Part III.—Second Division.
SCRIPTURE CONTRADICTS SCRIPTURE.
In the former part of this division numerous examples have been brought together to prove that the scope of Scripture in one place is not reconcilable with the statement given in another; it now remains to go one step further, and show that one Scripture positively contradicts another. In the former part the passages alluded to are obviously in error; in this part one text will be contrasted with another contradictory text, but it will not be possible to pronounce which is right, or whether both are not equally in fault. It will suffice in many cases simply to set one statement against another statement in separate columns, and leave the reader to form his own judgment; but in some few instances a remark or two will be given to point out the scope of the error to which attention is directed.
Gen. vi., 19, 20. The direction given by God to Noah was—“Of everyliving thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thoubring into the ark . . . they shall be male and [its] female; offowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of everycreeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of everysort shall come unto thee to keep them alive.” Nothing can be more explicit. It is even expressly saidthat the cattle were not to exceed two; it was to be two“of all flesh;” two of “everysort.” | Gen. vii., 2. This plain, positive direction is altered in the very nextchapter, and a distinction is made between clean and uncleananimals: “Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee bysevens, the male and his female.” Seven pairs (or 14 animals) is a very wide deviation from thedirection, two only of every sort shall be taken into the ark tokeep them alive. |
Gen. xlvi., 27; Deut. x.,22. In the books of Moses we are more than once told that all thesouls of the house of Jacob which came into Egypt were“three score and ten.” | Acts, vii., 14. By what authority does the martyr Stephen increase thispositive assertion by the addition of five more? saying“all the kindred [of Jacob which came into Egypt] werethree score and 15 souls.” |
We read in Gen. xlvi., 26, that the number,exclusive of Joseph and his two sons, who were already in Egypt,and of Jacob himself, the founder of the race, “all thesouls were three score and six;” but including these four,the number amounted to “three score and ten.” By adding together the names set down in Gen. xlvi., 15, 18, 22,25, it will be found that the number amounts to 70; the five,therefore, added by Stephen, had no existence. | |
The Amalekites burnt Ziklag, and drove off the women ascaptives. Three days afterwards David and “hismen” came to the place and saw the calamity which hadbefallen it. David consulted the ephod, and was told topursue the “rovers,” for he should not only overtakethem, but should recover all that they had taken captive. “So David went, he and the six hundred men that werewith him, and came to the brook Besor.” Here Davidleft behind 200 of the men, and with the remaining 400 overtookthe spoilers, and extirpated them, for “he smote them fromthe twilight even unto the evening of the next day, and thereescaped not a man of them, save 400 who fled oncamels.” | 1 Chron., xii.,20–22. How is this transaction recorded by the chronicler? WhenDavid reached Ziklag, eight captains “of thousands”came to him, and helped him against the Amalekite raiders, and somany men flocked to his standard to help him, that his army was“a great host, like the host of God.” Certainly it seems very improbable that 400 men should be ableto extirpate the whole army of the Amalekites which must havebeen pretty numerous, seeing 400 men mounted on camels managed toescape; but these 400 are spoken of as mere ciphers, for Davidand his men slew all the whole army, except these [few] young menwho were on camels. |
2 Sam., ii., 10. Ishbosheth, the rival king of David, is said to have reignedtwo years; and during these two years, David reigned overJudah only. | 2 Sam., ii., 11. In the very next verse we are informed that David reignedseven years and a half over Judah only, during all whichtime Ishbosheth reigned over the rest of the tribes. |
2 Sam., viii., 4, 5. David, says the writer of this book, took from Hadadezer, (?)King of Zobah, 1,000 chariots, and seven hundred horsemen,and 22,000 footmen. | 1 Chron., xviii., 4. In the corresponding passage recorded in the book ofChronicles, we are told that the number of horsemen was not 700,but seven thousand. The name of the king is herecalled Hadarezer. |
2 Sam., x., 6, 18. Hadarezer hired 33,000 Syrians to oppose David; but David cameagainst the allied army and “slew seven hundredchariots of the Syrians, and forty thousandhorsemen.” | 1 Chron., xix., 18. In the book of Chronicles David is said to have slain seventhousand men, which fought in chariots, and forty thousandfootmen. |
The “fighting men” at the close of David’sreign are stated in the book of Samuel to have been 1,300,000(!); of these 800,000 were of Israel, and 500,000 of Judah. | 1 Chron., xxi., 5. In the book of Chronicles the number of fighting men is evenmore astounding. It is given as 1,570,000; of which1,100,000 belonged to Israel, and 470,000 to Judah. |
2 Sam., xxiv., 13. When David numbered the people, a choice of three evils wasgiven him. According to Samuel, the evils were:seven years of famine, three months pursuit by hisenemies, or three days’ pestilence. | 1 Chron., xxi., 12. According to Chronicles, the choice was: three years offamine, and not seven. |
2 Sam., xxiv., 24. In the book of Samuel, David is said to have given to Araunahfor the threshing-floor fifty shekels of silver[£5 13s. 6d.]. | Chron., xxi., 25. In the book of Chronicles, he is said to have given for it 600shekels of gold [£547 10s.]. |
1 Kgs., vii., 26. According to the book of Kings, Solomon’s brazen laverheld 2,000 baths [15,000 gallons]. | 2 Chron., iv., 5. According to the book of Chronicles, it held 3,000 baths[about 22,500 gallons]. |
2 Kgs., viii., 26. The writer of the book of Kings tells us that Ahaziah was 22years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year. | 2 Chron., xxii., 2. We are here informed that Ahaziah was 42 when he began toreign, and not 22. Both agree in the length of hisreign. |
2 Kgs., xiv., 7. In the book of Kings, Amaziah is said to have slain 10,000Edomites in the Valley of Salt. | 2 Chron., xxv.,11–12. In the book of Chronicles he is said to have slain twice thatnumber: 10,000 he smote, and 10,000 he cast down from the top ofa rock, whereby “they were all broken in pieces”(!) |
2 Kgs., xxiv., 8. The author of the book of Kings tells us that“Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began toreign, and [he] reigned in Jerusalem three months.” | 2 Chron., xxxvi., 9. The author of the book of Chronicles says that“Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began toreign, and he reigned three months and ten days inJerusalem.” |
David, we are here told, bequeathed to Solomon for the templethe fabulous sum of 100,000 talents of gold, and a milliontalents of silver. In English money this would be seventhousand million sterling (say 7,000,000,000!). | 1 Chron., xxix., 4. In this chapter the bequest is stated to have been only 3,000talents of gold, and 7,000 of silver. This would amount to£166,650,000 English money. A good round sum for apetty state not bigger than Yorkshire, but still considerablyreduced from that given in the previous record. |
2 Chron. iii., 15. According to the chronicler the height of the two pillars madeby Solomon for the temple was 35 cubits in the shaft, on whichwas a chapiter of five cubits. Altogether about 80feet!! | Jeremiah lii., 21, 22. Jeremiah tells us the shaft of each was only 18 cubitshigh. He agrees in the height of the chapiter (fivecubits). According to Jeremiah the entire height was about40 feet, or half that of the chronicler. |
Jeremiah lii., 28–30. The “prophet” informs us that the total number ofcaptives taken from Judah to Babylon was only 4,600. Amodest number enough, compared with the number of fighting men,which averaged 300,000, according to the Bible historians. | Ezra ii., 64. Ezra states that of the captives taken to Babylon only 42,360were willing to return. All the rest preferred to remainwhere they were. No doubt Ezra would give us to understandthat more remained in Babylon than went up to the land of theirfathers. |
The “prophet” has made a mistakein his sum. The three captivities were 3,320 + 832 +745=4,897, not 4,600. One is puzzled to understand how4,000 captives should have so stripped the kingdom as to leave ita wilderness; we find hundreds of thousands falling in a singlebattle without exhausting the country at all. | |
Matt. xvii., 1–2. Here we read “After six days Jesus taketh Peter,James, and John, and bringeth them up into a high mountain . . .and was transfigured before them.” | Luke ix., 28. Luke says “About an eight days after . . . hetook Peter, John, and James, and went up into a mountain, and wastransfigured.” |
Mark vi., 40. Mark says of the 5000 who were fed with five barley loaves andtwo fishes: “They sat down in ranks, by hundreds and byfifties.” | Luke ix., 14. Luke says that Jesus directed his disciples “to makethem sit down by fifties in a company.” |
These last two examples are not very weighty, but in a book which professes to be inspired, and demands unreserved and unconditional belief, we expect minute accuracy. The argument we advance is accumulative. Probably no book of good reputation has so many contradictory passages as the Bible; the examples referred to in this pamphlet form but a small part of what might be brought forward, if we allowed ourselves a larger space.
The examples given above are more or less connected with figures. The rest of the examples to be stated are independent of such sources of error. A few shall be given in detail and others in parallel columns.
Gen., i., 27.
Adam and Eve, we are here told, were created on the sixth day. The words are quite explicit, “male and female created he them, and God blessed them . . . and the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
We are little prepared to hear in the very next chapter that God did not create them a male and female on the sixth day, and of course did not bless them. What is still more strange is that the chapter opens with the words: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them, and on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made.”
According to v. 21 we find that God did not rest from his work at the close of the sixth day, nor was his work ended, nor was woman yet made; for after this “rest,” or during this “sabbath,” we are not told which, Adam being thrown into a deep sleep, one of his ribs was abstracted, and out of this rib was Eve made.