No man refuses to accept an inheritance because the testator differs with him in relation to orthog raphy or grammar ; why, then, should we hesitate about accepting the truths of the Bible because of a clerical error in the text ? 2. Other Causes. But there are other causes of apparent discrepancies.
(1) The Determination of the Seeker. There are many perversions of the text which are so transparent that they can only be ascribed to will ful dishonesty, when they are published and scat tered broadcast for the purpose of destroying the faith of those who believe in Christianity.
(2) The Carelessness of the Reader. Many people do not stop to analyze what they read ; nay, it would appear by their attempted quota tions that they pay very little attention to what the book actually says. For instance, an editorial in a great daily paper has announced that "the good book says that bread is the staff of life I" It is needless to say there is no such text, al though the prophet Ezekiel speaks of "the staff of bread" (Ezek. iv :16).
(3) Difference in the Dates of Passages. For instance, when creation was completed : "God saw everything which he had made, and behold. it was very good" (Gen. i :31). And again we are told that "it repented God that he had made man upon the earth" (Gen. vi :6). But between the periods to which these statements refer there were hundreds of years of disobedience on the part of man. No wonder, then, that "God re pented" or "turned from" his purpose of pre serving the antediluvian race upon the earth.
(4) Difference of Authorship in Certain Passages. Thus it is said: "In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die" (Gen. ii :17). And again it is said: "Ye shall not surely die" (Gen. iii :14). But God was the author of the first statement and the devil was the author of the second. It is needless to say that the first is correct and that man received his dying nature in consequence of disobedience.
(5) Varied Use of Terms. The term genera tion sometimes applies to the number of progen itors and sometimes it is reckoned as a certain number of years, as in the English Court of Chancery.
3. Different Basis of Statement. (1) Dif ferent Periods. Sometimes different periods were considered as the basis of a statement. For example, it was announced to Abraham that his "seed should be a stranger in a land that was not theirs . . . and they should afflict them four
hundred years" (Gen. xv :t3).
This was the prophecy. The historian states that "the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years" (Exod. xii :4o).
It will be remembered that the affliction did rot begin until after the death of Joseph, when "there arose another king over Egypt that knew not Joseph" (Exod. i :8).
(2) Different Numbers. Sometimes numbers are inclusive, sometimes exclusive. It is said "those who died in the plague (whole number) were twenty and four thousand" (Num. xxv While Paul says: "Neither let us commit forni cation, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand" (1 Cor. x :8).
(3) Different Names, Etc. The name of a tribe sometimes given to posterity. Edom or Esau is sometimes used to designate the Edoinites, who were the descendants of Esau, 'as in Num. xx:t8. There are many similar instances. The same persons or places sometimes had different names, either successively or at the same time. This often occurred, as in the case of Barnabas, who was called Joses (Acts iv:36); Barsabas is called Justus and also Joseph (Acts i:23); Nathanael is another name tor Bartholomew; Thomas is also called Didymus; and Levi is another name for Matthew. The place called Enmishpat, which is Kadesh in the Hebrew text of Gen. xiv :7, is called Magdala in Matthew xv :39. Horeb is another name for Sinai.
(4) Various Persons, Etc. Various persons or places also have the same name. This often happens, as in the case of Joram, one of whom was king of Israel and the other king of Judah at the same time. There were many Pharaohs, this being the general name for the kings of Egypt. There were also three persons named Herod; and various similar instances occur. There was one Bethlehem belonging to the tribe of Zebulon (Josh. xix :15), and another in the territory of the tribe of Judah (Matt. ii :6). There were also two towns called Cana, as there are many duplicate names of towns and cities in our own day. Dan was the name of one of the Jewish tribes, and the town of Laish was afterward called Dan. It was also the name of a river—one of the two which formed the Jordan. (See DAN ; JAIR, etc.).