SOME SAMPLES OF ITS ALLEGED INACCURACIES
THE QUAILS
In Numbers 11, the account of the quails has certainly puzzled many; but like some other apparently insurmountable difficulties, they vanished before those who cast themselves on God, and wait on Him to instruct them. As it stands, infidels have made a great deal of it, from the statement in our version that the quails were “two cubits high,” or, about three feet high, “upon the face of the earth,” whereas it should be above the face of the earth; that is, they would be made to fly about three feet high, so that a man would be able to take as many as he chose. We have looked into the best translations of the Hebrew that we know, and also in the Revised Version, and in all it is rendered, “above the face of the earth;” and not as infidels have said, packed from the ground for three feet high, over a distance of forty miles across.
River, Not Flood
There is a somewhat similar error of translation in Joshua 24, when Abraham is said to have been taken from the other side of the flood, as if this account made him to be living in Noah’s day, instead of long after, as Genesis 11 tells us. But the mistake is obvious to any fair mind, for flood is a word that is translated in many other scriptures, river, and means that Abraham was taken by Jehovah from the other side of the river Euphrates. This, too, is corrected in the Revised Version, and in three other of the best translations.
Sun, Stand Thou Still!
As to the sun standing still (Josh. 10), a lady said to us lately, “Of course, that cannot be true, because it is entirely contrary to the laws of nature.” To which we replied, “Let us read it: ‘Then spake Joshua to Jehovah, in the day when Jehovah delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said, in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies.... and there was no day like that before it, or after it, that Jehovah hearkened unto the voice of a man; for Jehovah fought for Israel’” (Josh. 10:12-1412Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. 13And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. 14And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel. (Joshua 10:12‑14)). “That would be an impossibility,” repeated the lady, “because it would be entirely opposed to the laws of nature.” How sad to find people speaking of God as if He must be subject to any of these laws, for “with Him,” we are told, “nothing shall be impossible.” Again, we asked, “Was not the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ entirely contrary to that law of nature termed attraction of gravitation? And will not the resurrection and rapture of the saints, when the Lord comes, be also entirely contrary to all the laws of natural philosophy?” The fact is, if in our calculations, we leave out God who is omnipotent as well as omniscient and omnipresent, there is no knowing to what length of skepticism and infidelity we may go. Well did our Lord say to some, “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.”
When we remember that, for many hundreds of years after the days of our Lord, the sacred Scriptures were only made known by written copies, and how difficult it is to copy anything with perfect accuracy, and then, as before noticed, add to this the possibility of errors in translation, and also the mistaken zeal of the most upright adding or erasing what they could not but think desirable from their meager or incorrect view of a passage, it is marvelous that we have the Bible so kept and preserved from the tampering of infidelity as it has been. Difficulties we all experience as to portions of the Scriptures here and there, but to upright souls God still fulfills His own word, “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye” (Psa. 32:88I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. (Psalm 32:8)).
(Continued and to be Continued).