In the descriptive history of Exodus a fixed plan, in conformity with the principles above stated. is consistently and visibly carried through the whole of the book, thus giving us the surest guarantee for the unity of both the book and its author.
(8) Criticism. (a) For neological criticism it was of the utmost importance to stamp this book as a later production, the miracles contained in its first part but too manifestly clashing with the principles in which that criticism takes its starting point. Its votaries therefore have endeavored to show that those miracles were mythological fic tions which had been gradually developed in process of time, so that the very composition of the book itself must necessarily have been of a later date. Neither do we wonder at such at tempts and efforts, since the very essence and cen tral point of the accounts of the miracles given in that book are altogether at variance with the prin ciples of rationalism and its criticism, which can by no means admit the rise and formation of a people under such miraculous circumstances, such peculiar belief, and, in a religious point of view. such an independent existence, at the side of all the other nations of antiquity. Indeed, the spirit ual substance of the whole, the divine idea which pervades and combines all its details, is in itself such a miracle, such a peculiar and wondrous phenomenon, as to lend natural support and un deniable confirmation to the isolated and physical wonders themselves; so that it is impossible to deny the latter without creating a second and new wonder, an unnatural course in the Jewish history. Nor is that part of the book which contains the miracles deficient in numerous historical proofs in verification of them. (b) As the events of this history are laid in Egypt and Arabia, we have ample opportunity of testing the accuracy of the Mosaical accounts, and surely we find nowhere the least transgression against Egyptian institu tions and customs; on the contrary, it is most evi dent that the author had a thorough knowledge of the Egyptian institutions and the spirit that pervaded them. Exodus contains a mass of in cidents and detailed descriptions which have gained new force from the modern discoveries and researches in the field of Egyptian antiquities.
(See EXODUS, GEOGRAPHY OF THE.) The descrip tion of the passage of the Israelites through the desert also evinces such a thorough familiarity with the localities as to excite the utmost respect of scrupulous and scientific travelers of our own time for the authenticity of the Pentateuch. Nor is the passover-festival, its rise and nature, less confirmatory of the incidents connected with it. (c) The arrangements of the tabernacle. described in the second part of Exodus, likewise throw a favorable light on the historical authenticity of the preceding events; and the least ten able of all the objections against it are, that the architectural arrangements of the tabernacle were too artificial, and the materials and richness too costly and precious for the condition and position of the Jews at that early period. etc. But the critics seem to have overlooked the fact that the Israelites of that period were a people who had come out from Egypt. a people possessing wealth, Egyptian culture and arts, which we admire even now, in the works which have descended to us from ancient Egypt: so that it cannot seem strange to see the Hebrews in possession of the materials or artictical knowledge requisite for the construction of the tabernacle. Moreover, the establishment of a tent as a sanctuary for the Hebrews can only be explained from their abode in the desert, being in perfect unison with their then roving and nomadic lift. (d) The extremely simple and sober style and views throughout the whole narrative afford a sure guarantee for its authenticity and originality. All these incidents are described in plain and clear terms, without the least vestige of later embellishments and false extolling of former ages. The Pentateuch, some critics assert, is written for the interest and in favor of the hierarchy; but can there be more anti-hierarchical details than are found in that book? The whole representation indicates the strictest impartiality and truth. (See PENTA