p. 130Ladies and Gentlemen,—
Have you ever thought of the genealogies and other name-lists as affording evidence of the truth of the Bible? I do not mean the two genealogies of Christ in the New Testament, nor to the early line of descent from Adam, supplied in Genesis, but to the detailed genealogies afterwards which form so prominent a feature of the Israelitish records. With regard to the genealogies of Christ and the early line of descent from Adam, it might be felt that there was a powerful reason for possible manufacture in the desire for symmetry and completeness of narrative, and that therefore no great stress could be laid on them one way or another. But the case is different with regard to the frequent and extensive genealogies throughout the Bible.
They begin with Genesis xxxvi., where we have “the generations of Esau,” son of Jacob, traced p. 131 in a multitude of names and particulars, of no interest to a general reader, in thirty-three verses. Then you have “the names of the children of Israel that came into Egypt,” with their family ramifications, running through seventeen verses of chapter xlvi. (8-25). Then in Exodus vi. 14-25, you have full particulars of the family descent of Moses and Aaron from Levi. In Numbers i., ii., and iii., over three long chapters, you have minute details of “all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls” (chap. i. 2).
Consider also the particulars in Num. vii. 9, “The princes of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers, who were the princes of their tribes,” who each man made a present to the service of the tabernacle “on the day that Moses had fully set up the tabernacle, and had anointed it, and had sanctified it, and all the instruments thereof, both the altar and all the vessels thereof, and had anointed them and sanctified them” (Num. vii. 1). Also the particulars of the second numbering, “All the congregation of the children of Israel from twenty years old and upward throughout their father’s house, all that are able to go to war in Israel” (Num. xxvi. 2-64).
Then you have the full enumeration of the camping stations of the children of Israel from the night they left Egypt till the day they pitched in the plains of Moab, on the east side of the Jordan, opposite Jericho. This nearly fills a chapter of fifty-six verses (Num. xxxiii.) It is a dry and objectless piece of writing, apart from the fact that it records the actual journey of a numerous assembly.
Then, when the Jordan is crossed and the land subdued in the wars of the next five years, you have p. 132 the extensive series of topographical specifications in Joshua, as the basis of the division of the land among its conquerors. Here you have not only hundreds of names of places but of families and persons, running through nine or ten chapters (Joshua xii.-xxi.) of no earthly interest to any reader or any people, except as the record of actual transactions in land among actual people.
In 1 Chronicles, you have the largest illustration of dry, statistical writing. There are whole chapters of genealogical particulars, and family and personal details, and extensive lists of the names of persons, tracing pedigrees back to the sons of Jacob, and describing the family ramifications of the priesthood and the city allotments to the priestly families in their distribution throughout the rest of the tribes; also the organization of the Levitical orders in the service of the temple. There are no fewer than sixteen chapters devoted to these particulars (chapters i. to xi. and xxiii. to xxvii. inclusive).
Ladies and Gentlemen,—I would read you specimens of these things, but that you would think me tedious. I would recommend you to read the various chapters in full to which I have referred. You will then be prepared to appreciate the force of the argument which I would found upon them. That argument you will probably anticipate after what has gone before. What more uninteresting than strings of names, of persons or places? How came these uninteresting statistical documents to be written? Imagine yourselves the writers: this is the way to test the theory of mythical or legendary writing. You might possibly write a sensational untrue story, illustrating national prowess or suggesting individual credit in some way; but is it conceivable that you p. 133 or any other writer would or could, apart from truth, write this sort of thing?:—
Sample of Genealogy.
“And the sons of Eliezer, Rehabiah the chief. And Eliezer had none other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. Of the sons of Izhar, Shelomith, the chief. Of the sons of Hebron, Jeriah, the first; Amariah, the second; Jahaziel, the third; and Jekameam, the fourth. Of the sons of Uzziel, Micah the first, and Jesiah, the second. The sons of Merari, Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli, Eleazar and Kish. And Eleazar died and had no sons but daughters; and their brethren, the sons of Kish, took them” (1 Chron. xxiii. 17-22); or
Sample of Topographical Specification.
“And the coast of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethah that lieth before Shechem, and the border went along on the right hand unto the inhabitants of En-tappuah. Now Manasseh had the land of Tappuah, but Tappuah, on the border of Manasseh, belonged to the children of Ephraim. And the coast descended unto the river Kanah, southward of the river. These cities of Ephraim are among the cities of Manasseh; the coast of Manasseh was also on the north side of the river, and the outgoings of it were at the sea. Southward it was Ephraim’s, and northward it was Manasseh’s, and the sea is his border, and they met together in Asher on the north, and in Issachar on the east. And Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher, Bethshean and her towns, and Ibleam and her towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and her towns,” etc. (Joshua xvii. 7-11); or
p. 134 Sample of journey-narrative.
“And they removed from Marah and came unto Elim, and in Elim were twelve fountains of water and threescore and ten palm trees, and they pitched there. And they removed from Elim and encamped by the Red Sea. And they removed from the Red Sea and encamped in the wilderness of Sin. And they took their journey out of the wilderness of Sin and encamped in Dophkah, and they departed from Dophkah and encamped in Alush. And they removed from Alush and encamped at Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink” (Num. xxxiii. 9-14); or
Sample of Land Distribution.
“And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites, and the children of Aaron, the priest, which were of the Levites had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of Simeon, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities. . . . Hebron with her suburbs to be a city of refuge for the slayer, and Libnah with her suburbs, and Jattir with her suburbs, and Eshtemoa with her suburbs, and Holon with her suburbs, and Debir with her suburbs, and Ain with her suburbs, and Juttah with her suburbs, and Beth-shemesh with her suburbs,” etc. (Josh. xxi. 4-6, 13-16).
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The existence of such writing, especially in the elaborateness in which it is found in the Bible, can only be accounted for on one principle. It was written down in the first instance because of facts—prosaic but important facts—which it was felt p. 135 desirable to preserve a record of. Ladies and Gentlemen, if you imagine anything else about it, you have only to put your imagination to the test by trying to write such things as an effort of fancy for any purpose whatever, or by consulting your own knowledge of human nature in its various literary manifestations. Such documents you never find except in parish work where lists of ratepayers have to be made, or in a surveyor’s office, where land has to be described with a view to a new railway or some other real work. Such documents are the product of facts only. They could not in the nature of things be produced from fancy or a desire to entertain or be entertained. The bare existence of these documents in the Bible is proof of the very substantial substratum of facts to which the Bible relates—facts of land and people, and authentic transactions.
And when you come to look into the facts to which these documents relate, you find much more involved than is apparent on the surface. You find Israel’s arrival from Egypt proved, and a number of other things:—Their sojourn for forty years in a sterile wilderness; their coming out of Egypt from the grip of a powerful military nation; the work of Moses; the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and, in general, the whole Divine foundation on which the Bible stands; for none of these things are open to reasonable explanation apart from the fact of God’s co-operation throughout as recorded.