חֲמֻשִׁים (a word the etymology of which has long been sought for) i.e. the eager, active, brave, ready prepared for fighting". Again, Rosenmüller in his Commentary, though he does not reject armati, seems to prefer the interpretation generally adopted by the Jews, and supported by the authority of their paraphrasts. Here are his words: "Nec igitur rejiciendum, quod Hebraei
חֲמֻשִׁים ad quintam costam;—i.e. circa lumbos accinctos proprie significare dicunt, et hoc Exodi loco Israelitas dici exiisse expeditos et accinctos paratosque omnibus ad iter necessariis. Quod ipsum expresserunt Onkelos et duo reliqui Chaldaei paraphrastae", etc.
It would be easy to cite a host of distinguished authorities unfavourable to Dr. Colenso's interpretation. But we may well be content with these two. They certainly deserve a place in the very foremost rank of Hebrew scholars. Moreover, their testimony on the present question is above all suspicion; for it is well known that they share largely in the opinions of Dr. Colenso and his school. Nothing, therefore, could be farther from their purpose than to sacrifice the principles of philology with a view to defend the historical accuracy of the Bible. We beg to remind our readers that we express no opinion as regards the genuine meaning of this disputed word. Our position is simply this: Dr. Colenso's argument is totally devoid of foundation unless he prove that the word must mean armed men; and we maintain that he has utterly failed to do so; that, after all he has written, the meaning of the word still remains uncertain.
He attempts, however, to support his opinion by a fact recorded in the Pentateuch itself: "If they did not take it with them out of Egypt, where did they get the armour, with which, about a month afterwards, they fought the Amalekites (Ex., xvii. 8-13), and 'discomfited them with the edge of the sword'?" Dr. Colenso undertakes to prove that the Israelites are represented by Moses to have gone up armed out of Egypt. And here is his proof. If they did not bring the arms with them, where did they get them afterwards? That is to say, after the lapse of thirty-three centuries, when we have nothing to assist us but the very brief and summary narrative of Moses, he asks us to explain in what way the Israelites were supplied with arms. And if, with such scanty means of information, we cannot tell him how that fact took place, he infers that it was therefore impossible. Such is the flimsy reasoning by which he vainly hopes to shake the foundations of Christian faith.
It seems to us that nothing could be more satisfactory than the explanation suggested by Josephus, to whom Dr. Colenso has himself referred. But such conjectures, however probable in themselves, and well supported by authority, are unnecessary for our purpose. It is not for us to explain how the facts actually occurred, but for our adversary to make good his assertion, that they are absolute impossibilities or manifest contradictions.
If the first assumption in Dr. Colenso's argument is uncertain, the second is manifestly false. He maintains that, not only are the Israelites said to have been armed, but that they are represented as having 600,000 armed men. It is the existence of such a mighty host—nearly nine times as great as the whole of Wellington's army at Waterloo—with arms in their hands, that seems to him irreconcileable with the condition of a down-trodden, oppressed people. It is because the children of Israel had 600,000 armed men in the prime of life that he cannot conceive it possible they would have cried out in panic terror "sore afraid".
Now let us grant, for a moment, the point which we have just been disputing, and let us suppose Moses explicitly to declare that the children of Israel went up armed out of Egypt. Would this statement convey that there were 600,000 armed men? We know, indeed, that this was the number of the adult male population. But when we say that a people is armed, we do not mean that every man of twenty years old and upwards is under arms. Within the last two years how often have we heard it said that the Poles were armed against Russia? And yet the number of Poles actually bearing arms was not one-twentieth part of the adult male population. Just in the same way, if it were said that the Israelites were armed, we should understand nothing more than that a certain proportion of the people was armed for the protection of the whole. It would, then, be no matter for surprise that such a collection of armed men, without organisation, without training, should be struck with terror at the sight of the numerous and well-disciplined troops of Pharaoh, fully equipped, and provided with horses and chariots and all the accoutrements of war.
Dr. Colenso, as if anticipating this reply, next appeals to the Book of Numbers: "Besides, we must suppose that the whole body of 600,000 warriors were armed, when they were numbered (Num., i. 3.) under Sinai. They possessed arms, surely, at that time, according to the story". Here we join issue with the bishop on two points. First, he insinuates that Moses makes mention somewhere of 600,000 warriors. Secondly, he asserts that, according to the story, all these warriors possessed arms. Now we challenge him to produce a single text from the Pentateuch in which there occurs any mention of 600,000 warriors. We are told that the Israelites numbered 600,000 men of twenty years old and upward. But where are these men called warriors? And again, where is it said that all possessed arms? These are points which certainly demand clear and unmistakable evidence. It would be a fact unparalleled in history that every single man over twenty years of age, in the entire nation, should have been a soldier fully equipped for war. Our author tells us, indeed, that we must suppose they were armed; that they possessed arms, surely, at that time. But when we look for his proofs, we find nothing but a naked reference to the third verse in the first chapter in Numbers.
Let us then look into this passage, and see if it corroborates the assertion of Dr. Colenso. Here is the text as we find it in the English Protestant version, to which we must suppose the bishop to have referred:—"Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel * * from twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel"—(Numbers, i. 2, 3). The people were numbered accordingly by Moses and Aaron, and the result is given to us in the same chapter:—"So were all those that were numbered of the children of Israel * * from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war in Israel; even all that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty"—(vv. 45, 46). If we are to rely upon this version, it is clear that Moses does not say there were 600,000 warriors, nor 600,000 men possessed of arms, nor 600,000 men that went to war, but, simply, 600,000 men fit to go to war,—in other words, 600,000 men in the prime of life.
But perhaps Dr Colenso would prefer to be judged by the authority of the Hebrew text. Those who were numbered are described by the words