REVIEW BY THE SECRETARY. 



33 



it was the " place," and not tlie stone which Jacob called a 

 " Bethel." It was in that place that Jacob became vividly conscious 

 of the presence of God, and the stone was erected as a memorial of 

 his experiences there. This misuse of the term "Bethel" is the 

 more to be regretted l^ecause it is used l)y infidelity as the origin^ in 

 the supposed evolution of Christian doctrine and practice, of the 

 more modern temples and other places of sacred service. I should 

 like to add also that the number he assigns to the Biblical narrative 

 of the Israelites based on the use of the term "alf" is ecpially at 

 variance with the history of the journey ings of the Israelites through 

 the desert. The number of the men according to Professor Petrie's 

 calculation would be quite incommensurate with the number 

 requisite to carry on the wars which are described in the Biblical 

 narrative. It appears, therefore, that we must rather accept 

 Professor Petrie's theories and reject the plain narrative of Scripture 

 or we must accept the Scripture narrative and reject Professor 

 Petrie's theories. I confess that I prefer the latter. 



Deputy Surgeon-General Partridge. — May I say a word about 

 what is said by Professor Petrie regarding the number of the 

 Israelites who left Egypt being only 5,550 persons. The Bible tells 

 us (Exodus XXX, 11-16), that when the people were numbered every 

 man (above 20) gave a ransom for his soul a half-shebd of silver, 

 the rich not more, the ])oor not less. We know what was done 

 with this silver ; it was made into silver sockets for the boards of the 

 Tabernacle, and the four pillars of the vail (Exodus xxxviii, 27), 

 and for the silver hooks, fillets and chapiters of the Court (Exodus 

 xxxviii, 28). Each socJcd weighed a talent (Exodus xxviii, 27) = 

 3,000 shekels or 6,000 half-shekels. There were two sockets to each 

 board, and there were 48 boards, so there were 96 sockets, also there 

 were four sockets for the four pillars of the vail. Total, 100 sockets, 

 each socket = 6,000 half-shekels. Total, 600,000 haJf-sheMs I 



For the silver hooks, fillets, and chapiters of the Court, 3,550 half- 

 shekels were used (Exodus xxxviii, 28). 

 So then the amount of silver used was 600,000 "] , , , , 



603,550 



Now Exodus xxxviii, 26, tells us that the number of men numbered 

 (above 20 years old) was 603,550, which is the exact number of half- 



half-shekels 



