mination of all life! who is Omnipresent, and therefore most invisible! Omnipotent, and therefore most secret in operation! Omniscient, and therefore most incomprehensible! [To be continued.] CONSIDERATIONS ON THE VARIOUS READING IN 2 SAM. XXIV. 13., COMPARED WITH 1 CHRON. XXI. 12. IN 2 Sam. xxiv. 13, we read in the English Bible, which is here accurately translated from the Hebrew copies as at present existing, the following statement of the choice of punishments offered to David for his sin in numbering the people: "So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me." In 1 Chron.xxi. 11, 12, the same circumstance is stated thus: "So Gad came to David and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord: Choose thee either three years' famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again unto him that sent me." It appears that there must be here an error in one record or in the other. Gad must either have proposed seven years of famine, according to the relation in Samuel, which is a book of the Word itself, written before the Babylonian captivity; or he must have mentioned three years of famine, according to the account in Chronicles, which is not a book of the Word itself, but one of those called by the Jews Hagiographa, written after the Babylonian captivity, by Ezra, ás is supposed, if not by a later writer. It was the statement of this contradiction, and the proposal of some questions connected with it, by our correspondent Iaxaßos, with our observations in conquence, in the last volume of our former Series*, that drew the remarks from Mr. Hindmarsh on the Preservation of the Word in all its Integrity+, which occasioned us to pursue the Inquiry * P. 517, &c. † P. 12, &c. of our present Volume upon that subject through our six last Numbers. Having completed our observations upon the general question, we are now to consider this; which is one of the numerous particular questions subordinate to the former. We regret that, in this examination, we shall have to come into immediate contact with our much-esteemed friend, Mr. Hindmarsh, and to animadvert upon various points of his reasoning which appear to us to be inconclusive: but, as we have expressed on former occasions, we are satisfied that he will not regard this as inconsistent with the high respect which we entertain towards him, and with the utmost esteem for the motive by which we know his remarks were dictated,-the desire of maintaining, by the best means which, at the time of his writing, presented themselves to his mind, the veneration of mankind for the Sacred Word of God. We trust that we need not say, that the same motive actuates us; though, having been led to a different view of the circumstances of the case, we conceive that the object is to be accomplished by different means. It will be remembered, that in our first observations on this subject*, we expressed ourselves with caution; because, though we thought the circumstances such as to make it highly probable that the statement in Samuel is incorrect, we, as we remarked at a subsequent time, "by no means felt assured of the existence of an error." Afterwards, indeed, as we also then stated, "our opinion of its probability was so greatly strength. ened, on having more maturely weighed the manner in which the passage is cited by E. S., that we found it very difficult to retain a doubt." However, we still do not wish to affirm, positively, that the number seven in Samuel, is an error: but we think it will appear that the considerations which seem to render its being an error so probable, are not weakened by any thing that our friend has advanced against them. The considerations which seem to render its being an error probable, are five; first, because "it appears from the context as if it was intended, that the several punishments should all be of one numerical character, namely, three years' famine, three months' flight before enemies, or three days' pestilence"; secondly, because they are all of one numerical character in the parallel passage in * First Series, vol. vi. p. 523, 524. † P. 140 of our present Vol. Ibid. Chronicles; thirdly, because they all are of one numerical character in Samuel also, in the ancient Greek translation called the Septuagint, or that of the Seventy; fourthly, because, though Swedenborg repeatedly cites the passage to illustrate the signification of the number three, he never cites it when treating of the signification of the number seven, and never takes any notice of the number seven in it at all; and, lastly, because, if the right number should be three, the introduction of the number seven is easily accounted for, by supposing that an ancient transcriber mistook the letter, which denotes three, for the letter, which denotes seven. All these considerations were mentioned by us, though less distinctly, as the reasons which had guided our opinion, before; but as the slight statement which we then gave of them was not deemed satisfactory, we will here make a few remarks upon each. 1. To the first consideration, That it appears from the context as if it was intended that the several punishments should be of one numerical character, namely, THREE years' famine, THREE months' flight before enemies, and THREE days' pestilenee, our friend offers no decided objection. He seems to admit that, in itself, this appears most consistent; but he intimates that we are not to " judge of divine things by the apparent reasonableness of the literal sense and a kind of uniformity in the external expressions." In this remark, to a certain extent, we fully agree: thus, if there were other strong reasons for believing the present reading to be right;-for instance, if the reading in Chronicles were to the same effect;we should not think the want of uniformity in the number of the years, months, and days, a sufficient reason for doubting its genuineness: but where there are other reasons for suspecting an error, we think that a defect of consistency in the literal sense becomes a matter of some importance. But how is the consistency of the spiritual sense affected by the use of one number or the other? Perhaps, though the number three is more agreeable to the spiritual sense of months and days of flight before enemies and pestilence, the number seven may be more applicable to the spiritual sense of years of famine? If such were the fact, it would undoubtedly determine the number seven to be genuine. But though we certainly do read of a seven-years' famine while Joseph was in Egypt, we also read of a three-years' fa mine which had just ended at this very time.* It is evident then that it is as agreeable to the spiritual sense of a famine, to predicate three years respecting it generally, as seven. Which then seems most proper in the present case? Both the number seven and the number three, we are informed by E. S., signify what is full and complete, with this difference, that the number seven includes, in addition, the idea of something holy, or, contrariwise, profane. If then the number three was proper to express the quality of the fulness of punishment suited to David's crime in numbering the people, in the case of his chusing to suffer by flight before enemies or by pestilence, does it not appear just to conclude, that the same would be the proper number to express the same thing, in the case of his chusing the visitation of famine? If the quality of the fulness of punishment incurred by David's transgression was properly expressed, in two cases, by the number three, must we not suppose that the third case also would require the same number; since the quality of the crime, to express which, ultimately, the number is used, remained all the while the same? To us, this consideration appears to carry considerable weight: and thus, appears to us, the consistency of the spiritual sense, as well as of the literal, seems to require the use of the number three. as it 2. To the consideration, that the punishments are all of one numerical character in the parallel passage in Chronicles, Mr. H. deems it sufficient to object, that as the book of Samuel is written by divine inspiration, whereas the books of Chronicles were "drawn up, not by the pen of inspiration, but by men, who wrote, according to the best of their information and belief, an account of the transactions of the times;" "it is safest to conclude, that an error has found its way into a composition of this latter description, rather than into that of the former." If however it be true, as, we apprehend, has appeared from our Inquiry respecting the Preservation of the Word, &c., that indubitable errors of the transcribers do exist in the books written originally by divine inspiration; and if it be also true, as has likewise been shewn, that, to preserve such books from such errors, it was not only necessary that they should be written by divine inspiration at first, but also, that divine inspiration should have guided the pen of every one who has re-written or copied them since; it will by no means follow that our friend's rule is so safe as he regards it; or that the + Page 18 of our present Volume. * 1 Sam. xxi. 1. No. VIII.-VOL. I. 4 R book of Samuel, in this instance, as we now have it, is necessarily right, and that the book of Chronicles is necessarily wrong: On the contrary, if it be true, as we trust, has also appeared, that the true readings, in some cases, are only preserved in ancient versions and in other than the common copies, which, therefore, by the care of Divine Providence, have been handed down to us, to afford the means, ultimately, of restoring even individual copies to integrity; it may have been the case, that the books of Chronicles were written and preserved, by the direction of Divine Providence, mainly for this purpose,-to preserve some genuine readings in the books of Samuel and Kings, which, otherwise, would have perished: thus it may be the case, that by abiding everywhere by the present readings of Samuel, we are departing from the Word of God, and that we are abiding by the genuine text of that Word, by adopting, in some instances, the readings of Chronicles. For, it is to be recollected, what our friend himself admits, that the authors of the books of Chronicles, though not inspired, " wrote ac⚫cording to the best of their information and belief." And what was their best source of information? Doubtless, the inspired books themselves. Accordingly, (which is the circumstance that makes their testimony in this case so important,) a very great portion of the books of Chronicles is copied verbatim from the books of Samuel and Kings; and in many places where they do not copy verbatim, they follow the former books so much as to substance, and with such frequent coincidences of language, as evinces that they kept the divine books before them, as their chief authority. Any one may be satisfied of both these facts, who only compares together this twenty-fourth chapter of 2 Samuel, and this twentyfirst chapter of 1 Chronicles: when he will find, that the writer of Chronicles copied nearly the whole of his account of this transaction, as to substance, and more than half of it verbatim, from the book of Samuel.* There can be no doubt then that he in * Thus verses 2, 3, and 4, of each chapter are substantially, and for the most part verbatim, the same. Verses 5 to 8 of Samuel are omitted in Chronicles. Ver. 9 of Samuel answers to verse 5 of Chronicles, except that there is a difference in the numbers, which is accounted for in 1 Chron. xxvii. 24, and 2 Sam. xxiii. 8, &c.-that is to say, in the enumeration in Samuel, the regular troops and militia are not included. Verses 6 and 7 of Chronicles are an addition. Veres 10, 11, 12, of Samuel, and 8, 9, 10, of Chronicles are, almost verbatim, the Verse 13 of Samuel, and 11 and 12 of Chronicles coincide nearly verbatim in the beginning and end, but in the middle, Chronicles amplifies upon same. |