The Age of Reason Thomas Paine (beach read TXT) 📖

the Bible, not perceiving the design of the story, have told it as a serious matter. As a story of humour and ridicule it has a great deal of point; for it pompously introduces an angel in the figure of a man, with a drawn sword in his hand, before whom Joshua falls on his face to the earth, and worships (which is contrary to their second commandment;) and then, this most important embassy from heaven ends in telling Joshua to pull off his shoe. It might as well have told him to pull up his breeches.

It is certain, however, that the Jews did not credit everything their leaders told them, as appears from the cavalier manner in which they speak of Moses, when he was gone into the mount. As for this Moses, say they, we wot not what is become of him. Exodus 32:1. ↩

Particulars of the families from Ezra 2:

Verse 3 2,172 4 372 5 775 6 2,812 7 1,254 8 945 9 760 10 642 11 623 12 1,222 13 666 14 2,056 15 454 16 98 17 323 18 112 19 223 20 95 21 123 22 56 23 128 24 42 25 743 26 621 27 122 28 223 29 52 30 156 31 1,254 32 320 33 725 34 345 35 3,630 36 973 37 1,052 38 1,247 39 1,017 40 74 41 128 42 139 58 392 60 652 Total 29,818

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In a later work Paine notes that in “the Bible” (by which he always means the Old Testament alone) the word Satan occurs also in 1 Chronicles 21:1, and remarks that the action there ascribed to Satan is in 2 Samuel 24:1, attributed to Jehovah (“Essay on Dreams”). In these places, however, and in Psalms 109:6, Satan means “adversary,” and is so translated (A.S. version) in 2 Samuel 19:22, and 1 Kings 5:4, 11:25. As a proper name, with the article, Satan appears in the Old Testament only in Job and in Zechariah 3:1⁠–⁠2. But the authenticity of the passage in Zechariah has been questioned, and it may be that in finding the proper name of Satan in Job alone, Paine was following some opinion met with in one of the authorities whose comments are condensed in his paragraph. —⁠Conway ↩

Paine’s Jewish critic, David Levi, fastened on this slip (Defence of the Old Testament, 1797, p. 152). In the original the names are Ash (Arcturus), Kesil’ (Orion), Kimah’ (Pleiades), though the identifications of the constellations in the A.S.V. have been questioned. —⁠Conway ↩

The prayer known by the name of Agur’s Prayer, in Proverbs 30⁠—immediately preceding the proverbs of Lemuel⁠—and which is the only sensible, well-conceived, and well-expressed prayer in the Bible, has much the appearance of being a prayer taken from the Gentiles. The name of Agur occurs on no other occasion than this; and he is introduced, together with the prayer ascribed to him, in the same manner, and nearly in the same words, that Lemuel and his proverbs are introduced in the chapter that follows. The first verse says, “The words of Agur, the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy:” here the word prophecy is used with the same application it has in the following chapter of Lemuel, unconnected with anything of prediction. The prayer of Agur is in the 8th and 9th verses, “Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither riches nor poverty, but feed me with food convenient for me; lest I be full and deny thee and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.” This has not any of the marks of being a Jewish prayer, for the Jews never prayed but when they were in trouble, and never for anything but victory, vengeance, or riches.93 ↩

A “Tom Paine’s Jest Book” had appeared in London with little or nothing of Paine in it. —⁠Conway ↩

“Those that look out of the window shall be darkened,” is an obscure figure in translation for loss of sight. ↩

In Isaiah 7:14, it is said that the child should be called Immanuel; but this name was not given to either of the children, otherwise than as a character, which the word signifies. That of the prophetess was called Maher-shalalhash-baz, and that of Mary was called Jesus. ↩

I observed two chapters in 1 Samuel (16 and 17) that contradict each other with respect to David, and the manner he became acquainted with Saul; as Jeremiah 37 and 38 contradict each other with respect to the cause of Jeremiah’s imprisonment.

In 1 Samuel 16, it is said, that an evil spirit of God troubled Saul, and that his servants advised him (as a remedy) “to seek out a man who was a cunning player upon the harp.” And Saul said, ver. 17, “Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. Then answered one of his servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him; wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David, thy son. And” (verse 21) “David came to Saul, and stood before him, and he loved him greatly, and he became his armour-bearer; and when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul,” (verse 23) “David took his harp, and played with his hand, and Saul was refreshed, and was well.”

But the next chapter (17) gives an account, all different to this, of the manner that Saul and David became acquainted. Here it is ascribed to David’s encounter with Goliah, when David was sent by his father to carry provision to his brethren in the camp. In the 55th verse of this chapter it is said, “And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine (Goliah) he said to Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell. And the king said, Enquire thou whose son the stripling is. And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him and