Astronomy and the Bible;

STARSINNUMERABLE 135

it,allthiswasdonetorevealtoAbrahamthathewas
to have fifteen hundred descendants! There were
wandering nomads inthose dayswithalarger pos-
teritythanthat. Thusdoesthetoowisemancharge
Godand HisWordwithfolly. Hereis anoccasion
wherewemaywellsay,"LetGodbetrue,butevery
man[whodisputesHim] aliar."
Goddidnotsaythatthereisnonumbertothestars
ofheaven;butHeappealstoman'sinabilitytocount
them. God "telleththenumberofthestars." Yes,
Heeven"calleththemallbytheirnames." Ps.147:

4;Isa.40:26. LikewiseGoddidnotsaythatIsrael
shouldbe oftheprecise numberof thestarsor the
numberofthedustoftheearth. True, Hesaid,'T
willmakethyseedasthedustoftheearth." Butin
whatrespectweretheytobemadeasthedustofthe
earth?—''Sothatifamancannumberthedustofthe
earth,then shallthyseedalsobenumbered." Abra-
ham'sseedwerenottobeoftheprecisenumberofthe
dustoftheearth,but"asthedustoftheearth,"and
"asthesandoftheseashore,"forthereasonthatthey
would bebeyond humancomputation. So God said
concerningthestars:"Looknowtowardheaven,and
tellthestars,ifthoubeabletonumberthem: ,. .so
[beyond human computation] shall thy seed be."
Surely Godmeant whatHe said, andAbraham did
welltobelieve;forJohn caughtaviewofthatsame
company, "a great multitude, which no man could

number/' Rev. (^7) :9.
In this textof Genesisjust as it reads, with no
allowanceormodification,wefindrevealedatruthof