"But it is perfectly clear that these occurrences, as they are related, notwithstanding their foundation in nature, always maintained their character as miracles, ami con- sequently are sufficient to prove what they are intended to prove, and to accomplish what they did accomplish. Indeed, the unusual force in which the common exhibi- tions of nature here manifest themselves, and especially their rapid succession, while at other times only a single one exhibits itself with unusual intensity— if we at the same time consider these events in connection with the changing cause of them, and also take into account the exemption of the land of Goshen— bring us to the limits of the miraculous; for the transition to the miraculous is reached through the extraordinary in its highest grada- tion. But we are brought into the sphere of the miracu- lous itself, by the circumstance that these things are in- troduced and performed by Moses, that they cease at his request, and a part of them at a time fixed upon by Pha- raoh himself (Exod.viii,5sq.). Hence the connection with natural phenomena can he made to avail against the Pen- tateuch only when, going beyond the present narrative, we limit what in it can be explained by the natural oc- currences of Egypt, and establish the presumption that the remainder belongs to fiction. But this assumption wants all foundation. The supernatural presents gen- erally, in the Scriptures, no violent opposition to the nat- ural, but rather unites in a friendly alliance with it. This follows from the most intimate relation in which natural events also stand to God. The endeavor to isolate the miraculous can aid only impiety. But there was here a particular reason also "for uniting the supernatural as closely as possible with the natural. The object to which all of these occurrences were directed, according to Exod. viii, 20, was to show that Jehovah is Lord in the midst of the land. Well-grounded proof of this could not have been produced by bringing suddenly upon Egypt a sue-
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of strange terrors. From these it would only' have followed that Jehovah had received a momentary
y, ll their
annual return were placed under the immediate control ib, ii would be appropriately shown that he was God in the midst of the laud, and the doom of the false god- which bad been placed in his Mead would go forth, and they would be entirely driven ont of the jurisdiction which was considered as belonging to them."
d i" throw discredil upon tie M saic narrative by remarking that no traces of any allusion to th ol the Egyptians are dis- coverable upon the monuments of that country. To ilii- the reply is easy. The monuments in question ired under the superintendence of the heathen priesthood, and miracles such as these were too hum- bling i" their pride, and t lestructive of t In ir influ- ence with the people, to render it likely that they would allow them to be recorded in any manner. Victories, triumphs, religious processions, and whatever was cal- culated i" exall the gods and kings in the minds of the people, were the only subjects permitted to be sculpt- ured i>u the walls of the temples; and the usages of domestic life furnish the subjects of the paintings of the tombs. In the examination we have made it will have been seen thai the Biblical narrative has been illustrated by reference to the phenomena of Egypt and the man- ners of the inhabitants, and that, throughout, its accu- racy in minute particulars has been remarkably shown. to a degree thai is sufficient of itself to prove its his- torical truth. This in a narrative of wonders is of no small importance. See Most s.
.".. ///' Egyptian Counterfeits. — Of the deeds per- formed by Moses seme were imitated by the magicians of the Pharaoh. To account for this, various hypoth- eses have been resorted to. 1. It has been supposed thai they wen- enabled to do this by diabolic aid. I!ut this assumes the position that men can enter into agree- menl or compact with evil spirits so as to receive their aid — a position which has never been proved, and con- sequently cannol be legitimately assumed to explain an actual phenomenon. This hypothesis assumes also that evil spirits can work miracles, a position no less gratuitous and improbable. 2. It has been maintained thai the magicians were aided by God to do what they did: that they were instruments in his hand, as was the witch who raised Samuel, and were therefore as much surprised at their own success as she was; and thai God thus employed them probably to show in the most decisive manner that the agency at work was his, and that it was just as he gave the power or withheld it that the miracle was performed. For this hypothe- sis there is much tO he said. Al the same time it is
open to objection, for ( I (While Moses distinctly asserts that it was by divine power that he and Aaron wrought, him-, even in the mosl distant way. that it. was by this that the magicians succeeded in their at- tempts; and (2) It is expressly said, on the contrary, that what they did they did by means of their "en- chantments." The word here used i'J":! means a hence magical arts, enchantments ; and may he properly used to designate the covert tricks or jug- gling artifices by which practiced of legerdemain im- pose upon others. This leads to the 3d hypothesis, which i- that the achievements of the magicians were merely clever treks by which they imposed upon the people-, and tend, d io confirm the Pharaoh in his ob-