2 Chron. xvi., 1.
There is some great mistake here. “In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa,” says the chronicler, “Baasha, King of Israel, came up against Judah, and built Ramah;” but what says the book of Kings? “In the third year of Asa, King of Judah, began Baasha to reign over Israel, and he reigned twenty-four years” [1 Kings, xv., 33]; if this latter statement is correct Baasha died in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of Asa, and could not have waged war against him nine years afterwards.
Dan. i., 1.
The writer says that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, laid siege to Jerusalem in the third year of Jehoiakim; but Jeremiah says [xxv., 1.] that the fourth year of Jehoiakim was the first of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. So that he was not king at all in the “3rd year of Jehoiakim.”
Matt., i., 17.
Matthew says, “all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen; and from David to the captivity are fourteen; and from the captivity to the birth of Christ are fourteen.” This is true in no sense. The “periods” are quite unequal in length; the “genealogies” are not alike in number; and fourteen in no case is correct. According to Bible chronology the first period was 911 years, the second 497, and the third 584.
John, i., 18.
The evangelist says—“No man hath seen God at any time;” similarly we read in Exodus [xxxiii., 20], “There shall no man see my face and live.” How does this agree with Gen. xxxii., 24–30, where Jacob is said to have wrestled all night with a mysterious being, and “called the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Sarah also “looked upon God” when she was told that her husband would have a son [Gen. xvi., 13]. Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, with the 70 elders of Israel “saw the God of Israel . . . they saw God, and did eat and drink” [Exod. xxiv., 9–11]. Moses was on two occasions 40 days with God, and saw his “similitude,” and spake to him “mouth to mouth” [Numbers, xii., 8]. Numerous other instances will occur to every reader; if anything is revealed in Scripture more positively than another, it is that God has appeared to many, from Adam to John, talked to them familiarly, and they have lived.
John, xxi., 25.
John says, “There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.” I will not go this length respecting the mis-statements and errors of Scripture; but it would be no exaggeration to say, if all were written down, this pamphlet would not contain them.