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THE LIBRARY OF THE
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THE DAY MISSIONS LIBRARY

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A
FULL INVESTIGATION

OF THE

DIFFICULTIES SUGGESTED BY
DE. COLENSO.

BENJAMIN BICKLEY ROGERS, M.A.,*"
OF LINCOHJ'S I1W, BABBISTEB-AT-LAW. and sometime fellow op
WADHAM COLLEGE, OXFOBD.

" They searched the Scriptures whether those things were so."
Acts xvii. 11.

SECOND EDITION, REVISED.

OXPOKD and LONDON :
JOHN HENRI and JAMES PARKER.

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CONTENTS.

CHAP. page
I. The Levitical Law in the Wilderness . . 1
II. The Duties of the Priest at the Passover . 14
III. The Family of Judah . . . .32
IV. The Consecration of Aaron . . .51
V. The Earewell of Moses . . . .55
VI. The Scene at Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal . 63
Vii. The Extent of the Camp compared with the
Priest's Duties . . . . .67
Viii. The Extent of the Camp compared with the
Daily Necessities of the People . . 71
IX. The. Identity of the Numbers in Exodus xxxviii.
and Numbers i. . . . 75
X. The Israelites Dwelling in Tents . .86
XI. The Israelites Armed . . . .98
XLI. The Institution of the Passover . . . 103
XIII. The March out of Egypt .... 107
XTV. The Wilderness ..... 116
XV. The Number of the Israelites compared with
the Extent of the Land of Canaan . . 160
XVI. The Number of the Eirstborn . . .162
XVII. The Sojourning of the Israelites in Egybt . 168
XVHI. The Exodus in the Eourth Generation . . 171
'XIX. The Number of Israelites at the time of the
Exodus . . . . . .180
XX. The War on Midian . . . .196
XXI. Concluding Remarks . . . .201

PREFACE TO THE EIRST EDITION.

T\R.« COLENSO has expressed an earnest desire for
the assistance and co-operation of many minds in
carrying on his investigations into the history of the
Mosaic records. And as his observations are addressed,
not only to the laity in general, but in an especial
manner to the most unlearned laymen, I trust that
it will need no apology, if such assistance as I am
able to render I have freely contributed in the fol
lowing pages.
The first nine chapters were separately published
in the spring of this year. The references which they
contain are therefore (except where otherwise men
tioned) to the first edition of Dr. Colenso's work ; but
I have now also noticed whatever seemed to require
notice in his subsequent editions. The references in
the remaining chapters are uniformly to his fourth
edition. I have commenced with a consideration of the ques
tions raised in the 20th and 21st chapters of Dr. Co
lenso's work : because the results at which we shall
there arrive will throw considerable light upon some
of the other objections which we shall afterwards
have to examine. In what remains, I have adhered
to Dr. Colenso's own arrangement.

VIU PEEFACE.
Of all the other contributions to Dr. Colenso's under
taking, I have read only those of Dr. M°Caul and
Mr. Hoare, and the admirable letter of the Bishop of
Llandaff, addressed to the clergy of his diocese. What
I have borrowed from these sources I have been care
ful to acknowledge. Whether any other considerations
to which I have drawn attention in these pages have
been already stated elsewhere, I do not know : but
very probably they have been : for they lie on the
surface of the Scripture narrative, and can hardly have
escaped the notice of any observant reader.

3, Old Square, Lincoln's Inn,
October 5, 1863.

SDfye St0sak ^mxbz.

CHAPTER I.
THE LEVITICAL LAW IN THE WILDERNESS.
1. The view of the Mosaic law which is most prominent,
not only in the Pentateuch, but throughout the whole of
Scripture, is that it was the covenant, the condition, the
tenure, on which the Land of Promise was to be held.
These multitudinous sacrifices, these ceremonies, and rites,
and laws, were in fact the suits and services by, under, and
subject to which the Israelites held the land of Canaan
at the will of Almighty God. The land was His, and
they were strangers and sojourners with. Him. (Lev, xxv.
23.) So long as they should perform this covenant, and
observe this condition, the quiet enjoyment of the land
was guaranteed to them and their children, to be a per
petual heritage throughout all generations. But if, like
Adam, they should transgress and forsake the covenant, if
they should break the condition, they were warned that
a forfeiture would ensue, that they should perish from off
the land which the Lord their God gave them to possess it.
God gave His people the lands of the heathen, and they*
took the labours of the nations into possession, not only
that they might, but also on condition that they did, keep -
His statutes and observe His laws. (Psalm cv. 44, 45.)
It is needless to cite particular passages in support of
a view which pervades the whole of Scripture, and is
familiar to every reader. The 26th chapter of the original

2 The Levitical Law [chap.
law (Leviticus), and the 29th chapter of the Recapitulation
(Deuteronomy), or Deut. iv. 23 — 26, may be taken as
specimens of the whole. The observance of the covenant
and the tenure of the land are everywhere indissolubly
connected. 2. And when were the precise terms of this covenant
announced ? , It would seem that, their original delivery
was delayed until just before the people for the first time
reached the borders of the Land of Promise. During the
whole year of their residence in the peninsula of Sinai, the
services by which the children of Israel were to hold their
land had not been formally delivered. On the morning of
the second year the Tabernacle was erected ; and it was after
that — probably during the ensuing month — that the great
promulgation of the law took place which we call the Book
of Leviticus. Immediately afterwards, the people are ar
ranged and marshalled according to their tribes, and the
whole nation moves at once upon the Promised Land. A
few short scenes of war and victory, and all would be over ;
the Tabernacle would be reared in the camp within the land
of settlement; and Israel should do God's statutes, and
keep His judgments, and do them; and dwell in the land
in safety. (Lev. xxv. 18.)
We all know how these fair hopes were frustrated, and
how the people returned, weary and rebellious, to spend
forty a more years wandering in the wilderness.
3. Again, at the end of those forty years, they stand on
the verge of the Land of Promise, and again the terms of
the covenant are promulgated in full. The generation which
had listened to their first delivery had passed away, and it
was necessary to recapitulate and enforce them anew.

• I speak of th'is term in round numbers, according to the uniform
practice of Scripture.

!•] in the Wilderness. 3
4. No such necessity would have existed had the law
been in full operation during the forty years. Why recount
again minute precepts and ordinances which the people had •
been all their lives observing, and which must by that time
have become a part of their daily and habitual duties ?
The very existence of the Book of Deuteronomy, no less
than the nature and reason of the thing, is a proof that the
precepts of the Book of Leviticus had not been in use
during the forty years' wanderings.
5. And if we look at the Book of Leviticus itself we
shall see this fact more clearly. Not only are there general
declarations connecting the performance of the law with
the possession of the land, — (as e. g. in xx. 22 — 25, and
in many other passages,) — but in addition to this, the great,
bulk of the precepts presuppose that the people to obey
them are living in a fertile and settled land.
We hear of firstfruits and green ears of com, (ii. 12, 14) ; of fish
in the rivers, (xi. 9) ; of stone houses, (xiv. 45) ; of strangers so
journing among them, (xvii. 8, &c.,) whose position is compared
to that of the Israelites in Egypt, (xix. 34,) and distinguished from
that of persons born in the land, (xxii. 11) ; of sins which will defile
their land, (xviii. 24 — 28) ; of harvests and vineyards, (xix. 9, 10,
xxiii. passim) ; of the sale and redemption of land, (xxv. 23, 24) ; of
villages, and cities, walled cities, and suburbs of cities, (xxv. 29, 31,
32, 34) ; of families of strangers begotten in the land, (xxv. 45) ;
and a variety of similar matters. And see the whole of chap. xxvi.
6. And when we come to the republication of the law
in Deuteronomy the same feature strikes us in almost every
chapter. In fact, the writer states in the plainest terms,
(1) that the original delivery of the law (the Book of Levi
ticus) was intended to be put in force in the land of Canaan;
and (2) that this second delivery of the law (the Book of
Deuteronomy) is also intended for the same purpose.
(1.) "Behold, I have taught you (5e'8«xa fyuc) statutes and judg-

4 The Levitical Law [chap.
ments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do
so in the land whither ye go to possess it." (iv. 5.)
"And the Lord commanded me at that time" (at Horeb, i.e.
Mount Sinai) "to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might
do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it." (iv. 14.)
"The Lord said unto me," (at Mount Sinai,) "I will speak unto
thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments,
which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which
I give them to possess it." (v. 31.)
Now what are these commandments, statutes, and judgments,
which the Lord had at Sinai commanded Moses to teach, and
which Moses had taught the people? None other than this very
Book of Leviticus.
The last verse of the Book of Leviticus is, "These are the com
mandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of
Israel in Mount Sinai." And the last verse of the preceding
chapter, "These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which
the Lord made between Him and the children of Israel in Mount
Sinai by the hand of Moses."
(2.) And so with regard to the Recapitulation itself it is said,
"These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to
do in the land, which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee to
possess it." (xii. 1, and cf. iv. 1, 40, vi. 1, xi. 31, 32, &c.) These
are a few specimens out of a vast multitude of similar instances.
The passages mentioned in paragraph (2), though referring only
to the republished law, are equally conclusive with regard to the
original law ; for how could the writer have said that these were
the statutes for their observance after they should acquire possession
of the land, if these were the very statutes which, under the original
delivery of the law, they had been for forty years observing?
7. And indeed the same view pervades the whole Mosaic
legislation. The very first ceremonies prescribed at Sinai
(Exod. xxi. — xxiii.) bore exclusive reference to the land
of Canaan.
Nay, even the Ten Commandments themselves, though
merely declaratory of the pre-existing law, and therefore
not confined to the limits of any age or any country, have
yet, in the particular form in which they were written on the

!•] in the Wilderness. 5
tables of stone, a special reference to the Land of Promise.
" In it thou shalt do no manner of work, thou . . . and the
stranger that is within thy gates" (i.e. cities). "Thou
shalt not covet thy neighbour's house." "Honour thy
father and thy mother : that thy days may be long in the
land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."
But perhaps the most striking example of this peculiarity
is afforded by the 15th chapter of the Book of Numbers.
The laws there delivered with respect to the burnt-offering,
meat-offering, heave- offering, sin-offering, &c, were ap
parently delivered after the denunciation but before the
commencement of the forty years' wandering in the wilder
ness. Yet the writer's view still passes over the intervening
period to fix itself on the land of Canaan, and the laws are
ushered in with the common form, " When ye be come to
the land of your habitation, then ye shall" fyc.
8. Let us look further to some individual instances. If
we were called upon to single out the two great ceremonial
observances which specially distinguished the children of
Israel, we should, I think, select Circumcision and the
Passover. Were these observed in the wilderness ?
That circumcision was not observed, we are expressly told. (Joshua
v. 5— 8.)
" Now all the people that came out were circumcised : but all the
people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came
forth out of Egypt, them they had not circumcised. For the children
of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that
were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because
they obeyed not the voice of the Lord. . . . And their children, whom
He raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised : for they were
uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way."
As regards the Passover, we have no such express declaration:
but in the original ordinance it was more than once laid down that
it was when the Israelites "were come to the land which the Lord
would give them," that they were to " keep this service," (Exod. xii.
25 ; xiii. 5) ; we find that the single observance of it, which is men-

6 The Levitical Law [chap.
tioned during the whole sojourn in the wilderness, required a fresh
and special command of Almighty God, (Numb. ix. 2); and it is,
I believe, the universal opinion that it was never kept again until
the reproach of Egypt had been rolled away by the circumcision at
Gilgal. (Joshua v. 9, 10.)
But if these two great distinguishing rites were thus neglected, is
it conceivable that the lesser and minute observances of the law
intended expressly for the land of Canaan, should have been kept
up during the forty years' sojourn in the wilderness ?
9. And is there any ground for supposing that they
were? So far as I know, the only imaginable ground
for such a supposition is the occasional use of the word
"camp" in the ordinances.
Now it is plain that the Book of Leviticus assumes to
be delivered at the moment when the children of Israel
were about to pass into the Land of Promise; and that
the use of the word " camp" is in no way of necessity
connected with the wilderness; while the word bilN has
no necessary reference to camp-life at all. (See inf., 106.)
The first delivery of the law was made under precisely
the same circumstances as the second delivery, forty years
after. Let us see, therefore, the events which followed
after the second delivery.
Almost immediately afterwards (Deut. i. 3, xxxiv. 8;
Joshua iv. 19) the people pass through Jordan, enter upon
the Promised Land, encamp at Gilgal, and renew the rite
of circumcision, (Joshua iii., iv., v.,) the earliest symbol of
the covenant, (Gen. xvii. 7 — It)).
"I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed
after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be
a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto
thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger,
all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession ; and I will be
their God. And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep My
covenant therefore, thou and thy seed after thee in their genera-

I.] in the Wilderness. 7
tions. This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and
you and thy seed after thee ; Every man child among you shall be
circumcised." At once, without any fresh command, as a matter of
course now that they are within the limits of " the land,"
the covenant becomes in full force; the law springs into im
mediate operation ; they keep the Passover at its appointed
season; the manna ceases with the cessation of the provi
sional state in which they had dwelt in the wilderness, and
they eat of the fruit of their own land, the Land of Promise.
Then warlike operations commence; the troops are de
spatched in every direction ; they pitch before Ai, (viii.
11,) they take three days' journey to Gibeon, (ix. 17,) they
encamp at Makkedah, (x. 21,) at Lachish, (x. 31,) at Eglon,
(x. 34) ; but through all these movements the great camp
itself remains stationary at Gilgal, (ix. 6, x. 6, 15, 43,) the
resting-place of the tabernacle of God, the head-quarters of
the invading nation. And when the work was done, and
they had won their homes, the tabernacle is set up at
Shiloh, (xviii. 1) ; still surrounded by the camp, (xviii. 9) ;
and there it remained until the days of Samuel, the re
ligious, and at times the civil, head-quarters of the people.
(Judges xviii. 31, xxi. 12 ; 1 Sam. iv. 4.) In later times
the Holy City, as the entourage of the temple, appears to
have taken the place of the camp which surrounded the
tabernacle. See Heb. xiii. 11 — 13.
Now it must be remembered that what did actually
happen immediately after the delivery of Deuteronomy,
is what was proposed and intended to happen imme
diately after the delivery of Leviticus.
If, therefore, the narrative shews, as it does most plainly
shew, that the camp was, immediately after the delivery
of the law, to be transferred from the wilderness to the
land of Canaan, it follows that as any allusion to the

8 The Levitical Law [chap.
camp in the Book of Deuteronomy15 must of necessity refer
to the camp in Canaan, and not to the camp in the
wilderness, so also must any such allusion in the Book of
Leviticus. 10. The word, where found in Leviticus, can surely have
nothing to do with the wanderings in the desert — wander
ings which were not then even contemplated; and the fact
of their having subsequently taken place cannot vary the
signification which the word must bear in the Book. There
seems to be no reference, throughout the Book of Leviticus
to the camp in the wilderness. Indeed, I believe that the
.word wilderness only occurs in one command, and then in
such a way as conclusively to shew that the performance of
the command was not to take place until the Israelites had
left the wilderness, and come to a land inhabited. It occurs
in the command relating to the scapegoat, which as every
one knows was to be, and was, sent out every year on the
great day of atonement to bear the sins of the people into
the wilderness. But the writer did not contemplate the
wilderness as surrounding the tabernacle when the com
mand was in operation. His words are, — " He shall send
the goat away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness :
and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into
a land not inhabited : and he shall let go the goat in
the wilderness." (Lev. xvi. 21, 22.) Do not these words
imply that the goat was to be sent from an inhabited land,
and not from the wilderness itself ? And yet the camp was
still to be in existence, (ver. 26.)
11. It is, no doubt, likely enough that the children of
Israel, knowing what their duties would be in the land of

h Indeed, when the Book of Deuteronomy was delivered, the camp
had already left the wilderness for ever, and was pitched in the plains
of Moab.

i.] in the Wilderness. 9
Canaan, should have endeavoured in some measure, while
yet in the wilderness, to anticipate those duties, as a grate
ful offering to Almighty God ; as indeed, even before the
delivery of the law, they were accustomed to offer burnt-
offerings and sacrifices to the Lord God of their fathers.
(Exod. x. 25, xviii. 12 c.) But at least it is not unreason
able to believe that they would not perform in the wilder
ness the rites which were there incapable of performance.
And see Deut. xii. 8 — 11, cited infra, 24.
The objection, therefore, on which Dr. Colenso insists in
his 20th chapter, viz. that the Levitical precepts could not
have been fully carried out in the wilderness, is really no
objection at all. They were not intended to be so.
That the writer should speak of the camp is natural
enough. At the time he was writing the camp by which
he was surrounded was the head-quarters of his nation ;
even after the conquest of the Promised Land it was still to
remain so. Several centuries were yet to elapse before the
national capital was won, and the ark of God enshrined
upon the hill of Sion.
12. There is, however, one command which Dr. Colenso
singles out for detailed examination.
Every woman, some weeks or months after childbirth,
was to bring to the Lord a lamb for a burnt-offering, and
a turtle-dove or a young pigeon for a sin-offering ; or if she
were too poor for that, then she might bring two turtle-doves
or two young pigeons for the two offerings, (Lev. xii.)

" The Levitical law prescribes the mode in which burnt-offerings are
to be made in the Land of Promise : " When ye would make a burnt-
offering to the Lord your God, then ye shall" do so and so. It did not
of course originate the practice itself. The duty of offering burnt-
sacrifices had been recognised and practised from the time of Cain and
Abel, and long, therefore, before the general dispersion of the nations
throughout the world.

10 The Levitical Law [chap.
And Dr. Colenso reckons that there must have been on
the average 250 births, and therefore (on this account only)
500 sacrifices, daily ; and that, as each sacrifice must have
occupied at least five minutes, the whole must have occupied
2,500 minutes, or nearly 42 hours daily, and so " could not
have been offered in a single day of 12 hours, though each
of the three priests" (to whom Dr. Colenso considers the
priesthood to have been confined in the wilderness) " had
been employed in the one sole incessant labour of offering
them, without a moment's rest or interruption." And be
sides d, "In the desert it would have been equally inipos-
sible for rich or poor to procure the pigeons." (Colenso,
148—153.) Foreseeing apparently that a reader might say, " But do
not these considerations go to prove that this command,
like all the rest, may have been intended for the land of
Canaan e?" Dr. Colenso at once silences the inconvenient
questioner by the following dogmatic and authoritative
statement : —
" It cannot be said that the laws which require the
sacrifice of such birds, were intended only to suit the cir
cumstances of a later time, when the people should be
finally settled in the land of Canaan. As to this point
H'avernick writes, evidently not perceiving the difficulty
before us, but stating the truth as it would appear to any

d In his fourth edition Dr. Colenso puts the objection thus : " How
could they have had pigeons at all wider Sinai ?" (Colenso, 150.) Ap
parently he forgets that the law was not delivered until just as their
year's residence at Sinai was ending. It is hardly worth remarking
that there are pigeons at Sinai : infra, 139.
e It has been acutely observed that in the case of male children the
purification of the mother was expressly connected with the circumcision
of the child. (Lev. xii. 3, 4.) And the rite of circumcision, we know,
was not practised at all in the wilderness.

i.] in the Wilderness. 11
ordinary reader, 'Others also of these legal appointments
bear the mark of being framed at a time when all the in
dividuals of the nation were so situated as to be at no great
distance from the tabernacle. Uncleanness by issue of
blood, &c, and that of women in childbed, require to be
removed and atoned for by the personal presentation of
offerings in the sanctuary, &c.' " (Colenso, 151.)
13. Dr. Colenso does not seem to observe that by citing
this observation from Havernick he has struck away the
only foundation on which it could possibly rest. It rests
entirely on the assumption that the precept was more
applicable to the state of things in the wilderness than to
that in the land of Canaan. But as adopted by Dr. Colenso
it is made to form part of this ingenious train of argument :
The precept would be inconvenient in Canaan, impossible
in the wilderness ; its inconvenience in Canaan shews that
it is rather applicable, and must have been intended to
apply, to localities where it was altogether impossible.
It was inconvenient in Canaan, says Havernick, therefore
it was intended for a place where it would have been con
venient. It was inconvenient in Canaan, says Dr. Colenso,
therefore it was intended for a place where it would have
been simply impossible.
14. But how strange that any should suggest that this
precept was inapplicable to the land of settlement ! How
strange to select for that purpose the very individual pre
cept which, all the world knows, was observed through the
whole period of the Jewish sojourn in Canaan, down to the
expiring moments of the Commonwealth ! All the world
knows the solemn scene when the Bedeemer was borne to
His own shrine, Himself to be redeemed, and the Vir-
gin Mother laid down before the altar such offerings as
poor matrons pay, a pair of turtle-doves or two young
pigeons. This was no affectation of unusual and osten-

12 The Levitical Law [chap.
tatious legal strictness ; no revival of an obsolete custom ;
no zeal of a learned antiquarian ; it was but the simple
offering of a lowly, unobtrusive woman, doing what those
around her did — doing what she had been taught to believe
was " commanded in the law of the Lord." (St. Luke ii.
22—39.) Inconvenient it might be, as the command that
three times a-year all the males should go up to the Holy
Cityf (Deut. xvi. 16) must have been, — as many, if not
most, of the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic law must
have been; but it seems never to have occurred to the
Jewish matrons that it was meant for another state of
society, and was inapplicable to their position in the Land
of Promise. 15. And the reader will not, I hope, have forgotten that
notwithstanding Dr. Colenso's positive assertion that " it
cannot be said" that these sacrifices were intended only for
the land of Canaan, it is pretty clearly so said, and that too
in the Book of Deuteronomy. (Supr. 6, (1).)
In truth, the greater part of the ceremonial law would
have been unmeaning in the wilderness. It was the Lord,
the great proprietor of the soil g, (Lev. xxv. 23,) who re
quired the performance of these duties. It was to Him
that the simple peasantry brought their offerings " of the
fowls, of the flocks, and of the herds," the " first of the
firstfruits of the land." It was in His honour that they
kept their feasts of harvest, their feasts, of ingathering. It
was He that bade them leave the gleanings of the harvest
of the land to the poor and to the stranger. It was He
that bade them come out from their homes when their

' And yet it was exclusively intended for the land of Canaan.
s It was emphatically the Lord's land. "They shall not dwell in
the Lord's land" says the Prophet Hosea, (ix. 3,) of the disobedient
Israelites.

i.] in the Wilderness. 13
fruits were gathered in, and dwell for seven days in tents
woven of withs and palm-branches. We lose the key to
the whole ceremonial law unless we perceive that it is
based on the relation between the Lord and His tenantry ;
unless we remember that at its first delivery the wander
ings in the wilderness were not even in contemplation ;
that at its second delivery they were entirely over.

CHAPTER II.
THE DUTIES OF THE PEIEST AT THE PASSOVER.
16. We have already seen (supr. 12) that in Dr. Co-
lenso's opinion there were but three priests among the
Israelites in the wilderness. And we have now to con
sider " how these three priests managed at the celebration
of the Passover." (Colenso, 159.) For we know that the
Passover was once celebrated in the peninsula of Sinai,
(supr. 8). Let us see, then, what part the priests would
take in that celebration.
In considering this question I must ask the reader to
confine his attention for the present to the statements of
Scripture. The Passover was the great distinguishing or
dinance of the Jews, and it is inconceivable that Scripture,
ordinarily so minute with regard to the details of the sacri
ficial system, and especially so with regard to the Passover,
should have omitted any essential or important point in its
celebration. I must ask him, too, to bear in mind the distinction be
tween the Paschal lamb which was slain on the evening of
the 14th of Abib, and the general feast of the Passover
(or of unleavened bread) which commenced on the 15th,
and lasted seven days.
17. The sacrifice of the Paschal lamb was neither a burnt-
offering, nor a sin-offering, nor a peace-offering. It was
simply a memorial feast ; a domestic commemoration of the
great deliverance.
The full details of its institution and of the manner of
celebrating it are to be found in the 12th chapter of Exodus.
Each house, each family, was to take a lamb, (vers. 3, 21) ; all
the assembly were to kill it in the evening of the 14th, (ver. 6) ;

chap, it.] The Priest at the Passover. 15
they were to sprinkle the blood on the top and the sides of the door,
(ver. 7) ; to roast the flesh and eat it that night, (ver. 9) ; no part
of it was to be carried out of the house, (ver. 46) ; or kept until the
morning, (ver. 10).
Nothing can be more plain and simple than the nar
rative. Each householder was to manage for himself:
there is not only no trace of any priestly intervention* but
the details are incompatible with it.
18. But was this ordinance provisional only? Did it
provide only for this particular celebration of the Pass
over ? or was it meant for all time ?
The narrative itself is clear on this point. "When ye be come to
the land which the Lord will give you, ye shall keep this service.''
(ver. 25 ; and see vers. 14, 17, 24, 26, 48, 49.) It was an ordinance
to tbem and to their sons for ever.
Some parts of it, indeed, were exclusively prospective. The holy
convocations that accompanied the feast of unleavened bread be
longed only to the future. The week which followed the first Pass
over was fully occupied with those striking events which culminated
in the triumphant passage of the Red Sea.
It is clear, therefore, that this was intended to be a permanent
ordinance. Altered and modified it no doubt might be, to suit their
altered circumstances from time to time, but the general scheme was
delivered once for all.
19. The manner of observing the feast of unleavened
bread being incompatible with the circumstances of the
first Passover, is only sketched in outline in the ordinance
of its institution; the details are left to be afterwards
supplied. The 23rd chapter of Leviticus supplies them in part a :

a The allusions in Exodus xxiii. 14, xxxiv. 23, afford no further details.
They merely mention the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of harvest,
and the feast of ingathering, as the three great feasts to be observed in
Canaan, and give the promise that no man should desire their land
when they went up to appear before the Lord on these occasions.

16 The Duties of the Priest [chap.
it prdains that there was to be an offering made by fire unto
the Lord on each of the seven days. (ver. 8.)
And no other ordinance was issued on the subject until
after the celebration of the Passover in the wilderness.
It is not indeed by any means certain that this ordinance
itselfpreceded it. The probability seems strongly the
other way. The Passover was celebrated on the 14th day
of the first month of the second year. (Numbers ix. 1 — 3.)
The tabernacle was erected on the first day of that month.
(Exod. xl. 17.) Then followed (whether immediately or
not we do not know) the consecration of Aaron and his
sons : this took eight days. (Lev. ix. 1.) Then Aaron's
sons died : and it is not until after this that the precepts
in question are delivered. It is therefore, to say the least,
improbable that they were delivered before the 14th, espe
cially as we know that there was a multitude of other
events to occupy the time of Moses.
20. Here, then, we might part company with Dr. Co
lenso : for up to this time it is plain that the priests had
no duties to perform with regard to the Paschal lambs;
and it can hardly be called criticism (whatever else it may
be) to resort to a law delivered forty years afterwards, — to
insist that that law must have been observed forty years
before it was delivered, — to insist then that it could not
possibly have been so observed, — and on these grounds to
charge the history with an absurdity.
But I prefer to go on and examine the subject more
thoroughly. The reader will, however, bear in mind that
the laws we are now to consider were certainly delivered
after the celebration of the Passover in the wilderness,
21. The details of the feast of unleavened bread are com
pleted in the 28th chapter of Numbers. I must quote the
ordinance in full.
"In the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the

n.] at the Passover. 17
Lord. And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast : seven
days shall unleavened bread be eaten. In the first day shall be an
holy convocation ; ye shall do no manner of servile work therein :
but ye shall offer a sacrifice made by fire for a burnt-offering unto
the Lord ; two young bullocks, and one ram, and seven lambs of the
first year: they shall be unto you without blemish: and their meat
offering shall be of flour mingled with oil : three tenth deals shall ye
offer for a bullock, and two tenth deals for a ram ; a several tenth
deal shalt thou offer for every lamb, throughout the seven lambs :
and one goat for a sin-offering, to make an atonement for you. Ye
shall offer these beside the burnt-offering in the morning, which is
for a continual burnt-offering. After this manner ye shall offer daily,
throughout the seven days, the meat of the sacrifice made by fire,'
of a sweet savour unto the Lord : it shall be offered beside the con
tinual burnt-offering, and his drink-offering. And on the seventh
day ye shall have an holy convocation ; ye shall do no servile work."
(vers. 16—25.)
We see, therefore, that there was a special national burnt-offering
at the Passover, consisting of two bullocks, one ram, seven lambs,
and one goat, and quite distinct from the Paschal lamb itself.
Now what was the law of the burnt-offering ? It is stated in the
first chapter of Leviticus. The priests were to bring the blood and,
sprinkle it round about the altar of burnt-offering ; they were then
to flay the burnt-offering, cut it in pieces, and burn it upon the altar.
(vers. 5 — 9.)
22. The Passover, therefore, according to its original
institution, consisted of this domestic sacrifice of the Paschal
lamb, on the evening of the 14th of Abib; and of the
solemn feast, accompanied by a national burnt-offering of
eleven animals, on the seven following days.
Nor did any subsequent ordinance vary or interfere with
these arrangements in any particular.
23. The only subsequent ordinance having any bearing
on the celebration of the Passover is that contained in the
16th chapter of Deuteronomy. And this ordinance has no,
reference to the manner and form of celebration ; it merely
fixes the locality in which the celebration shall take place.
c

18 The Duties of the Priest [chap.
" Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates"
(i.e. cities, tSv ir6\e<&v oW) "which the Lord thy God giveth thee:
but at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place His
name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the Passover at even, at the
going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of
Egypt. And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord
thy God shall choose : and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go
unto* thy tents b. Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread : and on
the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God :
thou shalt do no servile work in it." (xvi. 5 — 8.)
24. Was this an ordinance for the wilderness, or was it
applicable to and intended for the land of Canaan only ?
I need not refer to the considerations advanced in the
preceding chapter, and which seemed to shew that the
whole of the law was intended for the land of Canaan only,
for we have additional and convincing proof that this pro
vision, at any rate, was exclusively so intended.
This phrase, " the place which the Lord thy God shall
choose," is of frequent occurrence in the Book of Deu
teronomy. Its meaning is fully explained in the chapter
where it first occurs.
"Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day,
every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes," (the system of the
law not being yet in operation). "Eor ye are not as yet come to
the rest and to the inheritance, which the Lord your God giveth
you. But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the
Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when He giveth you rest
from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety ; then
there shall be a place which the Lord thy God shall choose to cause
His name to dwell there." (Deut. xii. 8 — 11.)
It is plain, therefore, (as indeed might have been con
cluded from the allusion to cities in xvi. 5,) that the or
dinance in question had exclusive reference to the land of
Canaan.

fc Observe the use of the word • tent' with express reference to their
habitations in the Promised Land. (supr. 9.)

n.] at the Passover. 19
25. But a further question arises, viz. what is meant by
" the place which the Lord shall choose ?" Does it mean
the temple, or does it mean the Holy City? (1 Kings viii.
16; 2 Kings xxi. 7; 2 Chron. vi. 5, 6, xii. 13, xxxiii. 7.)
It might mean either, but in the Book of Deuteronomy
it seems clearly to mean the Holy City.
(1.) The very contrast, which is continually drawn, between " the
place which the Lord shall choose" and the ordinary gates (i.e. cities)
of the Israelites, seems to point to something larger than any indi
vidual building.
(2.) We see that the Paschal lamb was to be not only sacrificed,
(xvi. 6,) but also roasted and eaten, (ver. 7,) in the place which the
Lord should choose ; and it certainly was not to be roasted and
eaten in the temple.
(3.) So, again, in chapter xii. they are ordered to eat their tithes
and offerings (vers. 5 — 7, 18) in the place which the Lord their God
should choose.
(4.) A similar precept is contained in chapter xiv. 23, but there
it is added that if the place was too far from them which the Lord
their God should choose to set His name there, they should turn the
tithe into money, and go unto the place which the Lord their God
should choose, and buy whatever their soul lusted after, and they
should eat there before the Lord, and they should rejoice, they and
their households, (vers. 24 — 26.)
(5.) So the firstlings of the bullocks and sheep are to be eaten
before the Lord their God in the place which the Lord should
choose, by them and their households, (xv. 20.)
(6.) And in the feast of weeks (xvi. 11) and in the feast of taber
nacles (xvi. 14) the whole population was to keep the feast and re
joice in the place which the Lord should choose.
Indeed, I believe that there is hardly a passage in which the
phrase occurs, where the context does not forbid us to suppose
that it has reference to the temple.
26. And let us look to His example who came to fulfil
the law in its minutest points, and who was indeed Himself
the very Paschal Lamb. It is impossible to suppose that
in that upper chamber where the last real Passover was
kept, ere the type was merged in and superseded by the

20 The Duties of the Priest [chap.
antitype, any essential part of the ceremony should have
been omitted.
The fullest narrative, that of the Evangelist St. Mark,
is in the following words : —
" And the first day of unleavened bread, when they killed the
Passover, His disciples said unto Him, Where wilt Thou that we go
and prepare that Thou mayest eat the Passover ? And He sendeth
forth two of His disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city,
and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water : follow
him. And wheresoever ye shall go in, say to the goodman of the
house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall
eat the Passover with My disciples ? And he will shew you a large
upper room furnished and prepared : there make ready for ns. And
His disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as He
had said unto them : and they made ready the Passover. And in
the evening He cometh with the twelve. And as they sat and did
eat," &c. Then follow the institution of the Supper of the Lord, the
sacred hymn, the evening walk to the Mount of Olives, the betrayal,
the cross and passion. (St. Mark xiv. 12 — 18.)
- It appears from this passage that the Israelites who dwelt in the
Holy City prepared apartments at the Paschal season, that they who
came from far might eat the Passover in the place which the Lord
their God had chosen to place His name there.
But what hint have we here of any ceremony connected with the
temple ? The whole observance is kept in the simple primitive style
of the original ordinance, with the one single addition that it was
kept, not " in any of their gates," but in the Holy City, the place
which God had chosen to place His name there.
27. So far, then, everything connected with the Passover
is in minute, consistent harmony. But we are told that
there are two passages in the Book of Chronicles which
imply a different mode of celebration. And it is of course
by no means improbable that when the temple was erected,
with its ample courts and numerous conveniences, the mode
of observance may in some respects have been varied.
But before turning to these passages, let us again call
to mind the Mosaic ordinances with regard to the Passover,

n.] at the Passover. 21
There was the Paschal lamb slain by each householder and
eaten by each household on the evening of the 14th of
Abib ; and during the ensuing week there were the Pass
over offerings, the national burnt-offerings of bullocks, rams
and lambs, and goats, whose blood was sprinkled on the
altar, and which were afterwards flayed, cut in pieces,
and burnt.
28. The first passage in the Book of Chronicles has
reference to the great Passover in the reign of King Ileze-
kiah, kept a month later than its proper season, because in
the first month the people had not gathered themselves
together to Jerusalem.
"Then they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the
second month: and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and
sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt -offerings into the
house of the Lord. And they stood in their place after their manner,
according to the law of Moses the man of God : the priests sprinkled
the blood, which they received of the hand of the Levites." (2 Chron.
xxx. 15, 16.)
Why, there is nothing here but what we should have
expected ; nothing to imply a different mode of celebration.
The nation offers its burnt-offerings, and the priests sprinkle
the blood. This is exactly what they were bound to do
according to the law of Moses the man of God. The narra
tive is in simple conformity with the rest of Scripture.
29. Turn we then to the second reference, the Chroni
cler's account of the Passover in the reign of King Josiah.
(2 Chron. xxxv. 7—18.)
" Josiah gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for
the Passover offerings, (els to <po.a%K, PIDS,) for all that were present,
to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks."
(ver. 7.) These bullocks, at any rate, were not Paschal lambs. "And
the rulers of the house of God gave unto the priests for the Pass
over offerings (eis to <j>a<reic) two thousand six hundred small cattle,
and three hundred oxen." (ver. 8.) These too were not Paschal

22 The Duties of the Priest [chap.

"And the chief of the Levites gave unto the Levites for
Passover offerings (eis ro tpatr^) five thousand small cattle, and five
hundred oxen." (ver. 9.) Neither were these Paschal lambs. " So
the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and
the Levites in their courses, according to the King's commandment.
And they killed the Passover, (to <j>a<r^,) and the priests sprinkled
the blood from their hands, and the Levites flayed them. And they
removed the burnt-offerings." (vers. 10 — 12.)
This passage no doubt admits of the interpretation that
the Paschal lambs were slain in the court of the temple,
and that the priests sprinkled the blood from their hands.
But it is clear that such an interpretation is not necessary,
and Ldo not think it is correct. The sprinkling and flay
ing was precisely what they had to do, not with the Paschal
lambs, but with the Passover offerings, the national burnt-
offerings, the bullocks, the lambs, the kids, the small cattle
and oxen which the King and nobles had so freely sup
plied. Their blood would have to be sprinkled and their
carcases flayed in express obedience to the law of Moses.
The " flaying" seems to have been peculiarly appropriate to
burnt-offerings. (See supr. 21. c) And the words which
immediately follow in the text, "And they removed the
burnt-offerings," seem to shew that the Passover offerings
mentioned in ver. 11 are the same burnt-offerings which
are called by the same name ("IDS in the preceding verses.
This brings the whole passage into harmony with the clear
and unmistakeable precepts of the law ; and with the mode
in which Hezekiah's Passover had been celebrated (supr. 28)
a century before. The language is on any construction
difficult and involved, but I do not think that it warrants
our believing that so great an innovation was introduced as

c Compare also 2 Chron. xxix. 34, where it is said that the priests
were too few to flag the burnt-offerings, wherefore the Levites helped

n.] at the Passover. 23
that the Paschal lambs were flayed by the Levites, and their
blood sprinkled by the priests.
30. The plain Scriptural narrative, and I have omitted
and suppressed nothing within my knowledge, is hardly
recognisable in the narrative of Dr. Colenso.
The point which he undertakes to prove is that at the Pass
over under Mount Sinai, each of the three priests, Aaron,
Eleazar, and Ithamar, must have had to sprinkle the blood
of 50,000 lambsd in about two hours, that is, at the rate
of about 400 lambs every minute for two hours together.
(Colenso, 159.) Let us examine his arguments seriatim.
(1.) "We are told, 2 Chron. xxx. 16, xxxv. 11, that the people
killed the Passover, but the priests sprinkled the blood from their
hands, and the Levites flayed them." (Colenso, 159.)
Reply. There really is not a word in 2 Chron. xxx. 16, which
justifies this statement, or can with any propriety admit of such
a construction. The passage refers in terms not to the Paschal
lambs, but to the Passover offerings, the national burnt-offerings.
And although in 2 Chron. xxxv. 11 such a construction is perhaps
not an unfair one, yet a comparison of the preceding and following
verses with the manner in which King Hezekiah's Passover was
kept, seems to shew that it would be erroneous, and that this passage
also has no reference to the Paschal lambs.
But even if it had, what conclusion are we to draw from hence ?
I should have supposed that in the later period of the monarchy, after
a long disuse of the Paschal system, an important innovation had,
for convenience, or by an oversight, been introduced into the ritual.
But this is not Dr. Colenso's conclusion.
(2.) " Hence when they kept the Passover under Sinai, Numb. ix.
5, where we must suppose that 150,000 lambs were killed "at one time
'between the two evenings' for the two millions of people, eaeh
priest would have had to sprinkle the blood of 50,000 lambs in
about two hours." (Colenso, 159.)
Reply. If the lambs were ever taken for slaughter to the temple
at all, (which I think we have no sufficient reason from -Scripture to

H We shall see hereafter (infr. 128) that it would be unsafe to rely
upon even these numbers.

24 The. Duties of the Priest [chap.
believe,) it must have been in consequence of that precept in Deu*
teronomy which directs them to be slain in the place which the Lord
should choose. But this precept was delivered with exclusive refer
ence to the land of Canaan, and forty years after the Passover under
Sinai ; it could not therefore have regulated that Passover. And
we have also seen that it did not in fact direct them to be slain in
the temple at all, but in the Holy City, which would be represented
in the wilderness by the camp and not by the Tabernacle.
(3.) "Besides which, in the time of Hezekiah and Josiah, when it
was desired to keep the Passover strictly 'in such sort as it was
written,' 2 Chron. xxx. 5, the lambs were manifestly killed in the
court of the temple." (Colenso, 159.)'
Reply. Although Dr. Colenso blends the two Passovers together,
the passage cited refers only to the Passover in the reign of Heze
kiah, where there is nothing even to suggest that the Paschal lambs
were killed in the court of the temple. And indeed, what ordinance
would so have been obeyed ? where is it written that they should be
so killed ? Dr. Colenso proceeds to shew.
(4.) "We must suppose, then, that the paschal lambs in the
wilderness were killed in the court of the tabernacle, in accordance
in fact with the strict injunctions of the Levitical law that all burnt-
offerings, peace-offerings, sin-offerings, and trespass-offerings should
be killed before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the con
gregation." (Colenso, 159.)
Reply. But the Paschal lamb was not a burnt-offering ; the Pas
chal lamb was not a peace-offering ; the Paschal lamb was not a sin-
offering ; and the Paschal lamb was not a trespass-offering.
(5.) "Besides all which, we have this most solemn command laid
down in Lev. xvii. 2 — 6," (Colenso, 160,) and he cites the passage
commanding the Israelites, instead of offering their sacrifices in the
open field, to bring all their offerings unto the door of the tabernacle,
to offer them as peace-offerings unto the Lord, and for the priest to
sprinkle the blood and burn the fat upon the altar.
Reply. It is not probable that this command was even delivered
at the date of the second Passover. (Supr. 19.) But had it, whenever
delivered, any reference to the Passover at all ? I think that it clearly
had none whatever. It is simply the command as to voluntary peace-
offerings. It was not even, it could not possibly have been, intended
to supersede the rules and regulations already laid down with respect
to the offerings ejusdem generis — burnt-offerings, sin-offerings, and

ii.] at the Passover. 25
the like. Still less could it have any application to a rite generically
distinct, the simple memorial feast of the Paschal supper. The scope
and otiject of the command are expressly laid down in the command
itself. It was apprehended that if the Israelites were permitted to
offer their voluntary sacrifices anywhere, in the open field, (ver. 5,)
t.hey might be led to offer them to devils, (ver. 7,) as the people of
the land did, and as they themselves had ere now done. They were
therefore to bring them to the Tabernacle, and to " offer them for
peace-offerings before the Lord." If they did not, they should be
considered to be guilty of blood. But this has no connection with
offerings made under the express authority of a special Divine com
mand, and least of all with the Paschal supper, According to the
terms of its institution, the blood of the Paschal Iamb was to be
sprinkled on the door-posts, and not on the altar : (it was this very
part of the rite, the sign and symbol of the passing over, which was
more expressly enjoined as an ordinance for ever ; see infra, (12) :)
and so far from the fat having to be burnt upon the altar, the whole
of the flesh was to be kept religiously within the house. And the
second Passover was specially directed to be kept according to all
the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof. (Numbers
ix. 3.) Are we seriously asked to believe that the very essence of
this most special institution was, before it had been kept a second
time, silently superseded and repealed, and that, too, by a command
referring merely to peace-offerings ? And if so, where was the ne
cessity for the supplemental order directing them to go up to Jeru
salem to keep it ?
(6.) "How, in fact, could the priests have sprinkled the blood at
all, if this were not the case that the animals were killed in the court
of the tabernacle ?" (Colenso, 161.)
Reply. We do not assent to the point assumed, viz., that the
priests had to sprinkle the blood at all. i
(7.) " If they were required to appear before the Lord (Exodus
xxiii. 17 ; Deut. xvi. 2, 5, 6) when the holy place was so far away
from their homes, surely a fortiori they were required to do so in
the wilderness, when the tabernacle was close at hand." (Colenso,
162.) Reply. This proceeds on the assumption that the holy place was
the temple ; but we have already shewn that it was the Holy City,
(Supr. 25, 26.) Indeed, why should the choice of a holy place be
always spoken of as belonging to the future, if the tabernacle already

26 The Duties of the Priest [chap.
fulfilled that designation ? But what if the precept did refer to the
temple ?
There is no room for any a, fortiori argument, it is a simple ques
tion of fact. They were commanded to go up to the holy place in
Palestine ; they were not commanded to do so in the wilderness.
And what are we to think of a reasoner, who because a command
is given for a locality where it would have been possible of perform-
ance, concludes that it must, "surely a, fortiori," have been given
for a locality where (according to the very point and purport of his
argument) it would have involved impossibilities ? What wonder if
the intelligent Zulu occasionally chafed in mild rebellion beneath
such arguments as these ?
(8.) "But the command already quoted from Lev. xvii. 2 — 6,
expressly refers to the camp." (Colenso, 162.)
Reply. But not to the Passover. (See reply (5), supr.) And as
to the camp, see supr. 9, 10, 11. And the command was probably
not then given, (supr. 19.)
(9.) "It is expressly said in 2 Chron. xxx. 5, that they had not
kept the Passover ' of a long time in such sort as it was written,' so
that all that was done at this Passover was meant to be done in
express agreement with what was written." (Colenso, 162.)
Reply. The chapter referred to does not give us any reason to '
suppose that the Paschal lambs were, in fact, slain in the court of
the temple, and their blood sprinkled on the altar. And if this was
really done, although it might perhaps have been justified by custom,
(if any such custom existed,) yet it would indubitably have been
in direct contravention of what was written in the law of Moses.
However, in this respect the Passover in question seems to have
been really kept in such sort as it was written.
But as to the conclusion that " all that was done at this Passover
was meant to be done in express agreement with what was written,"
we are distinctly told, not only that it was kept at the wrong time,
(2 Chron. xxx. 2, 3,) but that in other respects also " a multitude
of the people did eat the Passover otherwise than it was written."
(ver. 18.) In fact, it would seem that some evil effects ensued from
the general disobedience, (ver. 20.)
And as to the Passover of Josiah, the flaying is nowhere ordered,
even in the passage cited from Lev. xvii. It seems, to have been
the special direction as to burnt-offerings. (Supr. 21, and 2 Chron.
xxix. 34.)

Ii.] at the Passover. 27
(10.) "The command that the blood of the lambs should be
smeared on the door-posts of the respective houses could not have
been carried out in the desert, where the people lived in tents, and
there were no door-posts to be smeared." (Colenso, 164.)
Reply. The tents had probably entrances of some kind; and if
so, they would of course serve every purpose. It was the entrance
of the house which was to be marked, to keep out the angel of
death; the command had no connection with any particular form
of door-post.
And in truth these entrances are always called in Scripture the
door of the tent ; and the word used to designate them (nns) is the
same that is uniformly employed of the door to be sprinkled with
the Paschal blood.
(11.) " Nor could this command have been carried out in the land
of Canaan, where the males went up to keep the Passover at the
central sanctuary, the tabernacle or the temple." (Colenso, 164.)
Reply. This, again, assumes that the holy place was the temple ;
for the command could easily have been carried out in the land of
Canaan, if (as we have already seen was the case) the males went up
to keep the Passover in the Holy City, and the citizens made ready,
for loan or hire, large guest-chambers for their use.
And Josephus, undoubtedly both a credible and a competent wit
ness of the practice of his own nation in his own day, tells us in
plain terms that the command was even then carried out. Por
after referring to the ordinance of institution, and especially to the
sprinkling of the blood from the bunches of hyssop, he expressly
says, " and we still keep the Passover after this fashion." (Antiq.
ii. 14.)
(12.) "But surely it is strange that a command supposed to be
Divine should have had to be set aside as impossible to.be performed
on the very first occasion of the memorial feast being celebrated,
more especially as the injunction, ' And ye shall observe this thing
for an ordinance to thee and thy sons for ever,' seems to have ex
press reference to this very ceremony of smearing the door-posts."
(Colenso, 164.)
Reply. So strange as to be wholly incredible. And really when
we come to look at it we find no impossibility or even difficulty in
the matter.
31. There seems, then, to be no discrepancy in the

28 The Duties of the Priest [chap.
Scriptural statements. The Paschal laws plainly contem
plate no intervention on the part of the priests in the
slaughter of the Paschal lambs : the historical narrative
gives us no sufficient warrant for supposing that such an
intervention ever, in fact, existed. And even if the tradi
tions of the Jews who flourished after the captivity, after
long and repeated cessations in the observance of the Pass
over, encouraged a different practice, yet we know that the
traditions of the Jews were not invariably successful in
giving effect to the commandments of God. And though
we should be called upon to believe that in our Saviour's
time, contrary to what we should have supposed from the
silence of the Evangelists, the Pharisaic mode of keeping
the Paschal supper required the intervention of the priest,
it is, to say the least, improbable that any such innovation
should have been attempted before the captivity ; impossible
that it should have been attempted, and should have suc
ceeded, in the lifetime of the very Lawgiver who had, only
one year before, by an ordinance intended for all genera
tions, directed in the most solemn terms another and
a totally incompatible mode of celebration.
32. The writer of the 12th chapter of Exodus plainly
supposed that he was describing an ordinance which was to
last — and which, so far as he knew, did last-— throughout
all generations. And therefore at whatever period he may
have written, it would still be clear that at that period, at
any rate, the innovation in question could not possibly have
been introduced.
But in truth, Dr. Colenso's suggestion, that this ordi
nance was repealed before the Passover at Sinai, appears
to be a purely gratuitous and unfounded assumption. Its
single recommendation would seem to be that it would in
troduce an impossibility into the narrative. I can see no
other semblance of an argument to support it. It is im-

ii-] at the Passover. 29
probable in itself; it is contrary to the whole analogy of
the law of God ; and there is certainly " no hint of it in
Scripture." Dr. Colenso himself admits that " it is cer
tainly true that the references to the Passover in the Books
of Exodus and Numbers do not appear to imply in any way
that the priests were called into action in the celebration of
this feast." (Colenso, 164.) Does not this admission alone
put him out of court ?
The reader will remember that the question discussed in
this chapter has really no concern with the mode of cele
bration in the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah, or in our
Saviour's time ; it is simply concerned with the mode of
Celebration of the second Passover, that in the peninsula
of Sinai. We have considered the original ordinance of
institution; it does not enjoin, or permit of, the inter
vention of the priest. We know that in all probability
no further ordinance on the subject was delivered until
after the celebration of the second Passover. We have,
however, considered all the supplemental ordinances; they
do not enjoin, or allude to, the intervention of the priest.
We have considered the full narrative of the transaction ;
it gives no hint of the intervention of the priest. We
know, on physical considerations, that there could have
been no intervention of the priest. And is it criticism,,
first to insist that, notwithstanding all this, such inter
vention must have taken place, and next to impute ab
surdity to the historian, on the ground that it could not
possibly have taken place ?
33. And now if we turn to the really trustworthy Jewish
authorities, do they in truth require us to modify the fore
going conclusions, even with reference to our Saviour's
time? On the contrary, they, as it seems to me, confirm
them beyond the possibility of a doubt.
Philo Judseus was a contemporary of our Lord ; and his

30 The Duties of the Priest [chap.
testimony on this subject "is so express, and as coming
from a Jew who had often partaken in the ceremony him
self is so justly entitled to credit, that it ought to outweigh
an host of the rabbinical writers e." And he distinctly says
that " at the Passover the custom is not for the people to
bring the victims, and the priests to slay them, but every
man sacrifices for his own household," " the law for that
one day in every year conferring the priesthood on the
whole nation." " At the first Passover they had no time
to wait for priests, and what they then did, the law has
ordered them every year to do for a perpetual remembrance,
so that each house is then turned into a temple."
His language is so clear and, as I think, conclusive, that
I make no apology for citing the original passages.
T<3 8tj jurflii rovra) irepi Tecrcrapeo-KaibeKa ttjv r)p.ipav,
IxeWovros tov (reKi)viaKov kvkKov yevecrOai TrXrjincpaovs,
SiyeTai to, Aia/3<rnjpta, otjjuo^xw?)? eopTrj, to XaAoatar!
X.ey6p.evov Ylcio^a, iv fj ov\ oi p.ev Ibi&rai irpoo-dyovcn r&>
/3aj/xa> to, lepela, Ovovcri be oi lepeTs, aXka vop.ov ispocrra^ei
0-vp.Ttav to iOvos ieparai, t5>v Kara p,epos eKacrrov Tas virep
ovtov Ovcrias avayovros tots Kal yeipovpyovvros. (De
Mose, iii.)
Hv E/3paiot TraTpia y\c&Trp iracr)(cl irpocrayopevovcriV ev
fj Ovovcri iravtiripel ovt&v eKacrros, tovs lepeTs ovk ava-
p.evovres' iepuxrvvrjv tov vop.ov yapicrap.tvov tu> 'iOvei -navTl
[dav fi/xipav e^aiperov ava itav eros els avrovpylav Ovcruav,
(De Decern Oraculis.)
Hv ol 'Efipaioi i:Ao~)(a. KaXovcriV ev fj Ovovcri -navh^el,
ap£ap,evoi Kara p.e<rr)p.pp(av ews eamepas. . . . Tots ovv (at
the time of the first Passover) ZQvov, lepeis ovk avap.ivovTes'
to be Tore irpaxOev bpqv ecprJKev o vopos ciiraf; Kar' eviavrbv

Greswell, Harmony of the Gospels, iii. 146, who cites these

n0 at the Passover. 31
eKacrrov els eixapicrTias imoixvrjcriv . . . Ira'cr?? be o^Kia,
Kar' eKeivov tov XP°V0V> °"XWa 'teP°S K<& o-ep.v6rr]Ta irepi-
/3e^\rjrai. (De Septenario et Eestis Diebus.)
We have already cited the testimony of Josephus, who
after describing the celebration of the Passover in Egypt,
where of course there was neither priest, nor altar, nor
temple, adds, Nw en kclto, to eOos otjtcos Ovop.ev.
34. Dr. Stanley, who himself witnessed the Samaritan
Passover, gives the following description of the nature of
the Jewish institution : —
" In the feast of the Passover, the scene of the flight of
the Israelites, its darkness, its hurry, its confusion, was
acted year by year as in a living drama. Each householder
assembled his family around him, the feast was within the
house; there was no time or place for priest or sacred
edifice : even after the establishment of the sanctuary at
Jerusalem this vestige of the primitive or the irregular
celebration of that night continued, and not in the temple
courts but in the upper chamber of the private houses, was
the room prepared where the Passover was to be eaten.
The animal slain and eaten on the occasion was itself
a memorial of the pastoral state of the people. The shep
herds of Goshen with their flocks and herds, whatever else
they could furnish for a hasty meal, would at least have
a lamb or a kidf." f Lectures on the Jewish Church, p. 119.

CHAPTER III.
THE FAMILY OF JUDAH.
35. The objection which occupies the first place in Dr.
Colenso's treatise, and to the consideration of which we find
two whole chapters devoted, is perhaps in some respects the
most important of all. Eor it aims at proving, not a mere
improbability, or even absurdity, but a clear positive con^
tradiction in the Scriptural narrative..
The objection is this: — In the 46th chapter of Genesis
we find it stated that Hezron and Hamul, the two sons of
Pharez, went down into Egypt with Jacob : whereas it can,
aliunde, be proved to demonstration81 that they were not
then born.
And I agree with Dr. Colenso in thinking that in all
probability they were not born at the time when Jacob
went down into Egypt.
36. It does not, however, appear to me that Dr. Colenso
is justified in stating, as an undeniable fact, that Judah's
marriage with the daughter of Shuah took place "after
Joseph was sold into Egypt." (Gen. xxxviii. 1.)
* For Judah was three years older than Joseph (Gen. xxix. 35, xxx.
24—26, xxxi. 41), and as Joseph was 17 years old when he was sold into
Egypt (Gen. xxxvii. 2), Judah must then have been 20 years old. After
this he marries a wife (Gen. xxxviii. 1), and has by her, separately,
three sons. Two of these sons are successively married to Tamar. She
then deceives Judah himself, and bears to him Pharez and Zurah ; and
Pharez has two sons, Hezron and Hamul. But Joseph was only 39
years old when Jacob went down into Egypt (Gen. xii. 46, 47, xiv. 6),
therefore Judah was then only 42 ; and we have a period of no more
than twenty-two years from the marriage of Judah to the birth of
Hezron and Hamul. " We are therefore obliged to conclude that one
of the two accounts must be untrue." (Colenso, 19, 20.)

chap, in.] The Family of Judah. 33
The previous narrative had traced the wanderings and adventures
of Jacob until he had returned into the land of Canaan, watched by
the death-bed of his father Isaac, and been left, by the departure of
Esau, in undisturbed enjoyment of his pastoral life.
The writer then goes on to narrate the events which occurred in
this period of his lifeb, introducing this section of the story with the
general heading, — "And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father
was a stranger, in the land of Canaan." (Gen. xxxvii. 1.) He then
details the adventures of Joseph, bringing them down in this 37th
chapter to the period of his sale to Potiphar.
Now had Joseph's history been carried on consecutively, the
writer would have found no opportunity for recounting the story of
Judah. And accordingly he breaks off here, as at a convenient halt
in the narrative, and interposes a whole chapter, (the 38th,) giving
us the full story of Judah and his family. Then in the 39th chapter
he takes up the thread of Joseph's history exactly where he had
dropped it, and carries it on thenceforward without any further
interruption. But it is quite clear that the events which are detailed in the 38th
chapter did not all occur in the interval which elapsed between the
37th and the 39th chapters.
And then the question arises, What meaning are we to attach to
the introductory words of the 38th chapter, " It came to pass at that
time ?" Three meanings are possible, (1) that we are reading a con
secutive narrative, so that immediately after the events recorded in
the 37th chapter, those chronicled in the 38th chapter commence ;
(2) that the most important of the incidents about to be related took
place in the interval between the 37th and 39th chapters; or (3)
that the whole occurrence took place at that time, that is to say, at
that period of Jacob's life of which the writer is speaking — the
period, that is, of Jacob's dwelling in the land wherein his father
was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.
The second is the interpretation adopted by almost every com
mentator whether English or foreign. It was also adopted by the
Hebrews themselves. (See the Critici Sacri, ad loc.)
And without myself attempting to determine which of these three
interpretations is to be preferred, I certainly cannot feel justified in
b The period, I mean, between his return to Canaan and his removal
into Egypt. D

34 The Family of Judah. , [chap.
concluding with Dr. Colenso that the first is unquestionably the
correct one.
Still it may be so ; and even if it were not, and if Judah were at
the time of going down to Egypt 47, (as many calculate,) instead of
42, (as Dr. Colenso supposes,) I think it most improbable that Hez
ron and Hamul should have been then born. Por though in point
of actual relationship they were Judah's grandchildren, yet in point
of age they must have been as distant from him as if they had been
his great-grandchildren.
The real question, therefore, which we have to consider
is whether the historian, by inserting the names of Hezron
and Hamul in the 46th chapter of Genesis, intended us to
believe that they were actually in existence at the date of
the removal of Jacob into Egypt.
37. Of course where a sentence, a phrase, a word, is
fairly susceptible of two interpretations, we must look to
the other facts recorded in the narrative to ascertain which
of the two interpretations we are in this instance to adopt.
And the interpretation which we shall thus discover to be
the correct one is frequently not the one which we should
at first sight have been inclined to affix to the passage.
38. This is a canon of criticism applicable to the in
terpretation of every author. I will illustrate it by an
instance from Dr. Colenso's own work.
In his fifteenth chapter he is arguing that the Israelites were
sojourning in Egypt not 400, but only 215, or rather 210 years.
He is at once met with the statement in Gen. xv. 13, 14, " Know
of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not
theirs, and shall serve them ; and they shall afflict them four hundred
years. And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge ;
and afterwards shall they come out with great substance."
On this passage, adopting the language of Baumgarten and others,
he makes the following just remarks : —
"At first sight, indeed, it would seem from the above that Abra
ham's descendants were to be afflicted for 400 years, in one land,
such as Egypt, by one nation. But it is certain that they were not

in.] The Family of Judah. 35
afflicted, according to the story, during all the time of their sojourn in
Egypt. And hence it appears that the time here specified, 400 years,
is meant to refer to the time during which the seed of Abraham
should be sojourners in a strange land, rather than to the oppression
which they were to suffer during some part of that sojourning 
We conclude, then, that the 400 years in the above passage are
meant to date from the birth of Isaac." (Colenso, 106, 107.)
This appears to me to be a fair and legitimate application
of the canon of criticism above referred to.
39. I may perhaps be permitted to add one other ex
ample, drawn from the very passage which we are about
to consider.
In Genesis xlvi. 7, we are told that Jacob brought his daughters
and his sons' daughters with him into Egypt. But in the list which
immediately follows we find the name of one daughter only, and one
grand-daughter only.
And Dr. Colenso, who argues that this paucity of women did in
fact exist, finds no difficulty in ascribing the use of the plural in the
first verse to a Hebrew idiom. (Colenso, 24, note ; cf. id. 117.)
And this, although a more doubtful0, is probably a just application
of the same principle. It has at any rate been generally adopted.
St. Augustine, for example, speaking of another instance in which
the plural number is used with reference to one individual, says,
"Pluraliter appellati sunt sicut Scriptura consuevit: qua? unam
quoque filiam Jacob filias nuncupavit." (De Civ. Dei, xvi. 40.)
In this case, the plural " daughters" being brought into imme
diate juxtaposition with the pedigree, which shews but one daughter,
no question could arise as to the existence of any actual contradic
tion. But if the fact of Dinah being Jacob's only daughter had to
be laboriously deduced from a comparison and combination of other
parts of the Pentateuch, would Dr. Colenso have allowed this ex
planation of the plural number to pass? Would he not at once
have laid his finger on " the plain meaning of the word ?" Might
he not fairly have said, more suo, " But that in order to support the
veracity of Scripture we are obliged to do violence to the plain
meaning of the writer, would not every one have believed that the
e For some gather also from Gen. xxxvii. 35 that Jacob had more
than one daughter.

36 The Family of Judah. [chap.
writer who speaks of the daughters of Jacob supposed him to have
more than one? Would not every one, looking at this passage
alone, have believed that such was the meaning of the words ?"
And the answer is, Every one would have believed so : it is
merely by looking to the other recorded facts that we can give
a more correct interpretation than that which would at first sight
have suggested itself to our minds.
40. Now in applying this canon of criticism to the case
before us, the first question is, Is the phrase " coming down
into Egypt" fairly susceptible of two interpretations ? Can
it mean that the persons enumerated were among the
number of the immigrants, the aliens, the sojourners in
Egypt, or must it of necessity mean that they were them
selves among the actual travellers who came down into
Egypt? That the phrase will bear both interpretations is obvious
from verse 27, where within the compass of one verse
Joseph's sons are stated to have come into, and yet to have
been born in, Egypt. The two statements being placed in
immediate juxtaposition, there is no room for any sugges
tion of a contradiction here. .
So in Deut. x. 22 we read, "Thy fathers went down
into Egypt with threescore and ten persons," although the
fact of two at least of those persons having been born in
Egypt was too striking and prominent a feature in the
narrative to have been unknown to or misunderstood or
forgotten by any one.
The phrase being, therefore, fairly susceptible of two in
terpretations, let us consider which of the two is to be
adopted in this place. At first sight we should suppose
that in Gen. xlvi. 8 — 26 we had merely a list of the
travellers, the actual occupants and escort of the Egyp
tian wagons. But if we look into the details, we shall,
I think, find that that could not have been the meaning
of the author.

ni.] The Family of Judah. 37
41. The first statement that meets us is an account of
Beuben's family ; " And the sons of Reuben ; Hanoch, and
Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi." (Gen. xlvi. 9.)
On this Hengstenberg remarks, that when Jacob's sons wished to
take their last journey to Egypt, Reuben had only two sons. " Slay
my two sons, if I bring him not to thee." (xiii. 37.)
Dr. Colenso-answers this as follows: "This is quite in Hengsten-
berg's style. Beuben's words were spoken when they had returned
from Egypt the first time, not when they were about to go down
the second time, (xliii. 2.) A whole year appears to have elapsed,
according to the story, between the first journey and the second, (xiv.
6) ; and, after that, some time elapsed before Jacob went down to
Egypt. At all events, the interval between the time of Reuben's
speech and that of Jacob's migration was quite long enough for two
more sons to have been born to Eeuben in the land of Canaan."
(Colenso, 27.)
Reply. This is quite in Dr. Colenso's style. Gen. xiv. 6 has no
reference whatever to the interval which elapsed between the first
journey and the second. It merely states that on the second journey
into Egypt the famine had been for two years in the land. This, of
course, proves nothing as to the interval between the two journeys,
unless we have some reason for supposing that the period which
elapsed before the sons of Jacob went down into Egypt for their
first supply of provisions was only equal in duration to that which
again elapsed before they went down for their second. Let us
therefore consider the probabilities of the case.
(1.) We are told that, some years before, " Jacob increased ex
ceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants,
and camels, and asses," (Gen. xxx. 43) ; and as the Divine blessing
had never forsaken him, there is certainly no reason to suppose that
he was not at least as wealthy and prosperous a man when the years
of famine commenced. Is it conceivable, then, that the famine should
have found him so needy and unprovided, that all his accumulated
stores should support him for the same period only for which the
tend sacks (Gen. xiii. 25, 27) afterwards supported him ? Add to
this that a famine cannot set in in a day ; the effects of the blazing
d Or ' nine,' if Simeon's was not carried back. I do not understand
on what calculation Dr. Colenso arrives at the conclusion that there
were eleven sacks. (Colenso, 134.)

38 The Family of Judah. [chap.
sun, of the continued drought, may be rapid, but cannot be instan
taneous; the failure of the earth's produce in the first year would
be partial only, compared to what it would be in the second, when
the famine had settled down in its full severity and intensity.
(2.) But, in fact, could the ten sacks of corn have by any possi
bility been sufficient to support for a whole year Jacob himself, and
his sons, and his sons' sons, and his menservants, and maidservants,
and all that he had ? We see from Gen. xiii. 27 that the very pro
vender for the asses was taken from these sacks.
(3.) And if ten asses could carry a whole year's supply, how in
conceivable it would be that Joseph should have sent double that
amount for the special maintenance of his father during his journey
into Egypt. (Gen. xiv. 23.) It was right and fitting that the great
minister should be liberal, and even magnificent, in the reception of
his relatives, but to send for their wants during a few weeks a supply
sufficient for two whole years, would surely have been mere" needless
extravagance in a time of dearth.
(4.) And, indeed, is it probable that Joseph, in whose heart the
sight of his ten brethren in the crowd had kindled so eager and
tender a longing to see once more the old man, his father, and his
brother Benjamin, his mother's son, would have let his brethren
depart without making himself in any way known to them, if he
was aware that they would not be coming again for the space of
a whole year ?
(5.) Or is it probable that Simeon should have been quietly left
in prison for so long a time ?
(6.) And the very urgency and emphasis of Reuben's appeal,
" Slay my two sons," would seem wholly out of place, if uttered
a year before the existence of any necessity for a return into Egypt.
There is no reason to suppose that Reuben knew, though Joseph
did, that the famine was to last seven years ; and he would probably
have imagined that a year's provisions would have amply sufficed to
tide them through the famine until once again the Lord should send
a gracious rain upon His inheritance, the pastures be clothed with
flocks, and the valleys covered over with corn. His urgent entreaty
reads rather as if they were, or ought to have been, almost on the
point of starting.
Other slighter circumstances might be mentioned, all leading to
the same conclusion. I can discover no counter probability what
ever. The whole narrative seems to be in perfect harmony; and

hi.] The Family of Judah. 39
every circumstance tends to shew that the interval between the two
journeys was, according to the story, not a whole year, but at the
most a period of two or three months.
Still if it were only a week,- it is no doubt not impossible that
the two additional children may have been born within that week.
I therefore only ask the reader to bear this case in mind, as one
where it is probable, though not certain, that two of the persons
enumerated were not born at the time of the journey to Egypt.
42. The twelfth verse gives us a list of the family of
Judah. "And the sons of Judah; Er, Onan," —
What, are these the children of Israel who accompanied the
Egyptian wagons ? Are Er and Onan, who (as we are told in the
next sentence) were long since dead, included in a list of the actual
travellers ? Clearly not. Clearly this instance is of itself sufficient
to shew that, even if the writer started with the intention of merely
giving us a list of the actual travellers, he has to some extent aban
doned that intention, he is to some extent and for some purposes
supplying a general pedigree of the Israelites irrespective of the
actual occupancy of the Egyptian wagons.
And in the latter part of the same verse we find, " And the' sons
of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul," who ex concessis were born
in Egypt. 43. Erom the list of Asher's family given in the seven
teenth verse, we find that he had four sons and one daugh
ter, and that his youngest son Beriah had two sons, Heber
and Malchiel. And it is justly observed by Kurtz that
Asher being then only 40, it is hardly probable that the
youngest of his sons should' have been already a father.
44. Travelling down the names, we come, in the very
heart of the list, to the following verse : —
" And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Ma
nasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath, the daughter of Poti-
pherah, priest of On, bare unto him." (Gen. xlvi. 20.)
We might expect to find (as we do in fact find ver. 27)
a separate mention of the children of Joseph, but the in-

40 The Family of Judah. [chap.-
sertion of their names in the heart of the list is surely of
itself sufficient to shew that whatever this list of names
may be, it certainly is not, and could not have been in
tended to be, a list of the actual travellers.
45. And the next verse is, " And the sons of Benjamin ;
Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi,
and Eosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard."
Hengstenberg remarks upon this that the representation of Ben
jamin as a youth is so fixed and constant, that it could not enter
into the thoughts of an Israelite that on his going down into Egypt
he had ten sons. In xliii. 8, xliv. 30, 31, 33, he is called a "lad;"
in xliv. 20, "a little one ;" and in xliii. 29, Joseph tails him his son.
To which Dr. Colenso rejoins : "Benjamin, though called a youth,
was more than 22 years old, according to the story, at the time of
Jacob's migration; it is therefore quite possible that he may have
had ten sons, — perhaps by several wives." (Colenso, 27.)
Polygamy may therefore be assumed for the purpose of discredit
ing the writer's statements, although when suggested in their defence
Dr. Colenso puts the suggestion aside, with the remark that " there
is no reason to believe that polygamy did prevail at that time among
the Hebrews." (Colenso, 96 and 144.)
But what shall we say when we find that two at least of the ten
(though here spoken of in the ordinary Scripture phraseology as sons
of Benjamin) were in strict accuracy not sons but grandsons ?
We read in Numbers xxvi. 38 — 40, "The sons of Benjamin after
their families : of Bela, the family of the Belaites : . . . . and the sons
of Bela were Ard and Naaman."
Now even supposing that the description of "a little one," "a lad,"
is applicable to the father of ten children, could it in any sense be
applied to a grandfather ? Is it, in fact', possible that these grand
children should have been then born ? We know that Benjamin
was not 33 years old, for Joseph was but 39, and Benjamin was
certainly six years younger, (Gen. xxx. 25, xxxi. 41, xxxv. 18, xii.
46, 53, xiv. 6) ; and all that can be said is that he was "more than
22." If he was then a grandfather, Hezron and Hamul may have
been born in Canaan : if he was not a grandfather, Ard and Naaman
must have been born in Egypt.
To me, I confess, the language used with regard to Benjamin

in.]' The Family of Judah. 41
seems hardly consistent with the notion of his being even a married
man at the time of the migration ; but Dr. Colenso thinks otherwise,
and it is not a question which admits of argument.
46. So, then, from every part of the genealogy we are led
to the conclusion that persons not then born are enumerated
in the list. Nor is this all. In the fifth verse, the writer
had given a simple picture of the little cortege which was
setting forth on its memorable journey into Egypt.
" The sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little
ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent."
And this, though it certainly does not prove that all these children
were young, yet seems, as Hengstenberg and Kurtz remark, to har
monize rather with that view than with the supposition that so many
of these very children were themselves the fathers of families.
To which Dr. Colenso replies that Benjamin himself, though more
than 22, is called a "little one."
But it is not merely the phrase " little ones" which is important
here : it is also the carrying them in the wagons, as if they were of
tender age. Nor, perhaps, is it altogether just to conclude from that
phrase being applied to Benjamin, his father's darling, that it would
be equally applicable to other persons of the same age.
47. Looking, then, at all these instances gleaned even
from the scanty records of 3,000 years ago, it seems clear
that we are intended to give to the expression " which
camee into Egypt" the signification which we find it bears
in other passages. It seems clear that this is not a mere
list of the actual travellers, but that the writer is to some
extent and for some purposes giving a general pedigree of
' Dr. McCaul observes that there is a similar mode of expression in
ver. 15 of the same genealogy : where it seems to be stated that Leah's
six sons and their twenty-seven descendants " were the sons of Leah
which she bare to Jacob in Padan-aram.'' And see vers. 18, 22, 25.
Padan-aram being the place where the six sons were born is stated
generally as the place from which the whole stock descended, though?
the writer's real meaning is clearly shewn by the context. „ _  ,

42 The Family of Judah. [chap.
the immigrants, irrespective of their personal participation
in the immigration itself.
48. Still there is a question which Dr. Colenso repeatedly
puts, and which undoubtedly deserves an answer : —
"How is it that Hezron and Hamul, the two sons of Pharez,
are mentioned, and the sons of Zarah are not mentioned?"
(Colenso, 25.)
" Why are not the children named of all Jacob's grandchildren as
well as those of Pharez and Beriah ?" (Colenso, 27.)
" Why has the writer mentioned grandchildren only of Judah and
Asher, and not of the other sons of Jacob ?" (Colenso, 28.)
Or in other words, To what extent and for what purposes has the
writer given the pedigree of the Israelites in the 46th chapter of
Genesis ?
49. To all these questions the 26th chapter of Numbers
appears to afford a direct and conclusive answer. In this
chapter the sum of all Israel is taken in the plains of Moab
according to their families; and the families of Reuben,
Judah, Benjamin, and Asher are found to be as follows : — ¦
"Reuben, the eldest son of Israel: the children of Reuben; ,
Hanoch, of whom cometh the family of the Hanochites : of Pallu,
the family of the Palluites : of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites:
of Carmi, the family of Carmites. These are the families of the
Reubenites." (vers. 5 — 7.) The writer then goes on to mention the
sons of Pallu, but there are no more 'Reuhemte families.
" The sons of Judah were Er and Onan : and Er and Onan died.
in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Judah after their families
were ; of Shelah, the family of the Shelanites ; of Pharez, the family
of the Pharzites ; of Zerah, the family of the Zarhites. And the sons
cf Pharez were; of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites : cf Hamul,
the family of the Hamulites. These are the families of Judah." (vers.
19 — 22.) And now perhaps we can begin to see why Hezron and.
Hamul, the sons of Pharez, were mentioned, while the sons of Zarah
were not mentioned.
" The sons of Benjamin after their families : of Bela, the family of
the Belaites : of Ashbel, the family of the Ashbelites : of Ahiram, the
family of the Ahiramites : of Shupham, the family of the Shuphamites :

m.] The Family of Judah. 43
of Hupham, the family of the Huphamites. And the sons of Bela
were Ard and Naaman : of Ard, the family of the Ardites : and of
Naaman, the family of the Naamites. These are the sons of
Benjamin after their families." (vers. 38 — 41.)
" Of the children of Asher after fheir families : of Jimna, the
family of the Jimnites : of Jesui, the family of the Jesuites : of
Beriah, the family of the Beriites. Of the sons ofBeriah: ofHeber,
the family of the Heberites : of Malchiel, the family of the Malchielites.
And the name of the daughter of Asher was Sarah. These are the
families of the sons of Asher." (vers. 44 — 47.) We see here why
the writer in Gen. xlvi. mentioned grandchildren of Asher.
50. We learn from this chapter, and indeed from other
passages, that the Israelites were ranged into a number of
families, nnStDID, (the Septuagint calls them bfjp.oi,) dis
tinguished by the names of their respective ancestors. We
see, too, that the ancestor Eponymus was sometimes
a grandson, sometimes a great grandson, of Jacob. And
it would, of course, be a matter of great interest and im
portance to each family that the ancestor whose name it
bore, and from whom it claimed to be descended, should
be shewn to be one of the pure Israelites, one of the
immigrants into the land of Egypt, and not an Egyptian,
a stranger to the Promise. But whether he himself came
down in person to Egypt, or was born of parents who
had done so, would of course be a matter of comparative
indifference. Accordingly, in the concise pedigree which the historian
prefixes to his account of the immigration, we find that in
order to shew that all these Eponymi were pure Israelites,
of the seed of Abraham, he goes into the genealogy at
sufficient length to include all their names, descending even
to the great-grandchildren wherever it is necessary for that
purpose, but not otherwise.
That this was really his intention is, I think, pretty clear
from another pedigree which occurs a few chapters later :

44 The Family of Judah. [chap.
"The sons of Reuben; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and
Carmi : these be the families of Reuben." (Exod. vi. 14.)
The only cases in which he departs from this plan in the
pedigree of Gen. xlvi. are the families of Joseph and Levi.
And in each case the reason for his doing so is, I think,
sufficiently apparent.
51. Erom the date of this journey to Egypt, Joseph be
comes the principal figure in the narrative : his history and
that of his children stand thenceforward in the foreground
of the Book of Genesis ; the other sons of Jacob appear
only as "Joseph's brethren." We hear nothing more of
them as individuals, of their lives, of their death, of their
families. It was fitting, then, that in dismissing them from our
notice the historian should take that opportunity of sketch
ing the outline of their families ; while there was no need
for, nor in fact would there have been any propriety in,
such' a course in the case of Joseph. In his case there was
no need to depart from the strict chronological order ; his
history was to be continued. The writer, therefore, need
say nothing, and does say nothing, of Joseph's family until
he comes to record his death : we then find, as we might
expect, a brief compendious statement. (Gen. 1. 23.) The
names are not fully enumerated; indeed, Joseph's exalted
position must have rendered them sufficiently notorious.
52. The pedigree of the house of Levi was, on a different
ground, also reserved for a supplementary statement. In
the early chapters of the succeeding Book, it would be
desirable to give a full and exact account of the pedigree of
the great leaders of the Exodus, Moses and Aaron. This
involved the genealogy of the children of Levi, with their
families, which is here therefore duly supplied. (Exod. vi.
16—25.) With these two exceptions, there is not (so far as ap-

in-] The Family of Judah. 45
pears from our text of the Pentateuch) one great-grand
child mentioned in the pedigree of Gen. xlvi. who was not
the Eponymus of a family ; nor one omitted who was the
Eponymus of a family. And no one, I think, can ob
serve the remarkable coincidence between the names of the
Eponymi and the list in Gen. xlvi., and doubt that such
coincidence is intentional.
53. A few names indeed (Er and Onan for instance) are
inserted in this pedigree, which do not re-appear as the
names of Eponymi of the great Israelite families — the
writer apparently giving a complete pedigree of each house,
until he reaches the names of which he is in quest.
That this was his method of stating a pedigree, we see from the
remarkable instance contained in the 6th chapter of Exodus. In
the 13th verse, the Lord is represented as giving Moses and Aaron
"a charge to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt."
The writer considers this a favourable opportunity for shewing
exactly who these Moses and Aaron were ; and he accordingly .sets
out their genealogy, and winds it up by saying, " These are that
Moses and Aaron, to whom the Lord said, Bring out the children of
Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies. These are
they which spake to Pharaoh king' of Egypt, to bring out the children
of Israel from Egypt : these are that Moses and Aaron." (26, 27.)
The whole purpose of the genealogy was to shew us who these
Moses and Aaron were ; and yet what sort of genealogy has he set
out ? Not merely that of the tribe of Levi to which they belonged.
No ; Levi was but the third son of Jacob : Reuben and Simeon were
his elder brothers. He therefore goes through Reuben's pedigree,
then Simeon's, then Levi's, until he has arrived at the names he is
looking for ; and then he goes no further.
We must therefore, as it seems to me, conclude that in
speaking of the " Seventy f that went down into Egypt,"
f The Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol (in his Lectures on the Life of
our Lord, 256, n.) observes that seventy was the number into which
the Jewish traditions divided the families of the world. The mind of
the ancient Jews was full of symbolism, and it jdoes not seem improbable

46 The Family of Judah. [chap.
the historian is thinking not of the actual travellers—
indeed the inclusion of the sons of Joseph in the list
forbids this view of his meaning— but of the little band
of Eponymi who stand at one extremity of the sojourn
in Egypt, as the two millions of Israelites stand at the
other. 54. The writers of the Septuagint have made some
alterations in the pedigree of Gen. xlvi. But so far are
they from endeavouring to reduce it to a mere list of
the actual travellers, (although they have retained « the
ambiguous phrase, tc2v elcreXOovrcov els Klyvmov hp,a
'IaKirj3,) that they have inserted the names of several
additional persons who, beyond all controversy, were born
in Egypt. In their pedigree Ard is not a grandson, but
a great-grandson, of Benjamin. And the names of the
sons and grandsons of Ephraim and Manasseh are added,
so as to make the list of Eponymi fuller and more
complete.

that looking upon themselves, as we know they did, as a sort of micro
cosm, they would gladly seize upon the same number as the limit of
"the heads of their fathers' houses." And is not this in fact the
meaning of the obscure passage in the song of Moses, (Deut. xxxii. 8,)
" When the Most Sigh divided to the nations their inheritance, when
he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according
to the number of the children of Israel ?"
s I should rather have said that they and our own translators have
to a great extent introduced an ambiguity which does not exist in the
original text or in the other ancient versions.
The preposition translated " with" (Gen. xlvi. 26) is, as Dr. McCaul
has observed, merely the common preposition *? 'to,' 'belonging to.'
And neither here, nor in the few other places in which the lexi
cographers would give it the meaning of 'with,' does there seem to he
sufficient ground for departing from the ordinary signification.
Diodati's version would therefore appear to be quite correct : " Tutte
le persone che vennero in Egitto appartenenti a Jacob, procedute dalla
sua anca," &c.

!«•] The Family of Judah. 47
55. So clearly and unmistakeably have they made this
a pedigree of the immigrants rather than a list of the
travellers, that a chapter by St. Augustine on the subject
is with reason entitled " Quomodo Jacob cum septuaginta
quinque animabus iEgyptum narretur ingressus, cum ple-
eique ex his qui commemorantur tempore posteriore sint
geniti :" " In what sense Jacob is said to have gone down
into Egypt with seventy-five persons, when most of them
were born after that date." And he observes : " Res diU-
genter considerata non indicat quod tantus numerus fuerit
in progenie Jacob, die vel anno quo ingressus est iEgyp-
tum." And again : " Hlud est quod fallit minus ista dili-
genter intuenles, quoniam scriptum est, ' Hsec autem nomina
filiorum Israel qui intraverunt in JEgyptum simul cum
Jacob patre suo.' Hoc enim dictum est quia simul cum
illo computantur septuaginta quinque, non quia simul jam
erant omnes quando JSgyptum ingressus est ipse." (De
Civ. Dei, xvi. 40.)
56. I am not citing either the Septuagint or St. Au
gustine h as an authority for the truth of the explanation,
but merely to shew that it has obtained (not with any
reference to the case of Hezron and Hamul, but on totally
distinct considerations) with the most eminent doctors of
the Jewish and Christian Churches. And with these opi
nions before him, it seems surprising that Dr. Colenso
h Tet few, I think, can have any acquaintance with St. Augustine's
works without seeing that there is much truth in the statement of
Niebiihr : " St. Augustine possessed a truly philosophic mind : he is as
much guided by a desire to form an unbiassed conviction as any other
of the great philosophers," And again : " St. Jerome and St. Augustine
are two great men, or rather giants." (Lecture cxxxv. on the History
of Borne.) And the same noble-minded critic considers that great weight
is added to a statement of Sallust on a dry point of Roman antiquity
because "it is believed by St. Augustine, one of the greatest minds
endowed with the keenest judgment." (Lecture xix.)

48 The Family of Judah. [chap.
should venture at the very outset of his volume to assume
without argument that the opposite theory must be ac
cepted by all as an unquestioned and unquestionable fact.
His very first words, after citing Gen. xlvi. 12, are —
"It appears to me to be certain that the writer here
means to say that Hezron and Hamul were born in the
land of Canaan, and were among the seventy persons (in
cluding Jacob himself, and Joseph and his two sons) who
came into Egypt with Jacob." (Colenso, 19.)
And shortly afterwards, in the same paragraph : —
" I assume that it is absolutely undeniable that the nar
rative of the Exodus distinctly involves the statement, that
the sixty-six persons out of the loins of Jacob mentioned
in Gen. xlvi., and no others, went down with him into
Egypt." These are strange assumptions for the commencement of
a " critical examination." But we shall meet with stranger
ones by-and-by.

57. On the grounds and for the reasons stated in the
foregoing chapter, I can come to no other conclusion than
that many of the persons mentioned in the list of Gen. xlvi.
were not born at the date of the removal to Egypt. I cer
tainly have not arrived at that conclusion from any desire
to avoid the force of Dr. Golenso's objection, for in my
opinion that objection would be still more clearly and
decisively met if we could believe that (with the exception
of Hezron and Hamul) every person named in that list
accompanied Jacob in his journey to Egypt.
No one can read through the list itself without being struck by
the singular way in which the names of Hezron and Hamul are
dissociated from the rest of the list. Elsewhere we have throughout
merely a string of unconnected names, but when the writer comes

"I- J The Family of Judah. 49
to Pharez, he changes his mode of speech and says, And the sons of
Pharez were (or rather "And to Pharez were born sons,") Hezron
and Hamul.
So that the list runs, "These are the names of the children of
Israel which came into Egypt : A ; B ; C and D sons of B ; E ; F ;
and to P were born sons G and H." No one can fail to be struck
with the sudden change of expression.
And how does Dr. Colenso deal with this curious phenomenon ?
In his first edition, he omitted the word " were" altogether,, and
cited the verse "And the sons of Pharez, Hezron and Hamul."
That the omission was purely accidental, there can of course be
no doubt ; but it displays a disregard for minutise which a critical
examiner ought never to feel, and what is of more importance,
it shews what on Dr. Colenso's theory we should naturally have ex
pected to find.
His attention having been drawn by Dr. McCaul to this singular
omission, Dr. Colenso has replaced the word in the text. And he
now in his fourth edition endeavours to shew, by the three fol
lowing arguments, that the historian did not by this distinction
"intend to except these two names from the remainder of his list."
(Colenso, 30.)
Arg. (1.) "Whoever will accept the above explanation must ex
plain, as before, why these two grandsons of Judah are included
together with the two grandsons of Asher among those who went
down with Jacob into Egypt, whereas no other, great-grandsons of
Jacob are mentioned in the list."
Reply. This has perhaps been sufficiently explained, supr. 48 — 53.
Arg. (2.) " The same verb occurs in exactly the same way stand
ing at the head of the clause, but without any particular emphasis
in Numb. iii. 17, 'And these were the sons of Levi by their names,
Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari.' "
Reply. There is of course nothing very striking in saying that
sons were born to a man. The striking fact is the sudden change
from a mere enumeration of a string of names to a substantive his
torical statement.
Arg. (3.) "Possibly the introduction of the substantive verb in
the case before us may have arisen from the interruption of the
narrative caused by the parenthesis, ' but Er and Onan died in the
land of Canaan.' "
Reply. Possibly. But there are much more important interrup-

50 The Family of JudaL [chap. hi.
tions and longer parentheses in the same list, yet never followed by
a change of style. And compare ver. 20.
I cannot myself suggest the reason for which the sacred historian
introduced the distinction between Hezron and Hamul and the rest
of the list, but if it were true, as Dr. Colenso insists, that the two
persons thus dissociated from the rest were also the only two persons
who were not in existence at the time of this journey into Egyptj
how is it possible to resist the conviction, that this, and this alone,
. is the reason for the distinction ?

CHAPTER IV.
THE CONSECRATION OF AARON.
58. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Gather thou all
the congregation together unto the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation. And Moses did as the Lord commanded him ; and
the assembly was gathered together unto the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation." (Lev. viii. 1 — 4.)
"As the text says distinctly 'at the door of the tabernacle,' they
must," argues Dr. Colenso, " have come within the court. And this
indeed was necessary for the purpose for which they were summoned
on this occasion, namely, to witness the ceremony of the consecra
tion of Aaron and his sons to the priestly office. This was lo be
performed inside the tabernacle itself, and could only therefore be
seen by those standing at the door." (Colenso, 35.)
And as the congregation may probably have consisted of two
million persons, and the little court of the tabernacle could barely
accommodate five thousand, though densely packed behind, before,
and on either side of the tabernacle, and only 504 of these would be
in front of the tabernacle itself, and only nine strictly at its door,
Dr. Colenso not unnaturally concludes that " it is inconceivable how
under such circumstances ' all the assembly,' ' the whole congrega
tion,' could have been summoned to attend 'at' the door of the taber
nacle,' by the express command of Almighty God." (Colenso, 38.)
59. "This ceremony was to be performed inside the
Tabernacle itself." So we might naturally have supposed.
Yet if we turn to the narrative we shall find, beyond all
possibility of dispute, that it was to be performed outside
the Tabernacle; perhaps for this very purpose, that all
might be able to see it.
If the reader will keep before him a plan of the Taber
nacle and its appurtenances, he will be able without diffi
culty to understand the proceedings. Such a plan is to be
found in any illustrated Bible or Scripture history.

52 The Consecration of Aaron. [chap.
(1.) The first part of the ceremonial consisted in washing Aaron
and his sons with water, (ver. 6.) Compare also Exodus xl. 11, 12,
where we have a compendious account of the same transaction.
But the laver was in the open court between the Tabernacle and
the altar of burnt-offering. (Exodus xxx. 18, xl. 7, 30.)
(2.) Immediately on the conclusion of the washing, they were to
be clothed in the priestly garments, (vers. 7—9.) This must needs
have taken place on the same spot.
(3.) Then Moses anointed the Tabernacle andall that was therein.
(ver. 10.) If by this we are to understand a separate anointing for
what was within the Tabernacle, Moses must of course have gone in
for that purpose, but he almost immediately returns,
(4.) And anoints the altar of burnt-offering (compare Exodus
xl. 10) and the laver (ver. 11), both of which were in the open
court. (5.) He then anoints Aaron, who seems to have remained through
out by the laver and altar. And dresses Aaron's sons.
(6.) And then follow three sacrifices ; a bullock for a sin-offering,
(vers. 14 — 16,) a ram for a burnt-offering, (vers. 18 — 21,) and the
ram of consecration, (vers. 22 — 29). All these were offered on
the altar in the open court.
(7.) And finally, Moses sprinkled upon Aaron and his sons the
anointing oil and the blood of the sacrifices, (ver. 30.) And so
the first day's ceremony ended.
But on the eighth day, after the vigil of initiation was concluded,
the congregation is once more summoned. Aaron, now the conse
crated High-Priest, comes forth before all the people, and on the
altar in the open court he offers the sin-offering, the burnt-offering, '
the peace-offerings. (Lev. ix. 8 — 22.)
"And Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle of the congre
gation, and came out, and blessed the people : and the glory of the
Lord appeared unto all the people. And there came a fire out from
the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt-offering and the
fat : which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their
faces." (Lev. ix. 23, 24.)
60. Now can anything be plainer than all this ? Is it
not abundantly obvious that (with one insignificant ex
ception) the whole of the ceremonial took place under the
open sky ? nay, that the court must of necessity have been

Iv-] The Consecration of Aaron. 53
kept clear and vacant during its performance? Is there
the slightest shadow of a justification for Dr. Colenso's
positive assumption that "the ceremony was to be per
formed inside the tabernacle itself?" The historian does
not even leave us in the dark on the subject; he ex
pressly shews that everything was to be performed out
of doors.
The scene is brought vividly enough before our eyes.
We can see the Tabernacle, erected (according to tradition1)
on a gentle incline ; the priests moving backwards and for
wards in the foreground ; the flames of the altar dimmed
by the brightness of an Eastern sun ; the cloud of glory,
the visible symbol of the Divine Presence, resting over the
sanctuary ; and in. front, on the plain, the hills, the moun
tains, the many thousands of Israel watching the first
sacrifices of the Law offered to Almighty God. There can
be no difficulty in point of space — the wilderness was
behind them.
61. It is not therefore even necessary to cite the many
other passages to be found in the Pentateuch in which the
phrase "unto the door," or a similar expression, is used under
circumstances which positively forbid the idea of any actual
contact with the door-posts b being intended, and where,
therefore, the phrase must of necessity mean merely "in
front" of the tabernacle. No amount of additional proof
could make the present passage clearer than it is already.
62. Nor, for the present purpose alone, would it be
necessary to consider what is in truth the exact meaning in
the Pentateuch of the phrase "all the congregation."
But it cannot, I think, be doubted that as a general, if
not a universal rule, the writer of the Pentateuch by such
¦ Pococke, i. 147. b The tabernacle, of course, had no actual
door, the front was the door.

54 The Consecration of Aaron. [chap. iv.
phrases as "all the congregation," "all the people," and
the like, means us to understand the adult-males only.
Thus, we are told in Numb. i. 18, that all the congregation de
clared their pedigrees ; by which, as we afterwards find, we are to
understand " all the males from twenty years old and upwards ,•" and
in Numb. xiv. 1 — 3, the whole congregation murmur that they are to
fall by. the sword and their wives and children to be a prey.
So in Joshua viii. 35, we are told that Joshua read the law before
" all the congregation with the women and the little ones."
And in many other passages there is a clear distinction drawn
between the congregation on the one hand, and the women and
children on the other. And cf. Exodus xix. 15.
Of course, when it is said that all the congregation journeyed from
one place to another, we are to understand that the women and chil
dren went too. But so did the servants and strangers, who were no
part of the congregation itself.
There are also several passages in which the expressions "the
people," " the congregation," &c. may seem to be used of the elders
only, (Exod. iv. 29, 30, xii. 3, 21, xix. 7, 8; Deut. xxxi. 28, 30;
Josh. xxiv. 1, 2, 16 ; 1 Kings viii. 1, 2,) but it is doubtful if that is
their true meaning.

CHAPTER V.
THE FAREWELL OE MOSES.
63. There is perhaps no more sublime and pathetic
address in all literature than that which we call the Book
of Deuteronomy. It is the solemn farewell of the great
Lawgiver to his people on the borders of the Promised
Land. 'Few men have ever been able to look back on
so strange and varied an experience. We find him, in his
youth, the inmate of an Egyptian palace, the eager student
of Egyptian science. We find him in his manhood a simple
shepherd, feeding the sheep of his father-in-law the priest
of Midian amidst the deep verdant ravines that thread the
peninsula of Sinai. That he still looked back with longing
eyes to Egypt some gather from the names of his children
born in exilea : he called his firstborn Gershom, (' a stranger
there',) for he said, " I have become a stranger in a strange
land." (Exod. ii. 22, xviii. 3.) And to Egypt he returned
at last, but not as a peaceful and a welcome guest; he
came as the unwilling messenger of the Lord, armed with
credentialsb never, before bestowed upon a mortal man.
a " There is something very expressive in the names which he gave
to the sons which were born to him during his exile. They enable us to
look deeply into the state of his mind at that time, for (as so frequently
happened) he incorporated in them the strongest feelings and desires of
his heart." (Kurtz, ii. 197.)
b "The Lord put wonders into his hand." It has been observed that
the patriarchs wrought no miracles; not even Abraham, the great hero
of the race. The only " signs and wonders" recorded in the Pentateuch
were contemporary with the narrative itself, and many of them wrought
in the presence of the very persons to whom the narrative was addressed.
In pagan antiquity we find the exact converse of this.

56 The Farewell of Moses. [chap.
He came to undertake the cause of his oppressed and af
flicted brethren ; to make a stern unpalatable demand upon
a powerful and unpitying king, and after long delay, and
wonders great and sore, to wrench out from his reluctant
grasp the sons of Jacob, by a great, unhoped deliverance.
Eor forty years he had been with them in the wilderness,
their guide, their leader, and their friend; unfolding, di
gesting, maturing that strange system of polity which was
to make them, as it has through all ages made them, a se
parate and peculiar people. All was over now; the toils,
the wanderings, the trials, the weariness, the anxieties, the
cares. The Hebrew mind had been drilled and disciplined
enough. The promise, long-expected, had at last arrived :
the land of Canaan lay open at their feet. And 'now they
must part for ever ; he to die alone, they, with the joy and
clang of victory, to take possession of the Promised Land.
" But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan : but ye
shall go over, and possess that good land." (Deut. iv. 22.)
Yet ere he ascend the mountain-top to meet death, or
we know not what mysterious doom, he has one more task
to accomplish. Soon will the land of settlement be won ;
soon must these strange and novel laws be brought into
full operation ; and so, ere his voice be hushed for ever, he
will once more recapitulate to his people the wondrous
things which God had done for them, and endeavour for
the last time to impress upon their minds the lines and
figures of their future system.
He refers to the original delivery of the law (now known
as the Book of Leviticus) which had been made to their
fathers forty years, before. Then, as now, they were about
to move upon the land of Canaan ; then, as now, the law
seemed about to be put into immediate operation, but then
their own disobedience had postponed and suspended the

v.] The Farewell of Moses. 57
promise. And now at this awful moment — awful to him,
for death is awful to all, awful to them, for they were about
to lose their captain, their counsellor, their father — he
would fain deepen and strengthen the half-forgotten pre
cepts by another and a final republication of them.
" Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the
Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither
ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them ; for this is your
wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which
shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is
a wise and understanding people. Por what nation is there so
great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is
in all things that we call upon Him for ? And what nation is there
so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this
law, which I set before you this day ? . . . . Por ask now of the days
that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created
man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the
other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is,
or hath been heard like it ? Did ever people hear the voice of God
speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live ?
Or hath God assayed to go and take Him a nation from the midst of
another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by
war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by
great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you
in Egypt before your eyes ? . . . Thou shalt keep' therefore His
statutes, and His commandments, which I command thee this
day." (Deut. iv. 5—8, 32—34, 40.)
It is this Becapitulation, this solemn leave-taking, which
we call the Book of Deuteronomy. We no longer have
the cold, didactic language of the legislator or historian;
we have the passionate farewell of the father of his people.
Ages have passed since then, but they have not blotted
from the human mind the memory of that earnest plead
ing voice, the arm which had not lost the strength, the
eye which retained undimmed the brightness of its youth.
Generation after generation has sympathized with the great

58 The Farewell of Moses. [chap.
Prophet who led his people to the verge of "that good
land," yet himself was forbidden to enter therein.
64. But all this, we are told, is contradictory and im
possible ; for how could Moses speak unto all Israel ? The
Israelites were seemingly two millions in number, and
would have made a body of people nearly twenty miles long
and six yards wide, and how could a single voice reach
them all?
Was it not natural, then, that the last act of the great
lawgiver should be a public address, a public farewell, to
a national assembly ? And if it were so, how should it be
recorded in history except as an address to all Israel ? Is
not this the universal practice of every historian ? Are not
speakers when addressing an assembly from which none
were excluded, invariably represented as addressing the
whole nation ? Do we ever find such a speech restricted,
in terms, to those who were present, to those who could
hear ? Is not the restriction always left to be supplied by
the reader from the necessity of the case ? Is not the
audience always spoken of as the Athenians, the Lacedae
monians, the Boman people, as the case may be ?
65. And is there any reason to suppose that the Hebrew
usage differed from that of other authors? Innumerable
instances might be adduced to prove the contrary. I will
merely cite one or two taken at random from the Books of
Samuel and the Kings. The writers of those Books were
very familiar with the population and extent of the king
dom, and well aware that not one hundredth part of the
people could ever have been gathered together at one time
in one place to be addressed by one voice ; yet they never
hesitate to apply to the great national meetings which took
place from time to time this very phrase of " all Israel."
Samuel, even in his old age, speaks to all Israel, (1 Sam. xii. 1 :
cf. vii. 3,) and all the people answer him, (1 Sam. xii. 19). All tlte

v.] The Farewell of Moses. 59
men of Israel assembled themselves unto King Solomon, (1 Kings
viii. 2,) and Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the pre
sence of all the congregation of Israel, (1 Kings viii. 22,) and blessed
all the congregation of Israel, (1 Kings viii. 14, 55) ; and the King,
and all Israel with him, offered sacrifices before the Lord, (1 Kings
viii. 62). So at the time of the great schism Jeroboam and all the
people came to Rehoboam, (1 Kings xii. 12,) and the King answered
them roughly, (1 Kings xii. 13) ; and when all Israel saw that the
King hearkened not unto them, the people answered the King, saying,
What portion have we in David ? (1 Kings xii. 16). So Elijah, when
entering upon his solemn contest with the prophets of Baal, summons
all Israel, (1 Kings xviii. 19,) and speaks unto all the people, (1 Kings
xviii. 21). And when King Josiah went up into the house of the
Lord, all the men of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem
went with him, and the priests and the prophets, and all the people
both small and great ; and he read in their ears all the words of the
Book of the Covenant, (2 Kings xxiii. 2).
Surely these examples, and they might be multiplied to
almost any extent, are sufficient to prove that it was ha
bitual with the Hebrew writers to employ the phrase " all
Israel," or an equivalent expression, to denote any great
national assembly.
66. And Dr. Colenso seems not to deny that this inter
pretation is a fair one; but he asserts that, even so, we
should be impeaching the literal accuracy of the Scripture
narrative which by some is so strenuously maintained. (Co
lenso, 42.) But the question is really not one of accuracy
or inaccuracy at all : it is merely as to the common signifi
cation, the true construction of a Hebrew phrase. Theories
of inspiration have no doubt been advanced far beyond any
thing which either Scripture or reason would warrant our
accepting, but none so wild and fanciful as to forbid our
adopting the ordinary rules of construction in order to as
certain the real meaning of a passage. Such a theory would
ignore the existence in Scripture of all figures and forms
of speech : would compel us to adopt mere carnal views

60 The Farewell of Moses. [chap.
of the Divine Nature ; to accept the parables as positive
statements of fact ; to shut our eyes to the plainest mean
ing of the plainest language. It was the perverseness of
the Jews that they persisted in thus understanding, or
rather misunderstanding, the Saviour's words ; in believing
that He proposed to give them His visible Body to eat,
His visible Blood to drink ; that He would in three days
restore the very fabric which their ancestors occupied forty
and six years in building. The strictest and most exacting
theory of inspiration does not reach so far as this, or forbid
us to ascertain the author's meaning by the ordinary rules
of construction.67. If therefore the writer had indubitably intended to
represent Moses as speaking to all Israel, the idea would
have been natural and rational enough, and the language in
strict accordance with the usage of all writers, sacred and
profane. But is it quite clear that he intended to do so ?
There are certainly some indications which might lead us
to suppose the contrary.
(1.) In Deut. xxvii. 1, it is said that " Moses with the elders of
Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments
which I command you this day." Kai TrpoatTa^ Mgjuotjs teal % yepomla
'I<rpa))\ \4yaf *uAa<r<rea*#e irdcras t&s £iitoA&s Tatfras Siras iyii ivTeWofiai
ifuv afiii.epov. The concluding words would lead us to believe, what
indeed the whole tenor of the narrative seems to imply, that these
words were spoken on the same day with the preceding chapters
which " Moses said unto all Israel."
And in vers. 9, 10 we read, "And Moses and the priests the Levites
spake unto all Israel, saying, Take heed, and hearken, 0 Israel ; this
day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt
therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God, and do His command
ments and His statutes, which I command thee this day."
And in the next verse we are told, "And Moses charged the
people the same day, saying." (ver. 11.)
Now it hardly seems probable that on the same day Moses first
spake alone to the whole assembly, then called in the assistance of

v.] The Farewell of Moses. 61
the elders, of the priests the Levites, and then again resumed his
sole discourse.
And if not, it is plain that the words "Moses spake unto all
Israel" do not imply that his was the single voice employed.
We see from both the foregoing instances, that the fact of the
statements being in the first person singular, " I command thee this
day," is no proof that the speaker was Moses alone.
(2.) Still, it may be said, that though improbable, it is not incon
ceivable, that parts of the same address should have been delivered
by Moses alone, and other parts by Moses in conjunction with others ;
and that we find no instance where it is stated with respect to one
and the same discourse, (1) that Moses spake it himself, and (2) that
others assisted him.
We do, however, find one such instance, and that precisely in the
case where, if anywhere, we should have expected that the voice of
Moses alone would have been employed; viz. in the song of praise
which he made and spake almost immediately before his death. The
song is ushered in, and concluded, by a description of the manner in
which it was delivered.
In Deut. xxxi. 30, we are told that " Moses spake in the ears of
all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were
ended ;" while in Deut. xxxii. 44, we read of the same event, that
" Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the
people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun."
(3.) And this view may derive some support and illustration from
the fact that some, if not all, of these compositions were in writing.
We are expressly told in Deut. xxxi. 9, that " Moses wrote this law,
and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, and unto all the
elders of Israel ;" and see vers. 22, 24, &c. And that it was written
before it was delivered, is evident from the many passages in the
address itself, wherein it describes itself as a " book." See xxviii.
58, xxix. 20, 21, xxx. 10, &c. ; and Josephus, Antiq., iv. 8.
(4.) And finally, in Deut. xxxi. 28, we find Moses saying,
" Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers,
that I may speak these words in their ears." But if he had
once recited them to all Israel, he would hardly require to de
liver a second address to the elders and officers, who, it is natural
to suppose, would have been not only present at the first, but
in the most convenient situations for hearing it. It seems not
improbable that this address to the elders and the officers was,

62 The Farewell of Moses. [chap. v.
in fact, the only address delivered by Moses, and that he there
upon gave them the volume which they, as his ministers, read to
the people.
Perhaps none of these considerations are very convincing;
but the whole question, though interesting, is in no way
material.

CHAPTER 71.
THE SCENE AT MOUNT GEKIZIM AND MOUNT EBAL.
68. Although Dr. Colenso is willing, if pressed, to allow
the accuracy of the foregoing criticism with regard to the
case of Moses addressing all Israel, yet he affirms that it
will not apply to the well-known scene which took place at
Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal, shortly after the entry of
the people into the Land of Promise; and I have, there
fore, reserved this objection for a separate consideration.
But before we proceed to the actual transaction recorded
in the Book of Joshua, it will be well to cite the previous
ordinance in obedience to which that transaction took place.
69. In Deut. xxvii. 11 — 14, we read:
"And Moses charged the people the same day, saying, These
shall stand upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are
come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar,
and Joseph, and Benjamin : and these shall stand upon Mount Ebal
to curse ; Eeuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with
a loud voice, saying." And then follow the well-known catalogues
of blessings and cursings.
Accordingly, when the people were come over Jordan,
we are told : —
" And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and judges, stood
on this side the ark and on that side iefore the priests the Levites,
which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as well the stranger,
as he that was born among them ; half of them over against Mount
Gerizim, and half of them over against Mount Ebal ; as Moses the
servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they should bless
the people of Israel. And afterward he read all the words of the
law, the blessings and cursings, according to all that is written in

64 The Scene at Mount Gerizim [chap.
the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses
commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of
Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the grangers that
were conversant among them." (Josh. viii. 33 — 35.)
70. In attempting to picture to our minds this solemn
scene it is necessary to consider (1) what was read, (2) by
whom it was read, and (3) what was intended to be the
effect upon the surrounding people.
Dr. Colenso assumes that what was read was the whole
of the Mosaic law, but it seems far more probable that it
was merely the catalogues of the blessings and cursings.
Por (1.) it would a priori seem probable that that only would be
read which was commanded to be read.
(2.) The writer appears to have purposely restricted the univer
sality of the phrase "the words of the law," by the immediate addi
tion of the words " the blessings and the cursings," (iravra to.' p^nurra
tov vofiov tqIitov, Tas ev\oylas Kal Toff Kan-dpns). Dr. Colenso's version,
" every word of all that Moses commanded, with the blessings and
the cursings," is a clear alteration of the meaning of the passage.
And (3.) the statement that " there was not a word of all that
Moses commanded which Joshua read not," seems merely intended
to restrict his reading to that which Moses commanded to be read.
71. Secondly, Dr. Colenso assumes that Joshua himself ¦
read the whole with his own voice : whereas I should rather
conclude that the Levites were the actual readers.
Por (1.) it is stated that he read the blessings and the cursings
according to all that is written in the book of the law. But in the
book of the .law it is very clearly and positively written that the
Levites were to read them, and it seems very improbable that so
precise and distinct a command should havebeen overlooked.
(2.) And in the preceding verse special attention is drawn to the
mode in which the blessings were to be pronounced. It was done
as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they
should bless the people of Israel.
(3.) Moreover the position of the priests the Levites is so ex-

vi.] and Mount Ebal. 65
pressly pointed out in the narrative that we can hardly suppose
that they were not intended to bear some important part in the
ceremonial. (4.) The narrative throughout speaks of Joshua as doing what
ever he merely caused to be done. Thus in this very chapter we are
told that Joshua burnt Ai, hanged the king of Ai, built an altar to
the Lord, and wrote a copy of the law thereon; not meaning, of
course, in any one instance that his were the hands which per
formed the work. It is but an illustration of the maxim, Quod
fads per aliumfaeis per te.
72. It would seem, therefore, that by the account in the
Book of Joshua we are intended to understand that the
Levites read the catalogue of the blessings and cursings,
"as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before."
Nor, in considering whether their voices could have
reached to the outermost limits of that great assembly, is
it perha'ps unimportant to observe that the Israelites were
possessed of a powerful instrument for the purpose, such
as seems at that time to have belonged to no other nation
whatever. The solemn church music which forty years be
fore had risen up to heaven from the Bed Sea strand was
the earliest religious chant that has been recorded, if not
the earliest that had been heard, in the history of the world.
And the choral songs which are mentioned in the journey
through the wilderness, shew that the people had already
acquired an aptitude, which they seem never to have lost,
for this species of music. And it may be that " the loud
voice," in which the Levites were directed to pronounce
the words, has a special reference to this Hebrew- custom.
It may have been the sound of ten thousand voices which
rolled up Mount Ebal with their solemn dirge of woe :
and ten thousand voices may have echoed along the sides
of Mount Gerizim with the glad response, " If thou shalt
hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, blessed shalt
thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field,
s

66 The Scene at Mount Gerizim, fyc. [chap. vi.
blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt
thou be when thou goest out'' (Deut. xxviii. 2, 3, 6.)
73. And if there were many in the outskirts of the vast
multitude who could not even so have distinguished the
chanted words — and of course if Joshua himself, and not
the Levites, pronounced them, the number of actual hearers
would be comparatively small — does that constitute any
objection to the reality of the scene ? The Scripture no
where says that all the people heard, and if they could not,
of course they did not. Even to those who did not hear,
it would surely have been neither an idle nor an unimpres
sive scene : it would have been full of a deep significance.
The children of Israel were doubtless well acquainted with
the words and the import of the solemn ceremony which
was being performed, and might well stand by as mere
witnesses, and see, not hear, their great captain, or the
Levites, go through the blessings and the cursings.
The brief reference made by Josephus, Antiq., v. 1, to
this transaction, though somewhat obscure, yet seems at
least to be directly opposed to Dr. Colenso's theory.

CHAP TER VII.
THE EXTENT OP THE CAMP COMPARED WITH THE
PRIESTS DUTIES.
74. "And the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh,
with his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his
dung, even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without
the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured
out, and burn him on the wood with fire : where the
ashes are poured out there shall he be burnt." (Lev.
iv. 11, 12.)
Of this passage Dr. Colenso in his first edition offers the
following amazing interpretation : — " We have to imagine
the priest having himself to carry on his bach, on foot, from
St. Paul's to the outskirts of the Metropolis a, the skin, and
" This is according to Dr. Colenso's estimate of the size of the camp.
It is quite immaterial for the present purpose to consider whether the
estimate is, or is not, a correct one. But it may be useful to cite the
following remarks from a letter written by the well-known Oriental
traveller Mr. J. L. Porter with reference to this subject. " It is
assumed that the whole two millions of people were grouped together
in a camp. This is opposed alike to the tenor of the narrative and
to common sense. Any one who has had an opportunity of visiting
the great Arab tribes of the Syrian desert can see that these diffi
culties are purely imaginary. The Israelites had immense flocks and
herds ; these, from the necessity of the case, and like the flocks of the
modern Bedouins, were scattered far and wide over the peninsula, and
probably over the plain northwards. On one occasion I rode for two
successive days through the flocks of a section of the Anazeh tribe,
and the encampment of the chief was then at a noted fountain thirty
miles distant at right angles to my course ; yet the country was swarm
ing with men and women, boys and girls, looking after the cattle. The
camp would be a mere nucleus. Yet as being the head-quarters of the
nation, containing the Tabernacle, the priests, and the chiefs, and form-

68 The Camp and the Priest? s Duties. [chap.
flesh, and head, and legs, and inwards, and dung, even the
whole bullock."
75. Now this interpretation, as was at once pointed out
by the Bishop of Llandaff and Dr. M°Caul, arose from
a strange misunderstanding of a common Hebrew word.
One of the conjugations of a Hebrew verb (called the Hiphil con
jugation) has a causative force : thus, if the verb mean, 'to go out,'
its Hiphil conjugation would mean ' to cause to go out.' But of
course the manner in which the object would be caused to go out,
would depend in each case upon the object itself: it might be
thrown, carried, sent, &c, according as it was a stone,' a basket,
a loaded wagon, &e. The verb itself would give no hint of the

It happens that, in this instance, the verb which our translators
have rendered " carry" is, in fact the Hiphil conjugation of this verb
" to go out." The passage simply says that the priest shall cause
the remains of the bullock to go out. Our translators might with
equal propriety have rendered it " send," and doubtless would have
done so, could they have supposed it within the range of possibility
that any one should so mistake their meaning.
A few chapters further on (Lev. xiv. 44, 45) the priest is to see
to the removal of the stones, timber, and other materials of an in
fected house. There again the Hebrew word is " he shall cause to
go out," and there again our translation is " he shall carry."
There is no idea in either case oi personal carriage. "With regard
to the manner," says the Bishop of Llandaff, " in which he was to
cause the:remains of the animal in the one case, and the materials
of the house in the other, to go forth, or be sent or taken out of the
city, the command is totally silent."
Another example will make the point still clearer. In Gen. xiv. 1
Joseph says, " Cause every man to go out from me." The word is
precisely the same, -iS^in, the Hiphil of NS1' : and therefore, ac-
ing the rallying-point for the warriors, it was the only place with which
the sacred historian was concerned." And so in the revolt of the Tartars
(see infra 127) we find it expressly mentioned, that in any interval of
rest the flying people, hotly pursued as they were, " dispersed them
selves for many a league in search of food and provender for the
camels."

vii.] The Camp and the Priest's Duties. 69
cording to the critical examiner, " we have to imagine " the at
tendant whom Joseph addressed, "as having to carry out on his
back, on foot," every man who was present at the time. And when
Amnon (2 Sam. xiii. 9) says, " Have out all men from me," we must —
for the word is again the same — imagine that he was imposing upon
his attendants a like inconvenient task.
76. That the disposition of the remains of the sacrifices
was an office which not only need not be performed by,
but did not even require the presence of the priest, may
be gathered from such passages as Lev. xvi. 27, 28 ; Numb.
xix. 8—10.
It is indeed inconceivable how such an objection should
ever have been taken : how it should have entered into the
mind of man to suppose that the writer of the Pentateuch
(whoever he might be, and at whatever period of the Jewish
history he might have flourished) should have intended to
represent the priest (whose dignity is always guarded by so
many minute provisions) — nay, even the High-Priest him
self, the great dignitary of the Jewish nation — as carrying
out the offal of the sacrifices with his own hands, on his
own back, on foot.
77. Accordingly, Dr. Colenso has quietly introduced
among his Errata the following words, " For ' on his back,
on foot,' read 'perhaps with the help of others' " Yet
even so he will not lose all hope : he suggests that some
difficulty may still remain, for if it had not to be done by
the priest, it yet had to be done by somebody.
But what were the difficulty then? There would be
no lack of means of conveyance. A thousand similar
acts would have to be done daily in eyery large encamp
ment. And, in truth, even this is an error. So long as the
camp retained the dimensions (whatever they may have
been) which it possessed in the wilderness, this duty had
to be performed by nobody.

70 The Camp and the Priest's Duties, [chap. vii.
"We have already (supr., chap, i.) seen reason to be
lieve that neither at its first delivery (recorded in the
Book of Leviticus) nor at its subsequent Eecapitulation
(recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy) was the cere
monial law intended for observance in the wilderness. In
each case its delivery was delayed until the Israelites were,
or were supposed to be, about to enter the land of set
tlement, about to leave the wilderness for ever. And the
occasional references to the camp would seem in general
to point, not to the camp in the wilderness at all, but to
the camp in the land of Canaan, in which the Tabernacle
of God was pitched, and which remained for many gene
rations the religious and in part the civil head-quarters of
the nation.

CHAPTER VIII.
THE EXTENT OF THE CAMP COMPARED WITH THE DAILY
NECESSITIES OF THE PEOPLE.
78. I will state this difficulty in Dr. Colenso's own
words : —
" The people could not surely all have gone outside the
camp for the necessities of nature, as commanded in Deut.
xxiii. 12 — 14. There were the aged and infirm, women in
childbirth, sick persons and young children, who could not
have done this; and indeed the command itself supposes
the person to have a 'paddle' upon his 'weapon,' and,
therefore, must be understood to apply only to the males,
or rather only to the 600,000 warriors. But the very fact
that this direction for ensuring cleanliness, ' For the Lord
thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp : therefore shall
thy camp be holy ; that He see no unclean thing in thee,
and turn away from thee,' would have been so limited in
its application, is itself a very convincing proof of the un-
historical character of the whole narrative." (Colenso, 44.)
It will, however, perhaps be considered a sufficient an
swer to this "very convincing" objection, if it be shewn
that the command on which it is based has not the slight
est application either to the aged and infirm, the women
in childbirth, the sick persons, the young children, or the
600,000 warriors.
79. It is, as we have already seen, expressly and re
peatedly stated in the Book of Deuteronomy that its laws
were intended to come into operation after the Israelites
had obtained possession of Canaan. " These are the com
mandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the
Lord your God commanded, to teach you, that ye might

72 The Extent of the Camp compared [chap.
do them in the land whither ye go to possess it." (vi. 1.)
"These are the statutes and judgments which ye shall
observe to do in the land, which the Lord God of thy
fathers giveth thee to possess it." (xii. 1.) There are,
many such passages in Deuteronomy.
And there is hardly a precept throughout the Book
which does not (by some reference to houses, vineyards,
cities, and the like) carry within itself conclusive evidence
that it has reference to a land of settlement, and can have
no application to the state of things in the wilderness.
80. Before adverting to the particular passage to which
Dr. Colenso excepts, let us glance very briefly over the sur
rounding chapters.
Chapter xix. is expressly directed to certain acts which are to be
done " when the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations, whose land
the Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwell-
est in their cities, and in their houses."
Chapter xx. commences with a series of precepts as to military
expeditions undertaken in the land of Canaan. " When thou goest
out to battle against thine enemies, . . . the officers shall say, Who
is he that hath built a new house ? . , . let him return to his house.
. . . And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard? ... let him
also return to his house ;" and so on.
The first verse of chap. xxi. gives directions as to what they shall
do "if one be found slain in the land, which the Lord thy God
giveth thee to possess it." The 10th verse again refers to military
expeditions, and prescribes the treatment of a captive, " who shall
remain in thine house." The 19th verse directs a father to take
a rebellious son to the elders of the city.
Chapter xxii. also treats of building new houses, (ver. 8) ; planting
vineyards, (ver. 9) ; of appeals to the elders of the city, (ver. 15) ; of
punishments to be inflicted at the gate of the city, (ver. 24).
Chapter xxiii. allows an escaping servant to dwell " in one of thy
gates," i.e. cities, (ver. 16); warns the people to take no usury,
"that the Lord thy God may bless thee in the land whither thou
goest to possess it," (ver. 20) ; and speaks of the vineyards and
standing corn of a neighbour, (vers. 24, 25).

viii.] with the Daily Necessities of the People. 73
The 24th chapter teaches how a divorced wife is to depart out of
the house, (vers. 1, 2) ; allows a newly married man to remain at
home, free from all military service for a year, (ver. 5) ; forbids
a creditor to enter his debtor's house, (ver. 10) ; forbids oppression
of the stranger " within thy gates," (ver. 14) ; and speaks of vine
yards, olive-trees, and harvests, (vers. 19 — 21).
We find, therefore, that all the surrounding precepts have reference
not to the camp in the wilderness, but to the settlements in the land
of Canaan, where the people should have cities and houses, and fields,
vineyards, olives, and corn.
81. In the 23rd chapter, in the midst of all these pro
visions, and without any mark of difference, comes the one
to which Dr. Colenso objects. It is as follows : —
"When the host goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep
thee from every wicked thing. If there be among you any man, that
is not clean by reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night,
then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within
the camp : but it shall be, when evening cometh ou, he shall wash
himself with water : and when the sun is down, he shall come into
the camp again. Thou shalt have a place also without the camp,
whither thou shalt go forth abroad: and thou shalt have a paddle
upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself
abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that
which cometh from thee : for the Lord thy God walketh in the midst
of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before
thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that He see no unclean
thing in thee, and turn away from thee." (vers. 9 — 14.)
In this case, as in many others, to cite the passage
objected to is in truth to answer the objection.
Eor is it not really self-evident that the passage does not
even refer to the camp in the wilderness at all ; that like
the passages cited above from xx. 1, xxi. 10, (and many
others might be added,) it refers only to military expeditions
in the land of Canaan, composed it may be of 500, 5,000,
or 50,000 troops; that it is in fact, so to say, a sanitary
regulation enforced by religious sanctions?
And if the precept was intended for the camp im, the

74 The Extent of the Camp, 8fc. [chap. viii.
wilderness, how strange that its delivery should be delayed
until all the wanderings in the wilderness were over. Here,
at least, Dr. Colenso might have observed that there may
be an. allusion to the camp, and yet not to the camp in the
wilderness. 82. And in his fourth edition Dr. Colenso appears to admit that
this objection also was founded in error, for he now writes with
regard to his own "very convincing" proof, — "If the particular
direction is laid down, as is argued by some from the context," (no
very unnatural mode of arguing, one would have thought,) "with
special reference to a moveable camp of soldiers engaged in a military
expedition, yet how much more necessary must some such provision
have been for the vast stationary camp of two millions." (Is this
another of Dr. Colenso's celebrated a fortiori arguments, If a com
mand is given where it is possible of performance, it must surely
a fortiori have been given where it would have been impossible ? See
supr. 30 [7]). " Or rather, how is it conceivable that such a camp
could have existed without any sewage arrangements," &c.
It may, perhaps, be sufficient to observe that the temporary sewage
arrangements (if any) of the Israelites in the wilderness have not
been recorded in the Volume which was written for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
There were however, under Sinai, many thousand men unem
ployed ; they would scarcely be permitted to remain in idleness ; we
are not told their occupation ; but whatever was necessary to be
done, they would doubtless do.
If, indeed, Dr. Colenso really wishes to investigate the question,
his right course, I should think, would be to collate and compare
some similar instances ; for example, what have usually been the
sewage arrangements in the great migrations of Eastern nations ?
What in the enormous camps and brings of Huns, Scythians, and
Avars ? What in the armies of Attila, of Genghis Khan, of Tamer
lane ? What were the sewage arrangements of the vast Christian
and Mussulman hosts, which lay for two years about the walls of
Acre, in numbers probably far exceeding the whole population that
would at any one time have been found in the camp of the
Israelites ?

CHAPTER IX.
THE IDENTITY OF THE NUMBERS IN EXODUS XXXVIII.
AND NUMBERS I.
83. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When
thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their
number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his
soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them ; that there
be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.
This they shall give, every one that passeth among them
that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the
sanctuary : an half shekel shall be the offering of the
Lord." (Exod. xxx. 11—13.)
On this Dr. Colenso remarks that " these words direct
that whenever a numbering of the people shall take place,
each one that is numbered shall pay a ransom for his soul
of half a shekel. Now in Exod. xxxviii. 26 we read of
such a tribute being paid, ' a bekah for every man, that is,
half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every
one that went to be numbered, from twenty years old and
upward :' that is, the atonement money is collected : but
nothing is here said of any census being taken. On the
other hand, in Numb. i. 1 — 46, (more than six months*
after the date of the former occasion,) we have an account
of a very formal numbering of the people, the result being
* I do not find anything in Scripture which fixes the interval be
tween the two events at " more than six months." The seaond event
took place exactly one month after the erection of the Tabernacle,
(Exod. xl. 1, Numb. i. 1,) the first event took place during its construc
tion. These seem to be the only data with which Scripture itself
supplies us on the subject.

76 The Identity of the Numbers in [chap.
given for each particular tribe, and the total number
summed up at the end ; here the census is made, but there
is no indication of any atonement-money being paid."
(Colenso, 47.)
And then the objection is that " it is surprising that the
number of adult males should have been identically the
same (603,550) on the first occasion as it was half a year
afterwards." (Colenso, 47.)
84. It is, however, extremely improbable that two distinct
and separate numberings should have taken place, or should
be represented as having taken place, within so short a
space of time, of the same people, at the same spot, for the
same purposes, on the same principle, and to the same
extent. Nothing of the kind occurs elsewhere in Scripture.
Nor had any event been noticed in the meantime which
could render a second general numbering in any degree ne
cessary or desirable. There had been no war, no pestilence,
no great diminution or increase of numbers in the interval.
85. And if we look narrowly at the facts, we shall, I
think, see great reason to believe that both transactions
formed part of one and the same census. When the chil
dren of Israel came out of the land of Egypt there was of
course no time to sort and arrange them according to their
several tribes. In one vast undistinguished body they
pressed out of the house of bondage, passed through the
Eed Sea, journeyed to the peninsula of Sinai, and sojourned
for a year beneath the shadow of the Mount until the Law
had been fully promulgated and the Tabernacle of God
erected. It was while they were still in this disorganized condi
tion that the transaction took place which is recorded in
the 38th chapter of Exodus. It was a general numbering
of the people, not .according to their tribes and families,
but simply per capita. Every man brought in his half

tx.] Exodus xxxviii. and Numbers i. 77
shekel and registered his name. The aggregate number of
the whole congregation was found to be 603,550 men.
This was the only result which was, or could be, then
attained. The relative numbers of the several tribes re
mained unknown.
86. But when the Tabernacle was finished, and the
people were about to move forward upon the land of
Canaan, they were for the first time to be regularly mar
shalled and organized. They were no longer to travel
in one promiscuous mass ; each family was to be distin
guished by its own ensign, and the tribes were to be
separated into different camps and ranged beneath different
standards. "Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own
standard, with the ensign of their father's house." (Numb. ii. 2.)
"And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord
commanded Moses : so they pitched by their standards, and so they
set forward, every one after their families, according to the house of
their fathers." (Numb. ii. 34.)
The whole arrangements for the march are detailed in the second
chapter of Numbers.
The Lionb of Judah was the first to move out into the wilderness,
and with it the tribe of Issachar and the tribe of Zebulun.
Next, beneath the standard of Reuben, marched the tribes of
Reuben, Simeon, and Gad.
Then the Tabernacle of God itself moved forward, surrounded by
the tribe of Levi.
In the third rank, beneath the standard of Ephraim, the children
of Jaeob's favourite wife still kept together : the tribe of Benjamin
and the great double tribe of Joseph were arranged in one camp im-
b The standards of the four divisions are traditionally recorded to
have been the same as the symbols of the four Evangelists and the four
cherubim of Ezekiel: Judah's is said to have been a lion; Reuben's
a man ; Ephraim's an ox ; and Dan's an eagle. (See Stackhouse, i. 451,
note.) There may possibly be an allusion to Ephraim's symbol in the
obscure passage Hosea x. 11, in Jer. xxxi. 18, and elsewhere.

78 The Identity of the Numbers in [chap.
mediately behind the Tabernacle. " Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and
Manasses: stir up Thy strength, and come and help us." (Ps. lxxx. 2.)
In the hindmost rank of all, beneath the standard of Dan,
the tribes of Asher, Dan, and Naphtali brought up the rear of
the host.
So they moved on through the desert of El Tyh ; and when they
encamped, the four great divisions pitched one on each side of the
Tabernacle of God.
87. Now of course, in order to carry out this arrange
ment, it was necessary that the 603,550 men who formed
the congregation of Israel should be sorted and arranged
into their tribes, should be registered and marshalled Kara
crvyyeveias , cwt&v, Kara br/povs avT&v, Kar' oIkovs iraTpi&v
clvt&v. The general " number of the names" having been
already ascertained, nothing more was wanted than to
separate ¦ them according to their pedigrees, to check and
draft them off into their several divisions. And this ap
pears to be precisely what was done on the occasion re- '
corded in the first chapter of Numbers.
88. The command was —
"Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel,
after their families («wo o-vyyeveias), by the house of their fathers
(kbt' oIkovs iraTptuv airrHv), with (or according to) the number of their
names (ko.t&. apiS/j.by e£ ov6fia.Tos avTay), every male by their polls
(/carti tctcpaxfy abTSiv) ; from twenty years old and upward, all that
are able to go forth to war in Israel : thou and Aaron shall number
them by their armies." (Numb. i. 2, 3.)
And the. way in which it was fulfilled was — \
"They assembled all the congregation together on the first day of
the second month, and they declared their pedigrees after their families,
by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names,
from twenty years old and upward, by their polls." (Numb. i. 18.)
Then follows a list of the numbers of each tribe, all ex
pressed in almost identical language : —
"And the children of Reuben, Israel's eldest son, by their gene-

ix.] Exodus xxxviii. and Numbers i. 79
rations, after their families, by the house of their fathers (K<nk
avyyeveias atiTuv, koto Sti/iovs aiiT&v, kot' oticovs iraTpiuv out»^), accord
ing to the number of their names, by their polls, every male from
twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war ;
those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Reuben,
were 46,500." (Numb. i. 20, 21.)
And after going through the twelve tribes in this manner,
the historian adds up their numbers in the 46th verse, as
if to see whether they agree with the sum total, 603,550.
And finds that the two numbers tally exactly.
89. Nor is it difficult to understand why on the second
occasion, and not on the first, twelve men were selected,
one from each tribe, every one head of the house of his
fathers, to conduct the arrangement in conjunction with
Moses and Aaron. (Numbers i. 4.) When merely the
general number of the whole people was taken, this pre
caution was needless, but when that general number was
to be apportioned and allotted among the several tribes,
it was well that an officer of each tribe should be present,
to check the transaction, and preclude all suspicion of in
accuracy or unfairness. The occasion must have been one
of the deepest interest to every Israelite.
90. Nor must the identity of the numbers be entirely
overlooked, as being of itself a cogent proof of the identity
of the census. The only answer which Dr. Colenso vouch
safes to this suggestion is a note of admiration, but he
seems in this instance to have forgotten his own sound
maxim, that Wit may dazzle but does not convince.
91. And the fact that "there is no indication of any
atonement-money being paid," (see supr. 83,) is surely
a not unimportant circumstance to shew that this second
transaction was not in fact a general numbering at all, but
was only a declaration of pedigrees.
There really, therefore, seems every reason to believe that

80 Tlte Identity of the Numbers in [chap.
the two events were a part of the same transaction, the
first being the general numbering per capita, the second,
the registration per stirpes. What arrangement was made
with respect to the deaths which had occurred in the mean
time we are not told, and of course we cannot now conjec
ture. Possibly the numbers were kept up by the addition
of so many of the young men who had in the meantime
attained the age of twenty as would be required for that
purpose. But into these details the historian does not
enter. 92. The foregoing is substantially Havernick's view,
who says : —
" The census in the first year was required in order to levy the
impost for the erection of the Tabernacle, the other to decide the
order of the encampment and march. The latter object did not
require a census properly so called. All that was necessary was, to
have a review of the tribes ; and as the former census was made the
basis, it is evident that it was only a- review of the numbers of each
tribe that was designed. It is clear from the text itself that this is
no arbitrary opinion. Prominent expression is here given to the
fact that the new numbering was made after their families, accord
ing to the house of their fathers. (Numbers i. 2, 18.) This was
the only necessary addition to the first numbering. But that the
latter was made use of is both probable in itself, and is confirmed by
the agreement of the sum total in each.
93. In order to reply to these observations Dr. Colenso
finds himself for once in accordance with Kurtz. "We
can only say with Kurtz, if the numbers in both instances
are founded upon one and the same census, we must
look for the census in question, not to Exod. xxxviii.,
but to Numbers i." (Colenso, 52.) And the only argu
ment by which Kurtz supports this view is as follows:
" We are shut up to this by the solemnity and formality
with which the census in Numbers i. was commanded,
organized, and carried out. In Exodus xxxviii. we have

ix.] Exodus xxxviii. and Numbers i. 81
simply the raising of a tax and no numbering at all."
(Colenso, 48.)
Yet the 25th verse of Exodus xxxviii. expressly says,
" And the silver of them that were numbered of the con
gregation was 100 talents and 1,775 shekels." And the
26th, " A bekah for every man, for every one that went to
be numbered", for 603,550 men."
94. There is yet another remarkable circumstance con
nected with this double numbering, which Dr. Colenso does
not notice, but which (in whatever light it is viewed) seems
fatal to his objection.
Dr. Colenso assumes that the numbering in each case
extended over the same area. And I have no doubt that
he is right. Yet in the numbering of Exodus xxxviii. there
is no hint that any tribe, any class, any body of men was
excluded from the census : whereas in the numbering of
Numbers i. we are expressly told (ver. 47) that the whole
tribe of Levites was excluded.
And if these were two distinct numberings, there would
be no pretence whatever for making these words apply also
to the first occasion, or for supposing that the Levites were
omitted there. Why should they be ? They were not then
chosen for the service of the sanctuary ; they were not then
substituted for the firstborn ; they were not then about to
occupy a separate camp, a separate position, distinguished
from all the rest of Israel. They were then merely as one
of the twelve ordinary tribes.
But if the general and promiscuous census, in the first
instance, was but a preliminary to the disposition and regis-
c In support of his own theory on this point, Dr. Colenso remarks (in
his Second Part) that by means of the money taken at the door of an
exhibition the number of visitors might be easily ascertained. Un
doubtedly it might: but would any one describe the visitors to an
exhibition as persons who went to be numbered 1
G

82 The Identity of the Numbers in [chap.
tration of the persons then numbered, into their respective
tribes, the exclusion of the Levites from the general census
is amply explained and accounted for ; since it was on that
supplemental registration that they were drafted off into
a separate camp to undertake the exclusive service of the
tabernacle of God.
" The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every
man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard,
throughout their hosts. But the Levites shall pitch round
about the tabernacle." (Numb. i. 52, 53.) And it was on
the. same occasion that they were exchanged for the first
born and appointed to serve and minister about the holy
place. It was, therefore, but right and proper that they
should be omitted from the preliminary census on which
this supplemental registration was based.
95. I think we may go still further and consider that
the direction recorded in Numbers i. 47 — 50 with respect
to the exclusion of the Levites from the general numbering
was primarily, if not solely, applicable to the census of
Exodus xxxviii. Eor if, as appears, each tribe was on the
second occasion numbered singly, it might be asked how
the Levites were practically excluded at all. They also
were numbered singly (Numb, iii.) on the same occasion,
although on a different principle.
But supposing them to have been excluded on the first
occasion, when the aggregate number (603,550) was ascer
tained, it is natural that the author, when he is going
through the tribes singly, and finds that he has already
arrived at the same sum total although he has not yet
reckoned in the Levites, should explain that the Levites
had never been included in that aggregate number at all.
" Eor the Lord had spoken unto Moses, saying, Only thou
shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum
of them among the children of Israel: but thou shalt

ix.] Exodus xxxviii. and Numbers i. 83
appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony/'
(Numbers i. 48—50.)
These last words serve to indicate another reason (if both
events were part of the same transaction) for the exclusion
of the Levites from the general census. Eor as the atone
ment-money, which was paid by " every one that went to
be numbered," was also " to be appointed for the service of
the tabernacle," (Exod. xxx. 16,) the personal service of
the Levites might well be accepted in its stead. (See Exod.
xxxviii. 21.)
99. Dr. Colenso "notices in passing" that before the
Tabernacle itself was erected, we find, in the text cited
supr. 83, the mention of the shekel of the sanctuary :
or as the phrase may be (and is by the Septuagint) ren
dered, the shekel of holiness, the sacred shekel, to bl-
bpaxpov to b\yiov.
It is not easy to see what is the objection here. Dr. Colenso does
not, I presume, imagine that the little family wliich went down into
Egypt had any weights or currency peculiar to themselves : nor is it
likely that during their sojourn in the realm of the Pharaohs they
would have been permitted to adopt this decisive symbol of inde
pendent nationality.
Indeed, in that early period of human history it seems probable that
there were but few distinct national coinages in existence : the dif
ferent peoples had not yet become so self-existent ; the lines of demar
cation were not yet so sharply drawn as in later times. The inter
change carried on between one nation and another would be mostly
effected by means of some universal currency, or some system of
weights recognised by dealers in every country. And thus in Gen.
xxiii. 16 we find that Abraham the Hebrew, when purchasing from
Ephron the Hittite a field together with the cave that was therein,
and the trees on and about the same, (observe the general words in
this specimen of an old assurance,) weighs out as the purchase money
400 shekels of silver, current with the merchant. '
100. When, therefore, the Israelites emerged out of

84 The Identity of the Numbers in [chap.
Egypt, their system of weights and coinage4 would either
be that of the Egyptians or a new one invented for them
selves. Now no people had at that time attained so distinct and
strongly marked a nationality as the Egyptians; nor was
there any nation in which the priesthood formed a caste so
widely separated from the ordinary population : their very
dialect was different. It is known, too, that their science
was much connected with weights and measures, and that
in after times there was certainly more than one standard
in use in Egypt. Nothing, then, is more probable than
that even when the Israelites were sojourning in the land,
there should have been a system of sacred weights, and
that the Israelites should have adopted this, as they did
so many other Egyptian inventions.
Yet it is, perhaps, equally probable that in giving all
these minute instructions respecting the Tabernacle and its
furniture, the offerings to be made, the penalties to be as
sessed, the legislator should himself have named the standard
by which his rules were to be carried out. In fact, if the
Israelites were not to go on using the Egyptian coinage,
it would be absolutely necessary for him to do so. And
there are not wanting indications which tend to imply
that this was actually the case. The words which Dr.
Colenso, in citing the text, has omitted, (" a shekel is
twenty gerahs,") may seem to shew that the standard, if
not a new one, was at least not altogether familiar to
the Israelites. The same explanation is appended to the
mention of the shekel of the sanctuary, or the sacred
shekel, in Numb. iii. 47, xviii. 16. And in Lev. xxvii. 25
d I use the word coinage in its widest signification; for coined money,
strictly so called, was probably unknown to the Israelites until after the
captivity of the ten tribes.

ix.] Exodus xxxviii. and Numbers i. 85
we find the general rule laid down, "All thy estimations
shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary : twenty
gerahs shall be the shekel."
The information (and it is but little) which the writers
of antiquity have left us on this point will be found care
fully collected in the late Professor Hussey's Essay on the
Ancient Weights and Money, and the opening chapters of
Sir E. Madden's Jewish Numismatics.

CHAPTER X.
THE ISRAELITES DWELLING IU TENTS.
101. The Divine promise, made to Abram on the plains
of Mamre, declared that the Israelites should come out of
Egypt with geeat substanck. (Gen. xv. 14.) Their his
tory records the fulfilment of the promise. God brought
forth His people with joy, and His chosen with gladness ;
He brought them forth also with silver and gold. (Es. cv.
37, 43.) Settled for upwards of two centuries in "the
best of the land" of Egypt, (Gen. xlvii. 6,) they would
seem to have thriven and increased in wealth no less than
in numbers. And when their hour of departure came, they
left not an hoof behind them, (Exod. x. 26) ; they went
out with all that they had : even the bones of their great
kinsman Joseph were carried before their host. (Exod. xiii.
19.) Nor did they take their own possessions alone: at
the last moment the riches of Egypt were added to their
stores. And scarcely have they emerged from the waters
of the Bed Sea, ere we find the new-born nation lavishing
every variety of wealth upon the construction of the Taber
nacle of God, which was thenceforth to be the centre and
the symbol of its independent national life. They gave
"gold, and silver, and brass, and blue, and purple, and
scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and rams' skins
dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wooda, and oil
» What is the meaning of the word shittim, or what is the wood
designated by that name, is altogether unknown. It is generally con
jectured to be the wood of the acacia, but only because the acacia is " by
much the largest and most common tree of Arabia Petrsea." It does
not, however, appear to me that the wood is represented in the Penta
teuch as being a common wood, or as being collected in the desert

chap, x.] The Israelites, fyc. 87
for the light, and spices for anointing oil, and for the
sweet incense, and onyx stones, and stones for the ephod."
(Exod. xxxv. See, too, the still costlier offerings of the
princes, Numb, vii.) So ample were their stores, so
abundant their liberality, that at length an express in
junction was required to restrain it. (Exod. xxxvi. 6.)
There really seems nothing to countenance the strange
idea that they went out in want and poverty, that their
relation to the Egyptians at all resembled that of the
poorer to the richer half of London. (Colenso, 69.) They
went out a wealthy and a prosperous people, taking with
them all their possessions.
102. A large part of these possessions would naturally,
at all. It seems rather to have been a great rarity, brought by the Israel -
ites, together- with their other stores, out of Egypt. Thus in the passage
cited it is enumerated among their "other costly stores, (noscitw a so-
eiis) ; and in vers. 23, 24 of the same chapter it is said that " every
man with whom was found blue and purple, . . . and every man with
whom wasfownd shittim wood for any work of the service, brought it."
This does not read to me as if it was the commonest tree of those parts,
to be easily obtained in any quantity by any Israelite. Moreover, the
language of Isaiah, " I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah
tree, and the myrtle," &c, (xii. 19,). seems hardly consistent with the
idea that the shittah-tree was already the most familiar denizen of the
wilderness. I should rather conjecture that it was wood prepared in
some peculiar way by Egyptian science, and so perhaps rendered fragrant
or indestructible. And with this the LXX rendering of the word, |uA.o
itaifitra, would seem to agree. And see Josephus, Ant., iii. 6. But I offer
this conjecture with great diffidence, since (so far as I know) the acacia
is universally allowed to be the tree from which the shittim wood was ,
obtained for the construction of the Tabernacle and its furniture. Dr.
Stanley, indeed, cites the fact as " an indisputable proof of their desert
lineage." " The Ark," he says, " was not of oak, the usual wood of
Palestine, nor of cedar, (as the Rabbinical writers interpret shittim,)
the usual wood employed in Palestine for sacred puposes, but of acacia,
a tree of rare growth in Syria, but the most frequent, not even ex
cepting the palm, in the peninsula of Sinai." (Lectures on Jewish
History, p. 163.)

88 The Israelites , [chap.
consist of flocks and herds, the stores of a pastoral people.
Other part they would have to carry in the ordinary con
veyances of the day. And what were in those days the
ordinary methods of conveyance? Three will at once occur
to every reader of the Pentateuch, viz. wagons, camels,
and asses.
It was with wagons that the Israelites had come down, a family,
into Egypt, from whence they went out a nation ; it was on asses
that they had carried back the provisions for the sustenance of their
households in Canaan ; it was on camels that Abraham's servant was
sent to bring back a wife for Isaac ; that Jacob with his wives and
children fled from Laban; that the Midianites were carrying down
their merchandize to Egypt : and many other examples might be
added to these.
103. But were the Israelites in fact possessed of all or
any of these methods of conveyance ?
Wagons we know they had ; for wagons, and oxen to draw them,
formed a part of their contributions shortly afterwards to the service
of the sanctuary. (Numb. vii. 3.)
And it would have been strange indeed if they had been without
camels and asses D, which were in those days no unimportant part of
pastoral wealth in general, and are especially mentioned as among
the most abundant possessions of their own forefathers.
Thus of Abram we are told that " he had sheep, and oxen, and
he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses and.
j." (Gen. xii. 16; and see xxiv. 10, 35.)

b In the pagan traditions of the Exodus, the ass, as is well known,
played a very conspicuous part. (Plutarch, de Iside, 363; Diodorus
Siculus, fragment of Book xxxiv. ; compare Tacitus, Hist., v. 3). Every
traveller remarks the abundance of asses in Egypt and the neighbour
hood at the present day. " Their number is prodigious," says Mr. Curzon
in his Visit to the Monasteries of the Levant : " they take the place of
Carts, hackney coaches, and every other mode of conveyance." And that
their services were hardly less important at the time of the Exodus may
perhaps be gathered from the curious fact that mention is twice made
of them even within the narrow limits of the Ten Commandments.
(Deut. v. 14, 21.)

x.] Dwelling in Tents. 89
And Jacob "increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and
maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses." (Gen. xxx.
43 ; cf. xxxi. 17, xxxii. 5, 7, 15.)
See also'the enumeration of Job's pastoral wealth. He had 7,000
sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 she asses. (Job i. 3.)
We should therefore be hardly prepared to find that the Israelites,
a purely pastoral nation, were not possessed of both camels and asses.
And if we look to the narrative itself, we can, I think, entertain no
doubt that they did in fact possess them in abundance.
We are told (Exod. xii. 38) that they had "very much cattle."
The Hebrew word is n3pJ3, which properly means " possessions ;"
and then, since cattle constituted the principal wealth of those days,
it came to bear the special signification of "cattle." It is thus
exactly equivalent to the Greek word KTtprq, by wliich the Septua
gint translates it.
Now what does the word cattle (i!3p J3 ht^) include ?
This we are expressly told in the passage already cited from the
Book of Job : " His substance (ropB, kt^kj;) was 7,000 sheep, and
3,000 camels, and 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 she asses, and a very
great household." (Job i. 3.)
And not only may the word include camels and asses, but there is,
I think, actual proof that it does so in Exod. xii. 38.
A few chapters before we find a murrain denounced upon the
Egyptian cattle. The denunciation is as follows : " Behold, the hand
of the Lord is upon thy cattle (n3plD, KTiv-rj) which is in the field,
upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen,
and upon the sheep. And the Lord shall sever between the cattle
of Israel and the cattle of Egypt." (Exod. ix. 3, 4.)
No distinction (except as to their fate) is made between the
cattle of Egypt and the cattle of Israel ; and as camels and asses
are reckoned among the cattle of Egypt, though not a pastoral
nation, there is surely no room for doubt that they were also com
prised in the cattle of the race of shepherds, which was going out
from amongst them. (See infra, 108, note.)
• It seems, therefore, sufficiently clear that the Israelites took out
with them all the ordinary methods of conveyance — wagons, and
camels, and asses.
104. But did they take out tents also ? Nothing can
:be more probable.

90 The Israelites [chap.
In the pastoral, semi-nomadic life which their forefathers led in
Canaan, tents were their usual abode, and indeed constituted no un
important part of their possessions. Thus we are told that Lot had
flocks, and herds, and tents, D'bHM. (Gen. xiii. 5.)
And it must be remembered that in coming down into Egypt the
Israelites did not abandon their former mode of life. They came
not to settle but to sojourn in the land of Egypt, (Gen. xlvii. 4) ; and
throughout the whole two centuries of their stay they never forgot
that they were pilgrims and strangers in the land. (Ps. cv. 23.) It
was on this fact that God's great command was based, " Thou shalt
neitlier vex a stranger, nor oppress him : for ye were strangers in the
land of Egypt'' (Exod. xxii. 21.) " Thou shalt not oppress a stranger :
for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land
of Egypt." (Exod. xxiii. 9.) "Thou shalt love the stranger as thy
self: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." (Lev. xix. 34 ;
Deut. x. 19.)
In truth, their very object in settling in the land of Rameses was
to practise, without offence, that pastoral, semi-nomadic life to which
the Egyptians, themselves an agricultural race, entertained, for well-
known reasons, so strong a repugnance. Doubtless during the two
centuries of their stay in Egypt the Israelites, a thriving people,
would build towns and houses for the accommodation of their wives
and families. We know, in fact, that they did so. But we also
know that their general character remained unchanged ; they were
still a race of shepherds', pasturing their countless flocks and
herds over those rich and fertile tracts (now called Esh Shurkiyeh)
which stretch in an easterly direction from the easternmost edge of
the Delta.
105. Nothing, therefore, can be more probable than that
they would still have an abundance of tents. And if any
families were without them, they could easily have supplied
themselves with them during the weeks or months of pre
paration. I will not now discuss the notice wliich the
Israelites had of their approaching Exodus, but at least it
cannot be doubted that during the infliction of the plagues
<= "During their whole stay in Egypt they were," says Heeren, (Anc.
Hist., bk. i.,) "roving about in subjection to the Egyptian Pharaohs,
a nomad nation."

x.] Dwelling in Tents. 91
the whole nation must have been in a state of eager sus
pense and expectation, waiting for the Lord's command.
What period elapsed between the first and the last of the
plagues is doubtful. Some think nine months, others nine
weeks. Between two of the plagues we are told that there
was an interval of seven days, (Exod. vii. 25,) and possibly
this may have been the interval in each case. But taking
the shortest period, it would be amply sufficient, for the
present purpose. The fact that they carried away their
kneading-troughs on their shoulders is expressly attributed
to the urgency with which they were hurried away at the
last, and not to any lack of previous preparation.
106. We must not, however, adduce any argument in
support of the probability of their possession of tents from
the command given almost immediately after the passage
of the Red Sea, "Take ye manna every man for those
which are in his tents." (Exod. xvi. 16.) Eor we know
that the word bnN is constantly used in this general way,
simply to signify abodes, habitations, as where Solomon,
after the dedication of the Temple, is said to have dis
missed the people to their tents, (1 Kings viii. 66). In
this general use of the word there is no idea of a tent pro
perly so called, and the command recorded in Exod. xvi. 16
does not necessarily imply that there was one such tent
in existence.
Yet it is on this passage alone that Dr. Colenso founds
his hypothesis on which to base the objection contained in
his 8th chapter, viz. that the Israelites were in possession
of tents when they left the land of Egypt.
The passage itself is certainly insufficient to support the
hypothesis, but for the reasons given above, I can entertain
no doubt that the fact is so.
107. Agreeing, therefore, that the fact is so, let us con
sider what objection can be raised on this circumstance.

92 The Israelites [chap.
The first question to which Dr. Colenso seeks an answer is, " How
did they acquire these tents ? Had they provided them in expec
tation of marching, when aE their request was to be allowed to go
'for three days into the wilderness ?' " (Colenso, 55.)
The considerations above referred to seem to constitute' a satisfac
tory answer to this question.
And really it is rather too bad to suggest that the Israelites were
expecting only to go for three days into the wilderness. Dr. Co
lenso must surely be aware that weeks and months before the Exodus
the people had been told, and that they well knew, that the hosts of
the Lord were going forth out of Egypt not for any three days' jour
ney, not to any temporary rendezvous, but to a final settlement in
the Land of Promise.
In Exodus iii. 16 — 18 God says to Moses, " Go, and gather the
elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The Lord God of your
fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto
me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to
you in Egypt : and I have said, I will bring you up out of the afflic
tion of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and
the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites,
unto a land flowing with milk and honey. And they shall hearken to
thy voice." And accordingly we are told (Exod. iv. 29) that Moses
and Aaron did gather the elders together, and that Aaron spake all
the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. " And the people
believed : and when they heard that the Lord had visited the chil
dren of Israel, and that He had looked upon their affliction, then
they bowed their heads and worshipped."
I cannot, therefore, find the slightest difficulty in the fact of the
Israelites possessing tents.
108. But the second is the objection on which Dr. Co
lenso chiefly labours : —
" If they had had these tents, how could they have carried them P
They could not have borne them on their shoulders, since these were
already occupied with other burdens. There were the cattle, cer
tainly, which might have been turned to some account for this pur
pose, if trained to act as pack-oxen. But oxen are not usually trained
to carry goods upon their backs as pack-oxen, and will by no means
do so, if untrained." (Colenso, 56, 57.)
Dr. Colenso would appear to suppose that in mentioning shoulders. ;,

x.] Dwelling in Tents. 93
and pack-oxen, he has enumerated every conceivable mode of convey
ance. But it will no doubt be observed, that he has not yet men
tioned any one of the conveyances in ordinary use at that time.
I am not aware that pack-oxen are anywhere spoken of in the
Pentateuch. It seems strange that while considering how the Israelites went
out of Egypt a critical examiner should not have remembered how
they came in ; that in speaking of oxen he should have forgotten the
only use to which they are applied in the Pentateuch ; that in enu
merating the modes of carriage through the wilderness, he should
have omitted camels d, the ships of the desert, the most familiar and
the most valuable accessory of Eastern travel. But as the old poet
truly says, — rb fftTovftevov
o\cot6v (Ktpfvyei Se TaixeXoi/ievov, —
and Dr. Colenso seems to have been misled by the meaning usually
attached to the English word cattle.
109. The whole fabric which Dr. Colenso has built up
on these strangely inaccurate data at once falls to the ground
when their inaccuracy is pointed out. But the fabric is
d In all scenes of Eastern travel, the camels and asses form the most
conspicuous part of the landscape. Thus Dr. Stanley, picturing the
Jewish history from his own Eastern experience, and tracing the like
ness of patriarchal manners in the Arabian chiefs, observes that " Such
as we see them now, starting on a journey; were Abraham and his sis
ter's son when they went forth to go into Canaan. Bound about them
are their flocks of sheep and goats, and the asses moving underneath
the towering forms of the camels." (Lectures on the Jewish Church,
p. 11.) And again in a fancy picture of Jacob's funeral : " A vast pro
cession bore it away : the asses and the camels of the pastoral tribe
mingled with the chariots and horsemen characteristic of 'Egypt." (p.
74.) And again of the Exodus itself: " Those who have seen the start
of the great caravans of pilgrims in the East may form some notion of
the silence and order with which even very large masses break up from
their encampments, and as in this instance, usually in the darkness of
the night, set out on their journey, the torches flaring before them, the
train of camels and asses spreading far and wide through the broad
level desert." (p. 123.)

94 The Israelites [chap,
itself as remarkable as the data on which it is built, and I
cannot resist the temptation of examining it.
" What a prodigious number of trained oxen would have been
needed to carry these 200,000 tents. One ox will carry 120 lbs.,
and a canvas tent ' that wiE hold two people and a fair quantity
of luggage' weighs from 25 to 40 lbs. (Galton's Art of Travel, pp.
33, 177.) Of such tents as the above, with poles, pegs, &c, a single
ox might possibly carry four, and even this would require 50,000
oxen." (Colenso, 57.)
But we have not yet heard the worst. One would have thought
that it was enough to assume that the poorest Israelite had a tent
" with poles, pegs, &c," of the same nature as that which an Eng
lish gentleman would take with him on a tour of comfort. But this
will by no means satisfy Dr. Colenso. He proceeds, —
"But these would be of the lightest modern material, whereas
the Hebrew tents, we must suppose, were made of hair, Exod. xxvi.
7, xxxvi. 14 ; or rather of skin, Exod. xxvi. 14, xxxvi. 19, and were
therefore of course much heavier." (Colenso, 57.)
I must request the reader to turn for himself to the passages to
which Dr. Colenso refers, for I cannot expect him on my bare asser
tion to believe that the tent there mentioned is the canopy, the cur
tains overhanging the Tabernacle of God. '
So that, inasmuch as the Tabernacle of God, on which no expense,
no skill, no labour was spared, was by a special ordinance directed
to be made of shittim wood and covered with curtains of goats' hair,
(Exod. xxvi. 7, xxxvi. 14); and a tent or canopy of rams' skins
dyed red, and badgers' skins (Exod. xxvi. 14, xxxvi. 19) ; therefore
the critical examiner is decidedly of opinion that we must suppose
(we have uo alternative, we must suppose) that the tent of the poor
est IsraeKte was also made of hair, or rather, for he loves above all
things to be accurate, of skins; whether with or without the linen
curtains and boards of shittim wood underneath it, we are not yet
informed. Comment is surely superfluous.
" Also the tents of the Israelites were family tents. One ox might
perhaps have carried one such tent large enough to accommodate ten
persons, with its apparatus of poles and cords : and thus they would
have needed for this purpose 200,000 oxen." (Colenso, 57.)
Now a camel will carry five or six hundred pounds ; say 480
pounds. Therefore 50,000 camels would carry as much as 200,000

x.] Dwelling in Tents. 95
oxen, which is the utmost limit to which even the demands of
Dr. Colenso can reach.
And if the Israelites had, as "Dr. Colenso calculates, 2,000,000 '
sheep, (Colenso, 71,) are they or are they not likely to have had
50,000 camels? If their camels bore the same proportion as in
Job's case, (supr. 103,) they would have had more theaa. fifteen times
that number, while even if we take the proportion of the camels to
the sheep in Jacob's present to Esau, (Gen. xxxii. 15,) they would
" have had more than six times that, number. And we have not yet
reckoned in either the asses or the wagons.
They must, therefore, on any calculation have had abundant means
of carrying their possessions with them, even if those possessions
comprised " 200,000 family tents made of hair, or rather of skins,
with poles, pegs, &c." I do not myseb?, however, see the slightest
grounds either in Scripture or in the probability of the case for
supposing that the Israelites had any other than the light portable
tents' which have always formed the traveEing homes of desert
tribes, 110. Although the use of tents must have been very
familiar to the Israelites in Egypt, yet it was not until the
Exodus that the whole nation was compelled to leave all
settled habitations, all abodes of men, and become for a
lengthened period mere dwellers in tents in the wilderness.
And it would seem that this Arab life, the transition
between their bondage in Egypt and their national settle-
* We shall see hereafter that this estimate cannot be trusted. But
the smallest number at which they cau be estimated would suffice for
our present purpose.
' " In the portrait of the modern Bedouins," says Gibbon, chap. 1.,
" we may trace the features of their ancestors, who in the ages of Moses
and Mahomet dwelt under similar tents, and conducted their horses, and
camels, and sheep to the same springs and the same pastures. In the
sands of Africa and Arabia the camel is a sacred and a precious gift.
That strong and patient beast of burden can perform without eating or
drinking a journey of several days ; and the larger breed is capable of
transporting the weight of a thousand pounds." The difference in por
tability between an Eastern and an English tent was curiously illus
trated in the Crimean War. Kinglake, ii. p. 183.

96 The Israelites [chap.
ment in the Land of Promise, made, as it was doubtless
intended to make, a deep impression on the Hebrew mind.
And to keep alive this impression, to remind them that
they had here no abiding resting-place, that they were but
strangers and sojourners even as their fathers had been,
they were commanded once every year to forsake their
settled habitations, to come out from the comforts and.
luxuries of their homes, and to dwell for seven days as
pilgrims and wayfarers. But the gigantic inconvenience,
not to say the expense, which would have been occasioned
by the necessity imposed on every householder of keeping
by him " a family tent made of hair, or rather of skins,
with poles, pegs, &c," for this purpose, was obviated by
a permission to erect temporary huts or booths from the
boughs and branches of the trees around them.
Here again Dr. Colenso sees another difficulty, for how could
booths serve to remind them that they had dwelt in tents ? Plainly
because the contrast was between a. settled and an unsettled life,
between the comforts of the homes which God had given them and
the nomadic life of pilgrims and wanderers.
But Dr. Colenso urges that the reason assigned (Lev. xxiii. 43)
is, that the Israelites might remember that they dwelt in booths
(succoth) when Almighty God brought them out of the land of
Egypt. (Colenso, 53.)
As the passage occurs in the very midst of the Pentateuch, which
everywhere represents the Israelites as inhabiting tents, and not
arbours, in the wilderness, it is almost out of the question to suppose
that there is any real contradiction here. And in truth the word
succoth simply means ' woven coverings,' and it is so far from having
any necessary connection with boughs, that it is as frequently used
in the strict signification of tents as in that of arbours.
Thus in 2 Sam. xi. 11, 1 Kings xx. 12, 16, it applies simply and
exclusively to military tents ; whilst I believe that in no one passage
(unless it be in Jonah iv. 5) is it used in the sense of a bower or
arbour, excepting in reference to this very feast. And in this feast
the succoth were made of boughs of trees, not because that is neces
sarily implied in the word itself, but because the command was

x.] Dwelling in Tents. 97
express that they should in this particular case be prepared in that
manner. That the succoth were never supposed to represent anything but
the tents of the Israehtes is surely sufficiently clear from the fact
that this feast (the Feast of Tabernacles) is invariably styled by the
Septuagint 4o/>t)) tS>i> triaivuv ((TK-qvo-K-nyla St. John vii. 2,) while the
booths themselves are always called aicnval, the strict and proper
word for tents.
And in fact as the D^vHS (tents) of the wilderness are in Lev.
xxiii. 43 caEed succoth, so conversely the succoth of the feast are in
Hosea xii. 9 called D^vTIN.
Looking back at the simple facts of the story, it is not
easy to see how these objections arose. The idea of a
semi-nomadic tribe- setting out on a journey through the
wilderness with camels and asses and tents would be so
extremely familiar and natural, it would be so difficult to
picture it without these accompaniments, especially in a
case where we are expressly told that the progenitors of
the tribe were distinguished for the abundance in which
they possessed these very particulars, that we cannot but
feel that some credit is due to the ingenuity which has
contrived, by a series of gentle omissions and assumptions,
to raise an objection even on this plain, unruffled nar
rative.

CHAPTER XI.
THE ISBAELITES ARMED.
111. That arms would be found among the Israelites at
the Exodus is undoubtedly probable in the highest degree.
Their forefathers had possessed arms, (Gen. xiv. 14, xxxiv.
25,) and the patriarchs and their dependants must have
brought them down with them into Egypt. We hear of
no disarmament there ; on the contrary, we hear of appre
hensions on the part of the Egyptians lest the Israelites
should join with their enemies and tight against them.
(Exod. i. 10.) Probably few persons would in those days
be entirely destitute of weapons of some sort ; at any rate,
the Israelites could hardly have been so, living as they did
in the most exposed part of the land of Egypt, and sub
ject, it would seem, to occasional feuds with the Asiatic
borderers. (1 Chron. vii. 21.)
112. I see, therefore, nothing improbable in the state
ment that the children of Israel went up with arms in their
hands out of the land of Egypt. (Exod. xiii. 18.)
This statement of itself is certainly insufficient to prove
that all the 600,000 Israelites were armed, but Dr. Colenso
has two other arguments to shew that such was the case,
and that they ought therefore to have resisted by force the
Egyptian armies.
Arg. 1. "A month afterwards they fought with Amalek." (Co
lenso, 63.)
Reply. Not the 600,000. The narrative is express on this point :
" Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek." (Exod. xvii.
9.) We are not told the number of this chosen band ; it might have
consisted of 1,000, 10,000, or 20,000 men.
And even this chosen band was probably iE provided with arms,

chap, xi.] The Israelites Armed. 99
for the historian represents the victory as due, not to their unassisted
efforts, but to the prayers or the presence of Moses with the rod of
God in his hand.
The Amalekites appear to have been an Arabian tribe inhabiting
the most fertile wadys of the Sinaitic range. As the great pro
cession of the Israelites passed by, they would seem to have fallen
upon its rear, and cut off the weary and the straggler. (Deut.
xxv. 18.) We know nothing of the numbers or the strength of the
tribe. The saying of Balaam, that "Amalek was the first of the
nations, but his latter end shaU be that he perish for ever," (Numb.
xxiv. 20,) is explained, by the best interpreters a, to mean that
Amalek was the first champion of heathendom in its resistance to
the covenant people : he feared not God, (Deut. xxv. 18) : on which
occasion, and for which offence, the doom was pronounced that the
Lord would put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.
(Exod. xvii. 14.)
And of course it is not inconceivable that the Israelites may have
been able successfuEy to repel for the moment the incursions of an
Arabian tribe, and yet be in no plight to resist, or even to contend
with, the gigantic armies of mighty Egypt.
Arg. 2. " We must suppose* that the whole body of the 600,000
warriors were armed when they were numbered (Numb. i. 3) under
Sinai. They possessed arms surely at that time, according to the
story." (Colenso, 62.)
Reply. There is no hint of this in Scripture. The word " war-
* Pusey at Amos vi. 1 ; Kurtz, iii. 445 : an interpretation strengthened
by the sharp contrast which Balaam had previously drawn between the
covenant people and the nations of heathendom : " Lo, the people shall
dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations." iv eBvetriv
ov trvWoyicrdfiffeTai. — 'Apx$ i^vwv 'AfiaKijK. It also harmonizes well
with the Jewish tradition, that the object of the Amalekites was to fall
upon and crush the infant people before it had acquired strength and
consistency. See Josephus, Ant., iii. 2.
b It is interesting to observe that the expressions "we must sup
pose," and "surely," are in Dr. Colenso's vocabulary the almost infal
lible o-imeia of the presence of an entirely unfounded and unauthorized
assumption; fugite hinc, pueri, latet anguis in herbd. On the other
hand, the reader may generally be pretty confident that he is about to
read a plain and obvious truth whenever he finds a sentence ushered in
with the words, " It cannot be said that."

100 The Israelites Armed. [chap.
riors" is introduced by Dr. Colenso, and does not exist in the
Bible story.
The historian, as Dr. McCaul observes, is careful to avoid using
any expression which could imply that they were warriors or pos
sessed arms. He is careful to explain that these were all the adults,
all the able-bodied men, all those who had attained the age for mEi-
tary service, aE the males from twenty years old and upwards, in
cluding apparently the most aged.
There reaEy seems nothing in the narrative to intimate, or even to
suggest, that aE these 600,000 men were armed.
113. However, assuming that they were, what is then
Dr. Colenso's difficulty ?
He is unable to conceive that these 600,000 armed men should
have submitted so tamely to the bondage of Egypt. And he cites
Herodotus as saying that the warrior-caste in Egypt was, when
most numerous, 160,000. (Colenso, 59.)
Reply. Now even assuming (what we are obviously not entitled
to assume) that these 600,000 men were possessed of arms, they
were at any rate only shepherds, wielding the simple weapons of
shepherds. And what possible chance could they have had against
a standing army of 160,000 men, which, if not the only instance at
that day of soldiers trained exclusively to the use of arms, and for
bidden to mix in any other business, was at any rate by far the
finest, the most numerous, the best appointed, the best disciplined
army in the world? Without any prohibition of the use of arms,
a much smaller standing army than the Egyptian might certainly
keep in subjection a much larger population than that of the
IsraeHtes. 114. And, after all, if their conduct was as tame and
cowardly and pusillanimous as Dr. Colenso suggests, it is
surely no very serious objection to the truth of a national
record that it does not always represent the nation in the
most favourable aspect. A fictitious writer, even though
he attributed the deliverance to the power and mercy of
God, would undoubtedly have represented that under His
protection Israel itself did valiantly.
115. But we have unhappily found so much inaccuracy

xi.] The Israelites Armed. 101
in Dr. Colenso's references, that we must not assume, as
a matter of course, that even the quotation which he makes
from Herodotus is altogether correct. And in truth if we re
fer to the passage itself we shall find that that fatal inaccu
racy which seems for ever to haunt Dr. Colenso's footsteps
has not deserted him here. The number given by Hero
dotus is not 160,000, as Dr. Colenso states, but 410,000.
He says that the warrior-caste was made up of the Her
motybies and Kalasiries. The Hermotybies were in number
when they were most numerous 160,000, the Kalasiries
250,000. (Herod., ii. 164 — 166.) Dr. Colenso, more suo,
had forgotten to read to the end of the passage.
And if the Egyptian army alone consisted of 410,000
men, and eighty years before the Exodus the Egyptians
had been able, even in the language of hyperbole, to say
that the people of the children of Israel were more and
mightier than themselves, (Exod. i. 9,) can we be surprised
to find that they went out about 600,000 that were men,
beside children ? (Exod. xii. 37.)
It should also be remembered that Herodotus wrote
a thousand years after the Exodus, and amidst the entire
decline of the Egyptian power.
116. I should therefore be quite willing to adopt, if
necessary, the English version "harnessed" in Exod. xiii.
18, but I must admit that I do not think it is the cor
rect one0.
c Josephus, indeed, expressly says that the Israelites were not pro
vided with arms at the Exodus, (Antiq., ii. 15) ; that they picked up
some from the Egyptian spoils on the Red Sea shore, (Id., 16) ; that in
the conflict with the Amalekites the mass of the people was still destitute
of weapons, (iii. 2); and that after the victory they collected all that
they could find on the bodies of tbe slain. His statements are of course
worthless, as history; but they shew that he did' not understand the
passage in question, to which he expressly refers for another purpose,
(ii. 15,) as implying that the Israelites were armed.

102 The Israelites Armed. [chap. xi.
The word is used in three other passages, Joshua i. 14, iv. 12,
and Judges vii. 11. In not one place is the meaning of 'armed'
necessary. And it does not seem to suit the context in Exod. xiii.
17, 18, or to be quite appEcable in Judges vii. 11.
In Exod. xiii. 18 the Septuagint renders it " in the fifth genera
tion," but this signification would suit no other passage, and may
therefore be discarded.
I would rather adopt the meaning given by both Parkhurst and
Gesenius, " drawn up in order," " formed," which exactly suits every
passage. Diodati translates it " in ordinanza."
Parkhurst says "Wttftjn, arranged, marshaEed, in array, or
regular order, ordine instructi. In Judges vii. 11 may it not mean
soldiers drawn up, or formed, as being on guard? The LXX in
Joshua i. 14 render it by effgawu, girded, equipped : so Targ. through
out. The LXX in Joshua iv. 12 by Siaa-Kevaa-fn.4vot, prepared, arrayed :
Aqufla, in Exod. xiii. 18, by ivwirXttr/xivoi, armed: so Symmachus by
KaBanrXuriiivoi, and Vulg. after them by armati."
There seems indeed every reason to suppose that it is closely,
connected with the simEar word signifying fifty, (the plural of tCQn,
five,) so frequently used to denote a division of the Hebrew army,
2 Kings i. 9 — 14 : Isaiah iii. 3. This would account for the ready
distribution of the natipn into tens, fifties, hundreds, &c, (Exodus
xviii. 21,) and for the census being afterwards taken by fifties.
Or the connection may be with the singular Wftn, five. And
so Ewald (ii. 54) understands it, supposing the people to have been
drawn up in five divisions, van, centre, rear, and right and left
wings. And in the margin of the English Bible, (Josh. i. 14,) we
are told that though translated "armed," the strict signification
of the Hebrew word is "marshaEed by five."

CHAPTER XII.
THE INSTITUTION OP THE PASSOVER.
117. We need not be long delayed a with Dr. Colenso's
next objection, (that in one single day the whole population
of Israel was instructed to keep, and did keep, the Pass
over; Colenso, 65,) for it is one which can only be sug
gested by a violation of the most elementary and funda
mental laws of ordinary criticism. Nothing surely is
plainer than that if in one part of a narrative a phrase
occurs, the meaning of which is absolutely clear and un
mistakable, and immediately afterwards in the same narra
tive we find another phrase which may well bear a mean
ing entirely consistent with the former, but may also bear
a meaning directly opposed to it, no sound critic would
hesitate for a moment to select the signification which will
i bring the whole passage into harmony.
118. The Paschal ordinance commences with an ex
plicit direction to take a lamb on the tenth and kill it on
ihe fourteenth day of the month. (Exod. xii. 3, 6.)
No conceivable interpretation is, or can be, suggested
which could explain this precept as delivered, according to
the story, less than five days before the Paschal feast. The
words are clear and plain beyond the possibility of doubt.
119. The speaker, having in the third verse ordered
them to take a lamb on the tenth day, and having in the
sixth verse ordered them to slay it on the fourteenth day,
* Br. Colenso's mistake has been so clearly pointed out by the Bishop
of Llandaff and Dr. McCaul that I can do little more in this chapter
than follow in their footsteps.

104 The Institution of the Passover. [chap.
proceeds in the seventh and eighth verses, in the same
paragraph, and without any break, to prescribe the cere
monies to be observed on the night of the fourteenth, and
to order them to eat the flesh on this night, (mn rtV?a>)
and leave nothing until the morning ; " for," he goes on to
say in the twelfth verse, " I will pass through the land this
night, (ntn nV>b5i) ; and when I see the blood," &c.
Nothing, surely, can . be plainer than that by " this
night" he means the night of which, not that on which,
he was speaking.
Yet what follows does, if possible, make it still clearer.
After describing the events which are to occur on the night
of the fourteenth, he goes on to describe the Exodus which
is to occur on the following morning. But he still carries
on the expression "this," — "In this selfsame day have I
brought your armies out: therefore ye shall observe this
day," &c. (Exod. xii. 17.)"
120. The only observation that Dr. Colenso can make
on the subject is that "it cannot be said" (see supr. 112,
note) " that they had notice several days beforehand ; for
the expression in ver. 12 is distinctly n?n, this." (Colenso,
65.) And so is the expression in ver. 8 distinctly ntn,
"this," although being translated in our English Bible,
"that," it had apparently escaped Dr. Colenso's notice;!
and so is the expression in ver. 17 distinctly nin, "this." \
In truth, the Hebrew word mn is used in precisely the'
same flexible way as our English word " this." : ,
In Leviticus xvi. 30 the legislator is directing the cjere/-
monies of the great day of atonement, to be observed in the
Promised Land; and he orders that a fast shall then be
observed, "for on that day shall the priest make an atorje-
ment for you." But no; the legislator must mean "the
priest will make an atonement on this day on which I /am
speaking:" it cannot be said that he refers to the daj/ of

xii.] The Institution of the Passover '.' 105
atonement in the Promised Land, for the expression in ver.
30 is distinctly ntn, this.
In Leviticus xxiii. 14 the legislator is ordaining the
ceremonies relative to the sheaf of firstfruits, and he says,
"Ye shall eat neither bread nor parched corn, nor green
.ears, until the self-same day that ye have brought an offer
ing unto your God." But no; he must mean, Ye. shall
eat none of these things until this day on which I am
speaking : it cannot be said that h'e is referring to any
other day, for the expression in ver. 14 is distinctly <"ftn,
this. See also the 21st ver. of the same chapter.
Criticism of this stamp will make havoc of the plainest
narrative. 1.21. This may, however, be a convenient place for briefly
considering what amount of notice the Israelites really had
for making their preparations for the Exodus.
Eour centuries had elapsed since the promise of the
Exodus had been given. The day on which it was given
was known, the day on which it approached completion
was known. (Exod. xii. 41.) No doubt was entertained
of its ultimate fulfilment. The dead body of Jacob was
carried up from Egypt to repose in the land which his
children should inherit, (Gen. xlvii. 29, 30, xlviii. 21,)
and a third of the Egyptian sojourning had already passed
when Joseph on his deathbed required a solemn pledge
and promise from his brethren, that when God should visit
them, as He surely would, to bring them out of the land
of Egypt into the land which He sware to Abraham, to
Isaac, and to Jacob, they should carry up his bones thither
with'them. (Gen. 1. 24, 25; Exod. xiii. 19.) As the long-
expected time drew nigh, it was heard that the Lord had
visited His people; that He had come down to deliver
them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and " to bring them
up unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing

106 The Institution of the Passover. [chap. xii.
¦ with milk and honey." (Exod. iii. 8.) His words were
fully reported to the Israelites, and were believed by them.
(Exod. iv. 29 — 31.) Then came summons after summons
to Pharaoh to let God's people go; and on his refusal
the Lord stretched out His hand, (Exod. iii. 20,) and
shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt,
upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before the
eyes of Israel. (Deut. vi. 22.) From time to time, as
the great contest goes on, the obstinacy of Pharaoh well-
nigh gives way : he will let the people go, (Exod. viii.
8,) so that they go not very far away, (viii. 28) ; he will
let the men go without their little ones, (x. 11) ; he will
let them go with their little ones, but without their flocks
and herds, (x. 24). And at length the announcement
comes, " Yet will I bring one more plague upon Pharaoh,
and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go." (xi. 1.)
And Moses was so confident of the imminence of the
Exodus that he himself says to Pharaoh, "I will see thy
face no more." (x. 29.)
What was all this, it has been truly asked, but one con
tinued notice ?

CHAPTER XIII.
THE MARCH OUT OP EGYPT.
122. We have already seen (supr. 121) that for several
months at least before the Exodus, the people were aware
of their impending deliverance. .
We have also seen that for at least five days before the
Exodus, they had all received express notice that it was to
take place on the night of the Passover. Eor it was cer
tainly before the 10th of Abib (Exod. xii. 1) that the Lord
had declared that He would on the night of the 14th bring
their armies out of Egypt, (ver. 17). And indeed it was
for convenience of departure that they were to eat the Pass
over " in haste, with their loins girded, their shoes on their
feet and their staff in their hand." Everything was pre
pared, and ready for the flight.
And when the hour arrived, we cannot doubt that over
the whole surface of the country in which they dwelt,
a simultaneous movement would take place towards the
appointed rendezvous. No further notice was in fact re
quired ; God's word was already pledged to the hour ; but
if any notice had been required, we know with what incre
dible swiftness * intelligence of this kind will pass through
an expectant and excited people.
123. There is, however, one verse (and, I believe, but
one) which, according to Dr. Colenso, compels us to sup
pose that the Israelites adopted on this occasion a course
diametrically opposite to what we should have expected.
That verse is the following: "The children of Israel
¦ See some curious instances of this in Grote's Greece, v. 260.

108 The March out of Egypt. [chap.
journeyed from Eameses to Succoth, about 600,000 on
foot that were men, beside children." (Exod. xii. 37.)
This verse, according to Dr. Colenso, undoubtedly re
quires us to believe that at a moment's notice, after receiving
a midnight summons, the children of Israel had to collect
their flocks and herds from a tract of country as large as
Hertfordshire, and drive them all to Rameses, and then to
start again the same day and march to Succoth. (Colenso,
74—76.) But the historian of course did not mean to say that all
the two millions of people, with flocks, herds, and very
much cattle, and a mixed multitude besides, had ever
crammed themselves within the narrow walls of a single
town : still less, that in order to perform this feat, they
actually journeyed back toward their formidable oppressors
after the signal of flight had been given, and when every mo
ment was precious. He says nothing of their coming to Ea
meses : where the signal reached them, thence they started.
If, therefore, Rameses is a town, the historian's meaning
would simply be that it was from thence that he and the
officers and elders started — the representatives and the
nucleus of the moving nation. If in our own history we
hear of a victorious host " marching direct from Barnet
to Tewkesbury," we do not understand that the soldiers
were ever actually huddled together in the little suburban
village, or that they inarched in one day from the east to
the west of England.
124. But it would rather seem that Rameses does not
mean a town at all : that Rameses and Goshen are in fact
convertible terms.
In pursuance of Pharaoh's order, "In the best of the land make
thy father and brethren to dweE, in the land of Goshen make them
to dwell," (Gen. xlvii. 6,) " Joseph placed his father and his brethren
in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had com-

-&.HL.J l he March out of Egypt. 109
manded," (ver. 11): "so Israel dwelt in the country of Goshen."
(ver. 27.)
It wEl further be observed, that while our translators call the land
Rameses, (Gen. xlvii. 11,) they call the town Raamses, (Exod. i. 11).
And in this they follow the pointing of the Hebrew text. And
therefore the Bishop of Llandaff remarks : —
" The Hebrew Bible shews that Barneses has not been regarded
as a definite spot, at any rate so long as the vowel-points have been
in use. In Gen. xlvii. 11, and in this passage, the word is pointed
E&Qyi ; but in Exod. i. 11, where the city is meant, it is pointed
OM??!, and there the English Bible has Raamses. Had the trans
lators found it so pointed in Exod. xii. 37, they would no doubt have
given Raamses there also. But they foEowed the Hebrew com
mentary supplied by the points, and according to them it was the
region, not the city, from which the people set out."
And he adds in a note : —
"RosenmuEer and MichaeEs agree in this distinction. Jablonski
interprets Rameses as meaning in Egyptian men of a pastoral life ;
and thinks that the name was given to Goshen from the Israelites.
See also the Notse Majores in the Critici Sacri on Gen. xlvii. 12,
where' it is observed that the Targumists render it ' in regione Pelu-
siaca.' "
Possibly the word may not be used with sufficient frequency to
aUow of any very conclusive deduction in this respect. And in truth
it seems of but slight importance : for no doubt the Israelites would
start from aE quarters of the land of Rameses, and no doubt Moses
and the staff, so to say, would start from the town in which they
were living; whether that were Raamses b or any other town.
The real point of the objection is based on the strange
notion that the Israelites were roused at midnight by an
unexpected summons, and Dr. Colenso compares their sen
sations with his own when roused from his bed by the agree
able intelligence " that an invading Zulu force was making
direct for his station, killing right and left as it came
b The ruins of Abou Kesheyd, which Lepsius would identify with
Eaamses, are within a. dozen miles of the Bed Sea. But, in fact, no
reliance can be placed on these conjectural identifications.

110 The March out of Egypt. [chap.
along." (Colenso, 74.) But the comparison is altogether
beside the mark: the Israelites had had full notice, and
were not only quite prepared, but actually had girded up
their loins and taken their staves for immediate departure.
125. It is therefore very probable that the Israelites,
passing out of the land before daybreak, may have reached
Succoth (wherever and whatever Succoth was) ere the en
suing night. But the historian does not say that they did
so, nor (as I think) does' he even imply it.
Let us see what hints he gives us on the subject.
The children of Israel journeyed from Eameses to Succoth, (Exod.
xii. 37) ; they took their journey from Succoth and encamped in
Etham, (xiii. 20) ; they then turned and encamped before Pi-ha
hiroth, between Migdol and the sea, (xiv. 2, 9) ; they then passed
through the midst of the sea, and went three days in the wEderness,
and encamped at Marah, (xv. 22, 23) : they then came to Elim, (xv.
27,) and they took their journey from Elim and came into the wE
derness of Sin, (xvi. 1.)
Now if these journeys had been performed on successive days they
would have come into the wilderness of Sin nine, or at the most ten,
days after they had left Rameses.
Yet we are told that they came there on the fifteenth day of the
second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt, (xvi. 1.)
It might, indeed, be said that these journeys were all journeys of
a day, and that the remaining days were days of rest ; and this would
be probable enough. But Dr. Colenso observes, " Nothing what
ever is said or implied about these days of rest in the Scripture :
there would surely have been some reference to them if they really
occurred." (Colenso, 76.) Yet nine, or at the most ten, journeys
could hardly have taken a month, if each journey occupied one day
only, and there were no days of rest.
126. The Jews themselves believed that the passage of
the Red Sea was effected on the seventh and not on the
fourth day after the departure from Rameses. And this,
besides exactly according with the date of their arrival at
the wilderness of Sin would, as is remarked by Kurtz,

xui.j ine march out of'Jigypt. Ill
(ii. 357,) afford a very happy illustration of the seven days'
feast of unleavened bread.
This great feast would thus be co-extensive with the
Exodus in all its stages. The Passover would still be held
on that memorable night when the great cry went up
throughout all the land of Egypt: the week during which
no leaven was allowed would represent the hurry of those
first seven days when the people were free, yet still in the
land of bondage; while the holy convocation with which
it closed would commemorate their final deliverance on the
Red Sea shore.
127. The reader would perhaps hardly gather from Dr.
Colenso's remark — " Kurtz is aware of some of the impos
sibilities involved in the statement, and makes an effort to
explain them away," (Colenso, 76) — that Kurtz is in fact
triumphantly advancing, and perhaps a little exaggerating,
these very difficulties for the express purpose of shewing
how entirely the view which Dr. Colenso has adopted would
pervert and distort the historian's meaning. The sugges
tion that fresh parties would be continually falling in, is
expressly put forward, not as Dr. Colenso imagines, (Co
lenso, 78,) to relieve the difficulty, but to heighten and
enhance it. (Kurtz, ii. 358.) " Let it be remembered," he
says, "that fresh parties were continually joining them, and
that this must have caused fresh disturbance and delay."
In the Scriptural narrative of these events, Kurtz finds
no difficulty whatever.
It may be observed that in the only instance where a note
of time is introduced into the narrative, we are enabled to
see the people moving at exactly the pace that would have
been expected. Burckhardt0 travelled in fifteen hours and
c Travels in Syria and the Holy Land, p. 472. The general question
as to the supply of water will be considered in the next chapter, but as

112 The March out of Egypt. [chap.
a quarter the distance which the Israelites occupied three
days in crossing. But "in moving with a whole nation,"
he remarks, " the march may well be supposed to have
occupied three days."
Those who have read in the Miscellanies of De Quincy, the strik
ing historical narrative called "The Revolt of the Tartars," will
remember how the Kalmuck tribes, numbering 600,000 souls, pre
pared themselves for a flight of 4,000 miles from Russia to China,
so silently and so secretly that even the Imperial Resident, though
repeatedly warned, could not be brought to believe that such a step
was in contemplation ; and how, on the appointed day, (Jan. 5, 1771,)
about a month after the flight was first mooted, and about afortnight
only after the intention had been generaEy disseminated among the
people, " the Kalmucks were seen at the earliest dawn assembling by
troops and squadrons. Tens of thousands continued moving off the
ground at every half-hour's interval. Women and children to the
amount of 200,000 and upwards were placed upon waggons or upon
camels, and drew off by masses of 20,000 at once, placed under
suitable escorts, and continually swelled in numbers by other out
lying bodies of the horde who kept falling in at various distances
upon the first or second day's march." The flight resembled the
great Scriptural Exodus, says De Quincy, in that the flying people
" carried along with them their entire families, women, children,
slaves, their herds of cattle and of sheep, their horses and their
camels ;" but it differed from the Exodus, as he also observes, in
that the pursuers of the IsraeEtes soon desisted, and left them in
peace under the immediate protection of Almighty God; whereas
the Kalmucks were for more than eight months chased at full speed,
the artillery of Russia thundering in their rear, and the savage tribes
of the desert falling upon them at every step with the ferocity of
a swarm of angry hornets.
128. It is not for the present purpose necessary to en
quire whether the numbers of the flocks of the Israelites
regards the minor question of the supply while they were yet in Egypt,
(Colenso, 78,) it is observable that Josephus expressly mentions that
they did, as every one starting for the desert would, carry water with
them, (Antiq., iii. 1.)

xm.J The March out of Egypt. 113
were such as to require for their support " a tract of country
as large as Hertfordshire." (Colenso, 72, 73, 75.) Doubt
less it was a very much more extensive tract Over which
the children of Israel were accustomed to pasture their
flocks, and from which the whole moving multitude started -
on their eastward journey on that night much to be ob
served when the hosts of the Lord went out from the land
of Egypt.
But it may be instructive to consider the series of argu
ments by which Dr. Colenso arrives at the conclusion that
the Israelites were possessed of two millions of sheep. His
data are as follows.
(1.) The Israelites were themselves in number about two millions.
(Colenso, 39.) This seems to be- a fair estimate, for though, as
it appears to me, the old men were included in the number of
" 600,000 males from twenty years old and upward," and ought not
to have been added to that number, yet, on the other hand, consider
ing the rapid increase of the Hebrew population in Egypt, the pro
portion of children to adults would probably exceed the average
which Dr. Colenso has deduced from other nations.
(2.) All these two millions partook of the first Passover. (Colenso,
70.) This may be correct, but I confess that it seems to me
erroneous. It is admitted that in subsequent Passovers only the adult males
were present, but it is supposed that the women and children also
partook of the first. I really see no sufficient reason for sup
posing it.
The whole frame of the ordinance seems adapted for male wor
shippers only. They werejjto eat it with their loins girded, their
shoes on their feet and their staves in their hand, (Exod. xii. 11) ;
no uncircumcised person was to eat thereof, (ver. 48) ; it was an
ordinance for them and their sons for ever, (ver. 24).
The ground for assuming the presence of the women and children
appears to be, that " aU the congregation" is directed to keep it.
But we have already seen (supr. 62) that as a general, if not an uni
versal rule, this expression comprises the males only. And even
wider language is used by Philo (see supr. 33) with respect to the
I

114 .The March out of Egypt. [chap.
Passover in his day, — " the whole nation sacrificed ; the priesthood
is given to the whole nation;'' although then, it is admitted, the
males only partook of it.
If I am right in this view, the number of partakers wiE at once
be reduced from two miEions to a little over six hundred thousand.
(3.) Of these, there would be fifteen to each lamb. This, which
seems a not unreasonable estimate, would therefore require about
40,000 lambs.
(4.) All these lambs must have come from the Israelite flocks ; they
could not have purchased one from the Egyptian markets. Why not 1
Arabia, too, was noted for its pastoral wealth. The twenty-
seventh chapter of Ezekiel contains a valuable record of the various
articles of commerce suppHed to Tyre by the several nations of the
ancient world. And we find that it was from Arabia (ver. 21) that
she drew her supplies of lambs, and rams, and goats.
(5.) Assume as many female as male lambs of the first year, (this
gives 80,000,) and as it would not do to kill all the male lambs add
one-third (13,000) to each. (This gives 106,000.)
(6.) In Australia and Natal the total number of sheep in an
average flock of aE ages would be about five times that of the in
crease in one1 season of lambing.
(7.) The proportion in Egypt would be the same as in Australia
and h'atal. (This gives 530,000.)
However, cf course, the proportion of " lambs of the first year"
to the whole flock must depend entirely upon the productiveness of
the flock. If the ewes have on an average two or three lambs in
one year, the proportion of lambs would be double or treble what
it would be in a flock where the ewes have on an average but one
lamb. And unfortunately for Dr. Colenso's estimate, the flocks on the
northern coast of Africa, and especially in the Nile country, were
noted all over the ancient world for their*unparalleled productiveness.
Even in the days of Homer this fact excited the admiration of the
Greeks. Speaking of Libya, he says, (Od; iv. 86) ; —
Tph y&p tiktei /ajXa TeX€tr<p6pov eh iviutniv.
" That happy clime, where each revolving year
The teeming ewes a triple offspring bear." — PoiE.
It is one of Aristotle's Problems (x. 49) " why the same animals
have young in, one place once a-year, in another place twice a-year;

xiii. J The March out of Egypt. 115
as in Magnesia and Libya the sheep breed twice a-year." ofov t-
vpi jSaTa ex Mayvi\alt£ koL Ai$ir> t/ktsi Sl\.
And Julian, Nat. Animal., (iii. 33,) writes : —
At Se AlyiiTTiat (0T76S) eKo(TT7j (eirfl' 8te ? Jacobs) ireVre bvoTlicTei
Kal al vXetaTai StSu/ia' XeyeTM Se atrios 6 Nei\oy elxai ebTexv6raTov
irapextov SStop.
" The goats in Egypt have (occasionally) five young at a birth,
but the common rule is to have two. The cause of this is said to
be the Nile, its water being most productive of fertility."
And indeed, as Parkhurst observes, sheep derive their Hebrew
name ]SS "from their great fruitfulness, whence they are said to
bring forth thousands, yea, infinite multitudes. Ps. cxliv. 13. And
Bochart shews that the Eastern sheep not. only bring forth two at
a time, but sometimes three or four, and that twice a-year ; and Sir
Thomas Brown observes that we must not judge of the sheep of
Palestine by ours. The sheep of that country often bring forth two
young ones, and sometimes three or four."
On Dr. Colenso's own mode of calculation we should therefore
conclude that the Israelites had, not two millions of sheep, but
about a tithe of that number. That they really had many more, is
likely enough, but this number would amply satisfy the requirements
of the Passover.

CHAPTER XIV.
THE WILDERNESS.
129. Before considering the manner in which the Israel
ites, and their sheep and cattle, may be supposed to have
passed through the wilderness, it seems desirable to obtain
an accurate, if a general, idea of the nature of the wilder
ness itself.
Dr. Colenso has, unfortunately, dispensed with this pre
cautionary measure. He has confined his attention to the
picturesque and interesting sketch of Dr. Stanley, and has
not thought it his duty to consult the detailed observations
of other experienced and scientific travellers who have in
modern times more thoroughly explored and investigated
as well the Desert of the Wanderings as the Peninsula of
Sinai. 130. Arabia Petrsea may be roughly described as an
isosceles triangle, its base, to the north, resting on the
Mediterranean and the southern border of Palestine, its
apex, to the south, resting on the Red Sea between the
gulfs of Akaba and Suez.
It is divided into two great districts.
The Northern portion, which adjoins the land of Canaan,
is known as the desert of El Tyh, (the Wanderings) ; and
may still not inaptly be described, in the words of Scripture,
as a great and terrible wilderness, a land of deserts and
drought. It is mostly strewn with pebbles, through which
a slight, a very slight coating of vegetation struggles up
to the light: but occasionally the traveller meets with
" a level plain consisting of rich red earth fit for culture,"

chap, xiv.] The Wilderness. 117
(Burckhardt, p. 452,) or crosses a valley abounding in
shrubs and trees, (Id., pp. 449, 452, 454, 455,) and
affording a covert for " a number of hares." (Id., p. 452.)
" Wherever the rain collects in winter, vegetation of trees
and shrubs is produced, (Id., p. 448,) and it would seem
that at some former time there had been groves of palm-
trees there." (Id., p. 450.) All travellers notice the " thin,
almost transparent coating of vegetation," (Dr. Stanley,)
the "isolated blades of grass," (Kinglake's Eothen,) which
straggle through the inhospitable soil. On the south the
desert is bounded by mountains of the same name, which
are described by Burckhardt, who in 1812 traversed the
desert from east to west, as " the pasturing places of the
Sinai Bedouins. They are inhabited by the tribes of Tera-
bein and Tyaha, the latter of whom are richer in camels
and flocks than any other of the Towara tribes. The
valleys of these mountains are said to afford excellent
pasturage and fine springs, though not in great numbers."
(Burckhardt, p. 481.)
131. To the south of this mountain range, and divided
from it by a narrow belt of sand, the peninsula of Sinai
stretches down between the g*ulf of Akaba and the gulf
of Suez to the apex of the triangle. The peninsula is
composed of a series of mountain groups intersected with
valleys, and though in parts bare and sterile, with huge
peaks of naked granite towering far into the sky, yet it
is elsewhere" covered with no inconsiderable vegetation, pos
sesses large tracts of great productiveness affording excel
lent pasturage, has a healthy and temperate climate, is fairly
supplied with water, and stocked with a variety of game.
132. To say that the Scripture anywhere describes the
peninsula of Sinai as " a waste, howling wilderness," or
anything of the kind, is simply untrue. To say that it can
now be so described is also untrue.

118 The Wilderness. [chap;
As the Israelites are journeying towards, and before they
have reached, the peninsula of Sinai, (Exod. xix. 1,) we hear
of constant murmurings and regrets for the flesh-pots of
Egypt (xv. 24, xvi. 2, xvii. 2,) and of constant miracles
to supply their wants. And no sooner do they leave the
peninsula of Sinai (Num. x. 12) and re-enter the desert
of El Tyh, than again their murmurs arise, (xi. 1,) again
they bitterly complain of being brought into "that evil
place," again they look back with longing eyes to the
fish and fruits "which they did eat in Egypt freely," and
again they are furnished with miraculous supplies.
But during the whole year which they spend in the
peninsula of Sinai, before the Mount of the Lord, we hear
of no murmur of discontent; the people sit down to eat
and to drink, and rise up to play ; and instead of turning
regretful glances towards Egypt, they evince the greatest
joy at their deliverance from thence, and sing in gratitude
before the golden calf, " These be thy gods, 0 Israel, which
brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."
It is clear that the historian means to depict their sojourn
before Sinai as strongly contrasting with their journeyings
to and from the Mount. His narrative is everywhere con
sistent with itself, and in minute harmony with modern
investigations. 133. That the Scripture speaks of the Wilderness of
Sinai is of course true, and this may be the phrase which
has misled Dr. Colenso. But this appellation is so far from
necessarily implying a sandy, inhospitable desert, that it
generally implies the very reverse, viz. a place of pasturage
for cattle.
The very name, Midbar, (wilderness,) means strictly a drift way,
a place where cattle are driven to pasture, where the droves feed.
And thus, when David left his father's flock with a keeper and
went up that he might see the battle, his brother assumes as a

xiv.] The Wilderness. 119
matter of course, that he has left those few sheep in the' wilderness,
{midbar, iv i-p ip^iup,) 1 Sam. xvii. 28.
Thus, too, it was in the wilderness (midbar, iv ri? ipiiiup,) that David
had protected the flocks of Nabal, (1 Sam. xxv. 2, 7, 21).
And thus when the Lord describes the shepherd as leaving the
ninety and nine sheep to go after the one that was lost, He says,
Doth he not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness? (iv ttj
ipf/HP,) St. Luke xv. 4.
Nor must it be forgotten that it was to this very wilderness
(midbar, M tV *w«»,) of Sinai, that Moses* had of his own free
choice led the flock of his father-in-law the priest of Midian, when
he first received the Divine commission, (Ex. iii. 1).
Hence, too, the expression so frequently found, "pastures of the
wilderness," "'pleasant places of the wilderness," ""QTfi niM,
(Psalms lxv. 12, 13 ; Joel i. 19, ii. 22; Jeremiah ix. 10, xxiii. 10.)
134. And now let us see Dr. Colenso's idea of the pen
insula of Sinai.
He cites the following passage from Kalisch, interspersing it with
a liberal supply of notes of admiration.
"Nearly a whole year the Israelites encamped in the fertile (!)
regions around the Sinai, where the air is pure and refreshing, where
fountains abound (!), and a variety of game is found (!)."
Dr. Colenso's counterstatement is as follows : —
" We reply to this by referring to Stanley's description of the
valleys as weE as the mountains of Sinai, whose general character
is entire desolation, whose usual aspect is absolutely bare and waste,
only presenting the image of thirsty desolation, from the constant
indications of water which is no longer there." (Colenso, 86.)
Such, then, is the view of the peninsula of Sinai, to which Dr. Co
lenso has deliberately committed himsetf, and such is the basis on
which he proceeds to impugn the veracity of the Mosaic account.
Let us now take the description of Kalisch, and test it, step by
step, by the accounts of unimpeachable witnesses derived from their
own ocular observation.

1 And this explains how it was that Moses knew the localities of
Sinai, but not those of the Desert of El Tyh, (Numb. x. 31).

120 The Wilderness. [chap.
135. And first, as to the mountains: Are they abso
lutely bare and waste, or are they at all fitted for pasture ?
Burckhardt ascended Mount St. Catherine, the highest peak of the
whole central range of the Sinai, and describes it as foEows : —
" This side of Mount St. Catherine is noted for its excellent
pasturage : herbs sprout up everywhere between the rocks. The
zattar was particularly conspicuous, and is esteemed here the best
possible food for sheep. A botanist would find a rich harvest here,
and it is much to be regretted that two mountains so easy of access
and so rich in vegetation as Sinai and Lebanon, should be still un
explored by men of science." (p. 570.)
Robinson also ascended it, and his account exactly tallies with the
foregoing : —
" We kept along the western side of the ridge beneath the brow
where the mountain-side slopes rapidly down into the depths below,
and is covered, Eke the wadys, with tufts of herbs and shrubs, fur
nishing abundant pasturage for the flocks of the Bedawin as well as
for the troops of gazelles and mountain goats which haunt these wild
retreats. The hyssop was here in great plenty, and especially .the
fragrant zater, a species of thymeb. This vegetation extends up to
the foot of the highest peak." (i. 109.)
Of another mountain plateau Burckhardt writes : — " Above the
rock extends a plain, or rather a country, which is called Fera el
Adhal, and is a favourite pasturing-place of the Arabs, their sheep
being particularly fond of the Ettle berries of the shrub rethem,
with which the whole plain is overspread." (p. 537.)
And again : — " In the western mountain opposite Sheikh Szaleh
is a fruitful pasturing-place upon a high mountain, with many fields
and plantations of trees." (p. 490.)
136. Secondly, let us look to the wadys. Are they the
bare and desolate ravines which Dr. Colenso would have us
believe ?
b Dr. Stanley, noticing the minute accuracy of the descriptions given
in the " Christian Year" of the various scenes of sacred history, cites
the following lines as an example : —
" Along the mountain ledges green
The scatter'd sheep at will may glean
The Desert's spicy stores."

xiv.] The Wilderness, 121
Speaking generaEy of the Sinai region, Burckhardt says that for
merly certain tribes living on the borders of Egypt " were accus
tomed to make frequent inroads into this territory to carry off the
date-harvest and other fruits. Whenever the inundation of the
Nile faEed, they repaired in great numbers to these mountains and
pastured their herds in the fertile valleys, the vegetation of which is
much more nutritious for camels and sheep than the luxuriant but
insipid pastures on the banks of the Nile "." (p. 559.)
"Wady Feiran is considered the finest valley in the whole pen
insula. Prom the upper extremity where we alighted, an uninter
rupted row of gardens and olive plantations extends onwards for four
miles. In almost every garden is a well, by means of which the
grounds are irrigated the whole year round. The owners seldom
visit the place except in the date-harvest, when the valley is filled
with people for a month or six weeks ; at that season they erect
huts of palm-branches, and pass their time in conviviality." (Id.,
p. 602.)
Niebuhr's description of the same wady is as follows : " Its length
is equal to a journey of a day and a-half, extending from the foot of
Mount Sinai to the Arabic gulf. In the rainy season it is full of
water, and the inhabitants are then obliged to retire up the hills ;
it was dry, however, when we passed through it. That part of it
which we saw was far from being fertile, but served as a pasture to
goats, camels, and asses. The other part is said to be very fertile ;
and the Arabs told us that in the districts to which our Ghasirs
had gone, were many orchards of date-trees, which produced fruit
enough to sustain some thousands of people. Fruit must indeed be
very plenteous there, for the Arabs of the valley bring every year
to Cairo an astonishing quantity of dates, raisins, pears, apples, and
other fruits, aE of exceUent quality." (vol. i. p. 189.)
" We continued in the Wady Kyd, along the rivulet, amidst groves
of date, nebek, and some tamarisk trees. This is one of the most
noted date- valleys of the Sinai Arabs : the contrast of its deep verdure
with the glaring rocks, by which it is closely hemmed in, is very
striking, and shews that wherever water passes in this district, however
" It may be that some of Burckhardt's descriptions are even now
hardly applicable to the condition of the peninsula ; and if so, we have
another proof of the rapid degeneration of which we shall presently

122 The Wilderness. [chap.
barren the ground, vegetation is invariably found." (Burckhardt,
p. 535.) I ask the reader's special attention to the last sentence.
"The Wady El Sheikh is much frequented by Bedouins for its
pasturage." (Id., p. 487.)
" We found the valley Mezeiryk full of excellent pasturage ; many
sweet-scented herbs were growing in it, and the acacia-trees were
all green. Upon enquiry I learnt that to the north of Djebel Tyh
copious rains had fallen during the winter, while to the south of it
there had been very little for the last two years, and in the eastern
parts none." (Id., p. 505.)
And the failure of rain in the eastern part of the peninsula was
followed by the disappearance of all vegetation. " In the Wady Sal
we found no pasture for our camels, as no rain had fallen during the
last two years." (p. 493.)
And the effect of even the most negligent cultivation is in those
regions almost magical.
" The monks of the convent of Mount Sinai obtain their vegetables
from a pleasant garden adjoining the building. The soil is stony, but
in this climate wherever water is in plenty the very rocks will produce
vegetation. The fruit is of the finest quality, oranges, lemons, al
monds, mulberries, apricots, peaches, pears, apples, olives. Nebek-
trees and a few cypresses overshade the beds in which melons, beans,
lettuces, onions, cucumbers, and aE sorts of culinary and sweet-
scented herbs are sown." (Id., p. 549.)
"The verdure in the garden of the convent of El Erbayn was so
briUiant, and the blossoms of the olive-trees diffused so fine a per
fume, that I was transported in imagination from the barren cliffs of
the wilderness to the luxuriant groves of Antioch." (Id., p. 578.)
"In the neighbourhood were extensive oEve plantations." (Id.,
p. 569.) 137. Thirdly, as to the pure and refreshing climate.
" It is surprising," says Burckhardt, " that the Europeans resident
at Cairo do not prefer spending the season of the plague in these
pleasant gardens and in this delightful climate to remaining close
prisoners in the infected city." (p. 578.)
" The air is extremely pure and the climate healthy, as is testified
by the great age and vigour of the monks." (Robinson, i. 118.)

xiv.] The Wilderness. 123
138. Fourthly, as to the supply of waterd.
" It is upon the highest region of the peninsula that the fertile
valleys are found which produce fruit-trees. Water is always found
in plenty in this district, on which account it is the place of refuge
of aE the Bedouins when the lower country is parched up." (Burck
hardt, p. 574.)
See, too, several of the passages cited above ; and Dr. Stanley's
" Sinai and Palestine," p. 19.
139. Eifthly, as to the variety of game.
We have seen above that Robinson speaks of the troops of ga
zelles6 and mountain-goats (a sort of stein-bok) which haunt the
Sinai range. So plentiful are they, that both Burckhardt and Robin
son started them as they ascended Mount St. Catherine. There are
also hares, red-legged partridges in great numbers, and pigeons, be
sides wolves, leopards, and other animals. (Burckhardt, p. 534.)
So" that if Dr. Colenso had merely turned to the ordinary
authorities on the subject, (and it is surprising that any one
should discuss the question without having done so,) he
would have found that the description given by Kalisch, at
which he can hardly control his merriment, is the plain
simple sober truth.
140. Such, then, was the peninsula of Sinai less than
a century ago, and there are not wanting indications to
shew that it was incomparably more fertile in former times.
The neglect of centuries has borne the same fruit there as
d It must be remembered, too, that " water is readily found by dig
ging, in every fertile valley in Arabia, and wells are thus easily formed,
which are quickly filled up again by the sands." (Burckhardt, p. 474.)
And so if a large camp require a large supply of water, it has also pro
portionate means of obtaining it. When the soldiers in the Crimea
required water they had no difficulty in sinking wells. (Kinglake's
Crimea, ii. 187.)
e " High up on the cliffs of Sinai the traveller still sees the herds of
gazelles standing out against the sky." (Stanley's Jewish Church, 169.)

124 The Wilderness. [chap.
in Egypt, Nubia, Palestine, and the adjoining countries.
Indeed, in the case of Sinai there has been something more
than mere neglect; the hand of man has actively assisted
the progress of decay. For years the vegetation has been
gradually consumed away in the production of charcoal,
the main, and now the only, trade of the Peninsula. The
invaluable trees are cut down by the Towara Bedouins,
burnt into coal, carried a ten days' journey to Cairo, and
sold for three or four dollars the load. (Burckhardt, p. 495.)
In such a country the loss of so prodigious a number of
trees is, of course, in every respect irreparable, and even
in modern times its effect has been traced in a rapid and
general decrease of productiveness.
When Niebiihr was travelling in those countries in 1762,
Suez derived its provisions in great part from Mount Sinai
and Gaza, but when Burckhardt visited the same regions in
1816, this had ceased to be the case. From Mount Sinai
it obtained nothing but charcoal, and a few fruits and dates
in the autumn, (p. 469.) And no doubt the deterioration
has since the time of Burckhardt been going on with un
diminished rapidity. The description which each succes
sive traveller brings home is always more dreary than that
of his predecessors.
141. In recent times, too, partly perhaps from this very
decay of vegetation, the rain-fall and the supply of water
have visibly diminished. The rocks in some parts are
marked with torrents, though no torrents within the me
mory of man have ever rushed down the valley in which
they stand. (Burckhardt, p. 479.)
"We aE know," said an Arab to Burckhardt, "that some years
since several men, God knows who they were, came to this country,
visited the mountains, wrote down everything, — stones, plants, ani
mals, even serpents and spiders ; and since then little rain has fallen,
and the game has greatly decreased." (p. 519.)

aiv.j uhe Wilderness. 125
142. Nor, as it seems, is the slightest attempt made by
the indolent inhabitants of the Peninsula to remedy and
repair the damages from time to time occasioned by fire
or flood.
" Eurther on," says Burckhardt, " I saw many ruins of walls, and
was informed by my guides that this was one of the most fertile
valleys of these countries, full of date and other fruit-trees, but that
a violent flood tore up all the trees and laid it waste in a few days,
and that since that period it has been deserted." (p. 538.)
143. The ruins, the mining works, the inscriptions
which still remain, sufficiently attest that these districts
were in former ages more populous and more fruitful than
now. Nor, so far as I am aware, is there any reason what
ever for coming to a different conclusion. To Dr. Stanley's
remark that " the indications (of the mountains of Sinai
having been able to furnish greater resources than at pre
sent) are well summed up by Bitter," Dr. Colenso, without
taking the trouble even to look at them, can only reply,
" Whatever they may be, they cannot do away with the
plain language of the Bible already quoted," (Colenso, 85) ;
that is to say, that the peninsula was, even at the time of
the Exodus, a great and terrible wilderness, &c.
We have already pointed out that to suppose that Scrip
ture applies these terms to the Peninsula of Sinai is an
entire and thorough misapprehension.
Some of the indications collected by Eitter may seem of
but little weight; but the importance of a vast number
of symptoms, all pointing the same way, can hardly be
over-rated. 144. Kurtz, in the second and third volumes of his
" History of the Old Covenant," goes thoroughly into the
question of the geography and the nature of Arabia Petrsea,
and collects a multitude of authorities, both ancient and
modern, bearing upon the subject. And his estimate of

126 The Wilderness. [chap.
the Peninsula of Sinai (which would, however, be more
appropriate for its state at the Exodus than at the present
time) is expressed in the following words : —
" As soon as the traveller leaves the burning heat of the sandy
desert, and enters within the limits of these mountains, he finds
a genial Alpine climate, and a cool refreshing breeze, Copious
streams of water flow down from the mountains, and fertilize the
soil, causing it to produce a most luxuriant herbage. Date-palms,
acacias, dense bushes of tamarisks, white thorn, mulberry trees,
vigorous spice plants and green shrubs, are found on every hand
wherever the bare rock is not entirely destitute of soil. And where
the hand of man has done anything to cultivate the ground, there
are apricots and oranges in rich profusion, with other valuable kinds
of trees. It is true that there is a striking contrast between the
richly wooded valleys and the steep barren . rocks by which they are
so closely confined, but so much the more majestic is the aspect of
these mighty masses of rugged rock. The mountains are also fre
quented by great quantities of game and fowl of different descrip
tions : amongst others by antelopes and gazelles, partridges, pigeons,
and quails." (ii. p. 126.)
Von Eaumer in his " March of the Israelites from Egypt
to Canaan," is led by a careful investigation to the same
conclusion. " Around Mount Sinai the air is cool and pure, no pernicious
simoom blows, fountains flow in abundance, vegetation is luxuriant,
rich fruits flourish, and the scene is animated by game of various
kinds." Such, then, are the scenes amidst which the Israelites
dwelt, in comfort and happiness, for a year. They formed
a bright contrast to the real desert, the wilderness of El
Tyh, which they had skirted on their way to Sinai, and
on which, on leaving Sinai, they were compelled again to
enter. 145. The narrative of their journey to Sinai is exactly
what we should expect. The one prominent feature through-

xiv. J The Wilderness. 127
out is the deficiency of water. Twice, in those few days,
the people are reduced to great straits, and murmur against
Moses, saying, What shall we drink? (Exod. xv. 24,)
Give us water, that we may drink, (xvii. 2,) and twice
the Almighty power of God interposes for their supply ; the
spring of Marah is sweetened, the stony rock is smitten, so
that the waters gush out, and the streams flow like rivers.
Thrice in that brief record is the supply of water mentioned,
at Marah, at Elim, at Rephidim.
They arrive at Sinai f, and while they sojourn there we
hear of no complaints.
But the moment that they leave those pleasant pas
turages, the moment that their reluctant steps are again
led out into the desert of El Tyh, on their first encamp
ment (Numb. xi. 1) their murmurings break forth again,
and again the Divine Power comes to their assistance.
146. They pass by a short journey (Deut. i. 2) through
the desert e, and arrive at Kadesh, on the borders of the
' The Pagans supposed that the Sabbath was instituted by Moses,
because after wandering for a week without food " per deserta Arabise,"
the people arrived at Sinai, and " ilia dies famem illis et errorem fini-
erat." (Justin, xxxvi. 2.)
s That this, and not, as Dr. Colenso supposes, (Colenso, 153,) the
Peninsula of Sinai, is the great and terrible wilderness of which the
Scripture speaks, is plain from every part of the narrative, and is ex
pressly declared in Deut. i. 19: " When we departed from Horeb,"
i. c. Mount Sinai, "we went through all that great and terrible wilder
ness which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the
Lord our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea." It
was not until they had left Sinai that they entered upon that desert
land. Yet this confusion of the " great and terrible wilderness" with
the Peninsula of Sinai is in truth at the root of Dr. Colenso's whole
objection. He seems to admit that no objection can fairly be raised as
to that long sojourn in the wilderness " about which the story is silent
altogether," but does not see what could have happened during the
year when they dwelt in this great and terrible wilderness of Sinai.
(Colenso, 81, 82.)

128 The Wilderness. [ghap.
Promised Land. Then follow the fatal episode of the spies ;
the renewed murmurings, — " Would God we had died in
this wilderness !" (Numb. xiv. 2) ; and the terrible re
sponse, taking them at their own rash word, " Ye shall not
enter into the land: ye seall die in this wilderness."
147. They disappear from our eyes at Kadesh. They
re-assemble again at Kadesh h, when the forty years are over
and the sinful generation has wasted away. The interval
is a blank, a gap in the history. What they were doing,
how they employed themselves, during that long term of
punishment, the sacred historian has not recorded, and no
tradition tells. Many suppose that they were scattered
about in small parties, earning a scanty subsistence, over
all that tract of table land which is called from their wan
derings the desert of El Tyh.
It is hardly probable, observe Fries, Kurtz, and others,
that so large a nation, limited to an area 130 miles long
and 50 miles broad, should have kept moving about in one
body from place to place ; it would rather have distributed
itself in parties over the district assigned to it, and made
for itself temporary settlements, until it should be permitted
to reunite and march on in one body.
And the same commentators remark that the expression
" all the congregation" which occurs at the commencement
and close of this period (Numb. xiii. 26, xx. 1) would

h Others think, and apparently on good grounds, that the forty
years were consumed in the " many days" which the Israelites' spent, not
only in the wilderness of Kadesh, but also in compassing Mount Seir,
(Deut. i. 46 ; ii. 1). This would of course facilitate the means of ob
taining supplies. They would then be in the great commercial channel
between Egypt and the East. However, the indications dropped in
Scripture are too slight to enable us to form any accurate idea of the
actual proceedings; and I have in the text followed what I conceive
to be the more common view of the subject.

xiv.] The Wilderness. 129
appear to lead to the conclusion that during the interval it
had been dispersed and broken up.
And if so, this would seem to be the period to which the
dark hints of dispersion and sin refer in Ps. lxxxi. 12, cvi.
27, 23 ; Ezek. xx. 23, 26 ; Amos v. 26 ; Acts vii. 42, and
in other passages of Scripture.
We cannot wonder that the historian has cast a veil over
that gloomy period : .it formed no part of the real history of
the Covenant people: the Covenant, though not revoked,
was for the time in abeyance.
When they again assemble at Kadesh, we again find the
murmurs renewed : we again find water wanting, and mi
raculously supplied. And then the camp moves on : and .
passing round the territories of Edom, (in part through
a land of rivers of waters, Deut. x. 7,) they enter upon the
Promised Land, not from the south but from the east.
148. To bring the general outline of the wanderings
more clearly before the eyes of the reader, I would venture
to insert the following masterly sketch by William Martin
Leake, the accomplished geographer, and the editor of
Eurckhardt's Travels.
"The upper region of Sinai, which forms an irregular circle of
thirty or forty miles in diameter, possessing numerous sources of
water, a temperate eEmate, and a soE capable of supporting animal
and vegetable nature, was the part of the peninsula best adapted to
the residence of near a year during which the Israelites were num
bered and received their laws.
" About the beginning of May, in the fourteenth month from the
time of their departure from Egypt, the chUdren of Israel quitted
the vicinity of Mount Horeb, and under the guidance of Hobab the
Midianite, brother-in-law of Moses, marched to Kadesh, a place on
the frontiers of Canaan, of Edom, and of the desert of Paran or Zin1.
Not iong after their arrival, ' at the time of the first ripe grapes,' or
1 Numb. a. et seq., xxxiii. ; Deut. i.
K

130 The Wilderness. [chap.
about the beginning of August, spies were sent into every part of
the cultivated country as far north as Hamath k. The report which
they brought back was no less favourable to the fertility of the land,
than it was discouraging by its description of the warlike spirit and
preparation of the inhabitants, and of the strength of the fortified
places : and the Israelites having in consequence refused to follow
their leaders into Canaan, were punished by that long wandering in
the deserts lying between Egypt, Judaea, and Mount Sinai, of which
the sacred historian has not left us any details, but the tradition of
which is still preserved in the name of El Tyh, annexed to the whole
country, both to the desert plains and to the mountains lying be
tween them and Mount Sinai.
" In the course of their residence in the neighbourhood of Kadesh,
the Israelites obtained some advantages over the neighbouring Ca
naanites ', but giving up at length alt hope of penetrating by the
frontier which lies between Gaza and the Dead Sea, they turned to
the eastward with a view of making a circuit through the countries
on the southern and eastern sides of the lake m- Here, however, they
found the difficulty still greater : Mount Seir of Edom, which under
the modern names of Djebal, Shera, and Hesma, forms a ridge of
mountains, extending from the southern extremity of the Dead Sea to
the gulf of Akaba, rises abruptly from the valleys El Ghor and El
Araba, and is traversed from west to east by a few narrow wadys
only, among which the Ghoeyr alone furnishes an entrance that
would not be extremely difficult to a hostEe force. This, perhaps,
was the 'high way' by which Moses, aware of the difficulty of
forcing a passage, and endeavouring to obtain his object by nego-
ciation, requested the Edomites to let him pass, on the condition of
his leaving the fields and vineyards untouched, and of purchasing
provisions and water from the inhabitants'1. But Edom 'refused
to give Israel passage through his border ; and came out against him
with much people, aud with a strong hand ".' The situation of the
Israelites, therefore, was very critical. Unable to force their way
in either direction, and having enemies on three sides, (the Edom
ites in front, and the Canaanites and Amalekites on their left flank
and rear,) no alternative remained for them but to follow the valley
El Araba southwards, towards the head of the Eed Sea. At Mount
k Numb. xiii. ; Deut. i. ' Numb. xxi. m Ibid, xx., xxi.
" Ibid. xx. ; Deut. i. ¦ Numb. xx.

aiv.j j.h,v rr uaerness. 131
Hor, which rises abruptly from that valley, ' by the coast of the land
of Edom v,' Aaron died, and was buried in the conspicuous situa
tion which tradition has preserved as the site of his tomb to the
present day. Israel then 'journeyed from Mount Hor by the way
of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edomq,' ' through the way of
the plain from Elath and from Eziongeber,' until ' they turned and
passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab and arrived at the
brook Zered'.' It may be supposed that they crossed the ridge to
the southward of Eziongeber about the place where Burckhardt re
marked from the opposite coast that the mountains were lower than
to the northward, and it was in this part of their wandering that
they suffered from the serpents, of which our traveller observed the
traces of great numbers on the opposite shore of the Elanitic Gulf.
The Israelites then issued into the great elevated plains which are
traversed by the Egyptian and Syrian pilgrims, on the way to Mekka,
after they have passed the two Akabas. Having entered these plains,
Moses received the divine command, ' You have compassed this
mountain long enough, turn you northward.' 'Ye are to pass
through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell
in Seir, and they shall be afraid of you8.' The same people who
had successfully repelled the approach of the Israelites from the
strong western frontier, was alarmed now that they had come round
upon the weak side of the country. But Israel was ordered 'not
to meddle' with the children of Esau, but 'to pass through their
coast,' and to ' buy meat and water from them for money,' in the
same manner as the caravan of Mekka is now supplied by the peo
ple of the same mountains, who meet the pilgrims on the Hadj route.
After traversing the wilderness on the eastern side of Moab, the
Israelites at length entered that country, crossing the brook Zered
in the thirty-eighth year from their first arrival at Kadesh-barnea,
• when all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from
among the host '.' After passing through the centre of Moab, they
crossed the Arnon, entered Ammon, and were at length permitted
to begin the overthrow of the possessors of the Promised Land, by
the destruction of Sihon the Amorite, who dwelt at Heshbon ". The
preservation of the latter name, and of those of Diban, Medeba,
Aroer, Amman, together with the other geographical facts derived
p Numb. xx. i Ibid. xxi. ' Deut. ii. " Ibid.
' Ibid. u Numb. xxi. ; Deut. ii.

132 The Wilderness. [chap.
from the journey of Burckhardt through the countries beyond the
Dead Sea, furnishes a most satisfactory Elustration of the sacred
historians." 149. Such is a general outline of the wanderings of
Israel in the wilderness. And now, if the meagre record
of their journeyings does not enable us to point out how at
each successive station the men and cattle were supplied
with food and water, will that raise any presumption against
its literal accuracy? It seems to me that it would be far
more suspicious if the historian had departed from the
scheme of his narrative to enter into details of this de
scription. A narrative which supplies in every instance
exactly the information required to make it intelligible to
modern readers, would not on that account be esteemed
a genuine relic of antiquity.
Assuming the history to be untrue, the writer would
in all probability, have thought it necessary to explain how
the cattle were sustained from day to day, unless he had
either overlooked the necessity, or was unable to provide
for it.
The latter alternative may at once be left out of the
question. The daring imagination which called fortli water
from the flinty rock, and manna from the clouds above,
could hardly have found itself unequal to the task of
making grass to grow for the use of the cattle.
But it may be that he overlooked the necessity of so
doing; that he did not realize the difficulty of providing
food iu the wilderness for this " very much cattle." On
the contrary, he himself brings it prominently forward. The
Israelites have hardly overstepped the boundaries of Egypt
ere they complain that Moses has brought them out to kill
them and their children and their cattle with thirst. (Exod.
xvii. 3.) And when the water is brought forth out of the
rock it is to " give the congregation and their beasts drink,"

xiv. J The Wilderness. 133
(Numb. xx. 8) ; " and the congregation drank, and their
beasts also," (ver. 11). So while they are on the border
of Edom they ask leave to pass through, and that they and
their cattle may drink the water. (Numb. xx. 19.)
We see, therefore, that the historian was fully aware of
the scarcity of food and water for the cattle in the wilder
ness, and yet, though miracles ad libitum were at his com
mand, he does not take the trouble to explain the manner
in which they were supplied. *
150. But, in truth, it is abundantly obvious that the
narrative does not intend to give, and does not in fact give,
any account of the ways and means by which the Israelites
subsisted in the wilderness. Incidental notices are found
scattered through the Scriptures which disclose means of
subsistence, of which the narrative itself, occupied with
other topics, gives no hint whatever.
We should never have gathered from the narrative itself
that they bought meat or water from other peoples ; yet
from Deut. ii. 26 we know that they did so, at least from
certain sections of the Edomites and Moabites x. " I sent
messengers to Sihon king of BTeshbon," says Moses, " with
words of peace, saying, . . . Thou shalt sell me meat for
money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that
I may drink: . . . as the children of Esau which dwell in
Seir, and the Moabites which dwelt in Ar, did unto me."
These instances are given, not to explain how the Israelites
lived in the wilderness,' but to account for their conduct
towards the King of Heshbon. And they suggest a habit
of commercial dealings between Israel and the surround
ing nations, of which it is quite impossible to estimate
the extent.
1 This was when Israel had, by a long circuit, succeeded in getting
round to their easterly and undefended side. See the passage cited
above from W. M. Leake.

134 The Wilderness. [chap.
151. We read in Psalm lxxiv. 15, "Thou smotest the
heads of leviathan in pieces : Thou gavest him to be meat
for the people in the wilderness." This is commonly re
ferred to the destruction of Pharaoh ; but " throughout the
whole paragraph," as Hengstenberg remarks, " it is the
dominion of God over nature, and not over men, that is
described," and the expressions in the latter clause of the
verse seem wholly inappropriate to that event. Hengsten
berg cites passages from Agatharcides and Diodorus re
lating to tribes dwelling in the Arabian deserts and else
where, who " live upon the whales cast up on the shore V'
and " have at that time abundance of food, on account of
the great size of the beasts found," and who on that account
were called by the ancients Icthyophagi. The Psalmist
may be referring either to these very tribes, or to some
similar provision furnished to the wandering Israelites.
152. But in considering these questions, we ought never
to forget that, in the minutest details, the children of Israel
in the wilderness were under the direct superintendence of
Almighty God.
" Thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee in the
wilderness, as a man 2 doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went,
until ye came unto this place." (Deut. i. 31.) " These forty years
hath the Lord thy God been with thee ; thou hast lacked nothing."
(Deut. ii. 7.) " The Lord thy God led thee through that great and

T Travellers have frequently noticed the existence of very large fish
on that coast. (See Burckhardt, 522, 532 ; and cf. Dr. Ehrenberg's ac
count in Kurtz, iii. 27.) The skin of some of these fish is, according to
Burckhardt, an inch in thickness, and is employed by the Arabs instead
of leather. And many suppose that these are the skins which were used
for the tabernacle, and which in our version are called badger-skins.
- Tpotpo<t>opii<rai, LXX. In Acts xiii. 18, the more probable reading is
iTpo<jio<pipriirev, 'for forty years He bare them with fostering care in the
wilderness ;' and cf. Acts vii. 36.

xiv.] The Wilderness. 135
terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions, and
1 drought, where there was no water ; who brought thee forth water
out of the rock of flint." (Deut. viii. 15.) "I have led you forty
years in the wilderness : ... ye have not eaten bread, neither have
ye drunk wine or strong drink : that ye might know that I am the
Lord your God." (Deut. xxix. 5, 6.) " He found him in a desert
land, and in the waste howling wilderness ; He led him about, He
instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. As an eagle
stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad
her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings ; so the Lord
alone did lead him." (Deut. xxxii. 10 — 12.) Such is the language
of Moses as he looks back upon the past.
And so in Nehemiah, (ix. 21) : " Yea, forty years didst Thou
sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing." And
Jeremiah, (ii. 6) : " Where is the Lord that led us through the
wUderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of
drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man
passed through, and where no man dwelt ?" And Isaiah, (lxiii. 9) :
" In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His pre
sence saved them : in His love and in His pity He redeemed them :
and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old."
Yet if they were supplied in the ordinary way and by
the ordinary means, why should it be appealed to as a spe
cial instance of the power and mercy of God ? How could
it constitute a special claim on the people's gratitude? It
seems clear that the sacred writers regarded the passage of
the Israelites through the desert of El Tyh as being, if not
altogether supernatural, at any rate not according to the
common course of nature.
And thus whenever Prophet or Psalmist would adduce
an unanswerable proof of the power of God to satisfy the
utmost wants and requirements of His creatures, he at once
appeals to the abundant provision which His mercy sup
plied in that great journey from the land of bondage to the
land of promise. " I am the Lord thy God from the land
of Egypt: there is no Saviour beside Me. I did know

136 The Wilderness. [chap.
thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. Ac
cording to their pasture, so were they filled." (Ilosea xiii.
4_6.) "I am the Lord thy God which brought thee
out of the land of Egypt : open thy mouth wide, and I will
fill it." (Ps. Ixxxi!"l0.) "Feed Thy people with Thy
rod, the flock of Thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in
the wood, in the midst of Carmel : let them feed in Bashan
and Gilead, as in the days of old. According to the days
of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto
him marvellous things." (Micah vii. 14, 15.)
153. It has indeed been recently suggested a, that not
withstanding the universality of such passages as those
above quoted, we are bound to regard the direct inter
vention of Almighty God as having been limited to
the four or five special occasions actually recorded in
Scripture. Tlie Bishop of Llandaff b takes, if I may venture to say
so, a far juster and more logical view of the question, when
he says that if we believe that the Lord led His people
through the wilderness, though He has not thought fit to
record in every instance how He supported their faltering
steps, we shall not doubt that His power was sufficient
for every emergency, and that when it was needed, it was
actually put forth.
In a narrative purporting to treat of merely natural
events, it would no doubt be the height of absurdity to
suppose the existence of a miracle. And for precisely the
same reason, in a narrative of events avowedly supernatural,
to suppose that all such of its component parts as are left
unrecorded were merely natural, seems to me to be neither

* Dr. Stanley's Sinai and Palestine, p. 25; Lectures on the Jews,
143.
b First Letter to the Clergy of his Diocese, p. 43.

p. 143.

xiv.] The Wilderness. 137
a necessary nor even a probable conclusion °. In every his
tory, much must be left untold ; and it is surely more rea
sonable to suppose that the unrecorded portions should
be conformable to the general spirit and tenor of the nar
rative, than to believe that they stand in direct and start
ling contrast to it.
No details are given of the forty years' wanderings, but
when the great leader, looking back over the wondrous
past, is able to say that through that whole period the Lord
had watched over His people*, as an eagle over her young,
as a father over his child, nay, even as if they were the very
apple of His eye, — and these phrases are placed in immediate
juxtaposition to, and as a general continuation of, the nar
rative of the miraculous supplies which He had granted
them before that period commenced, — I really do not see
how any one can doubt that in the view of the historian
(and with that alone we are dealing) something more
than the ordinary providence of God was required to sus-

c Let me take another instance. In that strange morning interview
between the risen Saviour and His disciples on the shore of the Sea of
Tiberias, we read of a fire of coals, and fish laid thereon, and bread. It
is practically unimportant to consider whether they were bmught there
by human hands or not, but surely it is not uncritical to say, as for
example the present Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol says, (Lectures on
the Life of our Lord, p. 407, note,) that the most reasonable and reve
rent supposition is that the occurrence was a supernatural one.
J Contrast the picture whicli the Scripture gives of God's overflowing
mercies, of His tender, lovinjr, parental care over His people, with the
statement with which Dr. Colenso commences the chapter we are now
considering: "The people, we are told, were supplied with manna;
but there was no miraculous provision for the herds and flocks. They
were left to gainer sustenance as they could in that inhospitable wilder
ness." (Colenso, p. 79.) Sow does Dr. Colenso know that ? He offers
no authority, no reason, in support of this positive assertion ; and no one
can fail to see how little it is in harmony with the tone of Scripture.
Yet if that assertion is not correct, there is an end of the objection.

138 The Wilderness. [chap.
tain His people, and when required was not withheld.
" Se led His people through the wilderness : for His mercy
endureth for ever." God's words (to use the language of
the late Mr. Davison) cannot express so much and mean
so little.
But the question does not, in fact, depend merely on
general principles ; it is plain that, according to the story,
there were manifestations of Divine Providence which the
narrative itself does not record.
154. In the Narrative, those miracles only are described
which affect the moral character of the Israelites, and God's
mode of dealing with them. The tender protecting care,
the daily providence, is either left untold or only incident
ally mentioned.
155. From the Narrative itself no one would have learned
how the Israelites managed to clothe themselves throughout
the forty years of their wandering in the wilderness. And
objectors might (doubtless would) have calculated the num
ber of articles required for so great a multitude, and the
difficulty or impossibility of obtaining them. The Narrative
is silent on the point. But when Moses, in his last farewell
is recounting the tender mercies of Almighty God towards
them — the daily exhibitions of His love, apart from their
repinings and rebellions — he reminds them that their rai
ment waxed not old upon them, neither did the shoes wax
old upon their feet for forty years. (Deut. viii. 4, xxix. 5 ;
and so Nehemiah ix. 21.)
156. Nor, I apprehend, would a reader have gathered
from the Narrative that the Cloudy Pillar served any other
purpose than to act as a guide, and a symbol of the Divine
Presence. Yet we find in the Psalms that it was spread
above the advancing host to protect them from the fierce
radiance of an Eastern sun : " He spread out a cloud to be
A COVERING." (Ps. CV. 38.)

xiv.] The Wilderness. .139
And to this overshadowing, protecting glory-cloud the
Prophet Isaiah alludes (iv. 5, 6) when he says, —
"Then shall the Lord create upon the station of Mount Sion
And upon all her holy assemblies,
A cloud and smoke by day,
And the shining of a flaming fire by night.
Tea, over all shall the glory be a covering,
And a tabernacle shall it be for shade by day from the heat,
And for a covert and a refuge from the storm and rain."
And agreeably to this St. Paul says, "All our fathers were
under the cloud." (1 Cor. x. 1.)
And with this clue we discover (what I think we should
hardly have discovered without it) the true meaning of such
passages as Num. x. 34, xiv. 14, " Thy cloud standeth over
them." I think, therefore, that it cannot fairly be said that the
narrative is intended to record every occurrence which was
not according to the common course of nature.
157. And now, with reference to the sheep and cattle of
the Israelites, it is necessary to remember that their numbers
have been prodigiously miscalculated and over-estimated by
Dr. Colenso. • (See supr. 128.) Still, after making allow
ance for these errors, their numbers must undoubtedly have
been very considerable.
But it will not, of course, be supposed that in the desert
of El Tyh (whatever may have been the case in the Penin
sula of Sinai) the whole mass of sheep and cattle would be
congregated close to the camp.
No reason can be assigned why the Israelites should,
and the most cogent reasons — amongst others, the abso
lute impossibility of the case — can be assigned why they
should not, have departed from the universal practice, so
familiar both from Scripture and profane authors, of sending
their flocks and herds in all directions to pasture along the

140 The Wilderness. [chap.
valleys and beside the' springs, wherever pasturage could be
found e. Some would of course accompany the camp, but
the great bulk would be scattered far and wide.
The only suggestion1 which Dr. Colenso can make for
adopting so outrageous an hypothesis as that the sheep and
cattle were kept massed around the tents is the command
in Exod. xxxiv. 3, " Neither let the flocks nor herds feed
before the Mount." (Colenso, 81.) But this of course re
fers not to the desert but to Mount Sinai, which, as we have
already seen, affords an abundant and excellent pasturage.
The passages cited above (supr. 149) would have been more
to the purpose.
158. That the sheep and cattle did not en masse ac
company the camp, is plain not only from the nature of the
case, and the universal practice of desert-tribes, but also as
I think, from sundry hints of a wholly undesigned and inci
dental character interspersed throughout the narrative.
To take one instance. In the 11th chapter of Num
bers we are told that the children of Israel, having left the
Peninsula of Sinai aud re-entered the desert, "fell a lust
ing for flesh :" they wept again and said, " Who shall give
us flesh to eat ?" (ver. 4.) " There is nothing at all, beside
this manna, before our eyes." (ver. 6.)
Is it conceivable that this raging multitude should have
gone on weeping and complaining in this way, when the
very flesh for which they were so ravenous, the sheep, the
oxen, the kids, were congregated in enormous numbers
immediately " before their eyes ?" Would they not have
" See the observations of Mr. Porter, cited supr. 74, note.
' " If they had been dispersed they would surely," says Dr. Colenso,
"have required to be guarded by large bodies of armed men." Such
does not, however, seem to have been the case with Jethro's flocks
pasturing iu the same wilderness a few mouths before. And after their
defeat of the Amalekites, the Israelites seem to have remained in un
molested possession of the Peninsula^ of Sinai.

xiv.J The Wilderness. 141
asked for them? or would they not rather have helped
themselves without asking ?
159. We have, therefore, arrived at these three conclu
sions, (1) that there were far fewer sheep and cattle than
Dr. Colenso supposes, (2) that there was far more pasturage
for them then than now, and (3) that they would be scat
tered far and wide, to find it.
And these three considerations may perhaps of them
selves be sufficient for their sojourning in the Peninsula of
Sinai : they would, however, hardly suffice for their pas
sage through the desert of El Tyh.
What, then, would have been the most obvious mode of
increasing their means of subsistence ?
160. We have already seen the almost magical effect of
a plentiful supply of water on that parched and thirsty
soil. It is interesting to observe in the works of travellers
the transformation produced by a dry or rainy season. One
finds a spot bare and sterile, " for no rain had fallen this
year ;" another remarks on its verdant herbage, for " the
rains of the previous autumn were still standing in pools."
In years of drought all vegetation withers, and even the
scanty herds of the modern Bedouins can scarce find suffi
cient pasturage ; while, on the other hand, " wherever water
passes in this district, however barren the ground, vegeta
tion is invariably found," for " in this climate, wherever
water is in plenty the very rocks will produce vegetation."
We have seen that there is everywhere a thin, transparent
herbage ; and in this arid soil, as in the " stony places" of the
parable, it is ready at once to spring up, and to flush into
a sudden, if a transient luxuriance. The real difficulty, as
Robinson truly observes, (i. 73,) is as to the supply of water.
But is there no reason to believe that the journey through
the desert was marked by any unusual supply of water?
I think that there are many passages in Scripture which
point to that conclusion.

142 The Wilderness. [chap.
161. In the Song of Deborah (Judges v. 4) we seem to
have an express allusion to heavy rains : —
"Lord, when Thou wentest out of Seir&,
When Thou marchedst out of the field of Edom,
The earth trembled, the heavens also dropped,
The clouds also dropped water.
The mountains melted from before the Lord,
Even Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel."
162. The 68th Psalm is a record of the triumphal
march of the Tabernacle of God, from the time of its first
erection before Sinai to the day when it reached its final
resting-place, the last and greatest of the Holy Places, the
hill of Sion, the joy of the whole earth, more highly exalted,
as the place where it pleased God to dwell, than any of the
loftier mountains around.
The Psalmist tells how the Tabernacle left Sinai and
journeyed through the wilderness ; how the Israelites
emerged on the borders of the Promised Land, soiled and
wayworn from their travels and Egyptian bondage, yet —
in the faith and favour of the Lord and in the possession
of His Tabernacle — spotless as the wings of a dove, white
as the snow on Zalmon. He tells how God Himself
gave the word of battle, and the kings and armies of Ca
naan were discomfited; how, finally, the last Holy Place
was won, and He", their God and King, went up into
the Sanctuary.
The remembrance of all the marvellous works which had
adorned this long journey from the first to the last of the
Holy Places, causes the writer to exclaim, " Ascribe ye the
power to God over Israel ; His worship and strength are
in the clouds : 0 God, wonderful art Thou in Thy Holy
Places." (ver. 34, 35.)
e As to the mention of Seir and Edom, see Numbers xx. 16;
Deut. i. 2.

xiv.J The Wilderness. 143
And what is the one marvel which he singles out of
all those that happened in the wilderness? Which of all
those signs and wonders does he select to shew that power
is to be ascribed to God, that His mercy and strength are
in the clouds ? The rain that fell in the wilderness. The
description is a plain allusion to the Song of Deborah : —
(ver. 7.) " 0 God, when Thou wentest forth before Thy people h,
When Thou marchedst through the wilderness ;
(8.) The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence
of God :
Sinai itself at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
(9.) Thou, 0 Lord, sentest a plentiful rain,
Thou refreshedst Thine inheritance when it was weary.
(10.) Thy congregation dwelt therein :
Thou, 0 God, of Thy goodness hast prepared for the poor.
(11.) The Lord gave the word :
Great was the army of the preachers.
(12.) Kings with their armies did flee and were discomfited.
The dweEer at home divided the spoil.
(13.) Though ye have lien among the pots ',
Te shaE be as the stiver wings of a dove, feathers gleaming
with gold.
h Tile words "When Thou wentest forth before Thy people in the
wilderness," plainly allude to the departure of the people from Mount
Sinai for the desert of El Tyh. " And they departed from the mount of
the Lord : and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them."
(Num. x. 33.) I cannot assent to Hengstenberg's explanation that the
Psalmist commences with Sinai " because the covenant was concluded
there." The Psalm is concerned- with the triumphal march of the Ta
bernacle of God from the first to the last of the Holy Places. And it
was at Sinai that the Tabernacle was made. Sinai was its starting-place,
and Sion its fin»l goal. Mount Zalmon (Judges ix. 48) was seemingly
near its intermediate resting-place, the Holy Place of SUiloh, " where
God did set His name at the first," Jeremiah vii. 12.
1 "Ye have lien among the pots." If this be the correct transla
tion of the Hebrew words, it undoubtedly refers to the brickmaking
in Egypt, as in Psalm lxxxi. 6, " His hands were delivered from making
the pots."

144 The Wilderness. [chap.
(14.) When the Almighty scattered. kings for them,
They were as snow on Zalmon.
(16.) Why hop ye so, ye high hEls ?
This is God's hiE in which it pleaseth Him to dwell ;
Yea, the Lord will dweE in it for ever.
(17.) The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands
of angels :
The Lord is among them, as in the Holy Place of Sinai k.
(24.) It is well seen, O God, how Thou goest,
How Thou, my God and King, goest in the sanctuary.
(25.) The singers go before, the minstrels follow after:
In the midst are the damsels playing on the timbrels.
(35.) O God, wonderful art Thou in Thy Holy Places '."
163. It would be easy to cite a multitude of passages
referring to the copious supply of water in the wilderness,
such as Psalm cvii. 35, " He maketh the wilderness a
standing water, and water-springs of a dry ground." But
such passages might possibly be thought to refer to the
recorded miracles only.
The recorded miracles, however, appear to me wholly
insufficient to account for the allusions which everywhere
abound in the Psalms and in the Prophetical writings, not
only to the plentiful supply of water in the wilderness, but
also to its fertilizing effect. One or two examples will
suffice. 164. The Prophet Isaiah is constantly blending and
k Or, as others translate, " In the holy place is Sinai.'' The meaning
of the former translation would be that the glories of Sion are equal to
those of Sinai ; of the latter, that the glories of , Sinai had been trans
ferred to Sion.
1 " In Thy holy places." " The plural is used," says Hengstenberg,
" because the sanctuary of God is manifold, as bearing upon the main
tenance, the defence, and the government of His Church." Bather,
because the very subject of the Psalm is not merely one Holy Place, but
the succession of Holy Places.

xiv.] The Wilderness. 145
twining together the descriptions of three separate events.
In his sublime Visions he is ever seeing one great high
way, the way of salvation, along which, through sea and
wilderness and river, the Israelites are journeying to the
Land of Promise — the captive exiles are hastening back
from Assyria to Sion — the redeemed of the Lord are walk
ing to the heavenly Jerusalem, the City of their rest. His
pictures are constantly grouped around that one central
object, " Make straight in the desert the highway of our
God." And the imagery with which he invests the two
grand journeys of the Future is, beyond all controversy,
borrowed from the journey of the Past. " There shall be
an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be
left, from Assyria ; like as it was to Israel in the day that
he came up out of the land of Egypt." (Isaiah xi. 16.)
Listen to the description which the Prophet gives of
the " way in the desert" for the Pilgrims of the Euture,
(chap, xxxv.) :—
(ver. 1.) "The wUderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them,
The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.
(2.) It shall blossom abundantly,
It shall rejoice with joy and singing,
The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it,
The exceEency of Carmel and Sharon.
(6.) In the wilderness shall waters break out,
And streams in the desert.
(7.) And the glowing sand shaE become a pool,
And the thirsty soil bubbEng springs ;
In the habitation of jackals shall they find a resting-place,
And grass where reeds and rushes were.
(8.) And a highway shaE be there,
And it shaU be called the way of holiness."
And again, in chap. xii. : —
(ver. 17.) "The poor and needy seek for water and there is none ;
Their tongue is parched with thirst :
L

146 The Wilderness. [chap.
I, the Lord, wiE hear them,
I, the God of Israel,' wiE not forsake them.
(18.) I will open rivers in the bare rocks (D^Sttf)
And fountains in the midst of the valleys ;
I will make the wilderness a standing pool,
And the dry ground springs of water.
(19.) I will plant in the wilderness the cedar,
The shittah-tree, and the myrtle, and the oE-tree ;
I will plant in the desert the fir-tree,
And the pine and the box-tree together."
And again, in chap, xliii., the people are exhorted to
look not back to the wonders of the past, but on to those
of the future : —
(ver. 16.) "Thus saith the Lord,
Who made a way in the sea,
A path in the mighty waters.
(18.) Eemember ye not the ancient things,
Neither consider the things of old.
(19.) Behold, I make a new thing ;
Even now shall it spring forth : will ye not regard it ?
I will even make a way in the wilderness,
And flowing streams in the desert.
(20.) The beasts of the field shall glorify Me,
The jackals, and the young of the ostrich :
Because I have given waters in the wEderness,
And flowing streams in the desert ;
To give drink to My people, My chosen,
(21.) The people whom I have formed for Mysetf,
Who shall tell forth My praise."
And again ™, in chap, xlviii. : —
(ver. 20.) "Go ye forth out of Babylon,
Flee ye from the land of the Chaldeans with a voice of joy,
¦" The language of the Prophet Jeremiah xxxi. 7 — 11 (compared with
xxiii. 7, 8) is obviously borrowed from these passages of Isaiah. " They
shall walk," says Jeremiah of the returning wayfarers, " by the rivers
of waters."

xi v.J The Wilderness. < 147
Declare ye, tell this,
Utter it forth even to the end of the earth ;
Say ye, the Lord hath redeemed His servant Jacob,
(21.) They thirsted not when He led them through the desert,
He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them,
Yea, He clave the rock, and the waters gushed forth."
And again, in chap. xlix. : —
(ver. 9.) "They shall feed beside the ways,
And on all the bare rocks (D^SB?) shaE be their pasture.
(10.) They shall not hunger nor thirst,
Neither shaE the heat nor the sun smite them,
For He, the Merciful, shall lead them,
Even to the springs of water shaE He guide them."
All this is the language of poetry, but it draws its ima
gery from the traditions of the past. The mind of Isaiah
was saturated with the idea of the nation's passage through
a wilderness usually parched and sterile, but then, by the
mercy of God, refreshed and watered by fertilizing showers.
165. Nor is the unusual productiveness of the desert
while the Israelites passed through left unnoticed by the
other Prophets.
In the 2nd chapter of the Prophet Hosea, the Lord is
described as wooing back the chosen nation to her first
love. Her transgressions shall be blotted out ; her sins
and iniquities He will remember no more : all things shall
become new. She shall come once more into the wilder
ness, and renew the nuptial vow, the solemn covenant of
her God. (ver. 14.) " Behold, I wEl woo her on,
And I will bring her into the wEderness,
And I will speak to her heart.
(15.) And I wiE give her vineyards from thence,
The vaEey of troubhng for a door of hope.

148 The Wilderness. [chW.
And she shaU sing there
As in the days of her youth,
As in the days when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
(16.) And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord,
Thou shalt caE Me Husband,
Thou shalt no more caE Me Master."
But pages might be filled with such passages as these.
166. To the ancient Jews themselves, who were well
acquainted not only with the Scripture and the power of
God, but also with the Desert which lay almost at their
feet, objections such as we are now considering would have
been simply unintelligible. They looked back to these
astonishing events with a lively sense of God's omnipotence,
and a continual remembrance of His ever-present Provi
dence. They felt that He had declared His Almighty
power most chiefly in shewing them mercy and pity. Be
yond all His wondrous works, His guidance through the
wilderness was the subject of their unwearying gratitude.
The care which had never failed them through all that
land of drought, had sunk deeply into the national heart,
and supplied an inexhaustible theme to the minstrel" and
the prophet. They thirsted not when He led them through
the wilderness, was their perpetual topic of gratitude for
the Past, of hope and consolation for the Euture.
167. Nor theirs alone. The language which has nerved
n And never had minstrels such exquisite skill in pourtraying the
feelings of a lofty and highly -strung enthusiasm, as among the ancient
Hebrews. The world cannot produce so sweet a sketch of sudden, over
whelming joy as that given us by a nameless Psalmist at the sera of the
return from Babylon. " When the Lord turned again the captivity of
Sion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with
laughter, and our tongue with joy. Then said they among the heathen,
The Lord hath done great things for them. Yea, the Lord hath done
great things for us." Our familiarity with such passages blunts our
sense of their exquisite pathos.

xiv.j The Wilderness. 149
many a fainting human heart in other lands to meet with
hope and confidence the near approach of death, is bor
rowed from the same great Act of Mercy. " The Lord is
my .Shepherd, therefore can I lack nothing ; He shall feed
me in a green pasture, and lead me forth beside the waters
of comfort. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me ;
Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." The allusion is
to that great desert, " the land of drought and of the shadow
of death" (Jer. ii. 6; cf. Ps. xliv. 20,) through which the
Lord " led His own people like sheep : yea, He carried
them through the wilderness like a flock," (Ps. lxxviii. 53) ;
so that "for forty years they lacked nothing." (Deut. ii. 7 ;
Nehemiah ix. 21.) If even in the waste howling wilder
ness that Shepherd could lead them beside the waters of
comfort, we too may trust ourselves without fear to His
guidance, when He calleth His sheep by their name and
leadeth them out. (St. John x. 3, 4.)
168. The same image ° of the Almighty as the Shepherd
of His people, providing them with pasture in the wilder
ness, is used with striking effect in another beautiful Psalm.
It will be remembered (supr. 87) that when the Tabernacle
moved forward into the desert of El Tyh, the tribes of
Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin were ranged under one
standard immediately behind it. (Numb. ii. 17 — 24.) And
to this great procession the Psalmist refers, when he ex
claims, — " Hear, 0 Thou Shepherd of Israel,
Thou that leadest Joseph as a sheep,
0 And what a world of compassionate tenderness that image would
imply to Hebrew ears, we see from Isaiah xl. 11, Ezekiel xxxiv. passim.
More especially was it the shepherd's care to find fresh water for his
flock, to " feed them beside the rivers," (Ezek. xxxiv. 13,) to " lead them
forth beside the waters of comfort."

150

The Wilderness.

[chap.

Shew Thyself also, Thou that sittest between the cherubim .
Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses,
Stir up Thy strength, and come, and help us." (Ps. lxxx. 1, 2.)
169. In truth, there is hardly to be found a Psalm of
praise and thanksgiving which does not contain some allu
sion, more or less direct, to the great deliverance. Take,
for example, the two magnificent songs which have long
been incorporated into the daily worship of the Church.
The 98th Psalm p tells how God visited the children of

p Psalm xcviit.
" 0 "sing to the Lord a new song,
, For marvellous things He hath done,
"With His own right hand and His holy
arm,
Himself hath the victory won :
The Lord hath declared His salvation
abroad,
He hath shewed to the heathen the
justice of God.
He hath thought on His mercy and
truth,
"Which to Israel for ever have "been,
And all the distant ends of the world
The salvation of God have seen ;
Shew yourselves joyful to God, all ye
lands,
Rejoice and give thanks, sing aloud,
clap your hands.
O praise the Lord on the harp,
With a psalm of thanksgiving sing,
With trumpets and shawms, 0 shew
yourselves glad
In the sight of the Lord the King.
Let the sea make a noise, and the things
of the sea,
The world, and all creatures within it
that he.
Let the floods clap their hands with,
delight,
Let the hills be joyful with mirth,
Be joyful together before the Lord,
For He cometh to judge the earth ;

To j udge the world with a just decree,
And the people to judge with equity.
Psalm xcv.
0 come, let us sing to the Lord,
In the strength of our Saviour rejoice,
Let us all come before Him with thanks,
And shew ourselves glad with our
voice.
For the Lord, our great Maker, is He,
And a King above all that there he.
In His hand are the corners of earth,
And the strength of the hills in His
hand,
The sea is His sea, and His work,
And He hath prepared the dry land.
O come, let us worship, and fall
At the feet of the Maker of all.
For He is our Lord and our God,
And we are the sheep of His fold,
To-day if ye listen and hear,
0 let not your hearts be so cold
As they were the wild deserts among,
"When your fathers provoked Me so
long.
Forty years long waB I grieved
With this generation, and said
'Tis a people that err in their hearts,
For My ways they have never obeyed.
Unto whom I in wrath did protest,
That they never should enter My rest."

j. ne rr uaerness.

151

Israel, and remembered the covenant which He had sworn
unto Abraham, (Exod. iii. 16, vi. 5) ; how He brought them
forthwith a mighty hand, and stretched-out arm, (Exod. vi.
6) ; how the people saw the salvation of the Lord (Exod. xiv.
13) when He got Himself honouron the host of theEgyptians,
(Exod. xiv. 17) ; and finally carries up the story to the pre
sence of God enthroned on Mount Sinai, when He came
down to deliver the law and administer justice and equity.
The 95th Psalm takes up the tale, and ascribing to God the
power over all nature, reminds the people that though He
is their Shepherd, and they the sheep of his pasture, yet
that the Shepherd's mercy may once more, as in the wilder
ness, be wearied out, and the awful sentence of rejection
be once more pronounced, " Ye have rejected me : behold,
I also have rejected you."
170. Nor was it only in the minds of the Israelites that
this journey through the wilderness made so deep and
lasting an impression. It left a record no less durable
. among the desert scenes which were the theatre of the
actual events. Traditions still linger around the sacred spots
with singular pertinacity. And one of these, noticed by
many travellers, seems to me to afford a curious illustra
tion (I put it no higher) of some of the preceding re
marks. "The Arabs believe that the rains which fall in the Peninsula are
under the immediate control of Moses, and they are persuaded that
the priests of the convent of Mount Sinai are in possession of a book
sent down to Moses from heaven, upon the opening and shutting of
which depend the rains of the Peninsula." (Burckhardt, 567. And
see Robinson, i. 90.)
171. Such are a few of the many hints which may be
found respecting the passage of the Chosen People from
Egypt to Palestine. But it must be remembered that they
are only hints. We are not told, and do not know, the

152 The Wilderness. [chap.
actual facts. We have no other means even of conjecturing
what they were. We only know that Almighty God under
took to be the Shepherd of His flock, to lead His people
through the wilderness ; and it seems not unreasonable
to believe that what He had undertaken He was able to
perform. 172. I have purposely reserved to the close of this chap
ter a few remarks on some of the other Psalms, because my
observations are purely conjectural : I feel no great con
fidence in them myself, and offer them, not as arguments,
but merely as an attempt to elucidate the meaning of some
rather obscure passages.
173. The 18th Psalm was composed by David when
Israel had for the first time attained its full stature and
proportions. It was only by means of the splendid vic
tories of the minstrel King that the nation acquired com
plete and absolute possession of the Promised Land. It
was then that the Sceptre arose out of Israel, and smote all
the corners of Moab, and destroyed all the children of
tumult. And, the Psalm would seem to be, as it were,
a national anthem ; a national thanksgiving for the per
fect fulfilment of the promise ; a description of the suc
cessive stages of the national life, and not merely of the
life of David. The personification of the people of Israel
is, of course, one of the commonest features of Hebrew
poetry. The Psalm undoubtedly, I think, intends also to take
a special survey of the mercies of God as shewn in the his
tory of His anointed king : but interwoven with this survey,
and occasionally superseding it, we find continual references
to the mercies of God as shewn in the history of His chosen
people. In truth, there was a great similarity between the
history of the king and the history of the nation — each called

¦xiv. J The Wilderness. 153
by God, as it were, from the sheepfolds; each the recipient
of a promise from the fruition of which they were for a time
debarred ; each tried by perils and troubles, by long and
weary waiting in the wilderness ; each raised at length to
power and honour; until, finally, the two fortunes become
identified and blended into one, and attain their culminating
glory by the self-same victories.
If we take this clue to guide us, the whole scheme of the
Psalm will lie clear and plain before our eyes. It is ad
mitted that the phraseology with which it commences and
ends ("the Lord is my Rock," &c.) contains a direct allu
sion to the Song of Moses, in which the Lord is described
as the Rock of the people. The allusion is a natural one;
the Psalm of David being a retrospect of the events which
the Song of Moses surveyed in progress.
The verses 3 — 6, which immediately follow the introduc
tion, appear to refer to the period of Egyptian bondage.
Prom ver. 7 to ver. 20 we have a description of the deliver
ance from Egypt, the passage of the Red Sea, the Divine
Presence on Mount Sinai, the journey through the wilder
ness, and the entry into the Land of Promise ¦*. Nothing
recorded in the life of David bears any resemblance to the
events so commemorated. We are not told that the Lord
ever answered him, as He did His Chosen People, "from
the secret place of thunder." (Ps. lxxxi. 7.)
The subsequent verses seem to refer to their recent vic
tories, and the great extension of the empire under David,
so that Israel might well give thanks unto the Lord among
the heathen, and glorify His Name. Even the phrase
" among the heathen" seems more applicable to the people
' " He brought me forth' into a large place," (Ps. xviii. 19) ; " I will
bring them up unto a good land and a large," (Exod. iii. 8). The
144th Psalm is very similar to the 18th, and confirms the interpreta
tion suggested in the text.

154 The Wilderness. [chap.
of God surrounded by heathen nations, than to the King
of Israel surrounded by his faithful people.
It is excellently observed by Venema and Hengstenberg,
that in the former section of the Psalm David had ascribed
his deliverance to God alone, and had reserved no part to
himself; whereas in this latter section, while he acknow
ledges God as the source of power and victory, yet he repre
sents himself as an instrument in God's hand, whereby the
enemies were subdued.
Put this distinction, if true at all in reference to David,
is surely incomparably more applicable to the history of the
Chosen People. In the deliverance from Egypt, Israel had
but to stand still ahd see the salvation of God : the Lord
would fight for them, and they were to hold their peace ;
while in the latter stage of their history, the human element
is brought prominently into play, and under God's protec
tion Israel itself did valiantly.
It is a circumstance on which no argument can be based,
yet it harmonizes well with the preceding view, that in the
concluding verse, where the royal family is introduced, and
David is mentioned by name as identified with the crown
ing glory of Israel, he is spoken of in the third person,
while all the rest of the Psalm is written in the first.
But however this may be, whether the scene described
in vers. 7 — 15 is or is not actually intended as a repre
sentation of the Lord's presence in the wilderness, there
can at least be no doubt that the imagery employed is
borrowed from that source. And here, as everywhere else,
we find allusions to the stormy rain and tempest.
(ver. 11.) "He made darkness His secret place:
His pavilion round about Him, dark waters, thick clouds.
(12.) At the brightness before Him His clouds opened';
r " His clouds opened." Luther's remark (as cited by Hengstenberg)
ou the passage is, " It is a description of lightning. When He pleases,

xiv.] The Wilderness. 155
Hailstones, and coals of fire.
(13.) The Lord also thundered out of heaven,
The Highest gave His voice :
Hailstones and coals of fire."
174. In the 77th Psalm we find the following verses : —
(ver. 17.) " The clouds poured out water,
The air thundered ;
Thine arrows went abroad.
(18.) The voice of Thy thunder was whirled about ;
The lightnings lightened the earth :
The earth trembled and shook."
That these expressions allude to the Mosaic epoch is
plain from the 20th and concluding verse of the Psalm,
" Thou leddest Thy people like sheep by the hand of Moses
and Aaron." But most commentators suppose that (like
the preceding verse) they refer to the stormy passage of
the Red Sea. It may be so ; but we do not know that the
passage of the Red Sea was a stormy one, and it seems
more probable that they allude to the violent storms which
we do know to have taken place in the wilderness.
It is true that the pagan legends of the Exodus repre
sent the Egyptians as repulsed by storms, (" tempestatibus
He rends the clouds asunder, and darts forth a flash such as the clouds
cannot restrain, it breaks through just as if there were no clouds there.
As we see that the whole heaven as it were opens when there is light
ning." It is interesting to remember what must have been in Luther's
mind when he penned that note. When he was nineteen years of age
" Alexis and he had been to see the old Luther people at Mansfeldt ;
were got back again near Erfurt, when a thunderstorm came on : the
bolt struck Alexis, he fell dead at Luther's feet. What is this life of
ours ? gone in a moment, burnt up like a scroll, into the blank eternity !
What are all earthly preferments, chancellorships, kingships ? They
lie shrunk together, there ! The earth has opened upon them : in
a moment they are not, eternity is. Luther, struck to the heart, deter
mined to devote himself to. God, and God's service alone." — Carlyle's
Heroes and Hero- Worship, Lect. iv.

156 The Wilderness. [chap.
compulsi redire domum :" Justin, xxxvi. 2) ; but that would
naturally be their mode of regarding the disaster in the
Red Sea, while the narrative of Josephus would seem to
be borrowed from theirs. And although the occurrence
of a thunderstorm is perhaps not inconsistent with the
Mosaic narrative, yet I think that it would destroy the
calm sublimity of the scene, when a single glance was
enough to paralyze the mightiest army in the world : " The
Lord looked through the cloud, and troubled the host of
the Egyptians s."
175. We have considered so many passages relating to
storms and tempests, that I may perhaps be permitted to
close this chapter by a reference to the celebrated descrip
tion contained in the 29th Psalm of a thunderstorm, which
also visited the wilderness of Kadesh.
The 29th Psalm is a graphic description of some tre
mendous storm which swept, with deluges of rain, over the
whole of Palestine, from N.W. to S.E. It is represented
as watched throughout its whole progress by a little group
of worshippers assembled in the temple at Sion*. Pirst
we see the dark storm-clouds moving up from the western
sea ; soon the thunder echoes over Lebanon and Sirion ;
" If the verses cited from the 77th Psalm do in fact refer to the pas
sage of the Ked Sea, it is very possible that the description in the 18th
Psalm, (see ver. 15,) and some other allusions usually attributed to the
scene on Mount Sinai, may also refer to the same event. And perhaps,
in that case, the expression that the Lord looked through the pillar of
fire, and of the cloud, might be thought to allude to the lightning, the
fire that went out from the brightness of His presence ; as in the He
brew poetry thunder is called the voice of the Lord. But such a figure
would, as it seems to me, hardly accord with the sober tone of the. rest
of the narrative.
' " God's great voice is thundering on the waters ;
Yea, the Storm is out upon the sea ;
Hear ye not His glorious peals of thunder ?
Very strong and terrible they be.

xiv.] The Wilderness. 157
then, drawing nearer and nearer, at length it crashes with
terrific violence over Jerusalem itself, the explosion follow
ing the flash so instantaneously that it seems to divide (or,
as others translate, to hew with u) flames of fire ; till, after
traversing the whole length of the land, it rolls away to
the south over the wilderness of Kadesh.
(ver. 3.) " The voice of the Lord is on the waters ;
The God of glory thundereth;
The Lord is on many waters.
(4.) The voice of the Lord is powerful ;
The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
(5.) The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars ;
Yea, the Lord breaketh the cedars of Libanus.
(6.) He maketh them also to skip like a calf,
Libanus also and Sirion like a young unicorn.
(7.) The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire1.
Hark ! the thunder crashes through the cedars,
Hark ! the woods are shattered by the blow j
Yea, the very mountains reel and totter,
Like young calves they stagger to and fro.
Nearer still, and nearer still, it cometh ;
Ah ! the thunder cleaveth through the flame.
Now the very wilderness is shaking I" —
But then comes the joyful remembrance, the sudden change to hope
and confidence : —
" Still the Lord is throned above the deluge,
God is King, for evermore the same.
We the while, abiding in His temple,
Hymn the Almighty's praise, and will not cease,
God shall give His strength unto His people,
God shall bless His chosen ones with peace."
" Diodati's translation is, " La voce del Signore sparge, a guisa di
schegge, fiamme di fuoco ;" as if the metaphor were from chips and
splinters flying about in all directions from the axe of the hewer.
* In this one verse, as if to mark the crisis of the storm, the paral
lelism ceases.

158 The Wilderness. [chap.
(8.) The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness :
Yea, the Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh."
And so the tempest rolls away, the danger is over and
gone, the blue sky unveils itself once more, and the little
band of worshippers in the temple breaks forth with glad
songs of praise and thanksgiving, (" In His temple doth
every man speak of His honour") : —
(ver. 10.) " The Lord sitteth above the waterflood :
The Lord sitteth a King for ever.
(11.) The Lord shall give strength unto His people :
The Lord shall give His people the blessing of peace."
The allusion which Hofmann, Delitzsch, Kurtz, Heng
stenberg, and others, find in ver. 10 to the Noachian
deluge, can hardly be intended in the sense in which they
would take it : it would, as it seems to me, mar the whole
beauty of the Psalm. If the writer uses a word which
would recall to the reader's mind that great convulsion of
nature, it is but to give a higher and more vivid impres
sion of the storm he has undertaken to describe. The
verse has no historic aim : it is an outpouring of praise
and thanksgiving for present mercies ; it is a lively picture
of the safety of those who dwell within the calm shelter
of the Church of God, though storm and tempest rage
without; it expresses the high confidence, the trust iu
God, of which another Psalmist so nobly speaks : " The
waves of the sea are mighty, and rage horribly : but yet
the Lord who dwelleth on high is mightier." (Ps. xciii.
4.) And therefore, " though the waters thereof rage and
swell : and though the mountains shake at the tempest of
the same," yet "the rivers of the flood thereof *" shall
7 This is according to our Prayer-book version, but most interpreters
consider that the Psalmist means to contrast the peaceful river with
the stormy and restless sea. Though the Sea is tossing without, yet

xiv. J The Wilderness. 159
not terrify, they shall but refresh and " make glad the city
of God : the holy place where the Most High dwelleth.
God is in the midst of her, therefore shall she not be
moved : God shall help her, and that right early." (Ps.
xlvi. 3—5.)

"the River, its streams shall make glad the city of God." — We have
seen (supr. 167) that the favourite expression of a dying Christian's
hope contains an unconscious reference to the tender pastoral love of
the Almighty in the wilderness. And we may add here that the Apostle
who is thought to have seen furthest into the things of God, can find no
higher reference, no holier image, wherewith to picture the felicity of
the Saints in Heaven. (Rev. vii. 16, 17. See Isaiah xlix. 10, supr. 164.)
" They shall no more hunger nor thirst,
Neither shall the sun nor the heat smite them,
Por He, the Lamb upon the throne, shall lead them,
Even to the springs of water shall He guide them."

CHAPTER XV.
THE NUMBER OF THE ISRAELITES COMPARED WITH
THE EXTENT OP THE LAND OP CANAAN.
176. The suggestion that if the Canaanites had been
swept away at a blow, the beasts of the field would " mul
tiply against" the Israelites, appears to Dr. Colenso to be
based on a thoroughly incorrect view of " the numbers
of the Israelites compared with the extent of the land
of Canaan a." (Colenso, 91.)
And his reason for thinking so is, that in the colony of
•Natal a much thinner population has been able to maintain
its ground against, and well-nigh to extirpate, the wild
beasts which once abounded there.
And no doubt a much scantier population even than
that of Natal, especially if trained to the chase and fur
nished with fire-armsb, might in process of time destroy
any number of wild beasts. The case of the Israelites,
however, — coming into a strange and depopulated country,
and compelled to turn their immediate and exclusive atten-

" Mr. Porter, in the letter cited supr. 74, note, observes, that the
population of Palestine at the present time is about equal to the esti
mated number of the Israelites at the Exodus; and " I can testify," he
adds, " that more than three-fourths of the richest and best of the
country lie completely desolate."
b " Strychnine and the long range of our modern rifles are- materially
changing the zoology of this land, once teeming to an incredible degree
with animal life." (Report of E. L. Layard, Curator of the South
African Museum, to the Acclimatization Society. 1864.) Yet even so,
it appears from Captain Drayson's interesting volumes on the sports of
South Africa, that the savage animals of Natal have not by any means
so nearly disappeared as Dr. Colenso would seem to suppose.

xv.] The Number of the Israelites, fyc. 161
tion to husbandry and agriculture for the purpose of obtain
ing the necessaries of life, — would obviously be governed
by totally distinct considerations.
177. However, it is unnecessary to rely on any general
considerations. What are the facts with reference to the
land of Canaan ? In any possible theory the number of
the Israelites in the days of the monarchy, must have vastly
exceeded their alleged number at the Exodus. Yet not
withstanding this, and notwithstanding the large and power
ful remnants still left of the ancient population, we find
that lions, bears, jackals, &c, infested the high-roads and
public places, even in the immediate neighbourhood of the
great cities, in the most formidable manner, (cf. 1 Sam.
xvii. 34 ; 1 Kings xiii. 24, xx. 36 : 2 Kings ii. 24, xvii.
25 ; 1 Chron. xi. 22, &c.)
The historical Books are full of such incidents; and
psalmists and prophets, by constantly borrowing their ima
gery from the roaring of the lion, the she-bear robbed of her
whelps, and the like, testify no less strongly to the terror
with which these animals had inspired the popular mind.
And when the King of Assyria had carried away Israel
captive, and had re-peopled the land with strange and hea
then nations, (a very analogous case to the one under con
sideration,) the lions did in fact " multiply against" them
to such an extent, that they could, to say the least, be re
presented as a plague from the Most High. (2 Kings
xvii. 25.)
It would seem, therefore, that although such a pre
caution might be unsuitable for the colony of Natal, it was
highly appropriate for the country in respect of which it
was suggested.

M

, CHAPTER XYI.
THE NUMBER OP THE FIRSTBORN.
178. On the day when the Lord smote the firstborn
of Egypt, He hallowed to Himself the firstborn of Israel,
(Exod. xiii. 2 ; Numb. iii. 13). A year afterwards, on the
erection of the Tabernacle before Mount Sinai, the firstborns
were to be redeemed by the consecration of the Levites,
(Numb, iii.) Eor this purpose they were numbered, and
were found to be in all 22,273, (ver. 43).
Upon this Dr. Colenso observes that, calculating all the
males in Israel to be 900,000, we find that forty-one out
of every forty-two males were not first-borns ; and conse
quently that, " according to the story in the Pentateuch,
every mother in Israel must have had on the average forty-
two sons." (Colenso, 93.)
This of course assumes, what without reflection every one
would suppose to be the fact, that every mother must have
had a firstborn included in this number of 22,273.
179. But without assuming anything on the subject, let
us consider who these firstborn really were ; of whom they
were the firstborn; in relation to what parent or parents
the word firstborn is used.
I. The word may obviously be used (1) in relation to the father
only, (which indeed is its ordinary usage) ; (2) in relation to the
mother only ; (3) in relation to both parents ; or, in other words, it
may be that no child was a firstborn within the meaning of these
transactions unless he was the firstborn both of his father and of
his mother.
Let us look to the language used for the purpose of describing
the firstborns in question.

chap. xvi. J The Number of the Firstborn. 163
They are most frequently called simply "firstborn," (see Exod.
xiii., and Numb. iii. passim) ; they are also occasionally called " all
that open the womb ;" while in the place where the law is first
issued, and where we should therefore look for a more accurate de
scription, both terms are combined, and they are called "the first
borns which open the womb," (Exod. xiii. 2). And so they are
styled on their first mention a year afterwards, when they were to be
numbered and exchanged for the Levites, (Numb. iii. 12). It would
seem, then, that this is their proper and full designation, used each
time on the first introduction of the subject, though in discussing
the details it is abandoned for the concise name of firstborns, whicli
would of course refer back to the expanded description used at
the outset.
The expression " all that open the womb" shews clearly that the
first of the three interpretations suggested above is inadmissible. No
person who was not the firstborn child of his mother could be a first
born within the meaning of this ordinance. The only question then
is, whether he must have been the first child of his father also ; —
whether he must have had no elder brother or sister either on the
father's or on the mother's side.
And on a fair view of all the passages bearing on the question, it
seems impossible to resist the conclusion that in order to be one of
the firstborn whom God claimed, the child must have been the first
born on both sides ; he must have had no elder brother or sister either
on the father's or on the mother's side. Dr. Colenso ridicules the idea,
but it is plain that he has not really considered the subject.
(1.) It need not be mentioned how transcendently important
throughout Israel, even at this early age, was the position of the
Heir, the eldest son of the father. It is hardly necessary to refer
to such passages as the sale by Esau of his birthright, and the special
provisions as to the firstborn's rights where a man had more than one
wife; (Deut. xxi. 15 — 17 ; confer, also 1 Chron. v. 1, 2). And it seems
incredible that a class so important, so recognised, should be passed
over in silence, and a wholly different class, altogether unrecognised
elsewhere, be spoken of, without any mark of difference, by the same
name. Eor by the simple word "firstborn" every Israelite would
understand the Heir, the eldest son of the father.
The passage above referred to from the Book of Deuteronomy
(xxi. 15 — 17) places this in an exceedingly clear light. The writer
is putting the case of an Israelite who has two wives, and a son by

164 The Number of the Firstborn. [chap.
each. Each of these two sons may have been the first child of his
mother, but the writer takes it for granted that only one of them can
be a firstborn, as if every one would understand that in speaking
simply of a firstborn he meant the eldest child of the father. Would
such language have been possible if at that very time the word
" firstborn" simply could, without any impropriety, be used to de
note the first child of the mother, and so might have been equally
applicable to each of the two sons in the case tinder consideration?
(2.) But again, as the firstborn in Israel were taken on account of
their having been spared when the firstborn of Egypt were slain, it
is plain that the firstborn in each case must represent the same class.
Now in the case of the firstborn in Egypt, it surely is not intended
that we should understand the firstborn of the mother only ; that
when it is said that "the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon
his throne shall die," we are to understand that his relationship to
Pharaoh was a matter of indifference. We may surely as fairly
conclude from this passage that the father was to be considered in
determining the firstborn, as we may from the succeeding passage,
"the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill," conclude
that the mother was also to be considered.
(3.) The father's firstborn, the heir, is frequently spoken of in
Scripture as the beginning of his father's strength. " Reuben, thou
art my firstborn, the beginning of my strength." (Gen. xlix. 3.) " He
shall acknowledge the first son of the hated wife" (and not the first
son of the favourite) " as firstborn, by giving him a double portion of
all that he hath : for he is the beginning of his strength." (Deut. xxi.
] 7.) The expression is confined to the father's firstborn (see Park
hurst, Gesenius, and Lee in ps) in the same way that the expression
" he that openeth the womb" is confined to that of the mother. Yet
we read in Psalm Ixxviii. 51, " He smote all the firstborn in Egypt,
the chief (i. e. the beginning) of their strength in the tabernacles of
Ham." And in Psalm cv. 36, " He smote all the firstborn in the
land, the chief (i. e. the beginning) of all their strength." I really
think there can be no question that in these cases it must mean the
father's firstborn.
It seems to me, therefore, that we cannot avoid the conclusion
that the firstborn was to be the primitios of both father and mother.
And this at once accounts for the composite phrase by which he is
described whenever the subject is introduced, not " firstborn" only,
which would confine it to the father, not "he that openeth the

xvi. J The Number of the Firstborn. 165
womb" only, which would confine it to the mother, but "the first
born, which openeth the womb," that is, every firstborn who, besides
holding that position, is also the eldest child of his mother.
And Dr. Colenso, although, as I said before, he ridicules the idea,
yet evidently feels some misgivings, lest on a closer consideration it
may be found to be correct. Por he attempts to evade its force by
the following incomprehensible assertion.
" If we were to suppose, contrary to the plain statements of the
Bible," (I do not in the least know to what statements he is referring,)
"that only those were reckoned who were firstborn on the father's
as well as the mother's side, yet even then, while the impossibility
would be removed of each mother bearing forty-two children, there
would remain the improbability of each father on the average having
forty-two children." (Colenso, 96.)
It is, however, self-evident that in this case there would be many
fathers, as well as many mothers, with families, who would have no
firstborn at all.
In every instance where a husband had had children by more than
one wife, in every instance where a wife had had children by more
than one husband, there would be at least one family, possibly more,
without a firstborn.
Thus in Jacob's case, Rachel, Bilhah, Zilpah would have con
tributed no firstborns to the common stock.
Even if monogamy was the universal rule, this would be a very
important consideration ; but it is clear from Deut. xxi. 15, and
other passages, (and, indeed, from the example of Jacob,) that
whether polygamy was or was not common, it was certainly not
unknown among the Israelites.
I do not of course attempt to conjecture the number of families
which would thus be unrepresented by any firstborn, but it would
probably be by no means inconsiderable. And, at any rate, the fact
is manifestly fatal to Dr. Colenso's calculations.
II. Nor is it, I apprehend, less clear that the only firstborns taken
were sons of living parents, and probably only such as were not
themselves heads of families, or above a certain age.
The first denunciation of the destruction of the Egyptian firstborns
was, " Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My son, even My firstborn, and
I say unto thee, Let My son go that he may serve Me, and if thou
refuse to let him go, behold I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn."
(Exod. iv. 22, 23.) The Lord is speaking as it were to Pharaoh

166 The Number of the Firstborn. [chap.
and Pharaoh's generation. To punish their oppression he will sky
their firstborn; not such of themselves or such of their fathers, but
such of their sons as were firstborn.
And ever after, the sentence is denounced not against the sinful
parents themselves, but against their firstborn, " from the firstborn
of Pharaoh that sitteth on the throne to the firstborn of the captive
that is behind the mill." The threat is that the sinful generation
shall lose their firstborn.
And the passages already cited from the Psalms, " He smote all
the firstborn of Egypt, the beginning of their strength," seem also
to point to the children of the existing generation ".
Nor must it be forgotten that the statement that there was
a death in every house would be hardly an adequate description of
the visitation, if heads of families were struck down together with
their children.
It has been suggested that the firstborn were at a certain age de
voted to ceremonies in honour of the heathen deities : the devotion
to Moloch is several times referred to in the Pentateuch. And if so,
it is possible that the statement so frequently repeated, that on that
terrible. night Almighty God executed judgment against all the gods
of Egypt, might include a reference to this custom. It might be
that in striking down the firstborn children God rescued them, took
them for Himself, out of the grasp of a polluted religion.
III. The firstborns, therefore, who were numbered and exchanged
under Mount Sinai, were those male children under a certain age
who were the firstfruits alike of their father and of their mother.
Some eminent theologians go a step further, and from the clearly
prospective character of the ordinances delivered in the Book of
Exodus with respect to the firstborn, conclude that those firstborns
only were to be included in the list who were born after the date of
the Exodus. And I have reason to know that this view is held by
some of the most illustrious writers of our own time. But with the
greatest reverence for those who maintain this conclusion, I confess
that it is one which I cannot entirely adopt.
The ordinances in question, so far as they form part of the general
law, were clearly, like the rest of that law, adapted and intended for
1 Is it fanciful to observe that the Paschal lamb which was offered
for the preservation of the firstborn was obliged to be a lamb of the
first year 1

xvi.j xne iy umoer of the firstborn. 167
the land of settlement. " It shall be when the Lord shall bring thee
into the land of the Canaanites, as He sware unto thee and to thy
fathers, and shall give it thee, that thou shalt set apart unto the
Lord all that openeth the matrix." (Exod. xiii. 11, 12.) And when
in Exodus xxii. 29, we find the dedication of the first ripe fruits and
the firstborn sons united in one command, it seems reasonable to
suppose that, as by the first ripe fruits we are obviously to under
stand fruits thereafter to be ripened in the land of Canaan, so by the
firstborn sons we must also understand those sons who should there
be born.
The transaction recorded in the third chapter of the Book of
Numbers seems to have been not a satisfaction of these ordinances,
which were designed for the land of Canaan, and remained iu full
force there, (see Nehemiah x. 36,) but a supplement, intended to
bring within their scope those firstborns also whom the Lord passed
over when He smote the Egyptians.
TV. Enough has been said to shew that the number of the first
born does not in any way represent the number, or afford any ade
quate criterion of the size, of the Hebrew families at the Exodus.
And it is therefore unnecessary to consider some other questions
with regard to which we have not the materials for coming to
a satisfactory conclusion ; as, for example, whether the eldest child
in Hebrew families was more frequently a boy or a girl.
Only I would remark that Dr. Colenso's reference to the pedigrees
in the Pentateuch, as proof that, contrary to the general (though
notj I believe, the universal) rule in modern times "the firstborn
was much more frequently a male than a female," (Colenso, 94,) is
founded on an inaccurate view of the construction of those pedi
grees. Por we know that the daughters are almost invariably
omitted from the pedigrees altogether; and when inserted, their
names do not appear in the order of birth. Thus Amram's children
are described as Aaron and Moses, (Exod. vi. 20,) or Aaron, Moses,
and Miriam, (Numb. xxvi. 59,) though it is known that either Mi
riam or another daughter was considerably older than either Aaron
or Moses, (Exod. ii. 4).

CHAPTER XVII.
THE SOJOURNING OP THE ISRAELITES IN EGYPT.
180. In this chapter Dr. Colenso merely records his
reasons for concurring in the commonly received, though
not universal, opinion that the sojourning of the children
of Israel in Egypt lasted for little more than two centuries.
In that conclusion I entirely concur, and will briefly re
capitulate the reasons in its favour.
The ambiguity is occasioned by two passages in the
Pentateuch, — the first occurring in the promise made by
God to Abram, (Gen. xv. 13,) the second in the narrative
of the Exodus, (Exod. xii. 40,) — which speak of a terra of
400, or 430 years, as the period during which the Israel
ites should sojourn, or had sojourned, in a strange land.
And the question is, whether that term is intended to in
clude the sojourning of the Patriarchs in Canaan, or is
confined to the sojourning of the Israelites in Egypt.
If the passages stood alone, we should, I think, be dis
posed to adopt the latter interpretation ; but the following
considerations seem conclusively to shew that the former is
the true one.
(1.) It is adopted by the Septuagint, and every (or almost
every) ancient paraphrase and version.
(2.) It is adopted by Josephus, who distinctly says that
the Israelites left Egypt " 430 years after our forefather
Abraham came into Canaan, but 215 years only after Jacob
removed into Egypt." (Antiq., ii. 15.)
(3.) It is adopted by St. Paul, who observes that the
delivery of the Law was 430 years after — not the re
moval into Egypt, but — the promise made to Abraham.
(Gal. iii. 17.)

chap. xvii. j me acgouming of the Israelites, 8fc. 169
(4.) It is conformable to the Scriptural view, which uni
formly represents the Patriarchs as sojourners in a strange
land. Thus in Gen. xvii. 8, God, speaking to Abraham,
calls Canaan "the land of thy sojournings." In Gen. xxiii.
4, Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto
the sons of Heth, saying, "lam a stranger and a sojourner
with you" In Gen. xxviii. 4, God promises to Jacob
"the land of thy sojournings." And in Exod. vi. 4, He
speaks of the covenant with the Patriarchs to give them the
land of Canaan, " the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they
were strangers." (Cf. Gen. xxxvii. 1 ; Acts vii. 5 ; He
brews xi. 9.) The Patriarchs still looked to the land be
yond the Euphrates as their real home. " Thou shalt not
take a wife for my son," (says Abraham to his steward,)
" of the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell :
but thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and
take a wife for Isaac." (Gen. xxiv. 3, 4.) And hence in
all probability he acquired his name " the Hebrew," i-QV.
" One came and told Abram the Hebrew," (Gen. xiv. 13,)
— rep irepdrri, the stranger, the passer-by. (See Parkhurst
and Gesenius, sub. voc. ; Hengstenberg's Balaam, 504;
Kurtz, i. 168; Pusey at Jonah, i. 9.)
(5.) It is not rebutted by the remark that they were not
in affliction and servitude before the removal into Egypt,
for neither were they for a considerable period after that
removal. (See supr. 38.)
(6.) If the pedigrees given in the Pentateuch are in
tended to be perfect, the lesser period must be the correct
one, for the mother of Moses is said to have been the
daughter of Levi a- This will exactly accord with a sojourn
0 There are indeed passages in Scripture where similar phrases are
used to include not merely children, but remote issue. Thus in Gen.
xlvi. 18 it is said that "the eons which Zilpah bare unto Jacob" were
not only Gad and Asher, but their children and grandchildren. And so

170 The Sojourning of the Israelites, fyc. [chap. xvii.
of 215 years, for Jochebed may well have borne Moses, her
youngest son, forty years after her father's death, (Exod.
vi. 16, vii. 7); but it is of course incompatible with a so
journ of 430 years.
Kurtz, indeed, (ii. 141,) suggests a corruption in the
passage, on account of the omission of the mother's name:
Jochebed being described as " the daughter of Levi whom
she bare to Levi in Egypt." (Numb. xxvi. 59.) But the
omission of the mother's name is intended, as it seems to
me, merely to imply that she was. Levi's lawful wife. Thus
we read in 1 Chron. vii. 14, "The sons of Manasseh ; Ash-
riel, whom she bare, but his concubine bare Machir."
On the whole, therefore, the common view which makes
the term of 430 years commence with the call of Abram
seems undoubtedly correct.
And as Abram had departed out of Haran twenty-five
years before Isaac was born, (Gen. xii. 4, xxi. 5,) and
Isaac was sixty years old when Jacob was born, (xxv. 26,)
and Jacob was 130 years old when he went down into
Egypt, (xlvii. 9,) we find that (25 + 60 + 130) 215 of the
430 years had elapsed before the removal into Egypt,
leaving another 215 (which is precisely the estimate of
Josephus) for the duration of the sojourning in Egypt.
Or if, as Dr. Colenso suggests, we suppose that the Call
was five years antecedent to the departure of Abram from
Haran, and the 430 years are to commence from the Call,
and the 400 years from the birth of Isaac, we should ob
tain a period of 210 years for the Egyptian term.
It is quite immaterial which of these two estimates we
adopt.
of Bilhah, (ver. 25,) and Leah, (ver. 15). But this does not seem to be
the meaning of the verse now in question.

CHAPTER XVIII.
THE EXODUS IN THE FOURTH GENERATION.
181. " Thy seed shall be a stranger in a land which is
not theirs . . .four hundred years. . . But in the fourth gene
ration shall they come hither again." (Gen. xv. 13, 16.)
The word translated generation in the foregoing passage is
by many Hebrew scholars considered in this place to mean
age, century; — "They shall be strangers for four hundred
years : but at the end of the fourth century," &c. And it cer
tainly seems somewhat anomalous to find a computation by
generations reckoned from an event (the going down into
Egypt) which is not mentioned or referred to in the passage.
However, the controversy is merely a verbal one: the
facts will suit equally with either signification. And I will
therefore consider the question on the ground, assumed by
Dr. Colenso, that our authorized version is correct.
182. But in making any calculation on such a subject
as this, we must of course remember that generations do
not move on pari passu. Often there will be persons in
the third generation older than persons in the second, and
so on. And more especially would this be the case when
men lived to the age of the Patriarchs a. If, for example,
Levi lived to the age of 137 years, it is hardly conceivable
that he should not have had grandsons, or even great-
grandsons, born before the sons of his old age.
183. And then we must also recollect that three, or
perhaps four, generations went down together into Egypt
* Thus through three different lines of ancestry Eleazar, a man having
children at the time of the Exodus, was in the fourth, the fifth, and the
seventh degree from Jacob. See the table cited from Dr. Colenso, infra,
184 And this agrees with the computation infra, 183.

172 The Exodus in the Fourth Generation, [chap.
— Jacob, and his sons, and his sons' sons, and perhaps
his sons' grandsons. Beckoning the fourth generation
from these, we should expect to find the great bulk of the
population in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh genera
tions from Jacob. And even so it is hardly probable that
these four generations would come out, winnowed clear,
so to say, of all their predecessors and successors. Many
representatives of earlier generations would still survive,
and many of the eighth, ninth, tenth, and even later gene
rations would have come into existence. Remembering
the early age at which Orientals attain maturity, and the
remarkable fertility (as we shall see in the next chapter)
of the Israelites in Egypt, there might well be occasional
instances of nine or ten successive generations in a period
of 215 years b, which would admit persons in the twelfth
generation from Jacob.
b Dr. McCaul having observed, that as thirty years are generally
allowed for a generation, it would be unreasonable to suppose that only
four generations were born during a period of two hundred and fifteen
years, Dr. Colenso gravely rejoins, "If thirty years represent (as is
generally reckoned) a generation in these days, when the average dura
tion of life is seventy years, we may assume that about sixty years would
be reckoned as a generation, if the average of life is supposed to be one
hundred and thirty-five years/' — Note 33 in answer to Dr. M'Caul.
But the average duration of life has nothing whatever to do with the
question. Men, by living longer, do not postpone or retard the series
of generations ; they merely see more generations born in their own life
time. In determining how many generations would be born within
a given period, the average duration of life cannot possibly affect the
question in the slightest degree ; we have simply to consider what was
the average age at which the people in question became parents. And
of course it cannot be contended that in those days and in Eastern
climes maturity was attained at a later period of life than is the case in
our own age and country. Indeed, so well is the contrary established
that Dr. Colenso is of opinion — as we have already seen — that in those
days a lad of about twenty-two may well have had as many as ten
sons, (see supr. 45).

xvm.J The Exodus in the Fourth Generation. 173
184. And the scanty genealogies which we find in the
Pentateuch, and elsewhere, are in entire accordance with
this view. The following instances, with the exception of
the last, are collected by Dr. Colenso : —
Jacob
 I 
1. Eeuben Levi Judah Joseph

2. Pallu Kohath Jochebed Pharez Manasseh
3. Eliab Amram Aaron Hezron Machir
I I I I I

4. Dathan Abiram Aaron Eleazar Ram Gilead
5. their sons Eleazar Phinehas Amminadab Hepher
6. Phinehas Elisheba Zelophehad'
7. Eleazar
8. Phinehas
As a general rule, however, the notable characters at the
time of the Exodus — and theirs are the only genealogies
we obtain from the Pentateuch — would be mature, elderly
persons; and the historian has no occasion to enumerate
the names of their sons and grandsons.
185. We are not therefore surprised to find that Joshua,
almost the only person mentioned as "a youth" at the
Exodus, was in the eleventh generation from Jacob.
"Jacob, Joseph, Ephraim, Beriah, Rephah, Telah, Tahan,
Laadan, Ammihud, Elishama, Nun, Joshua." (1 Chron.
vii. 23 — 27.) There were probably many youths in the
same degree of descent, especially in the great double-tribe
of Joseph, which had (Numb, xxvi.) according to promise
(Gen. xlviii. 19) pushed on its numbers with a rapidity un-

174 The Exodus in the Fourth Generation, [chap.
paralleled even among the tribes of Israel. The pedigree
of Joshua is precisely what we should expect.
I should not, however, have referred to the Chronicles,
but should have confined my attention to the data to be
found in the Pentateuch, had not Dr. Colenso himself
cited this pedigree, and made it (as indeed for the sake of
his own theory he was constrained to do) the occasion
of a vigorous attack upon the veracity of the Book of
Chronicles. 186. Let us then see what is the statement in the Book
of Chronicles which, according to Dr. Colenso, involves
a palpable contradiction, so that we are justified in dis
missing the whole account as most probably erroneous.
(Colenso, 113.) To me it seems that there is not in the
passage to which he refers the least approach to a contra
diction, and that the meaning is as plain and simple as
words can make it.
The verses are these : — " The sons of Ephraim ; Shuthelah, and
Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eladah his son, and Tahath
his son, and Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and
Elead, whom the men of Gath slew. And Ephraim their father
mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him." (1
Chron. vii. 20 — 22.) That is to say, remarks Dr. Colenso, Ephraim
mourned many days over his descendants in the seventh generation :

Now I affirm unhesitatingly that it is quite clear that the persons
slain were not the great-great-great-great-great-great grandsons, but
the sons of Ephraim : that the nine names do not represent succes
sive generations, but belong to one generation only.
It is indeed impossible to conceive that any writer, not being
a person of unsound mind, should have intended to make such
a statement as Dr. Colenso would put into his mouth. It is not as
if the facts were brought up from different parts of his narrative, so
that the contradiction might have escaped his notice : it is a state
ment which he makes with his eyes open, though knowing of course
as well as Dr. Colenso, or any one else, that Ephraim could not have

xviii.] The Exodus in the Fourth Generation. 175
mourned over his descendants in the seventh generation. Surely,
on any sound principle of criticism, this alone would be sufficient to
shew that such was not his meaning.
As if to put the matter beyond all question, the Chronicler ex
pressly calls Ephraim their father; for grant that this might only
mean their remote ancestor, yet what critic would resort to a non-
natural interpretation involving impossibilities, when the natural
sense makes everything plain and consistent ? I lay no stress on
the plural " sons" at the commencement of the passage, for that
might no doubt be used of one individual.
It can, however, hardly be doubted that the first three names,
Shuthelah, Bered, and Tahath, are identical with the three names of
Ephraim's sons given in Numb. xxvi. 35, Shuthelah, Becher, and
Tahan, (and so it is explained in the marginal notes of our ordinary
Bibles) ; the author of the Pentateuch stopping short, according to
his invariable custom, (as we shall see in the next chapter,) when he
has gone through the names of the Eponymi.
The circumstance of there being two Shuthelahs and two Tahaths
in one family, probably arose from the death of the one before the
birth of the other. It is quite a common occurrence in the Jewish
genealogies to find a name thus repeated in a family. Thus in
1 Chron. iii. 6, 8, we find two Elishamas, sons of David. And many
similar instances might be collected. In the present case, indeed,
the Septuagint slightly varies the name.
187. It does not seem, therefore, to admit of a doubt
that these nine persons were all sons of Ephraim, unless
(and this Dr. Colenso assumes) a series of names occurring
in this form in the Book of Chronicles invariably implies
a succession of generations.
It will be sufficient to cite one instance to the contrary. But I
would specially entreat the reader's attention to that instance, not
merely for its bearing on the present controversy, but because it is,
as it seems to me, an almost unique example of the manner in which
a little additional information (which we can but rarely obtain) will
bring into minute and perfect harmony statements which, of them
selves, might appear to be somewhat inconsistent. The facts are
a little intricate, but I will make them as clear as I can.

176 The Exodus in the Fourth Generation, [chap.
In the Book of Exodus (vi. 16, 18, 21, 24) we have the following
genealogy :— Levi
Kohath

Amram Izhar Hebron Uzziel
Korah

Assir Elkanah Abiasaph.

The Chronicler (1 Chron. vi. 16 — 24) starts with the same four sons
of Kohath, sometimes, however, calling Izhar by the name of Am
minadab. And then he gives the genealogy as follows : " The sons
of Kohath; Amminadab (i.e. Izhar) his son, Korah his son, Assir his
son, Elkanah his son, Ebiasaph his son, and Assir his son, Tahath his
son," &c.
Now it is plain that Assir, Elkanah, and Ebiasaph are the three
sons of Korah mentioned iu the Book of Exodus ; and remembering
the Hebrew custom, discussed supr. 53, of going through all the
names in a family until the writer comes to the one he requires,
I should assume the second Assir to be the son of Abiasaph, and
arrange the genealogy thus : — Levi
Kohath

Amram f Izhar "J Hebron Uzziel
U

. or Amminadab j
Korah

Assir Elkanah Ebiasaph Assir
Tahath.

xvm.j xne jzxoaus in the Fourth U-eneration. 177
But might it not be said that, although this view is probably
correct, yet such was not the intention of the Chronicler ; that he
had got hold of the right names, but had made an error in the ar
rangement, and had considered them as successive generations : that
it would be altogether uncritical in one continuous string of names
to consider some to represent brothers, and others father and son ?
Doubtless this might, and would have been said, nor would it have
been easy to give a satisfactory answer to such objections, had not
the Chronicler himself by accident, as it were, had occasion in the
same chapter, and within a very few verses, to trace back the pedi
gree of Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, the celebrated musicians and
choir-masters of David. As he is merely shewing their descent from
Levi, he of course omits all collateral branches ; we merely have the
direct line from son to father. And in the case of Heman, that line
is as follows : — Heman was the fifteenth from Tahath, the son of Assir,
the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Ko
hath, the son of Levi, the son of Israel. (1 Chron. vi. 37, 38.) A
more complete and satisfactory verification of the views advanced in
these pages with respect to the Hebrew genealogies, can hardly,
I think, be expected c-
188. There are, however, two other statements in the
pedigree of Joshua (1 Chron. vii.) which Dr. Colenso in
forms us are "hardly credible."
In each case the objection depends on the following reasoning.
"We have no express statement of the age of Joshua at the time of
the Exodus ; but we may suppose it to have been about the same
as that of Caleb, with whom he is so often coupled, and Caleb was
forty years old when sent to spy the land at the end of the first year
after the Exodus. (Josh. xiv. 7.) We may therefore adopt the esti
mate of Josephus, (Ant., v. 1. 29,) who reckons the age of Joshua at
forty-five at.the time of the Exodus." (Colenso, 112.)
It is perhaps " hardly credible" that Dr. Colenso should have alto-
c It follows however from this, that some of the names in the pedigree
of Joshua may also be the names of collaterals, and the Chronicler may
not have intended to represent him as in the eleventh degree from Jacob.
And therefore, though nothing can be more probable, I think it fair not
to rely upon this statement. N

178 The Exodus in the Fourth Generation. [chap.
gether overlooked the express statement as to Joshua's age con
tained in Exod. xxxiii. 11. He is there described as a young man,
a youth, a child, "1S3, a term applied to a very young person of either
sex, a.boy or girl, 6 or $ 7rais. It is the word translated " damsel"
in the story of Rebekah, (Gen. xxiv.,) " lad" in the story of Ben
jamin, (Gen. xliv.,) and " little child" in the story of Solomon, (1 Kings
iii. 7). And Joshua would hardly have been singled out by this
name if he had then been much over twenty"1.
With this simple statement of fact both Dr. Colenso's objections
vanish. For even if his calculation, that Joshua's ancestor in the sixth
generation was born 145 years before the Exodus, be correct, we
should still have 124 years left for those six generations, which is
quite what we should expect in the tribe of Ephraim.
And nothing can be more probable than that when Joshua, a youth
of twenty, was aide-de-camp to Moses, Elishama his grandfather
should have been (say at the age of 63) the head of the tribe of
Ephraim. (Numb. ii. 18.) Nothing can be more probable than that
this favoured youth should be the grandson of the leader of that
important tribe.
But would Joshua at twenty have been able to command what
Dr. Colenso calls "the whole Hebrew force," "the host of Israel,"
in the fight against Amalek ? (Exod. xvii. 9, 10.)
Had it been so stated, there surely would have been no reason to
disbelieve it. Eew things can be less likely than that a young man
of twenty-four, — a commoner, too, — should be Prime Minister of
this great empire; yet we do not doubt the veracity of the his
torians who tell us that this was the case with William Pitt.
Still it is, perhaps, as well to be accurate, and we have already
seen that it was not " the whole Hebrew force," it was not " the
host of Israel," it was but a chosen band which fought with Amalek.
The statement that Joshua was "a lad" at the date of the Exodus
is in exact and perfect harmony with the other chronological notes
d It would seem, too, from Deut. i. 35, 36, 38, that Joshua was reck
oned of a later generation than Caleb. And the whole speech of Caleb
to Joshua (Josh. xiv. 6—12) is that of an elder to a younger man. That
Joshua had attained the age of twenty either at the time of the Exodus
or at least a few months later, may perhaps be gathered from Numb.
xxxii. 11, 12.

xviii.] The Exodus in the Fourth Generation. 179
in the narrative. He must then have been about sixty years old
when, on the death of Moses, he assumed the command of the armies
of Israel ; several more years of his life were spent in the conquest,
partition, and settlement of the Promised Land ; and it was not until
"a long time after that the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all
their enemies round about," that "Joshua waxed old and stricken
in age." (Josh, xxiii. 1.)
So beautifully and undesignedly do the Scripture statements har
monize, even in the minutest particulars.
Our examination, therefore, of the recorded genealogies
entirely confirms our previous calculations. The men in
the prime of life who came out of Egypt would range from
the fourth to the eighth generation from Jacobe; while the
"boys and girls," especially^ in the great prolific tribes,
would reach on to the eleventh, and probably in some cases
further. There would also be some few remnants of the
third generation still surviving.

e Moses being the son of a daughter of Levi, there might probably
at the date of the Exodus be no inconsiderable number of, the children
of the sons of the Patriarchs, unless indeed his jgreat age should make
him an exception to the general rule.

CHAPTER XIX.
THE NUMBER OF ISRAELITES AT THE TIME OF
THE EXODUS.
189. The whole scheme of the patriarchal promises
hinges upon the- great and sudden increase which was, at
some subsequent period, to take place amongst the de
scendants of the Patriarchs.
Down to the era of the removal into Egypt, the heritage
had been carefully confined and limited within the channel
of a single family. In each generation one member was
singled out, and segregated from the rest, as the child and
the heir of the promise. Ishmael and the children of Ke-
turah were sent away in favour of Isaac, Esau in favour
of Jacob.
But now the system was to be changed : there were to
be no more rejections, no more narrowings of the channel
and thinnings of the parent stem; the hour of the promise
had at length arrived ; the Chosen Pamily was to expand
into the Chosen People.
190. The Divine promises to Abraham, from his first call
downward, notwithstanding the narrow channel to which the
heritage was then confined, uniformly point to this great
increase one day to take place amongst his descendants.
" I will make of thee a great nation." (Gen. xii. 2.) "I will make
thy seed as the dust of the earth." (xiii. 16.) "Tell the stars, if
thou be able to number them : so shall thy seed be." (xv. 5.) " I
will multiply thee exceedingly." (xvii. 2.) " I will make thee ex
ceeding fruitful." (xvii. 6.) " I will multiply thy seed as the stars
of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore." (xxii. 17.)
So, after Abraham's death, to Isaac: "I will make thv seed to

chap, xix.] The Number of Israelites, 8fc. 181
multiply as the stars of heaven." (Gen. xxvi. 4.) "I will multiply
thy seed." (xxvi. 24.)
So to Jacob: "Thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth."
(Gen. xxviii. 14.) "Be fruitful and multiply." (xxxv. 11.)
These passages may undoubtedly point in a higher and spiritual
sense to the vast expansion which was to take place when the Gen
tiles were gathered in to be the children of faithful Abraham. But
it is of course beyond all controversy that in their primary significa
tion they referred to a nearer and a temporal increased And the
final promise, taking up the words of the original call, fixes the date
of this great fruitfulness to the period of the sojourning in Egypt,
(to which indeed alone it could be historically assigned).
"Fear not," said God to Jacob, on the eve of his departure for
Egypt, "Eear not to go down into Egypt; for I will theke make
of thee a great nation." (Gen. xlvi. 3.)
191. And immediately on their entry into Egypt the
promise began to take effect.
Even in Jacob's lifetime we read that " Israel grew and multiplied
exceedingly," (Gen. xlvii. 27,) while after his death their numbers
increased with such marvellous rapidity, that the historian can hardly
accumulate phrases sufficiently to describe it. ,
" The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly,
and multiplied and waxed exceeding mighty, and the land was filled
with them '." (Exod. i. 7.) And " the more they afflicted them, the
more they multiplied and grew." (ver. 12.) "And the people mul
tiplied, and waxed very mighty b." (ver. 20.) " They be more and
mightier than we," was the alarmed reflection of the king of Egypt.
(ver. 9.)
192.. Looking back to this complete fulfilment of the
patriarchal promises, the historian of the Exodus exclaims,
"Thy fathers went down into Egypt threescore and ten
persons, and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the
a Hvj--fi67io-av, Ka\ iirX-qBiivdrivav, KaX xvSaioi iyevovTO, Kcd KaTltrxvov
ff<p6$pa <r<p6Spa, iirXriBvve Be r/ 77) uvtous. (LXX.) Observe the last ex
pression. The Hebrew words are still more emphatic.
" The word translated mighty is ffi23?> which involves the idea of
numbers as well as of strength.

1 82 The Number of Israelites [chap.
stars of heaven for multitude." (Deut. x. 22.) " Thou
shalt say, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and
he went*, down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few,
and became there a nation great, mighty, and populous."
(Deut. xxvi. 5.)
And the later Jews, in recounting God's wondrous works
in the land of Ham, do not forget to chronicle this unex
ampled fertility. "And He increased His people exceed
ingly," says the Psalmist, " and made them stronger than
their enemies." (Ps. cv. 24.) " And when the time of the
promise," says St. Stephen, " drew nigh, which God had
sworn unto Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in
Egypt." (Acts vii. 17.)
193. We find, then, that this remarkable fecundity is
the theme of every part of Scripture : we find it announced
by antecedent prophecy ; attested by contemporary his
tory; embalmed in the hymns and speeches of subsequent
Psalmists and Evangelists. And it is always regarded in
Scripture, as it has always been regarded by the Church,
as something exceptional, something beyond the common
course of nature, and due to the direct superintendence of
Almighty God.
And if, after all this pomp of preparation, and all this
glowing description of the result, we were to find that the
Israelites increased only in the ordinary average of England
or Natal, would not this meagre fulfilment have justly been
objected to the truth of the history, would it not justly have ,
been said that the promise was of none effect ? " God's
words cannot mean so little while they express so much."
194. Yet as the Lord of nature mostly works through
His own laws, it may be interesting to enquire what reasons
our human eyes can see for the selection of the land of
Egypt as the theatre for the fulfilment of His promise, for
the enlargement of the family into the nation.

xix.J at the Time of the Exodus. 183
(1.) One reason is sufficiently obvious. Had this great
increase taken place in Canaan, amongst a number of small
and friendly tribes, the growing and expanding people
would in all human probability have mingled with the
heathen and learned their ways. And hence I suppose it
was that, during that first epoch of their sojourning, the
covenant was so carefully confined to the limits of a single
family. But in Egypt, under the shadow of one vast
empire, homogeneous in itself, and strongly antagonistic
to the immigrants, whose whole daily mode of life was
an abomination to the Egyptians, the growing people was
able to gather unity and consistency, and to retain with un
wonted tenacity the character, the habits, and the faith of
their forefathers.
(2.) But this was not the only reason. The transition
from Canaan to the rich fertile valley of the Nile, which
seems even then to have been e, as in after ages we know it
was, the great corn-country of the ancient world, would in
the natural course of things have been marked by a great
increase of population. The following passage has been
cited by Dr.McCaul from Mr. Malthus's "Essay on the
Principle of Population :" —
" It has been constantly remarked that all new colonies,
settled in healthy countries, where room and food were
abundant, have constantly made a rapid progress in popula
tion. ... It is calculated that the Israelites, though they
increased very slowly in the land of Canaan, on settling in
a fertile district in Egypt, doubled their numbers every
fifteen years during the whole period of their stay." And
Mr. Malthus proceeds to cite a variety of other examples
in which an approximation to the same result has been
obtained. " See Blunt's Undesigned Coincidences, p. 54.

184 The Number of Israelites [chap.
(3.) And although this result might to some extent have
followed on the removal of the Israelites into any country
more fertile than their own, yet Egypt was, even above all
other lands, especially calculated to produce it ; for through
out the whole ancient world the valley of the Nile stood
pre-eminent for the promotion of the fertility of its inhabi
tants. Its effect on the lower animals has been already
considered, supr. 128, and the following passages will
abundantly shew that the human race was equally prolific
in that rich and genial climate.
Amstotle (De Animal. Hist., vii. 5) says : —
" Some animals uniformly bear but one at a birth, others uniformly
bear many, but the human race does not keep uniformly to either
rule. For the general rule is that women bear but one at a time ;
while in many places they frequently bear twins ; as in Egypt d."
Tail' inev iu>vot6kuv Svtuv, tS>v Be tto\vt6kuv, iirafuportplfa ri yevos rb
tuv avBpdairwv' Tb /lev yap irXettrTov Kai tropa tois nXelfTTOit ev TiKTovffiv al
yvvaiites' -xoXXdicts Be Ka\ iroXXaxov SiSvfia olov irepl PtXyvnTov.
In the preceding chapter he had observed that an eight months'
child, in Egypt and other places, where women are prolific and are
easily delivered, can be reared without difficulty ; whereas in Greece
but few live — almost all die.
Pliny (vii. 3) says, (I cite from the quaint old version of Dr,.
Holland):— "That women may bring forth three at one birth, appeareth
evidently by the example of the three twins, Horatii and Curiatii.
But to goe above that number is reputed and commonly spoken to
bee monstrous, and to portend some mishap ; but" (i.e. bate) " onely
d The Rabbinical writers expressly say that the Htbrew mothers
were in the habit of giving birth to more than one child at a time; and
though their testimony is worthless as testimony, yet the statement is
in entire harmony with the evidence cited in the text. But Dr. Colenso
remarks that in this case the midwives could not have said that the
Hebrew women were delivered ere the midwives came in unto them.
(Colenso, 123.) Not with truth, it must be admitted. Yet Aristotle
(ubi supr.) does notice that the Egyptian women were easily delivered :
(ehiKtpopot ai yvvaiices, ^aSicos tIktoviti.}

xix.] at the Time of the Exodus. 185
in jEgypt, where women are more than ordinarie fruitfull, by drink
ing of Nilus water, which is supposed to helpe generation: (ubi
fetifer potu Nilus amnis). Trogus is mine author that in iEgypt
it is an ordinarie thing for a woman to have seven at a burden."
(The original however, hardly implies that the occurrence was an
" ordinarie" one ; it merely says, " In Jilgypto septenos uno utero
simul gigni auctor est Trogus.")
And again (vii. 5) he says : —
"All other living creatures have a set time limitted by nature
both of going with their young, and also of bringing it forth, each
one according to their kind. Man onely is borne at all times of the
yeere, and there is no certain time of his abode in the wombe, after
conception. Eor one commeth into the world at the seven months
end, another at the eight, and so to the beginning of the ninth and
tenth. An ordinarie thing it is (tralatitium est) in Egypt for women
to goe with young eight months and then to be delivered "."
Seneca (Nat. Qusest. iii. 25) says : —
" There are some things for which no reason can be assigned, as,
why the water of the Nile makes women fruitful, so that, under its
influence, those long barren will conceive children." " Quorundam
causa non potest reddi; quare aqua Nilotica fecundiores foeminas
' I cannot forbear quoting Pliny's " conclusion of the' whole matter."
"I am abashed much and very sorrie to think and consider what
a poore and ticklish beginning man hath, the prowdest creature of all
others ; when the smell onely of the snuffe of a candle put out, is the
cause oftentimes that a woman falleth into untimely travel]. And yet
see, these great tyrants, and such as delight onely in carnage and bloud-
shead have no better originall. Thou then that presumest upon thy
bodily strength, thou that standest so much upon fortune's favors, and
hast tby hands full of her bountiful gifts, taking thyselfe not to he
a foster child and nourceling of hers, but her naturall sonne born of her
own bodie : thou, I say, that busiest thy head evermore, and settest thy
mind upon conquests and victories : thou that art upon every good suc-
cesse, and pleasant gale of prosperitie, puffed up with pride and takest
thyselfe for a god, never thinkest that thy life when it was so hung upon
so single a thred, with so small a matter might have miscarried. Well
then think better of the point. For he verily that will evermore set
before his eies, and remember the frailetie of man's estate, shall live in
this world uprightly and in even ballance, without enclining more to
one side than unto the other.''

186 The Number of Israelites [chap.
i
faciat adeo ut quarundam viscera longa sterilitate prseclusa ad con
ceptual relaxaverit."
Columella (De Re Bust., iii. 8) says : —
" Nature has given to some people great fruitfulness, as to the
Egyptians and Africans, with whom twins are quite common and
almost the rule ; (quibus gemini partus familiares ac pene solennes
sunt.)" Solinus (cap. i.) says : —
" The fertilizing water of the Nile makes not only the land but
the human beings fruitful: (cum fetifero potu Nilus non tantum
terrarum sed etiam hominum materna fecundat arva.)"
AthenjBtjs, ii. 41, E., quoting Theophrastus, calls the Nile water
most productive of fecundity, woXvyovi&TaTov, (and what follows
shews that he is referring to human beings) ; as JElian (cited supr.
128) calls it with regard to cattle eire^TaTov, and Diobokus
Sictflus (i. 40) -xoXAyovov.
Etjstathius, Ad *Dionys. Perieg., v. 226, (but as he was a Chris
tian, his evidence may possibly not be considered that of an inde
pendent witness,) also calls the water of the Nile voxiyovav, for
the women there, he adds, sometimes have four, and according to
Aristotle, even seven at a birth.
Strabo (xv. § 22), speaking of the fertilizing properties of the
Nile, says that the Egyptian women sometimes bring forth four
children at a birth ; Tas fe yvvainas etrB' are Kai TeTpaSv/ia tIkthv Tas
Alyvirrlas. We find, therefore, that the united testimony of all the great natu
ralists of antiquity is borne to the fertilizing effect produced upon
the human race by the valley of the Nile.
195. Evidence so striking, and delivered with such en
tire unanimity, cannot possibly be altogether disregarded :
and however exaggerated some of the statements may be, it is
at any rate plain that (so far as we are capable of judging)
no more eligible scene than Egypt could by any possibility
have been selected for witnessing the rapid growth of the
Chosen People.
196. If we descend from these general views to par
ticular details, we are of course thrown at once into the
region of pure conjecture.

xix.] at the Time of the Exodus. 187
And in any calculation we may make as to the average
size of the Hebrew families, there is one disturbing and
unascertainable element. Of all the 70 persons of the seed
of Abraham who " went down into Egypt," two only were
females. It is plain, then, that at first, at any rate, the
men must have intermarried with persons not of the seed of
Abraham. We cannot tell whether the disproportion of the
sexes continued to any and what extent during the residence
in Egypt, but it seems to have ceased, and intermarriages
with strangers to have become the exception, before the
date of the Exodus.
A little consideration will shew the importance of this
unknown and unascertainable quantity. If in a family of
12 all were males, and intermarried with strangers, there
would be 12 families for the next generation, while if 6
were males and 6 females there would be but 6 families.
We can therefore only ascertain what would have been
the maximum average, (i.e. if all the mothers had been
Israelites,) and what the minimum, (that is, if they had all
been strangers).
And let us for this purpose suppose that the generations which
came out were the 5th, 6th, and 7th only, omitting the multitudes
belonging to earlier and later generations who must needs have come
out with them.
Now immediately before the promise began to take effect, Jacob
had had a family of 13 ; 12 sons and 1 daughter. Let us see what
result would follow if we were to assume that after the promise had
begun to take effect, the families had continued of that size.
And first assume that there continued to be 12 sons in each
family, in which case we should have to suppose that all the females,
with the exception of the thirteenth child in each family, Were
strangers. We should then have 12 males in the first generation; 144 in the
second; 1,728 in the third; 20,736 in the fourth; 248,882 in the
fifth; 2,985,984 in the sixth; and 35,831,808 in the seventh ; and
adding the fifth, sixth, and seventh generations together, we should,

188 The Number of Israelites [chap.
instead of the modest total of 2,000,000 of both sexes, obtain a re
sult of upwards of 39,000,000 of males, besides females.
On the principle of all the mothers (excepting the thirteenth child
of eaeh family) being strangers, it would require an average of be
tween 7 and 8 only to a family to give the result of 2,000,000.
Assume, next, that the families continued to be 13, but that in
stead of there being 12 males and 1 female, half were males and half
females ; in which case we should have to suppose that there were
no intermarriages with foreigners.
In this case we should have 13 persons in the first generation;
169 persons, or 84 families in the second; 1,092 persons, or 546
families in the third; 7,09S persons or 3,549 families in the fourth;
46,137 persons or 23,068 families in the fifth; 299,884 persons or
149,942 families in the sixth ; and 1,949,246 persons in the seventh ;
and adding the persons in the fifth, sixth, and seventh 'generations
together, we should obtain a result of nearly 300,000 persons above
the estimated number of the Israelites.
If this average of 13 were the final result, it would not, I think,
be under the circumstances a startling or unreasonable one, but in
fact it has to be reduced, not only by the number (which must at
first have been considerable) of strangers who intermarried with the
Hebrew men, but also by the addition of a multitude of members of
the earlier and later generations.
And on the whole, therefore, so far as we can conjecture, and it is
of course only conjecture, an average of 7 or 8 would seem amply
sufficient to bring us to the required result.
197. Nor, I apprehend, would Dr. Colenso on general
principles object to this estimate. His objection, if I under
stand it correctly, is this : Whatever we might expect to
find, yet when we come to look at the individual families
actually mentioned in the genealogies, we, as a general rule,
find mention of 3 or 4 children only.
Now it is plain that this objection is altogether based on
the assumption that in the genealogies of the Israelites
mentioned in the Pentateuch the writer professes to give
the entire list of the family.
And but that such an assumption has been actually

 -  j wf wee. jl turn Oj HIV JUdXOdllS. 189
made by Dr. Colenso, I should have supposed it clear
beyond all possibility of controversy that such was not the
case; that -the historian does not profess to enumerate all
the names in any one family ; that he merely records the
Eponymi or such other persons as he may have reason to
mention. Let us see what scattered hints we can find on
this subject.
(1.) In every genealogy we read that "the sons of Joseph are
Ephraim and Manasseh:" no more. Had then Joseph no other
sons ? and if he had any, why are they not mentioned ? Both ques
tions are answered by Gen. xlviii. 5, 6, where Jacob says to Joseph,
"Ephraim and Manasseh are mine. And the issue wliich thou
begettest after them shall be thine, and shall be called after the
name of their brethren in their inheritance."
It is clear that, whether spoken by Jacob with reference to other
issue then born or thereafter to be born, yet, as recorded by Moses,
the language necessarily implies that other children were in fact born
to Joseph. Yet their names are never mentioned in the genealogies,
and why ? Because they were not Eponymi ; they were called>-after
the names of their brethren in their inheritance.
(2.) In every genealogy we read that the sons of Pharez were
Hezron and Hamul : no more. Tet we find (Numb. xxvi. 20) that
"of Pharez came the family of the Pharzites; and the sons of
Pharez were, of Hezron the family of the Hezronites, of Hamul the
family of the Hamulites." There were therefore unnamed sons of
Pharez, the progenitors of the family of the Pharzites.
(3.) In every genealogy we read that the sons of Beriah were
Heber and Malchiel : no more. Yet in Numb. xxvi. 44, we find
that, besides the families of the Heberites .and Malehielites, there was
also the family of the Beriites, from the unnamed sons of Beriah.
(4.) The same is the case with the family of Bela, (Numb. xxvi.
38 — 40). Each of his named sons has a family, but over and above
all these, the family of his unnamed sons is called by his name.
In fact, in every instance (and there are a great number of them)
in which we can apply this test, we at once detect the presence of
other sons besides those who are named.
(5.) Take, again, the case of Jochebed. In no one genealogy is
her name mentioned i» the direct list of Levi's children. In every

190 Tan jsiwmuer oj jsraentes |_CHAP.
case it is only mentioned subsequently and incidentally, as the wife
of Amram and the mother of Moses e- It is merely by accident, so
to say, that we hear of her existence at all; we probably should
never have done so had she not been the mother of Moses.
(6.) Of course, if we accept the statements of the Chronicler, (and
I do not see the slightest reason for discrediting them,) there is an
end of the question, for he perpetually records f the name of children
not mentioned in the Pentateuch. And, at any rate, his statements
serve to shew that the Israelites did not themselves consider that
the brief pedigrees of the Pentateuch were intended to contain ex
haustive enumerations of their respective families «.
(7.) And finally, the improbability of Dr. Colenso's assumption is
so very great, that it hardly required such clear and conclusive evi
dence to convince us ol its unsoundness. Consider for a moment
the intrinsic improbabilities, almost amounting to impossibilities,
which it involves.
We have seen the accumulation of promises in respect of the in
crease of population to take place among the Israelites.
We have seen that, as the time for the removal into Egypt drew
nigh, these promises assumed a local shape, and pointed to Egypt as
the place of their realization.
We have seen that they began to be fulfilled immediately on the
removal, so that even in the remaining seventeen years of Jacob's life
the increase could be spoken of as multiplying exceedingly.
On the other hand, we have the twelve sous of Jacob, all young
men, ranging from forty-five to twenty-two, some of them already
exceedingly fruitful, and is it possible to consider that on coming
into that fertile and prolific land their increase suddenly stopped ?
(We have indeed shewn in our third chapter that this conclusion does

e It is pleasant to see how the writer goes out of his way, as it were,
to introduce his mother's name.
' Yet even the Chronicler repeatedly intimates that those mentioned
by name are only the chief, the princes in the families, the heads of their
fathers' house. And cf. Exod. vi. 14, 25.
e From Exod. vi. 20 we might have supposed that Aaron and Moses
were the only two children of Amram, yet we know that Miriam was
their sister, and it is by no means improbable that they had other
sisters (Exod. ii. 4) and other brethren (Exod. jy. 18).

six. j al the Time of the Exodus. 191
not necessarily follow, but it is the conclusion at which Dr. Colenso
arrives.) This would be a prodigy of sterility, not the promised prodigy of
fertility. On the whole, it appears from the foregoing considera
tions that, whether we look at the probability of the case
or at the data furnished us by Scripture, two millions is
a moderate and reasonable estimate of the number of the
Israelites at the time of the Exodus.
198. The remarks which Dr. Colenso makes in his next
chapter with respect to the numbers of the Danites and
Levites are merely an application to particular cases of the
fallacious reasoning which we have just considered, and
therefore do not require a separate examination.
199. The objection with regard to Dan is that he "had
only one son, as appears from Numb. xxvi. 42, where the
sons of Dan consist of but one family." (Colenso, 125.) It
would have been more correct to say that " Dan had only
one son who gave his name to a family" and this, as we
have already seen, implies nothing as to the real number
of Dan's sons. Indeed, the strange plurality which runs
through the entire description of Dan's family, might pos
sibly be intended to indicate that the issue of his other
sons, though not elevated into separate families, yet re
tained some sort of distinctive position. "These are the
sons of Dan after their families : of Shuham, the family of
the Shuhamites. These are the families of Dan after their
families. All the families of Dan were 64,400." .
And the historian's two statements, placed by himself m
immediate juxtaposition, that Benjamin's numerous families
amounted only to 45,600, while Dan's one family (if it was
but one) amounted to 64,400, appear to me not an objection
to, but a proof of, his entire veracity. He knew of course
that the descendants of ten men would in all likelihood

192 The Number of Israelites [chap.
have been more numerous than those of one man, and had
he been concocting a fictitious narrative he would no doubt
have represented them as being so. He had no occasion
whatever, unless the fact was true, to state the reverse.
But it seems to me that a history in which everything is
stated with an attentive regard to the verisimilitude of the
case, in which every generation advances in regular and
mathematical proportion, would bear on its face the stamp
and brand of falsehood.
200. The same considerations dispose of the objections
to the number of the Levites, 22,000 at the date of the
Exodus. There is, however, a further objection here. At
the end of the forty years they had increased, not to 48,471,
(as they should have done according to the average increase
of population in England — Colenso, 130,) but to 23,000
only. To this I can only reply in the words of Minos to
the Sophist, *i2 S^orpare, iroXAa IDois av Kal b\\\a oi Kara
\6yov yivopeva el aKpij3&s l^erafcois. " O Sostratus, you
will find many other examples too of things not happening
as they should, if you take the trouble to look." More
over, the statement in question shews that the historian
was in no wise inclined to magnify the proportion of his
own tribe.
But in truth, the fact that at the time of the entry into
the Promised Land (Numb, xxvi.) the tribes of Simeon and
Levi were far less numerous than their fellows, can hardly
fail to recall to our minds the punishment which Jacob on
his deathbed pronounced upon the sin of these two Patri
archs. And although in the case of Levi, the concluding
part of the doom, " I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter
them in Israel," (Gen. xlix. 7,) had for their zeal in God's
service been, not indeed revoked or altered, but transformed
into a blessing, for the Lord Himself had become their in
heritance ; yet even this was carried out to the letter in the

xix. j at the Time of the Exodus. 193
case of Simeon. To such an extent did that tribe dwindle
away, and become absorbed into the surrounding tribes,
that in the partition of .the land between Judah and Ben
jamin on the one hand, and the "ten tribes" on the
other, it seemed wellnigh to be forgotten that Simeon's
lot was in reality within the limits of the kingdom of
Judaea. The Chronicler, (1 Chron. iv. 24 — 43) gives a very in
teresting account of the descendants of Simeon. Amongst
other things, he observes that "Shimei had sixteen sons
and six daughters, but his brethren had not many children,
neither did their families multiply, like to the children of
Judah ;" an observation which I merely cite to shew what
in the view of an Israelite would be understood by " a mul
tiplying of families."
It has often been observed that the union of Simeon and
Levi in the same Woe is a cogent proof of the genuineness
of Jacob's deathbed farewell. No subsequent writer would
have dreamed of connecting with the inglorious decay and
absorption of the luckless tribe of Simeon, the allotment
of the honoured and chosen tribe of Levi throughout the
sacred cities.
201. With the conclusion to which Dr. Colenso, in op
position to Kurtz and Rawlinson, arrives in his nineteenth
chapter, that the two millions who came out of Egypt are
all represented as the actual descendants of Jacob, and
not as sprung from his servants and companions, I, of
course, altogether coincide. But from the reasons which
he offers in support of that conclusion I venture entirely
to dissent.
That the Patriarchs are represented as possessed of numerous ser
vants throughout the period of their sojourn in Canaan, appears to
me plain from the whole narrative of the Book of Genesis. The
remark of Dr. Colenso that the employment of Jacob's sons as shep-
o

194 The Number of Israelites [chap.
herds is inconsistent with this idea, is conceived rather in the spirit
of modern Europe than in that of Eastern antiquity h.
Even when Abraham left his father's land, he seems to have
brought with him a numerous retinue, " the souls they had gotten
in Haran." (Gen. xii. 5.) He was a mighty prince in Canaan, (xxiii.
6,) and could, when occasion required, command the service of 318
men born in his house, (xiv. 14 ; cf. xvii. 23) ; yet when the celes
tial visitors appear before his simpje tent on the plain of Mamre, he
directs Sarah to knead the cakes, and he himself fetches the calf from
the herd, though he gives it to the servant to dress, (xviii. 6, 7 .)
And when his steward goes for a wife for Isaac, he says that his
master possesses "flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and men-
servants and maidservants, and camels and asses," (xxiv. 35) : where
we find the mention of servants amongst animals which would doubt
less be numbered by thousands. And so Jacob before he inherited
any of his father's possessions had "much cattle, and maidservants
and menservants, and camels and asses," (xxx. 43,) and brought
them with him on his return from Haran. (xxxii. 5, 7.)
The value of Dr. Colenso's other remark, which he thinks of such
importance that he italicizes the whole, (" their eleven (? ten, or nine)
sacks would have held but a very scanty supply of food for one year's
consumption of so many starving thousands," Colenso, 134,) will not,
I think, appear very great to 'those who have considered the facts
stated in our third chapter, supr. 41.
202. The reasons which Dr. Colenso has given appear
therefore insufficient to support the conclusion- at which he
arrives. But with the conclusion itself I agree; though on
totally different grounds.
Throughout the whole of the Old and New Testaments
the Israelites are everywhere regarded as the direct de-

h So the simple mountaineer (aipexiis koL Spews) whom the approach
ing goddesses observed on Ida running down from the heights with his
crook, and trying to keep his flock together, (in tov <tkott4Xov KaiaBeovTa,
tcaAaipoira exovTa, Kal aveipyovTa fi.il irpAtra SiatritlSvaaBai tV ayeXnv:
see Lucian's charming dialogue on the Judgment of Paris, Deor. Dial.
xx.) was yet of princely blood, (Pao-iXiitbs p.ev iirn,) the son, and accord
ing to Mr. Gladstone, the heir, of the wealthy and luxurious Priam.

xix. J at the Time of the Exodus. 195
scendants of Abraham. " Look unto Abraham your father,
and unto Sarah who bare you." And it seems to me quite
impossible to believe that there was any portion of the
nation which had not the blood of the Patriarch flowing
in their veins.
And such an hypothesis, again, would far too greatly
dwarf and reduce the dimensions of the long-promised fer
tility which was to attend, and did attend, the residence of
the Israelites in Egypt.
That there were, however, many persons not children of
the Promise attending on the Patriarchs, cannot, I think,
be doubted; from these in all probability, while the dis
proportion of the sexes continued, the children of Israel
would select their wives ; and the remainder may have
formed that mixed multitude which was still accompanying
the Israelites when they went out of Egypt for ever. (Exod.
xii. 36 ; Numb. xi. 4.)

CHAPTER XX.
THE WAR ON MIDIAN.
203. The chapter to which Dr. Colenso prefixes the
above heading commences with the following words : " We
have now concluded our preliminary work of pointing out
some of the most prominent inconsistencies and impos
sibilities which exist in the story of the Exodus ;" and I
presume, therefore, that he does not himself intend seriously
to rely on the singular chronological objection which he sug
gests in the course of the chapter.
The objection is this. The interval between the death
of Aaron (Numb, xx.) and the commencement of the Book
of Deuteronomy seems to be but six months. (Numb.
xxxiii. 38 ; Deut. i. 3.)
Between these two events the Israelites are recorded to
have travelled a considerable distance, (twenty-three days'
journey, according to Dr. Colenso's estimate a) ; to have
conquered a considerable tract of land, (larger than an
average English county); to have been blessed by Balaam,
bitten by fiery serpents, and numbered by Moses, and to
have committed divers crimes.
And assuming these events to have occurred, in no one
case simultaneously, but in regular succession, Dr. Colenso
suggests that the Israelites would not have had time to do,
suffer, and commit them all, in the period of six months.
* In this place, too, Dr. Colenso insists that we must assume, —
against the narrative, — that there were three clays of rest between each
station, though he would not hear of such a suggestion when made in
favow of the narrative : see supr. 125. He cites here as conclusive the
very opinion of Kurtz which he is there combating.

chap, xx.j The War on Midian. 197
204. Such calculations, of course, neither admit of nor
require an answer ; but there is one observation I feel it
necessary to make.
A third of this valuable time is, according to Dr. Colenso, taken
up in the following manner : during one month, as we know, they
mourned for Aaron, and the next, he suggests, was occupied in the
contest with Arad, who had, we are to presume, been courteous
enough to abstain from molesting the people until the days of their
mourning for Aaron were ended.
Now Dr. Colenso tells us that he had " closely studied" Kurtz ;
he must therefore once have known, though he may now have for
gotten, that Kurtz and other critics, not with any reference to these
imaginary difficulties, but on the intrinsic probability of the case,
agree in thinking that the contest with Arad, though recorded after,
yet occurred before the death of Aaron.
Their reasons for so thinking are as follows : — The country over
which Arad ruled lay immediately to the north of Kadesh, where
the Israelites had, after leaving Sinai, tarried for the spies, and
where they re-assembled after the termination of the forty years.
But before Aaron died they had left Kadesh the second time, and
travelled for a considerable distance to the south-east, to Mount
Hor, on their way round Edom to the eastern border of the Pro
mised Land. And Kurtz therefore says, "It is a very improbable
thing that the King of Arad should have waited till the Israelites
had left his borders and marched so far away before he made his
attack; and it is still more improbable that the Israelites should
have turned back from Mount Hor, (or possibly from a point still
further south,) and gone northwards beyond Kadesh for the purpose
of avenging the wrong. Moreover, this view is expressly excluded
by the passage itself, in which it is stated that ' the King of Arad
heard that Israel came by the way of the spies, and he fought against
Israel,' &c. The time is given clearly enough here. Israel came
and the King fought b- It was when the Israelites were apprbach-

b Hengstenberg gives a different explanation of this. The King of
Arad, he says, looked upon the marching away from Kadesh as an actual
coming, because the intention of this departure (viz. to enter Canaan
from the east) was not unknown to him.

198 . The War on Midian. [chap.
ing his border, not when they went away, that he made the attack."
And both Kurtz and Fries account for the departure from the chro
nological arrangement of events, (which, however, is by no means
uncommon in the Book of Numbers c,) on the ground that the jour
ney to the southward being the result of Edom's refusal while the
Israelites were at Kadesh to grant them a passage through his
country, the historian, having narrated the refusal, immediately ap
pends the result. " Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through
his border, wherefore Israel turned away from him — and eame unto
Mount Hor." (Numb. xx. 21, 22.) Having said this, he goes back
to the conflict with Arad, but in order to prevent any confusion, is
careful to state that it had actually occurred some time before, viz.,
"when Israel came by the way of the spies." (Kurtz, iii. 332.)
I offer no opinion on the correctness of these views, but surely
some reference should have been made to so important a fact in
a work expressly addressed to the unlearned laity.
However Dr. Colenso appears to lay no stress on his
own objection here, it is only introduced to excuse his
strictures upon the moral character of this portion of the
Pentateuch. 205. Into these questions it would be beyond my pro
vince, and I do not intend, to follow him. It would, in
deed, be scarcely a matter of surprise to find that the pre
cepts which our Lord revoked in the Sermon on the
Mount4 were of less high and pure a nature than those
which He substituted in their stead.
Yet with regard to the old question of the extirpation of
these Canaanites, we should always bear in mind that it is
u Thus the Book of Numbers commences (i. 1) with the second month
of the second year after the departure from Egypt. But in the ninth
chapter (ix. 1) we suddenly come upon an account of the Passover, which
had happened in the first month of that year.
d Yet even while dispensing with the harsher features of the Law,
our Lord expressly declares that the Law's real spirit might be summed
up into two commandments, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God : Than
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. And St. Paul, following in his
Master's footsteps, affirms that Love is the fulfilment of the Law,

"" -" JitiU f, viT Oil, Irl'vUcCM. 199
again and again impressed upon the Israelites that this
was a special and exceptional manifestation of the Divine
justice e; that it was exhibited on account of the wicked
ness of those nations, (see Deut. ix. 3, 4, 5, and passim,)
and because the iniquity of the Amorites was at last full ;
and that the Hebrew nation was but an instrument in the
hand of the Lord the Judge of all the earth.
If the Israelites meant it not so, if they treated it as an
ordinary war, (which there is no reason to suppose,) they
could not at any rate find a syllable in their sacred books
to justify and countenance such an idea.
206. After commenting in language which it is painful
to read on the morality of the Pentateuch, Dr. Colenso pro
ceeds to cite with enthusiastic commendation certain reli
gious writings of the Sikh Gooroos, and observes that per
sons who have no Pentateuch or Bible to teach them may
yet learn living truths by the secret teaching of the Spirit
of God. (Colenso, 188, 189.)
Pew Christians, I imagine, will be found to affirm that
in any age or in any country God has left Himself alto
gether without witness; but fewer still, I trust, will be in
clined to exalt the morality of Pagan writers at the expense
of the Word of God. The true relation between the two
literatures cannot be better expressed than in the noble
words of Erasmus, with which I am glad to conclude my
examination of Dr. Colenso's theories : —
" Sacris quidem Literis ubique prima debetur auctoritas : sed
tamen ego nonnunquam offendo quaedam vel dicta a veteribus vel
scripta ab ethnicis etiam poetis tarn caste tam sancte tam divinitus
ut mihi nou possim persuadere quin pectus illorum, quum ilia scribe-
rent, numen aliquod bonum agitaverit. Et fortasse latius se fundit
e And so it has ever been regarded by the Church, and compared
with the Noachian deluge, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and
the plagues of Egypt.

200 The War on Midian. [chap. xx.
Spiritus Christi quam nos interpretamur, et multi sunt in consortio
Sanctorum qui non sunt apud nos in catalogo."
"To the Sacred Scriptures our first and highest reverence is due.
Yet sometimes in old Pagan writers we light upon thoughts and
passages so pure, so holy, so divine, that I cannot bring myself to
believe that when they wrote such things their minds were not moved
by some influence from above. And perchance the Spirit of Christ
is more widely diffused than we are apt to imagine, and many may
be in the Communion of Saints whose names are not found in our
calendar."

CHAPTER XXI.
CONCLUDING REMARKS.
207. It is impossible to read the interesting sketch
which Dr. Colenso has drawn of the progress of his own
mind, without feeling a real and kindly sympathy towards
the amiable author.
It was his misfortune to be brought up from his child
hood in that narrow school of theology a which seems to
forget that the Word of God was delivered through the
lips of man, and that in every page of the inspired volume,
alike in the Old Testament and the New, alike in the
oratory of Isaiah and the Epistles of St. Paul, we recognise
the free working of the human inindy the warm outpourings
of the human heart.
208. The confusion between the Divine agency and the
external form in and through which it appeals to mankind,
has exhibited itself in a variety of shapes in the history of
the Christian Church. It was this that in ancient times
led speculative minds to lose sight of our Saviour's human
* See Colenso, 5, and his Preface and Introductory Remarks, passim.
It is truly said by the Bishop of Llandaff in his admirable Letter to the
Clergy of his Diocese, pp. 55, 56, that Dr. Colenso " has rushed to his
present extreme conclusions under the impulse of a violent recoil from
the opposite extreme. In his Introductory Remarks, after quoting a
statement that every word, every syllable, every letter of the Bible is
to be regarded as a direct utterance of the Most High, he observes,
' Such was the creed of the school in which I was educated.' And
throughout the volume he speaks as if those who do not agree with him
in abandoning the historical character of the Pentateuch, must neces
sarily be under the same.yoke of bondage."

202 Concluding Remarks. [chap.
nature in the glory of the indwelling Godhead: it is this
that in more modern days has taught large sections of the
Church to deny the reality of the Sacramental elements in
their overpowering consciousness of the reality of the Sa
cramental Presence.
209. But this confusion between the inspired and the
Inspirer, between the letter that killeth and the spirit that
quickeneth, between the outward visible sign and the in
ward spiritual grace, has seldom been pushed to such an
extreme as it appears to have been in Dr. Colenso's train
ing. In his mind, the identity of the Divine and human
elements in Revelation was of so complete and transcend
ent a character, that he dared not examine so awful a mys
tery, he dared not investigate the meaning of the Scripture
phraseology by the ordinary rules of historical and philo
logical criticism.
Yet Scripture itself lends, no countenance to such a
theory as this ; it nowhere shrouds itself in a deep, inac
cessible awe. Reverence, no doubt, it demands from its
students, and caution, and sobriety ; but it also everywhere
demands the free exercise of the individual judgment, it
demands free enquiry and free investigation at the hands
of every reader. Its language is everywhere as the lan
guage of its Lord, " Handle Me, and see : for a spirit hath
not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have."
But to Dr. Colenso it seemed a positive duty to palter
with the truth, "to cast dust into his own eyes," "to stamp
out desperately, as with an iron heel, each spark of honest
doubt b."
210. No wonder that when the inevitable reaction ar
rived, he passed at a single step from one extreme to the
other : it is not merely the fool who, when he would avoid
b These are his own words. (Colenso, 5, 6.)

xxi.J Concluding Remarks. 203
an error, runs into the opposite ; it is often the' strong and
elastic mind that makes the most yehement rebound.
So complete was the transition, so thoroughly were all
the old landmarks of his thought overturned and uprooted,
that with the boyish enthusiasm of a mind just entering
upon an entirely new course of study, he at once conceived
the idea that he, and he alone, was able to cope with these
unfamiliar questions; that he had in one instant become
the complete master of the situation, the sole arbiter of
human thought °.
Which of us has not felt the same ? Which of us, on
commencing a new science, has not immediately perceived
that he, of all the world, is the only person who ever under
stood, who was ever capable of understanding, it thoroughly ?
The delusion is not often of long continuance.
211. It was in accordance with this natural and pardon
able hallucination, that within a year after he had com
menced for the first time to studf these questions, and
notwithstanding (I presume) his numerous professional
duties, Dr. Colenso suddenly became aware that in these
c This is amusingly exemplified in several passages. In his Con
cluding Remarks he contemplates the general " collapse of faith," which
will be the result of his tremendous logic : and anticipates, to cite his
own words, that " a demand may be made upon me" (for of course he
alone can grapple with these questions) " for something to supply the
loss, something to' fill up the aching void." This he will give us, he
says, by-and-by : but not just yet. " In the present stage of the dis
cussion it is impossible for me to answer fully, as I would, to such a de
mand." The world must wait in suspense for awhile. Something,
however, he will do, even now, for our wants. " I venture to refer the
reader," he says — to what? to Scripture? to prayer? to diligent study ?
Not at all. " I venture to refer the reader — to MY lately published
' Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans.' " (Colenso, 176, 177.) So
much modesty, combined with so much learning, is truly an edifying
spectacle. His constant imputations of dishonesty upon those who differ
from him, proceed, no doubt, merely from the same boyish self-confidence.

204 Concluding Remarks. [chap.
matters of Biblical criticism, he, and he alone, was qualified
to become the guide andthe instructor of an ignorant and
benighted generation. But it was carrying the idea a little
too far when he at once commenced the rapid issue of a
series of publications (three volumes in six months) of which
I do not hesitate to say that for the union of boundless in
accuracy with jubilant self-confidence, they have hitherto
been without a parallel in the annals of English literature.
It is of course obvious that the inaccuracy is, to some
extent, due to the precipitation with which Dr. Colenso has
acted ; it is quite impossible that these strange theories
should be his deliberate conclusions. If they are, the
world has never witnessed so signal an example of in
competency for historical criticism — of total inability to
realize and appreciate the forms and conditions of an
cient life.
212. I am not alluding to his disastrous essay in Hebrew
criticism4; on that, competent judges have already pro
nounced their verdict ; and my own opinion would be alto
gether worthless. But few even of us unlearned laymen
would have supposed that a ceremony expressly directed to
be performed outside the tabernacle, was intended to be per
formed inside, (chap. iv. supr.) That a precept delivered
for the first time after the Israelites had left the wilderness
for ever, was intended to regulate their camp while yet in
the wilderness, (chap. viii. supr.) That the only modes of
conveyance known to the Israelites were shoulders and pack
oxen. (chap. x. supr.) That from the mere mention of tents,
d The blunder mentioned in chap. vii. supr. is the more surprising,
inasmuch as the word in respect of which it occurs is actually given in
the Grammar of Gesenius as the most familiar example of the force of
the Hiphil conjugation. He says, .(sec. 53. 2,) " Significations of Hiphil.
It is properly causative of Kal. e.g. N2\ to go forth, Hiph. to bring
out of, to lead forth." This is the very verb in question.

xxi.j Concluding Remarks. 205
we must suppose that even the poorest Israelite was in the
possession of a tent like the canopy of the tabernacle of- God,
or like the tent of an English tourist in the nineteenth cen
tury, (chap. x. supr.) And a variety of other pleasantries,
some, but not all, of which are pointed out in the pre
ceding pages.
213. So many writers have thoughtlessly assumed that
the Levitical law would have to be carried out in the wil
derness, that it was perhaps too much to expect that Dr.
Colenso, even though his attention was expressly turned to
the subject, should have detected, the complete fallacy of
such an assumption. Yet not only is it opposed to the
direct statements of Scripture, but it also involves a fun
damental misconception of the purport and intent of the
ceremonial law.
In the legislation of Moses, the Land of Promise is re
garded as the exclusive property of Almighty God : it was
He that gave it, that let it out for a possession to His
faithful people. With Him alone the real seigniory, the
rights of ownership, remained : the land was His, and they
were strangers and sojourners with Him. (Lev. xxv. 23.)
Erom His central "tabernacle at Shiloh, the tent which
He had pitched among men," the Lord God of Israel over
looked His chosen heritage. Before Him, the Lord Para
mount, at stated times and seasons His tenantry were
bound to appear. Whenever a child was added to His
people, the mother brought in person her grateful acknow
ledgments; and thrice every year the males went up to
appear in person before the Lord their God. The personal
attendance at the sanctuary is so far from being (as Haver
nick suggests) unsuitable to their tenure of the land of
Canaan, that it is of the very essence of the tenure whereby
the land of Canaan was held.
This may not unnaturally have escaped the notice of Dr.

206 Concluding Remarks. [chap.
Colenso, but it is surprising to find such feasts as the feast
of the firpt-fruits, (Numb, xxviii.); " the first-fruits of thy
labours which thou hast sown in the field" (Exod. xxiii. 16) ;
and the feast of tabernacles, (Numb, xxix.,) to be observed
" after thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine'' (Deut.
xvi. 13,) included in the list with regard to which he pro
pounds the question considered in our first chapter, " Eor
all these multifarious duties, during the forty years' sojourn
in the wilderness, how many priests were there ?" (Colenso,
146, viii., ix. 147.) One would have supposed that the
most unobservant reader must have perceived that such
feasts as these, at any rate, must needs have been confined
to the Land of Promise : the legislator may well have
thought it unnecessary to prefix to the ordinances insti
tuting such festivals as these, the preamble which is found
in the Paschal and other laws : "And it shall come to pass
when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you,
that ye shall keep this service."
214. So, again, although Dr. Colenso could not reason
ably be expected to discover the real principles on which
the Mosaic genealogies are constructed, yet even his hurried
perusal should have taught him that they were certainly
not intended to include all the members of the Hebrew
families. 215. Such notions, too, as that the children of Israel
were meditating merely a three days' journey into the wil
derness, and were suddenly and without previous notice
called up at dead of night for the Exodus, betray a want
of familiarity with the facts of Scripture which, as an Eng
lish layman, I venture to hope is not common among the
English clergy.
The children of Israel were indeed ordered to ask of
Pharaoh that he would let them go three days' journey into
the wilderness, (Exod. iii. 18,) but were at the same time ex-

xxi.] Concluding Remarks. 207
pressly warned that their request would be refused, (ver. 19,)
and that after great signs and wonders they should come
out for ever. (ver. 17, 20, and vi. 8.)
216. And when we come to consider the external appli
ances with which Dr. Colenso has approached so weighty
a subject, we are struck with dismay to find that a man who
has received a University education can be so totally un
furnished in all matters connected with Biblical criticism.
Take, for example, his strange confusion, oftentimes re
peated, between the Peninsula of Sinai, and the " great and
terrible desert" of El Tyh.
Take, again, his remarks on the acacia. Every school
boy knows that this tree is found in abundance on the Pen
insula of Sinai ; its great plenty there is the reason (and I
believe the only reason) for identifying it with the shittim-
wood of the Pentateuch. " The acacia,"- says Dr. Shaw,
(Travels, 444,) " being by much the largest and the most
common tree of these deserts, we have some reason to con
jecture that the shittim-wood whereof the tabernacle was
made was the wood of the acacia." Every traveller men
tions the abundant growth of the acacia in the Peninsula,
but Dr. Stanley observes that it is not now found on the
cluster of hills overlooking the actual spot where the
Israelites (according to one theory) were encamping when
the Tabernacle was constructed. On this, Dr. Colenso falls
into the double error of supposing, (1) that the Scripture is
itself committed to the identification of the shittah-tree with
the acacia, whereas the identity is merely conjectured from
the very abundance of the acacia in the Peninsula ; and (2)
that Dr. Stanley's observation refers to the whole region,
whereas it is expressly confined to one group or cluster of
hills. Wherever the camp was pitched, there would have
been an abundance of acacia within reach. It is indeed
this very fact which leads me to conclude that the shittah-

208 Concluding Remarks. [chap.
tree was not the acacia, (see supr. chap. x. note a). But
Dr. Colenso at once goes off, more suo, into an admeasure
ment by inches, of the boards of the Tabernacle, and a com
parison of the state of things in Natal ; and remarks with
great gravity, that notwithstanding the "very noticeable
fact," recorded by Dr. Stanley, " from ocular observation,"
it is possible that "the Hebrews may have found a few of
these trees in the desert." (Colenso, 85, vii.) It was scarcely
necessary for Dr. Colenso to mention that these questions
were " comparatively new" to him, and that " the results to
which he had arrived required comparatively little labour."
A little more labour would hardly have been misspent on so
grave a subject.
217. And if such remarks as these betray a startling
want of familiarity with the external appliances of Biblical
criticism, no less does the objection itself with regard to
which they are made disclose a profound misconception of
the spirit of the sacred narrative. The objection is, not
that the Almighty power of God could not, but that in the
historian's view it did not, provide all things necessary for
the passage through the wilderness. Contrast with this
the vivid belief that the Lord of the whole earth was in
the midst of His people, that at His presence the sea and
the river fled, the laws of nature were suspended ; that not
only did the cloudy pillar guide their steps and protect
them from the fierce glare of the sunshine e ; not only did
water flow from the flinty rock, and manna from the clouds
of heaven, but even in the most trivial matters, even as to
the clothes with which they were clad and the shoes upon
their feet, the superintending care and providence of Al
mighty God watched over the people of His hand, the
e Or was the overshadowing " cloud of the Lord" distinct from the
cloudy pillar ? See Numb. xiv. 14.

xxi. ] Concluding Remarks. • 209
sheep of His pasture, so that "for forty years they

LACKED NOTHING

f »

, In one of those noble "songs of Sion" which the Ba
bylonian conquerors loved to hear, (Ps. cxxxvii.,) an un
known psalmist depicts the passage of the Israelites from
the Red Sea to the river Jordan, and boldly apostrophizes
the powers of creation as they shrink abashed and over
awed before the unexpected presence of the Creator amidst
His chosen people, (Ps. cxiv.) : —
(ver. 1.) " When Israel came out of Egypt,
The House of Jacob from a people of strange language,
(2.) Judah was His Sanctuary,
Israel His dominion.
(3.) The Sea saw that, and fled ;
Jordan was driven back ;
(4.) The mountains skipped like rams ;
The little hills like young sheep."
' "These forty years," says Moses in his review of the past, "the
Lord thy God hath been with thee : thou hast lacked nothing."
(Deut. ii. 7.) " Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said,
This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought
great provocations ; yet Thou in Thy manifold mercies forsookest them
not in the wilderness : the pillar of the cloud departed not from them
by day, to lead them in the way ; neither the pillar of fire by night, to
shew the,m light, and the way wherein they should go. Thou gavest
also Thy good Spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not Thy manna
from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. Yea, forty
years didst Thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked
NOTHING-, (retyfTapdKoVTa tTt\ SUBpetyas airrobs iv Ty ipiifitp ovx vaTepi\ffas
airols oliShv) ; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not."
(Nehemiah ix. 18 — 21.) The psalmists are never tired of repeating
how, notwithstanding all their rebellions, all their wayward disloyalty,
God's unwearied mercy still watched over them. See Psalm lxxviii.,
and passim. They had wandered far from God, but God, as St. Au
gustine says, is not far from us, even when we are farthest from Him.
"Non longe a nobis omnipotentia Tua, etiam cum nos longe sumus
a Te." (Conf. ii. 3.) P

210 Concluding Remarks. [chap.
And then with the sarcasm of an affected ignorance, the
exulting Israelite asks the proud question, —
(5.) " What ailed thee, thou sea, that thou fleddest * ?
Thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back ?
(6.) Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams ?
Ye little hills, like young sheep ?
(7.) Tremble thou earth, at the presence of the Lord,
At the presence of the God of Jacob.
(8.) Who turned the hard rock into a standing water,
The flint stone into a springing fountain."
" Am not I the Loss ? Is the Lomd's hand waxed short ?"
was His own rebuke to His fearful and desponding people.
However, the objection in question is confessedly founded
on the erroneous hypothesis, that when the writer of the
Pentateuch speaks of a waste howling wilderness, he is re
ferring to the Peninsula of Sinai. As regards the journey-
ings of the Israelites in other parts of Arabia Petrcea, we
are, as Dr. Colenso himself is constrained to allow, without
sufficient materials for forming an independent judgment.
218. In this brief survey of Dr. Colenso's method, it
would be wrong to overlook that ingenious logic which
forgets that, in Havernick's arguments at any rate, the
conclusion depends upon the premises, (chap. i. supr.,) which
argues that if a command is given for a locality where it
would be possible of performance, it must surely a fortiori
be given for a locality where it would be impossible, (chap.
ii. supr.)
219. Yet underneath all this shallow scepticism, we oc
casionally meet with glimpses of a manlier spiril which will

e Or perhaps better in the present tense, as if spoken to the sea at
the moment of its flight : —
" What aileth thee, thou sea, that thou art fleeing," &c.

xxi.] Concluding Remarks. 21 1
not long be content with the ignoble task of " daily mis
taking the words" of Scripture. There is another reaction
to come : and Dr. Colenso will yet strive with heart and
soul to undo the mischief he is this day doing.
220. Meanwhile his mode of criticism appears to me
a right and proper one, and one which, in judicious hands,
might become productive of valuable results. Already it
has enabled us to arrive at one not, I think, unimportant
conclusion. In a work of fiction, as a general rule, we find the narra
tive smooth and easy ; it is only when we decompose and
analyze it, when we take it to pieces, examine its texture,
and compare it part with part, that we become conscious
of the discrepancies which lurk beneath the surface of
the story.
This note of falsehood, at any rate, the Pentateuch does
not possess. Its difficulties, such as they are, lie mostly
" upon the very surface" of the narrative, (see Colenso, 141,)
are patent to every observer, and must have been equally
apparent to the writer himself; whilst in every direction,
from hints incidentally thrown out for other purposes, from
facts incidentally recorded with a totally different aim, comes
the most unexceptionable, because the most undesigned,
evidence to illustrate and explain the writer's meaning, and
justify his statement in the minutest particular.
221. But valuable as this mode of criticism is, it is one
which can only be employed with the greatest possible
caution. <
The mind is easily bewildered by a vast accumulation of
minute details, which in practice present no difficulty what
ever. We know the story of the free-thinking clock, which
on discovering that it was expected to give no less than
eighty-six thousand and four hundred distinct ticks every
day, was so overwhelmed at the enormous task that it

212 Concluding Remarks. [chap.
stopped instantaneously in sheer despair of ever getting
through it.
A similar paralysis is produced on Dr. Colenso's mind
by the contemplation of the number of tents which the
Israelites had to carry. In truth, the idea of a thousand
families starting with a thousand tents is no whit more
formidable than that of one family starting with one tent :
the means of conveyance would increase in exact propor
tion to the articles to be conveyed. But the mind is for
the moment borne down and overpowered by the great
numerical array. 'The individual reader feels that his single
intellect would be unequal to the task of providing for so
vast a movement, and forgets that in practice there would
be a thousand different intellects simultaneously at work on
different parts of the one transaction.
222. In a well-known passage in his Lectures on Poli
tical Economy, Archbishop Whately drew a graphic picture
of the gigantic and almost insuperable difficulty which the
daily supply of London with food would present to a specu
lative mind : —
" Let any one propose to himself the problem of supplying with
daily provisions of all kinds such a city as our metropolis, contain
ing about a million of inhabitants h. Let him imagine himself a head
commissary entrusted with the office of furnishing to this enormous
host their daily rations. Any considerable failure in the supply, even
for a single day, might produce the most frightful distress, since
the spot on which they are cantoned produces absolutely nothing.
Some, indeed, of the articles consumed admit of being preserved in
public and private stores for a considerable time, but many, in
cluding most articles of animal food and many of vegetable, are of
h Even since the delivery of these Lectures in 1830-2, this number
has almost, if not quite, been trebled. London is said to add to itself
every year & city as large as Oxford. It now contains little short of
three millions of inhabitants. The theoretical difficulty of supplying
them with provisions has, of course, enormously increased.

xxi.J Concluding Remarks. 213
the most perishable nature. As a deficient supply of these, even
for a few days, would occasion great inconvenience, so a redundancy
of them would produce a corresponding waste. Moreover, in a dis
trict of such vast extent as this ' province covered with houses,' it
is essential that the supplies should be so distributed among the
different quarters as to be brought almost to the doors of the in
habitants." The Professor went on to specify other circumstances — such as
the great variety of food required, and the unforeseen fluctuations
in the number of inhabitants — which would greatly increase the
difficulty of keeping up a regular and adequate supply. And he
remarked that to uncivilized foreigners visiting London, it had
appeared an inexplicable mystery how such an immense population,
so situated, could possibly be fed.
And if 3,000 years hence another condition of civilization shall
prevail, and great cities shall have disappeared from the face of the
earth, it is possible that an intelligent Zulu — estimating the pounds
of beef and other provisions which a family (especially an English
family) would daily consume, the number of families which could be
supplied by one butcher's or costermonger's cart, the number of
carts which would be required to pour the necessary supplies through
every vein and artery of this peopled province, the rate at which
they would travel, the space they would occupy, the number which
would pass every minute through the principal streets, the conse
quent press and confusion, and the like — may heap together such
a pile of figures and minute calculations, that minds equally un
accustomed with his own to such considerations may find it difficult
to believe that this mighty task could ever have been performed.
And if a contemporary writer had observed that this great traffic
was carried on almost imperceptibly, that no hitch or difficulty, no
distress or confusion ever occurred, that the principal thoroughfares
were thronged not so much with the carts of butchers and coster- ,
mongers, as with private equipages and public conveyances, the in
telligent Zulu would not so be taken in : it would be plain that the
writer had not grasped the full bearings of his own statements ; nay,
he must be two writers, "no single writer could be guilty of all
these absurdities."
If such were his reasoning, and such his conclusion, they would be
identical with the reasoning and the conclusion of Dr. Colenso.
223. An English commissary acquainted with the diffi-

214 Concluding Remarks. [chap.
culty of providing, even in well- cultivated countries, for an
army of 50,000 men, may well be at a loss to account for
the means by which the great barbarian peoples found sub
sistence during their constant migrations, or by which Attila,
and Genghis Khan, and Tamerlane contrived to support
their many myriads, not only in rich and fruitful lands, but
also in vast districts of marsh and forest, and regions bare
of cultivation. Yet we do not therefore doubt that such
occurrences really took place.
224. We must also remember that it is extremely diffi
cult for a writer describing events as they are passing under
his own eyes, to note down every little link in the chain of
circumstances which is required to make his narrative plain
and self-explanatory to all his readers, especially to such as
are far removed from himself in time, in place, in habits of
thought, and still more to readers of that class to which
Dr. Colenso always appeals as his standard of criticism, the
class of " ordinary," that is to say, of unfurnished readers.
It happens, indeed, that in every instance suggested by
Dr. Colenso, the missing link has in fact been recovered
from among a crowd of details recorded for other purposes ;
in every instance the writer has dropped incidental hints
which to observant minds sufficiently explain his meaning
and justify his language. But even had it been otherwise,
even if we had not the means in each case of proving the
existence of certain facts necessary for the truth of the nar
rative, it would be contrary alike to common sense and the
ordinary rules of criticism to assume their non-existence.
A sober investigator, remembering the antiquity and bre
vity of the Mosaic records, and how much there must be
which we cannot possibly have been told, would pause be
fore he ventured on such assumptions as these to impugn
the veracity of the historian.
225. Even in events happening almost before our eyes it

xxi. j Concluding Remarks. 215
is difficult to account for the exact results we witness.
When the news of the capture of Vicksburg was flashed
into Washington some three months ago, it was proved by
a rigid calculation of the space of land and water which the
message would have had to traverse, of the force of the cur
rents, the speed of the river steamers, and tbe like, that the
news could not possibly have travelled with such speed,
whilst its arrival at Washington on the day of the national
festival afforded to critical examiners a most satisfactory
reason for the concoction of the tale. The reasoning had
no apparent flaw, and had it referred to some event of an
tiquity, might possibly have been accepted as establishing
the conclusion. But the remorseless criticism was pre
sently overborne by the more remorseless facts.
226. In such cases it is unfair to place before our minds
the alternative "explain or disbelieve." If the testimony
comes from a source otherwise entitled to credit, we should
not be justified in disbelieving, we should be unwise if we
attempted to explain it. Por an explanation which con
sists of a suggestion that something may have happened,
we know not what, to make the statement possible, always
seems lame and halting, and seldom receives the attention
to which it is really entitled.
227. The danger of relying on these small and petty cal
culations, when we are not perfectly acquainted with every
detail, is happily illustrated by Mr. Disraeli in the first
chapter of "Coningsby." Paul Evelyn had brought the
news that Lord Grey had resigned, and that the King had
accepted his resignation : —
"But Mr. Bigby was sceptical. He declared that Paul Evelyn
was always wrong : that it was morally impossible that Paul Evelyn
could ever be right : that he knew from the highest authority that
Lord Grey had been twice yesterday with the King : that on the last
visit nothing was settled : that if he had been at the palace to-day, he

216 Concluding Remarks. [chap.
could not have been there before twelve o'clock : that it was only
now a quarter to one : that Lord Grey would have called his colleagues
together on his return : that at least an hour must have elapsed be
fore anything could possibly have transpired. Then he compared and
criticised the dates of every rumoured incident of the last twenty-
four hours, (and nobody was stronger in dates than Mr. Rigby,)
counted even the number of stairs which the minister had to ascend and
descend in his visit to the palace, and the time their mountings and dis-
mountings must have absorbed, (detail was Mr. Rigb/s forte) ; and
finally, what with his dates, his private information, his knowledge
of palace localities, his contempt for Paul Evelyn, and his confidence
in himself, he succeeded in persuading his downcast and disheartened
friends, that their comfortable intelligence had not the slightest
foundation." Presently a young nobleman enters the hall. " ' You know, of
course, that Lord Lyndhurst is with the King,' said the Duke.
" ' It is impossible,' said Mr. Rigby.
" ' I don't think I can be mistaken,' said the Duke, smiling.
" ' I will show your Grace that it is impossible,' said Mr. Rigby.
' Lord Lyndhurst slept at Wimbledon. Lord Grey could not have
seen the King until twelve o'clock ; it is now five minutes to one.
It is impossible, therefore, that any message from the King could
have reached Lord Lyndhurst in time for his lordship to be at the
palace at this moment.'
" ' But my authority is a very high one,' said the Duke.
" ' Authority is a phrase,' said Mr. Rigby, * we must look to time
and place, dates and localities, to discover truth.'
" ' My authority was the highest,' said the Duke, ' for it was Lord
Lyndhurst himself.' "
228. When, such reasoning as that of Mr. Rigby is ap
plied not to passing events, but to an ancient and scanty
record, there is, of course, no probability that it can in
every instance receive so complete and overwhelming a re
futation. And if obscurities of this nature be found (we have found
none yet) in the sacred writings, the reader should re
member that they are but such as will in all likelihood
occur in every historical narrative, and especially in one so

xxi.] Concluding Remarks. 217
concise and venerable as the Hebrew Pentateuch. They
are no real test of truth or falsehood, they merely depend
upon the extent or imperfection of our own information.
As matters of curiosity, we may be interested in investi
gating them ; as matters of faith, we may well be content
to let them be, until all things are clear in the Light that
shineth beyond the grave.

THE END.

$rinitb ~S $M». !*il«*. intamaM, @*teb.

OPINIONS OF TEE PEESS.

" In an evil hour for his own reputation Dr. Colenso appealed to the
more thoughtful and intelligent of the laity, to their love of truth, then-
honest English practical common sense. Here is an answer to the appeal,
and a most complete and convincing answer it is. In the most un
exceptionable spirit and temper, and with great simplicity of language
and method, Mr. Kogers has exposed the assumptions and unfairness of
Dr. Colenso, and answered his objections with such clearness and force
of argument, as cannot fail to carry conviction to every unprejudiced
mind. The whole of the fourteenth chapter is deeply interesting and
instructive. A most valuable and seasonable volume." — Church and
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" It is a happy circumstance that the attack on the Pentateuch has
led to such examinations as these of Mr. Rogers. He honestly catalogues
all the difficulties, and faces them without flinching. The work is
stamped with some marks of great genius. It is a scholar's book, and
has made difficult points interesting, and almost easy to read. The
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 f — ¦— The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying j in which are
described the means and instruments of preparing ourselves and
others re.spectively'for'a blessed death, &c. \8mo., cloth' Is. 6d.
The above two volumes in one; 2s. 6d.
WILSON. — A Short and Plain Instruction for the betterunderstand-
ing of the Lord'sSupper, with the necessary preparation required.
A new Edition, reprinted entire. By Bishop Wilson. 32imo.
cloth, Is.
. Also an Edition with Rubrics in red, cloth, 32mo., 2s.
Sacra Privata. Private Meditations, Devotions, and

Prayers. Adapted to general use. 32mo., Is.
With red Rubrics, cloth, 32mo., 2s.

Four vols., Fcap. 8vo., cloth, 14s.
TRACTS FOR THE CHRISTIAN SEASONS: BEING
READINGS FOR EVERY SUNDAY AND HOLYDAY IN
THE YEAR. Third Series. Conducted by the Rev. JAMES
RUSSELL WOODFORD, M.A., Vicar of Kempsford, Glouces
tershire.
List of Writers :— Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of .Oxford; Right Rev.' the
Coadjutor Bishop of Edinburgh ; Ven. Lord Arthur Hervey ; Ven. Archdeacon
of Buckingham ; Rev. Dr. Moberly ; Rev. Dr. James H> ssey ; Rev. Dr. Goul-
burn ; Rey. Dr. Evans ; Rev. Dr. Fraser ; Rev. Canon Sir G. Prevost, Bart. ;
Rev. Canon Kennaway ; Rev. Canon Claughton ; Rev. R. Randall ; Rev. Pre
bendary Freeman ; Rev. W. H. Ridley ; Rev. A. R. Ashwell ; Rev. R. St. John
Tyrwhitt; Rev R. Milman; Rev. H.'W. Burrows; »Rev. Prebendary Liddon;
Rev. M. F. Sadler ; Rev. Walsham How ; Rev. John Lamb ; Rev. George Wil
liams; Rev. Prebendary Popham; Rev. T. T. Carter; Rev. G. Phillimore-
Rev. H. Pearson. '
In separate volumes, price 3s. 6d. each.
Vol. I. — Advent to Fifth Sunday in Lent.
Vol. II. — Sunday next before Easter to Sixth Sunday after Trinity.
Vol. III. — Seventh Sunday after Trinity to Sunday next before Advent.
Vol. IV. — Holydays.
16

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