A Few Words About the Devil, and Other Biographical Sketches and EssaysBradlaugh, Charles
Religion
A Few Words About the Devil, and Other Biographical Sketches and Essays
Bradlaugh, Charles
Free thought
Leaving incomprehensible philology for the ordinary authorized version
of our bibles, we find that Abraham was the son of Terah. The text does
not expressly state where Abraham was born, and I can not therefore
describe his birthplace with that accuracy of detail which a true
believer might desire, but I may add that he "dwelt in old time on the
other side of the flood." (Joshua xxiv, 2, 3.) The situation of such
dwelling involves a geographical problem most unlikely to be solved
unless the inquirer is "half seas over." Abraham was born when Terah,
his father, was seventy years of age; and, accord-ing to Genesis, Terah
and his family came forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and went to Haran
and dwelt there. We turn to the map to look for Ur of the Chaldees,
anxious to discover it as possibly Abraham's place of nativity, but find
that the translators of God's inspired word have taken a slight liberty
with the text by substituting "Ur of the Chaldees" for "Aur Kasdim," the
latter being, in plain English, _the light of the magi, or conjurers, or
astrologers_. [------] is stated by Kalisch to have been made the basis
for many extraordinary legends, as to Abraham's rescue from the flames.
Abraham, being born--according to Hebrew chronology, 2,083 years after
the creation, and according to the Septuagint 3,549 years after the
event--when his father was seventy, grew so slowly that when his father
reached the good old age of 205 years, Abraham had only arrived at 75
years, having, apparently, lost no less than 60 year's growth during
his father's lifetime. St. Augustine and St Jerome gave this up as a
difficulty inexplicable. Calmet endeavors to explain it, and makes it
worse. But what real difficulty is there? Do you mean, dear reader,
that it is impossible Abraham could have lived 135 years, and yet be
only 75 years of age? Is this your objection? It is a sensible one,
I admit, but it is an Infidel one. Eschew sense, and, retaining only
religion, ever remember that with God all things are possible. Indeed,
I have read myself that gin given to young children stunts their growth;
and who shall say what influence of the spirit prevented the full
development of Abraham's years? It is a slight question whether Abraham
and his two brothers were not born the same year; if this be so, he
might have been a small child, and not grown so quickly as he would have
otherwise done. "The Lord" spoke to Abraham, and promised to make of him
a great nation, to bless those who blessed Abraham, and to curse those
who cursed him. I do not know precisely which Lord it was that spake
unto Abraham. In the Hebrew it says it was [------] Jeue, or, as our
translators call it, Jehovah; but as God said (Exodus vi, 2) that by the
name "Jehovah was I not known" to either Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, we
must conclude either that the omniscient Deity had forgotten the matter,
or that a counterfeit Lord had assumed a title to which he had no right.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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