleazar, 4923 ; that is to say, instead of 600,000 warriors in the prime of life there could not have been 6,000."— Page 163. Bishop Colenso assumes here that there were only four generations, reckoning from the time when Jacob went down into Egypt, whereas we have already seen that the four genci-ations mentioned in Gen. XV., 16, are equivalent to 400 years ; he mus^ th Ol^afrkrA /\i4^Km. n1lA.» A^(, - d -.1.11 1 x-.x-.-iv, -.inici iiiiurr iou years oi ueiuai oonaage ■*- '''-am '■ 116 instead of only 215 yetw, or ho must reckon the four generations from Abrahutn, to whom the pro- mise was made. We have only two modes of com- puting a goneratioii. namely, {ho patriarchal, of one hundred years' (iaratin, and the one adopted at a later period, from thirty to forty years', but ac- cording 1) Dr. Colenso the 215 years would give us lour generations, each of llfly-threo years' dura- tion. Here wo have no altoruativo, but must adopt the latter mode of reckoning, and if we allow thirty- one years for a generation, the 216 years of actual bondage will give us seven generations. As we have to make our computation from the household of Jacob, who camo with him into Egypt, it k necessary to ascertain the precise number of persor j. In lien, xlvi., 27, it is recorded, "All the souls of the house of Jacob which came into Egypt were three score and ten.''* This number includes his 12 sons, 53 grand -sons, 1 daughter, 1 grand- daughter, 2 sons of Joseph, whom Jacob adopted, and himself. It is true that Er and Onan, sons of Judah, died in Canaan, but their place was supplied by Hezron and Hamul, two grand-sons of Jauah. who were in verted in the list instead of them. From the above number we have to t jduct Jacob, his dauj,^hter and grand 1a«"rbf.T, whic'» leaves 67 souls. Now let us suppose liiut each of theso nd their male descendants had, on an average, four sons at the age of thirty— B ijamin had ten sons at that age -and » In the Septuagint T»r»ion the number of Jacob's household Ts^dTon as 75 souls, aud this number is also quoted by Stephen, Acts di., 14 It a|)pear3 that m the Septuagint. the five sohh of Ephraim and Manasseh n Chrou. Til 14-30) born in Egypt wore added, whioh accounts for the difference in the number. 11' counting nevtri gencratioriH each of thirty-one yetrt' duration, the total number of lotils ut the time of the Exodus would be as follows, namely ;— * 07 4 4 gun. 5 •• 6 •' 7 " Total . 17152 4 1 generation ... . 268 4 68008 4 2 " .... 1072 4 2744.°7 4 8 " .... 4288 4 1097728 nm'o.M. 1097728 femaki i " ....17152 2i95450 These figures, however, take only into account the number of chiluren born up to the ajro of tliirty, and wo may reasonably n'i[)|,oso that a great many may have been born after the father had attained that age. Nor uo they include any of the ilescendaiis of Jacob's servants, a circumstance which Dr. Colenso seems to have altogether passed over, but which deserves to be specially noticed here. Th(r reader, on turning to Gen. xvii., 23, will liud that Abraham, * Since the aboTe artiolb has appeared in the Leader, an esteemed friend has furnisbcd me with the following extract from Cardinal Wiseman's ••Science and UeTelation.'' •'The jjroduction of coral reefs, and from them islands, in the South Sea, which soon receired a population from dista-.t points, ihows us, in that last corner, to which she " (nature) " ^'eom8 to luivo withdrawn her crcatire powers, how she had prepared new habitations for man; the incredible scale on which the inhabitants increase on such occasions, fr ■ beyond the oaloulations of modern statistics, proves what powerful energies she exerted when wanted to propagate the human race. An island first occupied by • few shipwrecked English, in ir)80, and discovered by a Dutch vessel in 1067, is' said to ha;e been found peopled, after 80 years, by 12,CuO so.lr, all descendants of four mothers." Vol. i., p. 228. This rate of increase is 118 according to the command of God, caused every male amonj^ the men of his household to be ci^-cura- cised. At that time Abraham had only one son, Ishmael, who was then but thirteen years old, V. 25. Who then were the men of Abraham's house here spoken of? Surely none other than his ser- vants ; and these, by taking upon themselves the sign of the co\enant, became thereby members of the covenant, and thus was added to the temporal connexion already existing between master and ser- vant, the spiritual tie of being now with him members of the same covenant. Under the Mosaic law, all strangers who had taken upon themselves the sign of the covenant were then allowed to par- take of the religious rites. See Exod. xii., 48, 49. Now we are told, Gen. xiv., 14, that Abraham had no less than " three hundred and eighteen" servants; these and their descendants would naturally become more and more attached to the families of the patri- archs. The number of servants, therefore, that must have gone down into Egypt with Jacob and his sons' families, must indeed have been very large, and it is quite probable that during their stay in Egypt they became to a great extent mixed up with the Israelites. From the computation as above given— and it is adopted by several writers— it will be seen that each man must have had on an average four sons and four daughters at the age of thirty. This quota will, however, be greatly reduced when the servants of Jacob and their descendants are taken into account ; but even leaving these altogether out of the oucstion 119 >n, the increase of the Israelites according to the above figures involves no impossibility, particularly when we take into consideration that the sacred narrative distinctly informs us that the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multii)lied, and waxed exceedmgly mighty; and the land was filled with them.— Exod. i, 7. It is, therefore, absurtl for Dr. Colenso to say. that in order to pro- duce "600.000 fighting men," (which implied a population of 2,000,000) " we must suppose that each man had 46 children (23 of each sex.") Dr. Colenso labours hard to impress his readers with the idea that there was no unusual increase among the Hebrew families during the Egyptian bondage. He first instances the families of Jacob's sons, who went down with him into Egypt, but evi- dently fearing lest it might be said that these had been bora in the land of Canaan, and, therefore, do not afford a proper data upon which the increase of the Israelites in Egypt might be calculated, he, in the next place, brings forward some other families, who he says, will give a fairer average, "because these persons lived at all different times in the interval, between the migration into Egypt and the Exodus." The families mentioned by Dr. Colenso are the fol- ic wing: "Zelophehad had five daughters, but no sons. Num. xxvii., 1 y Amram had two sons and one daughter, Num. xxvi. 59; Moses had two sons and no daughter, Exod. xviii. 3-4; Aaron had four sons and no daughter, Exod. xxvi., 60; Tzhar, Am- ram's brother had three sons, Exod. vi., 21; Uzziel «ad iixx^^ sons, Exod. vi. 22; Koran had three sons, 120 Exod. vi. 24; Eleazar had one son, Exod. vi. 26." The Bishop, however, admits, that "in the last four cases we cannot say whether or not there were any daughters." — Pago 165. From these eight families, out of many thousands, Bishop Co'.enso endeavours to form an estimate of the increase of the Israelites during a period of 215 years. Now I would ask, what would Ijq thought of the account of any statis- tical writer who calculated the probable increase of the population of England, say from the time of Queen Elizabeth to George III., apor. a dozen families, selected from a history of England? It would absolutely be worthless. But even some of the families which the Bishop him- self has selected, may have been larger than the num- bers given would indicate them to have been. Zelo- phehad, for instance, may have had many sons when he came out of Egypt, and who may have died in the wilderness; for it must be remembered that among those who were numbered "in the plains of Moab by Jordan, near Jericho," there was not a man who had been numbered by Moses in the wilderness of Sinai See Num. xiv., 28, 29, 30; xxvi , 63, 64, 65. The expression, "uvanimbhayu io,'^ rendered in the English version, "for he had no sons," may be translated, "for lie lias no sons," or, ^f rendered literally, for there are no sons to him, that is, he has left no sons to share in the distribution of the promised land, and therefore the five daughters came to claim their portion. — Num. xxvii., 1, 2, 3. Then, again, as to the family of Moses, Bishop vOieDSO shouici not liave reierred tO it at all, foF uis 121 two sons were born to him in the wilderness of Sinai, neither did they nor their mother go down with him into Egypt. See Exod. xviii., 5. V\^ith respect to the other families mentioned, they may have had many daughters, for, as has already been stated, the names of females are not given, unless there is some particular reason for it. Let it not be understood that I mean to insist that the Hebrew families must all have been equally large; by no means, I do not for a moment doubt but that the same disproj)ortiou in families ex- isted with them as with us; all that I maintain is that no proper estimate of the increase of the popul'ation of a country or city can be formed from a few fami- lies selected for that purpose, for we know there are various causes which often contribute to augment the population of a country. The language employed in Exod. i., gives us dis tmctly to uuuerstand that there was an unusual increase, and hence Pharoah ordered to have all " the Hebrew raa:i children destroyed. This state ment agrees well with the number of Israelites as given in the sacred narrative, but what does it mean when taken in connexion with Bishop Colenso's account, simply, that the Egyptians were frightened out of their lives at "1,377" Israelites. See page 166 Dr. Colenso, in several instances, has adopted the practice of quoting certain extravagant explanations of some commentators, as proofs of the unsoundness of their position, and, of course, to show how much more reasonable his arguments are as compared wiih meirs. In connexion with the subject under Q ^;i:,■■■4p"■'-■K^*">iil•^| 122 consideration, be cites the opinions of Kalish, Eben Ezra, Bishop Patriclf, and Ilashi, better known by the name of Rabbi Solomon Jarchi. These com- mentators ascribe the rapid increase to Jocundity among the Hebrews. The opinions of the two first mentioned writers, "that the Hebrew women may have often given birth to twins," is quite in accord- ance with the well established fact thai such is very common in Egypt, as we learn from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. vii., 4, and Diny, Nat. Hist, vii., 3, and from ma'iy other writers, both ancient and modern ; as to the opinions of the two latter, I must agree with Dr. Colenso that they are somewhat extravagant; but the wisest man is apt to say sometimes an unreason- able thing. To meet the arguments of these com- mentators. Bishop Colenso says, that "Scripture implies no such fecundity among the Hebrews." In this I thinl he is undoubtedly wrong; the statement in the nan tive, that "the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, and waxed exceed- ingiy mighty, and the land was filled with them," appears to me as clearly implying fecundity as it can well do without its being declared in plain language. The design of the sacred writer is to give merely the most essendal occurreaces of the historical por- tion of the sacred narrative, without entering into details, or assigning causes, nor is it reasonable to demand or to expect more. The Scriptures were designed to be used by the occupants of the humblest cottage, as well as by those who dwell in palaces, and if, therefore, ever^ unimportant circumstance that transoired durino* tho mRnv nonhin'oa wi^'nk *v.r> I, Eben own by 3e com- cundity wo first en may accord- is very e, Hist, nd from II ; as to mih Dr. mt; but ireason- SG cora- cripture rs," In atemeut el vere exceed' them," as it can ngiiage . merely 3al por- ing into lable to es were umblest palaces, mstance 123 sacred narrative embraces had been fully described the Bible would have been swelled to such dimension a must have limited its use to a very great extent ^ In concluding this subject, I may say, that so much has been said and written about the extraordinary increase of the Israelites in Egypt, and yet, in all probability, had it been merely a subject of secular history, no one would for a moment have questioned Its veracity. In the statistical accounts of modern nations, we often meet with instances of rapid and extraordinary increase of population; and as an example, I may mention here, that in the year 1785 the population of Ireland was estimated on the basis of returns obtained from the hearth-money collect- ors, at a medium of six inhabitants to a house, at 2,845,932; and in 17S8 Mr. Warker Bushe esti- mated it from the hearth-money returns, and othei' data, at 4.040,000. See McCulloch's Statistical Account of the British Empire, vol. i, p. 436. The table exhibiting the population of the different counties, page 437, shews also a remarkable increase in some of the counties. It will probably be said, that this rapid increase is owing to an influx of emi- grants; Mr. McCulloch does certainly not assign this as one of the causes, but ascribes it chiefly to the splitting up of large estates into small portions, to early marriages, &c. We frequently, too, hear o*" cases of extensive pro- geny. Two instances of this kind have lately been brought to our notice by some of the public journals ; one is that of " Mr. Lemay Deloame, who at his death in 1849 had a posterity of 225 children and grand-children;" the other is that of "Madame Rosa- 124 lie Gagno Talbot, who had 17 children," and rec- koned "at the time of her death an addition of 188 grand and groat-«?rand children all alive." Instances of such rapid multiplication arc apparently not con- lined to any particular country ; on the monument of the Rev. Dr. Honey wood, Dean of Lincoln, in the Cathedral of that diocese is the following inscription : " Here lyeth the body of Michael Honey wood, D.D., Who was grand-child and one of the Three hundred and sixty-seven persons That Mary the wife of Kobert Iloneywood, Esq., Did see before she died. Lawfully descended from her," &c. On a monument at Hegdon is the following in- scription : " Here lyeth the body of William Strutton, of Puddington, "Who had, by his first wife, twenty-eight children, And by a second, seventeen ; Own father to forty-five. Grand-father to eighty-six, Great grand-father to ninety-seven. And great great grand-father to twenty-three. In all two hundred and fifty-one." Pettigrew'a GkronicU? of the Tombs, pp. 216, 505, 506. I might give other similar examples, but these will suffice ; and i am sure Dr. Coleaso will allow the possibility of such cases having ocv^urred among the Hebrew families in Egypt. From what has now been said, the reader will perceive that even this stronghold of the opponents of Scripture is by no means impregnable, and that the difficulties with which some would invest this subject after all admit of a ready explanation. ARTICLE XI. THE ISRAELITES ARMED. This subject forms the theme of chapter IX. in Bishop Colenso's Book, and is founded on Exodus xiii., 18 : "The children of Israel went up harnes- sed out of the land of Egypt." Upon this he re- marks, " the word chamushim, here rendered 'har- nessed,' appears to mean 'armed' or 'in battle array' in all other passages where it occurs." And a little further on he says, "It is, however, inconceivable that these down-trodden, oppressed people should have been allowed by Pharoah to possess arms, so as to turn out at a moment's notice 600,000 armed men. If such a mighty host— nearly nine tunes as great as the whole of Wellington's army at Waterloo, (69,686 men,) had had arms in their hands, would they not have risen long ago for iheir liberty, or, at all events, would there have been no danger of their rising ?" Dr. Colenso was aware that the best au- thorities are by no means agreed upon as to the real meaning of the Hebrew word rendered " harnessed," and, therefore, before he ventured to question the veracity of the statement in the passage under con- sideration, he should have first set the philological difficulty at rest. It is true, that in some of the pas- sages where the word occurs, it seems to have the 120 signification of " armed," or in "battle array," but anymore tyro in Hebrew philology kuows, that most Hebrew words besides their primary meaning have also accessary significations, and that frequently the meaning can only bo determined by tho context. The translators of the English version, have evidently experienced some difficulty in translating the Hebrew word in question in the passage before us, they have rendered it "harnessed"— in the margin, however, they have given it tho meaning of "by five in a rank." In Josh i., 14, it is translated " armed"~-iir the margin, "marshalled by five." In the ancient versions the word is likewise differently rendered, and both ancient and modern commentators differ greatly in their views in regard to its meaning. Now, in my opinion, of all the various significations that have been attached to it, there are only three which are deserving of notice; and these I shall now consider, .ogether with their bearing upon tha pas- sage. From other passages where the word occurs, as Josh, i., 14, iv., 2, Judg. vii., 11, it appears that it may denote armed. Now supposing this is the mean- ing of it in the passage before us, must we necessarily infer from it that all the children of Israel who went up from Egypt were armed ? If we hear of a country arming, do wc understand by it that every man from eighteen to tweniy years old and upwards is shoulder- ing the musket ? Or if we read of the French in- vading a country, does it imply that every man in France capable of bearing arms takes part in the in- vasion? Or again, if it is said that Irx'u VH. i^ r^J^ 127 Toronto had a public mcetinp: in tho City Hall, does It mean that every inhabitant had l)een present? If then such (general expressions are constantly used with ua in a limited mise, why should not the sacred writer be pernutted to use similar phrases in a restrtcte,^ sense / Indeed the Scriptures abound in expressions of this kind ; thus, in Job i., 15, it is said " And the Sabeans fell upon them," (i. e., upon the oxen and asses,) "and took them away; yea, they have slain (ho servants with (he edge of the svvord " Here can only be meant some of the Sabeans, who were a powerful peo[)lo dwellin;; in Arabia Felix I. readily agree with Dr. Colenso, that it is not very probable that the Hebrews possessed enough arms so as to turn out 000,000 armed men, or else they would Furely have made some attempt to free themselves from their bondage, neither would they have evinced such fear when pursued by the Egyp- tians. But we may reasonably suppose that they had gathered up a large number of arms during their stay in Egypt to equip a considerable number of men, and in that case the Israelites might still be said to have gone up " armed." The Israelites had had sufficient warning to make all the necessary pre- parations for their journey. When one plague fol- lowed another of a more terrific nature, however in- credulous some may at first have been, they must soon have become convinced that the mighty Jeho- vah was working out their deliverance. Moses during this time, woulu, no doubt, instruct the people, through the elders, what provisions they were to make for lueir journey, and the people would only 128 bo too ^Ittd to follow his iust ructions. Although their 8to(;k of arms on leuving lOjO'pt may not have been very hirgo, it was no doubt greatly uugiuented after the Egyptians hud peri.sliLMl in the Uud 8ea. Jose- phuH, indeed, tells us, that on the next day Moses gathered together the weaf)ons of the Kgyptians, Ant. ii., 16, ; and it is (juito reasonable to suppose, that ^whep the Israelites saw the Kgy{)tians lying dead on the aeas'uD»'o, they would appropriate to themselves such armour as they slood most in need of; a prac- tice which is quite common in modern warfare, al- though historians do not always think It worth their while to record it. At (he time, then, when the israolites fought the Amalekites they were no doubt amply provided with all kinds of arms. Again, the Hebrew word chamushim may .also de- note ''in battle array ^'' but tlien, if this is the sense here, it can only mean that the Hebrews went up, as if it were, in battle array, or, in other words, in per- fect order. Kven regular armies do not go in battle array when on their march, unless when they are about to go into action, and why should the Israelites march out of Egypt in that manner, when they had not the remotest idea of encountering an enemy ? The rendering as if it were in bal'le array is quite admissible, for the phrase ''as it were^^ must fre- queutlj' be supplied in Scripture, as, for example, Gen. xi., 4, "And they said come, let us build for us a city, and a tower, and whose top is unto heaven," i. e., as if it were reaching unto heaven, meaning ey ceedingly high, and not, as some have absurdly sup- posed, that they were building the tower in order to scale the heavens. 129 Wo have already seen what perfect order per- vaded the wandering of the Israelites through the wilderness, and it is therefore quite poaaiblo that the phrase, as if it were "in battle array," may con- vey to us here the idea of going ojit of Egypt in re- gular order, and not in a confused manner. TMe term chamushim admits yet of another render- if!g, if we ehungo the vowel points and read chamish- shim, it denotes Ay Jifny, ,uid may mean that liiey went up by fifty in a company—of which number of soldiers a company generally consisted in the army of the Hebrews— I'once wc frequently meet with the phrase, captain of fifty.— Sec 2 Kings i., 9 ; Isa. iii., 3. It is l)ut right to inform the reader who may not have a knowledge of the Hebrew language, that the vowels in Hebrew are expressed by points and strokes— a similar systom exists in other orien- tal languages— which were however introduced only some centuries after the Christian era, when the language began to fall into disuse. Now, although these vowel points are of the greatest imi)ortance, having been introduced by learned abbies, well skilled in the language, when the He*, row was yet spoken, and as handing down to us the correct pro- nunciation, yet they have no pretensions to divine origin equal with the sacred text ; and, therefore, when we find that a mere change of vowels in a word would afford a more suitable sense, we have not the same scruple in changing the vowels as we would have in altering a single consonant. It sometimes so happens, though not very often, that the context does not assist in determining the proper eignifica- 180 tion, in that cano wo may ruUurully oxpcct thatoom- mentatorsiind critioH will dilTor in tlioir opiuiouM. A HtrikiiiK example of this kind in ulTonlcd in Gen. xlvii.. ;JI, " and rsruel bowml himself up■' -*■•■.- -iiM 134 liar with the localities and resources of the place to which he was afterwards to lead the Israelites. The knowledge which he had thus obtained must have largely contributed to facilitate the movements of such a large concourse of people, as it would enable him to anticipate any difficulties and obstacles that might come in their way on their journey, by mak- ing the necessary preparations to meet them But, continues Dr. Colenso, "And now let us see them on the march itself. If we imagine the people to have travelled through the open desert, in a wide body, fifty men abreast, as some suppose to have been the practice in the Hebrew armies, then, allow- ing an interval of a yard between each r^nk, the able-bodied warriors alone would have filled up the road for about seven miles, and the whole multitude would have formed a dense column more than twenty-two miles long— so that the last of the body could not have started till the front had advanced that distance, more than two days' journey for such a mixed company as this." Page 116. We do not pretend to dispute that the moving of so large an assemblage required a good deal of generalship; nay, we will even admit that there may have been many cases of individual hardships; but, at the same time, we have good reason to believe that V ses, who proved himself afterwards such an able leader, would make all the necessary arrangements to meet as much as possible the exigencies of the case. Dr. Colenso takes it for granted, that the Hebrews formed one continual line, and then, even "in a wide body, li^iy men abreast," it would form "a dense column l^- j^'- -^'^ s > S' T^ ^>;-*^: 136 more than twenty-two miles long." But who would ever dream of marching two millions of people in a " dense column ?" In uioving large bodies of men, for convenience sake they are divided into divisions, who move at considerable distances one from another, and this was no doubt the plan adopted when the Israelites set out on their Journey. Moses, who was well aware of.tlie route they were to take would make such disposition of those who met at the place of rendezvous, as was best calculated to facili- tate their march. It is impossible to speak with any certainty on this subject, for the sacred narrative only tells us, "And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth;" but we may still conjecture what the probable plan may have been which was adopted under the circumstance^. Rameses, as has already been stated, was situated— as is now generally admitted— in the middle part of the valley of the ancient canal, near the water-shed, between the Bitter Lakes and the vallev of the Seven Springs, not far from Heroopolis, and was, therefore, about thirty miles distant from the head of the Gulf of Suez, (see Dr. Robinson's Bibl. Researches, vol. i., p. 79; Hengstenberg die Bucher Mose, p. 48,) a dis- tance which the Israelites could easily perform in three days As Moses and Aaron, together with a great number of Hebrews, probably resided in this city, they may be said to have set out from that place, just as we speak of an army removing from a place where merely the head-quarters had been established. Those who had resided in other parts of the land of Groshen, and had only come to Rameses as the place ;* ,- i . ' "V "KKS t Wrtc" "J i -4- m 136 of rondozvous, very likely encamped along the route they were to take, ho that a largo' body ol them would have been well in advance when the final movement began. Mor need we assume, with Dr. Oolenso, that they all pursued one line of march, but the twelve tribes may have moved in three or four columns, each keeping a convenient distance one from the other, an order which they would maintain likewise when they lialted. There was no want of room, and therefore not the least necessity for marching in " a dense column." Whether this was the j)lan of march or one some- what similar, it is impossible to say; this much how- ever is certain, that there was not the least difhculty in making such a disposition of the twelve tribes with their herds and flocks, as to prevent any one inter- fering with the other ; and we may rest assured that Moses ..nd Aaron, with the assistance of the elders, would do every thing in their power to render the journey as little irksome as possible. We are frequently apt to look upon a thing as utterly im- practicable, because we do not exactly comprehend how it could be successfully accomplished, but as soon as we hear that it has been performed, and how it was done, we are astonished at ourselves, and wonder how we could have so overrated the difficul- ties. In the pages of secular history, too, we have many almost incredible exploits recorded as having been performed under peculiar circumstances, and which are received Jiind believed as undoubted facts, though it is not always clearly seen how they were accomplished. And why, I would ask, should there 137 be evinced such incredulity as to events recorded in sacred history? When we extend a liberal criticism to subjects in secular history, is it just, is it reasona- ble, to apply the iron rule to subjects in sacred history, and say— as Dr. Colenso and some other writers have done— tell us precisely the manner in which the two millions of Israelites marched out of Egypt upwards of three thousand years ago, or we must^de- clare the narrative to be mere fiction ? I say such a demand is arbitrary, and capricious in the extreme. But, asks Dr. Colenso, "and what of the sick and infirm, &c., in a population like thr ' of London ?" I have already said that there may possibly have been many cases of hardship and sutTering during the journey, such might naturally be expected among so brge a number of people ; but we may rest assured that ample provision was made to meet, as much as possible, the wants of such cases. It is, however, absurd to draw a comparison with London. The Hebrews were a cleanly and temperate pcop'e, their food was of the simplest kind, consisting chiefly of vegetables, lentils especially wore greatly esteemed among them, and are even to this day greatly used by the orientals : the climate of Egypt is equable and healthy ; under these circumstances we can readily imagine that sickness was not very prevalent among them. How difTerent is the case with the inhabitants of London— there want and excessive wretchedness among the poor, and the sumptuous living among the opulent, besides many other causes, contribute to engender disease. Dr. Coienso perceives yet another difficulty. He s r^W-::iymB> • ^ :^.r.iK. tv^ 188 fasks once more, " What tlien did those twc millions of sheep and oxen live upon during this journey from Rameses toSuecoth, and fromSuccoth to Ktham, and from Etham to the Red Sea?" The reader will re- member that in a former article, I have considerably reduced the number of sheep which Dr. Colenso as- cribes to the Israelites, it is therefore not necessary to oiTer any further remarks upon this subject ; 1 shall merely add, that the direct route of the Israelites from Rameses to the Red Sea was along the valley of the ancient canal — this valley and the immediate neighbourhood possessing great facilities for irriga- tion, no doubt enjoyed a high state of cultivation, for, as Dr. Robinson says, " wherever water is, there is fertility." We have said that the distance from Rameses to the Red sea was about thirty miles, and the sacred narrative informs us that the first day's march brought the Israelites to Succoth ; the name denotes booths, or huts, and probably was an encamping place, from whence it received its name. The next place where they halted was at Etham, (Egyptian ttiom, i. e., a boundary of the sea.) Here they were commanded to turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth ; the name, if of Hebrew origin, denotes, the mouth of the caves, but if it is Egyptian, pi-achi-ro(h, it means, a place where sedge grows. It is not necessary for us to as- sume that this journey was performed in three con- secutive days, on the contrary, it is very likely that they rested at each of these places. See Kum. xxxiii., 5, 6, 7. The direct route from Etham to Sinai was round 139 the head of the Gulph of Suez, and aloru? the eastern side of it, but instead of being permitted to take the shortest cou-je, they were commanded to turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, whicli led them down on the western side of the gulf, altogether out of their course. The reason for this digression from the re- gular route is given in Exodus xiv., 3, 4: "For Pharoah will say of the children of Israel, they are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut'thera in. And I will harden Pharoah's heart that he shiill follow after them,'' s-K.sr '^^^■■\iti;wm^mmMm'^' ^ ;,.-<.. ;■■ - ,v ARTICLE XIII. THE ISRAELITES DWELLINU IN TENTS. "Take yo every man roanna for them which are in his tents." — Exod. xvi., 16. Upon this passage Dr. Colenao remarks, "Here we tincl that, immediately after their coming out of Egypt, the people were provided with tents — cum- brous articles to have been carried, when they fled in haste, ' taking their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.' Exod. xii., 34. It is true, this statement conflicts strangely with that in Lev. xxiii., 42, 43, where it is assigned as a reason for their 'dwelling in booths' for seven days at the Feast of Tabernacles, 'that your generation may know that I mad' the children of Israel to dwell in hodths, when I brought them out of the landof Egypt." ' It cannot be said that the word ''booths'' here means "tents," because the Hebrew word for Sibooth, made of boughs and bushes, succoh, which is the word here used, is quite different from that for a tent, ohel^ used in Exod. xvi., 16. And a little further on he says, "Now, allowing teii persons for each tent, (and decency would surely require that there should not be more than this— a Zulu hut in Natal contains on an average only three anda-half,) two millions of ^yeople II \^tJltl X •' iuirs ^vu.Uvu ten UZi, TT XJLUVV u A'. A iV UiU III acquire these ?" — pp. 94, 95. ey mm^^^m:.^^ ^f 141 Tents, from their first invention, have always been associated with the pastoral life, as afford- ing a habitation which could easily bo removed from place to place. In Gen. iv., 20, wo are told that " Jabal was the father (i. proaching travel- ler. This will explain the expression in Cant, i., 5, "I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusa- lem, as the tents of Kedar." Tents afford a delight- ful abode in the east, and many residents of towns continue to live in them during tho summer months. Those who are accustomed to live in tents would hardly exchange them for the finest houses, so that the Israelites did not suJer any hardship in this respect. But Dr. Colenso sees yet another difficulty; he asks : " But, further, if they had had these tents, how could they have cairied them? They could not have borne them on their shoulders, since these 'jre already occupied with other burdens." Page 96. Indeed, he draws a pitiful and dismal picture of the burdens which these Isr. elites had to carryj there 144 were tho " knca(linpf-trouj!;hs, with the dough un- leavenod;" there wore besides "all the other neces- sarie.s for daily domestic use, f»)r sleeping, cooking, Ac." Then, " there were the infants and children, who could scarcely have gone on foot twenty miles, as the story requires;" (certainly not, considering they had only alwut ten miles to go a day,) " there were the aged and infirm persons, who must have likewise needed assistance," &c. But It is somewhat Bur[)ri!jing, that whilst Bishop Colenso should have thought of all these things, ho should have entiroly forgotten that the Israelites did not set out from the uncivilised wilds of Africa, but from a country where they wore already ac(|uaintcd with agriculture, and all thnse arts of civilisation which indicate a social existence; where they could obtain carts or waggons, if they did not already possess them. Of oxen, which were generally employed to draw waggons, they had no doubt groat numbers, and if they requir- ed more beasts of burden, they might also employ camels for that purpose. Carts or waggons were in common use in Kgy[)t, in the time of Joseph, as we learn from Gen. xlv., 19, 27; and that the Israelites brought some with them out of Egypt is quite evident, for in Num. vii., 3, it is said that the princes of the tribes brought six covered waggons and twelve oxen as an offering before the tabernacle; this occurred while they encamped at Sinai. It is not at all improbable that the Egyptians even made the Israelites presents of waggons, since they were so "urgent upon the people, that they might ser.d them out of the land in haste." A waDrtron drawn bv a 145 yoke of oxen would take a f^roai many tents. Wo owiuot tlierefore seo the leaat difli(;ulty iu thu Israel- ites And ing auftieient ineaufl to carry their '• tenia" and "all otiior nece«aariejj for daily domestic use," which in those days were few and simple. D» Coleuao takes umbrage at the word ' uuIh " beiDg used in Exod. xvi., 10, whilst in Lev. xxiii., 42, the word " booths ' is employed. Now I do not see iu what way the " statement " in the former pas- sage "conflicts slri.. .aly" with what is said in the latter, simply because there arc two different terms used. The words in iioth places are correctly em- plo^rcd. The Israelites during their journeying in th^ wilderness lived in tents, and accordingly Ihev were commanded Kxod. xvi., IG, to gather manna only according to the nundicr of the occu[)ants in each lent. In I jv. xxiii., 42, 43, the case is quite different, there the Feast of Tabernacles was in- stituted in commemoration of their having dwelled in tents, aud as this feast was to be observed by all Tews wherever they might dwell and under all cir- cumstances, therefore the sacred writer employed the word siiccoth, which denotes "booths" and "tents," indicating thereby that either might be used as most convenient, and as the erection of a booth with boughs does not involve any expense, even the poorest would not bo debarred from celebrating the feast. The word succoth, in verse 43, should have been transkaed " tents," and it would then have read, " That your fl^ene rations may know that 1 made the children of Israel to dwell iu tents, when I brought them out of the knd of Ecrvnt," M 146 Dr. Colenso admits that the word succoth is "in 2 Sam. xi., 11, and one or two other places," used in the sense of " tent?," but he says it is used "impro- perly," pagp 95. This is the greatest piece of pre- sumption that I have ever met with in my critical work. It is simply affirming that the f-' icred writer did not know his own language. We ; tiall immedi- ately be told that Job, Solomon, and Isaiah did not know Hebrew, because the former makes use of the expression bitte chomar — literally, house of clay — to denote the human body, Job. iv., 19 j and the two latter employ the word bayith — a house — in the sense of a grave, Isaiah xiv., 18, Eccl. xii., 6 ; and also that David, Jeremiah and other prophets employed the Hebrew word bath — daughter — " improperly," wh^n they made use of such expressions as daughter of Zion, dan .ter of Tyre, daughter of Egypt, to ex- press the inuabitants of those countries. If Bishop Colenso is going to restrict Hebrew words to one sig- nification, then all I can say is, that he is ushering in a revolution in Hebrew philology, which would only find its parallel in the revolution he is endeavouring to create in the religious world by his new mode of interpreting the Scriptures. Had the Bishop employed the usual means of ob- taining the correct meaning of a derivative v^ord, by tracing the noun succah to its root, he vvould have found that it is derived from the verb sachach, to cover, as with boughs or cloth, &c., and hence may denote cither a booth, hut, or tent. Bat Dr. Colenso goes on to say, " And besides, in the con- text in the passage in Leviticus, we have a descrip- tion of the way in which these booths were to be ^<^^--:^. m-'-'^'^'^tu- ". - '^'-' '" -^'^ "\ ^- " ' ■'<>' •' '" •' " ' ','.'.'"' '" ...-.^- .. •■.< .- ■"."■ j^^^-'^^- '' 147 made, ' Ye shall take you the boughs of goodly trees, branches o* the palm tree, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of tho brook,' v. 40. This seems to fix the meaning of the Hebrew word in this par- ticular passage, and to show that it is used in its pro- per sense of ' booths' "—pp. 94, 95. In this supposition Bishop Colenso is entirely wrong ; for verse 40 does not refer to the cover- ing of the "booths" mentioned in verses 42, 43, but refers altogether to a different ceremony, which was to be observed at the Feast of Tabernacles. He has fallen into this error by following the English ver- sion, which does not afford a correct »-endering of the original. It should have been translated, "And ye shall take to yourselves on the first day the fruit of a beautiful tree, branches of the palm tree, and a branch of the myrtle tree, and willows of the brook ; and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days." I cannot understand why the translators of the English version should have rendered here peri ets hadar, by boughs of goodly trees, instead of " the fruit of a beautiful tree;" the latter meaning is, how- ever, given in the margin. In the Vulgate it is translated " fructus arboris pulcherrima3 ;" in the French version, "du fruit d'un bel arbre;" and in the German version, " Friichte von schonen Baii- men." The best Jewish writers understand by "the fruit," the citron. The Hebrew words anaph ets avoth, which I have rendered, "a branch of the myr- tle tree," properly means, " a branch of a tree with thick foliage," but it is generall,^ allowed +>i«> ««'»/* is a species of myr having thick foliage. HS'lt 'T. r-«aM 148 The Feast of Tabernacles wiis instituted not only in commemoration of the journey trough the wilderness, but was also designed as a festival of thanksgiving for the bountiful supply of the rich fruit of the earth, and hence it was likewise called chag haasaph, i. e., " the feast of ingathering," — Exodus xxiii., 16. And as it was a season of the greatest festivity and rejoicing, the Talmudists, by way of dis- tinction, have designated it also hachag, i. «?., " the feast." During the religious services, the Jews car- ried in one hand the fruit of a beautifui tree, (per- haps a citron,) and in the other the branch of the palm tree, a branch of myrtle, and a few branches of wil- lows, and it is to this service that verse 40 has refer- ence. Josephus speaks of this rite as follows : — "We should then carry in our hands a branch of myrtle, and willow, and the bough of the palm tree, with the addition of the pome-citron." Ant. iii., 10, 4. In the writings of the ancient rabbles, the cere- mony is likewise described. They say, " Those who took part in the festival carried in the left hand a citron, in the right hand a bunch of branches, viz., one branch of palm-tree, and two branches of willow, and a branch of myrtle, they passed round an altar and repeated with a loud voice in a solemn manner, '' hoshia nah, Hosanna." This ceremony is still ob- served at the present day wherever the Jews cele- brate the Feast of Tabernacles in a proper man- ner. Is it not strange that Bishop Colenso should have been ignorant of the existence of such a service ? ARTICLE XIV. THE SIZE OF THE COURTOF THE TABERNACLE COMPARED WITH THE NUMBER OF THE ' CONGREGATION. "And Jehovah spake uuto Moses, saying . . . Gather thou the congregation unto the door of the taberna- cle of the congregation. And Moses did as Jehovah commanded him. And the assembly was gathered unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." -—Lev. viii., 1-4. Here Dr. Colenso remarks : "It appears to be certain that by the expressions used so often, here and elsewhere, 'the assembly,' Hhe whole assem- bly,' 'all the congregation,' is meant the whole body of the people — at all events, the adult males in the prime of life, among them— and not merely the elders or heads of tho people, as some have supposed, in order to escape from such difl5culties as that which we are now about to consider" p. 67. He tnen quotes a number of passages to shew that all the people must be meant by such expressions as "the whole assembly,'' "all the congregation;" but he is inclined not to be too severe in his criti- cism, and to " confine " his " attention for the present to the 603,550 warriors, (Num. ii., 22,) who cer- tainly must have formed a part of ' the whole con- gregation,' leaving out of consideration the multi- tude of old men, women, and children." But now we come to the difficulty, "the whole width of the tabernacle," he says, was only "10 cubits, or 18 feet, and its length was 30 cubits, or 34 feet, as may be gathered from Exod. xxvi. Allowing two feet in width for each full-grown man, nine men could just have stood in front of it." But think, reader, supposing ail the congregation of the adult males had assembled, and had taken their stand, .#■ 160 "Sido by side, as closely as possible, in front, not merely at the door, but at tho whole end of the tabernacle in which the door was, they would have reached, allowing 18 inches between each rank of nine men, for a distance more than 100,000 feet, in fact, nearly twenty miles." Page 79. Then as to the court, " when thronged," observes Dr. Colenso, it "could only have held 5,000 people; where'^.s, the able- bodied men exceeded 600,000. Even the ministering Levites, 'from thirty to fifty years old,' were 8,580 in num- ber, (Num. iv., 48,) only 504 of these could have stood with- in tho court in front of the tabernacle, and not two-thirds of them could have entered tho court, if they had filled it from one end to the other." Page 80. The children of Israel were here commanded to assemble at the tabernacle to witness the consecra- tion of Aaron and his sons. As this was the first ceremony of the kind ever performed, and withal an exceedingly solemn one, T doubt not that all who could possibly attend, whether men or women, old or young, joyfully obeyed the summons. I cannot, therefore, accept Dr. Colenso's liberal offer to limit the assemblage to the able bodied men only. But it will be asked, where can you find any thing like sufficient room for so vast a number of people within the court in front of the tabernacle? There can be but one answer given to this question, and that is, the sacred narrative neither says nor implies that the people were to assemble inside the court, and if the Bishop finds any difficulty in the above passage, it is not the fault of the inspired writer, but his own, in not having sufficiently considered the language of the sacred text. It is not said here, shkan) i. e., within the court of the tabernacle, %hich ^'if 'i- Ml^UiH 161 expression the sacred writer would, no doubt have employed, had the divine command been for the people to assemble there, but it is said, {elpetachohd moed,) "at the door of the tabernacle of the congre- gaHon." There is just as much difference in these tw > phraseologies as there would bo in the citizens of a large town being ordered (or a certain purpose to assemble, both old and young, in a room of a certain building, or to assemble at the door of that building, where there would bo plenty of room for all. The term {ohel moed) literally means the tent of meeting, and was so called, because the assemblies of the people were held before it; it was there where it pleased Jehovah to meet with the children of Israel. "This shall be a continual burnt offering through- out your generations at the door of the tabernajle of the congregation before the Lord: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee. And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory."— Exod. xxix., 42, 43. But let us compare now, Exod. xxv., 21, 22, " And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And tl: I will meet with thee and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims, which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel." The divine commands were delivered from the mercy seat, which was in the Holy of Holies, where none but the High Priest was permitted to enter, and he again communicated them to the people. It is, therefore, plain that 152 wherever God met the people by displaying His glory, they were assembled outside, and not within the tabernacle, whilst the divine communications were delivered to the High Priest from the mercy- seat only. Hence we find it distinctly stated (Exod. xl., 29,) that "the altar of burnt offering" was placed "by the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation;" and again in Lev. xvii., 4, that all the people had to bring the beasts that they killed, •' unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation to offer an offering unto the Lord." Thus it will be seen that even when they brought an offering, they did not bring it toithin the tabcnacle, but only to the door, or entrance of it, ' The reader will better understand what has just been said, by picturing to himself an enclosed place with an entrance, and another enclosed place of smaller dimensions \Yithin this one. The inner en- closure would represent the tabernacle, which was divided into " the holy place" and " the most holy" by a vail. See Exod. xxvi., 31-34. The space be- tween the inner and outer enclosure formed the " court of the tabernacle." Now it was before the entrance of this outer enclosure that the people as- sembled, and hence was called the "tabernacle of the congregatiori •' or "meeting." Dr. Colenso has evidently not studied the construction of the taber- nacle, and hence has fallen into error by supposing the people were commanded to assemble "within the court " before the door of the tabernacle. But Dr. Colenso lays likewise great stress upon the words, *'unto the door of the tabernacle," as if the people had been commanded to come up close to the door ; 163 but the reader knows well what is meant by such an expression, simply as many as could come up to it, whilst those who could not come within a mile or more of the door, would nevertheless form as much a part of the assembly as those who were near it. But further, with all due respect to the Bishop, I must say, that ho has apparently not enquired suffi- ciently into the origin of the meanings of Hebrew words. Now it is evident that before you can come up to a place, it is necessary that we first go towards . it, and hence the primary meaning of the Hebrew pre- position t/, is, "towards," that is, in the direction /o- wards a place or person, whilst only in a secondary sense it denotes to or unto, or at. As, for instance, Isaiah xxxviii., 2, "Then Hezekiah turned his face (el) towards the wall." And again, Eccles. i., 6, "The wind goeth (^/) towards the south." And I see no reason why it should not be so rendered in the passage before us; "and the assembly was gathered [el) towards the door of the tabernacle." I maintain, then, that the people were not required to assemble " within the court of the tabernacle," but before it, where there was ample room, and where even those that were furthest from the door could see when "the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people." fiee Lev. ix., 23. In short, if the view which Dr. Colenso takes of the subject were the correct one, it would involve such a great absurdity, that one can hardly conceive that the writer, whoever he might have been, ex- pected to pass it off as a fact, unless, indeed, he looked upon all his readers as a set of idiots. ws^^^; %''^'v ^-iTg^^'-r :^v?^'^?^;^^ •jt^s^^^'^;^ . -'XW^ iliSifciiftliaftSiiiiBiSiiiiMftik;**^ ARTICLE XV. THE NUMBER OF FIRST BORN COMPARED WITH THE NUMBER OF MALE ADULTS. " All the first-born males, from a month old and upwards, of those that were numbered, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and three score and thirteen. — Num. iii., 43." Upon this passage Dr. Colcnso remarks — p. 141 : " Let us see wliat this statement implies when treated as a simple matter of fact For this purpose I quote the words of Kurtz, iii., p, 209 :" " If there were 600,000 males twenty years and upwards, the whole number of males may be reckoned at 900,000, (ho elsewhere reckons them 1,000,000,) in which case there would b^^ only one first-born to forty-two (forty-four) males. In other words, the number of boys in every family must have been on the average forty-two." Dr. Colenso so constantly quotes from Kurtz that we would almost imagine him to be the authorised interpreter of the Bible, expressing both the opinions of Christians and Jews. I cannot, for my part, see in what way the opinions of Kurtz will in the least assist to establish Dr. Colenso's views. If Kurtz's arguments do not appear satisfactory to the Bishop, it does not follow that no better arguments have been or can be advanced. Kurtz, like other interpreters, may in many instances have been very happy in I 155 some arguments, whilst in others, again, ho may have entirely failed. But I am to show that there is no discrepancy in the small number of flrst-born ; and that there is really no necessity for assuming " the number of boys in every family to have been on the average forty-two." There are various causes which may have contri- buted to give so small a number of first-born at the first numbering. In the first place I remark, that many first-born must have been killed when Pharaoh ordered the first-born to be slain, when we know what a providential escape Moses had from losing his life when an infant. Secondly, many of the first- born, no doubt, had died before the first numbering took place. Dr. Colenso admits, p. 144, that such may have been the case, though he says it would only slightly diminish the difficulty. Whether it would slightly or greatly diminish the difficulty de- pends altogether on the number of iirst-born that were killed when Pharaoh ordered them to be slain, and on the number that had died before the number- ing. Thirdly, it is well known that mothers fre- quently lose their first child in child-birth, and yet very often have large families; in all such cases the sons born afterwards would go to swell the total mim- her of males, but there would be no first-born males to swell the number of Jirst-born. Fourthly, a man might have many wives, and children by each of them, but he could only have one first-born. This has been very properly maintained by J. D. Michaelis and many other commentators. There cannot be a _i? J. shadow ui uouwi, iiiai vviierever tne wim jirsi-oorti 166 in Scripture rofors to human offspring, it always means flrst-born on the father's as well as on the mother's side. Kurtz and Dr. Colcnso, however, maintain that it means only on the mother's side. Happily wo arc not left to mere conjecture in this respect, for there arc several instances which clearly shew in what sense the term " first-born" is used in Scripture. Jacob, for example, had two wives and two concubine-wives ; the first child of each of these was a son; according to Dr. Colenso and Kurtz, Jacob must have had four first-born ; but the patri- arch himself declares, Gen. xlix., 3, •' Reuben, thou art my first-born." In Num. i., 20, we read again, " And the children of Reuben, the first-born of Israel," rendered in the English version, " Israel's eldest son." Gideon, the fifth judge of Israel, had seventy sons by many wives, (Judg. viii., 30,) but he had only one first-born. In verse 20 we read, "And he said unto Jether, his first-born, up, and slay them." David, too, had many wives and many sons ; in 2 Sam. iii., 2-6, it is recorded that ho had six sons by six different mothers in Hebron, but in verse 2 it is distinctly mentioned that "his first-born was Am- non." After he came to Jerusalem he took more wives besides concubines, who bore him sons and daughters. See ch. v., 13-lG, 1 Chron. iii., 6-9. In Deut. xxi., 16-17, there is a law laid down which declares : "If a man hath two wives, one beloved and another hated ; and tlioy lia 'c borne him children; (Hebrew, bamm^ sons,) both the beloved and the hated ; and if the first-born son be hers that was hated : then it shall be when he maketh ■j:sf^sijg\ii'- 167 hi« lonfl to inherit that which ho hath, that ho may not make tho ion of the beloved first-born boforo tho son of the liatcd, which it indeed tho first-born : but ho shall acknowledge the son of tho hated for the first-born by giving him a double portion of all that ho hath : for ho is the beginning of his strength; tho right of tho first-born is his." This law clearly fi ws? that tho Scriptures recog- nise only one firat-bork in a family. Dr. Colenso asks, " What is tho uso of quoting such paiMgefl fti Gon. xlix., 8, ' Reuben, thou art my first-born;' Num. i,, 20, « Reuben, Israel's eldest son,' or Deut. xxi., 15-17, when tho man's first-born is not to be disinherited upon private affection ?"— p. 145. I reply, "the use of quoting such passages " is to shew in what sense the terra Jirst-born ia used in Scripture. As certain rights of primogeniture existed since the days of the patriarchs, which were regarded of the utmost importance, the reader may easily imagine what strife and contention it would have given rise to in families where there were several first-born. I, for my part, cannot sec how a father who had two, three, four, or more first-born, could possibly have decided who should be the favoured one, without giving oflfence, and doing great injustice to the others, if they indeed had an equal right to the honour and privileges appertaining to the birth- right. The law which decided the right of primo- geniture in case there were several first-born sons, seems to have been well understood, and conscien- tiously acted upon, even in the times of the patri- archs. Jacob would, no doubt, rather have bestowed mmm.^w 158 If ^Km' Uio birth-rigUt upon Joeopli, wboru ho loved above uU bis brethren, uiul who waH afterwardH his bene- factor, beaidcH being tin? lirHt-liorn of his favourite wife KacncI; but, notwithntanding all these coDsider- ations, Jacob still declared " Uoubcn, my flral-born art thou, my might and the beginning of my strengtli." The crime, however, which Reuben committed, was one of the deepest dye, (see Uen. xxxv., 22,) and the pain and grief which the act caused to the pious and aged patriarch, must have been great in the extreme. Such a deed demanded the severest i)un- ishment that was in his power to inflict, and conso- qucntly he deprived him of the privileges which belonged to him as first-born; "thou shalt not excel," (Gen. xlix., 4,) i.e., thou art cut off from the pre- eminence which would have belonged to the first- born.* There can, therefore, be no (luestion that the term (bfchor) /irst-borti, as already .stated, when it refers to human offspring, means the first-born on the father's, as well as on the mother's side, and would conse(|uently have been better rendered hy first - begotten. That this is the proper meaning of the *Orkelos, ia his Targum, has parapUrnsed Qen. xWx., 3, "Rouben, my firfit-bora art thou, my might, and the beginning of my strength; th^a wouldst have received three portions, the birth-right, («.T Vii v^ iX Ui: i luC 173 3ut, says Dr. Colenso, " Wo aro told in 2 Chron. XX., 16, XXX?., 11, that the people killed the pas- sover, but ' the prvsts sprinkled the hlowl from their lands.' " It IS ((uito poHsiblo that after the temple was erected, and the pooplj were obliged to kill the passover " in the court of the temple,^' that some of the blood was iaken and sprinkled upon the altar ; al- though, as before said, there is no where any coli- mand to that efTeet. Hut surely Dr. Colenso does not mean to tell us, that because such a cu.stom ex- isted in the time of llezekiah, it must also have ex- isted in the wilderness ? I will take the same chap- ters from which ho above cpioted, and will point out another custom or service which did not exist in the wilderness, [n chapter xxx., 21, wo read, "And the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great gladness ; and the Levites and Priests praised the Lord day by day, singing (accompanied) with loud instruments unto the Lord." So again in eh. XXXV., 15, we read, "And the singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their place according to the command- ment of David." Here, then, we have the custom of singingof psalms accompanied by musical instruments, which certainly did not exist in the tabernacle service in the wilderness. And, no doubt, there were other ceremonies introduced in the Temple which were never practised before. I might now dismiss this subject, for, from what has been said, the most llistidious of readers must perceive that Dr. Colenso's objection is entirely groundless, not to say ridicuidua. Bui in-order to u in dhow how ,.ard Dr. Colenso labours, and to what "shifts " he has recourse to make out a case, I will examine his argument, which he here advances. He remarks : " Besides which, in the time of Hezokiah and Josiah, when it was desired to keep the passcvcr strictly, ' in sui.h sort as it was written,' 2 Chron. xxx., 5, the Iambs were manifestly killed in the court of the Twiple. We must suppose, then, that the f'aschal lambs in the wilderness were killed in the court of the tabernacle, in accordance, in fact, with the strict in- jrnctions of the Levitical Law, that all Ivui nt-offerings, peace-offerings, sin-offerings, and trespass-offeiings should be killed before Jehovah, at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation"--p.p. 195-196. I reply, after the erection of the Temple, which had a very spacious court, hence called (2 Chron. iv., 9) "the great court," the lambs were no doubt slain in the rourio/the Temple- for as we have shown from Deut. xvi., the paschal lamb could no longer be kil- led at home, but in the place where "the Lord God may choose to place his name." And certainly that was the most convenient place, considering the vast assemblage of people that must have come to Jerusa- lem to celebrate the passover. But according to the original institution, the lambs were to be slain at home, and the first allusion we have to any change is at the end of the 40 years' wandering. Nor is the precise time known when the killing of the paschal lamb at home was discontinued— probably not until the temple was erected. But even supposing the Iambs had to be brought to be killed "before Jeho- van," it still would not have been in the court of the tabernacle but at the door of the fahemncle of the 176 congregation, -vhich, as we have already shewn, is quite a distinct place, and where there was plenty of room for all purposes. If Dr. Colenso, had paid more attention to the construction of the tabernacle, he would have saved himself (he trouble of calculat- ing the number of " square yards " of the court, and the number of people that could be crow( sd into that space, and might have prevented many smiles at his ignorance of the subject. Besides, the passover nei- ther belongs to burnt- offerings, peace-offerings, nor to sin-offerings, or trespass-offerings, but to what maybe termed a memorial ofering, and hence the laws re- garding the other offerings cannot apply to the killing of the paschal lamb. But observes Dr. Colenso again : '' We have this most solemn command laid down in Lev. xvii., 3-4, with the penalty of* deatli attached for disobedi- ence. ' What man soever there be of the house of Israel that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp, andbringethitnotunto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the Lord before tlie tabernacle of the Lord ; blood shall be im- puted unto thatuan; he hath shed blood; and that m^n shall he ci?t off among his people.' " I admit that this is a plausible argument, and at first sight appears to be conclusive; but when we examine it more minutely, it will at once become apparent that this law does not in the least affect the passover. Sacrificing to strange gods was a com- mon practice among heathen nations, and the Hebrews themselves apparently had adopted the practice to a great extent; this is evident from iXoses' last address, Deut. xxxii., 17, "They sacri- ■'■-'A^^ SiSB ficed unto devils, not to God ; to gods whom they knew not." In order to prevent thi» abominable practice, God commanded that if an Hebrew killed an animal, whether for the use of his family, or for voluntary sacrifice, he was to bring it to the door of the tabernacle, and then kill it, and have some of the blood sprinkled "upon the altar of the Lord." But the passover was not killed for the common use of a family, nor was it a voluntary offering, but was to be slain altogether on a particular occasion, and both for the killing, and the manner in which it was to be eaten, there existed already special laws, which were given when it was first instituted. Dr. Colenso also limits the work to be performed by the priests to "two hours," taking for granted that the expression "between the two evenings," the time fixed for killing the paschal lamb, means pre- cisely two hours. Now Dr. Colenso knows perfectly well that neither Jewish nor Christian commentators are agreed upon as to the exact meaning of that expression, and, indeed, any thing that is said upon that subject must necessarily be mere conjecture. The Karaites, Samaritans, and Aben Ezra, have one opinion; the Pharisees have auother; Jarchi and Kimchi differ again from the preceding, and so on. As I have shown that the paschal lamb was not slain at the tabernacle, nor the blood sprinkled by the priests during the wandering in the wilder- ness, and have thus relieved the priests of the labour which Dr. Colenso and Kurtz imposed upon them, it matters not in the least what the expression "bet- ween the two evenings" means. Theie is, however, 4. .^. -* »*- J^i*" ■ *— " 177 one opinion which deserves especially to be noticed; it was held by some ancient Rabbics, and adopted by many modern learned Jews and Christians; according to them, the expression .etwe«n the two evenings," means Me time when the sun begins to decHm towards the west, until night; they regarded the beginning of the declining of the sun as one even- ing, and the time just after the setting of the sun as the second evening. This would give nearly six hours for the killing of the passover. Of all the opinions, this is certainly the most reasonable, as it afforded ample time, and prevented confusion which must unavoidably have been the result had the time been shorter, considering the great multitude which must have assembled at the Temple to celebrate the passover. ARTICLE XYITT. THE NUMBER OF THE PEOPLE AND THE POLL-TAX. " And Jehovah spake unto Moses, say xig, when thou takest the sum of the childre'-' Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ran- som for his soul unto Jehovah when tbou number- est them, that there be no plague among them when thou numberest them. This they shall give, every one that pasaeth among then, ih^x are numbered, half 'i. ■m 178 rt a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary; an half a shekel shall bo the offering of Jehovah."— Exod. XXX., 11-13. Upon the above passage Dr. Colenso remarks, "We may first notice in passing, that the expression * shekel of the sanctuary ' in the above passage, could hardly have been used in this way until there ivaa a sanctuary in existence, or, rather, until the sanctuary had been some time in existence, and such a phrase had become familiar in the mouths of the people. Whereas, here it is put into tho mouth of Jehovah, speaking to Moses on mount Sinai, six or seven months before the tabernacle was made. And in Exod. xxxviii., 24, 25, 26, we have the same phrase used again, of the actual contributions of the people towards the building of the sanctuary " — p. 89. The objection which Dr. Colenso here urges, is simply, that we have here a certain coin mentioned, called the "shekel of the sanctuary," before the sanctuary actually existed. This, the Bishop thinks, is another proof of "the unlustorical character of the (so called) Mosaic narrative;" to me, however, it appears to be a perfectly childish objection. The ordinance, that those who were to be num- bered should give "half a shekel of the sanctuary," is one of the numerous commands which Moses received from God, in reference to the con?! ruction and service of the sanctuary, and are recorded in Exod. XXV. to xxxi., inclusive. The terra sanctuary is not introduced for the first time in the passage before us, but is already mentioned in ch. xxv., 8, where God said to Moses, "And let them make me a sanctuary ; that I may dwell among them." From this, thp jader will perceive that Moses had pre- viously received the command to build a sanctuary. .' 5 4- - » t\ . •. y ■T*"' ' . > 4.- 'b 1 < ' "^ 179 Now, for illustration sake, let us suppose (hat when it was determined upon to erect new parliament buildings, the legislature had likewise passed a law that a special tax should be imposed forthwith, to defray the expenses of the buildings, would not that tax have been called the parliament building tax, or by some such name that would indicate the purpose for which it was raised ? And why, I would ask, should not the shekel which was to be devoted to the service of the sanctuary be called "the skekel of the sanctuary ?' The value of the shekel in common use was of course well known, but " the shekel of the sanctuary" was to differ in value, and here an explanatory phrase is introduced — " a shekel is twenty gerahs." In the English version the last verse of the passage under consideration reads as follows: "This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary : (a shekel is twenty gerahs :) an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord." The reader will perceive, on referring to the passage at the beginning of this article, as quoted by Dr. Co- lenso, that he has. altogether omitted the explanatory phrase, " (a shekel is twenty gerahs,)" nor has he any where stated upon what authority he has done so. If the Bishop had any doubt as to the phrase being in the original, since it is bracketed in the authorised version, he should have first satisfied him- self on this point ; for in this connexion the phrase is of great importance, as it clearly shows that " the shekel of the sanctuary" was only then institated. In Exod. XXX., 13, we have merely the insti- 180 tnlion ot the ordinance, that hereafter whenever a general numbering was to take place, those that went to be numbered should give " halt' a shekel af- ter the sanctuary " aa atonement money, which was to be devotee' as stated in verse IG, to " the service of the tabernacle;" and there is, therefore, nothing inconsistent in the sanctuanj being mentioned, al- though not yet erected. But Dr. Colenso goes on to say : * 'Now in Exod. xxxviii., 2G, wo road of such a tribute being paid, 'a bckah for every man, that is, half a shekel af- ter the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upwards,' that is, the atonement money is collected ; but nothing is here said of any census being taken. On the other hand, in Num. i., 1-46, more than six months after the date of the former oc- casion, wo have an account of the formal numbering of the people. * * * * Here the census is made, but there is no indication of any atonement money being paid." From the language employed in Exod. xxxviii., 25, 26, it is evident that the formai census was taken ; the silver being required for the construction of the tabernacle, those that were of the proper age paid the half shekel, which on counting was found to amount to "an hundred talents, and a thousand seven hund- red and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary," representing 603,550 men from " twenty years old and upwards." As it was no formal numbering of the people, therefore nothing is said of any census being taken. In Num. i., the case is quite different, there "the sum of all the con- gregation of the children of Israel after their families by the house of their fathers, with the number' of their names " was to be taken ; the object appears to ■,.:«»»;. ■>! ^ ■ ■ ■ '. - ■ ^ '!•"• ■ ,1 jBl,*..i,»;. , ,.. --iiiai' 181 have been to obtain the precise number of each tribe, probably with a view of arranging them in the en- campment. As the half shekel had been paid only a few months before, it is hardly reasonable to sup- pose that.it was required again to be given at this numbering, but more than likely the numbering here was entirely based u[)on the atonement moufiy previ- ously paid, and all that was here required was, that those who had shortly before paid the half shekel, were to declare their pedigree ; so that in reality the numbering in Exod. xxxviii., and the numbering in Num. i., must be taken in connexion with one an- other ; the former furnishes the total number of He- brews from twenty years and upwards, the latter gives the number of each tribe j and this accounts not only for no mention being made of atonement monetj being paid, (see Num. i.,) but likewise also for the total number in both places being precisely alike, namely 603,550. I do not know upon what authority Dr. Colenso assumes that six or seven months elapsed between the first and second numbering: it may or it may not have been so ; this much we know, however, that the tabernacle was set up "on the first day of the first month," Exod. xl., 2, and the numbering in Num. i. took place in the second month, (see verse 1,) and it may probably not have taken more than two or three months to make the sockets, poles, and hooks, in which case only three or four months could have elapsed. But be that as it may, and even allow- ing a whole year to have transpired, it would still be unreasonable to suppose that two distinct census should have been taken in such a short space of time. ARTICLE XIX. THE DANITES AND LEYITES AT TRt TIME OF THE EXODUS. In a former article T have, I think, clearly shown that the difficulties which Dr. Colenso finds in regard to the immense increase of the Israelites in Egypt are altogether visionary, and as the subject of this article is somewhat of a similar character, I trust to be able to satisfy even the most hypercritical of my readers that his objections here are likewise only imaginary. The first objection w]m\ Dr. Colenso advances is to the number of the Danites. He remarks : "Dan, in the first generation, has one son, Hushim, Gen. xlvi., 23, and that ho had no more born to him in the land of Egypt, and, therefore had onli/ one son, appears from Num. xxvi., 42, where the sons of Dan consist of only one family. Hence wo may reckon that in the fourth genera, tion he would have had 27 warriors descended from him, instead of 62,700, as they are numbered in Num. ii., 26, increased to 64,400 in Num. xxvi., 43. In order to have had this number born to him, wo must suppose that Dan's one son, and each of his sons and grandsons, must have had about 80 children of both sexes "—p. 168. Here, at the very threshhold, we meet again with Dr. Colenso's pet argument— Dan had only one son, because only one son is mentioned ; such is the iron 183 rule with which ho endeavours to fetter the investi- gation of his opponents, though ho himself does not scruple to take things for granted, as has been shewn in a former article. He being obliged, however, to have recourse to such a feeble argument, is only a strong proof of the unsoundness of his positmi. The Bisho[) argues that Dan could have had only one son, because "the sons of Dan consist of only one Aunily ;" but Dan may have had other sons who were not heads ol families, and, therefore, their names do not appear in Num. xxvi., where only the heads of families arc given. All the other sons of Dan and.their descendants would be reckoned among the family of Ilushim,* he being mentioned among those that come into Egypt with Jacob. — Gen. xlvi., 23. It VTOuld surely be unreasonable to suppose that x.Dnc of Jacob's sons had any children born to them after they came into P'gypt I think it would be difficult to find a critic of any note that would ven- ture to make such a statement, and yet this is exactly what Dr. Colenso's argument amounts to. It is quite plain the dullest reader cannot fail to perceive that only the heads of families are mentioned in Num. xxvi., and it would, therefore, be simply absurd to say that the sons of Jacob had no other sons except those that are there mentioned. But supposing Dan had no more sons after he came into Egypt, does it follow that the narrative *Hu8bim, elsewhere ct lied Shuham, see Num. xxvi., 42, and his des- oenJants Shuhnmitea. Tht difference in the two names may perbops be owicg to the transcriber having transposed the letters, and omitted the lat- ter, {yod) which probably was faintly written, and being the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet. ^■§!iiL.Mi''*''' 184 mu5?t, on that account, bo ineoppcet? If A. has * ^ ^ /<^ c??^ Photographic Sciences Corporation %^ V ^> .V en 46,500 verse 21 ..., 43,780 verse 7 Simeon 59,300 do 23 22,'200 do 14 human inhabitants." And a littlo further on ho draws a conipuri8on with the colony of Natal, showing that though the " Population is very scanty, and the land will allow of a much larger one, yet the human inhabitants are perfectly well able to maintain their ground against tho beasts of tho field"— pp. 188, 139. I have given a full extract, to shew that the Bis- hop has spared no labour to make out a case of inconsistency against tlie statement in tho above passage; but in reality, to use a familiar phrase, ho has all tho while been fighting a mere shadow. No doubt Kitto has given a proper estimate of tho size of tho country which was divided among tho tribes at the time of Joshua, and I have no doubt that tho estimate of the threo'countics above mentioned is like- wise correct, but, notwithstanding all this, the Bis- hop is altogetJier wrofig, and for the simj)lo reason that he has entirely mistaken the country hero spoken of. It is very strange, l might almost say unfortunate — for it does not look well for a bishop to make such a blunder — that when.he (juoted from verso 27 to 30 he should never have glanced his eyes at verse 195 81, whoro the limits of (ho country nrc fullv laid Uown . "And I will nH thy hiunds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philisthts* and from the desert unto\ the river: for I tviU deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and thou shalt drive them out before thee.'' According to tho boundaries hero laid down tho laud lu (juostiou coutains ulK)ut 60, 100 sciuaro miles or 32,000,000 acrcH, and ;h, thortforo, more than imv times in extent to that given by Dr. Colonso. The limits of tho land have already boon before dohned in tho promise to Abraham, Gen. xv 18' and m Num. xxxiv., 2 to 12, inclusive, tho boun' daries are laid down with tho greatest precision, indeed, in no modern deed could a tract of land bo described with greater nicety. I would re- commend tho reader to examine these passages. The population of that country is, at tho present day, about 2,000,000, and all travellers agree that inoro than half of tho richest parts of tho country are lying perfectly desolate. The waste plains of Moab, of Esdraolo.., and (ho whole valley of tho Jordan are without an inhabitant. In tho plains of Phihstia, Sharon, Bashan, &., not one-eighth part of the soil is cultivated, and yet tho Bishop raain- tains that tho c ountry could not have contained such a n.!^!!" '^^^^'*<"T»"''an \n above called tho " Sea of tho Philtstinea," aa that CffrT""*'^ "'" ''"■^""^ proportion of its shores in Palestine. This .ea being the largest sea with which the Hebrews wore acquainted, hence it is also elsowhoro called the " groat sea." See Num. xzxiv.. tt, Joih. 14 21^ll'aia^h'?ni'"''7''' %T- '«'"""/« o*"*"! " tho river." see again Oen. xxiJ. l»„a.?!Ln. ; ^ '"1 "'" °^ '^' "'■"■'''« o/pre-eminenci exists also in other tue Arabic, (alkitabur,) the booh, i. «., the Koran. nmm 196 population as is asufjn^ed to It !n tbo Mosaic narrative, Ent, argues the Bidhop further, ** Surely it cannot bo attid that thriio three eaitern cunn- tio^ with their flourishing towns of No.yich, Lynn, Yar- mouth," &c., "and their innumcrahlo village!, are in my da.tgor of lying 'desolate,' with the beasts of the field mulU- plying against ibo human inhabitants." Dr, Colcnso is certair.'y most unhappy in his com- parisons. I would ask him ho^v many pheasants, hares, or indeed how much of any kind of game would now be left not only in those " eastern coun ties," but in all Kngland, if it were not for the very rigorous game laws? The comparison is absurd in the extreme. But, sajs Dr. Colenso, even in the colony of Natal, " the huniiui inhabitants are per- fectly able to muintaiu their ground against the beiists of the field." And so they might in any part of Af- rica, after being for some time j)eoplcd, particularly if the inhabitants freely use lire-arms It is a well eslab- llshe'l fad, that wild beasts do not remain long in a place after man has f\x(Ml his habitation there, and freely used fir'^arms. In the island of Cayenne on the coast of Guiana, for instance, the tigers were a terrible scourge to the infant colony ; they wore for- merly seen swimming over in great numbers from the continent to attack and ravage the flocks and herds of the inhabitants, but by degrees they were repulsed and destroyed, and are now no longer eeen at that place. See BulTon, vol. xix., p. 22. We can of course form no adequate idea aftci' a lapse of upwards of three thousand years, to what ex- tent the land of Canaan and the neighbouring c^nun- 1U7 ttk» were Infftflted with wil)oa8t» ; it would not at all be ft suppriairH' thirif? if thoy were by this time entirely cxtorminutcMj, though I shall presently Hhcw thuf such is not the case. There apparently mm a time when oven the southern parts of Europe were infested by the lion. Wo have, however, many in- dicutiens in Scripture that the 'vild beants must have been -^ry namerous in the laud of Canaan and the neigh- -iring countries. Heo Gen. xxxvii., 3? xlix., 9,2V ; 1 Sara, xvii., 34, 36, 30 ; 2 King ii., 24 ; Hoprn, xiii., /, 8 : Lara, iii, 10 ; Araos v. 10 ; Jer. V. 0, and in many other places ih v are alluded to. The constant allusion to wild * < .s, and the fre- quent picturea which the sacvd writer.*! have drawn from their habits clearly shew that they must havo been very numerous. B'lt wild beasts, thougli they are no doubt greatly diminished, still exist in Pales- tine. Rabbi Schwarz, who resided for sixteen years in that country, says : " Tho wolf is very common in Paicclno. The bear is found in tho mountains of Lebanon, Che: n-on, Oarmol, and Tabor. The hyena, ^so dangerous to human life, and which has 80 great a propensity for tho exhumation of corpses, has been met with oven on Mount Ollvat, tho burial place of the Jerusalem Jews. The tiger is mot with on tho banks of tho Jordan in tho vicinity of Jericho, as also on Mount Tabor and Labenon. Tho Arabs are in tho habit of kindling fires around their tents at night, in order to keep off tho tigers, v^hich dread nothing t:o much as fire." Dcsc. Geo., p. 202, It is well known that bears have destroyed whole vineyards in one night ont e sides of tho Ana-Le- banon, and that if tho peasants were not generally 198 well armed with rifles, the grain crops and vineyards in many parts of Syria would be entirely destroyed. I think enough has now been said to show, that Dr. Colenso's objections to the statements in the jias- sage under consideration arc altogether groundless. ARTICLE XXI. 'f MOSES AND JOSHUA ADDRESSING ALL ISRAEL. "And afterwards he read all the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and their little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among them." — Joshua viii., 34, 35. The reading of "the blessings and the cursings" spoken of in the above passage, was the fulfilment of the command given by Moses, Dent, xxvii., where also the ceremony which was to be observed on the occasion is fully described. But, observes Dr. Colenso, " How, then, is it conceivable th?it a man should cIo what Joshua is here said to have done, unless, indeed, the reading every 'word of all that Moses commanded,' with 'the bless- ings and cursings, according to all t'lat is written in the book of the law,' was a mere dumb show, without the least idea of those most solemn wojda being heard by those to whom they 199 wore addressed ? For surely no huir an voice, unless strength- ened by a miracle, of which Scripture tells us nothing, could have reached the cars of a crowded mass of people, as largo as the whole population of London. The very crying of the ' little ones,' who are expressly stated to have been pres- ent, must havo sufficed to drown the sounds at a few yards distance " — p. 83. According to the reasoning of Dr. Culonso then, a riot act read, or a pubLc proclamation made to' a large concourse of people, is "a mere dumb show," since few of those assembled on such occasions generally hear one word of what is said. It would, ol course, be unreasonable to suppose that in an assembly of 2,000,000 people, every man, woman, and child could have heard the "blessings and cursings," as they were pronounced by Joshua, nor was it necessary that they should have heard them; all that was required was, that they should heartily joi.i in saying Amen, and this, as I shall presently show, the farthest from Joshua could easily do. The ceremony spoken of in the passage under con- sideration, w«s a grand and solemn national cere- mony, perhaps, indeed, the most solemn in the history of the Jewish nation, and was obviously designed as a public avowal of the obligations, on their taking possession of the promised land, to keep all the com- mandments and statutes which the Lord God had commanded them. Now as the people were already acquainted with the import of the "blessings and cursings," for they were not now first promulgated by Joshua, but had been previously communicated 200 to the i)eo[)le by Moaes and the elders, (see Beut. xxvii., 1, 2,) surely it cannot be said that it was "a mere dumb show," when all devoutly, joined in say- ing Amen at the end of each blessing and cursing, although they may not have heard the reading. Those who stood near, and could hear the reading, would, at the proper time, utter with a loud voice Amen, which would be taken up by the rest of the assembly. The people were well acquainted with all the particulars of the religious act which they were performing, and it is, therefore, inconsistent to call it "a mere dumb show," merely because some of the large concourse of people could not hear the read- ing of the blessings and cursings. But although some may not have distinctly heard, it is certain that the greatest part of the assembly must have done so ; this will at once become appar- ent when we take into coi.sideration the locality where the ceremony took place, and the manner in which it was performed. It is now universally ad- mitted that Ebal and Gerizim were the ancient names of the two mountains forming the opposite sides of the valley in which was situated the ancient town of Shechem the modern Nabulus. The distance of these mountains from each other has led Eusebius and Jerome to adopt the sup- position that Ebal and Gerizim were situated near Jericho ; but although there is a wide interval be- tween the tops of the two mountains the lower spurs, on which, no doubt, the tribes were stationed, ap- proach much closer lO each other. Let us now turn to Deut. xxvii., and see how the ceremony was to be 201 performed. In verses 12 and 13 of that chapter, wo read that six tribes were to stand on mount Ebal'and SIX on mount Gerizim, and in verse 14 it is said, " And :\e Levites sliall speak and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice." If wo now take what is here said in connexion wilh what is recorded in Josh, vii., 34, " And after- wards ho read aloud the words of the law, the bicss- mgs and cursings," it is evident that Joshua read each sentence, which was afterwards taken up by the Levites, who pronounced it with " a loud voice " and the people said Amen at the close of each blessing and cursing. The Levites, who were numerous were no doubt stationed so as to make them best heard by the people, so that there were after all proba- bly not many even in this large assembly who were prevented by the distance from hearing the laws pronounced. There is, however, another circumstance which Dr. Colcnso seems to have altogether ignored, but which must not bo passed over unnoticed here as it affords, almost in itself, a sufficient reply to Dr Colenso's objection. It is well known that in the clear and elastic atmosphere of the east the voice will travel to a very great distance. This fact is noticed by many travellers. Mr. Stanley says: "From the highest point of Ras Sasafeh to its lower peak a distance of about sixty feet, the page of a book, distinctly but not loudly read, was perfectly audible ; and every re- mai of the various groups of travellers descending from the heights of the same point rose clearly to those immedi- atelv abovfi t}if>m." ,^/«/»^' y»*i^ r)-,r^„jj„. _ in 2c 202 Dr. Bonar observes : " Tho two mountains" (Ebal and Gcrizim) "look very near each other, though one is deceived as to tho distance here. Yet it did nof seem an unlikely thing that parties should answer each other from tho heights. I asked especi- ally as to this, Mr. Rogers, the excellent consul of Khaifa, who is at present hero on business. IIo mentioned that i'« is quite a common thing for tho villagers to call to each other from the opposite hills, and that tho voice is heard quite dis- tinctly. Having already found in the desert how far tho sound is carried, I did not think tho distance between Ebal and Gerizim at all greater than between some of those places where we had already tried our voices." — Land of Promise, p. 371. Dr. Thompson remarks : " Mount Ebal is on tho north, Gerizim on tho south, and the city (Nabulus) between. Near the eastern end the vale is not more than sixty rods wide ; and just here, I suppose, the tribes assembled to hear * the blessings and the cursings' read by the Levites." Aud a little further on he says : " I have shouted to hear the echo, and then fancied how it must have been, when the loud-voiced Levites proclaimed from tho naked cliffs of Ebal, ' Cursed be the man that raaketh any graven image, an abomination unto Jehovah,' and then the tremendous Amen ! ten-fold louder from the mighty congregation, rising and swelling from Ebal to Gerizim, and from Gerizim to Ebal." — The Latid and the Book, p 470. In Jothara's address from "the top of mount Gerizim," to the inhabitants of Shechem, in the valley below, (see Judges ix.,) we have another striking example to what a great distance the voice may be heard in those regions. If, then, Jotham's lono' rkprnV»lA nHprpH nn Hip inn nf Tnnnnf d-avi'/irn • 203 could be disfiactly heard by the inhabitants of the valley below, wc may safely conclude that the Israel- ites could not have had much difficulty in hearing the short sentences pronounced by the Levites; con- sidering, too, that these stood in the valiey, whilst six of the tribes were stationed on their right, and six on their left, on the spurs of the mountains.' ARTICLE XXII. THE WAR ON MIDIAN. Dr. Colenso begins this subject with some extrane- ous remarks, he says, " We have now concluded our preliminary work of point- ing out some of the most prominent inconsistencies and im- possibilities which exist In the story of the Exodus, as it lies before us in the Pentateuch ; and wo have surely exhibited enough to relieve the mind from any superstitious dread in pursuing farther the consideration of this question," p. 204. I feel satisfied that every candid and unbiassed reader of the preceding replies will admit that the "prominent inconsistencies ^nd impossibilities" which the Bishop points out to " exist in the story of Exodus" have been fully and satisfactorily ex- plained. At this distant period of time, it is of course impossible to state precisely how this or that event recorded in the Pentateuch transpired— no rPfvsnnnlilA nprarvn Trill Tyiolr/\ o,-.y,U «. A j •■ • i,,,.^.,„,,^ — ..^. ,....»;,, ,, lii itiniiv ouuu «, UUiiiUiiiU It IS ,. 1 I H 204 sufficient when wc point out how these events may have taken place, and that tbey involve no "iinpos- sibiliiies." The Bishop next proceeds to notice some "extra- vagant statements," as he calls thein, "of Hebrew writers." He remarks, "Judges xii., 6., vrhero wo aro told that the Oileadites, under Jephthah, slew of thQir brethren, the Dphraimites, 42,000 men, or that in Judges x;:., where first the Benja- mites slew of the Israelites 40,000 men, v. 21, 25, and then the Israelites kill of the Benjamites 43,100, v. 35, 44, all being 'men of \alour,' that 'drew the sword;' or that in 1 Sam. iv., 10, whore the Philistines slow of the Israelites 30,000 footmen," &c., pp. 20G, 207. And wliat does Dr. Colcuso wish us to infer from all this ? Ot course, that the book of Judges, the two books of Samuel, and the two books of Chroni- cles, "cannot be regarded as historically true." If Dr. Coleiiso does not evince much power and erudi- tion in his arguments, he at least shows a great deal of tact in trying to disarm his opponents. Fearing lest the testimony of Josephus might be brought for- ward, he says in a note, p. 207, " in fact, Josephus' numbers are frequently as extravagant and unreal as those of the Scripture writers." The Bishop of Natal may find these numbers large, many infidel and rationalistic writers have done so before him, but he that recognises the finger of God in all these events, will not hesitate to receive them as hisiori- calhj true. Dr. Colenso draws a comparison with the loss sustained by the allies at Waterloo. He says they had only "4,172 men" killed; but how 205 many wounded had they ? The loss of Wellington's array is set down at 15,000 men, and that of the Prussians at 7,000 men. The loss of the French in the battle and pursuit is said to have been at least 40,000 men. But why bring forward a modern engagement as a comi)arison- why not rather make some comparisons with engagements recorded in ancient history, where we would have a greater similarity in the mode of warfare, and the arms em- ployed ? In ancient battles the slaughter seems to have been much greater than in modern battles, and may probably be accounted for from the contending armies becoming generally engaged in a hand to hand fight. Let the reader picture to himself two hostile lines of masses, at least ten in depth, advanc- ing one against another, each in full confidence of victory, and when once engaged in hand to hand fight, there not being the least chance of retreat, for the hindermost ranks not being exposed to the 'first slaughter, would, of course, press on, which would prevent the foremost from falling back, so that nothing but determined valour could ensure victory; and he may form some idea that in such a struggle' the loss of life must necessarily be enormous. The custom of poisoning the arrows, seems to have been very prevalent, hence the expression in Job vi., 4, "For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit." And from Psalm cxx., 4, it would appear that there existed a custom of using arrows with some burning material attached to themj " Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of inninor '' 206 There can be no doubt, that the great loss of life in battles which wo so frc(iuently read of in ancient history, must have been owing to the peculiar mode of warfare practised in those times. Dr. Colcnso calls the numbers in Scripture "ex- travagant statements of Hebicw writers :" let us compare them with some of the numbers given in ancient history. At the battle nnar the town of Issus, 333 B. C, between the Macedonians or Greeks, and the Persians, the latter, it is said, lost 100,000 men. At the battle near Arbela 331 B. 0., the Persians are said to have had 300,000 men slain ; this number is no doubt greatly exaggerated, though their loss seems to have been very great. The Ma- cedonians are said to have lost only 600 men. At Zama, in Africa, the Carthaginians lost 40,000 men in killed and prisoners. Antiochus (Epiphanes) irri- tated at the frequent revolts of the Jews marched to Jerusalem, slew 80,000 people, and took 40,000 captives. Scipio ^milianus attacked the Carthagi- nian array which was stationed without the walls of Carthage, and killed 70,000 men, besides taking 10,000 prisoners. Jugurtha, king of Numidia, lost in a battle against the Eomans under Marius, 108 B. C, 90,000 men. The Cimbri and Teutones in a short war with the Romanc under Marius, had several hundred thousand men slain. These few examples out of the many that might be adduced must suffice. Bishop Colenso next alludes to the spoiling of the Midianitesj he remarks, "But how thankful we mist bo that we are no longer obliged to believe aa a matter -f fact, of vital consequence \^\ 207 to our eternal hope, tho story related in Num. xxxi., when wo arc told that a force of 12,000 Israolitos 'slow all tho males of tho MidianitcP, took captive all tho fomalos and children, seized all their cattle," &o., "without tho loss of a single man "—p. 209. And in tho following page ho says, "The tragedy of Cawnporc, where throe hundred were butchered, would sink into nothing, compared with such a massacre, if, indeed, we were required to bolievo i*." Tho fsraelitcs were by ... _. from tho buriang intiammatiou whicU'so'orklo^r's ^wT^ '""^ '''^""'^ 212 among them, which are plentiful in that region. It is reasonable to suppovT that as soon as the people saw that many wore bitten and died, they would at once cry for help, and not wait ten or twelve days; all this might have transpired in cwo or three days, ' and allowing two days more for making the brazen serpent, we would have in all four or five days, instead of a fortnight. Then, as regards the nine encampments, for which Dr. Colenso cannot allow less than a month, all I can say is, that it is merely a conjecture of his own. Some of the places of encampment mentioned in Num. xxi., and xxii., are now not known, but if the reader will take up the map he will at once perceive, from the places still recognised, that the Israelites could have performed the journey in half the time. " Then they sent mcssengcrg to Sihon," says Dr. Colenso, " who * gathered all his people together, and fought against Israel,' and * Israel smoto him with the edge of the sword,' and 'possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbock,' and 'took all those cities,' " &c., (Num. xxi., 21-25,) "for which we may allow another month." The language clearly indicates that one or two decisive battles put Israel in possession of the whole country. Sihon gathered all \\\s people together, and Israel smote them with the edge of the sword; after the whole army was destroyed, the towns would at once s-^rrender, it would have been useless for them to resist. AH this probably took no more than eight or ten days. " After this," observes Dr. Colenso, " Moses sent to spy out laazar, and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there."— Num. xxi., 32. " Say in di,Tioi\xQv fortnight." I 213 ! " They drove out," that is the spies drove out, which shews that the Amoritcs could not have been very numerous there ; probably they had heard of the deeds which the Israelites performed, and made no great resistance but soon fled. A few days would have sufficed to perform all this, but I have no objection to allow ihajortnight. " Then they turned by the way of Bashan, and Og, the king of Bashan, went out against them, and they smoto him and his sons, and all his people, until there ivaa none left him alive, and they possessed his land. — Num. xxi., 33-35. For all this work of capturing three-score cities, fenced with high walls, gates, and bars, besides unwalled towns, a great many, Deut. iii.,, 4, 5, we must allow a'v tho very least a month." Dr. Colenso it will be perceived has quoted verses 33 and 36, omitting verse 34, where it is said, "And the Lord said unto Moses, Fear him not : for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land." Now, with such a declaration before us, it is not unreasonable to assume that one decisive battle in which the whole of Og's army may have been destroyed, would put the Israelites in posses- sion of the whole country of Bashan with all its cities. When the whole of Og's army was annihilated, the cities would of course make no further resistance. Dr. Colenso makes use of the word "capturing," as if the Israelites had to besiege the fortified cities, but in Deut. iii., 4, it is only said they " took all his cities," that is, they took possession of them : there is not a word about their having to capture them. These cities were probably taken possession of by divisions of the Hebrew army who were sent for that 214 purpose, so that the conquest of the whole country may have been easily accomplished in a very short time, say from ten days to v^ fortnight. From what has been said it will be seen that those events need not have occupied more than two months and a half, and not "six months," as Dr. Colenso will have it, and there was, therefore, ample time for all the other events recorded in the book of Numbers to have transpired within the •' six months." I have al- ready stated, that the Mosaic narrative is altogether silent as to the lenp:th of time any of the events un- der consideration occupied, and, therefore, whatever is said upon the subject must necessarily be mere conjecture. Why, then, bring forward this subject at all as a proof 01 the " unhistorical character of the Pentaterch," when all he can say is, " we must allow, loe may allow y God had promised to Abraham that his seed should possess the land of Canaan, (Gen. xii., 7,) and the time had now arrived when that promise wis to be fulfilled, and therefore no obsta- cles however great could possibly ha,ve prevented the accomplishment of that promise. Dr. Colenso may say that it is impossible for those events to have been consummated in so short a time, but any one that views the subject in a proper light, will say with God nothing is ^possible , or in the words of Solomon : " There are many devices in a man's heart ; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand."— Prov. xix., '21. CONTENTS. ABTICLI8. _.^. ^ . PAO«. I^"f»<=e g t^2l Cursory remarks on Bieliop Colcnso's book 4—9 Remarks upon tho general merits of the authorized version — 19 I. General remarks ; ancient and modern writers 21 28 II. General remarks ; reply to tho manner in which Dr. Co- lonso cxploins away our Saviour's testimony ; the five books of Moses bear strong marks as to their being writ- ten by ono person ., £9 38 JIT. The family of Judah '"] 39 — 47 IV. The extent of the camp compared with tho priest's duties and daily necessities of tho people 48 68 V. Supply of wood and water in tho wilderness ; 59 — 68 VI. The sheep and cattle of the Israelites in the wilderness.... 69 — 81 V_I. Temperature of Palestine 82 84 Keeping of tho passover in tho wilderness .. 85 — 89 The number of lambs required for the passover 89 92 VIII. Institution of the passover ; ancient Goshen ; borrowing jewels of silver and jewels of gold 93—106 IX. Sojourning of the Israelites in Egypt; the number of generations ,,^ 107 jj] X. Increase "«" tho Israelites during their stay lu Egypt 112 124 XI. The Israelites armed 225 130 XII. The march out of Egypt ]3i 139 XIII. The Israelites dwelling in tents 140—148 XIV. The size of tho court of the tabernacle compared with tho number of the congregation 149 153 XV. The number of first-born compared with the number of male adults , J54 159 XVI. The number of priests at the Exodus compared with their duties, and with the provisions made for them IGO— 170 XVII. The priests, and their duties at the celebration of the passover „ 179 177 XVIII. The number of the people and the poll-tax 177—181 XIX. The Danites and Lovites at the time of the Exodus 181—193 XX. The number of Israelites compared with the extent of Canaan 193—198 XXI. Joshua addressing all Israel, 198 203 XXII. The war of Midian. Reply to objection as to extravagant numbers in Scripture, and the slaughter of the Midi- anites compared with the slaughter of Cawnpore 203—214 CORRECTIONS. Pago 17— for Josh, xxl, 42, read Jost. xxL, 44. 28— for Judg. iii., 4, rend Judg. iil., 14. 45--fop ch. xlvl., 27, read Gon. xlvi. 27. 71— for Exod, xv., 22, rcud Exod. xr., 26. 88— for page 19, read page 119. 91— for Exod. xii., 2, read Exod. xii., 3. 97— for verse 5, read verso 3. 100— for verso 20, road verso 21. 105— for Psalms xxxvii., 12, read Psalm xxxvii., 21. 119— for Exod. xxVi., GO, read Num. xxvi., 60. 120— for Josh, iv., 2, read Josh, iv,, 12. 149— for page 67, road page 76. 149— for Num. ii., 22, read Num. ii.; 32. 149— for 34 feet, read 54 feet. ROWSELL * BLLISj rUlNTBaS, KlNa STEKBT, lOROKIO. •M- . ' — -rriwiiiii tiiMat\]amfr\trt^