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before the altar, the offerer is commanded to say, “ A Syrian ready to perish 
was my father, and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a 
few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous.” Accepting 
the statement that only a few thousand persons came out of Egypt by 
Moses, w r e must reject both the promise in Genesis and the declaration of 
its fulfilment in Deuteronomy, and regard the offering of the basket of first- 
fruits as the seal set on a mere exaggeration. 
So greatly had Israel multiplied before the Exodus, that the reigning 
Pharaoh said, “ They be mightier than we.” He dreaded lest war should 
arise, and they should take part with his enemies, and so escape from his 
yoke. It is distinctly stated also that the more he oppressed them the more 
they increased. When Moses was afterwards sent to deliver them, Pharoah 
said, “ Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest 
from their burdens.” But let us, for argument’s sake, suppose that only a 
few thousand people came out of Egypt under Moses. How will this accord 
with the subsequent history ? They went out with a servile spirit. Amalek, 
a formidable enemy, attacks them in Bephidim, and is defeated. This does 
not look like the act of a few slaves. Balak, king of Moab, fears to attack 
them, and sends to the Euphrates for Balaam to curse them. From the high 
places of Baal Balaam sees them, and exclaims, “ From the top of the rocks I 
see him, and from the hills I behold him ; lo, the people shall dwell alone, and 
shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, 
and the number of the fourth part of Israel ? ” Supposing that Balaam was 
struck with the greatness of the multitude of Israel, and on that account 
prophesied favourably, Balak takes him to where he could only see a part of 
them. Again, Balaam prophesies, “ God brought him out of Egypt ; he 
hath, as it were, the strength of a unicorn. . . . Behold the people shall 
rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion : he shall not lie 
down till he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.” He sees 
them a third time, abiding in their tents according to their tribes, and he 
exclaims, “ How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, 0 
Israel ! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s 
side. . . . His seed shall be in many waters. . . . He couched, he lay 
down as a lion, and as a great lion : who shall rouse him up ? (Numb, xxiii. 
xxiv.) Balak, not able to fight Israel from their numbers, seduces them to 
idolatry, and so brings upon them the judgment in which 24,000 perish. 
Take the statement in Numb, xxv., substantially confirmed by the apostle 
Paul in the New Testament, with the declarations of Balaam, and there is 
perfect consistency. 
By-and-by, Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, the king of Bashan, are 
attacked by these few slaves, vanquished and slain. The giant cities of 
Bashan are taken and occupied by two and a half of their tribes, and out of 
these tribes, “About forty thousand prepared for war passed over before the 
Lord unto battle, to the plains of Jericho ” (Josh. iv. 13). Surely, it must 
be an oversight of Dr. Thornton, when he says (sect. 20), “ The book of 
J oshua presents no numerical difficulties to the reader.” On his own showing, 
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