"philosophy." We need do little more than exhibit the philosopher's theory in his own words: "We will now take a glance at dates. Here the first step undoubtedly must be to abandon the views and system adopted by the narrator, from the impossibility of an historian dealing with men who beget children like other people at the age of thirty, and live more than four hundred years afterwards. Those upon whom this consideration fails to make an impression may still be staggered by the fact, that upon this calculation the patriarch Noah lived down to the time of Abraham,* without troubling himself about the history of the world. Neither can we venture, like the authors of the Septuagint, to falsify the text, and, in order to get rid of the disproportion, add one hundred years to the ages of these geographical patriarchal monsters at the time of their marriage. We have, therefore, but one alternative to ascertain which of the two is the really traditional date, that of the ages after the birth of the first son, or that of the whole date; to ascertain, in other words, whether the narrator had the authority of tradition for the former date, and, in order to assist his chronology, added, at random, thirty or forty years to their ages when the first son was born; or whether he found the whole sum total recorded, and deducted from it whatever suited his purpose. The fact of his not stating the sum total would incline us to adopt the former view. But in the immediately preceding entries about Noah and Shem, we can prove that the complete sum total is the actual traditional date. *This is a real objection or difficulty if we adopt the Hebrew chronology, but it entirely vanishes if we adopt that of the Septuagint. This is amusing, standing, as it does, in connection with the author's radical alteration of the text of Scripture. On such suppositions, what becomes of the inspiration of the Scriptures, or even of their authenticity? Yet our author professes great reverence and regard for the Bible. He would not alter a date. In each case it is six hundred years, which was shown to be the original Chaldaic equation between lunar and solar years. We must, therefore, assume that it is so here also." * The postdiluvian times to Abraham are thus disposed of (the tabular form being somewhat abridged for the sake of space): — "There are three periods or divisions: “A. Sem (Arapakithis), i. e., the primeval land of the Kasdim (Chaldees), the frontier mountains of Armenia toward Assyria, four hundred and thirty-eight years. "B. Selah, 'The Mission,' four hundred and thirty-three years; Heber, the settler over the river (Tigris), four hundred and sixty-four years; Peleg, derivation, partition, four hundred and thirty-nine years; Yohtan (father of thirteen South Arabian races). “C. RéHu, district of the shepherd country of Edessa (Rohi), two hundred and thirty-nine years; Serug (in Osroëne, Sarug, west of Edessa), two hundred and thirty years. "D. Nahor goes to Ur of the Kasdim (Chaldees), one hundred and forty-eight years. "Terah leaves Ur of the Chaldees, and goes to Haran (Karra), a day's journey south of Edessa, two hundred and seventy-five years (70+205). "Nahor sets out from Sarug to Ur of the Chaldees, one hundred and forty-eight years (29+119). Terah sets out from Ur to Haran, that is, back toward Os- roëne, on the way to Canaan. years. At the age of seventy he begets three sons in Ur. "There is a remarkable closeness between the first three * Our eyes have not fallen on this proof. We know that Josephus (Antiq. i. iii. 9) speaks of a "great year" of six hundred common years; but what has that to do with the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, as the date of the flood, and the duration of Shem's life? It is all assumption. (geographical historical) dates, Arphaxad, Selah, and Eber Arphaxad four hundred and thirty-eight years, Selah four hundred and thirty-five, and Heber four hundred and sixty-four. "Supposing Arphaxad to represent the duration of the Semitic settlement Arapakithis, the mountainous district above Assyria, prior to the memory of man, The Mission' would represent the journey towards the plains three years before the close of this migration, and 'Heber' would represent the period when the migrating race passed over the Upper Tigris on their way to the Upper Mesopotamia. The year 464 would, in that case, be the one in which they entered Mesopotamia proper, and the tribe must have remained in a compact body two hundred and thirty-nine years before a portion of them commenced the great migration southward, the result of which was the foundation of the kingdom of Southern Asia." (Vol. iii. p. 367.) "This would make nine hundred and thirty-three years to Nahor, the grandfather of Abraham " (i. e., 464 +239 +230=933 years). (Vol. iii. p. 369.) Sober criticism on the above would be entirely out of place. We venture to affirm that there is not within the whole compass of literature another such perversion of an evidently plain historical narrative into a monstrous historico-chronologico-geographical jumble. "Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.” (Gen. vii. 6.) This six hundred years is "the Chaldaic equation between the lunar and solar years." "And Noah lived after the flood threehnndred and fifty years." This is "half of another equation, with a surplus of fifty years." Only fifty more! 'Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah; and Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters." (Gen. xi. 12, 13.) This four hundred and thirty-eight years represents "the duration of the Semitic settlement in Arapakithis, the mountainous district above Assyria, prior to the memory of man." And the sacred writer probably, "in order to assist his chronology, added at random the thirty-five years when the first son was born." (!) "And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber; and Salah lived, after he begat Eber, four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters." (Gen. xi. 14, 15.) Salah means "the mission." "The four hundred and thirtythree years represent the commencement of the journey toward the plains, three years before the close of this migration." "Heber" means "the settler over the river" (Tigris); and "represents the period when the migrat-、 ing race passed over the Upper Tigris on their way to Upper Mesopotamia. The year 464 would, in that case, be the one in which they entered Mesopotamia proper, and the tribe must have remained in a compact body two hundred and thirty-nine years before a portion of them commenced the great migration southward, which was the foundation of the primeval kingdom of Southern Asia." And so of the other names and numbers. But Bunsen has not told us what was meant, on his theory, by the frequently recurring phrase," and he begat sons and daughters." This he was certainly bound to do. It is true that in the case of the two sons of Heber, Peleg and Yoktan, he makes the former mean derivation," "division, two hundred and thirty-nine years," and the latter the real "father of thirteen South Arabian races;" which distinction appears to have been made on some principle 66 of philosophy peculiar to him; but he ought not to have left unexplained so important a phrase so frequently occurring as "sons and daughters." We must devote a little space to our author's chronology of Abraham and the two or three succeeding generations. For in this his " philosophy" appears to peculiar advantage. After giving the well-known numbers, as in the following table, Abraham lived 175 years, Bunsen proceeds to say, Isaac, 180 years, "Here it is not a question of a solitary exception in the case of one individual. It is true that no instance can be adduced demonstrably of any one reaching the age of one hundred and eighty. Such a case, however, as an exception, would not contravene the laws of nature. But that three patriarchs should have lived, one after the other, one hundred and fifty years, and even more, and the viceroy, Joseph, their successor, one hundred and ten, cannot be historical. There must be some means of detecting some blunder here, or else the historical nature of the narrative will be liable to grave suspicion. None but those who cling to the infatuation that the antediluvian patriarchs, as well as Noah and Shem, lived from six hundred to one thousand years, have any excuse to offer for such purely childish delusions, persistence in which can only be productive of doubt and unbelief. "But there is no country in which it is so improbable that a man a hundred years old should have a son as in a land of early development, like Syria and Canaan.* But are we compelled, * Our author's "philosophy" likewise sets aside the plain declarations of, the New Testament. What becomes, on his theory, of Rom. iv. 19 and Heb. xi. II, which indorse the account in Gen. xviii. 10-15 and xxi. 5? |