CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

1. THE first five books of the Bible,commonly called the Pentateuch, or Book of Five Volumes,-are supposed by most English readers of the Bible to have been written by Moses, except the last chapter of Deuteronomy, which records the death of Moses, and which, of course, it is generally allowed, must have been added by another hand, perhaps that of Joshua. It is believed that Moses wrote under such special guidance and teaching of the Holy Spirit, that he was preserved from making any error in recording those matters, which came within his own cognisance, and was instructed also supernaturally in respect of events, which took place before he was born, -before, indeed, there was a human being on the earth to take note of what was passing. He was in this way, it is supposed, enabled to write a true account of the Creation. And, though the accounts of the Fall and of the Flood, as well as of later events, which happened in the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, may have been handed down by tradition from one generation to another and even, some of them, perhaps, written down in words, or represented in hieroglyphics, and Moses may, probably, have derived assistance from these sources also in the composition of his narrative, yet in all his statements, it is believed, he was under such constant control and superintendence

of the Spirit of God, that he was kept from making any serious error, and certainly from writing anything altogether untrue. We may rely with undoubting confidence--such is the statement usually made-on the historical veracity, and infallible accuracy, of the Mosaic narrative in all its main particulars.

2. There was a time, in my own life, before my attention had been drawn to the facts, which make such a view impossible for most reflecting and enquiring minds, when I thought thus, and could have heartily assented to such language as the following, which BURGON, Inspiration, &c. p.89, asserts to be the creed of orthodox believers, and which, probably, expresses the belief of many English Christians at the present day:

The BIBLE is none other than the Voice of

Him that sitteth upon the Throne! Every book of it every chapter of it-every verse of itevery word of it-every syllable of it-(where are we to stop?) every letter of it-is the direct utterance of the Most High! The Bible is

none other than the Word of God-not some

part of it more, some part of it less, but all alike, the utterance of Him who sitteth upon the Throne-absolute-faultless—unerring— supreme.

3. Such was the creed of the School in which I was educated. God is my witness! what hours of wretchedness have I spent at times, while reading the Bible devoutly from day to day, and reverencing every word of it as the Word of God, when petty contradictions met me, which seemed to my reason to conflict with the notion of the absolute histori

cal veracity of every part of Scripture, and which, as I felt, in the study of any other book, we should honestly treat as errors or misstatements, without in the least detracting from the real value of the book! But, in those days, I was taught that it was my duty to fling the suggestion from me at once, 'as if it were a loaded shell, shot into the fortress of the soul,' or to stamp out desperately, as with an iron heel, each spark of honest doubt, which God's own gift, the love of Truth, had kindled in my bosom. And by many a painful effort I succeeded in doing so for a

season.

4. But my labours, as a translator of the Bible, and a teacher of intelligent converts from heathenism, have brought me face to face with questions, from which I had hitherto shrunk, but from which, under the circumstances, I felt it would be a sinful abandonment of duty any longer to turn away. I have, therefore, as in the sight of God Most High, set myself deliberately to find the answer to such questions, with, I trust and believe, a sincere desire to know the Truth, as God wills us to know it, and with a humble dependence on that Divine Teacher, who alone can guide us into that knowledge, and help us to use the light of our minds aright. The result of my enquiry is this, that I have arrived at the conviction, as painful to myself at first as it may be to my reader, though painful now no longer under the clear shining of the Light of Truth,-that the Pentateuch, as a whole, cannot possibly have been written by Moses, or by any one acquainted personally with the facts which it professes to describe, and, further, that the (so-called) Mosaic narrative, by whomsoever written, and though imparting to us, as I fully believe it does, revelations of the Divine Will and Character, cannot be regarded as historically true.

5. Let it be observed that I am not here speaking of a number of petty variations and contradictions, such as, on closer examination, are found to exist throughout the books, but which may be in many cases sufficiently explained, by alleging our ignorance of

all the circumstances of the case, or by supposing some misplacement, or loss, or corruption, of the original manuscript, or by suggesting that a later writer has inserted his own gloss here and there, or even whole passages, which may contain facts or expressions at variance with the true Mosaic Books, and throwing an unmerited suspicion upon them. However perplexing such contradictions are, when found in a book which is believed to be divinely infallible, yet a humble and pious faith will gladly welcome the aid of a friendly criticism, to relieve it in this way of its doubts. I can truly say that I would do so heartily myself.

6. Nor are the difficulties, to which I am now referring, of the same kind as those, which arise from considering the accounts of the Creation and the Deluge, (though these of themselves are very formidable,)-or the stupendous character of certain miracles, as that of the sun and moon standing still, or the waters of the river Jordan standing in heaps as solid walls, while the stream, we must suppose, was still running, or the ass speaking with human voice, or the miracles wrought by the magicians of Egypt, such as the conversion of a rod into a snake, and the latter being endowed with life.

7. They are not such, again, as arise, when we regard the trivial nature of a vast number of conversations and commands, ascribed directly to Jehovah, especially the multiplied ceremonial minutiæ, laid down in the Levitical Law. They are not such, even, as must be started at once in most pious minds, when such words as these are read, professedly coming from the Holy and Blessed One, the Father and Faithful Creator' of all mankind :—

'If the master (of a Hebrew servant) have

given him a wife, and she have borne him sons her master's, and he shall go out free by himor daughters, the wife and her children shall be

self,' E.xxi.4:

the wife and children in such a case being placed under the protection of such other words as these,

'If a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand, he shall be surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.' E.xxi.20,21.

helpers-even the words of the Best of Books-may fail us.

12. In discharging, however, my present duty to God and to the Church, I trust that I shall be preserved from saying a single word that may cause unnecessary pain to those, who now embrace with all their hearts, as a primary article of Faith, the traditionary view of Scripture Inspiration. Pain, I know, I must cause to some. But I feel very deeply that it behoves every one, who would write on such a subject as this, to remember how closely the belief in the historical truth of every portion of the Bible is interwoven, at the present time, in England, with the faith of many, whose piety and charity may far surpass his own. He must beware lest, even by rudeness or carelessness of speech, he offend one of these little ones'; while yet he may feel it to be his duty, as I do now, to tell out plainly the truth, as God, he believes, has enabled him to see it. And that truth in the present instance, I repeat, is this, that the Pentateuch, as a whole, was not written by Moses, and that, with respect to some, at least, of the chief portions of the story, it cannot be regarded as historically true.

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13. But the Bible does not, therefore, cease to 'contain the true Word of God,' to enjoin 'things necessary for salvation,' to be 'profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness.' It still remains for us that Book, which, whatever intermixture it may show of human elements, of error, infirmity, passion, and ignorance, - has yet, through God's Providence, and the special working of His Spirit on the minds of its writers, been the means of revealing to us His True Name, the Name of the only Living and True God, and has all along been, and, as far as we know, will never cease to be, the mightiest instrument in the hand of the Divine Teacher, for awakening in our minds just conceptions of His Character, and of His gracious and merciful dealings with the children of men. Only we must not attempt to put into the Bible what we think ought to be there we must not lay it down as certain beforehand that God could only

reveal Himself to us by means of an infallible Book. We must be content to take the Bible as it is, and draw from it those Lessons which it really contains.

14. Accordingly, that which I shall do, or endeavour to do, in this work, is to make out from the Bible-at least, from the first part of it-what account it gives of itself, what it really is, what, if we love the truth, we must understand and believe it to be, what, if we will speak the truth, we must represent it to be. I believe assuredly that the time is come, in the ordering of God's Providence and in the history of the world, when such a task as this must be taken in hand, not in a light and scoffing spirit, but in that of a devout and living faith, which seeks only Truth, and follows fearlessly its footsteps,-when such questions as these must be asked,-be asked reverently, as by those who feel that they are treading on hallowed ground, but be asked firmly, as by those who would be able to give an account of the hope which is in them, and to know that the grounds are sure, on which they rest their trust for time and for Eternity.

15. The spirit, indeed, in which such a work should be carried on, cannot be better described than in the words of Mr. BURGON, who says, Inspiration, &c. p.cxli:

Approach the volume of Holy Scripture with the same candour, and in the same unprejudiced spirit, with which you would approach any other famous book of high antiquity. Study it with, at least, the same attention. Give, at least, equal heed to all its statements. Acquaint yourself at least as industriously with its method and principle, employing and applying either with at least equal fidelity in its interpretation. Above all, beware of playing tricks with its plain language. Beware of suppressing any part of the evidence which it supplies to its own meaning. Be truthful, and unprejudiced, and honest, and consistent, and of interpretation. logical, and exact throughout, in your work

And again he writes, commending a closer attention to Biblical studies to the younger members of the University,p.12,

I contemplate the continued exercise of a most curious and prying, as well as a most vigilant and observing, eye. No difficulty is to be neglected; no peculiarity of expression is to be disregarded; no minute detail is to be overlooked. The hint, let fall in an earlier chapter, is to be compared with a hint let fall what follows? in the later place. Do they tally or not? And

CHAPTER II.

THE FAMILIES OF JUDAH AND MOSES.

16. I SHALL first show, by means of a few prominent instances, that the books of the Pentateuch, in their own account of the story which they profess to relate, contain such remarkable contradictions, and involve such plain impossibilities, that they cannot be regarded as true narratives of actual, historical, matters of fact.

17. THE FAMILY OF JUDAH.

And the sons of Judah, Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zarah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan; and the sons of Pharez were Hezron and Hamul.' G.xlvi.12. It appears 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, (including Jacob himself, and Joseph, and his two sons,) who came into Egypt with Jacob.

'These are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt,' v.8.

'All the souls, that came with Jacob into

Egypt, which came out of his loins, besides Jacob's son's wives, were threescore and six,' v.26,-which they would not be without Hezron and Hamul.

And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt,

were threescore and ten.' v.27.

These are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob. And all the

souls, that came out of the loins of Jacob,

were seventy souls; for Joseph was in Egypt already.' E.i.1,5.

Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.' D.x.22.

I assume, then, that the narrative of the Exodus distinctly involves the statement, that the sixty-six persons, out of the loins of Jacob,' who are mentioned in G.xlvi, and no others, went down with him into Egypt.

18. Now Judah was forty-two years

*Joseph was thirty years old, when he 'stood before Pharaoh,' as governor of the land of Egypt, G.xli.46; and from that time

nine

years elapsed, (seven of plenty and two of famine,) before Jacob came down to Egypt. At that time, therefore, Joseph was thirtynine years old. But Judah was about three years older than Joseph; for Judah was born in the fourth year of Jacob's double marriage, G.xxix.35, and Joseph in the seventh, G.xxx. 24-26, xxxi.41. Hence Judah was forty-two years old when Jacob went down to Egypt.

old, according to the story, when he went down with Jacob into Egypt.

But, if we turn to G.xxxviii, we shall find that, in the course of these fortytwo years of Judah's life, the following events are recorded to have happened.

(i) Judah grows up, marries a wife, and has, separately, three sons by her. (ii) The eldest of these three sons grows up, is married, and dies.

The second grows to maturity, (suppose in another year,) marries his brother's widow, and dies.

The third grows to maturity, (suppose in another year still,) but declines to take his brother's widow to wife

She then deceives Judah himself, conceives by him, and in due time bears him twins, Pharez and Zarah.

(iii) One of these twins also grows to maturity, and has two sons, Hezron and Hamul, born to him, before Jacob goes down into Egypt.

19. The above being certainly incredible, we are obliged to conclude that one of the two accounts must be untrue. Yet the statement, that Hezron and Hamul were born in the land of Canaan, is vouched so positively by the many passages above quoted, which sum up the seventy souls,' that, to give up this point, is to give up an essential part of the whole story. But then, this point cannot be maintained, however essential to the narrative, without supposing that the other series of events had taken place beforehand, which we have seen to be incredible.

20. THE FAMILY OF MOSES.

'And Moses was content to dwell with daughter, and she bare him a son, and he the man; and he gave Moses Zipporah his called his name Gershom; for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.' E.ii.21,22.

Proceeding a step further in the history, we find here also, apparently, a great inconsistency. Moses 'was grown,' E.ii.11-full forty years old,' Acts vii. 23,-when he slew the Egyptian, immediately after which event he fled to Midian, where he was content to dwell with the man,' Jethro, and married his daughter. When, however, he returned to Egypt, we are told that he was eighty years old, E.vii.7, and then he had two sons, E.xviii.3, young children, whom he 'set upon an ass' with their mother,