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are assigned, was appointed to carry the lighter, its curtains and coverings, its hangings and cords. Such a coincidence as this is extremely natural, if Moses, who directed this matter, recorded it; but is it not wholly improbable, a forger or compiler should think of detailing such minute particulars at all, or if he' did, should detail them in such a manner as this? The more minute and apparently unimportant such coincidences as these' are, the more unlikely is it they should arise from any thing but reality.

Another coincidence of somewhat a similar nature is the following. In the second chapter of the book of Numbers, the writer describes the division of the twelve tribes into four camps, the number of each tribe, and the total number in each camp. He fixes the position each was to take round the tabernacle, and the order of their march: and he directs that the tabernacle, with the camp of the Levites, should set forward between the second and third camps. * But in the tenth chapter occurs what seems at first a direct contradiction to this; for it is said, that after the first camp had set forward, then "the' "tabernacle was taken down ; and the sons of Gershon, and the "sons of Merari, set forward, bearing the tabernacle; and after"wards the second camp, or standard of the children of Reuben." But this apparent contradiction is reconciled a few verses after, when we find that though the less sacred parts of the tabernacle, the outside tent and its apparatus, set out between the first and second camp; yet the sanctuary, or Holy of Holies, with its furniture, the ark and the altar, did not set out till after the second camp, as the direction required. And the reason of the separation is assigned, that those who bore the outside tabernacle might set it up, and thus prepare for the reception of the sanctuary against it came. ‡ Would a forger or compiler who lived when these marches had wholly ceased, and the Israelites had fixed in the land of their inheritance, have thought of such a circumstance as this?

In comparing the direct narrative with the recapitulation in the last book of the Pentateuch, some differences occur well worth noticing. In the eighteenth chapter of Exodus, Moses, with singular impartiality, gives the credit of originating one of the most salutary and important parts of the Jewish civil * Numbers, ii. 17. + Numbers, x. 17. Ibid. x. 21.

government to his father-in-law, Jethro; who, observing the variety and weight of business which oppressed the legislator, from his acting as judge of every private litigation between the people, tells him, *"The thing that thou doest is not good. "Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou and this people with "thee: this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to "perform it thyself alone. Hearken now unto my voice: Thou "shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, "and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers "of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens; and let "them judge the people. If thou shalt do this thing, and God "command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all "this people shall also go to their place in peace. So Moses "hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he "had said. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made “them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hun"dreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the "people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, "but every small matter they judged themselves." Such is the direct narrative. In the very beginning of his address to the people, Moses is represented as alluding to this fact, but with this remarkable difference; that he not only says nothing of Jethro, but that, instead of representing himself as the person who selected these magistrates, he states that he had appealed to the people, and desired they should elect them. "I spake unto you

at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone: "The Lord your God hath multiplied you, and behold, ye are "this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. (The Lord "God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many "more as ye are, and bless you as he hath promised you.) How "can I myself bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your "strife? Take you wise men, and understanding, and known

among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. "So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, " and made them heads over you. And I charged your judges at "that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, "and judge righteously between every man and his brother, "and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect "persons in judgment, but ye shall hear the small as well as

* Exod. xviii. 17, &c.

"the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the "judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, ❝bring it unto me, and I will hear it."* There is a great and striking difference between these statements, but there is no contradiction: Jethro suggested to Moses the appointment; he, probably after consulting God, as Jethro intimates, "if God shall thus command thee," referred the matter to the people, and assigned the choice of the individuals to them; the persons thus selected he admitted to share his authority as subordinate judges. Thus the two statements are perfectly consistent. But this is not all; their difference is most natural. In first recording the event, it was natural Moses should dwell on the first cause which led to it, and pass by the appeal to the people as a subordinate and less material part of the transaction; but in addressing the people, it was natural to notice the part they themselves had in the selection of those judges, in order to conciliate their regard and obedience. How naturally also does the pious legislator in his public address, dwell on every circumstance which could improve his hearers in piety and virtue. The multitude of the people was the cause of the appointment of these judges: How beautifully is this increase of the nation turned to an argument of gratitude to God! How affectionate is the blessing with which the pious speaker interrupts the narrative, imploring God, that the multitude of his people may increase a thousand fold! How admirably does he take occasion, from mentioning the judges, to inculcate the eternal principles of justice and piety, which should control their decisions! How remote is all this from art, forgery, and imposture. Surely here, if any where, we can trace the dictates of nature, truth and piety.

A similar difference occurs between the direct narrative of the appointment of those who were sent to spy out the land of Canaan, and the manner in which Moses recapitulates this fact, when he addresses the people.+ In the former it is stated, “The "Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the Chil "dren of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a "man, every one a ruler among them. And Moses, by the "commandment of the Lord, sent them from the wilderness of Numb. xiii. xiv..

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* Deut. i. 9, to the end.

"Paran." The history then reckons up their names, and recounts the evil report which they brought up of the land which they had searched; the fatal effect it produced in exciting the congregation of Israel to rebel against their God; the consequent wrath of God, who threatened to cut off the whole nation by the pestilence, and to raise up of Moses a people greater and mightier than they. It relates at full length, the intercession of Moses to avert this dreadful doom, and its being changed into a sentence of condemnation against the adults of that generation, from twenty years old and upwards, that they should never enter into that good land, but should be detained in the wilderness for forty years, and there die. This relation takes up two long chapters: the recapitulation of this event, addressed to the children of that generation at the interval of forty years, is contained in half a chapter; yet it exhibits a view of the transactions materially different from the original narrative, yet reconcileable with that narrative, and of such a nature, that (as it seems to me) every variation may be accounted for, from the peculiar views and feelings of the Jewish legislator in this address to the people.

The recapitulation* begins with relating what took place when the people came to Kadesh Barnea, before any idea of sending spies had occurred: "Then," says Moses, “I said unto "you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which "the Lord our God doth give unto us. Behold, the Lord thy "God hath set the land before thee: go up, and possess it, as "the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, "neither be discouraged. And ye came near unto me, every ❝ one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they "shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what 66 way we must go, and into what cities we shall come. And "the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, "one of a tribe, and they turned and came unto the valley of "Eshcol, and searched it out." Here then the legislator reminds the people of two circumstances omitted in the original narrative: one, that when they had first approached the promised land, he had commanded them to go up at once and possess the land, fearing nothing, for God was with them: the other, that

* Deut. i. from verse 19, to the end.

the idea of delaying to do this, and sending spies to search out the land, had originated, not with the legislator, but with the people; and that it was in compliance with their own request, that God had commanded Moses to appoint the spies.

*

This variation is extremely natural: it is not to be wondered at, that Moses should omit these circumstances in the original narrative, where he was more intent upon the final event itself, than the subordinate causes that led to it; but it was highly expedient, when addressing the people, that he should recall these circumstances to their memory, as they so strongly proved that the prime origin of this destructive event was found in their disobedience to the command of their legislator, and that they were themselves the authors of a scheme which terminated so fatally. As naturally can we account for Moses, in his recapitulation of his own conduct on this occasion, omitting altogether the menace of God, to disinherit the Jews, and raise up a nation from himself in their stead; and for his taking no notice of his own successful intercession, on which God had deigned to wave the execution of this awful menace. To dwell on a fact so disgraceful to the people whom he addressed, and so honourable to himself, would have served rather to wound the feelings and kindle the jealousy of his hearers, than to awaken them to piety and repentance, and would not have suited the character of him "who was the meekest of men ;"* though, in recording the dispensations of Providence for the cool reflection of his countrymen, it was a lesson too important to be left out. And that this was the real cause of the omission here, we may be satisfied, from the singular circumstance of Moses sliding into this part of his address to the people, a fact which took place at a quite different time, but which tended to conciliate his hearers by humbling himself in their eyes, and reminding them that he, as well as their fathers, had offended God; so that like them he was condemned never to enter into the promised land. For when he states, that God swore, saying, "surely, there shall "not one of these men of this evil generation see that good "land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, save Caleb the "son of Jephunneh, because he hath wholly followed the Lord;" he adds, "Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, "saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither; but Joshua the son

* Vide Numbers, xii. 3.

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