BUT how does Dr. Akers prove that at the exodus Israel gave up the Paradisaical Sabbath and adopted in its stead the day next preceding it? He does not assert that this change is expressly stated in the Bible. But he proceeds to count the exact number of days from creation to the sixteenth day of the month Abib of that year that Israel left Egypt. Having done this, he finds that this sixteenth day of Abib was the seventh day of the week in regular succession from the seventh day on which God rested in the beginning. But the day before this, viz., the fifteenth of the month, by divine direction the children of Israel went forth out of Egypt, taking "their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders." Ex. 12:34. And they journeyed that day from Rameses to Succoth. Ex. 12:37; Num. 33:3-5. But Dr. Akers asserts that this day on which they marched from Rameses to Succoth (carrying on their shoulders their dough and their kneading troughs bound up in their clothes), viz., the 15th day of Abib, was the first Sabbath of the new order. So that the day of their departure out of Egypt being thus observed as the Sabbath by divine direction, the next day, which was the true seventh day in regular succession from the day of the Creator's rest, was thenceforward reckoned the first day of the week; and the previous day, the sixth day of the week being established as the seventh day, was ever afterward observed as such by Israel. Whence it is that the Jews have Saturday, the true sixth day of the week, for their Sabbath; while Sunday, the Christian Sabbath, is God's hallowed rest-day, the true seventh day of the week.
Thus the children of Israel first took up their peculiar Sabbath, which was the sixth day of the week as they had previously reckoned it, on the fifteenth day of the first month, being the very day that they left Egypt, and God so ordered the year that ever afterward the fifteenth day of the first month did recur upon the Jewish Sabbath, or Saturday. And the day which follows it, being our Sunday, or Christian Sabbath, is the seventh day of the week from creation down.
But how does Dr. A. so exactly count the weeks from Genesis 1 to Exodus 12, that he can tell to a day how much time elapsed from the rest-day of the Creator in Eden, to the first day of unleavened bread in Egypt? How does he establish with certainty even the number of years, to say nothing of the exact number of days?
1. He does not do this by using the chronology of the Hebrew Scriptures; for he discards this as utterly unreliable.
2. But, in the place of the Hebrew chronology, he adopts that of the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the Old Testament made at Alexandria in Egypt, some two or three centuries before Christ.
3. Nevertheless he confesses the Septuagint to have various errors in its numbers. Thus he says: "The Septuagint numbers, like the dates of other copies of the inspired testimony, have been subject more or less, to alterations; and, therefore, they may sometimes need correction."—Biblical Chronology, p. 16.
4. This is a most important confession. Dr. A. undertakes to tell the age of the world to a day at the time of the exodus. To do this he discards the numbers in the Hebrew Scriptures, and adopts those of the Septuagint, and at the same time confesses that the Septuagint sometimes needs correction itself. How about establishing the age of the world to a day by a standard that needs itself to be corrected before it will even give the number of years correctly?
5. It is worthy of observation that of the nineteen periods which make up the chronology of the world, from creation to the exodus, all but five are different in the Septuagint from the same numbers in the Hebrew Scriptures. And it is further to be noticed that the Septuagint makes twenty periods instead of nineteen, by inserting the name of Cainan between that of Arphaxad and that of Salah (Gen. 11:12); and it ascribes to him the period of 130 years! Moreover, the space from the creation to the exodus, which the Hebrew Scriptures make to be 2513 years, the Septuagint makes to be 3899, a difference of 1386 years! Certainly, a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, which from creation to the exodus differs from the original in its reckoning of chronological dates to the extent of 1386 years, ought to have great evidence of correctness before it supersedes that original.
6. But while Dr. Akers, in determining the age of the world to a day, adopts as his standard the Septuagint version of the Scriptures, he gives evidence that he sees the need of correcting this standard. For the Septuagint chronology makes Methuselah survive the flood some fourteen years! Compare Gen. 7:7; 8:18; 1 Pet. 3:20. He remedies this remarkable error by following those copies of the Septuagint, which, in the case of Methuselah, conform to the numbers of the Hebrew Scriptures. But surely these things are quite sufficient to evince that whoever claims to give the age of the world to a day, even from Adam to Moses, puts forth a most unreasonable pretension, particularly when he attempts to establish that claim by setting aside the numbers of the Hebrew text, and adopting in their stead those of the Septuagint, though constrained to acknowledge that the Septuagint has been subject to alterations, and that it therefore needs some corrections!
But Dr. Akers has unbounded confidence in determining the exact age of the world, even to a day. Thus he affirms that the world was 7400 years old on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 1855. (Biblical Chronology, p. 8.) He fixes the resurrection of Christ on Sunday, March 28, A. D. 28, in the year of the world 5573. During this time, he says there were just 2,035,369 days. (Biblical Chronology, p. 31.)
The age of the world at the commencement of the Christian era is given by Dr. Akers to a day. Thus he says:—
"A. M. stands for the year of the world. This era began, according to the chronology here adopted, 5545 years, 3 months, and 19 days, before the common era of Christianity."—Biblical Chronology, p. 41.
Dr. Akers thus claims to give exact results, even to a day, covering the entire period, not merely from the creation to the exodus, but even to the resurrection of Christ, and also thence to the present time. He frames a system of chronology unlike that of any other writer on the subject. He sets aside the Hebrew original and takes the Septuagint translation, which he acknowledges sometimes needs correcting, and which differs from the Hebrew text in the space from the creation to the exodus to the amount of 1386 years. And in the entire period from the creation to the Christian era, it differs 1426 years! Dr. Akers does, therefore, assert the Hebrew records to be utterly unreliable, at least for a great portion of this space! And he corrects them by the Septuagint, which he acknowledges sometimes needs itself to be corrected! But he is not inadequate to the task! The Hebrew numbers he corrects by the Septuagint, and the Septuagint by such authorities as he decides to correct where the Septuagint is in error!
But that which seems to be the most extraordinary feature of the case is this: Dr. Akers can reckon the whole time from creation to the present time so accurately that he can tell the present age of the world to a day! And he can so exactly count the time from the first Sabbath in Eden to the first day of unleavened bread in Egypt, that he is absolutely certain that that day was the original Sabbath! And he is able to continue this exact reckoning to the day of Christ's resurrection, which, by Dr. Akers' count, is the two million, thirty-five thousand, three hundred and sixty-ninth (2,035,369th) day from creation! Now if this sum be divided by seven, the number of days in a week, it will give just two hundred and ninety thousand, seven hundred and sixty-seven (290,767) weeks as the result; thus showing that the day of the resurrection of Christ was the seventh day of the week from the creation of the world!
But the reader will ask what we are to do with the fact that the day which Dr. Akers has proved by exact count from creation to be the seventh day of the week, is by four inspired writers called "FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK"? Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:1, 2, 9; Luke 23:56; 24:1; John 20:1, 19. This is the very question which Dr. Akers has written his large book to answer. His reckoning of the number of days, he is confident, is absolutely right. So that must stand, and Sunday is the seventh day of the week from the creation of the world! But were not Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, inspired men? And do they not call this day "first day of the week"? What if they do? Shall that prove that Dr. Akers is incorrect in his reckoning even to the extent of just one day? No, indeed! The thing is impossible!
But the four evangelists say that this day was "the first day of the week," and three of them state distinctly that the Sabbath was the day previous. How then can Dr. A. boldly assert that the day called first day of the week in the New Testament is the true seventh day, and the real Sabbath of the Lord? He does not assert that the four evangelists told a downright falsehood. He does not even mean to insinuate that they were uninspired men. But he does mean to stand to his exact count of the days from creation, whereby he has proved to his own satisfaction that Sunday is the seventh day. There must be some way, therefore, discovered to reconcile the evangelists with this accurate count of the days, or they will be convicted of a very grave error!