196 GENERAL SIR CHARLES WARREN^ G.C.M.G., F.R.S., ON 



Mr. Sidney Collett : Towards the foot of page 179, Sir Charles 

 Warren suggests, in the form of a question, the extent to which the 

 Israelites were given up to the gods of Egypt. I have always felt 

 that we might safely conclude that they were largely addicted to 

 idolatry. The proof of that seems to be the readiness with which 

 the people made the golden calf and worshipped it. What strikes 

 me in this paper, with all its profound interest, is that too much 

 stress has been laid on the human element. We read much about 

 the training of the Israelites and their military fitness, but surely 

 the predominant thing in connection with the whole subject, from 

 the Scriptural point of view, is the power of God — the miraculous. 

 Everything was miraculous : nothing depended on the natural. It 

 seems to me, we shall never arrive at a wise and correct conclusion 

 on these matters unless we give God and His almighty power the 

 right place in speaking of these things. 



Then I notice that, on the last page (192), the lecturer says : 

 " During all these centuries Israel kept the flag flying." I think we 

 can scarcely say that. " This my covenant they broke," God said 

 over and over again ; and because they did not " keep the flag 

 flying " they were disintegrated, and are now scattered all over the 

 earth for the same reason. 



Rev. J. TuCKWELL, M.R.A.S. : When considering the mysterious 

 commands given by God to the people, I think we must allow of 

 remote purposes which we are not able to fathom. I have one 

 example in my mind. We all remember the command given to Saul to 

 exterminate the Amalekites. It seems a brutal thing to do. But 

 what is the historic view 1 Consider the Book of Esther. What took 

 place there 1 Amalek had a descendant, Haman, whose plot was 

 the extermination of the whole of the Israelites — to blot out the 

 line from which the Messiah was to come. In order that the plot 

 might be frustrated, Esther did the work which should have been 

 done by Saul. It had to be done, and as Saul did not do it, it was 

 reserved for Esther in later times. How much folly might be 

 avoided if all of us carried out a distasteful duty, for some purpose 

 not known to us, but assuredly known to God ! 



Mr. J. 0. CORRIE, B.A., F.R.A.S. : There is certain subsidiary 

 evidence in Mosaic legislation of the hold which Egyptian ideas had 

 on the children of Israel. In the whole of the Pentateuch you do 



