The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 11

or prevalenoo of polygamy has properly speaking no bearing whatever on the question; (2) the fruitfulness of Hebrew mothers, to whioh unquestionably some degree of weight must be attaohed; and (3) the exclusion of first-born sons who were not also the first-born of their mothers, or who were themselves hee.ds of families, which, though oontroverted by Oolenso, appears to be a step in the right direction. Every one, however, of the above solutions proceeds upon the assumption that the law relating to the ea.notification of the first-born was intended to he.ve a retrospective force, but exa.ctly in the denial of this ~ p08t facto operation of the Divine ena.otment lies the true solution of this qU<Utio ve:i:ata, which is given by- 6. Keil, after Vitringa, viz., that only the first-born were oounted who had come into the world since the night of the exodus when the la.w was promulgated (Exod. xiii 2), i. e. thirteen months before, so that, as has been aptly remarked, the rea.l difficulty is not that the first-born were so few, but tha.t they were so ma.ny; and yet the peculiar situation of Israel during those thirteen months abundantly pro- vides the required expla.na.tion. " When the Iara.elites were groaning under the ha.rd la.ah of the Egyptian task-masters, and then under the inhuman and cruel edict of Pharaoh, which commanded all the Hebrew boys to be put to death, the number of ma.rria.ges no doubt. dirninisbed from year to yee.r; but with the emanci- pation a.nd the revival of the nation's hopes "there might very well." says Keil, "have been about 36,000 ma.rriages contracted in a yea.r, say from the time of the seventh pla.gue, three months before the exodus, a.nd about 37,600 children born by the second month of the second yea.r after the exodus, 22,273 of them being boys. .. c. ALLEGED PHYSICAL illl'OSSillILITIES. L TB:B DUTIES OJ!' THB PRIESTS. "The Book of Leviticus is chiefly occupied in giving directions to the priests for the proper discharge of the different duties of their office, and further directions a.re given in the Book of Numbers;" "and now let us ask, for all these multifarious duties, during the forty yea.rr/ sojourn in the wilderness, ... how many priests were there P The answer is very simple. There were only three, Aaron (till his death) and his two sons, Eleazar and lthama.r.... Yet how was it possible tha.t these two or three men should have discharged all these duties for such a vast multitude P" (' Oolenso on the Fent.,' Pa.rt L oh. :u:.) The reply, like the objection, is very simple. 1. The Levitical la.ws, though given in the desert, were not designed to come into full operation there. This we.e obviously the case with the important legislation delivered during the period of penal wandering (eh. xv. 2). The terms also in which the passover was insti- tuted bear tha.t it was meant for Oana.an (Exod. xiii. 5). At the time of the ereo- tion of the tabernacle it was contemplated tha.t a few months would see them in the la.nd of their inheritance. Hence there is no sound reason for supposing the.I. the multifarious duties recorded in the Books of Leviticus and Numbers (at the.I. time not composed) were performed by the priests. 2. In point of fa.et the Levitice.l laws were not observed in the wilderness in all their completeness. As much as this is testified by Moses in Deut. xii 8. But, it is alleged, with reference to the second pa.seover, it is absolutely certain that no part of the original ceremony was omitted. The phrase, " a.ccording to all the rites of it, and according to all the -ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it," precludes the idea. of any depe.rt~e from the sta.t-.itory regulations; and how could three priests, it is asked, sla.ughter 150,000 lambs a.coording to Colenso, 100,000 BCCOrding to Kurtz, or even 60,000 a.ccording 1io Keil, e.nd sprinkle their blood upon the altar .in the short space of time allottecl.  THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. z:iii,