Undesigned Coincidences in the Writings Both of the Old and New Testament

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UIDESIGNED COINCIDENCES IN

THE WRITINGS BOTH OF

THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, AN ARGUMENT OF THEIR VERACITY

AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING

UNDESIGNED COINCIDENCES BETWEEN THE GOSPELS, AND ACTS, AND JOSEPHUS.

BY THE

REV.

J.

J.'^iBLUNT. B. D.

MARGARET PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY.

FIRST AMERICAN

FROM THE SECOND LONDON EDITION.

NEW YORK: ROBERT CARTER, 5 8 CANAL STREET; AND PITTSBURG,

56

MARKET STREET.

1847.

:

PREFACE. The

present

Volume

is

republication, with corrections

a

and large additions, of several short

through more or fewer

I printed

and which, having passed

a few years ago separately;

I

Works which

editions,

have become out of print

have thus been furnished with an opportunity of revising

These works were

and consolidating them. racity of the

Books of Moses

torical Scriptures of

and

and

The

in

them

the last instance,

originally the substance of

others

some

on various

;"

and

"

Ve-

The

them when compared

Ve-

when compared

Sermons

in a Course of

all

of

delivered before

Hulsean Lectures,

And though two

occasions.

in their

They were

also with the Writings of Josephus.

the University,

The

Veracity of the His-

Acts," argued from undesigned

coincidences to be found in ;

"

the Old Testament

racity of the Gospels

several parts

;"

"

:

of them,

the Veracity of the Books of Moses, and the Veracity of the Gospels and Acts, were divested of the form of Ser-

mons

before publication

;

Historical Scriptures of the

tuted the Hulsean

the third.

The

Old Testament (which

Lectures)

still

retained

thought that by reducing this to the rest,

and combining

it

a continued argument,

Veracity of the

it.

consti-

I

have

same shape as the

with them, the whole would present or rather a continued series of in-

1*

'

PREFACE.

IV

dependent arguments,

which the

of

for

the Veracity of the Scriptures,

would be greater than that of the

effect

separate works could be, which might be read perhaps out

and which were not altogether

of the natural order,

But as

form in their plan. plicable,

though

in

a

this test of veracity

less degree,

for

uni-

proved ap-

reasons I have as-

signed elsewhere, to the Prophetical Scriptures also, I have

introduced into the present

Volume

in

its

proper place, evi-

dence of the same kind which had been long lying by me, for the

Veracity of some of those Writings

;

thus employ-

ing one and the same touchstone of truth, to verify successively the

Books of Moses, the Historical Scriptures of

the Old Testament, the Prophetical,

and the Gospels and

Acts, in their order.

The

argument, as

my

readers will of course be aware,

an extension of that of the Horcc PaulincB, and which

is

originated, as

was generally supposed, with Dr. Paley.

But Dr. Turton,' the present bishop the claims of Dr. Paley to the

first

of Ely, has rendered

conception of

it

doubt-

by producing a passage from the conclusion of Dr.

ful,

Doddridge's Introduction to his Paraphrase and Notes on the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, to the following effect.

"

Whoever

reads over St. Paul's Epistles

tion will discern ness,

1

such

with atten-

intrinsic characters in their

and the divine authority

genuine-

of tbe doctrines they con-

In his " Natural Theology considered with reference to Lord Brougham's

Discourse," &c. p. 23.

;

PREFACE. produce in him a stronger conviction

tain, as will pefliaps

than

all

the external evidence with which they are attend-

To which we may add, that the exact coincidence observable between the many allusions to particular facts, in

ed.

of the

and the account

this,

as well as in other Epistles,

facts

themselves as they are recorded in the History of the

Acts,

a remarkable confirmation of the truth of each."

is

Be

this

argument and

am

I

pUed

it

may, Dr. Paley

it

his Lectures

of holy writ.

on the Pentateuch,

Much, however,

of us

mains

to be detected by future writers

have no doubt has escaped

For myself, though

I

may not

to that portion

same kind

of the

I

it

Paul

has since been deliberately ap-

mony

ever

brought the

Epistles of St.

to light in support of the

not aware that

first

any other of the sacred books, except by Dr. Graves,

to

two of

in

however as

all

and

;

of testistill re-

on the Evidences.

lay claim to the merit (what-

be) of actually discovering all the examples of

may

consistency without contrivance, which I shall bring

ward

in this

to their

volume,—indeed,

was

my own, I may

there were others

1

I

in

many

forestalled

by the Rev.

of one coincidence (No. letter also,

by the Rev.

xi. J.

where the

J.

trace

detec-

me, qui nostra ante

this republication, of several suggestions

subject of the Patriarchal Church, (No. letter

cases,

now

progressively ac-

have found, on examination, that

who had

have avaUed myself in

ago in a

could not myself

beginnings thoughts which have

cumulated'—and though tion

I

for-

W. Burgon

i.

Part

i.)

offered to

on the

me some years

of Worcester College, Oxford

Part iv.) communicated to

me

;

and

in substance, by

Daniel, of St. John's College, Cambridge, soon

Gospels after the first Edition of the Veracity of the

came

out.

PREFACE.

VI

nos, yet

most of them

mentators at

which only is

to

I

all,

and

have not seen noticed by com-

I

scarcely

any

regard them, as

this application,

therefore,

;

in that light in

grounds of Evidence. of

themselves sufficiently familiar, that did attention of my. readers

them

of

and

It

Expositions, often in I

have

if I shall

to

beg the can-

frequently bring

out of the treasures of God's word, or of the interpretation of God's word, " things

may not

old^^-

perhaps be thought

As the argument Acts, derived from

for

the use that I

make

of

them

so.

and

the Veracity of the Gospels

undesigned coincidences, discoverable

between them and the Writings of Josephus, does not within the general design of this work, as

and yet thought

is it

related to

it,

and important

best not to suppress, but to

pendix.

Cambridge,

May

3,

1847.

fall

now constructed, in

throw

itself, it

into

I

have

an Ap-

THE VERACITY OF

THE BOOKS OF MOSES PART It

is

my

I.

intention to argue in the following pages the

Veracity of the Books of Scripture, from the instances they contain of coincidence without design, in their several parts.

On

the nature of this argument I shall not

enlarge, but refer

my readers

for

a general view of

short dissertation prefixed to the HorcB

Paley, a work where

it is

employed as a

it

PmdincB

much to the

of Dr.

test of the veracity

of St. Paul's Epistles with singular felicity and force, suitable incidents

and

were certainly much more

which abundant than those which any olher portion of Scripture for

of the

which

same extent provides I

can

offer,

;

still,

however,

if

the instances

gathered from the remainder of Holy

Writ, are so numerous and of such a kind as to preclude it is the possibility of their being the effect of accident, coincicircumstantial enough. It does not require many

dences to determine the mind of a jury as to the credibihty of a witness in our courts, even where the Ufe of a fellowcreature

is

at stake.

but as a matter of

I

fact,

say

this,

not as a matter of charge,

indicating the authority which at-

taches to this species of evidence, and the confidence uni-

THE VERACITY OF THE

8

versally entertained that it

it

PART

cannot deceive.

I.

Neither should

be forgotten, that an argument thus popular, thus ap-

plicable to the affairs of

derives

common

no small value when

as a test of truth,

life

the cause of

enlisted in

Revelation, from the readiness with which

hended and admitted by mankind at large simplicity of the nature of

its

appeal

the documents, the truth of which

and terminates

in

them

;

it

appre-*

is

and from the

;

for it springs

;

it is

who has

so that he

out of

intended to sustain, these,

has

the defence of them.

Nor

2.

is

The argument

this all.

deduced from coinci-

dence without design has further claims, because,

made

out,

it

if

well

establishes the authors of the several books

of Scripture as independeiit witnesses to the facts they relate

;

and

whether they consulted each

this,

writings, or not;

are

thing,

for

bring forward

or

arrangement.

may seem

arisen, they are only to be

missed.

For

it is

may

to

good

other's

any-

for

If

any which

reckoned ill-chosen, and

no small merit of

this

dis-

argument, that

(if

it

they be thought

be detached without any dissolution of the

reasoning as a whole.

Undesignedness must be apparent

in the coincidences, or they are not to the purpose.

our argument

I

be such as might have so

one or more of which

consists of parts,

unsound)

if

such as could not result from combination,

mutual understanding,

may

the coincidences,

we

defy people to

sit

down

In

together, or

transmit their writings one to another, and produce the like.

Truths known independently

to

each of them, must

be at the bottom of documents having such discrepancies

and such agreements

as these in question.

The

point,

whether the authors of the books of Scripture have or have not copied from one another, which in the therefore,

case of some of

them has been

so

much

labored,

rendered a matter of comparative indifference.

is

thus

Let them

;

PART

BOOKS OP MOSES.

I,

have SO done,

still

by our argument

9 their

would be secured, and the nature of

shown

be such as could only result from their separate

to

knowledge of substantial

facts.

add another consideration which seems

I will

3.

to deserve serious attention

a point which

is

general

of the

drift

our argument

involved in the coincidence.

is

we

should distinguish from the

argument

is this,

me

to

that in several instances the

:

probable truth of a miracle

This

independence

their testimony be

itself

The

general

drift of

than when we see the writers of the

we we

Scriptures clearly telling the truth in those cases where

have the mean^s of checking that they are

see

their accounts,

—

v.'hen

consistent, veracious writers,

artless,

where we have the opportunity of examining the is

fact, it

reasonable to believe that they are telling the truth in

those cases

them,

means

now

where we have not the means of checking

—that

they are veracious where

of putting

pressing

them

distinct

is

from

we have

not the

But the argument

to proof. this.

We

am

I

are hereby called

upon, not merely to assent that Moses and the author of the

Book of Joshua,

of the

speak the truth

know them (though

to

this

impeachment upon

for

Book of Kings

example; ;

or St.

when they

St.

Luke we

record a miracle, because

speak the truth in

many

other matters,

of their veracity whatever,) but

to believe

upon

and the author

would be only reasonable where there

we

this as

it

no

is

are called

a fai'ticular miracle, because the very

cumstances which attend look

or Isaiah

Matthew and

cir-

furnish the coincidence.

a point of very great importance.

I

I

do

not say that the coincidence in such a case establishes the miracle, but that by establishing the truth of ordinary incidents

which involve the miracle, which compass the

miracle round about, and which cannot be separated from

:

THE VERACITY OP THE

10

the miracle without the

4.

On

the whole,

it

is

and one any continuous fable, howannals written by so many

ever cunningly devised, that

many

so

it.

surely a striking fact,

that could scarcely happen in

hands, embracing so

many

generations of men, relating to

abounding in super-

different states of society,

when brought

natural incidents throughout,

touchstone of truth, undesignedness, should

from

it

and surely the character of a

;

character of an individual,

when

attested

to this

same

not flinch

still

history, like the

by vouchers not

of one family, or of one place, or of one date only, but

such as speak

to

it

and at

situations,

under various

divers

I.

of the history

utter laceration

goes very near to establish

itself, it

PART

periods

by

relations, in

different

of time, can

scarcely

deceive us.

Perhaps I

may

add, that the turn

which

biblical criti-

cism has of late years taken, gives the peculiar argument here employed the advantage of being the word in season

and whilst the occupied with to

be

less

articulation of Scripture (so

component

its

regarded than

it

parts,

may

to speak),

possibly cause

whole, the effect of this argument

is

to establish the

eral truth of Scripture, and with that to content

general practical to

critical diflficulties,

establish the

such as cannot,

the volume

is

however

in themselves

have a

our suspicion and trouble our peace.

to excite

because by this investigation

;

its

:

effect, I say, is to

for

;

mean, considered with a reference to all purposes, which is our chief concern and thus

numerous and however minute, which

racity,

gen-

itself

truth, I

pluck the sting out of those

tendency

it

should be in the mass and as a

I

I think,

Its

general truth of Scripture, find occasional tokens of ve-

mislead

us,

breaking out, as

unrolled, unconnected, unconcerted, unlocked

tokens which

hail as guarantees for

I

they actually cover

;

more

facts

than

as spots which truth has singled out

PART

11

BOOKS OP MOSES.

I.

whereon

to set

her

testimony that the whole docu-

seal, in

ment, of which they are a part, is her own act and deed as pass-words, with which the Providence of God has taken ;

care to furnish his ambassadors, which, though often trifling in themselves, and having no proportion (it may be) to the

length or importance of the tidings they accompany, are still enough to prove the bearers to be in the confidence of

Almighty Sovereign, and

their

the general

be quahfied

to

to

execute

commission with which they are charged

under his authority. I

shall produce the instances of coincidence without

design which I have to

offer, in

the order of the Books of

Scripture that supply them, beginning with the Books of

Moses. But before I proceed to individual cases, I will endeavor to develop a principle upon which the Book of

Genesis goes as a whole,

in itself

for this is

an example

of consistency.

I.

There may

be those

who

look

upon the Book of

Genesis as an epitome of the general history of the world

and of the private history of certain more distinguished than the rest. And so it is, and on a first view it may seem to be Uttle else but if we consider it more closely, I think we may convince ourselves

in

early ages,

its

families

;

of the truth of this proposition, that

it

contains fragments

[as it were) of the fabric of a Patriarchal Churchy fragments scattered indeed and imperfect, but capable of combination, and when combined, consistent as a whole.

Now

it

is

not easy to imagine that

set himself to

nor, if

he

did,

any impostor would

compose a book upon a plan so recondite

would

it

be possible

for

him

to

execute

it

;

as

—

THE VERACITY OF THE

12 it is

For the incidents which go

executed here.

I.

prove

to

among many

be picked out from

this proposition are to

others,

PART

and on being brought together by

ourselves, they

are found to agree together as parts of a system, though they are not contemplated as such, or at least are not pro-

duced as such, by the author himself. I am aware that, whilst we are endeavoring to obtain a view of such a Patriarchal Church by the glbnpses af-

forded us in Genesis, there

becoming visionary

:

—

it is

a danger of our theology

is

a search upon which the imagi-

nation enters with alacrity, and readily breaks

—

it

the principle of such investigation

book, as out of God's world,

than our philosophy at good, for

more

of

may

for

;

Still

out of God's

be often concluded

The

principle

knowing

who

is

re-

those Scriptures

had not deduced the from the words of Moses, " I am

received, because they

doctrine of a future state

God

good

suspects.

first

proaches the Sadducees with not

of Jacob,"

is

sanctioned by our Lord himself,

is

it

which they the

bounds

its

has done so in former times and in our own.

Abraham, and the God

of Isaac, and the

though the doctrine was there

have sought

out.

it

One

if

God

they would but

consideration, however,

we must

take along Avith us in this inquiry, that the Books of

Moses are

—

telling

in

most cases a

abounding

chasms which cannot be

in

therefore, to be lightly

hints are often

The tant to tinctly

ver}^ incomjjlete history of facts

something and leaving a great deal untold

all

that they

I

will

read the history of Joseph as

sell

him

to

itself

name a

it is

of Genesis, where his brethren

and then

but as

;

argument that the thing

borne in mind,

—

up

not, for

offer.

proofs of this are numberless

my

filled

esteemed even in their hints,

few.

it

is

impor-

should be

dis-

Thus

we

if

given in the 37th chapter

first

put him into the

the Ishmaehts,

pit

we might conclude

PART

BOOKS OF MOSES.

I.

13

was himself quite passive in the whole tiansaction. Yet when the brothers happen to talk together upon this same subject many years afterwards in Egypt, they say that he

one

"

another,

to

We

are verily guilty concerning

we saw the and we would

brother, in that

besought us,

sunk

entreaties are

not hear."^

All these fervent

in the direct history of the event,

only come out by accident after

The

our

a?ig-uish of his soul ivhen he

As another

all.

and

instance.

simple account of Jacob's reluctance to part with Ben-

jamin, would lead us to suppose that

it

was expressed and effort. Yet

overcome in a short time, and with no great

we

Judah that

incidentally hear from

such

(for

seems

it

time as would have sufficed

As a

this family struggle

have been) had occupied as much

to

for

a journey

The

Egypt and

to

several blessings

which

Jacob bestows on his sons have probably a reference

to the

back.2

third instance.

past as well as

In the case

to the future fortunes of each.

of Reuben, the allusion happens to be a circumstance in his

life,

with which

we

therefore,

we

are already acquainted

understand the old man's address^

here,

;

but in

;

the case of several at least of his other sons, where there are probably similar allusions to events in their lives too,

which have

not,

however, been

left

on record^ there

is

much

obscure— the brevity of the previous narrative not supplying us with the proper key to the blessing. As a that

is

fourth instance.

Reuben,

to

which

The

address of Jacob on his death-bed to

have just

I

referred,

shows how deeply

Jacob resented the wrong done him by this son before,

and proves what a breach

tween them at the time Mosaic history is, and ''

more.

It is needless to

to impress is 1

Gen.

xlii.

21.

this,

;

yet

is

said of

it,"*

multiply instances

xM.

Book 3

10.

2

many years

must have made be-

that

Israel heard

that in the 2

all

it

—not ;

all

it

in the

a syllable that I wish

of Genesis a hint

x]ix. 4.