The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 2

actual eequene-e of events." Not to mention that Bleek does not deem it neceesnry to insist upon the applioa.tion of this criterion in determining the e.uthentioity and genuineneBS of the synoptioal Gospels of Matthew and Luke (vicu • Introd. to N. T.,' VoL I. p. 280), it is cert.a.in with regard to Numbers that the e.ooount of the princes' offerings at the dedioa.tion of the altar (oh. vii.) does not oooupy the plo.ca t-0 whioh it is chronologioally entitled, while it is doubtful if the instructions relating to the construction of silver trumpets (eh. x. 1-10) should not be aesigned to an earlier period than immediately before the me.roh, and yet, acoording to Bleek, this latter pare.graph bea.rs " in the highest measure the stamp of exactness, dis- tinctness, and historic fidelity," while, with ref'erenoe to the former, even Ewald would admit the.t the writer had derived his information from antique Mosaio fragments (' History of Israel,' Vol. Il. p. 18). .But the question still remains whether in point of fact the narra.tive has at this po.rtioular stage eufi'ered, even inadvertently, a chronological dislocation. If the writer's purpose had been simply to chronicle the interesting circumstance the.t the anniversary of the exodus had been kept in the wildernE!EIB by e. eeoond celebration of the passover, then it must be conceded that at least it wears this aspect. A closer scrutiny of the pll.ll!lli.g8, however, leads to a somewhat different conclusion. The historian, it is seen, is engaged in recording the transactions that occurred preparatory to depart- ing from Sinai, and has arrived at that point where only two remain to be noted, viz., the observance of a supplementary or, as it is sometimes designated, a little passover, and the construction of silver trumpets for signe.1-giving on the desert march. Accordingly, with reference to the first, instead of writing down in so many words the.t certain parties performed a special paschal celebration on the fourteenth day of the second month, he det.a.ils the circwnst.a.ncee out of which the necessity for such celebration arose, and the authority they had received for its observance. leaving it to be infurred by his readers that the Divine prescription with regard to the matter was not neglected, just as, in connection with the silver trumpets, in- stead of st.ating that they were manufactured. 11.11 God had enjoined, he contents himself with simply engrossing in his narrative the order he had received for theil' construction. Thus, instead of being an "evident inaccuracy," the section about the p8.!!SOver has been introduced into the history on a principle at once, perfectly, lucid e.nd readily intelligible. II. THE THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS' CB:AS:r.r:. It is immaterial whether, with Bleek, Ewe.Id, Colen.so, Kuenen, e.nd others, we regard the first month spoken of in eh. xx. 1 as the first month of the third year, or, with Gerlach, Lange, Kurtz, Keil, ' Speaker's Commentary,' &e., consider it to be the first month of the fortieth year- im.materie.l, that is to say, so. far e.s the present argument is concerned. In the former oase, a gap occurs in the history of over thirty-seven years concerning which the writer preserves unbroken silence, while in the latter the chronological break is scarcely Ieee, though the silence is not so absolute-the rebellion of Kora.h and his company oooa.ning in ths interve.l. In either case the diffl.culty is pretty much the same, viz., to understand how, on the hypothesis of the Book of Numbers having been composed as a connected historical work, so long a series of yeara should have been passed over, if not without the least, yet with so little, information. •• It is impo881"ble," writes Bleek, " to imagine how a contemporary historian could have skipped so long a period with such seeming unconsciousn81!11;" "it is hardly conceivable that, mrcumsta.nced as they were, nothing should have happened to them which deeerved to be recordMI as much as Ill8,lly other events described in the Pentat..euch ; " and accordingly he adds, " It follow• that this gap can only b9  THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. iii