Bible Myths and their Parallels in other Religions Part 14

[51:3] The Hebrew fable writers not wis.h.i.+ng to be outdone, have made the waters of the river Jordan to be divided to let Elijah and Elisha pa.s.s through (2 Kings ii. 8), and also the children of Israel. (Joshua iii.

15-17.)

[51:4] Moses, with his rod, drew water from the rock. (Exodus xvii. 6.)

[51:5] See Taylor's Diegesis, p. 191, and Higgins: Anacalypsis, vol. ii.

p. 19.

[51:6] The Legend of Samson, p. 429.

[51:7] Dupuis: Origin of Religious Beliefs, p. 135.

[51:8] Vol. i. p. 122.

[52:1] Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. p. 122; and Higgins: Anacalypsis vol.

ii. p. 19.

[52:2] Ibid. and Dupuis: Origin of Religious Belief, p. 174.

[52:3] Taylor's Diegesis, p. 190; Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. under "Bacchus;" and Higgins: Anacalypsis ii. 19.

[52:4] Exodus ii. 1-11.

[52:5] Taylor's Diegesis, p. 191; Bell's Pantheon, vol. i. under "Bacchus;" and Higgins: p. 19, vol. ii.

[52:6] Exodus ii. 1-11.

[52:7] Exodus xiii. 20, 21.

[52:8] See Prichard's Historical Records, p. 74; also Dunlap's Spirit Hist., p. 40; and Cory's Ancient Fragments, pp. 80, 81, for similar accounts.

[52:9] "All persons afflicted with leprosy were considered displeasing in the sight of the Sun-G.o.d, by the Egyptians." (Dunlap: Spirit. Hist.

p. 40.)

[52:10] Prichard's Historical Records, p. 75.

[52:11] Ibid. p. 78.

[53:1] Tacitus: Hist. book v. ch. iii.

[53:2] Knight: Anc't Art and Mythology, p. 89, and Kenrick's Egypt, vol.

i. p. 447. "The cleanliness of the Egyptian priests was extreme. They shaved their heads, and every three days shaved their whole bodies. They bathed two or three times a day, often in the night also. They wore garments of white linen, deeming it more cleanly than cloth made from the hair of animals. If they had occasion to wear a woolen cloth or mantle, they put it off before entering a temple; so scrupulous were they that nothing impure should come into the presence of the G.o.ds."

(Prog. Relig. Ideas, i. 168.)

"Thinking it better to be clean than handsome, the (Egyptian) priests shave their whole body every third day, that neither lice nor any other impurity may be found upon them when engaged in the service of the G.o.ds." (Herodotus: book ii. ch. 37.)

[54:1] The Religion of Israel, p. 27.

[54:2] Dunlap: Spirit Hist. of Man, p. 266.

[54:3] Hebrew Mythology, p. 23.

[54:4] Researches in Ancient History, p. 146.

[55:1] The Religion of Israel, pp. 31, 32.

[55:2] Jewish Antiq. bk. ii. ch. xvi.

[55:3] Ibid. _note_.

"It was said that the waters of the Pamphylian Sea miraculously opened a pa.s.sage for the army of Alexander the Great. Admiral Beaufort, however, tells us that, 'though there are no tides in this part of the Mediterranean, considerable depression of the sea is caused by long-continued north winds; and Alexander, taking advantage of such a moment, may have dashed on without impediment;' and we accept the explanation as a matter of course. But the waters of the Red Sea are said to have miraculously opened a pa.s.sage for the children of Israel; and we insist on the literal truth of _this_ story, and reject natural explanations as monstrous." (Matthew Arnold.)

[56:1] See Prichard's Egyptian Mytho. p. 60.

[56:2] See ch. xviii.

[56:3] Hist. Hindostan, vol. ii. p. 312.

[56:4] a.n.a.lysis Relig. Belief, p. 552.

[56:5] See Hardy: Buddhist Legends, p. 140.

[56:6] In a cave discovered at Deir-el-Bahari (Aug., 1881), near Thebes, in Egypt, was found _thirty-nine_ mummies of royal and priestly personages. Among these was King Ramses II., the third king of the Nineteenth Dynasty, and the veritable Pharaoh of the Jewish captivity.

It is very strange that he should be _here_, among a number of other kings, if he had been lost in the Red Sea. The mummy is wrapped in rose-colored and yellow linen of a texture finer than the finest Indian muslin, upon which lotus flowers are strewn. It is in a perfect state of preservation. (See a Cairo [Aug. 8th] letter to the _London Times_.)

[57:1] Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 58.

[57:2] The Religion of Israel, p. 41.

CHAPTER VII.

RECEIVING THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

The receiving of the _Ten Commandments_ by Moses, from the Lord, is recorded in the following manner:

"In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai, . . . and there Israel camped before the Mount. . . .

"And it came to pa.s.s on the third day that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the Mount, and the voice of the tempest exceedingly loud, so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. . . .

"And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole Mount quaked greatly.

And when the voice of the tempest sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and G.o.d answered him by a voice.

"_And the Lord came down upon the Mount_, and called Moses up to the top of the Mount, and Moses went up."[58:1]

The Lord there communed with him, and "he gave unto Moses . . . . two tables of testimony, tables of stone, _written with the finger of G.o.d_."[58:2]