A spiritual or metaphorical interpretation, if allowable in any
case, can not avail any thing towards either removing, explaining, or
mitigating, in the least degree, the numerous palpable Bible errors
represented by _figures. "Figures never lie_" and admit of no
construction. The almost innumerable errors, therefore, of this
character which abound in the Bible utterly and for ever prostrate it as
a work possessing any authority, reliability, or credibility in matters
of history, science, or even theology. Bible writers, when they have
occasion to refer to numbers which they are interested in making
_appear_ very large, seem to make almost a lawless use of figures. I
will present some examples, stated in brief language, commencing with
the Pentateuch. The author of these five books, in speaking of the
genealogy, population, armies, &c., of his own tribe, makes use of
figures which are not only incredible, but utterly impossible. The
number of valiant fighting men, for example, among the Israelites, is
frequently stated to be about six hundred thousand, and never less. (See
Exod. xii. and xxxviii.; Num. xxvi., &c.) This number, as Bishop Colenso
demonstrates, reaches far beyond the utmost limits of truth. If the
regular army had been six hundred thousand, then the whole population
(women and children included) could not have been less than two
millions,--a number which many facts, cited by the Bible writer himself,
demonstrate to be impossible. I would ask, in the first place, how Moses
could address all this immense congregation at once, as he is often
represented as doing. (See Ex. xxiv. 3; Lev. xxiv 15; Num. xiv. 7, &c.)
Joshua makes "all the congregation" to include women and children. But
how could Moses address this vast multitude of people, some of whom must
have been at least ten miles distant, unless he used a speaking-trumpet
or a telephone, neither of which, however, had then come to light. The
writer of Deuteronomy says, "Moses spake unto all Israel" (Deut. i.
1). But not one in a hundred could have heard it, therefore it was very
nearly "labor lost." And Joshua says Moses wrote out his commandments,
and he read them "before all the congregation of Israel" (Josh. viii.
35). But it would have required a voice as loud as thunder to make "all"
of them hear. And it should be borne in mind that the people on these
occasions were assembled in the tabernacle,--as we infer from many
texts,--a building one hundred and eight yards square, and capable of
holding about five thousand people, which would be just one to four
thousand of the congregation; so there were five thousand people inside,
and one million nine hundred and ninety-five thousand outside. These
last, we are told, occupied the outer court, which was just eighteen
feet wide.
This would place the most distant hearers twenty miles off.
How comforting the thought, that, when Moses called them to the temple
to worship (see Josh. viii. 35), they could get within twenty miles of
him and "the tabernacle of the Lord"! The Lord had built a tabernacle
for them to worship in, but only one or two in six thousand could get
inside of it. This small number only could enjoy seeing and hearing
Moses and the Lord.
The rest--one million nine hundred and ninety-five thousand--were
outside, waiting for admission. Bishop Colenso estimates, the size of
the camp of Israel at about twelve miles square.
This camp was situated in a desert of Sinai for at least a year; and
the business of keeping this camp in order, waiting upon the people,
and removing also, the remains of the daily sacrifice of two hundred
thousand oxen, sheep, &c., devolved upon three priests,--Aaron, Eleazar,
and Ithamar. It would be quite an improvement of the sacerdotal order
if the priests of to-day could be subjected occasionally to some such
healthy exercise; but they have managed to get the rule reversed. They
now have the people to wait upon them. But those three priests of the
Israelites must have achieved a herculean task to wait each one upon
three hundred and thirty-three thousand people daily, and, after
preparing their food outside the camp, travel twelve miles to supply
each one of this vast multitude with food and water. If they carried
provision for only one person at a time, they would have had to perform
this journey of twelve miles five thousand five hundred times an hour,
which would have required them to be rather fleet on foot. And, besides
the labor of carrying away every day, to the distance of six or seven
miles, five hundred cart-loads of the offal of the dead animals, there
would be at least one pound of victuals to be carried to each person,
making, in the aggregate, five thousand five hundred pounds. They must
have enjoyed good health, if abundant exercise would produce it. They
could not have been much troubled with dyspepsia or liver-complaint, as
many of that order are nowadays.
1. We are told that Moses gave notice to the children of Israel at
midnight, that they must take their departure from Egypt the next
morning for the promised land (Exod. xii.); but, if they constituted the
immense number represented, they would have made a column two hundred
miles long, arranging them five abreast, so it would have taken several
days for all to get started. How, then, could they all start the _next
morning?_ And how did they keep their two millions of sheep and cattle
alive for several days while passing over a sandy desert too poor to
produce dog-fennel? And it is strange how the whole tribe of Israelites,
if two millions in number, could live forty years in a wild, barren
desert, and keep their immense flocks and herds alive.
2. The number of first-born male children over a month old, on a
certain occasion, is set down at twenty-two-thousand two hundred and
ninety-three, which would make about eighty-eight children for each
mother. This was "replenishing" rapidly. But their little tents, like
the tabernacle of the Lord, would not accommodate one-fourth of that
number. This would necessitate the mothers to leave most of their
children "out in the cold."
The number of the children of Israel that went down to Egypt, according
to Exod. i. 5, was seventy souls; and they remained there during four
generations, represented by Levi, Kohath, Amram, and Moses, making
a period (as marginal notes state) of two hundred and fifteen years;
though Exod. xii. 40, gives it at four hundred and thirty years. But
this is another case of incredible exaggeration Four generations of
ordinary length, in that age, would not exceed the marginal calculation
of two hundred and fifteen years; and for those seventy souls to
increase to two millions in that short period of time, of four
generations, would have required each mother to have had twelve or
fifteen children at a birth.
3. Dan, in the first generation, had but one son (Gen. xlvi. 23); yet
in the fourth generation he had increased to sixty-two thousand seven
hundred, or, according to Num. xxvi. 43, to sixty-four thousand, which
would have required each son and grandson to have had about eighty
children apiece. This would have been "multiplying and replenishing" on
a rapid scale.
4. Aaron and his two sons had to make all the offerings, and on an altar
only nine feet square; and an offering had to be made at the birth of
every child, which would require about five hundred sacrifices daily;
and then there were thirteen cities where these offerings had to be
made, and only three priests to do it. (See Lev. i. 11.) And, besides,
the priests had to eat a large portion of the burnt offerings (see Num.
xviii. 10); and, as these offerings consisted of five hundred lambs and
pigeons, it would subject them to the task of eating enormous quantities
daily.
5. At the second passover, an offering had to be made for every family
(Exod. xii.), which would require the slaughter of about one hundred
and fifty thousand lambs. The three priests had to sprinkle the blood
of these lambs; and it had to be done in about two hours (1 Chron. xxx.
35). The lambs had to be sacrificed at the rate of about one thousand
two hundred and fifty a minute, and each priest had to sprinkle the
blood of more than four hundred lambs per minute with their own hands,
which would make the affair rather a bloody business, if it were not
wholly impossible, and therefore an incredible story.
6. If we could credit the statements of "the inspired writer" of the
book of Numbers (see chap. xxxi.), we should have to believe twelve
thousand Israelites, in a war with the Midianites, after selecting out
thirty-two thousand young damsels, killed forty-eight thousand men,
eight thousand women, and twenty thousand boys; burned all their cities,
and captured all their stock, amounting to eight hundred and eight
thousand, and all this without the loss of a single man. Each Israelite
would have had to conquer seventy-five resisting enemies, including men,
women, children, and stock. It is a story too incredible for serious
reflection. We are told that the clothing of the Israelites lasted
forty years "without waxing old" (see Deut. xxix. 5),--another story too
incredible to be entertained for a moment.
7. In Deuteronomy the priests are always called sons of Levi, or
"Levites;" but, in the other books of the Pentateuch, they are always
called "the sons of Aaron," which is an evidence they were not written
by the same hand. Contradictions. According to Exod. xviii. 25, Moses
appointed judges over Israel before the giving forth of the law; but
(Deut. i. 6) we are told that the appointment took place after the law
was issued at Sinai.
8. According to Deuteronomy, chap. x., "the Lord separated the tribe of
Levi" after the death of Aaron; but, according to Numbers, chap. iii.,
the separation took place before his death.
9. According Exodus, God instituted the sabbath because he rested on
that day; but, according to Deuteronomy, it was because he brought the
Israelites out of Egypt "by a stretched-out arm." In Deuteronomy, chap.
xiv., every creeping thing that flieth is declared to be unclean, and
is forbidden to be eaten; but in Leviticus, chap. xi., every creeping
thing, including four kinds of locust, is allowed, and is prescribed as
a part of their food.
10. In Exodus, chap. vi., God is represented as saying, "By my name
Jehovah was I not known to them" (the patriarchs). But he was mistaken;
for that name occurs frequently in Genesis. In 1 Sam. chap. viii., we
are told the name of Samuel's first-born was Joel; and the name of
his second, Abiah: but in Chroniclcs, vi. 28., we are told the name of
Samuel's eldest son was Vashni. Which is right?
11. _Bad Bible Morals_.--Persons mutilated by accident, or otherwise
in helpless condition, were excluded from the congregation of the Lord;
while the guilty culprits who caused this mutilation were allowed free
access to the holy sanctuary. (Set Lev. xxi.) We consider this bad
morality. Innocent base-born children were also excluded from the
temple, while the guilty parents were allowed free admission.
12. By the law of Moses and the will of God, as is claimed, parents were
required to stone rebellious children to death; and yet the parents were
often the cause of this rebellious disposition, and tenfold more guilty
than the children, having corrupted them by bad influences. (See Deut.
xxi.) This is a specimen of Bible justice and Bible morality.
13. _The Jews not Civilized_.--The Lord's chosen people possessed so
little of the element of civilization, they had to go to the King of
Tyre to hire artisans and skilled workmen to build their temple. (See 2
Chron. ii. 3, and 1 Kings v. 6.)
14. It is stated that it took one hundred and fifty-three thousand men
seven years to build Solomon's temple,--and heathen at that. (See 2
Chron. ii. 17,18.) Strange, indeed, when it was only a hundred and ten
feet long, thirty-six feet wide, and fifty-five feet high! (1 Kings vi.
2.) Some of our modern churches are much larger buildings, and generally
erected in less than a year by less than a dozen workmen. It is
certainly very damaging to the exalted pretensions of "the Lord's
peculiar people" that they possessed minds and intelligence so far below
the heathen, that no workmen could be found amongst them, and they had
consequently to go to these same heathen to hire workmen to build the
Lord's house. Such facts sink the reputation both of them and their God.