113 
herds and flocks as forming part of the cavalcade. The weight 
of the gold offering, too, 316 lb. avoirdupois, is not overwhelm- 
ing. But 32,000 virgins ! Surely there must be some inaccuracy 
here. These 32,000 virgins had at least 10,000 fathers and 
10.000 mothers, and probably 30,000 brothers ; and all these 
50.000 people were to be put to the sword. Again I ask, 
what became of the corpses ? 
18. I shall trouble you with one more set of numbers from 
the Pentateuch. In the 38th chapter of Exodus, we have 
given ns a sum total of the metal used in the work of the 
tabernacle, given in talents and shekels. There is some 
variation in the estimate formed by different writers of the 
value of the shekel, as represented by our own weights. On 
the authority of Smithes Dictionary of the Bible, I put the 
talent of gold at 1,320,000 grains, 7,000 of which go to a 
pound avoirdupois ; and the shekel consequently at 132 grains. 
On the same authority I make the shekel of silver weigh 220 
grains, and the talent 660,000; the shekel of copper 264 
grains, and the talent 792,000. At this rate the 29 talents 
730 shekels of gold weighed 2 tons, 7 cwt., 2 qrs., 19|lb.; 
the 100 talents 1,775 shekels of silver 4 tons, 4 cwt., 2 qrs., 
20^ lb. ; and the brass or copper (70 talents 2,400 shekels, 
3 tons, 11 cwt., 2 qrs., 2Jlb. : total, upwards of ten tons. 
All this had to be transported from place to place, with boards, 
hangings, and other fittings. Is there not some misapprehen- 
sion of figures here ? The gold by itself, at 3 1. 5s. the ounce 
troy, would be worth 259,840/. ; a large sum for the Israelites 
to have become possessed of by borrowing from the Egyptians. 
19. In the 35th chapter of Numbers we have, on the 
other hand, a figure which, though it contains the fatal word 
thousand, has every appearance of being handed down to us 
without exaggeration ; although, curiously enough, there 
seems to be a false reading in our Hebrew text, corrected in 
the LXX. The migrasli, or “ suburb ” of the Levitical city 
was to extend 2,000 cubits, or a little more than half a mile 
each way from the city. The Hebrew says first a thousand, 
and then two thousand ; but the latter is given by the LXX. 
and the Yulgate in both cases ; the latter substituting, in the 
4th verse, mille passuum for mille cubiti. 
20. The Book of Joshua presents no numerical difficulties 
to the reader; but in that of Judges we find again the same 
misapprehension and distortion of numbers as I have pointed 
out in our text of the Books of Moses. The six hundred men 
slain by Shamgar, if not supposed to have been all killed on 
one occasion, may be considered a possible number, and Jabin's 
900 chariots of iron a probable one, as probable as the 600 
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