BBnHHHnnMi tt88ttB8tS frftfflKfttft t ■ •■■'.■.■■•. __mt in KH m ni am I.-;:':/--: : -. ■ -..'■■•■■ .-.■.■ BBU1J1UUUEBH raffli JHtHMML khpoHBbBH BBBBBBBJ •:','■'";'■.' : ■ .. Miii i iii 9 they might have a road to lead them on to happiness, or that He left them to grope about in darkness? Can it be believed, that He, who has provided for the smallest insect, which is invisible to the human eye, should leave his noblest work so unprovided, so desti- tute, so miserable? Did He give him an intelligent mind to make his station the more wretched, the more forlorn? If philosophers would only reflect, to what ends their reckless denial of all revelation must lead them, I am confident, they would pause and shudder at the sight of the fathomless abyss, to which they so thoughtlessly hurry on themselves and others. They would not then so often think lightly of the word of Him, who is no less their God, than the God and Creator of the whole universe. CHAPTER II. WHO WROTE THE PENTATEUCH ? Before we adduce further proofs in favour of revelation, it will be necessary to enquire, if Moses actually wrote the books, which bear his name ; and granted he did write them, if he be then entitled to belief, or in other words, if what Moses relates in his history did take place, at the time, place, and in the manner, he himself says it did happen. First : " Did Moses write the Jive books (Pentateuch), which are designated by his name?" To this question we unhesitatingly answer, yes ; for the following reason : If any man presents a book to the public, and alleges that he is the author of the same, he deserves, without doubt, to be believed, unless some other person should claim the authorship, and bring conclusive proof, that he, and not the ostensible editor, is the true author. Now we find, tha^Moses tells us, that he was commanded by God, whose messenger Ke purports to be, to write down all the transactions of his time, as Jhey happened . 2 10 WHO WROTE THE PENTATEUCH? for we read in Exodus, chap, xxxiv. v. 27: "And the Eternal said unto Moses, Write thou these words; for according to these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel." Here we find Moses announcing, that he had received an absolute injunction from the Deity, to write down the events of his time, and the laws which were communicated to him. And in Deuteronomy (chap.xxxi. v. 24) we read that Moses relates his having completed the task thus imposed upon him by God ; for there it is said : "And when Moses had finished to write down the words of this law in a book, to their very conclusion ; 25. Then Moses commanded the Levites, the carriers of the ark of the covenant of the Eternal, as follows : 26. Take this book of the law, and place it at the side of the ark of the covenant of the Eternal your God, and it shall be there as an evidence against thee (the whole nation of the Israelites)." It is thus proved by the internal evidence of the books themselves, that they were written and compiled* by Moses; and even the ac- count of the travels of the Israelites owes its origin to the same author, as he carefully noted down all the journeyings of the people under his charge, as he himself tells us in the 33d chapter of the book of Numbers. How can it now be doubted, that Moses was the writer of the books in question 1 — Suppose a modern antiquarian were to attempt to demonstrate, that Caesar was not the author of his Commentaries ; or that Demosthenes did not deliver those splendid orations, which were for the last two thousand years supposed to be his : would not such an attempt be considered, by most men at least, as an evidence of insanity in the person who makes the attempt? — For how could he hope to convince the world of their error, except by prostrating at the same time all dependence upon history 1 The reason for this assertion is simply the following : if you deny, that a book, which * I say compiled ; for though there can be no doubt, that Moses was the bona fide author of the last four books of the Pentateuch, comprising the history of the Israelites during his life time ; it is nevertheless more than probable, that the book of Genesis was in existence before Moses, and if even not in its present form, at least it may be presumed that he had ample materials in his possession, from which he compiled it, as will be more clearly shown in a subsequent chapter WHO WROTE THE PENTATEUCH? H bears the name of any author, was written by the reputed author, you admit, that this book contains in this respect at least an untruth ; and if it cannot be relied upon in so material a point, it ought not to carry any weight with it in other matters ; for since the author has been convicted of not paying a strict regard to truth, how can you determine, (if you rely solely upon the internal evidence of the book itself,) what is true and what is not true? Not to come to this dilemma you must admit, that the pretended author was the real author ; for to deny this, as has been said, would throw discredit upon the whole book. — The same is the case with every historical writing extant ; and we are constrained to credit the authenticity of authorship, or else no monument of art, no building, no painting, in short nothing whatever, would be believed to be the work of the artist, to whom it is generally ascribed ; and all history would be a mere romance, written perhaps like some fairy tale, to amuse chil- dren and frighten the ignorant. Nothing, of which we bad not ocular proof, would then be believed by us, and nothing considered a reality, of which we had no perception with our senses. But where is the man to be found, who is willing to carry this principle to so great an extent ? And yet I see no point, where to stop with any degree of safety. There are very few, who do not repose confi- dence in history, and believe things, though they never did come under their own observation. Many have never seen the emperor Napoleon, few have ever seen Sir Walter Scott ; nevertheless they firmly believe that the former fought the many battles in Europe, Asia and Africa, in which he is reported to have been present ; and that the latter wrote the life of Napoleon, and that moreover he is the author of that great number of books, of which he has avowed himself the author. It cannot indeed be well comprehended, how a single man, unaided, could possibly write so much, independently of the composition of so many works ; but for all that, they believe, that Sir Walter did write all those books, the authorship of which he claims, chiefly because no other person has claimed the authorship and proved a superior title to the reputed author, although they them- selves have never seen him write a single word. But, some one may ask ; " If I am to believe the identity of books, which have been written so many centuries ago, what safeguard have I against being imposed 12 WHO WROTE THE PENTATEUCH ? upon by any book, which is given out as being the work of any author of antiquity V This, I confess, is a weighty objection, the more so, as forged books have very often been ascribed to writers, who perhaps had never even heard the names of those very works, said to be theirs. But let us examine the matter a little more closely, and see if the danger of being imposed upon be really so great as might perhaps appear at first sight. Let us for instance suppose ; that a book should be pub- lished, purporting to have been written by Julius Casar, and giving an account of the civil war, which under Caesar agitated the whole Roman empire ; that further, this book should give an account of the events of the time, similar to that, which is contained in the book, commonly ascribed to Caesar, on the same subject, — let us say, till his arrival in Greece ; but in speaking of the battle of Pharsalus, in which Pompey was conquered, suppose it to state, that Caesar's army was routed by that of Pompey, after which the latter held a triumph- ant entry into Rome, and that it was not till after a long war, that Caesar conquered in a hard fought battle, in which Pompey was slain. What would every one's opinion be in finding such an account in a work said to be written by Caesar ? Surely, that Caesar could not be the author, because the whole chain of events, which preceded Casar's death, belie the (fictitious) account just given, and the great dictator would not in all probability have committed any thing to writing, which he, as an eye-witness and the principal actor, must have known to be untrue. — Or if the book in question should say, that the German warriors in Caesar's army were equipped after the fashion of Numidian horsemen — or if it were written in the monkish Latin of the middle age : in all these cases the book would no doubt be pronounced a forgery, without the slightest diversity of opinion ; for circumstances, generally and upon the best possible evidence, admitted as facts, prove that Caesar could not have written it, for he must have been intimately acquainted with the history, manners and language of his time. — But if, on the contrary, a book were found at present, written in the easy style of Caesar, and giving such an account of events as would appear plausible, and not contradicted by well established histories of that period, and if there should be a clause in the work stating, that C. Julius Caesar the Dictator had written it : could then any reasonable doubt be entertained of its WHO WROTE THE PENTATEUCH? 13 authenticity? And I am free to assert, that most persons would regard the book as genuine, and they would require more proof, than the mere dictum of any man, to establish the contrary.* The foregoing illustration it is hoped will have satisfactorily shown, that we may with a great degree of safety rely upon the identity of books of antiquity. I will now advance another position, which from its very nature is incontrovertible, namely: "that what is once true must ever be so." If for instance it is true now, that Caesar wrote the first seven books on the Gallican War, the same must be true two thousand years hence, for what is once past, is past, and nothing can undo the past. f must ask pardon of my readers for this long digression, which was considered necessary for the proof, or at least elucidation, of the assertion, " that Moses was the author of the books he professes to have written." — Almost every man admits the truth of profane his- tory, at least so far as to believe, that the different books of all ages were written by those men, who claim to be the authors, unless perhaps it might be established, that there be some other claimants, who have superior titles to the reputed authors. The details of his- tory are also admitted, unless their falsity can be proved. Let us now ask all those, who deny the truth of our religion, why will you give credence to profane history, and not even believe, that our blessed legislator was the author of his own books ; or rather that it was he who wrote them by the command of the Most High, if any one did? But you will say, "the books are of so great anti- quity, that it may be fairly doubted, whether Moses wrote them, especially as we have no contemporary writer to prove the fact !" Is that your objection ? well let us examine it a little more closely and ask : if Moses did not write them, who then was the author? Were the seventy elders, who made the translation, commonly called the Septuagint, for Ptolemy Lagos, the authors ? — No, for they were only the translators into Greek of this book — a book previously ex- isting in Hebrew, and so much renowned for its wisdom, that a * Although the above supposition may appear far-fetched, similar cases have nevertheless frequently occurred, both with works of ancient and modern authors; for example, the book of the Republic by Cicero, and Milton's book on Re- ligion, which both have been discovered only very lately, as the learned reader will no doubt recollect. 14 WHO WROTE THE PENTATEUCH? Grecian king desired a transcript of it in his own language.* — But was it Ezra 1 No, for he could not be the compiler even, much less the author, as he speaks of the books as already in existence, nay as existing even before his time, and as being well known to the en- lightened part of the people. — So he cannot be the man. — But was it Joshua, the immediate successor of Moses ? Oh no, for to him it was commanded (Josh. i. 8.): " This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, and thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do all, which is written therein, for then wilt thou be prosperous and then wilt thou be wise." If the Penta- teuch then was existing before Joshua, he cannot be the author of it ; much less Ezra, who lived near a thousand years later. We must therefore come to the conclusion, that Moses — being the im- mediate predecessor of Joshua, and as the Jews had no legislator before him — must be the authorf de facto of the books that bear his name. This he was in the time of Joshua, and what was true then, is true now; and, therefore, since Moses was the real author in those days, he must now also be considered as such, and this so long as the blue vault of heaven shall remain extended over this beautiful earth ! May God enlighten our minds and fortify us in his law, Amen ! * And it certainly can be no argument against the actual existence of the Pentateuch before this period, that the Greeks were not acquainted with it, as we find no mention made of it in their most ancient historian. For this may have been owing to their ignorance of what related to other nations, or to the contempt they uniformly expressed towards barbarians (all nations except the Greek), and they may have therefore concealed the knowledge they had of a book of wisdom and good laws belonging to another and distant people. — But the eagerness of Ptolemy to possess himself of this treasure clearly proves, not only that the Greeks were ignorant of its existence, but that its origin must have been referrible, even at that time, to very remote antiquity. t See Appendix to Part I. for a refutation of some anachronisms, which it is pretended have been discovered in the Pentateuch. \ 15 CHAPTER III. MOSES AN AUTHENTIC HISTORIAN. Having in the preceding chapter endeavoured to establish, to the best of my limited abilities, that Moses was the author of the books, which are known by his name : we must now proceed to the second point of enquiry ; " Is Moses entitled to credibility, as a historian V* Our conviction or knowledge may be referred as proceeding from three causes : first, we are convinced of any thing, that is, we know it to be true, because we were eye-witnesses, or have other personal knowledge of the fact; secondly, because we hear it related by persons, who profess to have seen or experienced it, and in whose veracity we place confidence ; and lastly, because we read events described in books, and though the author, or what is the same, the narrator, himself be not present, to tell us his narrative by word of mouth, we may nevertheless believe confidently, first, that the professed author was an eye-witness of the described event, or that his source of information was undoubted; and lastly, that his narrative is in conformity with truth, or, what is the same, that the events related actually occurred. The limited faculties of man will not allow him, to be an eye- witness of many things; and, since he cannot be at different places at the same moment of time, he must receive, whatever happens out of his presence, upon the good faith of others; for he would assur- edly be, and ever remain, woefully uninformed of the affairs of life and the discoveries of science, should he reject every thing as untrue, which did not fall under his own personal observation. Since our acquaintance with external facts can only commence from the time of our birth, we are thereby prevented from having personal knowledge of what occurred before our time ; we cannot resort to eye-witnesses for information, as every human being alive is comparatively of but recent date. If therefore we wish to be in- formed of what took place before our time, we must needs seek this information from books : secondly, from those who have read them, 16 MOSES AN AUTHENTIC HISTORIAN. in case we cannot read them ourselves, and lastly from monuments and popular tradition. Of all the above sources of information, or conviction, that is un- doubtedly the safest, which results from our own actual observation and the perception of our senses ; the second best is that, which is derived from living witnesses, who impart to us what they know by experience ; and the last is that, which is drawn from books, monuments and tradition. Though, generally speaking, to see is to believe ; we will yet frequently find, that we may be deceived, although we have the thing to be investigated actually before us. The reason of this is, that many things, presented to our view, are not sufficiently known or understood by us, to enable us to form a correct judgment ; and even when this is not the case, we are frequently so much biassed by prejudice, as to suffer it to warp our judgment to such a degree, that we are led to judge altogether erroneously, though under other circumstances we would be able to form a strictly correct opinion, if our feelings were not enlisted, on the one side or the other. When we derive our information from living witnesses, we are too apt to suffer our judgment to be swayed by the feelings of our informants, particularly, if our interest coincides, with theirs ; so, on the contrary, we are often, from no other cause than private pique, predisposed to differ altogether with our informants, because we may prefer finding them, or their friends, in the wrong, or shut our ears against conviction, from a mere spirit of contradiction. But as we are here not so much personally engaged, as if we were the actors, or immediate spectators, we will frequently, upon reflec- tion, be disposed to alter our opinions, and bring them down to a proper standard of reasoning, much oftener at least, than if our feelings were more immediately enlisted, by our personal observation or actual participation. When at last books, monuments, or traditions, are our guides to knowledge, though we may even here be more inclined to one side, than the other, we will yet certainly, and almost invariably, be en- abled to form a more correct opinion, than in the two first cases. Thus we see, that each mode of acquiring information has its advantages and disadvantages; and indeed it often happens, that though we ourselves are unjust towards a third person, our neighbours MOSES AN AUTHENTIC HISTORIAN. 17 will understand our dispute better, and, however favourably inclined towards us, will decide in his favour: — and again, posterity will esteem a man great and glorious, whom his contemporaries suffer- ed to starve. I am inclined to believe, that the foregoing will be sufficient to show, that we may derive positive information without ocular evidence, or else, that our mind must be a blank, and ignorant of the most important concerns of life, and of those things, which are the most conducive to our happiness. In fact, the world in general has ever thought so, since, from time immemorial, history has afforded instruction and amusement, and has been generally received as true ; besides, the example of great deeds has roused many a noble mind into activity, which might otherwise have lain dormant, or exhausted its vigour in works, if not pernicious, at least useless to society. But some one may ask : " How far is it reasonable to rely upon any thing I hear, or find related in books? what rule am I to ob- serve, to guard myself against being imposed upon ?" Here let us pause a moment, and reflect : how does it appear to our conviction, that any thing has actually occurred, and that our impression of any supposed fact is not a phantom of the imagination? First, from the effect the occurrence has produced ; secondly, from preceding, ac- companying, or subsequent circumstances; and lastly, from the impression it made at the same time upon others, if others there were, to witness the occurrence at the same time with us. — For in- stance, let us suppose, that a number of persons should be assembled in a well built house, and that this had the appearance of being a structure which could endure for ages. Now let us imagine, that a sudden concussion of the earth were to rend this building asunder, and bury the persons there assembled amidst the tumbling ruins ; that only one should be dug out alive, and recover his recollection by degrees, after weeks of sickness and mental darkness, and then, find- ing himself surrounded by strangers, call for those who were with him when the earthquake took place ; now even assume, that he re- ceive at first an evasive reply, as for instance, that they would soon come ; is it not highly probable, that his own returning reason will soon convince him of the reality of the case ? his being where he is, Will tell him, upon reflection, that something dreadful must have taken 3 18 MOSES AN AUTHENTIC HISTORIAN. place, and the sudden tumbling of the strong walls, the shock, which he himself experienced, will force upon him the melancholy conclu- sion, that he shall see his friends no more ; and no matter how faint his knowledge of the actual occurrence of the earthquake may be at first, the effect it had upon him will undoubtedly teach him that it ac- tually did occur. — In the second case ; you are in a room, and hear a conversation, to which you pay no particular attention ; to be sure, you hear it, but yet do not think it of consequence enough to charge your memory with it. After some time suppose a friend comes to you, and asks : " Do you recollect what such a one said on that day ?" At first, you will barely recollect that a conversation took place at all ; but if he draws your attention to various circumstances, which accompanied this conversation, you will very probably recollect the whole or the essential part at least, which would have been abso- lutely impossible, but for the accompanying circumstances. — In the third place, let us suppose that a sudden meteor flashes before our eyes, but that its transit is so quick as to leave us in doubt if we are mistaken in our impression or not ; but if we hear others say that they too saw a meteor, we shall then be convinced of the truth of our first although imperfect impression. In the same manner may historical correctness be tested ; first, by effects ; secondly, by circumstances which are known to have taken place ; and thirdly, by general impression, except when it is contrary to previously well attested facts. — Historical effect is every thing produced by events related in, or made known by, history ; thus is the independence of the United States an effect or conse- quence, in the first instance of the Declaration of Independence, and in the next, of the subsequent war. — In this class may also be reck- oned what are called the remains of antiquity, as ruins, ancient buildings, monuments, and manuscripts. — To the second class belong conversations, said to have been held by persons, who are no more in being, which derive their claim to authenticity, merely from the known character of those persons ; further, such incidents as have been transmitted to us in historical records, which are rendered pro- bable from the peculiar manner, lives, and character of persons or even nations. Of the former, I will only mention the few words said to have been spoken by Julius Caesar, when he discovered Brutus amongst his assassins ; and of the latter, the conduct of Alexander MOSES AN AUTHENTIC HISTORIAN. 19 of Macedon at the temple of Jupiter Ammon, and his conduct subse- quently thereto, after he believed himself, and obliged others to be- lieve, that he was the son of a god. — In the last class 1 would reckon all traditions and popular stories, which are more or less worthy of credit, as they can be more or less fortified by either monuments &c, known circumstances, or lastly, probability. When the effect produced by a certain reported event is yet in existence, no man in his sober senses will doubt a fact so well au- thenticated.* For instance, it is said, that in the seventy -ninth year of the Christian aera, the city of Pompeii was destroyed or rather buried, by the volcanic ashes of Vesuvius. If any one even might have been inclined to doubt this, had it merely been reported, it is now rendered certain beyond a possibility of being disputed, as the buried city was actually discovered about a hundred years ago, since which time many streets have been re-opened. No man, therefore, can now doubt, that a similar fate has befallen, or may yet befall other places. — About a century ago an island was formed in the Grecian Archipelago, after a terrible convulsion of nature. This island yet exists, and the account of its emersion from the waves is consequently believed. — It will therefore be readily acknowledged, that the rare- ness and even improbability of a thing, can be no argument against its possibility, and whatever is authenticated and verified by un- doubted effects must be received as true, no matter if the event be in accordance with the ordinary course of nature or not. If then profane history is verified by the remains of antiquity, why should we reject the account which Moses has left us ? Why will you, who deny the truth of the word of God, be more indulgent to the records of the Grecians and Romans, than to sacred history ? Is there not a more noble monument of the historical truth of the Pentateuch, than Grecian marble, or Egyptian granite, namely, we ourselves, the Jews 1 — Answer me, are not the dispersions of Israel sufficient testimony of the existence of Moses, of the wonderful de- liverance of the children of Jacob, and of their conquest of the Holy Land under the guidance of Joshua 1 — Will you believe that Sesostris reigned, Themistocles fought, Socrates and Plato taught philosophy, * If therefore any thing is rotated to us, and we are assured that it had a mentioned effect, and it can be proved that this effect never took place; we may then safely and fairly consider the whole story a fabrication. 20 MOSES AN AUTHENTIC HISTORIAN. and Demosthenes spoke — and will you, can you deny that Moses lived? that through him the law was given? and that the history of the Israelites is faithfully narrated in the subsequent biblical writings ? " Well," some of you will say, " we grant the possibility, even the probability of the plain matters of fact in the Bible, but we will not admit the truth of the miracles ; and as these are so much inter- woven with natural occurrences throughout the Bible, they are enough to throw discredit upon the whole." But if there is a God who created all things, and governs all, and sustains all by his will, — and there is a God ! exclaims all nature — to whom all owes its origin— ^ we must admit that miracles are within the scope of possibility ; for, should not the Creator be able to order things differently, and yet preserve all in being, if He deems it proper ? Since then miracles are possible, since we even see that extraordinary events occur daily ; can we possibly doubt, that God could change water into blood for particular purposes, when He, in his unerring wisdom, thought it necessary towards the accom- plishment of his almighty will? Could He not send frogs, or as some suppose, crocodiles, to plague the inhabitants of Egypt, when they refused to obey his will ? Could he not let water flow out of a rock, when he determined to do so ? I admit, that God has ordained nature to work so harmoniously, that, to our impression, the slightest impediment would destroy the beautiful fabric. But does that change, or diminish, or circumscribe his ability, to order it otherwise? Can He not dry up every foun- tain? can He not split mountains asunder? can He not command the sea to produce habitable land in its vast and deep centre ? and should He not be able " to give bread, should He not be powerful enough to provide food for his people V Why then, let me repeat the ques- tion, will you not accept the Mosaic writings as the true chronology of times gone by? Will you reject them, because of their antiquity? Will you leave such a blank in the history of the world, from its creation to Herodotus ? Forbid it science, forbid it reason, forbid it justice ! Rather join with us and say : " Moses is true, and his law is true ! 21 CHAPTER IV. THE PENTATEUCH. In the foregoing chapters, I have endeavoured to show the plausi- bility as least, first, of Moses's right to be acknowledged the author of the Pentateuch, and secondly, of the claims of this book to be con- sidered the true history of his time. — But how* did Moses know what happened before his days ? — To this, I answer, that he was not only the narrator of his own observations, but also the compiler or transcriber of existing historical materials. We have no means to prove positively, that the Israelites had any writings before Moses ; but we can give various reasons, which seem to leave hardly any doubt resting upon the matter. In the first place, the greater part of the events in Genesis are so circumstantially narrated, that it appears that those, who were immediately concerned in them, were the historians of their times. A second reason may be discovered in the peculiar phraseology of at least tivo passages in Exodus. We read in Exo. xvii. v. 14 : "And the Eternal said unto Moses, write this (the attack of Amalake upon Israel) for a memorial in the book, and rehearse it before Joshua." — The Hebrew words are the following : ^3D3 p"OT na? 3H3 (Ketobe zothe zickahrone Bassaypher.) The word, Bassaypher signifies, in the book, whereas in a book (Eng. Version) ought to have been Besaypher ; or, to make it more intelligible to an English reader, the Hebrew syllable ba is the preposition in followed by the definite article the (in the), and the syllable be is the preposition in with the indefinite article a (in a).f If the passage, of which we are now * If jt is once admitted that the Pentateuch was written by inspiration, it makes no difference, from what other sources Moses derived his information, as the Holy Spirit was in that case his instructer, which would have prevented him from committing any error ; but as I direct my argument against unbe- lievers, I think it necessary to prove every thing, so as not to leave them any opportunity for cavilling. t I am indebted for (his argument to the April No. 1826, p. 282, of the North American Review. 22 THE PENTATEUCH. treating, is rendered correctly, and which no Hebrew scholar can dispute, it is pretty evident, that, as God ordered Moses to write the attack of Amalake in the book, it must follow, (as no particular book is mentioned, either here or elsewhere,) that this expression must relate to a book well known to the then Israelites, and which book, moreover, must have been a record of their history previous to the promulgation of the law, as the battle with Amalake took place before that event, the most remarkable since the creation. The second passage is found in Exodus xxiv. v. 7, and is in the following words : " And he (Moses) took the book of the covenant and read it within hearing of the people, &c." This passage, however, is not so explicit as the preceding one, as it may refer also to the oc- currences between the Exodus and the promulgation of the law on Sinai exclusively ; though many are of opinion, that the book of the covenant here spoken of is that in which the covenants with the Pa- triarchs are recorded, meaning the book of Genesis ; and this book must have contained the history of the world from the creation to the death of Joseph, and further, the first nineteen chapters of Exodus (the passage quoted being a part of the recapitulation of what oc- curred before the promulgation of the Decalogue). But as this can- not be well established, and as it is mere conjecture, though highly probable, I shall not insist upon it as a convincing argument. But I have now to adduce reasons to show, that independently of every consideration of inspiration or prophecy, we have cause to prefer Moses's history to any profane history extant, and it may be added, that ever was or will be written. — For every historian, if he relates the history of an enemy, will delight to dwell upon his crimes, and place his misdeeds before the world in the boldest relief, and use every means to make him odious r and only put a limit to his acrimony, for the sake of his own reputation for veracity, and that he may not be charged with giving his picture too deep a colouring. If he speaks of a friend, or one whom he pretends to admire, he will always endeavour to gloss over the faults of the hero of his tale, or omit them altogether, if he possibly can. And if any man writes his own life, he never relates a fault of his own, except it be to gain applause for his sincerity, or he strives hard to excuse that to the world, which he, in his conscience, cannot justify. Is this true or not? THE PENTATEUCH. 23 Not so Moses. From the commencement of Genesis to the end of Deuteronomy, he merely relates the facts, as they occurred, with- out at any time commenting upon them. He relates the history of Jacob and Joseph, those two prominent and exalted patriarchs, with the most bewitching simplicity ; both are represented to us as they really were, without addition, without diminution. In some parts of their lives, any profane historian, had he been their biographer, would have attempted to justify their actions, and at least would have tried to prove them virtuous, though their actions might to some appear equivocal. But Moses does not do so ; he gives us facts, lets us draw our own inferences, and justify or condemn actions accord- ing to the standard which he was the instrument of making known to the world ; well knowing that the intelligent part of mankind would be indulgent to the few faults and occasional errors of these good men ; particularly when he, at the same time, leads us to the mortify- ing reflection, that no one is entirely free from fault, and that the best occasionally transgresses ; and if any one should now be disposed to vent his spleen against the bible characters, because they were not altogether perfect, he may be referred to reflect upon himself, and told to see if all is so pure within him, that he cannot err, before he can be permitted to be too severe upon the sins of otherwise good men. We thus find him never giving a false or overcharged colouring to any thing he relates. In the affecting interview between Joseph and Benjamin every thing is told in so simple a style, that we are at a loss which most to admire, the delicacy of Joseph's feelings towards Benjamin, when he first sees him, or the sublime brevity in which the whole is presented to us. — That part, where Joseph makes him- self known to his brothers, is in the same style of simple sublimity, if I may use the expression ;' " I am Joseph ! lives my father yet ?" These few words seem to proceed, so spontaneously, and so naturally, from a surcharged heart, and feelings raised to the highest pitch, that it is not probable that any passage can be found, either in ancient classics or in any modern production, that will in any degree equal the idea expressed by — I am Joseph ! lives my father yet 1 If we have seen Moses act and write so in matters where he was not himself concerned, we shall find him equally sincere, and equally regardful of truth, when he has occasion to speak of himself or his 24 THE PENTATEUCH. nearest relations. Though he had often opportunities to praise him- self, or to sketch his own character in the most exalted manner, yet does he ever remain the simple narrator of facts, and speaks only once in his own praise, and that in a trait for which alone few men would think of praising themselves, namely the absence of all pride. (Numb, xii. v. 3. " And the man Moses was the meekest of all men upon the face of the earth.") What, the greatest of mortals to suffer himself to be slandered, and not resent the affront ? What, does he suffer rebellion against his authority, without wishing the ringleaders even to be punished, save only then, when the well-being of Israel abso- lutely demanded this painful sacrifice ? — Yes, it is even so. The man who was destined and appointed to be the leader of the Israelites shared all their toils, all their sufferings, and once only was sedition against his authority punished, and even then not through his agency; and his version of that event must needs be believed, since it is so circumstantially told, and it occurred before the whole nation of Israel. Though he had undoubtedly acquired a great stock of knowledge in the sciences and the mechanic arts, yet do we not hear him boast of any of his acquirements ; he only tells us in one part that his bodily strength remained unimpaired to his dying day, and in another he informs us, that he had an impediment in his speech, and this is all we know of the greatest of men !* — About his own ac- tions he is very explicit, he throws no veil over them to hide their defects, and he has even the frankness to tell us, (Deut. ch. iii. v. 23 — 26,) that his earnest prayer to be permitted to enter " and see the good land, which was (to him) on the other side of the Jordan, the good mountain and the Lebanon," was not accepted, for the well known reasons several times recorded in the book of Numbers. If we even search all books of antiquity, or modern times, we shall probably meet with none which is so impartially written as the Pentateuch ; which presents both sides of a picture with the same faithfulness, as the Hebrew canon does ; and where we have facts so simply given, and our judgment is more left at liberty to judge for itself. This very carelessness of Moses about amplifications and excuses, * Compare this with the lives of Hume and Gibbon, written by themselves. THE PENTATEUCH . 25 proves to the candid mind, that his subject must have been a good one, and the cause he advocated righteous. For would any man, ushering a fable into the world as truth, take so little trouble to per- suade the world to receive it, as Moses has done ? Would he not rather try to produce ingenious arguments, and well devised artifices, to make his laws palatable ? Did not the celebrated Lycurgus, I may say, cheat the Spartans into an acceptance of his code, (if any credit can be given to the Greek writers,) which otherwise would probably never have been tolerated, as the supreme laws of the land? But as there may perhaps be some other objections, of which I am, however, altogether ignorant, I will just state one instance of the great disinterestedness of Moses. The honour of priesthood was the greatest dignity among us, for under certain circumstances, the priest was even higher than the chief magistrate of the nation ; in- dependently of religious distinctions and other privileges attached to that order. If Moses now had been ambitious, or eager after power and glory, he would certainly, (all along supposing he was not inspired,) have assumed to himself and his descendants the high- est honour. But did he do so ? No, he elevates his brother and his four sons, whilst he submits himself and his own children to Aaron's superintendence (see several passages in Numbers, particu- larly chap. viii. v. 5 — 26). No other conqueror, no other legislator ever acted in this manner. I will not say, that they did assume all ho- nours and power, but it may be boldly asserted that no one conqueror or legislator ever excluded himself and descendants from honour, power, and riches ! — It is well known, that the Levites had neither sovereign power, nor immediate property like the other tribes, since all their property was dispersed among all the tribes of Israel, and even then their possessions were limited within a mile on each side of their cities. Why then did Moses exercise this forbearance unless directed by a superior power, a power superior to his will, and to whose unlimited sway Moses, no less than every other member of the human family, was obliged to submit ? Indeed, it was his word Moses wrote, by his command Moses acted, and his almighty name was the watchword of Moses ! We have thus seen Moses proved to be the writer of the Pentateuch, seen him entitled to credibility as a historian in general, and also 4 2tj THE PENTATEUCH. seen him proved equal, if not superior, to any historian of ancient or modern times. I will then pause here and in the succeeding chapters endeavour to establish the truth of revelation, not alone by Moses's history, but also by our national existence as Jews, and as the representatives of the Israelites to whom the law was originally given, and the fulfilment of prophecies pronounced by Moses and his successors, the prophets and seers of Israel. — I must here also beg every one who reads these pages, to consult the passages in the Bible, to which 1 may refer, and take them in connection with the preceding and following verses, to see that the interpretation I may have to give, is consonant with the context, as 1 do not wish any thing to be taken upon my bare assertion. Should he in the succeeding part of this little volume find any thing startling at first sight, he will do well to reflect before he condemns my conclusion; at all events I hope to receive a fair hearing, not alone from Jews, but also from Christians and free-thinkers. CHAPTER V. THE HISTORY OF REVELATION ADAM — NOAH. I deemed it altogether unavoidable, before commencing to draw arguments from the Pentateuch, to prove at first, that it is highly reasonable to believe that its contents are true. Having accomplished this task, in the best manner I could, I shall now resume my original proposition, namely, to adduce proof in favour of the revelation given to Moses, and the subsequent adherence of the Israelites to the same, from his time until the present day. In Chapter I. I have shown, that it is reasonable to conclude that God revealed himself to mankind, and have at the same time proved, that the contrary opinion would accuse the Almighty of injustice to- wards man. THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. 27 But I hear the infidels and the wavering say : — " Most true, it would be unjust to suffer the world to be without a rule of right ; but was it just in God to do, as you Jews assert him to have done, to give a law to you only, and that after two thousand years from the creation V Before answering this question, I must state that 1 shall in the sequel adopt the Mosaic writings as universally acknowledged, and therefore argue from them without stopping to prove the correctness of every passage, having, as 1 conceive, already amply demonstrat- ed the truth of the whole. Having premised this much, I have to state that the above objection would stand good, provided the assertion were true, that no revelation was known to mankind before Moses ; but, it can be shown that the fact is otherwise. It is unnecessary to prove, that God is capable, when He is willing to communicate his commandments to mankind ; we Jews believe him not alone capable and willing, but also think that he has actually done so, and we shall continue in this our belief, till some one can prove that no revelation was given. — In support of our belief, we may cite the text of our Holy Writ, where this is so plainly written, as to leave no doubt upon our minds of the fact, believing at the same time, that the contents of Holy Writ are strictly conformable to truth. The question arises then : — " Can it be proven from Holy Writ, that there was a revelation before Moses, and were there any in- spired men, in his time, among other nations, besides the Jews V To prove the affirmative, it is only necessary to give an abstract of the history of the world until Moses, to satisfy the greatest sceptic. From nothing did the Almighty call every thing into existence, and He clothed the world in light by the word of his mouth, as Mo- ses so beautifully saith : " And God said, let there be light, and there was light." After organising the mighty structure of the star-clad heavens, He on the sixth day of the creation created man, in the man- ner related in the second chapter of Genesis ; He formed his body out of the clay of the earth, but unlike other animals formed in the same manner, which are only endowed with instinct, He imparted to him a living soul, by which He made man an intellectual being. He gave him also a companion to cheer him during his hours of toil, 28 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. and to share his prosperity. — Immediately after the history of their creation, we find God imparting his will to the man whom He had made, or in other words, He revealed himself to Adam. But oh, cur sinful propensities; when we once give way to them, when we, to avoid hurting the feelings of those we love, rather sin with them than give them reproof! — Eve was tempted to taste the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge, and Adam ate, by her persuaded. — Adam and his wife were before in a state of innocence ; but now their inno- cence was past, they had offended God their Creator. Before, the earth spontaneously yielded them its fruit, and man needed only to apply himself to work, to gather that which was so bounteously offered him ; but now labour was decreed to him during his so- journ on earth. — Before, he only saw his wife happy; but now he was obliged to see her often writhing under severe pain. Before, he could listen to the word of God with joy and elevation of heart ; but now it seemed to him the terrible voice of thunder, which split- teth cedars and maketh the wilderness quake. And this was not all, for even death — the dissolution of the body — that noble fabric of the Deity — became man's lot ; and not even the descendants of Adam were exempt from that dread decree, and a mortal father begat a mortal son. But was the decree of God just, in punishing so trifling a trans- gression so severely 1 — Yes ! yes ! It was not that the act in itself was so very heinous ; but the disobedience to the only command of God given to Adam constituted the offence. Man, by this act had lost his innocence, remorse must have visited him, for disobeying so just a God, and all his life would inconsequence have been embitter- ed. But death being destined to close at last his career on earth, and as he knew, that the living soul within him could not die with his body, he had an incentive to virtue — to regain that heaven by repentance and good deeds, which he had forfeited by disobedience. His life, before his fall, was free from earthly cares, indeed; but as he existed then as man — flesh and spirit — he could not enjoy that happiness, which he can be heir to in his present state, when he by the exercise of virtue, or repentance, when he has erred, deserves that happiness, which no eye has seen save that of God alone. — And the Talmud in accordance with this teaches, and inculcates by examples and passages drawn from the prophets, that repentance, THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. 29 sincere repentance, and good deeds are a shield against punishment, and guides to eternal life. — Adam had fallen, but did God forsake him? No, He, to use the language of man, sought him out, and asked of him : " Where art thou '?" He did not at once upbraid him with his ingratitude, but called him first, to give him an oppor- tunity of defending himself. But who can justify himself against Thee, O Almighty God ? who trembleth not when Thou speakest in thunder ? — Adam attempted to shift the fault on his wife, and she was indeed more guilty than himself, and her tempter more guilty still; and in the same manner was their punishment ordained, — thus giving a lesson to mankind, that, though many be guilty of the same offence, minor guilt should never suffer the same punishment with consummate crime. But great is the Eternal's goodness; while in justice compelled to punish, He at the same time took notice of the altered state of mortals — altered by their own fault — and provided them with covering, since the consciousness of guilt forbade them to appear any longer to each other, as they had done before, because their ideas and desires were no longer pure and unsullied. Adam was henceforward banished from the garden of Eden, to mourn in his toil and increased labour, over his fallen state ; and the Cherubim were placed at the entrance of the garden, to guard with the flaming sword the road to the tree of life, and to prevent the re-entrance of man, till being purified by a holy life and submission to the will of his Maker, he be worthy again of a state of unmixed pleasure and uninterrupted enjoyment. Though it is not stated in express language, it must nevertheless be inferred, that partial revelation, or to speak more intelligibly, a limited number of laws, were given to Adam and his immediate descendants. For we hear God reproving Cain for the murder of his brother, and even speaking to him of sin, and of man's power to conquer his passions, and to do good, when he will. (Gen. iv. 7.) Cain was severely punished for his crime ; and would God have pun- ished him if he had not known that the act he was committing was sinful 1 Would that be justice ?— We are therefore forced to admit, that God had imparted some of the civil institutions at least to the first men, for their government. — In further confirmation of this point, we may adduce the example of Hannoch (Enoch), who is said " to have walked with God" (acted as He desired); and how could 30 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. Hannoch act so, if he had not been certified of the will of God 7 — Noah was to admit into the ark seven pair of all clean animals and two only of unclean ones ; now what criterion did he have to distin- guish between the two kinds, without revelation. I am free to confess, that these inferences will not prove any thing positive, though they be ever so ingenious ; but we have more solid ground to stand on in the ninth chapter of Genesis, where we see God giving laws to Noah and his children. The world had been overflowed ; all men, save eight, had been swept off from the face of the earth ; and when the flood had subsided, we see the Father of all, either kindly renewing the old, or giving altogether new command- ments, for the regulation of the conduct of the children of Adam. But when men again began to multiply, they soon forgot the God who had made them ; ambitious of renown, they built a city and a high tower, resolved to dwell there, and thus prevent their being dispersed over the face of the earth, when God had decreed other- wise. To frustrate their design therefore, He changed their speech, so that no one understood the language of the other, and thus they were compelled to relinquish their building, and seek homes in the different quarters of the globe.* — Men soon after settled in commu- nities, those descended from one man, or one family, in the same neighbourhood, and adopted such laws for their government, as suited their fancy. But they soon forgot — because they soon neglected — the word of their Creator — they no more remembered the dreadful scourge of the flood, being secured by God's own word against the recurrence of that calamity — they forgot that they themselves had been punished for their pride and arrogance ; they became rebellious against God's majesty, and began to worship idols, and bowed to the work of their own hands. Some adored the sun and the whole host of heaven, whilst others even worshipped the crocodile, the ox, and the ibis. — A man distinguished himself in war, or slew a monster that infested a district, immediately the bards chanted his praise — he was made the lord paramount of his country - *The very name of the city (Babel) is an evidence of the truth of Moses' account, for the Hebrew verb Bahlole or Bole signifies to mix, and this word is the rootof *733, where only the first letter is doubled. (See also Gen. chap, xi. v. 9.) THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. 31 men — who, as his subjects, fell down in the dust before him — and his descendants declared him a god, and filled his altars with the blood of men ; and thus tyranny spread at the same time with the growth of superstition. Such a race was not worthy of receiving the pure and holy law of the pure and holy Eternal. What, are those, who, forgetful of God's first and solemn commandment to Noah, slay their fellow beings as sacrifices to their idols — are they, we say, fit to receive the word, which is as pure as the bright flame? Would such men, speak, philosophers ! if you can, be a fit depository for the law of God ? — Where then is the injustice, in God's not promulgating the whole law at this early period of the world ? — But let us turn from the sickening spectacle, where man is not much elevated above the brute, and let us look upon a brighter scene. When danger is the most pressing, help is frequently near- est ; and so even was it in the person of our ancestor of glorious memory, who arose the messenger of truth and piety, when wicked- ness was spreading fast and threatened to shroud every thing in gloom — Every one acquainted with sacred history knows, that 1 speak of the peaceful, unpresuming shepherd — Abram, who born of idolatrous parents acknowledged in infancy even, as tradition tells, the name of the Most High, and even suffered for the sanctification of the God of his salvation. He placed his trust in the Rock of ages — and, happy patriarch ! thy hope was not misplaced, thy expectations were not in vain ; for thy faith was recorded on high, thy sufferings were none of them forgotten, and amply wast thou rewarded, when the voice commanded thee to leave thy father's house ; though to leave kindred and friends must have been painful to thy feeling bosom, yet was it sufficient compensation to thee, to have heard the voice of Him, who created the world by his word. Thou didst obey his word and wentest forth into a strange land, and great was thy reward ! — May all thy descendants thus follow thee to obey God and to love Him, that they all may with thee rise from the ashes to everlasting happiness, in the presence of the God of Hosts. Amen ! 32 CHAPTER VI. THE HISTORY OF REVELATION ABRAHAM. When Abram was ordered to leave his father's house, he had already reached his seventy-fifth year ; he had up to this time been childless ; he nevertheless trusted in the word of God, by which he had been promised riches, children and a good name, the three greatest of earthly blessings. He at the same time received the promise, that he should be the object of blessing to all nations. Though, as has been said, he was at the advanced age of seventy-five childless, he had yet full confidence, that the God, whom he had acknowledged and worshipped from his youth, was powerful, willing and ready to keep his promises. Thus strengthened by the revelation he had received, Abram went forth into a land, whose name he had not even heard, for he had been told to go to a land, which God would show him. But soon it became manifest to him, that the country then inhabited by the Canaanites was the land of his destination, and the land assigned to him by Divine Providence as a temporary residence. If we enquire, what was God's motive in sending Abram forth as a wanderer? we will find the answer easy, when we consider the acts of Abram during his travels. In several places he erected altars for the service of the Most High, and there he taught the world to know its Creator and to render Him adoration. In other words, Abram was deputed to reveal in a country, where the terrible Moloch was worshipped, the sacred truths of the mysterious Father, who, unknown, invisible and incomprehensible to us, rules us, governs us, and provides for us. No doubt, Abram was successful ; and we in fact find, that he had made friends among the chiefs in the neighbourhood of Hebron, then called Kiryath Arbang, and Aner, Eshkole and Mam- ray are mentioned, as men in league with Abram ; and can it be believed, that his friends should have been ignorant of his opinions ? and how could they, knowing his opinions, refrain from admiring and adopting them? The Patriarch had not dwell long in Palestine, when he was again THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. 33 obliged to leave this land of his sojournment, and pinched by famine, he went with his family to Egypt. Here he acquired large posses- sions, after which he returned again to the land of Canaan, and again proclaimed the unity of God. In a few years afterwards, he rescued his kinsman Lot from his enemies, and brought back at the same time the captured property of the Sodomites. He then also received the blessing of the king of Salem, (afterwards Jerusalem,) Malkyzedeck, who was a priest to the Most High God ; but he refused the rich presents offered him by the king of the sinful Sodom, though he had incurred great person- al risk, in recapturing the prisoners and the property taken from the five confederated cities. Thus setting us an example, that good ac- tions, to be really good and worth accepting, should be done without hope of emolument, and without a vain ostentation of disinterested- ness, as we find that Abram permitted the king of Sodom to reward his followers, though he refused every thing for himself. Abram's hope had yet been delayed, he was growing old, and yet he had no son to succeed him ; but now, soon after he had recap- tured Lot, he heard again the voice of God (in a vision) tell him, that he should have a son : and Abram believed it. But who can know the decrees of God — understand his ultimate views before they are accomplished ? At the same time that Abram was promised a large and numerous progeny, he was informed that his descendants should be wanderers and slaves for four hundred years ; yet he repined not, yet he feared not, for the fulfilment of the evil was a sure pledge of the ultimate fulfilment of the good. Ishmael had been born since that event, and had reached his thir- teenth year, when Abram, at that time ninety-nine years old, heard again the word of God revealed to him, saying : " Walk before me, and be perfect." His constancy was now again probed — his name changed to Abraham — and he himself commanded to shed the blood of the covenant ; he was also promised that the Almighty would ever be his God and Protector, and of his descendants after him, on con- dition that they, on their part, should observe the covenant of God, that is, to circumcise all male children when eight days old. This covenant was to be 'perpetual, and as we, the Jews, understand this term and the text in Genesis, was to be unchangeable* — God also promised Abraham a son by Sarah, precisely in a year from that 5 34 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. date. Sarah was then eighty-nine years old — but the decree was fixed, and the child was to be called pnr (Yitzchak) Isaac, com- memorative of thejo#* Abraham felt, when he was assured of the certainty of the event. This eventful year had passed away, and Abraham and Sarah were rejoiced with the birth of the long promised child, and it re- ceived the name which God had ordained — Time again passed on, and the word of God again went forth unto Abraham — He was or- dered to take the only son of his wife Sarah, his dearly beloved Isaac, to the land of Moriah, to sacrifice him upon one of those mounts, which yet surround Jerusalem. Abraham obeyed. " With tearful eye and joyful heart," as the Hebrew poet so elegantly says, both father and son prepared themselves to fulfil the imperious command of their God. Did they repine? did they murmur ? No— but calmly re- signed to his will, they were ready to conform strictly to the pre- cept they had received. The altar was built, the fire was kindling, Isaac lay bound upon the wood, and the father — he who had given him being — was grasping the knife to fulfil the last part of the man- date — when behold, a voice, the voice of a messenger from the Lord, resounded with " Abraham ! Abraham !" the knife drops by his side, and he listens to the word of salvation then made known : " Stretch not thy hand out against the youth, do him no harm, for now I know that thou fearest God." " Did not" — asks the Deist, " did not God previously know, how Abraham would act? what need was then for that useless parade?" True, God, the searcher of hearts, knew Abraham's mind, knew also his entire willingness to obey all the commandments known to him; but the world was to be convinced and instructed, and a great deed was obliged to be done to accomplish this. Amidst all the trials of Abraham, previous to this period, we do not find any, where he was compelled to make any great personal sacrifices, which in ordinary human foresight might not have been supposed to yield him ultimately worldly benefits ; and the unbelievers might therefore * The Hebrew word pn¥ signifies to laugh, smile, play, feel joy, &c.; and it is said, Gen. ch. 17, v. 17. "And Abraham fell upon his face pnVl and felt joy, and from this joy, felt by Abraham, emanated the commandment, to name the child of promise ptlV from which the English Isaac is derived, in the same manner as many other names, are from the original Hebrew. THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. 35 have said, that Abraham's piety was not strong enough to enable him to obey the will of God, whose worship he taught, when his all was at stake. For this reason the command was given, that Abraham should offer up his son, him, whom he loved more than himself, whom God had previously declared should be the father of the great nation, who was also to be the repository of God's cove- nant. Who could now say with propriety that the doctrines of Abra- ham were preached for the sake of interest or self-aggrandizement ? No one. — But also instruction was conveyed ; first, that we should be always ready to sacrifice our own lives, when necessary, for the sanctification of God, rather than transgress the law ; secondly, that we are to submit with the utmost resignation, to the decrees of Heaven, and that it is unbecoming in us to question the justice of God's dis- pensations ; and thirdly, that God desires not, but on the contrary, detests that one man should sacrifice the other, pretending to bring an acceptable offering to the Deity. — It is, 1 presume, well known that the heathens then and afterwards thought (and this belief yet ex- ists to the present day) human blood to be the most acceptable* offering to their idols ; we find therefore that God by an example prohibited such a practice in his holy temple, which should never be defiled by murder and iniquity. Was then, 1 ask, the intended sacrifice an idle pageant ? Surely not. And God's blessing was also given both to father and son, that all nations were to be blessed in their descendants ; which means, that through their descendants the word of God, which in itself is a blessing, was to spread over all the earth and make all mankind happy. — This promise has been fulfilled already, in a great measure. The sacred light of revelation was first lit up in the wilderness of Arabia, and from thence it has commenced spreading all over the globe. In every country some, at least, of the scattered seed of Abraham are to be found; their beautiful code of laws has been par- tially adopted in many places, and millions of human beings are drinking the waters of revelation, though they derive it from differ - * There is a curious passage in Hoshea, chap. 13, v. 2, which proves how horrible the practices of idolatry were even in his time; for he says: " To them (the people) they (the priests) say : Those who sacrifice men shall (or are worthy to) kiss the calves," (in Bethel and Dan,) and this speaks volumes (even without any comment) in favour of the enobling virtues of revelation. 36 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. ent and polluted channels. Upon the solid rock of our law have the followers of the Notzry and Mahomed built their systems, and though in part erroneous, yet do these systems already acknowledge the true God, his revelation, and his supreme rule. May we not hope, that the time will speedily arrive, when not alone the Nazarenes and Mahomedans, but all the other families of the earth also will hasten to the banner raised on the mountains, range themselves behind the ranks of the true believers and exclaim : The Eternal is the God ! The Eternal is the God ! ? O happy time ! O blessed hour ! when our eyes shall behold the restoration of Zion, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the temple on Moriah, and the reassembling of the tribes of Israel ! CHAPTER VII. THE HISTORY OF REVELATION ISAAC. Abraham had seen his son Isaac married to his brother's grand- daughter, and seen him in possession of all earthly blessings : when he was called hence, to shine in a world more bright than this, to receive the reward for a long life of action and usefulness. When living, even the heathens called him " a prince of God," thus ac- knowledging his divine mission ; and dead — his memory has ever been revered, both by his descendants and those who have joined them. — After Abraham's death, Isaac followed his footsteps, and like his father, he walked humbly before the Lord. The first, who was at eight days old joined in the covenant, he lived to an age of a hun- dred and eighty years, in the same manner, as unostentatious as his father had done before him ; and though wealthy and much es- teemed, he yet knew that all earthly pomp is vain, and that labour is to man the sweetest of all employments. Thus we find him en- gaged in agriculture, a careful husbandman and a kind neighbour, THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. 37 even to those who had, without any good cause, offended, envied and even expelled him from their country. And as soon as they came to him as friends, he immediately forgot all animosity, and made the promises they desired of him. Who will not admire so benevolent a being, who forgets an offence, whenever the offender seems to feel contrition 1 Isaac also followed his father in other respects, for he also erected altars and taught the worships of God : and to him was repeated the promise made to Abraham, that his descendants should be blest for Abraham's sake ; and thus we have already one reason, why the Jews were chosen to be God's people. But even on the brightest summer's day, the heavens are often darkened with clouds, and so was it even with Isaac. His two sons, his only children, were at variance ; he himself had grown blind ; and to add to his calamity, Esau had married two women, who caused him and the meek Rebecca much heart-burning by their wickedness. His misfortunes did not rest here : on account of the blessing, which his younger son Jacob received, he was obliged to part with him, and many a year passed over his head, bereft of his child, who had to dwell among strangers. But at length the sky again brightened, and pleasure revisited the Patriarch's dwelling. Jacob returned from Mezopotamia with a numerous and blooming family, all children of righteousness, to cheer Isaac's declining years, — the brothers had been previously reconciled ; and thus, after years of trouble and affliction, the aged father had around him peace and contentment, and he also, like his excellent father Abraham, laid down his head in the grave, honoured and respected, happy in having fulfilled his task, and glorying in having proclaimed the wonders of the Creator of the universe. 38 CHAPTER VIII. THE HISTORY OP REVELATION — JACOB. Was the constancy of Abraham tested by sufferings, was Isaac's love proved by his willingness to die, because he supposed his God required it ? Jacob was no less tested, no less did he by his example teach that they who confide in God are never forsaken. — We have seen that Abraham received a revelation, and after him, Isaac ; and as soon as Jacob became a wanderer from his father's house, we see him also receiving the promise of God of the future greatness of his progeny, when he, the son and grandson of wealthy men, who were so powerful, that princes even sought their alliance, was obliged to sleep in the open air with the hard rock for his pillow. Here we have another example, if any were necessary, that God is no res- pecter of persons, that to Him the rich and the poor are equal ; that only the righteous, though poor and needy, is to Him acceptable. — We therefore find it recorded, that Jacob sleeping in the open air, upon that spot where Bethel was afterwards built, received a con- firmation of the promise previously made to Abraham and Isaac, and that this prophecy should not be fulfilled in the person and descend- ants of his brother Esau, but in his own person and descendants. — When Abraham, besides Isaac had Ishmael and other children, when Isaac, besides Jacob had Esau ; Jacob had not one among his nu- merous children, who was not acceptable to his God and Protector. Like his father and grandfather, Jacob erected altars to the true God, and thus spread the light of revelation in the countries to the east and north of Palestine, which before had been made known to the west and south only. Though Jacob was obliged to live for up- wards of twenty years amid a people, who knew not the worship of God, we yet see him constant in his faith, see him teaching his wives and children to love and fear their Maker ; and not alone those who were connected with him by the ties of relationship, but also all others who were about him, acted as he himself had taught THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. 39 them ; for in chap. 35, v. 4, of Genesis* we read, that upon Jacob's requisition, all the members of his household delivered up whatever was in their possession, which in any manner could have been used for the worship of idols. After a long separation from his father, Jacob was at last permit- ted to revisit Isaac's house ; but he was not allowed to remain there long undisturbed, for sufferings and troubles again overtook him, when he, as he thought, had sat himself down in quiet for the short remnant of his days. Thus giving mankind a lesson, which cannot be too often called to mind : " that not in this world must the righteous expect the reward of his good deeds, for he is here only in the out- building, where he is to prepare himself to enter the palace."")" Also the following useful moral may be drawn from Jacob's patience and resignation, and his perseverance to serve God in all his severe and manifold calamities : " that man is not to serve God with a view of being rewarded, but to obey his commandments, and practise virtue independently of all views of emolument, gain, or honour,":}: and " that in spite of calamities and reverses, we should never swerve from the path of right, for the practice of virtue will in itself be suffi- cient to kindle a light within, when even all around is gloom and darkness. "§ Again — we often see the wicked prosper, and the pious suffer, for what serves virtue then, what avails piety, if with this life our existence were ended ? But this is only the time for action, and when our body is enclosed within the grave, then will the soul reap the harvest of its righteousness : Jacob had not been returned more than eight or nine years from his long exile, when dissention among his children became to him the fruitful source of the greatest mental sufferings, with which he had hitherto been afflicted. Joseph, being the eldest son of his beloved Rachel, was distinguished by his father by a superior dress * Presuming that the greater number of my readers are acquainted with the Pentateuch, and as the major part of my arguments, unless otherwise stated, are drawn from this holy book, I hope to be excused, for not in every instance denoting the particular passage, from which these arguments are derived, as I do not wish to load the body of the text with long quotations and too frequent references, which must ever be tiresome and perplexing. t Aboth, chap. iv. t Ibi. chap. i. § For further confirmation of this see Job, chap. i. and ii. 40 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. from the other children : this vexed them, and envy soon ripened into hatred, particularly when they found, that Joseph had the weakness to speak of their failings, which, to judge from their otherwise virtuous conduct, must have been trifling, to Jacob. From the short account contained in the 37th chapter of Genesis we can draw the following moral lessons ; first, that it is dangerous for a father to have an osten- sible favourite amongst his children, even when his preference is founded upon the acknowleged superiority of the favoured child ; secondly, that it is dangerous to be a tale-bearer, even if the tales re- late but to trifles, for the detection of this failing is sure to be followed by the detestation of the slanderer ; and lastly, that we ought to be very careful, how we suffer envy or malice to approach us, for if we once give them a resting place in our bosom, we shall soon be hurried on to commit unjustifiable actions. Jacob's other sons had been gone from home for some time to follow their occupation as shepherds, and Jacob determined to send Joseph after them to enquire about the welfare of his brothers and the well-being of the flock. No sooner had Joseph approached his brothers, than they determined to kill him, and to justify homicide by falsehood. But Reuben dissuaded them, but in his absence Judah advised to sell Joseph to a caravan of Ishmaelites just passing by. He was obeyed, and Joseph, then seventeen years old, was sold as a slave, and his father was left to mourn for him for the space of twenty -two years. Joseph was in the mean time carried to Mitzrayim (Egypt), and sold to an officer of the Pharaoh,* by the name of Poteephar, who was so pleased with his new servant, that he made him his steward. How long Joseph continued in his new station, we cannot precisely determine ; but it could hardly have been above two years, when his mistress attempted to induce him to commit adultery, which Joseph refused to do, and gave as a reason, that he, by compliance, would " sin against God"; thus we have another proof, that some at least of the civil laws of our code were, even before Moses, known to the patriarchs, who were scrupulous in observing them. — When Joseph's * Pharaoh or rather Parngo was the Hebrew name of the kings of Egypt, but was not the particular name of any one king; as at the present time the sovereign of the Turks is called the Soltan, or the emperor of Russia the Czar. THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. 41 mistress saw that he would not be the slave of her desires, her love for him was turned into hatred, and she artfully accused him to her husband of an attempt to insult her, while he was absent. The master became enraged and threw Joseph in prison, where he linger- ed for many years a captive and a slave. But even in this apparently forlorn condition he was not without a friend, or altogether miserable; for the superintendent of the prison took, by the will of God, a fancy to Joseph, and gave him the appointment of an overseer of the prisoners' work. — Two years before his release he interpreted the dreams of two household officers of Pharaoh, who had been one year in prison. Joseph begged the one, whose dream he had favourably interpreted, to remember him ; but he forgot his companion in cap- tivity, when he was prosperous, thus verifying David's saying : "put not your trust in princes." At the expiration, however, of the above mentioned time, when Pharaoh had a dream, of which no one of his sages could give the desired interpretation, his cup-bearer at last remembered Joseph, who was forthwith liberated from prison and brought before the King. Joseph's modesty and wisdom quite cap- tivated Egypt's ruler, and he raised him (so was God's will) from a state of servitude to the second dignity in the empire ; and Joseph became the viceroy of the land. Though he now stood at the highest pinnacle of human glory, he yet sighed for his father, and his father's household, of whose fate he was altogether ignorant. — At length the severe famine, which raged both in the land of Canaan and Mitzrayim, compelled the brothers of Joseph to resort to the granaries, which he had provided for the approaching scarcity fore- told by him to Pharaoh. — His brothers came before him, and bowed, or rather prostrated* themselves, before their brother, who imme- diately recognized them, though they had not the least recollection of him. He sought a quarrel with them, called them spies, and would not, so he pretended, suffer them to depart, till one of them had brought Benjamin to him, who had remained behind with their father. He had them locked up for three days, and then permitted them to return, after having taken Simeon and bound him in their presence. — The * This custom is yet observed, on approaching a king, in Turkey and other parts of the East. 6 42 THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. reader would do well to peruse the whole transaction in the elegant language of the Bible, where we find Reuben reproving his brothers for the violence they had committed against the child (Joseph) and them, justifying the judgment of God and the punishment they then suffered for their inhumanity to Joseph. No wonder then that he wept, no wonder that he felt moved. The nine brothers accompanied by Benjamin returned to Egypt after the lapse of a considerable time, and brought back the money, which they had found in their bags on their return home, to restore it to the superintendent of the magazines, to whose treasure they supposed it to belong. — When Joseph saw Benjamin he was obliged to leave the room and to withdraw into his private chamber, where his full heart was eased by tears ; but he returned soon and dined with his brothers. — Before they were ready to depart, he ordered his superintendent, to contrive to put a silver cup, which had been on the table, in the bag of Benjamin, then to pursue them, after they had left the city, and when upon searching he should have found the cup, to bring Benjamin (as the supposed thief) back with him. The officer obeyed. But the noble brothers disdained to escape and suffer their youngest brother to remain behind a slave; and the magnanimous Yehudah (Judah) stept forward to offer himself in Benjamin's place. " For," said he, " thy servant (himself) has been a security for the youth to my father, saying, * if I bring him not to thee, then will I have sinned against my father for ever.' And now let thy servant remain, instead of the youth, a slave to my lord, and let the youth go up with his brothers. For how could I go up to my father, without having the youth with me ? I never could witness the distress, which would overwhelm my father." Such generous self-devotion moved Joseph, his feelings were too strong almost for utterance, he ordered all strangers from his presence, and then cried out: " I am Joseph ! lives my father yet?" The children of Israel hurried away from Egypt, to tell their father that Joseph yet lived, and that he was regent over all the land of Egypt ; but the heart once inured to sorrow does not even wish any joy to rob it of its sacred grief: it knows how short lived all pleasure is, and is fearful of some worse calamity yet to come, and then it can hardly admit any sudden gladness, because it is doubting its reality ; and so did Jacob too remain incredulous, till he had seen THE HISTORY OF REVELATION. 43 the vehicles, which Joseph had sent for his accommodation. Then indeed was his joy unbounded, and from a full heart he spoke; "Enough, my son Joseph lives yet ; I will go and see him before I die." — Thus it came to pass, that Israel went with his whole family to Egypt; and in Beare Shebang (Berseba) God revealed himself to Jacob and told him, to go without fear to Egypt, for He would go down with him, and bring him also back again, — meaning : that neither Jacob's body nor his descendants should for ever remain buried in Egypt, but that both should be brought out again from that land. Thus fortified by the word of God, our glorious ancestor arrived in Egypt, where he was soon locked in the embrace of his long-lost son; where he was soon taught to forget all his previous sufferings. Joseph, with the permission of Pharaoh, gave his family land, in the district of Goshen, where he supplied them with all the necessaries of life ; and the children of the true faith became inmates of the land of the children of Cham. Jacob had lived seventeen years in Egypt, when he found his end fast approaching ; he therefore assembled Jiis children around him, and giving them his blessing and admonitions, he foretold that which should happen to them till the latest posterity. He prophesied of the Messiah, who is to descend from Judah, and thus spoke the dying saint : " Not for ever shall the sceptre depart from Judah, nor the law- giver from his descendants, for Shiloh shall come, and unto him shall the nations assemble." And surely the time will come, when unto the teacher, the prince David, all nations will assemble to worship the only true God, the Father of all, and shield of Israel. The sceptre has departed, and no more does the law-giver reside in Jerusalem ; but the sceptre must be restored, and the crown will return again to its former dwell- ing !— When Jacob had blessed his children, he composed himself in his bed, and departed this life, to be an angel in heaven, and to shine foremost amidst the saints, whose resting place is at the foot of the throne of glory. 44 CHAPTER IX. THE LEGATION OF MOSES. In the foregoing pages it has been proven to the conviction of any man, who feels no abhorrence against being convinced, that a reve- lation existed before Moses, and though the law, we now have, be the most perfect, yet could not the Syrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, and Canaanites excuse their gross wickedness, by pleading igno- rance of the divine will ; for they had ample means of acquiring a knowledge of the laws given to the patriarchs, if they had but de- sired it j for wherever Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob went, they taught the word of God. And even if they had not done this, their recti- tude, chastity, and hospitality ought to have been admired, and not alone admired, but also imitated. Instead of this, all the horrors of murder, human sacrifice, and incest, were practised by these nations to an almost incredible extent. Who would believe, that mothers carried their children to the valley of Moloch, and stood by while the poor innocents were roasted alive on the heated arms of the bra- zen image 1 Can it be credited, that the crocodile received the babe out of the arms of its mother? Would it be believed, if the fact were not, alas, too well authenticated, that the women were often the wives of their own sons 1 — I will not mention the images of in- cest, for the brief catalogue of crime is already revolting enough, without any further addition. The days of happiness and tranquillity for the descendants of Jacob were over ; and Joseph — who before he died, had ordered his re- mains to be taken away from Egypt, whenever it should^please God to conduct his people to the promised land — was scarcely dead, scarcely had the last clod of earth rung upon the coffin of the last of the patriarchs : when the new king of Egypt forgot the kindness of Joseph, the benefits he had heaped upon the inhabitants of the coun- try under his dominion, in having saved them from the desolating famine. — The Israelites had greatly increased in numbers since the THE LEGATION OF MOSES. 45 arrival of Jacob, and the tyrant of Egypt feared them as inimical to his gowemment, falsely thinking of them, like many rulers in later times, and even in the present day, think of us, their descendants, that they could have no community of interest with the other inhabit- ants of the country, amongst whom they resided. His fear soon made him look around him for remedies, or rather, preventives, against the too rapid increase of the hateful people within his dominions, though the land on which they resided, had been given them as an inheritance, by the especial command of his predecessor. — By labour then did the new king endeavour to check the growth of the Israel- ites, and at the same time to break down their high-mindedness, for he thought, that as slaves they would cease to be dangerous to the state, and useful in building cities, monuments, and other public edi- fices, independently of other manual labour, which he compelled them to do. But the tyrant's aim was frustrated, and the more the Israel- ites were oppressed, the more they increased. Seeing his designs so sadly disappointed, he became furious, and ordered the midwives to murder all the male children of the Hebrews, as soon as born. But these heroic women, regardless of any mischief that might happen to them, did not obey the king's cruel mandate ; and when he disco- vered this, he commanded Ms own people to throw every male child of the Israelites into the Nile. But vain are the efforts of man against the decrees of Heaven ! In the midst of this calamity was born by Yochebed, the wife of Am ram, of the tribe of Levi, that child, who at the age of eighty years rescued, under the peculiar guidance and providence of God, his fel low-believers from the yoke of slavery. — After Yochebed had con cealed her infant for three months, she found it impossible to hide him any longer from Pharaoh's blood-hounds, and with sorrow she was compelled to place him in a box, and expose him amidst the reeds of the Nile, for she preferred leaving his rescue to the hand of Providence, rather than begging his life of men, whose hearts were steeled against mercy. — The box was providentially discovered by the king's daughter, who, feeling compassion for the helpless inno- cent, determined to save him. When the child grew up, she adopt- ed him, and called him Mosheh (Moses,) from a Hebrew word, which denotes drawing out, as we also read in Exodus: "And she 46 THE LEGATION OF MOSES. called him Mosheh nt??o, for (she said) 1 have drawn him (inTPtPO) out of the water. When Moses was grown, he went out one day to see his brethren work, and he saw an Egyptian beating an Israelite ; Moses, who perhaps found no other chance of saving the Hebrew's life, slew the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. Egypt was now no longer a safe residence for Moses, for soon did Pharaoh hear of what he had done, and intended to kill him ; but Moses escaped. He now, who had been reared in a palace, had been the adopted son of the princess of Egypt ; became the servant of the chief of Midian (a district in Ara- bia), and so much was Jithro pleased with him, that he gave him his daughter Zipporah for a wife, by whom he had afterwards two sons, of whom one was called Gershom, the other Eleazer. The above mentioned king of Egypt was dead, and yet the pres- sure was not removed under his successor from Jacob's children, and bitterly did they groan under their heavy labour ; but their Father in Heaven heard their cries and determined then to save them. Moses, so he himself tells us*, was tending the sheep of his father- in-law, and drove the flock far into the wilderness, and arrived at the mount of God in Horeb. The wonderful appearance of a thorn- bush being on fire, without being consumed, attracted his attention, and he steppped forward to see " why the thornbush was not con- sumed?" — But hark! his step is arrested, and a voice calls out: " Come not hither ! take thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place thou standest upon is holy ground." The Eternal then proceeded to tell Moses, that he was the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Ja- cob, the God, in times of old adored by the patriarchs, with whom he had made a covenant ; He had therefore resolved to redeem their descendants from their servitude in Egypt, and bring them into the promised land, and that He had destined Moses to be the messenger to Pharaoh, and to be the leader of the Israelites after their redemp- tion. Moses, hearing himself appointed to such a high station, modestly declined the honour, on account of his supposed inability. But God told him, that He would assist him ; and to prove to Moses the truth * Here I must beg the reader to refer to the third chapter of Exodus, where the whole account of Moses's mission is so beautifully given. THE LEGATION OF MOSES. 47 of his mission, He gave him a sign ; that namely, when the mission should be in part accomplished, by the liberation of the Israelites from thraldom, they then should worship God upon that mountain, (Horeb). Here our law teaches us a lesson, of which we ought never to lose sight, " that prophecy cannot be verified, but by the accomplishment of the prediction, and no miracle, however striking, can establish the truth of what any man, pretending to be inspired, says, if the event accords not with the prediction." When Moses felt thus convinced in his own mind, he asked by what name the God of their ancestors should be announced to the Israelites ? And God answered rrnx 1BW rrnx, which ought to be rendered : "1 am the unchangeable Eternal Being, who ever will be ;" and He commanded Moses to tell to the Israelites, " The Ever- Being rrnx has sent me to you." — Moses was yet diffident, yet afraid, that the people to whom he was sent would not believe him, if he did not show them miracles, to convince their senses. And he was gratified, for God gave him power to work certain miracles. — But Moses would not yet consent, and offered his want of eloquence as an excuse ; God, however, spoke to him as follows : " Who gave to man a mouth 1 who maketh him dumb or deaf, or well endowed with hearing and seeing, or blind ? is it not I, the Eternal?" Thus far Moses had been right, in not grasping too eagerly at power and distinction ; but when he had seen that it was God's will, that he himself, and no other should be the messenger, he ought to have raised no more objections ; for when he yet refused, so he himself tells us, he was rebuked by God, who then assigned him his brother Aaron as spokesman, and thus gave him a partner in the work of sal- vation, which otherwise, as we have every reason to believe, would have been accomplished by Moses alone.— The following moral les- son is clearly deducible from the whole narrative : " we ought never to be eager to claim honours, but when we find ourselves capable to do any thing serviceable to mankind, or to the cause of virtue and reli- gion, or if we see things done wrong by others, which we could do better ; then it becomes our duty to come forward, and offer our services ; to hold back then would be false delicacy, but not mo- desty, and we deserve punishment if we suffer mischievous errors to exist, which we by our exertions could perhaps remove." Moses having received his commission from his Maker, wandered 48 THE LEGATION OF MOSES. back to Egypt, having previously taken leave of Jithro, and being assured, that he would expose himself to no danger by his return to a land, where he was once threatened with the scaffold. — Aaron, who was rejoiced at Moses's elevation, met him on the road, and they, after their arrival in Egypt, assembled the elders of the Israel- ites ; Moses performed the miracles before the people, and Aaron related to them the message, with which Moses had been charged. And the people believed. — Although heavily oppressed, they yet well remembered the promise given to Abraham, and the manner of Moses's prophecy convinced them, that he was the chosen messenger of the God, whom their forefathers had worshipped. — After having made known the word of salvation to their brothers, Moses and Aaron repaired to Pharaoh, and in the name of the Eternal demanded the release of his people. Pharaoh refused and said : " Who is the Eternal, that I should obey his voice, to let Israel go? I know not the Eternal, nor will I suffer Israel to depart." The obvious meaning of this answer is, that Pharaoh said, that the Eternal was a deity unknown to him, and as such he would pay no respect to his commands. — Like the miser, who clings more firmly to his ill- gotten treasure, when he finds that his enjoyment of it will soon be over ; just so did Pharaoh order, that the Hebrews should be compel- led to do harder work, and their daily task not be in the least dimin- ished, when he discovered by the determined manner of the exiled Moses, that his dominion over the children of Israel was soon to terminate ; for even Phaoraoh must have felt assured that no man, much less one, who had been obliged to leave the empire, would boldly step up to the king and make such a monstrous demand, if he had not the power to make his threats of vengeance good. Pharaoh perhaps intended to stifle, by harder oppression, the incipient desire for freedom just excited in the bosom of a degraded people ; he also endeavoured, but in vain, to resist the power of the Most High ; — but he was soon taught to know, that he himself was but a man, a weak, powerless mortal ; that the gods, to whom he looked for support, were things, in which there is no power to help, and — that there is none like our God. — His rivers were turned into blood ; frogs came in masses to plague him and his equally guilty people ; vermin and wild beasts came to destroy them, and pestilence swept off their cattle; their own bodies were afflicted with dangerous THE LEGATION OF MOSES. 49 ulcers ; hail and locusts were sent to destroy every tree and every plant which grew in the field, and at last there was darkness, which lasted for three days, and was so intense that no one could see the other. — As long as the plague lasted, Pharaoh seemed to relent and willing, that the Israelites should leave the country ; but no sooner had the evil been removed by Moses's praying to God for his enemies, than Pharaoh and his ministers forgot their promise, and yet kept Israel enslaved. Nine plagues had already, in this manner, passed over Egypt, many times had Pharaoh refused to keep his promise ; but now his proud spirit even was to yield, and he, who but lately spoke with contempt : " I know not the Eternal," was now destined to feel the full weight of his wrath, and to acknowledge that his will must be obeyed. Pharaoh had but just forbidden Moses ever to come to him again, under pain of death ; when Moses was notified, and ordered to tell him, that that very night the greatest distress should overtake all Egypt, neither king nor slave should be spared, and that not even the cattle and the idols, which the Egyptians worshipped, should escape. For Moses was ordered to announce, that just at midnight, when every one should repose in security, every first-born of each family, in the whole land of Egypt, was to die, and that even the king's first born, his presumptive successor, should perish, and that then the bereaved parent would be willing to allow the Israelites to depart, to worship God the Eternal, who had chosen them to be his servants. 50 CHAPTER X. THE EXODUS. It was in the beginning of the month of A bib,* that Moses and Aaron received the first commandment promulgated to those who went out of Egypt. It is well known, that the Egyptians, although they are so highly celebrated for their learning and skill in various arts, were silly enough to worship beasts, and amongst the rest the bull (Apis) and the ram ; for it is, I suppose, known to most classical scholars, that Jupiter Amman was represented with a ram's head. — As has been already related in the preceding chapter, the time of Israel's redemption was fast approaching, and Moses and his brother were then commanded to tell the whole nation of Israelites, that each family should provide themselves with a lamb, which should be in their possession as early as the tenth day of the month, but not be killed till the afternoon of the fourteenth. The Egyptians never ate meat, for beasts were their gods ; but now the Israelites, who had been their slaves for many years, selected the idols of their masters as sacrifices to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, thus showing the Egyptians, that the descendants of the patriarchs were no longer afraid of them; whereas before this time the Israelites were not per- mitted to kill animals in the presence of the Egyptians, (see Exo- dus, chapter viii. v. 22). — The Hebrews were also commanded, to sprinkle the blood of the paschal lamb upon the door-posts ; " to what purpose ? did not God know where the Hebrews lived, without this mark?" Certainly, but the commandment was given to test the faith of God's people. Those who, fearful of offending their task- masters, omitted to obey the will of God, were not deserving to be spared, when these suffered ; but those who, firmly relying upon the promise of their God, obeyed his word with alacrity, were indeed worthy of being spared. Thus was the blood a true mark of * Now commonly called Nissan. The months of the Hebrew year have, since the return from the Babylonian captivity, been distinguished by Chaldean names, and the Hebrew ones have not been in general use since that time. THE EXODUS. 51 discrimination to the Israelites themselves, between him, who confided in God, and him, whose faith was weak and wavering. — They were also commanded to be dressed as if prepared for a journey, while eating the passover-lamb ; with their clothes well fixed, their sandals on their feet, and their sticks in their hands, and to eat the meat hastily ; thus was it indicated to them, that immediately after the eating of the offering, they should be ready to leave the land of their oppressors. They were further commanded that they themselves, and their remotest descendants, should eat unleavened bread for seven days, from the fifteenth till the twenty-first of the month in the evening. — The passover was also to be eaten with bitter herbs, in commemoration of the bitterness of the sufferings of the Israelites in Egypt. The above commandments were strictly observed ; and when the night after the fourteenth day had set in, the Israelites were celebrat- ing the first Passover. The blood of the sacrifice graced the door- posts of the habitations of the Hebrews, when just at midnight the avenging God went forth over the land of Egypt, and slew every first- born of man and beast in Pharaoh's dominion. " We are all dying," resounded through the land, and when the tyrant's first-born dropt dead at his father's feet, even he relented; he called Moses and Aaron, begged them to leave his land, and craved their blessing. The Egyptians, who before could not bear the idea of letting their ser- vants go, now drove them fairly off, would not give them time to bake their bread, and gave them gold, silver, and clothing, any thing to be rid of such dangerous inmates. And was Moses, who was seemingly the author of all this misery, hated by them 1 No, he stood high in the estimation and affection of Pharaoh's ministers, and the people of Egypt ; for all acknowledged that he was the servant and messenger of the true God, and that by his will and permission alone Moses was enabled to do these great things. — The people of Israel, therefore, who had been slaves for many years,* were in this manner freed from their oppressors, and they went out openly and unmolested, to meet their new destinies under a leader beloved by his own fellow-believers, and respected even by his enemies. — They were destined for the conquest of Palestine ; but the Eternal did not * This event took place, according to the Rabbins, in the four hundredth year after the birth of Isaac, and as I believe 430 years after Abraham had left Ur Casdim, which is, I think, the time mentioned in Exodus, chap. xii. 52 THE EXODUS. wish to lead them through the country of the Philistines to the im- mediate acquisition of their inheritance ; He preferred to let them pass' through the wilderness of Arabia, to teach them more fully, that they were altogether dependent upon his support. — He sent a pillar of clouds to go before them by day, to point out the road they were to travel, and by night, he illuminated their path with a pillar ofjire, so that they were enabled to travel by day and night. When the terror of Pharaoh and his people had a little subsided after their late calamity, they repented their having dismissed the Israelites, and all went out in pursuit of them, to bring them back to servitude. — The Egyptians overtook the Israelites, as they lay en- camped along the shores of the Red Sea. They, who had been redeemed but a few days ago, saw column after column of their re- vengeful pursuers arrive ; and how should they be able to withstand this well armed host of horsemen and charioteers 1 Behind them were their enemies, and before them they saw the agitated waves of the Arabian Gulf; there was therefore no possibility of retreating, no advancing ; the danger was pressing, and six hundred thousand freemen saw no alternative between death and slavery. The very idea was maddening, to think that their wives should be swept off by the flood — or that the necks of their tender children should bend under that heavy yoke of slavery, under the pressure of which they had themselves so long groaned. — In their anguish, they called upon their God to assist them, and He heard their prayer. — It is true, that some began to grow faint-hearted, and accused Moses as the author of their present distress ; but let those, who may be disposed to think our ancestors so very blameable for their want of confidence, only reflect how they themselves would have acted under equally trying circumstances.* — But Moses stood unappalled in this emer- gency — he, the man of God, knew no fear, and he inspired his affrighted brethren with a share of the confidence he himself felt. Secure of a happy issue, he ordered the Israelites to stand quiet, and in the spirit of prophecy he assured them, that they should never again see the Egyptians in the manner they beheld them that day. — * Let rac not be misunderstood, as being the apologist for the rebellious'spiril manifested so frequently by the Israelites ; since my only aim is to draw the attention of tbose saints, in their own opinion, who accuse the Jews of want of faith, to themselves, and to reflect if they are in the least more virtuous, in des- pite of their boasted sanctity. THE EXODUS. 53 All the nation became silent — all clamour was hushed, whilst Moses prayed to God, who had through him so often before manifested hi3 power. — And soon was his prayer answered from Heaven ; he was ordered to stretch his staff, with which he had performed the other miracles, over the sea, and behold ! its waters were divided, and were congealed, and stood up like two walls, to the right and to the left. The tribes of Yeshurun boldly advanced into the dry chasm of the ocean, and passed through unharmed. Their pursuers, being baffled in their intentions, and disappointed of their prey, hurried on- ward after the retiring Israelites ; but soon they discovered, when it was too late, their inability to accomplish their purpose ; against their will they were dragged forward, and they arrived in their turn in the middle of the sea. Moses was again commanded to stretch his hand over the sea, and all the Egyptians were at once overwhelmed in one confused and sudden destruction; for the sea ebbed down again to " the gate of tears,"* and buried under its mighty waves the whole host of Pharaoh, and not even one was left to carry home to his countrymen an account of the terrible catastrophe. — The de- struction was complete ; and when the Israelites saw the corpses of their enemies thrown upon the seashore, they all acknowledged the great power of their mighty Deliverer, and as our legislator expresses in a few words : " And the people feared the Eternal, and they be- lieved in the Eternal and his servant Mosheh." When Moses and all Israel saw the great deliverance, and when they felt that they were now and for ever free from Egyptian thraldom, they composed that elegant hymn, which must ever remain an example of chaste and ele- vated poetry. In which after rehearsing the great deliverance, by which they had been saved from slavery and from death, they speak in terms of confidence of the fulfilment of the yet remaining unaccom- plished promises of God, and conclude with the following beautiful sentences : " Thou wilt bring them, and Thou wilt plant them in the mountain of thy inheritance, in the place, O Eternal, Thou hast prepared for thy residence; the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have found- ed !— The Eternal will reign for ever and ever !" May this be his will, and may all flesh speedily be brought to acknowledge Him alone, and to the observance of his precepts. Amen. * The straits of Bab-el Mandeb, which form the outlet of the Red Sea. 54 CHAPTER XI. THE ISRAELITES AND REVELATION. In the foregoing, I have briefly narrated the history of the Israel- ites from Abraham, the founder of the nation, to their deliverance from the Egyptians. We will therefore pause here a little, and ex- amine the following question : " Is it reasonable to suppose that God revealed himself to the Israelites ? and is it compatible with the dig- nity of the Creator, to make a nation or a set of men, just released from slavery, the depository of his will ?" No one will deny, since denial is useless and unnecessary, that the Israelites were a nation just released from slavery, that they were ignorant and idolatrous ; yet this admission does not in the slightest degree invalidate the assertion of Moses, that these Israelites were chosen as the depository of God's will and law. Let us but examine the object of religion, the intended influence and scope of the revealed word of God, and no solid objection can be raised to the Bible having been given to a people who were ignorant and unused to a worship different from the rites of the heathens, amongst whom they had hitherto resided. For religion is intended to fill our minds with a .proper idea of God and his attributes, and in consequence, to raise our thoughts to Him, inasmuch as we are dependent upon his bounty for our daily subsistence, nay to his kindness for every moment of our life. — The more we feel our dependence upon God, the oftener the subject is brought before us in its full force, the greater the benefits are we receive from his goodness : the more must we, of necessity, be alive to his mercy, the greater will be, must be, our desire to merit the continuance of his supreme pro- tection, by gratitude towards Him — by the observance of his pre- cepts. — The Israelites had been for nearly two hundred years compelled to do the most degrading work, and they were even inhumanly beaten by those very persons, whose ancestors owed every thing to the Hebrew Joseph. (See above.) — At the same time the promises made to Abraham, and reiterated to the succeeding patriarchs, were not forgotten by the Hebrews. But year after year THE ISRAELITES AND REVELATION. 55 rolled on, and their toil was not diminished, the appointed time was drawing to a close, and they were yet slaves. At length, Moses, the son of Amram, communicated to them the joyful tidings that God had taken cognizance of their deplorable situation, and that even then at the moment he was speaking, the decree of their redemption had gone forth. — If now the additional pressure of the last acts of Pha- raoh's tyranny had continued long, the Hebrews would probably have derided and scorned him (Moses) as a deceiver, who had mocked them with hopes of deliverance, and was even the proximate cause of additional hardships. It was not, however, the will of God, that his faithful servant should be considered in this light. — No sooner had Pharaoh announced his determination of still more tight- ening the chains of the captives, than Moses was sent to him, to de- mand again and again the release of God's first-born, namely, our nation. Pharaoh still refused. — Punishment after punishment was inflicted upon the king and his Egyptians, whilst the Hebrews re- mained unharmed amid the desolation around them. At length, by that dreadful scourge, the last the Egyptians suffered at home, the king was compelled to comply with God's will and dismiss Israel, and when he attempted to force them back, we have seen already the entire destruction which befel him and his army. — These things were not done in a corner, they were not done before a few men ; but before the whole Hebrew and Egyptian nations, all of whom saw and (therefore) knew all, that we are told did happen. — The Egyp- tians, therefore, were convinced that the Eternal is a God, who cannot be offended with impunity ; and the Israelites were taught, that He keeps his word, and that He rewards those who love Him, to the thousandth generation, and besides — that He was their glory and their God, who had done all those wonderful things, which their own eyes had beheld. In this manner were the Israelites convinced, that their sole dependence was the favour of God, for by his assistance alone were they redeemed from that captivity, of which in spite of their numbers they had been unable to free themselves by their own exertions. Their mind was therefore in a proper state to receive lasting religious impresions. They owed every thing to God, they had seen his power, and felt his forbearance; and can any man devise a state of society, where more lasting impressions could be made by the divine 56 THE ISRAELITES AND REVELATION. law, than that in which the Israelites were, when going out of Egypt? Here every thing tended to draw them to their Maker — the ties of the covenant had been renewed, and new obligations of obeying God's word had been laid upon them, and all they could do, to requite the many favours they had received, was — to devote themselves to the service of God. — It is true, they murmured several times, when they wanted bread and water, and God gratified them. — They frequently sinned, and they were punished ; but soon they acknowledged the justice of the decrees of Heaven, and were forgiven, because they re- pented. And to this day the law is respected by us, its very pages are considered sacred, and our greatest praise is to have observed its pre- cepts, as far as lies within our power. The impression was made three thousand years ago, and it is as fresh at this moment, as it was on that day, when, after the Israelites had seen the power of God anew displayed, by giving them water out of the hard rock, they went out under the guidance of Joshua to repel the attack of the Amalekites. They were unused to arms, yet did they light bravely for a whole day, under the eye of the youthful hero, who led them on against an enemy, whose very trade was war ; for they confided in God, and hoped that He, who had led them out of Egypt, would vouchsafe to defend them against the attack of a barbarous horde — and they were not deceived in their expectation. Moses ascended a hill, where he prayed w.ith uplifted hands (Talmud Roshe Hashanah, chap. 3, §. 8,) for those who fought, and they conquered by the name of God, to whom their hearts were raised during the battle ! Does any man want the objection at the head of the chapter re- futed by more solid arguments ? I think not — for what has been said already must convince every reader, that the very state of so- ciety considered objectionable to the account of Moses relative to the law having been given to the lately freed Israelites, was of all others the most favourable, and infinitely preferable to a state of affluence, where the mind of nations, equally with that of individuals, is alas, too often, and too much, engrossed with worldly affairs; and nations and individuals thus circumstanced are too little inclined to think of the decrees of their God, whose creatures they are, and to whom they are indebted for that very affluence which makes them think so highly of their own power and wisdom, and so lightly of their God and Creator. 57 CHAPTER XII. THE DESCENT ON SINAI. The last notes of the song of thanksgiving had died way along the shore of the Arabian Sea, the shout of triumph over the conquered Amalekites was hushed : and Israel lay encamped in the wilderness of Sinai. The whole neighbourhood of Mount Horeb is described by late travellers as strikingly sublime, and the mount itself, though not quite so elevated, as some others in the neighbourhood, as having, nevertheless, a wonderful effect by its several and distinct summits, one more elevated than the other. At the foot of this mountain, our ancestors encamped, at the commencement of the third month ;* they had therefore arrived at that spot, where it had been foretold to Moses, (see above, chap, ix.) the Israelites should worship God, after their leaving Egypt. It was therefore, here, that Moses was called for the first time be- fore the whole congregation, to receive the annunciation of God's will. He was commanded (Exodus, chap, xix, v. 3 — 6): " Thusshalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel : you have seen what 1 have done to Egypt, and that I have borne you on eagle's wings, and brought you to me. And now, if you will obey my words and observe my covenant, then you shall be to me a people more dearly beloved than any other nation, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." Let us understand this message well, for then we shall easily discover upon what terms the Almighty promised to befriend us, and under what circumstances we were to be the dearly beloved people. — Pre- viously to this moment the Israelites had been told, that their re- demption from slavery was to take place, not on account of any * The month in which they were relieved from Egypt being, by God's com- mand, instituted the first of the ecclesiastical year. See Instruction in the Mo- saic Religion, page 124. 8 58 THE DESCENT ON SINAI. thing they themselves had done ; but solely, because of the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the promises made to them. — The Israelites, being now free, were told : first, that it was God, and not Moses, by whose power they had been redeemed ; further, that the Almighty had subsequently — like the eagle that protects its offspring from danger — protected them, and delivered them from flood, from famine, from thirst, and from the sword ; and lastly, that if they would now agree to the conditions, which He would propose, then should they be entitled to the continuance of his protection and fostering care. Although God could, after his goodness to them, have, according to human notions of gratitude, demanded their obe- dience ; yet did He lay before them his intentions, for their accept- ance or refusal. Thus teaching us, that we should never presume to dictate to a person, indebted to us, any thing which might by chance be disagreeable to him, but that we ever ought to gain his compli- ance by gentle persuasion. — Well then — God proposed to the chil- dren of Israel, that they should receive his peculiar protection and love, in case they would obey his commandments and observe the terms of the covenant, to be proposed to them. — He also justifies this preference of them by saying : " All the world is mine," meaning, since you choose voluntarily to observe my statutes, no nation has a right to complain of my favouring you more than others, for all na- tions are equally mine, and all shall ultimately be deserving to be called by my name ; but since I must make a beginning with one, to promulgate my law in the first instance to them, it is but just and fair that I, who am the maker and master of all, should be left to choose that* people, which I, in my superior wisdom, think better * The prophets frequently refer to the existence of the Israelites, as an argu- ment in favour of the existence of God, and Isaiah (chap. 43,) calls upon all na- tions, " to bring instances, where any of them could foretell things, which were to happen, and to produce analogous events to our history, from theirs ;" and then he proceeds (v. 10): " You are my witnesses, and my servants, whom I have chosen." (v. 12) " And you are my witnesses, spcaketh the Eternal, and I AM GOD." Here then the prophet rests the truth of the law, and the proof of the existence of God, upon the existence of the Israelites ; and to us it really appears, that the existence of the Jewish nation proves that there is a superin- tending Power, and that this Power has chosen this people for some ulterior pur- pose, which is known to Him alone. Let us endeavour to account for our national existence as we will, a moment's reflection will be enough to convince THE DESCENT ON SINAI. 59 fitted and more deserving than any other, to be the depository of my statutes, till the rest of mankind be also fitted to adopt my will as their guide, and my law as their code. Can any philosopher step forward and assert, that the Israelites were not better fitted, than any other people, then or even now ex- isting, for this great purpose of God ? They were already uncon- nected with any other nation, they had no home, but that one they expected to acquire by the assistance of their God ; they had there- fore to make no great personal sacrifices by secluding themselves from the rest of the world : when, on the contrary, it would have been a most difficult thing to reform a people, whose manners were once settled, and this difficulty would have been not a little magnified, when this very change of manners must have set them up as a mark of hatred to all the surrounding nations, whose manners had been formerly similar to theirs, and with whom they had lived in friendship. — Independently of this reason, the Israelites were already better acquainted with revelation than any other people, and their manners were probably not so corrupt. — Moreover, the Israelites were prepared to receive the law of God from feelings of gratitude towards Him for the signal favours they had received, which was, as has been shown, another powerful reason to entrust the law to them. To return to the subject under consideration, — the Israelites were promised happiness and salvation, — for God said, they should be a holy people, — if they would on their part abide by the conditions proposed, and observe the duties required of them. Let it be well observed, that God here plainly says, that the righteousness of a man is sufficient to ensure his salvation, for he does not even hint in the slightest manner at a saviour, or to speak more clearly, at a mediator between God and man. According to this definition, which can hardly be controverted, we may safely rest our hope of salvation upon our obeying the will of God and upon our observing his precepts, and we are not to expect to be saved through any being, save the Eternal, for He alone is our Supporter, our Saviour and our Redeemer. No sooner had Moses delivered the message of God, than all the us, that the biblical account is the most rational, nay, the only probable one of the origin, progress, and fall of our nation, the once powerful Israel, but now the humble and much despised Jews. 60 THE DESCENT ON SINAI. people unanimously (not together) answered. " All that the Eter- nal has spoken we will do." When Moses had carried back this reply to God, he was further notified, that He would come to him in a thick cloud, that the people might hear, when He spoke to him ; and God at the same time, promised Moses, " that in him they should believe for ever." Thirty centuries have already elapsed, since our great and good leader was taken from us, (at a time when his strength was yet unimpaired) ; and his mission is yet believed divine, and its truth defended by the Jews. Does not my writing this imperfect defence of our law in part verify this prediction ? Can any denier of the truth of prophecy assert, that this prophecy has not been fulfilled to the letter ? What right has he, then, to deny the authenticity of at least this one prediction ? When the people had declared their willingness, nay their eager desire, to see their King, as the Rabbins figuratively call the desire of hearing the word of God proclaimed without any mediator, not even Moses, the latter was ordered, to prepare his brethren for three days previous to that glorious day. Perfectly clean, perfectly free from all earthly desires and pollution, should they meet their God, and receive his holy and pure law, in holiness and purity. The mount Sinai was to be the place, whence the law was to be proclaim- ed, and on that account Moses was commanded to fence it round, so so that no one should approach the sanctuary of the Lord, and death would have been the punishment for the violation of this interdiction. At dawn of the appointed day there rested a dense cloud on the mount, and the terrible thunder rolled, and the bright lightning flashed, at the coming of the Most High in his glory. The trumpet — a trumpet not blown by mortals, but sounding by the will of the Almighty— called forth with its loud blast the people of Israel. And they trembled, whilst Moses led them out of the camp and placed them at the foot of Sinai ; for the mount emitted flames fiercer than the destructive volcano, and shook to its very base. — It could not have been an ordinary earthquake, not a common eruption of a burn- ing mountain ; for then, in the ordinary course of nature, the approach to the base of the mount would have produced instant death. But, no! it was the glory of God, in whose presence there is safety, which produced this effect, and therefore did the Israelites, led by Moses, advance with a trusty mind and a firm step, though with a THE DESCENT ON SINAI. (Jl quaking heart, for who fears not when God speaks? — After Moses had placed his brethren in proper order, he ascended the mount ; but he was ordered to go down* and give warning a second time, that no one should pass beyond the barrier which Moses had drawn round the mount. And here we have another moral lesson, " that it is not enough, that a father tell his children, and a superior those under his charge, only once of their duty ; but that they ought to repeat their instructions so often, that they cannot be forgotten, or else the father and guardian have neglected their trust, and they are answerable to God for sins committed by their charges through ignorance. — When the Israelites were at length fully prepared, the all-power- ful God spoke as follows : 1. " I am the ETERNAL thy GOD, who have conducted thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 2. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt make thyself no image, nor any likeness of aught in heaven above, or on earth below, or in the waters beneath the earth. Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them ; for I the Eternal thy God, am a watchfulf God, who am visiting the sins of the fathers on the *The intelligent reader is requested to read with particular attention the nineteenth chapter of Exodus, and he will discover, that Moses was not in all probability on the mount Sinai during the promulgation of the Decalogue, for it is not mentioned, that he re-ascended, till after the promulgation, and we have therefore another proof that Moses had no agency in imposing a law of his own invention upon the Israelites. It is but justice to say, that I am indebted to Mr. Jacob Mordecai of Rich- mond, for this remark. t It is really astonishing, with how much avidity every difficult passage, nay every obscure word, in the whole Bible is seized by infidels, and explained by them in such a manner, as to make its meaning absurd, and thus they attempt to defend their infidelity, saying, that they cannot believe such nonsense, as they pretend to say they have met with in the holy scriptures. A stronger instance can hardly be found, than the assertion, that according to the Jewish Bible, God is a vindictive Being. God pardon me, for even penning this blasphemy ! And where do they find this ? In the Decalogue they say, where it says : He is a jealous God. But if I may venture an opinion, I would explain the words KJp Sx in ^ following manner : The Israelites had seen the goodness of God manifested to them, ever since Moses was first sent to them, and though they had already shown themselves dissatisfied on several occasions, yet had 62 THE DESCENT ON SINAI. children, on the third generation and fourth generation, of those who hate me ; but am doing mercy unto the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. 3. Thou shalt not bear the name of the Eternal thy God in vain, (not use it without necessity, nor at an untruth,) for the Eternal will not suffer him to remain unpunished, who beareth his name in vain. 4. Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days thou mayest labour and do all thy work ; but the seventh is a day of rest in honour of the Eternal thy God ; then thou shalt not do any manner of work, neither thyself, nor thy son, thy daughter, thy man and thy maid-servant, not even thy cattle, and the stranger who is within thy gates. For in six days did the Eternal make heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and refrained from work on the seventh day ; therefore did the Eternal bless the Sabbath-day, and declare it holy. 5. Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land, which the Eternal thy God giveth thee. 6. Thou shalt not commit murder. 7. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 8. Thou shalt not steal. they never been punished, except we consider the attack of Amalake as a punishment. But now God told them what was their duty, and that it was obligatory upon them to do what they were certified to be right: and as they now knew, what God considered as right, they should be punished for transgressing the precepts of the law, or in other words for doing wrong ; and therefore did God continue : " I am xjp bx" a God, who am ever watchful and remembering all that happens, and therefore ready to punish, where punish- ment is due. If this explanation is correct, it follows, that God, according to our Bible is not a vindictive Being, but a just Judge, who, as such, punishes all sins against his will, because they are offences against the standard of right. " But does not the Hebrew word fcUD always mean jealous, in its common acceptation?" No, for we find in Numbers chapter xxv. 11 v. :TliOp HN 1NJD3 which is very properly translated, " because he was zealous for my sake." See also the succeeding chapter, and Instruction in the Mosaic Religion, page 37, note ; and I may add here, that when the within was written, this book was not in my possession, which is another proof, that all who study the Bible with can- dour and honest zeal will generally agree with each other in their conclusions, although they are divided by time and space. And is this not a beautiful com- mentary upon the truth of the Mosaic revelation ? THE DESCENT ON SINAI. 63 9. Thou shalt not answer as a false witness against thy neighbour. 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing else which belongs to thy neighbour." The foregoing precepts are technically called : the ten command- ments or the Decalogue, and are the foundation of our whole civil, moral and religious code. When the Israelites heard these precepts announced from on high, they were filled with fear and apprehension. For the voice of the Eternal had not been heard by any other people before them, and they had therefore beheld and heard that, which no mortals ever before had seen or heard. The Israelites had desired to be convinced with their own eyes of the truth of Moses's mission, and they had wished to hear the word proclaimed by God himself. They had been gratified, they had seen the glory of God, as He proceeded from Sinai, and shone unto them from Sayir, and sent his beaming light forth from Paran, and came with myriads of saints ; and they had received from his right hand the law as pure as fire, as they lay prostrate before him. (Deut. xxxiii.) — Being therefore now convinced of the truth of Moses's mission, they begged of him, to receive, by himself alone, the commandments, which God might ordain for their government, and that he should teach them afterwards, what he had learned ; for they themselves were in fear of losing their lives, should they witness again the great fire, which was yet burning, while they were speaking to Moses. — But he wished to induce them to perse- vere in receiving themselves the other commandments, and he therefore answered : " Fear not, for only to prove you did God come, and that his fear might be upon your faces, that you may not sin. When Moses however heard from God, that the request of the Israelites was pleasing to him, he then, but not till then, consented to be the instructer of the people and to tell them all, which he should hear announced by God. In this manner became Moses the messenger of God to the peo- ple of Israel, and their messenger to and interceder with God. Can it be believed, that a man thus honoured should promulgate laws of his own, should teach aught but the word of God ? The man chosen by God and confided in by the Israelites could not have acted so ; 64 THE DESCENT ON SINAI. whatever he taught was the word of God, and all his thoughts were for the safety of the Israelites, and when they sinned and deserved utter annihilation, he offered himself to die, that they might escape. Much had he to encounter, many difficulties had he to overcome ; but he at length succeeded, and the descendants of Jacob confided in him when alive, and wept for him when he was dead. Shall any man in the present age dare to slander such a good, such a pious man, call his words untruths, and his miracles deceptions 1 Can it be possible, that his contemporaries, who saw him act, who heard him speak, should have confided in him, if he had been a deceiver ? And that they did believe him, is evident, from our existence as a distinct nation. For it cannot be denied by any human being that we exist now ; nor, that we did exist in the days of Tacitus ; nor, that we existed in the days of Ezra, nor previous thereto ; if we then proceed to trace our origin backwards, we must, and so must even the most obdurate doubter, arrive at the days of our blessed legislator, as the time of our first becoming a nation, with peculiar manners and dis- tinct laws. If this is true, (and there exists not the man, who can disprove it,) then it is also true, that it would argue the grossest ignorance of human nature, to believe, that one man unaided should have been able to impose upon two successive generations, and that he was unaided, cannot be denied. — Let us therefore rather believe, that Moses was sent by God, (the ability of the Creator to do it can- not be doubted,) to work those miracles, and that it was the word of the living God which Moses taught ! 65 CHAPTER XI11. THE DECALOGUE. Having in the preceding chapter enumerated the precepts con- tained in the Decalogue, 1 hope to be excused, if 1 pause in my argument relative to the divine origin of our law, and proceed to ex- plain the Commandments themselves ; for 1 can assure my readers, that if they once understand the true bearing of the Mosaic institu- tions, they must confess either that Moses, more than any other man who ever lived, united in himself the philosopher, legislator, and governor, and that as such, he is entitled to be imitated and obeyed from our own free choice ; or that his wisdom and power of mind were given him for the special purpose mentioned in his books, by the immediate inspiration of the Most High, that he merely copied the words spoken to him, and therefore, Moses's laws (not Moses himself) are to be obeyed implicitly, without our enquiring at every turn : " Can 1 understand the reason of this or that particular pre- cept ?" For since they are all and every one the emanations of the will of God, they must be obeyed, though we be ignorant of the rea- sons the Almighty had in giving these, to us mysterious, laws. This point will be more clearly illustrated in a subsequent part of this work, and I shall therefore commence, without further preface, with the explanation* of the Decalogue. Precept I. 1 am the Eternal thy God, icho have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. Most, if not all Christian commentators, think this verse only a kind of preamble to the Decalogue ; we Jews, however, take it to be the first commandment. Its meaning is this : " You Israelites have been in Egypt, and you were taken thence by a Power supe- rior to man. I am that Power, lam the Eternal ; do not believe that there are more persons in the Deity than one ; no, / am your * For a more particular elucidation of the Decalogue than is here given, see " Instruction in the Mosaic Religion," page 39 and seq. 66 THE DECALOGUE. God, indivisible and all-powerful. Acknowledge me alone and none esle — Therefore, Precefp II. Thou shalt have no other gods before me, <$fc. Since I have told you that there is no God besides me, it is un- lawful for you to worship any thing else, no matter what its strength, beauty, or wisdom may be. But some one of you may think : " True, I will not worship any other being, but the Eternal God ; but can I do wrong, if I make myself a symbol, to remind me always of his power ? I will make an image to represent God, and this image shall admonish me of the greatness of my Creator ; 1 will look at the sun, and prostrate myself before him, and adore the Creator by wor- shipping the most powerful creature; the earth, through God's bounty nourishing all mankind, shall be to me the emblem of his goodness, and the pure flame, the emblem of his purity." — Therefore do I command you, not to make yourselves any personification or representation of the Deity, for I am incorporeal, you know not my essence (Deut. iv.) ; and under what figure will you represent me, since you have never seen me 1 And then you will sin if you prostrate yourselves before images and creatures, or pay them religious ado- ration. No image can represent me, the light of the sun is darkness compared to me, and the fire is impure compared to my holiness. — But do not imagine, that because I am good, deviations from my commandments will have no serious consequences ; do not de- ceive yourselves with such specious self-delusions, for I am careful of my honour, and you will be punished if you act wrong; and if the son follow the sins of the father, if the grandson or great-grand- son imitate his ancestors' apostacy, each will be punished, not alone for his own sins, but receive also a share of the punishment his progeni- tors have incurred for their wickedness. But do not think, that the punishment for vice will be in a greater degree, than the reward for virtue ; no — for I will do good even to the thousandth generation for the virtuous actions of their ancestors, if they obey my words. You will therefore be convinced, that though I will punish vice, I am yet benevolent, and that I rather reward, than punish ; since the pun- ishment for sin will be continued only, to the fourth, whilst the thousandth generation will be benefited by the virtue of the an- cestors. THE DECALOGUE. 67 Precept TIL Thou shalt not bear the name of the Eternal thy God in vain, fyc* When you are called upon to testify to the truth of any thing, be very careful how you call upon me to be a witness to your actions ; no falsehood can I allow, nothing but truth will satisfy me, who am the God of truth. Do not mention my name upon frivolous occasions, for I am holy, I am your God, your Father, your Protector, you must venerate me even in your words and thoughts ; do not therefore mention my name, except when it becomes necessary, either to asseverate any thing, the truth of which can be established solely through your oath, or when addressing me in prayer. — 1 cannot suf- fer any levity with my name, and will therefore punish every one, who impiously uses it frivolously or falsely.* Precept IV. Remember] the Sabbath-day to keep it holy, <$>c. I have commanded you to acknowledge me your God, and to ab- stain from idolatry ; and I now further command you to set apart the seventh day of every week for my service and your recreation, as I abstained from work after I had created the world. But if you should ask, what proof have we, that that Being who speaks to us now, is the author of all 1 then will I advise you to remember, that you have been slaves in Egypt, and that J conducted you thence. Your redemption was brought about, as you remember, by my changing the regular course of nature. The river was filled with blood, instead of water; the land that formerly smiled with plenty, and was as lovely as Eden, was visited with hail and locusts, in a manner unheard of before ; and the country, where the sun always shines bright, where a cloudy day is never known, was shrouded for three days in impenetrable gloom. After you had left the land of your affliction and had arrived near the Red Sea, you saw nothing before you, but death in the troubled billows of the ocean, and * The Jews never pronounce the name of God as it is written, and only the priests were allowed to do so when they blessed the people, and the high-priest during the sacrifices on the Day of Atonement. (See Yoma and the Musaph of Kippur.) t In the commentary on this precept, I have endeavoured to unite the ori- ginal Decalogue (Exo. chap, xx.) with the recapitulation of it by Moses in Deut. chap. v. — But these remarks are not my own discovery, since I am indebted for them to my esteemed instructer, Rabbi Benjamin Cohen, to whom I owe also several other remarks, of which I have made use without acknowledgment. 68 THE DECALOGUE. naught behind you, but destruction from the countless host of Egypt; when all of a sudden the sea divided and piled itself up in two solid walls. — Who wrought these wonders ] It was I the Eternal, who have also redeemed you to be my people. Who, I ask you, can change nature, but nature's Lord ? Who again is nature's Lord, but nature's Creator? You must therefore acknowledge, that I your God, who changed the natural course of events in Egypt, (and of this you were all witnesses,) am nature's Lord, am nature's Creator. I created the earth you stand on, the sea which surrounds you, and the wide expanse of ether, in which the innumerable systems are fixed and sustained by my will alone, in six days : I spoke, and all that you see rose into existence ; but when I on the sixth day had finished my creation, by making man, I ceased and made nothing more ; for on the seventh day, after all had been produced from nothing, 1 added not the least to the system I had approved of on the sixth, (Genesis i. and ii.) and I now fix it as a day of rest to be held sacred, and to be strictly observed by the last descendants of your nation, in remembrance of the creation of the world and your re- demption from Egypt. I moreover do not command the heads of families alone to rest, but each member of your families, even your servants, nay even your cattle — every thing shall rest on my Sabbath-day ; the voice of the oppressor shall then be hushed, and the sigh of the bondman shall not be called forth, but calmness, peace, and content shall, on that day, reign amongst you — You have no right to call this command- ment hard and oppressive, to be compelled to rest one day out of seven ; for I allow you six days, to do every thing you have to do ; I do not restrain you from doing any lawful work in all this time ; but having been employed six days in pursuits for the promotion of your interest or amusement, you must dedicate one day to my service. On that day you must visit the places where you can receive in- struction in my laws, that you may know how to serve me. You are also to abstain from labour, that by a suspension of your daily toil, you may acquire fresh strength for renewed exertion in the coming week. On that day your servant shall have leisure to think, as well as his master, of their common Maker, and breathe more freely than he can do on those days when he is engaged in his toil- some task. Your rest shall be quiet ; no noise or shout of revelry THE DECALOGUE. 69 must be heard in your streets, and not even slight work, which re- quires no exertion, is allowed to be done. Remember it is the Sab- bath ! Do not speak about business, make no bargains even by word alone, and do not arrange plans of labour for the coming week ; but abstract yourselves altogether from your usual occupations, devote this day entirely to me, your God, and let the weekly day of rest be a symbol to you of the day of bliss of the righteous, after they have thrown off the covering of clay, when there is no care, no toil, no grief, no tears, no master, no oppressor ; but where all is security, peace and joy ! Precept V. Honour* thy father and mother,