Dr. Farrar severely21 denounces the Jewish wars of extermination22 in Palestine, regardless of the fact—which is as true as any other religious fact in the Bible—that these atrocities23 were expressly commanded by Jehovah. Divines have defended the massacre24 of the Midianites, for instance, and the appropriation25 of their unmarried women; but Dr. Farrar calls their arguments "miserable26 pleas," and adds that if such "guilty and horrible" doings were "recorded without blame," it only shows that "the moral views of the desert tribes on such subjects were in this respect very rudimentary." These desert tribes were the chosen people of God; their prophets spoke27 under divine inspiration; yet even Jeremiah, in denouncing Moab, cries: "Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood." According to Dr. Farrar, this proves how "slow" was the "development of the religious consciousness of mankind." But how did it happen that the Jews, with all the advantage of special inspiration, were just as slow in this respect as any other nation in the world's history? What is the use of "inspiration" if it does not appreciably28 quicken the natural development of the human conscience?
Many of the Bible heroes are fit for a distinguished29 place in the Newgate Calendar. Dr. Farrar himself cannot stomach "some details" in the lives of Abraham, Jacob, Jephthah, and David. Still, he urges that "the use made of them in the sceptical propaganda is often illegitimate." These worthies31 were not "faultless." It is their "general faithfulness" which is "rightly held up to admiration32 as our example." Faithfulness to what? Simply to their own greed and ambition, first of all, and secondly33 to the dominance of their tribal34 god Jehovah, who by such instruments triumphed over his rival dieties, and became at last the sole Lord God of Israel.
Dr. Farrar allows no palliating plea for the cursing Psalms35. He cites a few of the very worst passages, black with hatred36 and red with blood, and asks: "Can the casuistry be anything but gross which would palm off such passages as the very utterance37 of God?" Moses was "a great lawgiver and a great prophet," but Dr. Farrar will not "defend the divinity of passages so morally indefensible" as that, for instance, which gives the slave-owner impunity38 in killing39 his slave, provided he does not slay40 him on the spot, but beats him so that he dies "in a day or two." Nor is there "divinity" in the order to the Jews to refrain from eating bad meat, but to sell it to the Gentiles. Neither is there "divinity" in the order (Deut. xxi. 10-14) to take a wife for a month on trial. These things are parts of an ostensibly divine code, but lawgivers and people were alike mistaken. Inspiration did not guide them aright, but somehow or other it enables Dr. Farrar to correct their blunders three thousand years afterwards; which is merely saying, after all, that inspiration does not pioneer but follow the march of human progress.
During the reign41 of David a dreadful incident occurred. There had been a three years' famine, and David "inquired of the Lord." The answer was, "Blood upon Saul and upon his house!" Seven of Saul's sons were hung up "unto the Lord," and the famine was stopped. Dr. Farrar tells of an intelligent artisan who got up at a meeting and asked "whether it was not meant to imply that God was pacified42 by the blood of innocent human victims?" But he does not give the answer; and it either means this or it means nothing at all. In the same way, the story of Jephthah, who offered his daughter as a burnt-offering to the Lord, takes such an immolation43 for granted as a religious act of perfect propriety44. Jephthah is mentioned as a hero of faith in the New Testament45, and no hint is given that he acted wrongly in sacrificing his daughter on the altar of Jehovah.
We have said enough on this subject to give the reader a fair idea of Dr. Farrar's position. Let us now pass from Bible morals to Bible manners.
"The Bible," says Dr. Farrar, "is assailed46 on the ground that it contains coarse and unedifying stories." Take the story of Lot and his daughters, to say nothing of the bestial47 attempt on the angels in Sodom. Could anything be more repulsive48? Is there any excuse for putting such abominable49 feculence into the hands of children? After a lot of talk about it, and about, Dr. Farrar offers us the following most sapient50 observation: "The story of Lot wears a very different complexion51 if we regard it as an exhibition of unknown traditions about the connection between the Israelites and the tribes of Moab and Ammon." But what does this mean? The Moabites and Ammonites, according to the Bible, were hereditary52 enemies of the Jews, and it was impossible to exterminate53 them. They were evidently near of kin19 to the chosen people. Now, if these two facts are put together, it is easy to see the purpose of this story of Lot and his daughters. The Jews traced their own descent, in a perfectly54 honorable way, from Abraham and his legitimate30 wife Sarah, who are doubtless legendary55 characters. On the other hand, they traced the descent of the Moabites and Ammonites, their cousins and enemies, through the no less legendary Lot and his two daughters, thus throwing the aspersion56 of incest upon the cradle of both those races. This is the adequate and satisfactory explanation of the story. It is an exhibition of dirty and unscrupulous hatred; and, as such, it is a curious fragment of "the Word of God."
Take next what Dr. Farrar calls "the pathetic story of Hosea," the prophet who was ordered by God to marry a prostitute—not to use the more downright language of the English Bible. Dr. Farrar suggests that there is some doubt as to the meaning of the original. Hosea's wife may have turned out a baggage after the nuptials57, instead of being one before. "It was the anguish58 caused by her infidelity," he says, "that first woke Hosea to the sense of Israel's infidelity to Jehovah." And read in the light of this "modern criticism" the story of Hosea is "in the highest degree pure and noble." How pretty! All that remains59 for Dr. Farrar to do is to explain away as equally "pure and noble" the imagery of Ezekiel in reference to Aholah and Aholibah. There is no reason why "modern criticism" in the hands of gentlemen like Dr. Farrar should not transform Priapus into a Sunday-school teacher.
Not only are there very gross stories in the Bible, many of which are too beastly to dwell upon, but its language is often gratuitously60 disgusting. And every scholar knows that the Hebrew text is sometimes far more "purple" than our English version. Dr. Farrar admits that if the "exact meaning" of certain passages were understood, they "could not be read without a blush." "Happily," he says, they are "disguised by the euphemisms61 of translations." That is to say, the inspired Bible writers, or penmen of the Holy Ghost, as old divines called them, were often indecent and sometimes positively62 obscene. Dr. Farrar's explanation is, that "ancient and Eastern readers" were not easily shocked, and that our modern "sensibility" is of "recent growth." But this proves again that "inspiration" is in no sense the cause of progress, and does not anticipate it in the slightest degree.
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1 metaphor | |
n.隐喻,暗喻 | |
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2 brutality | |
n.野蛮的行为,残忍,野蛮 | |
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3 immorality | |
n. 不道德, 无道义 | |
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4 acting | |
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
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5 dictates | |
n.命令,规定,要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 );口授;支配;摆布 | |
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6 conformity | |
n.一致,遵从,顺从 | |
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7 triumphantly | |
ad.得意洋洋地;得胜地;成功地 | |
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8 infamous | |
adj.声名狼藉的,臭名昭著的,邪恶的 | |
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9 fugitive | |
adj.逃亡的,易逝的;n.逃犯,逃亡者 | |
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10 assassinated | |
v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 );中伤;诋毁;破坏 | |
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11 exclamation | |
n.感叹号,惊呼,惊叹词 | |
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12 slew | |
v.(使)旋转;n.大量,许多 | |
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13 brace | |
n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
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14 maidens | |
处女( maiden的名词复数 ); 少女; 未婚女子; (板球运动)未得分的一轮投球 | |
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15 improper | |
adj.不适当的,不合适的,不正确的,不合礼仪的 | |
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16 ethical | |
adj.伦理的,道德的,合乎道德的 | |
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17 reprehended | |
v.斥责,指摘,责备( reprehend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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18 infamies | |
n.声名狼藉( infamy的名词复数 );臭名;丑恶;恶行 | |
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19 kin | |
n.家族,亲属,血缘关系;adj.亲属关系的,同类的 | |
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20 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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21 severely | |
adv.严格地;严厉地;非常恶劣地 | |
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22 extermination | |
n.消灭,根绝 | |
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23 atrocities | |
n.邪恶,暴行( atrocity的名词复数 );滔天大罪 | |
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24 massacre | |
n.残杀,大屠杀;v.残杀,集体屠杀 | |
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25 appropriation | |
n.拨款,批准支出 | |
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26 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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27 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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28 appreciably | |
adv.相当大地 | |
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29 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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30 legitimate | |
adj.合法的,合理的,合乎逻辑的;v.使合法 | |
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31 worthies | |
应得某事物( worthy的名词复数 ); 值得做某事; 可尊敬的; 有(某人或事物)的典型特征 | |
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32 admiration | |
n.钦佩,赞美,羡慕 | |
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33 secondly | |
adv.第二,其次 | |
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34 tribal | |
adj.部族的,种族的 | |
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35 psalms | |
n.赞美诗( psalm的名词复数 );圣诗;圣歌;(中的) | |
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36 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
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37 utterance | |
n.用言语表达,话语,言语 | |
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38 impunity | |
n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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39 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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40 slay | |
v.杀死,宰杀,杀戮 | |
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41 reign | |
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
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42 pacified | |
使(某人)安静( pacify的过去式和过去分词 ); 息怒; 抚慰; 在(有战争的地区、国家等)实现和平 | |
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43 immolation | |
n.牺牲品 | |
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44 propriety | |
n.正当行为;正当;适当 | |
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45 testament | |
n.遗嘱;证明 | |
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46 assailed | |
v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 );困扰;质问;毅然应对 | |
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47 bestial | |
adj.残忍的;野蛮的 | |
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48 repulsive | |
adj.排斥的,使人反感的 | |
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49 abominable | |
adj.可厌的,令人憎恶的 | |
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50 sapient | |
adj.有见识的,有智慧的 | |
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51 complexion | |
n.肤色;情况,局面;气质,性格 | |
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52 hereditary | |
adj.遗传的,遗传性的,可继承的,世袭的 | |
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53 exterminate | |
v.扑灭,消灭,根绝 | |
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54 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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55 legendary | |
adj.传奇(中)的,闻名遐迩的;n.传奇(文学) | |
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56 aspersion | |
n.诽谤,中伤 | |
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57 nuptials | |
n.婚礼;婚礼( nuptial的名词复数 ) | |
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58 anguish | |
n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦,烦恼 | |
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59 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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60 gratuitously | |
平白 | |
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61 euphemisms | |
n.委婉语,委婉说法( euphemism的名词复数 ) | |
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62 positively | |
adv.明确地,断然,坚决地;实在,确实 | |
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