That superstition reigned supreme in the very highest order of the Jewish minds, to the exclusion of science, is shown by some of the wild, superstitious freaks of the prophets. Isaiah traveled through Egypt and Ethiopia three years stark naked (Isa. xx. 3). Such a disgusting exhibition, if attempted in this age of civilization, would terminate in a few hours by the lodgment of the lunatic in the calaboose. Jehovah, it appears, first prompted the act, and afterwards spoke approving of it by saying it was performed by "my servant Isaiah" (Isa. xx. 3).
Ezekiel and Habakkuk both would have us believe that God seized them by the hair of the head, and carried them,—the former, the distance of eight miles; and the latter, three hundred, miles. How Jehovah himself traveled while performing this feat of carrying the prophets is not explained. It must have been rather an unpleasant way of traveling, and must have caused some serious perturbation of mind lest the hair-hold should slip, and precipitate them to the ground. If this mode of travel could have been continued, it would have superseded the necessity of railroads.
Ezekiel, we are told, lay three hundred and ninety days on his left side, and forty days on his right side; and then, having swallowed a roll of parchment with the aid of Jehovah (Ezek. iii. 1), he was prepared for business. We are not told what was the object in swallowing such a formidable document, or how he managed to get into his stomach an article having a diameter four times that of his throat. Jeremiah wore cords around his neck, and a yoke on his back (rather a singular place for a yoke). Hosea claimed that God commanded him twice to go and marry a whore (Hos. i. Z). This looks like a connivance at, if not a tacit indorsement of, whoredom. Ezekiel relates a "story" about being carried by "the hand of the Lord," and set down among some old dry bones, which he proceeded to invest with human flesh and sinews, and then drew skins over them to hold the flesh and bones together (Ezek. xxx vii.). Having thus manufactured a new supply of the genus homo, he invoked the four winds to inflate their bodies with breath, when, lo! there "stood upon their feet an exceeding great army." We use his own language. Here is a story that casts all the wild and weird tales of heathen mythology in the shade. There would have been no necessity for drafting soldiers in the recent Rebellion if the country could have been blessed with such a creative genius as Ezekiel. Such stories set all logic at defiance. If the first commandment, "Multiply and replenish the earth," had been neglected so as to render it necessary to adopt another process for increasing the number of human beings, certainly a more rational and decent mode might have been invented. We will not relate any more of the curious capers of these "inspired men of God."
Some Christian writers have disposed of such erratic conduct, and such wild freaks of fancy, by assuming them to be the garb or metaphor of some great spiritual truth. This is explained by the proverb, "Necessity is the mother of invention;" but the common mind knows nothing of these inventions of the priesthood to save the credit of the Bible. Hence, whether true or false, such an explanation does not destroy the demoralizing influence of such ideas and language upon the public mind; and then it is derogatory to the character of God to assume he would do such senseless and unrighteous things as are related in some of the above cases. We insist that it would be a serious calamity upon the country to make a book containing such moral lessons, or rather immoral lessons, "the fountain of our laws and the supreme rule of our conduct," as urged by the Evangelical Alliance; and it is a sorrowful and deplorable circumstance that such a book is circulated among the heathen by the thousand as guides for their moral conduct. We wish they would refuse to accept it, as the Japanese have done in the past.
II. THE PROPHETS ELIJAH AND ELISHA.
There are some peculiar features in the history of these two Hebrew prophets, for which they seem to merit a special notice. They appear to have been on very familiar terms with Jehovah; and the whole machinery of heaven, we are led to conclude, was under their control, with no special reason why they should merit such divine partiality, as they were not overstocked with practical righteousness. The acts of raising the dead and controlling the elements appear to have been to them very common-place performances. One of Elijah's greatest miraculous feats was that of "shutting up the heavens," so that there was no dew nor rain for three years (1 Kings xvii. 1). Aside from the absolute impossibility of intercepting the action of the laws which control and regulate the entire machinery of the universe, there are several considerations which render this story wholly incredible. It appears, from the language used, that this drought extended over the whole earth, and all nations must have suffered the direful consequences; and yet none of their histories allude to it. The absence of rain and dew for three years must have caused the surface of the earth to become dry and parched to a considerable depth, particularly in the torrid zone. The creeks and rivulets must have been dried up. Every spear of grass, every tree, every plant, must have withered and perished; and all the cattle must have died for want of food and drink; and the people must have shared the same fate. Indeed, not a living thing could have been left upon the face of the earth where this drought prevailed. And yet no other history makes any allusion to such a calamity; and a circumstance which renders it more incredible is, that the moisture which is constantly ascending from the earth could not have been held in the upper strata of the atmosphere for half that period of time. When it ascends and accumulates, and becomes sufficiently condensed, it must fall in the shape of rain.
2. It appears that the prophet himself, in order to escape the fatal consequences of this terrible visitation of divine wrath, was instructed to flee, and hide near the Brook Cherith, which was in the vicinity of Jordan. Here, we are told, he was fed by a raven, which brought him both bread and water. The queries naturally arise here, Where did the raven obtain those articles of food? Why can not suffering and starvation be prevented at the present day by a similar expedient? Why should several millions of human beings have suffered a terrible death by starvation in India within a recent period, if ravens can be employed as messengers of mercy? Why should God be partial? The preservation of the life of the prophet could not have been of so much more importance, judging from his subsequent history, as he achieved but little good afterward; and, as nobody claims to have seen the raven but Elijah, the case looks a little doubtful.
3. The next miraculous feat of Elijah was that of increasing a widow's barrel of meal and cruse of oil after they were nearly exhausted, so that they lasted for many months. In nearly all such cases we find incredible features, in addition to the impossibility of performing the act. No reason can be found, in the history of this case, for bestowing such miraculous favors upon this woman that would not apply to thousands of women now, some of them even in a worse state of suffering, and in greater need of divine aid. It does not appear that the miracle had the effect to convince anybody of the might and power of his God, nor that it was designed to produce such an effect. Hence nothing was accomplished by it but the relief of the poor widow's wants, which was a very good thing; but, as we have already remarked, she had no more claim upon the benevolence and munificence of God than thousands of poor widows and others of the present day who receive no such aid.
4. The prophet performed, we are told, another miracle for the benefit of this woman, though we do not learn that she was more righteous than other women. Her son sickened and died (perhaps the meal was not in a very healthy condition); and Elijah restored him to life. If there were any truth in the story, it could be accounted for by supposing the boy was in a state of catalepsy, or trance, as life has been revived in numerous cases in persons in this condition in modern times; and the conduct of Elijah furnishes some evidence that he understood it in this light. He took the body into an upper room, so the performance should not be witnessed by any of the company (perhaps for fear of being disturbed; and he was probably apprehensive that they would suspicion, from his actions, that the boy was not dead). In fact the narrator does not say he was dead, but only that the breath had gone out of him; and this could be said in any case of swooning, trance, or catalepsy.
5. Ahab is reported as reproving Elijah for bringing so much suffering upon the people by the great drought. The reason the prophet assigns for this divine judgment is worthy of note. It was because Ahab and his subjects worshiped a false God (Baalim). This explains the whole affair. The Jews were always assuming that those who did not worship as they did worshipers of false Gods: but there is no evidence of were this, and no reason in the assumption. As St. John (i. 18) declares, "No man has seen God at any time," it follows that each worshiper, under every system of religion, pictures on the form, size, shape, and character of God for himself; and certainly, other nations had as much right to form their own mental conceptions of God as the Jews had, and were as likely to form a correct idea of him as they. They could not picture out a worse God than Jehovah. Here we have a true explanation of the reason the Jews were perpetually denouncing and would not subscribe to the Jewish creed. The Jews were creed-worshipers.