Moses takes the sum of the children of Israel, each should give a half-shekel, without defining whether it should be paid before or after the numbering of the persons. In ver. 16, He tells what is to be done with the silver thus collected. It is to be devoted to the service of the Tabernacle, i. e., as we find from chapter xxxviii. 27, 28, to the making of the silver sockets. It was necessary, therefore, first to take the atonementmoney. Every man of the proper age came and paid his half-shekel, and by counting the sum the number of the people was also taken. This counting was done by Ithamar, by Moses' command, Exod. xxxviii. 21; and the sum of the half-shekels, and therefore of the men, found to be 603,550. But the numbering of the persons by Moses and his assistants was deferred until the erection of the Tabernacle, as described Numb. i., when the number was found to be the same. To facilitate the construction of the Tabernacle, the atonement-money had been paid in advance. Afterwards the formal numbering took place and thus the two numberings, first of the half-shekel, and then of the persons, make together one fulfilment of the command, and what appears to be a difficulty becomes a proof of the honesty and trustworthiness of the historian. That the numbers should be the same in both cases is not very surprising. They were numbered who had already paid their atonement

money. The command in Numb. 1. 2, 3, must be taken in connexion with the original command, Exod. xxx., and the preparatory contribution of the half-shekels.

BISHOP COLENSO, CHAP. VIII. The Israelites dwelling in Tents.

In his eighth chapter, Bishop Colenso sets forth his difficulty about the Israelites dwelling in tents: "Take ye every man for them which are in his tents," Exod. xvi. 16. This statement of their having tents and dwelling in them, "conflicts strangely," he says, "with that in Lev. xxiii. 42, 43, where it is assigned as a reason for their 'dwelling in booths,' for seven days, at the feast of tabernacles, 'that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.'" Now supposing for a moment that the word "booth " cannot mean "tent," there is no necessary contradiction between the two statements, that the Israelites dwelt in booths, and also dwelt in tents. Some, the poor for instance, i. e. the great body of the nation, may have dwelt in the former. The more wealthy may have had the latter. And even of the middle class, between these two, many may, under the circumstances of the case, have been very glad of booths to shelter themselves and

their families. The very mention of booths as well as tents is a proof of the historical truth of the narrative. If tents alone had been spoken of, D. C.'s objection, drawn from the impossibility of having 200,000 tents, might have had some plausibility. But the mention of the booths easily solves the difficulty. Those who could have tents used them, and those who could not had booths of whatever materials they found. Even as to those who had tents, we can hardly suppose that they had all been made by the best manufacturers of the day, but that at first, certainly, they were very make-shift concerns. In every case the booths of the poor would be, of course, more numerous than the tents of the rich, and so it would be natural to call the feast "The feast of booths, or tabernacles," rather than the "Feast of tents;" though, when we have considered the true meaning of Succah, booth, we shall see the true reason of this title. Here again D. C. is inaccurate and incomplete in his statement. He says, "The Hebrew word for a booth, made of boughs and bushes, 2, which is the word here used, is quite different from that for a tent,, used in xvi. 16." And that when as in "2 Sam. xi. 11, and one or two other places," it is used of tents, "it is used improperly." D. C. seems to believe that a booth (Succah) must necessarily be made of boughs and bushes; but this belief is contradicted both

by the etymology and the usage of the word. It is derived from Sakakh, "to cover, protect, &c.;" and Succah, booth, signifies in its primary sense, a space covered over, or a covert.' It may be a lair for wild beasts, Ps. x. 9: "He lieth in wait in the hiding-place, as a lion in his lair" (Succoh); or temporary booths for cattle, Gen. xxxiii. 17; or a shed in a garden, Isaiah i.; or rude tents for soldiers, 2 Sam. xi. 11; or the most magnificent tents of kings, as of Benhadad, 1 Kings xx. 12-16, translated pavilions in our English version; or of King David, Amos ix. 11, "The tabernacle of David;" or the sacred Tabernacle of God (Succo), Ps. xviii. 12; 2 Sam. xxii. 12; Ps. xxvii. 5; and lxxvi. 3. Compare also Job xxxvi. 29, "His tabernacle," just as the cognate word Siccuth is used of the tabernacle of the idol which the children of Israel carried in the wilderness. Does D. C. mean that the lair of the lion, or the pavilion of Benhadad, or the tabernacle of David, or the Tabernacle of God, was made "of boughs and bushes," or does he presume to call the author of the Book of Kings, or David, or Amos to task, and say they use the word Succah "improperly?" It is to be presumed that D. C. overlooked, and did not suppress, this meaning of Succah. The truth is, when Succah is applied to the pavilion of Benhadad, or the tabernacle of David, or the Lord's dwelling-place, it cannot be translated "booth,"

and cannot have been constructed "of boughs and bushes." In these cases it means tent, just as much as Ohel. The etymology and the usage show that Succah expresses the genus, of which booth and tent are only species; and the great festival is called "the feast of Succoth," tabernacles, and could not be called the feast of Ohalim, tents, for then the booths of the poor would be excluded, and it would seem as if Israel in the wilderness had dwelt in tents, and tents only; and D. C. might with some plausibility have asked whence they got them all. The feast of Succoth, tabernacles, embraces both the tents of the rich and the booths of the poor. Some dwelt in one, some in the other, all doubtless in whatever they could procure; and thus D. C. has thrown away much arithmetic, which might have been prevented if he had inquired into the meaning of words before he invoked the aid of figures.

BISHOP COLENSO, CHAP. IX. The Israelites armed.

The next objection (chap. ix.) is derived from Exod. xiii. 18. "The children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt;" upon which D. C. observes, that "the word D, which is here rendered 'harnessed,' appears to mean