align="left">N. xxvi. 7-9.

Reuben Pallu Eliab Abiram ... ... N. xxvi. 7-9. Zarah Zabdi Carmi Achan ... ... Jo. vii. 1. Pharez Hezron Ram Amminadab Nahshon ... Ruth iv. 18, 19. Pharez Hezron Segub Jair ... ... 1 Ch. ii. 21, 22. Pharez Hezron Caleb Hur Uri Bezaleel 1 Ch. ii. 18, 20.

We shall presently see that these examples are by no means what Dr. Colenso would represent them to be, and that so far from proving his theory to be true, they prove it to be false. But first we would direct attention to the character of the argument, which seems to us, from its very nature, unsound. According to the Mosaic narrative, there were about 2,000,000 of Israelites at the time of the exodus. If we allow ten to each family, there must have been about 100,000 families. Here, then, is the argument:—In eleven families out of 100,000, there were just four generations during the sojourn in Egypt; therefore there must have been four generations, neither more nor less, in the remaining 99,989 families. Our author would have us suppose that during a period of 215 years, there must have been exactly the same number of generations in every family. He does not explicitly say this; much less does he attempt to prove it; he silently assumes it.

Now it is scarcely necessary to observe that such a supposition is in the highest degree improbable. It cannot be true, unless the members of each family married at the same age as the members of every other family, and unless this uniformity was continued from generation to generation for upwards of two centuries. This, however, would be contrary to what we know of the family of Abraham before the sojourn in Egypt; it would be contrary to what we know of the people of Israel after the sojourn in Egypt; it would be contrary to the testimony of all genealogical record; it would be contrary to what we see every day with our own eyes. One man has children born to him at the age of twenty; another, at the age of forty; another, at the age of sixty. The children of the last might easily be contemporaries with the grand-children of the second, and with the great-grand-children of the first. Thus, in the short period of sixty years, there might be, in one family, three descents from father to son, in another two, in another only one. This is, perhaps, an extreme case; but it shows at least how far the disparity may be extended, without exceeding the bounds of possibility. The present Emperor of the French had reached the age of forty-eight, when the Prince Imperial was born: whereas her Majesty Queen Victoria became a grandmother at forty-one. Thus, in the royal family of England we find two descents in forty-one years; in the imperial line of France only one descent in forty-eight years. It is, therefore, quite preposterous to take for granted that, in all the families of a whole nation, the number of descents were exactly the same during a period of 215 years.

But this assumption is especially inadmissible, when we consider the peculiar circumstances of the case before us. The first generation, according to Dr. Colenso, was composed of the fifty-one grandsons of Jacob. They were already grown up, and some of them even had children when they came into Egypt. Therefore the whole of the first generation was already in existence, and the second had begun to be born some years, let us say three, before the descent. If we add the 215 years of sojourn in Egypt, we shall have 218 years from the beginning of the second generation to the Exodus. Now, according to Dr. Colenso, all those who were twenty years of age at the Exodus, belonged to the fourth generation. Therefore the fourth generation was not complete until twenty years before that time, or 198 years after the second had begun. Consequently, only three generations, the second, third, and fourth, came into existence during a period of 198 years. In other words, the length of each generation, according to Dr. Colenso's calculation, was sixty-six years. Hence it follows, that we cannot accept his argument, unless we are prepared to take for granted that all the males in all the Hebrew families were without issue until they had reached the age of sixty-six.

Let us now look into the examples of Dr. Colenso in detail. It is important to ascertain what generation is to be reckoned as the first. In his argument he allows but fifty-one males to the first generation; "supposing now the fifty-one males of the first generation" (p. 105). Since Jacob had fifty-one grandsons living at the time of the descent into Egypt, it follows that the first generation, according to the argument, was composed of the grandsons of Jacob, and of them alone. That this is the position assumed by Dr. Colenso, is also evident from another passage, where, replying to his opponents, he asserts: "The Scripture states that there were 600,000 warriors in the fourth generation from Jacob's sons" (p. 119). It is true that, when proving his theory of "the Exodus in the fourth generation", Dr. Colenso counts indifferently from "the sons or adult grandsons of Jacob, who went down with him into Egypt" (p. 96), just as it suits his purpose. But, when he employs this conclusion to demonstrate that the number of the population at the time of the Exodus was impossible, he assumes that there were only four generations from the sons of Jacob.

If we now turn to the examples adduced by the same author, we shall find that seven are counted from the sons of Jacob; namely, from Levi and Reuben; three from the grandsons of Jacob; namely, from Zarah[12] and Pharez; and lastly one, Bezaleel, in order to be brought back to the fourth generation, must be counted from Hezron, the great grandson of Jacob; consequently, upon the bishop's own showing, out of his eleven examples only seven prove for the fourth generation, three prove for the fifth, and one proves for the sixth. What must we think, then, when he afterwards quietly assures us, "the scripture states that there were 600,000 warriors in the fourth generation from Jacob's sons"? We are at least justified in saying that the examples adduced, not only fail to prove that his assertion is true, but demonstrate that it is false.

There is another point on which these examples fail. It is plain that to ascertain the number of generations between the Descent and the Exodus, we must not only commence to reckon from the first, but we must end with the last. The last generation must include all those who had reached the age of 20 at the time of the Exodus.