mbast, incoherence and absurdity, that the
marvels recounted are often ludicrous or grotesque."

In a chance moment, when the Hebrew had relaxed his hold for a second, a
vile heretic points out to the visitor (_Exodus XXII, 18_): "Thou shalt
not suffer a witch to live!" and explains the witchcraft delusion to
him.

From a comparison between Exodus XXXIV and Exodus XX, he is at a loss to
decipher which are the true commandments that the Lord gave to Moses.
The first five books of the Pentateuch, he finds, are attributed to
Moses, although they contain the account of the latter's death. On
inquiry, he learns that this is still maintained by the synagogue. His
Martian intellect is unable to comprehend the logic of a God who would
demand human and animal sacrifice, and the story of Abraham about to
sacrifice his son Isaac fills him with disgust. His estimate of the
mentality of Jehovah receives a severe jolt when he reads in Leviticus
XVI, "Herewith shall Aaron come unto the holy place with a young bullock
for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the
holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh,
and he shall be girded with the linen girdle, and with the linen mitre
shall he be attired; they are the holy garments; and he shall bathe his
flesh in water and put them on. And he shall take of the congregation of
the children of Israel two he-goats for a sin offering, and one ram for
a burnt offering. And Aaron shall present the bullock of the sin
offering, which is for himself, and he shall make atonement for himself
and for his houses. And he shall take the two goats and set them before
the Lord at the door of the tent of the meeting."

Our visitor reads on to Leviticus XVIII, after which he must stop to
question the Hebrew, for here he finds, "None of you shall approach to
any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness; I am the
Lord. The nakedness of thy father, even the nakedness of thy mother,
shalt thou not uncover; she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her
nakedness. The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover; it
is thy father's nakedness. The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of
thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or
abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover. The nakedness of
thy son's wife--the nakedness of the wife of thy father--the nakedness
of thy father's sister, thy mother's sister, the