p. 277 | MORE WEAKNESS by R. S. Webber

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Michigan · May 5, 1885

FromThe Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 62, No. 18

MORE WEAKNESS.

By R. S. Webber

BY ELD. R. S. WEBBER.

I CLIP the following from an article by W. S., in the World’s Crisis:—

“JOURNEY FROM EGYPT.

“The children of Israel left Egypt on ‘the fifteenth day of the first month,’ and traveled under divine commandment. If the seventh-day Sabbath had been previously instituted, this first day’s journey could not have been on the Sabbath. From this starting point let us hunt for the Sabbath. As already seen, it was not on the fifteenth day of the month. Josephus says the Israelites journeyed ‘hastily’ from Egypt, and on the third day they came to a place called Baal-zephon on the Red Sea, where the Egyptians overtook them. And this agrees with Bible record, their first encampment being given at Succoth; the second at Etham; the third at Baal-zephon on the Red Sea (Num. 33:6); so they traveled on each of those three days, the 15th, 16th, and 17th; and then the Egyptians and Israelites lay encamped near each other ‘all the night,’ separated by a ‘cloud of darkness,’ and ‘the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night.’ Ex. 14:20, 21.—

“So this army of six hundred thousand did not march over till the next day, the fourth, consequently that was not a Sabbath; they then went ‘three days’ journey in the wilderness’ (Num. 33:8), journeying on the 19th, 20th, and 21st. Here we have seven days’ journey without an intervening Sabbath; seven days of servile work under divine instruction. Did they break a Sabbath? No; for it was not yet instituted.”

This attack upon the Sabbath seems a manifestation of unpardonable ignorance or a willful perversion of the plain teachings of the Bible and the testimony of Josephus; and the statements are calculated to deceive the common reader.

The Bible does not teach that the Israelites traveled seven days in succession after leaving Egypt. It is very plain from what the Bible does say about it that they did not travel seven days in succession. Josephus does not teach it, but plainly teaches that they did not, as I shall show.

The Bible tells the day and month on which they left Egypt, and tells the names of the places in which they pitched as they journeyed from Egypt to the Red Sea; but it does not say how long they were traveling. See Num. 33:1–8.

The Bible does not tell how long they remained at the Red Sea before the Egyptians came up to them; but it does say that the Egyptians found them encamping there. Ex. 14:9. They had doubtless been there a few days, as will appear by and by.

The Bible does not say that they immediately started on their journey three days into the wilderness, after they passed through the Red Sea; but it does say that they sang a song of deliverance. Ex. 15. It does not teach that they went through the Red Sea the fourth day after their departure from Egypt, and then journeyed the next day, the 19th day of the first month, as stated by W. S. There is not even a hint of such a thing in the whole Bible.

The Egyptians stopped to bury their first-born that had been smitten by the Lord. Num. 33:4. Therefore they could not have arrived at the Red Sea until some time after Moses did. W. S.’s statement is very evidently false.

But what does Josephus say? Does he say the Israelites and Egyptians encamped near each other all night, three days after the Israelites left Egypt?—No. Does he say that the Israelites went through the Red Sea upon the fourth day after their departure?—No. Speaking of the Israelites, he does say: “But as they went away hastily on the third day, they came to a place called Baal-zephon on the Red Sea.” But where were the Egyptians at this time? They were probably at home burying their dead, and perhaps preparing to follow Moses. Josephus says that they “wept and repented that they had treated them so hardly.” But, he says, “the Egyptians soon repented that the Hebrews were gone.” Then they raised an army. “The number that pursued after Moses was 600 chariots, with 50,000 horsemen, and 200,000 footmen, all armed.”

This could not be done in one day; Josephus says that Moses was five days preparing to depart; that God commanded him to begin to prepare on the 10th day of the month. Now if the Egyptians

were half of that time preparing their army to follow the Israelites, they could not possibly have been at the Red Sea in less than five or six days after the Israelites encamped there. Moses “went hastily” through a country “that was difficult to be traveled over, not only by armies but by single persons.” Pharaoh was so far behind, he made haste in pursuit of them, and asked of every one he met which way they were gone. See Ant. of the Jews, b. 2, chap. 15.

It was impossible for Pharaoh to conduct his army, with 600 chariots, over the route described by Josephus, any faster than Moses marched his company. They both went hastily. When the Egyptians found the camp of the Israelites, they lay by them “all that night,” separated by a “cloud of darkness.” Then they all followed the Israelites into the sea and were destroyed. And as above shown, it is impossible to know what day this was, or how long it was after the departure of Moses.

But what did the Israelites do the next day after the Egyptians were overthrown in the sea? W. S. says they went on their journey; but Josephus says: “Moses gathered together the weapons of the Egyptians, which were brought to the camp of the Hebrews by the current of the sea and the force of the winds assisting it. And he conjectured that this also happened by divine providence that so they might not be destitute of weapons. So when he had ordered the Hebrews to arm themselves with them, he led them to Mount Sinai.”—Ant. of the Jews, b. 2, chap. 16, sec. 6.

Again he says that the Israelites, after the Egyptians were destroyed, “were employed all the night in the singing of hymns and in mirth. Moses also composed a song unto God, containing his praises and a thanksgiving for his kindness, in hexameter verse.”

Therefore the statement by W. S. that the Israelites went through the sea upon the fourth day after their departure from Egypt, and traveled the next day on their journey, is certainly false. It is remarkable that any person should make such blunders, with such plain statements of Josephus before him setting forth the contrary. Some seem to suppose they do God’s will, if they make any statement, however false it may be, against his holy day.

There seems to be a great diversity of opinion among the writers for the Crisis concerning the time of the institution of the Sabbath, and the persons for whose benefit it was instituted. Some of them claim it was instituted in the wilderness for the Israelites only. This is the opinion of W. S. Eld. T. M. Preble, in his book upon this question, says that the Sabbath was made for all mankind. And in the Crisis he once wrote:—

“How happy we should be if from the heart we could all adopt the sacred truth brought out in the following lines:—

“Day ever bless’d, Thy light, thy rest, I hail with glad emotion; Ordained for man, When time began, For solace and devotion.”

Now as Eld. P. and W. S. are both prominent men, it might be interesting to the readers of the Crisis if they would publicly discuss their differences upon that point. But it is doubtful if they could make the point plainer than Jesus has done in Mark 2:27, and Moses in Gen. 2:1–3 and Ex. 20:8, 11. The effort of W. S. to prove that the Sabbath did not exist before the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, by falsely stating that the Israelites journeyed upon that day, is truly painful.