Tabernacle in the Wilderness 39 the structure, like a great sea of human beings stretching away in the distance. Either of these explanations would meet all the demands of the language used; and, as Dr. Orr has remarked, some least particle of common sense must be allowed to the writer of this Pentateuchal record; otherwise, with the “crude absurd ities” attributed to him by Bishop Colenso, he could never have written anything in the least degree rational, or that would bear a moment’s reflection even by himself. Besides, as Dr. Orr has noticed, it is only a customary way of speaking to say that a whole town or even a large city was gathered together in mass-convention, when the place of such meet ing was perhaps only some large hall or good-sized church. Before attacking, therefore, so eagerly with his arithmetical calculations the truthfulness of the Biblical account, this higher-critic bishop would have done well to have reflected a little upon the common use of language. That would have saved him from falling into a bigger blunder than he tries to fasten upon the writer of this Pentateuchal record, { XII. GREATEST OF THE OBJECTIONS But there is still one objection raised by the critics which seems to be more serious in nature. It is an objection based upon what may be called a physical impossibility, or the incompetency of the Israelites, while at Mt. Sinai or journey ing through the desert, either to construct or carry with them such a ponderous, highly artistic and costly a fabric as was the Sinaitic Tabernacle. These people in the desert and at Mt. Sinai, we are told, were the merest wandering Bedouins, having but little civilization and being “poor even to beg gary and of course such a people possessed neither the means nor the intellectual capability necessary for the con struction and transportation of the Tabernacle. This peculiar objection, however, rests upon at least two mistakes. The first one is that the Israelites at this time were
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker