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quired such an acquaintance by their political and commercial connection with the Egyptians."

With still less probability can the accounts of the original inhabitants of Canaan and the neighboring countries be looked upon as proofs of a Mosaic origin ; for these accounts are very defective and contradictory." [Some critics have contended that the antiquity of these books was established by the peculiarities of some narratives they contain.

Thus, in Gen. xxxvi. 31, sqq., there is a list of eight kings of Edom, all of whom are said to have died, excepting the last, whose death is not mentioned. An easy inference is, that he was not dead at the time of writing the account. But since the title of this list is, "Kings that reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the children of Israel," it is more natural to suppose the last one mentioned was not dead when the first king of Israel came to the throne.]

Such catalogues as those in Num. i. iii. vii. xxvi. and elsewhere, are by no means incontestable con

hast saved our lives; let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.' And Joseph made it a law over the land of Ægypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's." [This probably contains an erroneous explanation of a real fact. See Von Bohlen, Alt. Ind. vol. ii. p. 45.] In xlvi. 34, shepherds are said to be an abomination to the Ægyptians. Ex. vii. 19, ix. 27. See Michaelis, Einleit. in d. A. T. p. 189. Eichhorn, § 439, 435, a. De Ægypti Anno mirabili Comment. Reg. Soc. Gott. recent. vol. iv. p. 35. Class. Hist. and Philol.

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Vater, vol. iii. p. 605. On the intercourse between Palestine and Ægypt, see Hartmann, Die Hebräerin am Putztische, vol. i. pp. 212, 460, vol. iii. p. 159, and his Hist. Krit. Forschungen, p. 726. Compare, likewise, Isa. xix. Ezek. xxix. 30. Ex. x. 13, is an untrue account. Comp. Hasselquist, Reise, p. 254.

See Michaelis, 1. c. p. 183. Vater, on the other hand, 1. c. 600. For the verification of such accounts, compare Gen. xiv. 7, with xxxvi. 12—16, (concerning the Amalekites ;) Gen. xxiii. 3, with Num. xiii. 22; Jos. xv. 13, Judges i. 20, and Gen. xiv. 13, (on the inhabitants of Hebron ;) Gen. xv. 19, with Num. xxxii. 12, (on the Kenezites.) Vater, vol. i. p. 136.

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temporary records, as Bertholdt maintains; for much may be advanced against their credibility, and it may be proved at least by such examples as Gen. v. xi. 10-26, 1 Ch. ix. xxiii. xxvii. and Neh. x.-that such passages owe their origin to an uncertain and often arbitrary tradition," as it may also be seen in the comparison of the following parallels:

Numbers xxi. 10-20. "And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in Oboth. And they journeyed from Oboth, and pitched at Ije-abarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrising. From thence they removed, and pitched in the valley of Zared. From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites; for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah; and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth; and from Bamoth in the valley, that is in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looketh toward Jeshimon."

Numbers xxxiii. 44-49.

"And they departed from Punon, and pitched in Oboth. And they departed from Oboth, and pitched in Ije-abarim, in the border of Moab. And they departed from Iim, and pitched in Dibongad. And they removed from Dibon-gad, and encamped in Almon-diblathaim. And they removed from Almon-diblathaim, and pitched in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. And they departed from the mountains of Abarim, and pitched in the plains of Moab, by Jordan near Jericho. And they pitched by Jordan, from Beth-jesimoth even unto Abelshittim, in the plains of Moab."

Though it may be admitted that, among the Mosaic laws, some may be old and genuine, yet at least the

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Bertholdt, p. 787. On the other hand, Vater, vol. iii. p. 550, sqq. De Wette, Beiträge, vol. ii. p. 323, sqq., 377, sqq.

See below, § 162, d.

Bertholdt, p. 789. Stäudlin, Defence of the Laws of Moses, in Ammon and Bertholdt's Theol. Journal, vol. iii. and iv. Bleek, in Rosenmüller's Repert. vol. i. p. 7, sqq. Stud. und Krit. for 1831, p. 488, sqq.

proof of their originality, which has been sought for in their relation to the state of the nation while in the wilderness, is uncertain; and the fact is as good as certain that the main part of the laws of Moses has come down to us only in a twofold paraphrase. The two editions -so to say-of the decalogue present this in a striking light.'

Exodus xx. 1-17.

"I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Ægypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them,

Deuteronomy v. 6-21.

"I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

"Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor

It is not so improbable as Bleek supposes, that a writer should transfer himself so perfectly into the historical circumstances of the people. The law relative to sacrifices, in Levit. xvii. at least, if we may judge from its style, belongs to the Elohistic document. Of the law in Levit. xvi., the part verse 21-34 was probably not written in the desert. The difficult word

I was obscure to the writer himself. This fact, and the want of distinctness in respect to the trespass and sin-offerings, (Levit. iv.—vii.,) and respecting Urim and Thummim, (Ex. xxviii. 30,) must be laid to the charge of a writer who was only acquainted with the law of sacrifices through practice, and understood the pontifical mysteries only by hearsay. In Levit. xviii. 28, it is presupposed that the Canaanites were already driven out of the land. Levit. xiv. 33, sqq., and xxv. 29, sqq., relate to dwelling in houses and cities. The law in vi. 5, 6, (12, 13, Eng. trans.) could not be carried out in the desert.

Fulda, in Paulus, Mem. vol. iii. p. 205. De Wette, Beit. vol. ii. p. 253, sq. See Bleek's objection to this view, 1. C.

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nor serve them: for I the Lord | serve them: for I the Lord thy

thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children even unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days thou shalt labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

"Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be

God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

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Keep the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Ægypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence, through a mighty hand, and by a stretchedout arm therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.

"Honor thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God

long upon

the land which the Lord hath commanded thee: that thy

thy God giveth thee.

"Thou shalt not kill.

"Thou shalt not commit adul

tery.

"Thou shalt not steal.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's."

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days may be long, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

"Thou shalt not kill.

"And thou shalt not commit adultery.

"And thou shalt not steal.

"And thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

"And thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's house, his field, or his man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbor's."

The following odes may be referred with certainty to

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Chiefs of the people hollowed it out, with the sceptre

and their staves!"

"Come unto Heshbon!

Let the city of Sihon be built, and made strong;

For fire went out from Heshbon,

A flame from the city of Sihon.
It eat up Ar of Moab,

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