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.