CONCERXIXG THE COMPOSITION OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. 177 



Himself fade almost entirely out of the remainder, leaving us in 

 their places a series of unknown editors piecing together with in- 

 numerable blunders and contradictions fragments of hitherto un- 

 heard-of writings of an indefinite multitude of nameless authors. 



^Moreover the carelessness with which these compilations 

 were made leaves no room for inspiration, and would bring 

 a well-merited castigation upon the proverbial school-boy. 

 I'or instance, Prof. Geo. Adam Smith, in his Modern Criticism 

 and the Teaching of the Old Testament, in dealing with 

 what are called " doublets," and which are supposed to 

 afford evidence of the compilation theory, cites the Book 

 of Joshua. He says, In the story of the crossing of the 

 Jordan as told in Josh, iii and iv, there are two accounts of 

 the monument set up to commemorate the passage. One of 

 them builds it at Gils^al on the west bank with stones taken 

 from the river-bed by the people ; the other builds it in the 

 bed of the river with twelve stones set there by Joshua." It is 

 dithcult to beKeve that Prof. G. A. Smith could have read the 

 story through when he wrote these words. Let us take two 

 verses— " And the children of Israel did so as Joshua com- 

 manded them, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of 

 Jordan, as the Lord spake unto Joshua, according to the number 

 of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over 

 with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them 

 down there. And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of 

 Jordan in the place where the feet of the priests which bare 

 the ark of the covenant stood ; and they are there unto this 

 day " (iv, 8 and 9). Connnent is needless. Again, in the account 

 of the capture of Jericho he says that two stories have been 

 interwoven : " One wliich relates how Israel marched round 

 Jericho on seven successive days," and another which relates : 

 " That a portion of the armed men marched round the city seven 

 times on the same day." Xow it would be surprising enough 

 to find that any ordinary reader could have failed to see that 

 the narrative is a perfectly consistent account of a military 

 demonstration which took place once on six successive days and 

 was repeated seven times on the seventh day. But it is 

 still more surprising to find a Biblical critic and a professional 

 theologian, ready to convict a man with intelligence enough to 

 compile the Book of Joshua, of being such a stupid blunderer as 

 to piece together in this careless way fragments mutually con- 

 tradictory of each other. But it is most surprising of all that 

 it should have taken intelligent readers more than two thousand 

 years to find out the blunders. 



