A spiritual or metaphorical interpretation, if allowable in any case, can not avail any thing towards either removing, explaining, or mitigating, in the least degree, the numerous palpable Bible errors represented by figures. "Figures never lie" and admit of no construction. The almost innumerable errors, therefore, of this character which abound in the Bible utterly and for ever prostrate it as a work possessing any authority, reliability, or credibility in matters of history, science, or even theology. Bible writers, when they have occasion to refer to numbers which they are interested in making appear very large, seem to make almost a lawless use of figures. I will present some examples, stated in brief language, commencing with the Pentateuch. The author of these five books, in speaking of the genealogy, population, armies, &c., of his own tribe, makes use of figures which are not only incredible, but utterly impossible. The number of valiant fighting men, for example, among the Israelites, is frequently stated to be about six hundred thousand, and never less. (See Exod. xii. and xxxviii.; Num. xxvi., &c.) This number, as Bishop Colenso demonstrates, reaches far beyond the utmost limits of truth. If the regular army had been six hundred thousand, then the whole population (women and children included) could not have been less than two millions,—a number which many facts, cited by the Bible writer himself, demonstrate to be impossible. I would ask, in the first place, how Moses could address all this immense congregation at once, as he is often represented as doing. (See Ex. xxiv. 3; Lev. xxiv 15; Num. xiv. 7, &c.) Joshua makes "all the congregation" to include women and children. But how could Moses address this vast multitude of people, some of whom must have been at least ten miles distant, unless he used a speaking-trumpet or a telephone, neither of which, however, had then come to light. The writer of Deuteronomy says, "Moses spake unto all Israel" (Deut. i. 1). But not one in a hundred could have heard it, therefore it was very nearly "labor lost." And Joshua says Moses wrote out his commandments, and he read them "before all the congregation of Israel" (Josh. viii. 35). But it would have required a voice as loud as thunder to make "all" of them hear. And it should be borne in mind that the people on these occasions were assembled in the tabernacle,—as we infer from many texts,—a building one hundred and eight yards square, and capable of holding about five thousand people, which would be just one to four thousand of the congregation; so there were five thousand people inside, and one million nine hundred and ninety-five thousand outside. These last, we are told, occupied the outer court, which was just eighteen feet wide.

This would place the most distant hearers twenty miles off.

How comforting the thought, that, when Moses called them to the temple to worship (see Josh. viii. 35), they could get within twenty miles of him and "the tabernacle of the Lord"! The Lord had built a tabernacle for them to worship in, but only one or two in six thousand could get inside of it. This small number only could enjoy seeing and hearing Moses and the Lord.

The rest—one million nine hundred and ninety-five thousand—were outside, waiting for admission. Bishop Colenso estimates, the size of the camp of Israel at about twelve miles square.

This camp was situated in a desert of Sinai for at least a year; and the business of keeping this camp in order, waiting upon the people, and removing also, the remains of the daily sacrifice of two hundred thousand oxen, sheep, &c., devolved upon three priests,—Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar. It would be quite an improvement of the sacerdotal order if the priests of to-day could be subjected occasionally to some such healthy exercise; but they have managed to get the rule reversed. They now have the people to wait upon them. But those three priests of the Israelites must have achieved a herculean task to wait each one upon three hundred and thirty-three thousand people daily, and, after preparing their food outside the camp, travel twelve miles to supply each one of this vast multitude with food and water. If they carried provision for only one person at a time, they would have had to perform this journey of twelve miles five thousand five hundred times an hour, which would have required them to be rather fleet on foot. And, besides the labor of carrying away every day, to the distance of six or seven miles, five hundred cart-loads of the offal of the dead animals, there would be at least one pound of victuals to be carried to each person, making, in the aggregate, five thousand five hundred pounds. They must have enjoyed good health, if abundant exercise would produce it. They could not have been much troubled with dyspepsia or liver-complaint, as many of that order are nowadays.

1. We are told that Moses gave notice to the children of Israel at midnight, that they must take their departure from Egypt the next morning for the promised land (Exod. xii.); but, if they constituted the immense number represented, they would have made a column two hundred miles long, arranging them five abreast, so it would have taken several days for all to get started. How, then, could they all start the next morning? And how did they keep their two millions of sheep and cattle alive for several days while passing over a sandy desert too poor to produce dog-fennel? And it is strange how the whole tribe of Israelites, if two millions in number, could live forty years in a wild, barren desert, and keep their immense flocks and herds alive.

2. The number of first-born male children over a month old, on a certain occasion, is set down at twenty-two-thousand two hundred and ninety-three, which would make about eighty-eight children for each mother. This was "replenishing" rapidly. But their little tents, like the tabernacle of the Lord, would not accommodate one-fourth of that number. This would necessitate the mothers to leave most of their children "out in the cold."

The number of the children of Israel that went down to Egypt, according to Exod. i. 5, was seventy souls; and they remained there during four generations, represented by Levi, Kohath, Amram, and Moses, making a period (as marginal notes state) of two hundred and fifteen years; though Exod. xii. 40, gives it at four hundred and thirty years. But this is another case of incredible exaggeration Four generations of ordinary length, in that age, would not exceed the marginal calculation of two hundred and fifteen years; and for those seventy souls to increase to two millions in that short period of time, of four generations, would have required each mother to have had twelve or fifteen children at a birth.

3. Dan, in the first generation, had but one son (Gen. xlvi. 23); yet in the fourth generation he had increased to sixty-two thousand seven hundred, or, according to Num. xxvi. 43, to sixty-four thousand, which would have required each son and grandson to have had about eighty children apiece. This would have been "multiplying and replenishing" on a rapid scale.

4. Aaron and his two sons had to make all the offerings, and on an altar only nine feet square; and an offering had to be made at the birth of every child, which would require about five hundred sacrifices daily; and then there were thirteen cities where these offerings had to be made, and only three priests to do it. (See Lev. i. 11.) And, besides, the priests had to eat a large portion of the burnt offerings (see Num. xviii. 10); and, as these offerings consisted of five hundred lambs and pigeons, it would subject them to the task of eating enormous quantities daily.

5. At the second passover, an offering had to be made for every family (Exod. xii.), which would require the slaughter of about one hundred and fifty thousand lambs. The three priests had to sprinkle the blood of these lambs; and it had to be done in about two hours (1 Chron. xxx. 35). The lambs had to be sacrificed at the rate of about one thousand two hundred and fifty a minute, and each priest had to sprinkle the blood of more than four hundred lambs per minute with their own hands, which would make the affair rather a bloody business, if it were not wholly impossible, and therefore an incredible story.

6. If we could credit the statements of "the inspired writer" of the book of Numbers (see chap. xxxi.), we should have to believe twelve thousand Israelites, in a war with the Midianites, after selecting out thirty-two thousand young damsels, killed forty-eight thousand men, eight thousand women, and twenty thousand boys; burned all their cities, and captured all their stock, amounting to eight hundred and eight thousand, and all this without the loss of a single man. Each Israelite would have had to conquer seventy-five resisting enemies, including men, women, children, and stock. It is a story too incredible for serious reflection. We are told that the clothing of the Israelites lasted forty years "without waxing old" (see Deut. xxix. 5),—another story too incredible to be entertained for a moment.

7. In Deuteronomy the priests are always called sons of Levi, or "Levites;" but, in the other books of the Pentateuch, they are always called "the sons of Aaron," which is an evidence they were not written by the same hand. Contradictions. According to Exod. xviii. 25, Moses appointed judges over Israel before the giving forth of the law; but (Deut. i. 6) we are told that the appointment took place after the law was issued at Sinai.

8. According to Deuteronomy, chap. x., "the Lord separated the tribe of Levi" after the death of Aaron; but, according to Numbers, chap. iii., the separation took place before his death.

9. According Exodus, God instituted the sabbath because he rested on that day; but, according to Deuteronomy, it was because he brought the Israelites out of Egypt "by a stretched-out arm." In Deuteronomy, chap. xiv., every creeping thing that flieth is declared to be unclean, and is forbidden to be eaten; but in Leviticus, chap. xi., every creeping thing, including four kinds of locust, is allowed, and is prescribed as a part of their food.

10. In Exodus, chap. vi., God is represented as saying, "By my name Jehovah was I not known to them" (the patriarchs). But he was mistaken; for that name occurs frequently in Genesis. In 1 Sam. chap. viii., we are told the name of Samuel's first-born was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: but in Chroniclcs, vi. 28., we are told the name of Samuel's eldest son was Vashni. Which is right?

11. Bad Bible Morals.—Persons mutilated by accident, or otherwise in helpless condition, were excluded from the congregation of the Lord; while the guilty culprits who caused this mutilation were allowed free access to the holy sanctuary. (Set Lev. xxi.) We consider this bad morality. Innocent base-born children were also excluded from the temple, while the guilty parents were allowed free admission.

12. By the law of Moses and the will of God, as is claimed, parents were required to stone rebellious children to death; and yet the parents were often the cause of this rebellious disposition, and tenfold more guilty than the children, having corrupted them by bad influences. (See Deut. xxi.) This is a specimen of Bible justice and Bible morality.

13. The Jews not Civilized.—The Lord's chosen people possessed so little of the element of civilization, they had to go to the King of Tyre to hire artisans and skilled workmen to build their temple. (See 2 Chron. ii. 3, and 1 Kings v. 6.)

14. It is stated that it took one hundred and fifty-three thousand men seven years to build Solomon's temple,—and heathen at that. (See 2 Chron. ii. 17,18.) Strange, indeed, when it was only a hundred and ten feet long, thirty-six feet wide, and fifty-five feet high! (1 Kings vi. 2.) Some of our modern churches are much larger buildings, and generally erected in less than a year by less than a dozen workmen. It is certainly very damaging to the exalted pretensions of "the Lord's peculiar people" that they possessed minds and intelligence so far below the heathen, that no workmen could be found amongst them, and they had consequently to go to these same heathen to hire workmen to build the Lord's house. Such facts sink the reputation both of them and their God.