And gave all the orders concerning mitres, girdles, and onyx stones,
ouches, emeralds, breastplates, chains, rings, Urim and Thummim, and the
hole in the top of the ephod like the hole of a habergeon?1
Thirty-seventh. Is there a Christian missionary who could help laughing
if in any heathen country he had seen the following command of God
carried out? "And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons
shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. Then shalt thou kill the
ram and take of his blood and put it upon the tip of the right ear of
Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb
of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot."2 Does
one have to be born again to appreciate the beauty and solemnity of such
a performance? Is not the faith of the most zealous Christian somewhat
shaken while reading the recipes for cooking mutton, veal, beef, birds,
and unleavened dough, found in the cook book that God made for Aaron and
his sons?
Thirty-eighth. Is it to be wondered at that some people have doubted the
statement that God told Moses how to make some ointment, hair oil, and
perfume, and then made it a crime punishable with death to make any like
them? Think of a God killing a man for imitating his ointment!3 Think of
a God saying that he made heaven and earth in six days and rested on the
seventh day and was refreshed!4 Think of this God threatening to destroy
the Jews, and being turned from his purpose because Moses told him that
the Egyptians might mock him!5