I can not believe that God killed fifty thousand men for looking into a
box.1 It seems incredible, after all the Jews had done, after all their
wars and victories, even when Saul was king, that there was not among
them one smith who could make a sword or spear, and that they were
compelled to go to the Philistines to sharpen every plowshare, coulter,
and mattock.2 Can you believe that God said to Saul, "Now go and smite
Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not;
but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling"? Can you believe that
because Saul took the king alive after killing every other man, woman,
and child, the ogre called Jehovah was displeased and made up his mind
to hurl Saul from the throne and give his place to another?3 I cannot
believe that the Philistines all ran away because one of their number
was killed with a stone. I cannot justify the conduct of Abigail, the
wife of Nabal, who took presents to David. David hardly did right when
he said to this woman, "I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted
thy person." It could hardly have been chance that made Nabal so deathly
sick next morning and killed him in ten days. All this looks wrong,
especially as David married his widow before poor Nabal was fairly
cold.4
Fifty-fourth. Notwithstanding all I have heard of Katie King, I cannot
believe that a witch at Endor materialized the ghost of Samuel and
caused it to appear with a cloak on.5 I cannot believe that God
tempted David to take the census, and then gave him his choice of three
punishments: First, Seven years of famine; Second, Flying three months
before their enemies; Third, A pestilence of three days; that David
chose the pestilence, and that God destroyed seventy thousand men.6