,illustration3 ,anthropoid ,sarcophagus1 or ,cartonnage ,dead ,men ,tell ,tales by ,,harry ,,rimmer1 ,d4 ,d41 ,sc4 ,d4 ,with #cg ,plate ,illustrations in the ,text ,eleventh ,edition ,wm4 ,b4 ,eerdmans ,publishing ,co4 ,grand ,rapids1 ,michigan ,dead ,men ,tell ,tales ,,by ,,harry ,,rimmer1 ,d4,d41 ,,sc4,d4 ,copyright #aici by ,research ,science ,bureau1 ,incorporated ,printed in the ,united ,states of ,america ,all rights in this book are reserved ,no part of the book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission4 ,for information address the publishers4 ,,eleventh ,,edition ,,foreword ,in an older generation1 especially among the writers of the more lurid types of fiction1 it was an accepted axiom that 8,dead men tell no tales60 ,but this was before the great era of modern archeology had impressed its findings on the general public1 and indeed before most of those discoveries had been made4 ,our generation knows better4 ,dead men do tell tales1 and marvelous and wonderful are the stories they bring to us4 ,by means of an archeological resurrection1 the great men of antiquity are with us again4 ,once more we hear the accounts of their fascinating lives and adventures1 and read again the records of their culture4 ,the tongueless tombs of the distant past have suddenly become vocal1 and this mighty chorus of the dead great has forced us to revise many of our once cherished opinions4 ,nowhere is this more strikingly true than in the case of the coincidence of these old ages with the page of the ,holy ,bible4 ,the richest finds of archeology come to us from the very periods of history that are dealt with in the pages of ,holy ,writ1 and names that were known only from the record of the ,scripture are now the common possession of the scholarly world4 ,so much is this the case1 that we have a new technique of ,bible study in our day4 ,just as the microscope is the instrument for the study of biology1 and the spectroscope has become the means of study in physics1 so the ,bible is best read today in the light that is reflected upon its pages from the blade of a spade6 ,this1 of course1 is intended to apply to the historical sections of the ,book1 and refers to the problem of its authenticity and historicity4 ,it still remains true that spiritual understanding of its message can be derived only from study that is supervised and directed by the ,holy ,spirit4 ,this volume1 the fourth in the promised series to be known as the 8,,john ,,laurence ,,frost ,,memorial ,,library0 will deal with some of those fascinating discoveries that bear particularly on the problem of the ,old ,testament4 ,the succeeding and companion volume1 which will be entitled 8,crying ,stones10 will deal in like manner with the records of the ,new ,testament4 ,the material contained in this apologetic is derived from various sources4 ,much of it came from records in the famed ,british ,museum1 in ,london1 ,england4 ,this marvelous storehouse of treasure from the most remote antiquity is the greatest collection of evidence bearing upon these questions1 that is at present in the possession of man4 ,there is scarcely a section of the ,bible that does not receive some authentication from the limitless wealth of this noble treasury4 ,a great deal of the remainder of this information and proof has been derived from other museums1 such as the ,egyptian ,museum at ,cairo1 ,egypt1 and the ,museum of the ,university of ,pennsylvania4 ,much of the contents of this book has come from the excavations now in progress in ,egypt1 and from the ruins at ,sakkara1 ,luxor1 ,karnak1 ,iraq1 and other centers of present activity4 ,the earth seems eager indeed to offer its treasures of proof concerning the ,word of ,god4 ,the author is especially grateful for the help accorded to him in ,egypt by ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,erian ,boutros of ,cairo1 and by certain officials of the ,egyptian government1 chief of whom in helpfulness was ,m4 ,abdul ,nabi1 and the ,egyptian ,tourist ,bureau1 whose gracious efforts on our behalf won us many privileges from the ,department of ,antiquities4 ,the illustrations used in this volume are largely from the author's own photographs of exhibits and evidences1 made by him and presented with the assurance that they are not retouched or altered in any manner4 ,in the course of his studies and travels in search of this material1 he made hundreds of negatives1 only a few of which appear in this work4 ,the exceptions to this are noted where they appear4 ,the zinc etchings are made from original drawings by ,miss ,elizabeth ,elverhoy from our photographs1 and are authentic in all details4 ,we hand you now ,tales of ,dead ,men1 rendered by ,men ,long ,dead1 as they unconsciously accredit the sacred page of the ,word of ,god4 ,if you have a tithe of the pleasure and profit in the reading of these pages that we have experienced in the gathering of their contents1 we shall be repaid for the labor involved4 ,,contents ,chapter ,i ,the ,premise ,stated #ac ,chapter ,,ii ,the ,tides of ,culture #cg ,chapter ,,iii ,converging ,streams of ,revelation and ,history #ee ,chapter ,,iv ,modern ,science and the ,ten ,plagues of ,egypt #he ,chapter ,v ,sources #abe ,chapter ,,vi ,fragments #afc ,chapter ,,vii ,the ,rebirth of an ,empire #aie ,chapter ,,viii ,the ,resurrection of ,edom #bbe ,chapter ,,ix ,the ,brazen ,shields of ,rehoboam #bdg ,chapter ,x ,mingled ,voices #bfi ,chapter ,,xi ,vindication of ,daniel #cag ,bibliography #cdi ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,anthropoid ,sarcophagus1 or ,cartonnage ,frontispiece ,egyptians at a wine orgy ,facing ,page #cb ,crude hieroglyphics on an ancient statue #cc ,example of embellished statue #dj ,colossi at ,luxor #da ,the ,sheltered ,wife #da ,khnum and ,thoth in ,creation ,tradition #ef ,colossi of ,karnak #fd ,colossi of ,luxor #fd ,colossi of ,amen-,hetep ,,iii guarding ,valley of ,kings #fe ,at ,tomb of ,tutanhkamen #fe ,open burial #gb ,mural from an ancient tomb3 ,butchers at work #gc ,the god ,hapi drawing the ,two ,kingdoms into one #gc ,mace-head in ,british ,museum #abh ,cuneiform writing and sculpture on stone weapon #abi ,ancient seals depicting historic events #acf ,section of funerary papyrus1 showing progress of the soul #acg ,herds of cattle1 such as ,hyksos kings possessed #afj ,ancient mural3 ,slaughter of cattle #afa ,papyrus showing capture of quail #afa ,cartonnage in the anthropoid sarcophagus #afh ,outside and inside writings and decorations on anthropoid sarcophagus #afi ,detailed study of outside and inside of anthropoid coffin #agf ,outside of rectangular coffin covered with writings #agf ,murals and frescoes from tomb walls #agg ,commemorative stele #ahd ,ancient boundary markers #ahe ,stone ouches1 or door-sockets #aib ,the famed ,black ,obelisk1 which confirmed record of ,jehu #aic ,hamath inscription #aie ,small ivory lion from ,ahab's palace #bjj ,fragmentary frieze showing ancient chariots #bja ,hittite inscription #bjh ,egyptian funerary papyri #bji ,monuments of ,petra1 showing ruins from one direction #baf ,monuments of ,petra1 looking in opposite direction #bag ,the rough approach to ,petra #bdj ,approaching ,petra by way of the main siq #bda 8,el ,kahzne01 the ,temple of the ,urn #bdh ,building carved from living stone #bdi ,el ,deir #bef ,additional view of ,el ,deir #beg ,en route to the 8,high ,place0 #bfd ,the ,altar of ,sacrifice #bfe ,,chapter ,i ,the ,premise ,stated ,in the romantic vocabulary of the twentieth century few words are more potent to arouse the interest of the average man than the fascinating word 8archeology40 ,a flood of volumes has come forth from the press of our generation covering almost every phase of this now popular science4 ,after one hundred years of steady plodding and determined digging1 this school of research has at last come into its own and today occupies deserved prominence in the world of current literature4 ,this science1 which deals exclusively with dead races and the records of their conduct is1 to many1 the most fascinating field of investigation at present open to the inquiring mind of man4 ,nothing is of such interest to the human as is humanity4 ,the study of the life and record of our own kind rightly means more to us than can most other subjects4 ,but the true appreciation of the value of the contribution of archeology to our modern learning can be appreciated only by those who grasp an outstanding fact that should be self-apparent1 but is so often overlooked3 ,namely1 these records derived from musty tombs and burial mounds constitute the daily events in the lives of human beings6 ,the folks who left these records were ordinary people such as make up the nations of the earth today4 ,they are not merely names on tablets or faces carved in stone4 ,they were actual flesh-and-blood individuals with all that this implies4 ,in hours of merriment they laughed1 and they shed tears in moments of sorrow4 ,they hungered1 and ate for satisfaction2 they drank when they were thirsty4 ,they loved and they hated2 they lived and they died4 ,pleasure and pain were their alternating companions1 while ambition1 aspiration1 and hope drove them on the endless round of their daily tasks4 ,in a word1 they were real4 ,their life was as important to them as is your life1 and they lived it in much the same way4 ,therefore1 the records written by humans and studied by their kind1 who now live these thousands of years later1 constitute the source of the most human science with which our generation has to deal4 ,the contributions of archeology have reached almost every branch of study1 but to no particular group of people have they been more timely and valuable than to students of the ,bible4 ,the hoary antiquity of the ,book which has been received in every generation by the intelligent and the discerning as the ,word of ,god1 has its roots in the same generations that archeology is investigating today4 ,it is inevitable that much of the material being recovered by modern excavations shall have important bearing upon the various questions skepticism may raise concerning the text of the ,scripture4 ,to the open-minded scholar who approaches this subject without prejudice1 the science of archeology has a twofold contribution to make4 ,some of the evidences derived from digging are 7a7 of incalculable value in illuminating the text of the ,scripture1 and are 7b7 equally priceless when viewed as a body of indisputable evidence4 ,under this latter heading the proofs would come into four classifications3 #a4 ,the historicity of the text #b4 ,the accuracy of the account #c4 ,the authenticity of the record #d4 ,the inspiration of the whole ,by way of illustrating the manner in which the ,scripture may be illumined by the findings of archeology1 we would introduce a semi-humorous and partially tragic event that occurred in the dim and distant days of our own earlier studies4 ,during a short term spent at a well known ,california college1 we were specializing in the field of history4 ,the teacher of this course1 ,professor ,rosenberger1 was one of the ablest pedagogues who ever wasted her life in the more or less important task of teaching a rising generation how to think6 ,at the end of the first few weeks in a class in ,english history1 she informed the student group that the following day we would be privileged to have a test in this particular subject4 ,when the class gathered for the happy event1 there were twenty questions written on the board which were to constitute our examination4 ,the first question was something like this1 8,what new treaty had just been signed between ,france and ,spain at this particular period80 ,the next question had to do with the political commitments of the ,holy ,roman ,empire4 ,the third question took us into the ,germanic states1 and in all of the twenty questions not one word concerning ,england was mentioned6 ,as the class sat with the usual and habitual expression of vacuity which generally adorns the countenance of a college student facing a quiz1 the ,professor said1 8,you may begin40 ,some hapless wight procured the courage to protest1 by saying1 8,but you said this was to be an examination in ,english history60 ,the ,professor replied1 8,quite so6 ,this is ,english history60 ,then leaning forward over the desk she said1 in impressive tones1 8,how can you expect to know what ,england is doing1 and why1 if you do not know the pressure upon her of her enemies and friends at that particular period80 ,a long distance back in our mental vacuum a dim light began to glow1 and we never were caught that way again6 ,when the teacher said ,french history1 we read everything else6 ,when she said ,german history1 we specialized on the surrounding countries4 ,one day as we were thinking over this helpful technique of understanding1 the idea began to grow that if this was the proper way to study secular history1 it ought to apply to ,bible study as well6 ,there is an illumination that brightens the meaning of the ,sacred ,text when read in the light of collateral events that can come no other way4 ,as an instance of this1 we will remind the reader of the background of ,isaiah4 ,when this prophet first began to write1 there was trouble between ,israel1 the northern confederation1 and ,judah1 the southern kingdom4 ,the king of ,israel at this time was ,pekah1 the son of ,remaliah1 and although his people were numerically superior to ,judah1 he was fearful that he might not be strong enough to overcome the southern kingdom in the threatened war4 ,therefore1 he made a close alliance with ,rezin1 the king of ,syria1 promising him all the spoils of the battle1 if he would aid with his army and strength4 ,the ,syrian king hastened to accept this offer1 and signed the required covenant4 ,when this alliance became known in ,judah1 a natural alarm spread throughout the tiny kingdom4 ,realizing that they were incapable of resisting the strong forces of ,israel and ,syria which had combined against them1 the princes of ,judah desired outside help4 ,the only apparent source of such assistance was ,egypt4 ,so in the court of ,ahaz1 the king of ,judah1 a strong party began agitating for a military alliance with ,egypt4 ,that being the only apparent aid within any reasonable distance1 it seemed natural to turn to them for a military alliance4 ,the prophet ,isaiah1 who was a strong force and exercised a vital influence in the policies of ,judah1 began to object most strenuously4 ,in the light of this background1 we can understand such outbursts of ,isaiah as are found in the thirtieth chapter of his prophecy1 verses one to three3 8,woe to the rebellious children1 saith the ,lord1 that take counsel1 but not of me2 and that cover with a covering1 but not of my ,spirit1 that they may add sin to sin3 8,that walk to go down into ,egypt1 and have not asked at my mouth2 to strengthen themselves in the strength of ,pharaoh1 and to trust in the shadow of ,egypt6 8,therefore shall the strength of ,pharaoh be your shame1 and the trust in the shadow of ,egypt your confusion40 ,his protest seems to reach a climax in the thirty-first chapter in that magnificently written plea for faith in ,god which we find in these graphic words3 8,woe to them that go down to ,egypt for help2 and stay on horses1 and trust in chariots1 because they are many2 and in horsemen1 because they are very strong2 but they look not unto the ,holy ,one of ,israel1 neither seek the ,lord6 8,yet he also is wise1 and will bring evil1 and will not call back his words3 but will arise against the house of the evil doers1 and against the help of them that work iniquity4 8,now the ,egyptians are men1 and not ,god2 and their horses flesh1 and not spirit4 ,when the ,lord shall stretch out his hand1 both he that helpeth shall fall1 and he that is holpen shall fall down1 and they all shall fail together40 ,all through this period of prophecy1 ,isaiah's voice is aggressively raised against the folly of trusting ,egypt4 ,his protest is1 8,since ,god redeemed us once from bondage in that land1 why put ourselves back again under their yoke80 ,the princes replied in some such terms as this3 8,the objection is o4 k4 in principle2 as a basic thesis we will admit that it is safe to trust in ,god4 ,but right now we need real help and we need it in a hurry40 ,the prophet cried out in response1 8,god will send the help that you need60 ,the natural question was 8,whence8 ,syria and ,egypt are the only two powers near us4 ,one is arrayed against us and the help of the other you forbid us to seek4 ,whence then is the aid that ,god will send80 ,the prophet's reply was short and terse1 8,god will send aid from very far off40 ,the reluctant court agreed to take a chance on ,isaiah's insistence1 and so to trust their cause to the ,god of ,israel4 ,quickly1 then1 upon the heels of this decision1 as we learn from the records of archeology1 there came one of the earlier battles that were fought at ,charchemish4 ,the rising power of ,assyria first made itself felt in that engagement4 ,as a result1 ,syria was shattered and ,israel made captive4 ,the help that ,god had promised did come1 and now the definite prophecy of ,isaiah1 in chapters seven and eight1 may be correlated into this simple summary2 and against this background we can understand the vehemence of ,isaiah in crying out against an alliance with ,egypt4 ,it is not too much to say1 as we shall later show in detail1 that in our present possession there is sufficient knowledge derived from the monuments and records of antiquity to authenticate every prophecy that ,isaiah made concerning ,egypt1 ,israel1 ,syria1 and ,assyria4 ,thus the text of the ,old ,testament is illumined1 and a floodlight of understanding thrown upon its prophetic utterance by the findings in this field4 ,even more striking is the contribution of archeology in the second field1 that of evidence in defense of the accepted text4 ,the museums1 monuments1 and libraries of the world are teeming with such evidences1 and it shall be the purpose of this volume to condense1 epitomize1 and present much of that evidence in a simple and readable form1 divorced from technical obscurities4 ,right here1 however1 we offer just one simple illustration under each of the subdivisions suggested in the paragraph above4 ,to demonstrate the evidence of the ,bible's historicity1 we shall offer the illustration made famous by the late ,dr4 ,robert ,dick ,wilson1 as to the record of the forty-seven kings of antiquity4 ,it is probably known to the reader that the historical sections of the ,old ,testament contain the names of forty-seven kings1 aside from the rulers of ,israel and ,judah4 ,these foreign1 or ,gentile kings1 have been known by name for many centuries to every reader of the ,old ,testament4 ,the odd thing is that until comparatively recent times1 these names had been dropped out of secular history4 ,mighty as these men had each been in his day1 they were completely forgotten by posterity and for some twenty-three hundred years their names were unknown to the scholars of secular events4 ,for this reason the learned leaders of 8higher criticism0 relegated these forty-seven monarchs to the columns of mythology4 ,they were grouped among 8the fables and folklore of the ,old ,testament0 which this deluded school mistakenly taught was one of the basic weaknesses of the text4 ,then one after another these disputed monarchs began to rise from the dead in an archeological resurrection4 ,in some cases a burial mound was uncovered2 in others1 an annalistic tablet1 a boundary marker1 or a great building inscribed with the monarch's name4 ,now1 all forty-seven of these presumably fabulous characters have been transferred from the columns of 8mythology0 to the accepted records of established history4 ,in forty-seven specific instances1 as these kings rose from the dead past1 they were recognized1 as their names were not strange to true historians4 ,each was remembered from his appearance in the page of the ,old ,testament which had preserved his memory with accuracy4 ,thus1 in this simple instance there are forty-seven definite and specific evidences of the complete historicity of the text4 ,to stress this point1 the accuracy of the record1 we shall cite a semi-humorous illustration4 ,the great ,greek historian1 ,herodotus1 who is supposed to be the 8,father of ,history10 wrote some more or less accurate observations concerning the land of ,egypt4 ,among other things1 he said that the ,egyptians grew no grapes and drank no wine4 ,there was another ancient who preceded this historian by many centuries1 who also wrote voluminously about ,egypt and her customs4 ,this was the man ,moses1 who being reared in the bosom of the royal family as the crown prince and heir apparent1 might be presumed to know considerably more about ,egyptian customs than any casual visitor4 ,moses stated that the ,egyptians did grow grapes and that they did drink wine4 ,in fact1 he recounts that ,joseph was in jail with the chief cupbearer of ,pharaoh1 the butler whose business was the purveying of wine to the royal table4 ,it may be remembered that in the butler's dream he saw himself standing by the vine1 squeezing the grapes into the cup4 ,this brought these two authorities into sharp opposition4 ,since ,herodotus was supposed to be the final authority on matters of antiquity1 the critics fell upon this discrepancy with considerable glee4 ,the argument might still be going on1 if it were not for the discovery of an unquestionable bit of evidence among the frescoes that decorate the tombs of ,egyptian antiquity4 ,these frescoes showed the ,egyptians engaged in the art of viticulture4 ,in some of these pictures they were dressing and pruning the vines1 cultivating and tending their crop4 ,in others of the pictures they were seen to be gathering the grapes and conveying them to the press4 ,the ingenious method of extracting the juice was clearly portrayed in these illuminating frescoes1 which showed the juice being stored in stone jugs1 clay pots1 and skin bottles for future use4 ,since the ancients called any fruit juice that was used for drinking purposes by the name of wine1 whether it was fresh or sweet1 it is highly probable that some of this juice was drunk in an unfermented condition4 ,however1 one of the murals depicted an ,egyptian party gathered around the banquet board1 making merry with the juice of the grape 7,see ,plate #a74 ,the incidental evidences show very clearly that the juice was fermented4 ,off in the corner1 the picture depicts a noble lady who is portrayed with her slave holding a silver bowl1 while she gave up the excess fluids that had evidently disagreed with the more commendable parts of the banquet6 ,another of these murals showed the morning light coming into such a banqueting hall1 as the slaves were all carrying their masters home2 with the exception of one inebriate who had slid under the table and had evidently been overlooked in the excitement6 ,did the ,egyptians grow grapes and drink wine8 ,herodotus said 8,no40 ,moses said 8,yes40 ,the critics1 to their later embarrassment1 lined up solidly with ,herodotus4 ,but since archeology has accredited the accuracy of ,moses1 this argument is no longer heard in the halls of learning4 ,when we come to the question of authenticity1 we shall later give many evidences that none of the records of the ,bible1 either the ,old ,testament or the ,new1 are1 in any sense of the word1 forgeries4 ,they are uniformly authentic in that they were written by the men whose names they bear4 ,a classical illustration of this is found in the fact that ,sir ,william ,ramsay1 one of the greatest archeologists of our generation1 began his work in his early days under the bias of the critical position that ,luke was not the author of either the ,gospel that bears his name or the book of the ,acts of the ,apostles4 ,after forty years of research in ,asia ,minor1 ,sir ,william ,ramsay himself discovered the evidence that converted him personally to the orthodox and historical view1 and demonstrated conclusively that ,luke unquestionably wrote the two books that are accredited to him4 ,as we shall deal with this matter more extensively in the fifth volume of this series1 we pass on to the present cause of modern controversy1 namely1 the inspiration of the text4 ,the fact of inspiration is stated so often by the writers of the ,scripture that we must accept their explanation of the origin of these pages1 or else classify them as the most consistent liars that humanity has ever produced4 ,they claim a supernatural guidance by the ,holy ,ghost which has kept their records free from error or discrepancy4 ,for one who has examined and analyzed the ,scripture in the unprejudiced light of archeology1 this claim is vindicated at every turn of the spade4 ,a simple illustration of the manner in which our science does show the inspiration of the ,scripture1 may be found from the prophetic sections of the ,old ,testament4 ,in the days of ,isaiah and his fellow prophets1 the capital of ,egypt was the city of ,no4 ,it is also called ,amon1 and sometimes1 ,no-,amon4 ,it was a populous city of wealth and culture1 being the center of learning1 as well as the seat of government4 ,in a day when ,egypt dominated the world and ,no-,amon was the mistress of antiquity1 obscure ,hebrew prophets raised their voices in denunciation of ,no in such arbitrary and extreme statements as are found in the thirtieth chapter of ,ezekiel4 ,denouncing the sin of ,egypt and their repeated betrayals of ,israel1 ,ezekiel warns ,egypt that her land shall be overrun with fire and sword1 and that ,no-,amon shall be desolate and forsaken4 ,there must have been a strong element of humor in all of this outcry to the proud mind of the ,egyptian of that day6 ,no-,amon1 also called ,thebes1 spreading out on both banks of the ,nile1 in complacent1 serene command of the ancient world1 apparently had nothing to fear from the bitter cries of a prophet of ,israel4 ,yet today the visitor to the site of ,thebes1 or ,no-,amon1 to use the more ancient name1 is faced with a scene of desolation that is utterly devoid of any human habitation4 ,since it is impossible for the human mind to pick up the curtain of time and peer ahead into future events1 prophecy can derive only from the ,holy ,spirit4 ,the work of archeologists in identifying the bleak and barren site of ,no-,amon portrays the inspiration of the ,scripture4 ,the proud city is forgotten except for its inscriptions on records of antiquity and the denunciations to be found in the ,word of ,god4 ,thus we have simply illustrated how this dignified and sober science is bringing to us illumination of the text1 together with the evidences of the ,,historicity1 ,,accuracy1 ,,authenticity1 and ,,inspiration of the ,bible4 ,this is eminently fitting1 since this peculiar science is most intimately concerned with the problem of the credibility of the ,bible4 ,the unique and heavenly nature of the ,book is in itself a divisive factor4 ,multitudes of men and women love it and would die for its preservation4 ,indeed1 it is no exaggeration of fact to say that multitudes have died in its defense4 ,there are others who hate the ,book and would go to any length to discredit it1 except the extreme length of martyrdom4 ,it is very natural for men to die for what they believe1 but few men will surrender their lives for what they disbelieve6 ,this division is decidedly fitting and proper4 ,men and women who are saved by the grace of ,god recognize the supernatural nature of the ,book that is the means of their redemption4 ,men and women who are lost1 resent the honesty of that ,book in that it condemns their sin and iniquity4 ,in our day and age1 infidelity has1 under the guise of an attempted scientific refutation1 directed its chief argument against the integrity of the ,scripture4 ,living in an age of science1 when all things are again evaluated in the light of man's technical knowledge1 it is inevitable that the ,bible should come in for this type of investigation4 ,no exponent of ,scripture would wish it otherwise4 ,if the ,bible is honestly examined without prejudice1 under any system of truth1 it will maintain its integrity and establish its own supernatural character4 ,the so-called scientific investigation of the ,scripture1 however1 has not been made on the basis of credible science4 ,rather1 the prejudiced enemies have sought to gather from pseudo-scientific claims such help and hope for their opinions as would bolster their failing school4 ,we frankly admit that the text of the ,bible does refute the fallacies of men of science4 ,there is a great deal of theoretical speculation indulged in by men who call themselves scientists1 and who march under the banner of technical learning4 ,in every age1 when such fallacious theories are current1 the ,bible is necessarily repudiated by the exponents of those false ideas4 ,few such men1 however1 know the ,bible1 and their opposition has no lasting effect4 ,this ,book does not stand in any age by human consent1 but has been able to maintain itself in every age by the inherent power of its supernatural character4 ,the science of archeology has played a great and leading role in demolishing these fallacies of a pseudo-scientific generation4 ,as an instance of this1 we may note that the theory of organic evolution is unquestionably incompatible with the record of the ,scripture4 ,in the 8dark ages0 of biology which began to draw to a close at the beginning of this present decade1 the thoughts of men were so darkened by the general acceptance of the baseless and unscientific theory of man's animal origin1 as sadly to handicap capable research and frustrate the pursuit of real knowledge4 ,we see again1 however1 that truth1 though crushed to the earth1 will rise again4 ,for certainly no one who is within ten years of being up to date in the facts of biology and the discoveries of archeology1 will contend any longer for the animal origin of the human species4 ,the theory cannot be harmonized with the record of the ,scripture4 ,therefore1 in the days of blindness1 when this particular theory possessed the imagination of men1 it was used as an argument against the integrity of the text of the ,word of ,god4 ,this whole problem simmers down to a simple illustration4 ,in dealing with the origin of man1 there are two horses4 ,the problem of every man is to decide which one he shall ride4 ,one horse is known by the name of 8specific creation10 and the other is called 8organic evolution40 ,it is impossible to ride them both at once4 ,in riding two horses at one time1 it is necessary to keep them close together and both going in the same direction4 ,there is no record of anyone who successfully rode two horses simultaneously when they were headed in opposite directions6 ,these two premises are irreconcilable4 ,the first is that man was created in perfection4 ,in the moment of his fiat origin1 he was formed by the hand of ,god1 gifted with all the arts and cultures by a process of involution4 ,the word 8involution0 simply means 8to come down into40 ,that is to say1 all of the graces and abilities possessed by man were imparted by creation4 ,the second theory is that 8man has himself consummated a gradual ascent from a brutish state to our present high and civilized condition40 7,if there were room in such a work as this for sarcasm1 we might say that this is another way of noting that we have left the arrow and the club for heavy artillery1 poison gas and aerial bomb4 ,if one were to wax facetious1 one might be tempted to suggest that if the present condition of international hatred1 mass murder1 violated treaties1 forgotten honor1 and civilian extermination in the holy name of war1 are the best that evolution can accomplish1 we should hand the whole mess back to the monkeys and ask them to stir up another batch67 ,but to remain upon the sober grounds of scientific inquiry1 it is not too much to say that the archeologist speaks upon this problem with absolute finality4 ,there is nothing theoretical about archeology4 ,what you dig up with your own hands1 you are inclined to believe4 ,some years ago we had a college lad on one of our expeditions who was strongly addicted to the theory of organic evolution4 ,at the beginning of the work the lad showed some disposition to argue1 and was somewhat disappointed that we refused to enter into debate with him upon our differing theories4 ,as day followed day1 however1 and we got into the rich contents of burial mounds containing a fabulous amount of ossi1 this lad became deeply concerned with the discrepancies between his textbook learning and what he saw in his own personal recoveries of ancient skeletons4 ,every time he came to us with some bone that did not fit in with his classroom theories1 we would laugh and say1 8,don't bother us4 ,you dug that up4 ,this poor bone never read your textbook and it doesn't know how you want it to be4 ,now1 which are you going to believe8 ,the schematized drawing in a textbook written by some professor who never saw a burial mound1 or this evidence that you yourself have acquired by your own labor80 ,at the end of that one summer1 this student returned to the campus an ardent and bitter anti-evolutionist1 denouncing the false teachings which had misled him by means of the printed page4 ,in a word1 other sciences may speculate1 theorize and deduce1 but archeology delves and demonstrates4 ,some of these demonstrations will be seen in the contents of the following pages4 ,we say some3 for if all the evidence from the realm of archeology were massed into one great volume1 no derrick ever built by man could lift its tremendous bulk and weight4 ,in such a work as this one we are handicapped and embarrassed1 not by the paucity of evidence1 but rather by its over-abundance4 ,plate #a ,illustration3 ,egyptians at a wine orgy ,illustration3 ,crude hieroglyphics on an ancient statue4 ,depicting the early development of art and writing ,it shall be the purpose of the following pages to cull and summarize some of the striking facts of archeology1 which demonstrate beyond question that the ,book which men call the ,bible is historically credible1 scientifically accurate1 and has been derived by inspiration from the ,spirit of ,god4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,the ,tides of ,culture ,in almost every branch of this fascinating science1 archeology has been the handmaid of revelation4 ,even more1 it has acted as a beacon to illuminate the pathway to ,god1 which men call the ,bible4 ,the problem of the antiquity and culture of man was the battleground of infidelity which the skeptical chose to demonstrate the fallacy of the ,bible's claims to supernatural origin4 ,if it can be proved by the aid of science that the human race is older than is implied by the ,genesis account of creation1 and if it can be shown that man has ascended from a dim and brutish ancestry1 instead of being created perfect by the hand of ,god1 the foundation would admittedly be swept from beneath the ,scripture1 and the entire structure of revelation collapses4 ,however1 this unwarranted attempt to confuse the issue and refute the ,scripture1 is manifestly unfair to science4 ,it is not too much to say that this is a debasing of the highest labors of human mentality4 ,research1 in the exact sense of the word1 cannot be used legitimately to establish a pet theory to which the advocate clings without regard to evidence in the case4 ,the attempt to demonstrate the organic evolution of man belongs in the realm of philosophy and not of science4 ,the work of science is the correlation of facts4 ,the sphere of philosophy is the interpretation of facts4 ,in all of this controversy1 we are not debating the facts of humanity1 but are at odds concerning the application of those facts4 ,the real issue then is not the antiquity of man1 but the origin of man6 ,in the hope of obscuring the manner of origin1 the enemy of our faith has sought to raise the dust storm of antiquity4 ,it is here more than anywhere else1 that archeology has been such a tremendous aid to the establishment of the truth4 ,this science has demonstrated the premise of the ,scripture1 namely1 the fixity and origin of our species4 ,as far back as the spade has been able to thrust the history of humanity1 we find the same types and varieties of the human family that exist upon the earth today4 ,since we are covering this problem of antiquity and origin in the sixth volume of this series1 we will hasten on with this brief statement of the issue involved4 ,we will later show that all of the statements made in the text of the ,scripture concerning the degeneration and moral collapse of humanity have been abundantly demonstrated in the realm of archeology4 ,further1 the claims that we make as to the historicity of the ,bible can be demonstrated satisfactorily in one single field2 namely1 the recording of the story of man and the care used by the ,scripture writers in the exactness of their statements4 ,in this display of historical accuracy1 the writers of the ,bible have incidentally repudiated the entire philosophy of organic evolution4 ,it is not too much to say that no single evidence derived in the entire realm and history of archeology has sustained the theory of organic evolution4 ,remember that we are dealing specifically with evidence4 ,if the evidence is rightly interpreted and honestly implied1 item by item and in the aggregate mass1 it refutes the entire fallacy of this weird philosophy4 ,since it deals with the realm of human history1 archeology is the final voice as to the antiquity and culture of man4 ,no race of man has ever lived upon the face of this earth and failed to leave some relics or evidences of its existence and culture4 ,the science of anthropology postulates the beginning of the human family somewhere in ,mesopotamia4 ,the ,bible is a little more specific1 in that it states that it was in that portion of ,mesopotamia which lies between the two rivers1 the ,tigris and the ,euphrates4 ,the oldest relics of man1 however1 are not found in ,mesopotamia4 ,this is due to the climatic conditions in certain parts of that ancient land4 ,the rainfall is heavy4 ,we have ourselves suffered great inconvenience1 delay1 and loss by being isolated from our objective in ,mesopotamia by floods that filled the wadies and gullies and made travel impossible4 ,also1 the outlying country is underlaid to a great extent by water4 ,when excavators dig but a short way into the strata of that land1 they are handicapped and hindered by seepage4 ,because of this excess moisture1 some of the oldest relics of our race have been destroyed by the ravages of time and the power of the elements4 ,the situation in ,egypt1 however1 is quite the opposite4 ,in most of that land there is no rain and in no part of that bleak country do we experience frost4 ,the climate is dry to the utmost extreme1 and the soil is largely sand4 ,due to this natural condition1 the oldest records of the human race are found in ,egypt4 ,the oldest records of man and the most complete records so far recovered of his early existence have been preserved for us by this combination of climate and soil4 ,since the ,egyptians buried in sand or in stone tombs1 the deposits being protected from the elements1 man was the only destroyer4 ,even though there has been a sad record of vandalism1 as ruthless hands of the ignorant have despoiled magnificent tombs of priceless records and information1 there is much that remained undisturbed4 ,the people of ,egypt built for endurance4 ,the mighty pyramids1 from ,sakkara to the ,great ,pyramid2 the ,colossi at ,luxor and the awe-inspiring ruins of ,karnak1 are present evidences of the durability of their labors4 7,see plates #b1 #c and #d47 ,because of the strange beliefs concerning the life after death1 these people also buried for eternity4 ,we shall later consider1 in the light of their customs and religious practices1 the tremendous value that modern civilization has derived from this ancient fact4 ,we have mentioned this fact now merely to note that the greatest treasure trove of preserved antiquity is found in the land of ,egypt4 ,plate #b ,illustration3 ,magnificent example of embellished statue1 conveying the name1 hopes1 and some of the record of an early ruler ,illustration3 ,colossi at ,luxor ,illustration3 ,the ,sheltered ,wife ,strangely1 in view of the consistent demands of the evolutionary school1 we find no evidence of human evolution in the land of ,egypt4 ,more than this1 the doctrine that man began with a brutish intellect and gradually developed his high and peculiar culture1 is refuted by the evidences from this country4 ,in fact1 the contrary is strikingly the case4 ,instead of proving a process of evolution1 the history of man as found in the archeology of ,egypt is a consistent record of degeneration4 ,the eminent ,sayce1 one of the ablest archeologists in the whole history of that great science1 expressed his wonder and amazement at the high stage of culture met with in the very earliest records of the ,egyptian people4 ,other authorities1 such as ,baikie1 have written voluminously upon this subject4 ,it had been hoped that when excavators finally reached undisturbed tombs of the first dynasty1 they would find themselves in the dawn of ,egyptian culture4 ,it was our fortunate privilege to be at ,sakkara a year ago when the first complete and unmolested tombs of the first dynasty were uncovered4 ,it was our privilege to keep a close check and watch upon all that was done at that time1 and the conclusions and postulations of hopeful theorists were utterly shattered in such discoveries as were made4 ,indeed1 we can no longer start ,egyptian culture with the beginning of the dynastic ages4 ,through the first tombs1 we peer back into an older preceding culture that dazzles and amazes the human understanding4 ,instead of finding the dawn of a developing humanity1 we see mankind already in the high noon of cultural accomplishments4 ,instead of nomadic dwellers in shaggy tents1 we look upon works of enduring stone4 ,instead of brutish1 ,egyptian ancestral artifacts1 we find a pottery culture that is really superb4 ,it almost seems that the farther back we go into ,egyptian antiquity1 the more perfect was their culture and learning4 ,the art of writing was the common possession of the ,egyptian in the pre-dynastic period4 ,it is true that there was a so-called stone age in ,egypt1 which preceded the first dynasty4 ,we are showing here1 however1 a photograph of one of the most ancient open burials ever discovered in ,egypt4 ,this is accompanied by various heads of mummies1 to show the state of preservation4 7,see ,plate #e47 ,before the art of embalming was invented and the dead were mummified1 they were buried by intrusion in the dry sands4 ,you will note the perfection of the culture of this people as depicted by the pottery undisturbed in this grave4 ,in contrast to this type of burial1 the mummies shown in this same plate are no better preserved than the earlier burial4 ,indeed1 there is no evidence to show that these cultures were consecutive rather than contemporary4 ,in various sections of ,egypt it is quite probable that different burial customs prevailed simultaneously1 and it is a pure speculation to say that the more primitive type of burial is ages older than the advanced style4 ,there are many anomalies and mysteries in this so-called stone age in ,egypt4 ,in the museum at ,cairo there will be found some of the most remarkable specimens of stone flaking to be seen on the face of this earth4 ,others may be seen in the ,british ,museum1 in the various exhibits of ,egyptian culture4 ,one of these knives is equipped with two points1 and all of them are equally sharpened on both edges4 ,in the author's own gatherings from the various stone cultures of mankind1 there are something over #be1jjj artifacts4 ,we have seen every important collection of stone implements in the present world1 but these specimens from ancient ,egypt are unquestionably the most magnificent types of stone culture we have ever been privileged to observe4 ,the significant and startling fact is that these stone knives have handles of beaten gold4 ,at once we are impressed with the anomalous fact that the stone age was thus synonymous with an age of metal4 ,furthermore1 it was an artistic age4 ,the golden handles on these stone weapons are engraved with scenes common to the life of the people4 ,on one side of the stone dagger with the double points1 there is a sailing vessel typical of the pleasure craft that were common to all ages of ,egyptian life4 ,on the raised deck of this boat1 dancing maidens were entertaining the circle of spectators4 ,this work was not crude and brutish1 but showed a high development of the engraver's art4 ,the reverse side of the handle was even more interesting in that it contained1 in beautifully incised characters1 the cult sign of the owner4 ,here is1 indeed1 a weird super-imposition of ages and cultures4 ,the body of the weapon is of a stone age2 the handle of the weapon is of an age of metal2 the engravings upon that metal show an age of art and the possession of written characters4 ,there is no comfort for the evolutionary hypothesis in the antiquity of ,egypt4 ,the contrary rather is the case4 ,there is a strange tide sweeping through the record1 portraying an ebb and flow of culture that is fascinating to observe4 ,the culture of ,egypt starts on a magnificently high level and is later reduced to a tremendous degree by a consistent record of degeneration4 ,it might be said that by the end of the fourth dynasty1 the people had reached the high peak of ,egyptian art and learning4 ,but after the sixth dynasty had well begun1 a definite decline and retrogression had set in4 ,we find ourselves then groping in a dark age wherein were no arts and no written history4 ,no great monuments come from that period1 and no great buildings were begun1 repaired1 or finished4 ,writing became extremely scarce and in many sections of the land the art seems to have been completely forgotten4 ,as in the dark ages of medieval ,europe1 learning was in eclipse and the mental life of man degenerated4 ,just when the renaissance began1 it is impossible to say1 but in the eleventh dynasty we are suddenly back into the light again4 ,egypt emerges from those dark ages1 ruled by powerful feudal lords1 with the pharaohs appearing to be mere figure-heads4 ,these great barons left voluminous records1 which depict their conquests and their powers1 and tell of their own individual greatness4 ,they constructed magnificent tombs for their eternal rest1 and the land blossomed culturally under their dominion4 ,these conditions prevailed until the coming of the ,hyksos dynasty4 ,these conquering kings were of ,semitic origin and they seem to have come from the region of ,ur4 ,after this conquest1 ,egypt suddenly became an unlimited monarchy4 ,the great lords became landless1 stripped of their power and robbed of all authority4 ,the people literally passed into the possession of the crown1 and ,egypt became a nation of slaves who owed their very existence to the royal head of the government4 ,the reason for this change will be made manifest later in this present work4 ,we are now interested only in presenting these strange cycles of culture as shown by archeology4 ,it would take many volumes to give a detailed picture of the early golden age in ,egypt4 ,as an illustration of the art and development of that culture1 we refer the reader to the tomb of a court official at the dawn of the sixth dynasty4 ,buried with this minor official were certain small wooden effigies depicting customs1 trades1 and tools of his day4 ,there were porters laden with their heavy burdens4 ,there were scribes bearing stylus and plaque4 ,certain tradesmen were found in these brilliant statuettes1 each man's craft being shown by the tools that he carried in his hand4 ,priests appeared clad in their pontifical robes4 ,perhaps the most interesting of all were the statuettes of candy vendors1 each man equipped with his tray of sweets1 and a horsehair tail wherewith to fan the flies4 ,some of these statues were so perfect in their execution that the eminent ,phidias might well have envied their perfection4 ,when we compare this art and culture with the so-called pictures of brutish cave-dwellers1 we have one more failure in the collapsing chain of evidences that was supposed to show man's constantly advancing culture4 ,we might also give1 by way of illustration1 the magnificent statue of ,kephren4 ,this memorial was exquisitely carved from stone so hard that it would blunt most modern tools4 ,kephren constructed one of the pyramids at ,giza4 ,this latter work was notable in that there were evidences that some of the stones had been cut with what appeared to be tubular drills4 ,since this is possible in our modern culture with the use of diamond-pointed instruments1 there is food for considerable thought and speculation as to the culture and learning of ,kephren's age6 ,as a general statement1 it is not too much to say that the farther back we go into ,egyptian antiquity1 the more perfect the arts and culture in general seem to be4 ,when we compare1 for instance1 the brilliant workmanship of the priceless pectoral of the daughter of ,usertesen 7or ,usertsen7 with the crude and amateurish workmanship of the jewelry of the later queen ,abhotep1 it is evident that the centuries brought retrogression4 ,the reign of ,usertesen may be correlated with the early period of the patriarchal age1 which fact has an important bearing upon our study4 ,the hopeful critics of the ,book of ,genesis have postulated for the age of ,abraham a barbaric lack of culture comparable to the nomadic tribes of ,arabia in the ,middle ,ages4 ,we now see1 however1 that the entire age of the patriarchs was a period of exquisite culture and high learning4 ,to refer again to ,usertsen1 he seems to have been a capable strategist1 and his system of working out his plan of battle was something like the game of chess4 ,his artists had made for him models of the various kinds of soldiers that made up his variegated corps4 ,the bowmen were armed with exquisite miniature weapons that had1 to our delight and wonder1 been preserved against all the passing centuries4 ,the black troops that he used1 of whatever origin1 were carved from a wood like our ebony1 and the tiny features were negroid in faithful representation of the difference between the races of men employed in his army4 ,these model soldiers could be moved about a board which depicted the terrain of battle1 and his strategy thus wrought out4 ,our present point1 however1 is the artistic perfection of the models of the soldiers that he used4 ,the art of his age was as nearly perfect as one could wish4 ,then there came another cycle of retrogression and decay which climaxed in a period of cultural darkness that reigned too long over that ancient people4 ,it is highly significant1 for instance1 that the best glass of ,egypt is dug from the more ancient sites4 ,there came a time when the art of making glass was forgotten by the people of ,egypt and had later to be rediscovered by other races4 ,if there is one voice that can be heard in archeology1 and one lesson that can be specifically learned1 it is the certainty of the fallacy of the theory of evolution4 ,egypt1 as elsewhere1 shows us no dim1 brutish beginning1 but a startling emergence of this people in a high degree of culture4 ,no gradual ascent up the ladder of learning1 but cycles of retrogression and advancement1 followed by decay3 then a new dawning of art and science4 ,the entire record of archeology is thus a complete vindication of the premise and basic contention of the inspired record of ,god's ,word4 ,no greater voice may be heard in our day than this definite1 adamant cry from ,egypt1 which depicts cycles of culture that begin with a crest of learning4 ,it must not be presumed that this condition is unique in ,egypt1 or peculiar to any one race or country4 ,the same queer discrepancy between the fallacious theories of the philosophy of organic evolution and the facts of human history is observed wherever archeology has been able to hold the torch of discovery over a given area4 ,we have illustrated1 for instance1 in ,plates ,number #f and #g1 one of the most interesting of the exhibits in the ,british ,museum4 ,this is a stone weapon from the archaic ages of the ,chaldeans4 ,it consists of a mace head1 made of limestone4 ,incidentally1 this was a very common type of weapon among those people in their warlike culture4 ,the particular one that is illustrated is typical of its time4 ,note that it is a ,,stone ,,age ,,weapon4 ,a note of wonder is caused in our inquiring minds by the odd and utterly incompatible fact that it is engraved clearly in high relief1 thus testifying to the fact that in the archaic stone age of ,babylon1 men who wrought in a time when the evolutionary advocates demand a dim and brutish stage of development were already gifted in the art of sculpture6 ,to complicate the case still further1 they were possessed as well with a highly developed written language6 ,their stone implements are in some instances crude1 as they did not spend time polishing and decorating rude tools that were used for a base purpose4 ,others of their artifacts1 like this stone mace head1 are not only covered with finely sculptured figures but are also inscribed with written characters that are clear and well executed4 ,a 8stone age0 with a written culture1 scholars1 and books1 is an anomaly1 indeed6 ,where1 then1 in the light of these archeological facts1 is the evidence of the slow development of the human mentality and the emergence of primitive man from his 8brutish0 state8 ,unfortunately for the high-priests of the dying sect of organic evolution1 the science which delineates the true condition of ancient races offers them no help or proof whatever4 ,the opposite is the case in archeology1 as all the evidence that has come to us from the honest attempt to see man as he was1 and not as he was reported to have been1 has proved conclusively that organic evolution is a false religion4 ,it is inevitable that this fact should some day come to light2 for although it may be that science moves with leaden feet1 when it does finally overtake error1 it smites with an iron fist6 ,thus the false theory that man has struggled upward from a valley of brutish darkness is refuted by archeology1 and the premise of specific creation1 as set forth in the ,bible1 is established by the discoveries in the realm of this science4 ,in every land that man has occupied for a long period of time1 the tide of culture has ebbed and flowed from that hour to this present moment of writing4 ,just as the night follows the day1 and the next day dawns only to be succeeded by the darkness in turn1 so the learning and progress of man has been a cycle1 rather than a steady climb up a ladder of learning1 from level to level1 until the heights of present civilization were reached4 ,the old error must now be abandoned1 or else we must close our eyes to the entire record of archeological discovery1 and frankly confess that we are not interested in facts which refute erroneous1 but accepted theories4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,converging ,streams ,in a systematic presentation of the evidences in the field of ,christian apologetics1 it is necessary to review the ,egyptian and ,chaldean records as they bear upon the text of the ,scripture1 and illumine its meaning4 ,for it is here that the streams of ,history and ,revelation converge1 to continue their flow in mingled harmony throughout all the centuries which follow this original conjunction4 ,in the very nature of the case we would not expect direct archeological confirmation of a great deal of the earlier portions of the ,old ,testament4 ,the record of creation which was handed down from ,adam to each generation delineated an event which was not witnessed by any human being4 ,as has been very clearly shown in the illuminating book1 8,new ,discoveries in ,babylonia about ,genesis10 by ,p4 ,j4 ,wiseman1 this record was undoubtedly preserved in a written form from the very time of ,adam himself4 ,illustration3 ,khnum and ,thoth in ,creation ,tradition4 ,the events of the ,garden of ,eden and the subsequent history are not such as would leave archeological material for the exact enlightenment of later generations4 ,there is1 however1 a manner in which the study of antiquity can bring a tremendous light to shine upon the dark problem of the credibility of these records4 ,it is generally conceded by ethnologists that when races of people hold a strongly developed idea or belief1 in common1 there must have been an historical incident as the basis of that universal tradition4 ,thus1 among the very earliest traditions of ancient ,egypt1 there is a record of the creation of man that bears a valuable relationship to the account in ,genesis4 ,the ,mosaic record states that ,god stooped and created the body of man out of the dust of the earth4 ,life was imparted to that body by the very breath of ,god4 ,the earliest ,egyptian record recounts how the god ,khnum took a slab of mud1 and placing it upon his potter's wheel1 moulded it into the physical form of the first man4 ,the illustration facing this page shows the entire process1 with ,thoth standing behind ,khnum1 and marking the span of man's years upon a notched branch4 ,here then is a coincidence of traditional belief in the manner of creation of man that is of tremendous significance4 ,we also note that the earliest records of ,sumeria have this same incidental bearing upon certain portions of the ,old ,testament text4 ,all of the records of antiquity begin the history of man in a garden4 ,this is of considerable significance in view of the account of ,eden that is so prominently given in the record of ,genesis4 ,among the seals to which we shall occasionally refer and which are shown in ,plate #h1 there is one from an early period in ,sumeria from which we have derived considerable understanding of ,sumerian beliefs4 ,this seal shows ,adam and ,eve on opposite sides of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil1 and can be nothing less than a direct reference to the event that is recorded in the ,book of ,genesis4 ,one of the most constantly cited documents of antiquity1 is the so-called ,gilgamesh epic4 ,the high antiquity of the original form in which this occurs may be seen from the fact that many of the seals that go as far back as the year #c1jjj ,b4 ,c4 are made of illustrations of the various episodes that are contained in this valuable document4 ,the original home of ,gilgamesh seems to have been at ,erech4 ,the city was evidently besieged by an army led by ,gilgamesh1 who1 after a three-year war1 became the king of the city4 ,so harsh was the despotic rule of the conquering monarch that the people petitioned the goddess ,aruru to create a being strong enough to overthrow ,gilgamesh and release them from his sway4 ,some of the gods joined in with this prayer and as a result a mythical being1 partly divine1 partly human1 and partly animal1 was created and dispatched to ,erech for the destruction of ,gilgamesh4 ,this composite hero bears a great many different names1 but the earliest accepted form in the ,babylonian account was ,enkedu4 ,gilgamesh1 learning that an enemy had been created for his destruction1 exercised craft and lured ,enkedu to the city of ,erech4 ,the two became fast friends and set out finally to do battle with a mighty giant named ,khumbaba4 ,when they arrived at his castle1 they besieged and captured the stronghold of the giant1 whom they slew4 ,they carried off his head as a trophy and returned to ,erech to celebrate their victory4 ,the plan of the gods being thus frustrated1 the goddess ,ishtar besought her father ,anu to create a mighty bull to destroy ,gilgamesh4 ,the bull being formed and dispatched upon its duty1 also failed of its purpose when ,enkedu and ,gilgamesh vanquished the animal after a tremendous battle4 ,and so on1 the story goes with episode after episode1 culminating with a crisis in the account of the deluge4 ,in this climax1 in a notable and fascinating manner1 we see again the coincidence of tradition with a record of the ,scripture4 ,in the ,babylonian account of the deluge1 every major premise of the ,mosaic record is sustained in its entirety4 ,the ,gilgamesh account tells of the heavenly warning1 it depicts the gathering of material and the building of an ark4 ,in the ark was safely carried the hero1 his wife and his family with certain beasts of the earth for seed4 ,the ark of the ,gilgamesh episode was made water tight with bitumen exactly as was the ark of ,noah in the record in the ,book of ,genesis4 ,entering this ark1 the ,babylonian account tells how the boat came under the direct supervision of the gods4 ,on the same night a mighty torrent fell out of the skies4 ,the cloudburst continued for six days and nights1 until the tops of the mountains were covered4 ,the sea arose out of its banks and helped to overflow the land4 ,after the seventh day1 the storm abated and the sea decreased4 ,by that time1 however1 the whole human race had been destroyed with the exception of the little company who had been within the ,babylonian ark4 ,the ark of ,babylon grounded in that portion of the ancient world known as ,armenia1 the ,hebrew name of which is ,ararat4 ,seven days after the landing of the ark1 the imprisoned remnant sent forth a dove4 ,when she found no place to light and rest1 the dove returned to the ship4 ,they waited a short while and then sent forth a swallow4 ,the swallow also returned1 wearied from a long flight1 and several more days were allowed to elapse4 ,the next attempt to discover the condition of the earth by the imprisoned remnant resulted in the sending forth of a raven4 ,the bird returned and approached the ark1 but refused to re-enter the ship4 ,the remnant knew then that the flood was ended4 ,they accordingly went forth with all the redeemed life1 and celebrated their preservation by offering up sacrifices to the gods upon the mountains4 ,the goddess ,ishtar was so pleased with the sacrifice of the godly remnant that she hung in the heavens a great bow1 which ,anu1 the father of the gods1 had made for the occasion4 ,she swore by the sacred ornaments that hung about her neck that mankind should not again be destroyed by a flood1 and this heavenly bow was the sign of that covenant4 ,the incidental details which are found in this hoary manuscript coincide too closely with the record of ,genesis to admit of coincidence4 ,archeology has brought no stronger testimony to the historicity of the ,mosaic record of the deluge than this great account in the ,gilgamesh epic1 although interspersed with mythological characters and deviating from the simplicity of the ,genesis account4 ,one of the most valuable publications of the ,british ,museum is their monograph on the ,gilgamesh legend1 which contains a fine and scholarly translation of the deluge tablet in an unabridged form4 ,our own copy of this publication has been of great value to many students who have sought its aid in their detailed studies of the ,old ,testament4 ,another one of the disputed portions of the ,old ,testament text which brought great comfort to the habitually hopeful among the destructive critics1 is that section of ,genesis which deals with the record of ,nimrod and the tower of ,babel4 ,modern archeology not only has failed to bring any aid to the critics in this particular incident1 but has robbed them of all their carefully erected structure of argument which was predicated upon the assumption that the tower of ,babel was entirely mythological4 ,among the recent excavations in ,mesopotamia was the work in the region which bore the oriental name of ,birs-nimroud4 ,when the excavators had finished their enormous task1 they had laid bare a magnificent ziggurat of tremendous antiquity which was the largest so far discovered4 ,at the time these ruins were first seen1 this enormous tower covered an area of #a1ddd1jjj square feet4 ,it towered to the height of a bit more than #gjj feet4 ,time has1 of course1 ravished this monument to some extent1 but enough of its grandeur and glory remains to show it forth as the most ancient as well as the most magnificent of the ,babylonian ziggurats4 ,according to the description given by ,herodotus1 in the middle of the fifth century1 ,b4 ,c41 the structure then consisted of a series of eight ascending towers1 each one recessed in the modern fashion of cutting-back that is used in certain types of sky-scraper architecture4 ,the famous ,step ,pyramid at ,sakkara is another ancient example of this type of structure1 each successive and higher tower being smaller than the one upon which it rests4 ,a spiral roadway1 according to ,herodotus1 went around the entire ziggurat1 mounting rapidly from level to level4 ,he states that at each level a resting place was provided in this spiral roadway4 ,at the top of the structure was a magnificent temple in which the religious exercises of the day were observed4 ,that this was the tower of ,nimrod is generally accepted by the authorities of our present day4 ,the name of ,nimrod which in the ,sumerian ideographs is read 8,ni-mir-rud0 is found on a number of artifacts and records of high antiquity1 and reference is made as well to the great monument that he built4 ,so as we read our way through the episodes which constitute the earlier records of ,genesis1 we also dig our way into the older strata of humanity and find ourselves walking hand in hand with the twins of revelation and scientific vindication6 ,they coincide in all their utterances1 teaching us that all that the ,word of ,god has to say to men may be accepted without question or doubt4 ,the late ,melvin ,grove ,kyle has written extensively of his own researches at ,sodom and ,gomorrah1 so that it is unnecessary to recapitulate the results of his lifetime of labor4 ,the sulphurous overburden and the startling confirmation of the ,book of ,genesis derived from the work of ,dr4 ,kyle and his associates would vindicate the ,scriptural claims to historical accuracy even if they stood by themselves4 ,in the general argument and discussion that long has clustered about the record of ,abraham1 the starting point of critical refutation has generally been the fourteenth chapter of ,genesis4 ,it is stated that the battle of the kings that occurred in this disputed portion of ,holy ,writ1 was in the days of ,amraphel1 king of ,shinar4 ,since a contemporary is named as ,ched-or-la-o-mer1 a storm of argument has swept over and about that one opening verse of this important chapter4 ,the allies of ,ched-or-la-o-mer are well known from his own records1 and ,amraphel was not to be found among them4 ,it was a tremendous blow to criticism when the discovery was made that ,amraphel is the ,hebrew name of the ,sumerian form1 ,khammurabi4 ,plate #c ,illustration3 ,colossi of ,karnak ,illustration3 ,colossi of ,luxor ,plate #d ,illustration3 ,colossi of ,amen-,hetep ,,iii guarding ,valley of the ,kings ,illustration3 ,at tomb of ,tutanhkamen1 in the ,valley of ,kings ,the brilliant ability of this mighty ruler is one of the high points of far antiquity4 ,the king-lists of antiquity1 derived from many sources1 were compiled by order of several of the kings of ,assyria and constitute another of the many valuable records to be found in the ,british ,museum4 ,a recent publication of the ,museum entitled 8,the ,annals of the ,kings of ,assyria0 is well worth many times the price of one pound sterling which is demanded for the volume4 ,this scholarly and brilliant piece of work contains the original ,assyrian text transliterated and translated with historical data that the careful scholar cannot be without4 ,it settles the question of ,khammurabi4 ,this ,khammurabi1 whom we shall now call by his ,hebrew name ,amraphel1 has left us a long series of tablets1 monuments1 letters1 and a code of laws which stands engraved upon a great monument preserved also in the ,british ,museum4 ,it is a long way back to that twentieth century before ,christ1 but neither time nor distance prevents our hearing the clamoring voices of men long dead1 who shout to us their vindication of the nature1 character1 and integrity of these testimonies which are the ,word of ,god6 ,it is a matter of common knowledge in our day that the word1 or name1 pharaoh1 may be applied either to a person or to an office4 ,exactly as our modern word 8president0 may be applied to the function of the office1 or to the possessor of it in person1 so the ruler of ,egypt could be known simply as ,the ,pharaoh1 or shorter still1 as ,pharaoh4 ,as every president1 emperor or king1 however1 has his own proper name1 so each pharaoh also is designated by his personal name4 ,fortunately for our purpose1 many pharaohs are mentioned in the pages of ,holy ,writ under the clear identification of their proper names4 ,many of them1 however1 are not identified by their personal name but are referred to only by the title of their kingly office4 ,thus1 for instance1 the pharaoh of the ,exodus is not named personally in the text4 ,such attempts at identification of this pharaoh as are made1 must be made from external sources4 ,however1 there can be no question of the identity of the rulers of ,egypt1 who are specifically named in the ,word of ,god4 ,such men as the ,pharaoh ,shishak1 the ,pharaoh ,zera and the ,pharaoh ,so1 are identified beyond any possibility of question4 ,it is a happy circumstance for the student of apologetics that each of the pharaohs who is so named in person by the writers of the ,bible1 has been discovered and identified in the records of archeology4 ,no more emphatic voice as to the credibility and the infallible nature of the historical sections of the ,scripture can be heard than that which is formed by the chorus of these pharaohs4 ,to note the background of this record1 may we remind the reader that in early times1 ,egypt was a divided kingdom4 ,it was known as ,upper ,egypt and ,lower ,egypt1 and a separate monarch reigned over each section4 ,it happens that in the period of the divided kingdom1 there were fourteen dynasties in each section of the land4 ,the ,egyptian1 like all ,eastern people1 highly prized ancestral antiquity4 ,the farther back into antiquity a man's family could be traced in his genealogy1 the more the honour that accrued to him4 ,we are not without modern counterparts1 even in our present democracy4 ,therefore1 when the two kingdoms were united1 the first kings of the united kingdom added together the fourteen dynasties of ,upper and ,lower ,egypt1 making them consecutive instead of contiguous4 ,thus they built a spurious antiquity of twenty-eight dynasties to enhance their greatness4 ,the earlier archeologists fell into this trap1 and consequently erected an antiquity phantom which obscured the problem of chronology for some considerable time4 ,when it was discovered that these dynasties were concurrent1 a great deal of the fallacious antiquity of ,egypt was abandoned4 ,this fictional antiquity1 which doubled the factor of time for that period1 had been used to discredit the text of the ,bible by the critical scholars1 so-called4 ,now1 in the light of our present learning1 we find no discrepancy between the antiquity of ,egypt1 properly understood1 and the chronology of the ,scripture1 when it is divorced from the errors of ,ussher4 ,incidentally1 the chronology and antiquity demands of both archeology and revelation coincide beautifully with the demands of sane anthropology4 ,to delineate this background so necessary to the proper understanding of the record of the pharaohs1 it is necessary to introduce the first occasion of the coincidence of the text of the ,scripture with the land and the people of ,egypt1 as it is here that the streams of revelation and history begin to converge4 ,this beginning is made1 of course1 in the flight of ,abraham into ,egypt at the time of a disastrous famine4 ,overlooking for the moment the reprehensible conduct of ,abraham concerning the denial of his wife ,sarah1 and the consequent embarrassment of the pharaoh1 we digress to make a brief survey of the incidents that lead up to the kindness of ,pharaoh to ,abraham4 ,there had been previous ,semitic invasions of ,egypt4 ,the first reason for these forays1 of course1 was famine4 ,due to the unfailing inundation by the river ,nile1 the fertile land of ,egypt was a natural storehouse4 ,the land of ,egypt is fertile1 the sun is benevolent1 and wherever water reaches the land1 amazingly prodigious crops are the inevitable result4 ,so in the ancient days1 whenever there was drought in the desert countries surrounding ,egypt1 the hungry hordes looked on the food supplies of their neighboring country1 and1 naturally1 moved in that direction4 ,thus the pressure of want was the primary reason for these early ,semitic invasions4 ,the secondary cause was conquest4 ,these people of antiquity were brutal pragmatists1 as are certain nations in our present ,twentieth ,century4 ,the theme song of antiquity undoubtedly was1 8,i came1 ,i saw1 ,i conquered40 ,the motive for living in those stern days seems to have been1 8,he takes who can1 and keeps who may40 ,the activating motive of much past history is simply spoils4 ,here now is a case in point4 ,a family of kings ruled in ,syria1 who counted their wealth by flocks and herds4 ,driven by a combination of circumstances1 they descended upon ,egypt4 ,they were pressed by the lack of forage in their own land1 due to the drought1 and they also lusted after the treasure and wealth of the neighboring country4 ,so1 without need for any other excuse1 they descended with their armed hordes and conquered ,egypt4 ,there they ruled1 established a dynasty and possessed the land for themselves4 ,since their principal possessions were their flocks and herds1 they were known as the ,shepherd ,kings4 ,they have come down in history as the ,hyksos ,dynasty4 ,they unified ,syria and ,egypt1 and it is intriguing to study the development of this unification as that process is seen in the pottery of that period4 ,the work of ,egyptian artisans began to take on certain characteristics of ,syrian culture until1 finally1 the characteristic ,egyptian line and decoration disappeared and the pottery became purely ,syrian4 ,the ,shepherd ,kings established commerce between the two halves of their empire and prosperity followed their conquest4 ,these kings imported artists from their native ,syria1 together with musicians and dancers innumerable4 ,this intrusion of a foreign culture so changed the standards of ,egypt that for generations the ideal of beauty was a ,syrian ideal4 ,later1 when the ,syrian kings were expelled by ,tahutmas the #bnd1 the situation was reversed and ,egypt1 now governed by an ,egyptian1 kept ,syria as her share of the spoils4 ,four hundred years later another ,semitic invasion swept over the land from ,ur4 ,it is quite probable that these conquerors were ,sumerians4 ,they established the sixteenth dynasty and brought with them also their treasure in the form of livestock4 ,thus1 when ,abraham entered ,egypt1 he found that it was ruled by his relatives6 ,thus we have an explanation of the cordial welcome that a ,sumerian from ,ur received from a pharaoh in ,egypt4 ,this contact is well established through the arts of that day1 by pottery1 by frescoes1 and by means of the records of ancient customs4 ,we know these things to be facts4 ,so when we read of the record of ,abraham1 we have at our disposal a vast and overwhelming source of evidence as to the credibility of this section of the record4 ,the statements that are made in ,genesis could have been written only by one who was intimately familiar with the ,egypt of that day and time4 ,the second contact of ,egypt and the ,genesis record is found in the experience of ,joseph4 ,although harsh and unkind1 the action of the brothers in selling the youngest into slavery was perfectly legal under the code of that day4 ,the younger brethren were all subject to the elders1 and the law of primogeniture gave to the elder almost unlimited power over the life of the younger4 ,the brutality and envy of this act are far from unparalleled in the secular records of that day4 ,nor was ,joseph's phenomenal rise to power unusual in the strange culture of that day and time4 ,we must remember that ,joseph was a ,semite at a ,semitic court4 ,there is an unconscious introduction of a collateral fact in the simple statement of ,genesis1 chapter thirty-nine1 verse one4 ,after being told that ,joseph was sold to a man named ,potiphar1 the statement is made that ,potiphar was an ,egyptian4 ,at first thought it would seem to be expected that a trusted officer in the court of a pharaoh would naturally be an ,egyptian4 ,the contrary is the case here1 however4 ,the pharaoh himself being an invader1 he had surrounded himself with trusted men of his own race and family4 ,as far as may now be ascertained1 ,potiphar was the only ,egyptian who had preserved his life and kept his place at the court4 ,he seems to have been the chief officer of the bodyguard of ,pharaoh1 and as such was entrusted with the dubious honor of executing the ,pharaoh's personal enemies4 ,this1 then1 is a simple and passing statement that gives us an unexpected means of checking the scrupulous accuracy of the ,genesis record4 ,joseph was comely1 attractive1 and faithful4 ,with an optimistic acceptance of his unfortunate circumstances1 which seem much harder to us in our enlightened generation than would actually be the case to one accustomed to such vicissitudes of fortune1 he set himself to serve with fidelity and industry4 ,but above all this1 the blessing of ,god rested upon him and upon all that he did4 ,since he was in the line of the promised ,seed1 and was under the direct blessing of that promise1 it was inevitable that he should prosper4 ,there is a flood of illumination that shines upon this period from the frescoed tombs1 the ancient papyri1 and the records crudely inscribed upon walls and pillars4 ,particularly is this true of the entire section of ,genesis that begins with the fortieth chapter and continues to the end of that ,book4 ,plate #e ,illustration3 open burial ,illustration3 open burial ,illustration3 open burial ,illustration3 ,open burial lower left ,illustration3 ,another mural from an ancient tomb3 butchers at work ,illustration3 ,the god ,hapi drawing the ,two ,kingdoms into one ,among the quaint frescoes of antiquity1 there is one that has no word of explanation4 ,there are many such murals in ,egyptian tombs1 and the cattle also figure often in the pictures on the papyri4 7,see ,plate #i47 ,this fresco1 however1 was quite unique4 ,across the scene there parade fourteen cattle4 ,the first seven are round1 fat and in fine condition4 ,they are followed by seven of the skinniest cows that ever ambled on four legs6 ,no word of explanation is needed to clarify this scene for those who are familiar with the history of that time4 ,there is another mural showing the chief baker of ,pharaoh1 followed by his servants and porters4 ,in his hand he holds a receipt for the one hundred thousand loaves that were daily delivered to the palace of ,pharaoh4 ,these 8loaves0 were in the nature of large buns4 ,the multiplicity of these paintings would require a volume to delineate carefully1 but there is information here that cannot be passed over in silence4 ,they bring to us the solution of one of those mysteries of ,egyptian history1 which is found in the collapse of the feudal system and the consequent complete possession of the land by the crown4 ,we can now read from the secular evidences thus derived1 that in a time of plenty a trusted lieutenant of the king built granaries to store the surplus left over from the time of plenty4 ,of course1 to our enlightened times or in the culture of this generation1 that is the height of ignorance4 ,the proper thing to do in a time plenty is to destroy the surplus and plow under the excess4 ,we sometimes wonder what would have happened in ,egypt if our modern culture had prevailed in the seven years of plenty1 in the light of the famine that followed6 ,we now find that when the whole land hungered1 the lords ceded their real estate to the crown for grain to keep themselves and their families alive4 ,the people sold themselves to ,pharaoh and became slaves1 on condition that he feed them as he would his cattle4 ,when this time of famine was ended1 ,egypt was so absolute a monarchy that ,pharaoh owned even the bodies of those who had been his subjects4 ,as an illuminating collateral incident1 we now learn that a ,sumerian name was given to ,joseph1 the trusted lieutenant4 ,to him was accorded the title 8,zaph-nath-pa-a-ne-ah40 ,the ,sumerian meaning is 8,master of hidden learning10 and was a title of honour and distinction which was conferred because of his wisdom and forethought in providing for the future4 ,to him also was accorded the royal honour4 ,he was to be preceded by a herald who called upon the people to bow down as ,joseph passed by4 ,herein there comes the explanation of a slight philological difficulty in the text of ,genesis4 ,they have tried to make this title of honour to mean 8,little ,father40 ,this difficulty1 however1 disappears when we understand that it is not a ,hebrew word that is found in the text1 but an ancient ,egyptian phrase4 ,the common form of the word is 8,ah-brak0 and literally it means 8bending the knee40 ,the ,babylonian form of the word is 8,abarakhu40 ,in some parts of the ancient world the term 8,ah-brak0 is still used by cameliers to make their beasts of burden kneel to receive their load4 ,thus when ,joseph1 the master of the hidden learning1 went abroad throughout the land the herald preceded him crying1 8,bend the knee10 and all the populace bowed in homage to him in acknowledgment of his distinguished accomplishments4 ,against this background of understanding1 we now turn our thoughts to one of the most stirring dramas in all human history4 ,again there was a famine in the entire land of ,sumeria1 and the people turned1 as was customary1 to the land of ,egypt for succor and relief4 ,had this epic been invented by some literary genius of antiquity1 the arrival of the brothers of ,joseph to buy grain for their starving clan would be deemed one of the most melodramatic episodes ever conceived by the human mind4 ,therein we see again how ,god overruled the evil deed of the brethren1 and by that very deed saved the guilty4 ,in a time of world oppression and bitter famine1 the family of ,abraham was reunited in the shelter of ,egypt4 ,as the story unfolds1 we see the significance of ,joseph's instructions to his brethren4 ,these ,semitic kings were shepherds who highly prized their flocks and herds4 ,the ,egyptians1 however1 despised husbandry1 and thus the monarchs were in great distress because of the want of capable herdsmen4 ,the brethren of ,joseph were distantly related to the reigning pharaoh4 ,they were of the same race of people1 and their father ,abraham had been a prince in that land of ,sumeria4 ,so when the pharaoh asked them what their occupation was1 recognizing them as distant relatives1 they were canny enough to reply1 8,we be shepherds2 to sojourn in the land are we come40 ,with great delight1 the pharaoh employed them to be the personal overseers of his treasured animals4 ,goshen1 which consisted of two hundred square miles of fertility1 and was the finest province and the juiciest plum in ,egypt1 was turned over to them for a pasture6 ,they entered into a life of comparative ease1 of absolute security1 and of importance in the court of their day4 ,so there came into ,egypt that group which was to constitute the spring that gave rise to the historic stream of the ,hebrew people4 ,the tribes were there in the persons of their founders1 and the long contact of ,israel and ,egypt began through the pressure and want occasioned by a time of famine4 ,one further interesting and collateral evidence of the accuracy of these records is found in the various texts and sections of the ,books of the ,dead1 and in the records of the customs and practices of the ancient art of embalming4 ,in ,egypt the general rule was to allow seventy days for the embalming of a dead body1 the burial1 and the mourning for the dead4 ,but the fiftieth chapter of ,genesis dealing with the death and burial of ,joseph tells us1 in the third verse1 8,and forty days were fulfilled for him2 for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed3 and the ,egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days40 ,these statements could be true only in the days of a ,hyksos or ,sumerian dynasty4 ,the manner of embalming introduced by these ,syrian conquerors1 required forty days for the complete process and the burial4 ,seventy days was their custom for mourning1 thus making a total of one hundred ten days4 ,only in these exact periods of ,egyptian history could this record of ,genesis be thus established and accredited4 ,it is a fascinating experience for the student of archeology to wend his way through the mass of evidence derived from these generations and now in the possession of the great museums of our earth4 ,a pilgrimage begun in the ,british ,museum1 at ,london1 continuing through the ,egyptian ,museum at ,cairo1 passing by way of ,sakkara to culminate at ,karnak1 will enable the fascinated student to read this entire book of ,genesis from the sources of antiquity4 ,thus in the very beginning of the convergence of the two streams1 ,revelation and ,history1 we see that dead men indeed tell tales2 and their stories vindicate the record of the ,word of ,god6 ,much of this evidence is1 in the very nature of the case1 inductive1 and is valuable largely because of the light it sheds on dark places in the text of the ,scripture4 ,the customs of the people of antiquity were in many ways so different from those of our day1 we have lost the comprehension of their conduct that is dependent upon mutual experience4 ,there are thus certain obscurities in the pages of the ,bible that have baffled modern man for a long time1 but which are now clearly understood in the light of fresh understanding of the beliefs and practices of the times that are dealt with in the ,scriptures4 ,this is by no means the least of the benefits of archeological investigation4 ,one such field will be found in the record of the exodus of the ,hebrews from ,egypt1 and the manner in which ,god shook the power of the conquering pharaoh and devastated ,egypt for the relief of the oppressed4 ,the entire record has been repudiated point by point by the various critics and the varying schools of criticism1 until their limited opinions leave no grounds for belief in the very fact of the event itself4 ,these objections1 when analyzed carefully1 are all predicated upon the personal ignorance of the individual critic concerning some phase of the proceedings that climaxed with the departure of ,israel from servitude4 ,one of the commonest objections to the credibility of the ,old ,testament history was the oft-repeated assertion that though the children of ,israel were in bondage for a long period in ,egypt and left that land in the most dramatic exodus antiquity had known1 there is no record from ,egyptian sources of the people or history of ,israel4 ,such is not now the case1 but had it been so this would not necessarily have diminished the value of the historical statements to be found in the record of the book of ,exodus4 ,very few of the races of antiquity recorded in detail their defeats6 ,certainly no nation that prided itself upon its greatness and power ever suffered a more complete overthrow than did ,egypt in the redemption of ,israel4 ,it is only natural to presume that they would make very little reference to the crushing blow that they suffered at that time4 ,there is even today a strong tendency on the part of the ,egyptians to hush up all evidence of this event as far as it is possible to do so4 ,in the great ,egyptian ,museum at ,cairo1 for instance1 we find a record of one of these texts that does refer to the ,israelites4 ,exhibit #eii in this aforesaid ,museum is a large stele in dark gray granite1 which is beautifully engraved on both sides4 ,on one side there is an extensive inscription in which ,amenophis the ,third gives a categorical list of his gifts and offerings for the temple of ,amon4 ,the other side of the stele has been appropriated by ,amenpthah4 ,he gives a highly dramatic account of his battles and victories over the ,libyans1 and then alludes to the assault of ,ascalon1 of ,gezer1 and of ,yanoem in ,palestine4 ,in the course of this later record1 the inscription reads1 8,israel is crushed4 ,it has no more seed40 ,in the ,egyptian ,museum this exhibit is accompanied by the following ingenious statement3 8,this is the sole mention of the ,israelites in the ,egyptian texts known up to the present day40 ,this is not exactly the truth4 ,the ,egyptian ,museum itself at ,cairo has a number of the tablets containing the correspondence between the ,egyptian court and the kings and governors who were vassals to ,egypt in ,palestine and ,syria4 ,these communications make urgent demands upon the crown of ,egypt for military help against the invasion of an armed horde who are called in the text1 ,hebiru4 ,the word 8,hebiru0 is commonly identified with the modern term ,hebrew4 ,again1 the late ,director ,general of the ,department of ,antiquity of ,egypt and the great founder of the ,cairo ,museum1 ,maspero1 has left us an interesting note of this monument of ,menepthah4 ,maspero points to the fact that in comparison to ,egypt1 ,chaldea and ,assyria1 ,israel was a very insignificant race4 ,if this was true when the nation was ruled by her greatest and most glorious dynasty1 that of ,david and ,solomon1 it would be more so when the nation consisted of a slave company lodged in a corner of the delta4 ,the later ravages undergone by the temples of ,egypt1 when they suffered incalculable harm through the vandalism of the darker ages1 makes it indeed extraordinary that any record of those earlier times has remained4 ,in the very nature of the case1 these details could not have been comprehended by the scholars of the past generation1 as they dealt with customs and ideas that were lost to our age4 ,the insatiable curiosity of the archeologist1 combined with the care with which the ,egyptians preserved their records1 can be credited with the recovery of this lost information1 the possession of which so wonderfully establishes our faith in this more enlightened age4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,the ,ten ,plagues ,the prosecutors of the old charge of 8folklore and mythology0 so constantly directed against the faith of those who hold to the credibility of our present ,scripture text1 found some of their keenest shafts in the ,biblical account of the exodus from ,egypt4 ,scrutinizing the record of that notable event under the microscope of prejudice1 the critics claimed to have found many outstanding weaknesses in the text4 ,particularly was this so in that section of the story which dealt with the plagues with which ,almighty ,god smote the land and broke down the resistance of ,pharaoh4 ,there is1 therefore1 a manifestation of a sardonic humor in the present situation4 ,after denying for generations that these plagues ever occurred1 the critics now seek to rob the account of any value by their new technique of acquiescence4 ,the really modern method of discrediting the ,scripture is to admit that there is some truth in the record and then subtly twist the meaning of the text out of all harmony with the general plan of revelation4 ,as a noteworthy example of this modern technique of criticism1 we submit a leading article which appeared in the ,london ,express of ,sunday1 ,september #f1 #aicf4 ,professing to accept the historical record of the ten plagues1 the writer of this article then craftily proceeds to offer a peculiarly human and mechanistic theory to account for the disaster4 ,in reading this news item1 we are at once struck by the fact that every element of a supernatural nature is deleted from the strange series of events1 and the credit for the entire victory of ,israel is ascribed to the human genius of the man ,moses4 ,this news item appeared in the following form3 ,,the ,,plagues ,,of ,,egypt ,,show ,,that ,,moses ,,anticipated ,,by #c1jjj ,,years ,,the ,,greatest ,,fear ,,of ,,modern ,,science ,science has been inquiring into one of the greatest catastrophes that befell a nation--the ten plagues of ,egypt4 ,they have found that modern theories are in accord with the ,bible story4 ,the plagues were brought upon the ,egyptians by ,moses in the days of ,israel's captivity4 ,dr4 ,charles ,j4 ,brim1 a ,new ,york authority on public health1 says that ,moses must have anticipated by #c1jjj years modern science's greatest fear--the use of disease germs1 water pollution and other attacks on sanitation as war weapons--in short1 bacteriological warfare4 ,moses1 states ,dr4 ,brim1 in addition to being the founder of the science of hygiene1 showed that germ warfare could annihilate man and beast more effectively than arms and man power4 ,with it he bent the mighty ,egyptians to his will and thus brought about the ,exodus1 the release of the ,israelites from ,egyptian slavery4 ,with it he so undermined their man power and morale that it became impossible for them to face the hardships of war4 ,the ten plagues1 in their order1 were3 ,changing the water into blood2 ,the frogs2 ,the lice2 ,the flies2 ,the murrain of cattle2 ,the boils on the ,egyptians2 ,hail2 ,the locusts2 ,the darkness2 ,the death of the first-born4 8,the first step in this carefully planned attack10 says ,dr4 ,brim in a newly published book1 8,medicine in the ,bible10 8was the pollution of ,egypt's water supply40 ,this had two results3 ,first1 it attacked the god of ,egypt--the ,nile2 secondly1 it sapped the very fountain of the country4 ,egyptian legend said that the ,nile sprang from the blood of the god ,osiris4 ,hence1 8the waters of the ,nile were turned into blood40 ,egypt depended on the ,nile for its drinking water1 on its yearly inundations for the irrigation of the fields4 ,a polluted ,nile was a smashing blow at the water supply and at the crops and cattle4 ,nobody could wash or drink4 ,the fish--one of the staple foods--died4 ,frogs were forced to leave their natural haunts in the river banks and invaded the streets1 fields and houses in their millions4 ,swarms of frogs1 with no water or food1 died and rotted over the countryside4 ,cartloads were burned1 but not before the germs of pollution had time to multiply4 ,the air became filled with the disease germs bred in this ideal forcing-ground4 ,people and animals became infected4 ,flies descended in swarms greater than people had ever seen1 bringing more germs with them4 ,cattle died in their thousands4 ,dust1 in a naturally dusty country1 became infected1 spreading more disease and death4 ,nature took a turn4 ,a terrific hailstorm shrieked over ,egypt4 ,the few crops that were left standing were flattened and destroyed4 ,animals were killed by the force of the hailstones4 ,next came the locusts1 dropping in their millions on the fields1 eating everything the hail had left4 ,when they passed1 a dust storm1 caused probably by the hot1 electrical wind known as the hamsin1 blew up and darkened the sky for days on end1 as sandstorms still do in that part of the world4 ,the tenth and last plague1 the death of the first-born1 was a natural consequence of all that had happened since the day the water became polluted4 ,the ,bible does not say explicitly that only the first-born died in this plague4 ,what it does say is3 ,and it came to pass that at midnight the ,lord smote all the first-born in the land of ,egypt1 from the first-born of ,pharaoh that sat on his throne to the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon4 ,the epidemic killed many others1 but in the death of the first-born lay the greatest calamity1 for the first-born son was chief in every ,egyptian household4 ,dr4 ,brim does not explain how the first plague was brought about1 but if ,moses did pollute the ,nile it must have been done when the water was low4 ,it is certain that ,moses was a medical genius1 as his laws of health prove1 and knew the certain effects of water pollution4 ,neither does the doctor explain how ,moses foresaw the hail1 but it is possible he could judge atmospheric conditions with precision4--,v4 ,b4 ,it is perhaps an inaccuracy to talk about 8modern0 attempts to thwart and deny the ,word of ,god6 ,there is nothing modern about this entire propaganda1 popular as it may be in our own day4 ,the error is ancient1 as is the attitude of mind that would set aside the element of the supernatural in ,holy ,writ1 and oppose the time-honored revelation of ,god's will by the modern self-satisfaction with human learning4 ,indeed1 this common and basic sin of our generation is so far from being modern1 that the very first recorded case of denial of ,god's ,word comes from the ,garden of ,eden1 man's first and original home4 ,even before sin had reared its ugly head1 to shatter the sweet communion and spoil the fair harmony that was the basis of man's fellowship with his ,creator1 this error appeared4 ,it was ,satan who1 encroaching upon the beauty of ,eden's fair content1 first said1 8,hath ,god said80 ,the denial of the truth of ,god's spoken word originated with the enemy of man3 and it would behoove us all to remember that any man who has questioned ,his written word from that hour to this1 is also an enemy1 and an emissary of the original foe of mankind6 ,do we owe ,satan so great a debt of gratitude for the deep and dark pit of woe into which he has lured our race1 that we must lend slavish attention to the same old error when he sponsors it today8 ,for this 8modern0 attempt to discredit the ,scripture is but a recrudescence of his ancient and simple strategy for the hurt of mankind4 ,well does he know that if he can but shake the faith of our generation in the integrity of the ,bible1 faith in ,god must soon be lost as well4 ,once more pedantic scoffers1 professors of this and of that1 arise solemnly to refute the truth of the only 8map0 that can ever guide men back to the ,paradise we lost when the first man rejected ,god's revelation4 ,it is interesting to see that this old error is in no new guise1 in the article referred to above4 ,this is nothing new1 it is just an original approach to the same old mess of ,satanic whispering4 ,indeed1 ,paul warned us of the possibility of this very article and method in ,,ii ,timothy #c3h1 when he said3 ,now as ,jannes and ,jambres withstood ,moses1 so do these also resist the truth3 men of corrupt minds1 reprobate concerning the faith4 ,he introduces the very age of ,egyptian history1 and the events connected with the ,exodus in speaking thus of the false teachers of the apostate days that should precede the time of our ,lord's return4 ,and lo6 the event transpires in this year of grace1 as the press of the twentieth century casts doubt upon the ,ten ,plagues in this subtle manner4 ,it is subtle4 ,also dishonest to the nth degree4 ,professing to accept the historicity of the events1 the article then proceeds to demolish the credibility of the record1 by ascribing all the plagues to natural forces1 directed by the genius of a human being1 namely1 ,moses4 ,god is ruled out1 the supernatural denied1 and common sense prostituted to infidelity in a manner that the shallowest thinker could not countenance4 ,for a man of medicine1 or a scholar in any realm of science1 to foster such a contemptible evasion of plain fact1 passes understanding4 ,a few years ago it was customary for criticism to deny that these plagues ever happened4 ,classifying them among the reputed folklore of the ,hebrews1 and relegating them to the realm of the purely mythological1 the critic calmly and boldly denied that they ever occurred at all4 ,but these past years of research and study have so established the historicity of the record1 that this procedure is no longer possible2 so the new attack is made1 on the basis of naturalism4 ,it is plainly stated that ,moses himself brought about these plagues upon the ,egyptians1 and that he did so by the use of his own superior knowledge4 ,in a word1 he was a bacteriologist1 three and a half thousand years before ,pasteur6 ,that in itself is a greater miracle than the plagues could ever have been6 ,no microscope1 no instruments of research1 yet he not only anticipated the discoveries of ,lister and ,pasteur1 but he also applied germ warfare to the redemption of ,israel1 and 8bent the ,egyptians to his will40 ,more marvelous than all this1 he did it by simply polluting the ,nile ,river1 the source of the life of ,egypt4 ,this of course was a simple task6 ,the ,nile is a mighty river4 ,if we follow its course just from the ,first ,cataract at ,assuan to the mouth1 it is over five hundred miles as the river twists and bends round and about4 ,now all ,moses had to do was to impregnate those five hundred miles of winding river with some deadly form of disease germs1 that would affect the ,egyptians but not the ,israelites6 ,any nice germ would do6 ,of course1 he had also to keep those five hundred miles of flowing stream polluted1 in spite of the rushing current that swept fresh water down day by day6 ,let us not forget1 that he did all this while ,pharaoh was looking on3 and that for seven days the condition continued1 then to end as suddenly as it had begun4 ,we should like to know something of his technique6 ,then1 after the river had cleared its waters1 ,moses boldly announced that the ,lord would overrun the land with frogs6 ,this was done1 not as a result of a polluted river1 but rather after the river was clear4 ,pollution with disease germs might have driven the frogs out of the river3 but how did ,moses get them to go back1 as ,pharaoh entreated him to do8 ,most conveniently1 the author of the above cited article does not mention how the lice were spread over the land by ,moses6 ,did he personally catch them and spread them all around1 or had he been breeding and storing them for years in advance8 ,the flies may have increased in the rotting piles of frogs1 but what kept this pest of flies out of the small section of ,egypt called the ,land of ,goshen1 where the children of ,israel were8 ,given the conditions that caused the flies to breed1 why did they refrain from the particular portion of the land where ,moses and his people were camping8 ,so also for the murrain on the cattle1 and the boils on the ,egyptians4 ,none of ,israel were affected by these disasters4 ,did ,moses have some kind of salve or prophylactic serum that he used1 he being the great medical genius that this article makes him to be8 ,even that will not account for the fact that when the hail came1 it1 also1 avoided the camp of ,moses and his three and a half million compatriots6 ,but even a great medical genius and an accomplished meteorologist could not have foreseen the coming of the locusts that darkened the sky and the land as well4 ,nor could this great medical genius1 even had he also been an able entomologist1 have seen to it that the locusts ate only ,egyptian vegetation1 as ,goshen greenery would have been just as acceptable to hungry locusts6 ,and who ever saw any other kind8 ,passing over the supernatural darkness with the simple observation that it was not an ordinary phenomenon such as a sandstorm 7which left the houses of the ,israelites unaffected71 we will hasten to the conclusion of the matter1 the death of the first-born4 ,the article we are quoting makes a terribly strained attempt to prove that others died as well as the first-born1 but the text of the ,scripture does not so state or imply4 ,indeed1 the text very clearly sets forth the fact that it was only the first-born who died4 ,they died dramatically2 all at the same hour4 ,at midnight1 simultaneously1 death smote a certain restricted class4 ,the prince in the palace1 and the felon in the dungeon2 the cattle as well4 ,but the first-born of ,israel did not die6 ,they were all under the blood6 ,quaint epidemic1 was it not8 ,it came as a result of disease germs in the river ,nile1 it killed all its victims out of just one class1 the first-born1 and it passed over any home that had lamb's blood on the door posts6 ,is it necessary for a man to believe such arrant nonsense1 and accept such utterances of folly before he can qualify as an educated man1 or a scientist8 ,most fortunately1 it is not6 ,to show the truth of this matter1 we can indeed study these ten plagues in the light of modern science4 ,not by the flickering rays of the lamp of human speculation can understanding be achieved4 ,only in the full illumination of the sunshine of historical fact can the truth be discerned4 ,so1 we will turn to the great and truly modern science of archeology to study the ,ten ,plagues of ,egypt1 and see what the truth of the matter really is4 ,in the first place1 thanks to the vast amount of research in the archeology of ,egypt1 we now know that these ten plagues were a contest between the ,lord ,god of the ,israelites1 and the pantheon of ,egypt4 ,the genesis of the contest is given in ,exodus #c3ah4 ,here ,moses is instructed by ,god to ask ,pharaoh for a three-day furlough for the entire company of the ,twelve ,tribes1 that they might go three days' journey into the wilderness1 and sacrifice to ,jehovah4 ,this initial request was to be the first step in a campaign that would result in the redemption of ,israel from their long bondage1 and the apparently reasonable request was made with the certainty that it would be refused4 ,indeed1 the request was such that ,pharaoh could not grant it6 ,as we shall later see1 the ,egyptians were the most polytheistic nation that ever lived4 ,in their pantheon of deities there were more than twenty-two hundred gods and goddesses1 and each of them had a particular theophany4 ,that is to say1 these gods and goddesses had certain animals that were sacred to them1 and in which animal form the particular god or goddess occasionally manifested a personal presence4 ,so very often the deities of ,egypt are depicted in stone and painting as having a human body1 but an animal head4 ,thus ,thoth might be seen with the head of an ibis1 while ,hathor sometimes has a human head1 but more often she is portrayed with the head of a cow4 ,so there was no animal that the ,hebrews could sacrifice to their ,god1 ,jehovah1 that would not be sacred to some ,egyptian deity4 ,this sacrifice would constitute blasphemy in the eyes of the ,egyptian masters1 and trouble would eventuate immediately6 ,indeed1 when ,pharaoh1 worn out by the troubles brought upon him by the plagues1 suggested to ,moses that the people sacrifice to ,jehovah without going to the wilderness1 ,moses simply replied in the language that is recorded in ,exodus #h3bf3 8,what shall we sacrifice1 that will not be an abomination in the eyes of the ,egyptians8 ,will they not stone the people if they sacrifice in the land80 ,the justice of the reply was so self-apparent that the ruler did not press his suggestion1 as the text shows4 ,thus ,god forced the issue and provoked the conflict that not only freed ,his people from slavery and eventually established them in the land that ,he had promised them through ,abraham1 but also showed ,his supremacy over the gods of ,egypt4 ,even more than that1 in the resultant series of events1 the ,lord ,god brought such glory to ,his own ,name1 and showed such omnipotence that the world has never forgotten this drama1 even to our own day and time4 ,witness the very article that is the subject of this present comment6 ,the clear statement of ,god's attitude toward the conflict is seen in ,exodus #d3bc1 #bd4 ,the figure of speech used there is a divine choice1 therefore we use it just as ,god ,himself expressed ,his own mind to ,moses4 ,the 8first-born0 was the chief object of interest in every ,egyptian household1 for two reasons4 ,the law of primogeniture ruled in that day and land1 even as it does in ,england and other countries today4 ,also1 the first-born of every species1 animal or human1 was dedicated to the gods1 and was a sacred object1 in a very strong sense of that word4 ,so later1 we hear the law of ,israel as set forth by ,god1 that the first-born of man or beast in the land is to be sacred to ,jehovah3 not to the gods of ,egypt4 ,now then1 as ,moses was sent to ,pharaoh1 to carry the demands of ,god for the release of the people1 he was instructed to tell the ruler that ,israel was1 in ,god's sight1 as prized and beloved a group as the 8first-born0 was in an ,egyptian household4 ,in a figure of speech that ,egypt as a whole could most clearly grasp1 ,god said3 8,israel is ,my son1 ,my first-born3 ,and ,i have said unto thee1 ,let my son go that he may serve me2 and thou hast refused to let him go2 behold1 ,i will slay thy son1 thy first-born40 ,with this introduction1 we can see clearly the genesis of the conflict4 ,it is most clearly stated in ,exodus #e3a-c4 ,when ,moses said to ,pharaoh1 8,thus saith ,jehovah1 the ,god of ,israel1 ,let my people go1 that they may hold a feast unto ,me in the wilderness30 the ruler of the land said1 in just so many words1 8,who is ,jehovah8 ,i never heard of him60 ,not only did the mighty king reject the word and the commands of ,god1 but he also denied ,him in no uncertain terms4 ,this upstart ,jehovah1 who was ,he to give orders to ,pharaoh the mighty8 ,he was the god of an humbled and captive people1 therefore the king reasoned that his own gods must be far mightier6 ,so the proud and haughty monarch said1 8,i'll stick by the gods of ,egypt2 ,i know not this ,jehovah1 and ,i will not obey ,his words40 ,moses left with the clearly expressed warning that the king might not then know ,jehovah1 but that he was certainly destined to find out about ,him6 ,the call to arms1 the challenge to combat1 and the prophecy of ,god's victory are all expressed in the single verse in ,exodus the seventh chapter1 where ,god tells ,moses that 8the ,egyptians shall know that ,i am ,jehovah1 when ,i stretch out my hand upon ,egypt44440 ,this1 then1 was the primary reason for the ten plagues4 ,god would teach the ,egyptians a lesson through judgments that the land would never forget6 ,when he finished with them1 none were ever again able to say1 8,and who is this ,jehovah8 ,the gods of ,egypt are stronger40 ,thus we see that the contest was primarily between the monotheism of ,israel and polytheism of ,egypt4 ,we would emphasize the fact that the ,egyptians were perhaps the most polytheistic race the world has so far known4 ,it is impossible to say just how many deities existed to the ,egyptian mind1 but 8their name was legion06 ,two hundred separate deities are named in the ,pyramid ,text1 and four hundred and eighty more are named in the ,theban ,recension of the ,book of the ,dead4 ,altogether1 archeologists have recovered the names of over two thousand two hundred different gods and goddesses that were worshipped by the ,egyptians6 ,is it any wonder that ,jehovah must start ,his laws to ,his people with the commandment3 8,thou shalt have no other gods before me608 ,a word about these objects of ,egyptian worship will be necessary to clear up the necessary later references to the practices and the beliefs of the ,egyptians4 ,while these ancient folks never had the idea of an immanent1 pervasive ,god1 in the monotheistic sense1 they still had a dim conception of a super-god principle1 behind and over the various individual gods and goddesses4 ,there was first of all the grouping of gods into triads1 which was a widely accepted custom4 ,since each triad consisted of a god1 a wife1 and a son1 this grouping is less a degeneration of the principle of the ,trinity than might seem to be suggested at first thought4 ,rather1 it was a glorification of the family principle4 ,thus we see that at ,thebes1 the principal triad of deities consists of ,amon-,ra1 the king of all the gods1 ,mut1 his ,wife1 and ,khons1 their son4 ,ba-neb-,ded1 with his wife ,het-mehit1 and their son ,harpakhrad 7whom the ,greeks later called ,harpokrates7 constituted the triad at ,mendes4 ,in like manner1 the ,memphis triad was composed of ,ptah1 ,sekhmet1 and ,imhotep4 ,sometimes the greater gods were grouped into a company of nine1 called the ,ennead4 ,there was also the grouping of the major deities into the 8,three ,companies10 being the gods of the heaven1 the earth1 and the ,other or ,under ,world4 ,all the gods had human bodies1 but some of them had animal heads4 ,sometimes a god who customarily had a human head would appear wearing the animal head of his theophany1 as in the case of ,hathor1 cited above4 ,thus when ,hathor appears with a cow's head upon a human body1 she appears with the solar disk between her horns2 and when she appears with the human head1 she wears as a headdress the bonnet of the goddess ,mut1 the wife of ,amon-,ra1 the horns of the cow1 the solar disk which shows her relationship to ,horus1 and the feather of the goddess ,maat4 ,we have previously asserted that each plague was a direct blow at one of these celestial beings1 and it might be profitable to demonstrate this fact with a few concrete illustrations4 ,illustration3 ,hapi ,the ,first ,plague was a direct and definite blow at a numerous company of these objects of worship4 ,in the first place1 the ,river ,nile was itself an object of worship4 ,it was reputed to flow from the celestial stream called ,nu1 and was heavenly in its origin4 ,it brought life to the entire land of ,egypt1 and was worshipped with appropriate and very exact ritual4 ,there were hymns to the ,nile1 prayers and offerings to and for the ,nile1 and the river possessed in itself a very real personality4 ,the ,river is pictured in the form of a man wearing a cluster of water plants upon his head1 and the idea of fertility is conveyed by giving him the heavy pendant breasts of a nursing mother6 ,in the ,british ,museum may be seen a remarkable papyrus1 containing the ,hymn to the ,nile4 ,to show the reverence felt for the power of the great ,river1 we quote just a sentence or two from this ,hymn3 444 ,thou art the ,lord of the poor and needy4 ,if thou wert overthrown in the heavens1 the gods would fall upon their faces1 and men would perish4444 ,this deified river1 then1 the source of life and blessing in ,egypt1 was smitten by ,god1 and its waters turned to blood4 ,frantically the ,egyptians sought to dig shallow wells by the banks of the stream1 as their water supply failed them for the first time in the memory of man6 ,truly1 ,jehovah was greater than the ,nile6 ,and not only greater than the ,river itself1 there was more than this involved4 ,there were many issues involved1 and many deities suffered 8loss of face0 that day6 ,illustration3 ,osiris ,there was the mighty ,osiris1 who was himself the cause and source of the resurrection and of everlasting life4 ,greatest of all the gods of the underworld1 he has an important part in the text of the ,book of the ,dead4 ,the ,nile was supposed to be his bloodstream6 ,when ,god smote the ,nile1 he laid the mighty ,osiris low in the dust6 ,with him fell ,hapi--who was the ,nile-god1 and also ,satet1 the wife of ,khnemu1 the goddess of the annual inundation4 ,her divine sister1 ,anqet1 bit the dust that day1 as she was the personification of the ,nile waters1 which turned into an offense and a stench when ,moses stretched out his staff4 ,time will not permit the presentation of the characters of ,isis-,sothis1 ,isis-,hathor1 ,ament1 ,menat1 ,renpit and at least two score more1 all of whom met defeat in the ,first ,plague4 ,none of them could sustain their prestige and power in the face of the action of ,jehovah1 and ,he emerged victorious in the first trial of strength4 ,illustration3 ,khnum ,the ,second ,plague was likewise a contest between the ,lord of the heavens and the earth1 and certain specific ideas of the ,egyptian system of worship4 ,the plague of frogs that covered the land1 making life a burden to the people1 was a blow struck at ,heqt1 the wife of the great ,khnum1 whose theophany was a frog4 ,indeed1 she was called the 8frog-goddess10 and this lowly creature was sacred to her4 ,the frog was the symbol of the resurrection1 and the emblem of fertility4 ,it was reverenced by the people1 and to have one around the dwelling place was a sign of good fortune and was supposed to ensure a fertile year for farm and family alike4 ,they got enough of this quaint object of reverence when ,god flooded their land with myriads of the beastly things6 ,they were in the bread-trough1 and got tangled up in the dough1 thus adding a rather quaint flavor to the bread6 ,the bread could not be baked1 however1 as the baking ovens crawled with frogs1 and the fires could not be lighted4 ,they hopped all over the master of the house1 and when he sought his bed in disgust they were there before him4 ,like a blanket of filth the slimy1 wet monstrosities covered the land1 until men sickened at the continued squashing crunch of the ghastly pavement they were forced to walk upon4 ,if a man's feet slipped on the greasy mass of their crushed bodies1 he fell into an indescribably offensive mass of putrid uncleanness1 and when he sought water to cleanse himself1 the water was so solid with frogs1 he got no cleansing there4 ,in sheer desperation the mighty king was forced to beg1 8,call off your frogs1 and ,i will let the people go60 ,read ,exodus #h3a-ae4 ,and with that cry1 the prestige of ,heqt and ,khnum was gone forever1 drowned out in the tidal wave of disgust that rolled up in protest at too much of her theophany6 ,it is a bit difficult to imagine that generation of ,egyptians ever worshipping the ,frog again4 ,plagues ,three and ,four are a bit more difficult to deal with at the present writing1 because of the personal ignorance of the writer4 ,by that he means to say that more light is required here as he does not know definitely the exact god that was meant to suffer in the estimation of the people1 with the plague of lice4 ,there can be no question1 however1 that the people themselves were hard hit1 as any veteran of the ,a4 ,e4 ,f4 will be only too glad to testify6 ,this unclean parasite must have been a source of misery that was well-nigh insuperable1 when it became as numerous as the very dust of the ground6 ,it must have made the ,egyptians somewhat envious to see the ,israelites basking in peace and bodily comfort1 while they1 the lords of the land1 itched and scratched and suffered the misery of this vicious pest6 ,how much better to trust the ,god ,jehovah who demonstrated ,his ability to keep ,his followers free from even such a plague as this4 ,as for the flies1 there is this suggestion1 at least3 one of them was sacred to the name of ,uatchit4 ,what variety of fly is intended in the text we cannot definitely say1 as there are numerous species of flies4 ,but the ichneumon fly is a symbol of this god1 and their figures in tiny statues and on papyri are well known to the modern archeologist4 ,they are a brilliant and beautiful insect1 somewhat prized by the entomologists of our day as specimens1 but they can be a pest when they come in too numerous companies6 ,some years ago we were encamped in ,mexico1 with a company who were digging for archeological treasure4 ,the site was pleasant1 the camp was near a clear1 meandering stream1 and the shade trees were enjoyable4 ,there was just 8one fly in the ointment0 and that fly was the ichneumon4 ,every time food was placed upon the camp table1 this gorgeous insect responded with enthusiasm and delight4 ,they came in regiments and companies1 bringing all their relatives and friends with them6 ,so we could say from experience1 that anyone who had to fight with a swarm of ichneumon flies for his own share of the lunch1 would soon come to revile the god to whom this symbol was sacred6 ,not only ,jehovah1 but any god would seem preferable to ,uatchit after an invasion of his particular pets4 ,or should we turn this last word around and make it pest1 instead8 ,illustration3 ,hathor ,when we come to the ,fifth ,plague1 we are again on solid and assured territory4 ,once more firm archeological ground supports the theme of this chapter4 ,when ,god smote the cattle of ,egypt1 ,he dealt most definitely and drastically with ,egyptian polytheism4 ,there were many of the supreme objects of ,egyptian worship that met their ,waterloo in the murrain on the cattle4 ,chief of these is the mighty and venerated ,hathor4 ,she was the 8cow-goddess0 that was universally worshipped in all the land1 and was to the human race of that day the 8mother0 principle of deity4 ,her most common name in the ,egyptian language is ,het-,hert1 which literally means 8the ,house of ,horus40 ,the ,house of ,horus is that portion of the sky where ,horus lives and is daily born1 namely1 the east4 ,hathor is depicted in antiquity in many forms4 ,always she appears with a human body1 and may sometimes have a human head as well4 ,but more often she has a cow's head on a human body1 as the cow was her symbol4 ,she often walked the land in the theophany of a cow1 and one could tell when a calf was born1 whether ,hathor had come to earth1 or not4 ,when this great goddess is pictured with a human head1 she wears an impressive headdress4 ,this is composed of the spreading horns of a cow1 between which are seen the bonnet of ,mut1 the divine wife of ,amon-,ra1 the king of the gods4 ,above this is seen the solar disk1 as ,hathor was of 8,the ,great ,company0 and was associated with all the beneficence of the glorious and life-giving sun4 ,the ,book of the ,dead teaches that ,hathor provides nourishment for the soul in the other-world1 and as such a provider she excels all the minor gods4 ,so in all the forms in which she is carved or drawn1 she wears the sacred uraeus1 to show her exalted power4 ,when ,god smote the cattle1 her especial symbol1 ,he struck a mighty blow at the tottering system for which ,pharaoh had confidently expressed his preference4 ,the other forays were but skirmishes3 this was a real and decisive battle6 ,this shrewd and telling victory was the beginning of the end of the conflict4 ,if the divine ,hathor could not protect her faithful following from the power of ,jehovah1 who could8 ,for not only ,hathor was thus challenged and defeated1 but other important members of the ,heavenly ,company met defeat and disgrace in the plague that smote the cattle4 ,a common object in the ,egypt of that day was the sacred bull1 ,apis1 whose power was vast indeed4 ,his temples dotted the land1 and the priests of his cult were many and their power was impressive in the extreme4 ,on the forehead of ,apis appears the sacred triangle of eternity1 and on his back is always seen the sacred scarab1 with spread wings4 ,apis was the theophany of the god whose name was ,ptah-,seker-,asar1 and he also was one of the triune resurrection gods4 ,the living worshipped him that they might live again in the world to come1 and the dead1 of course1 all worshipped him because he had made them to live again4 ,now1 alas1 for those who trusted in him against ,jehovah6 ,he could not even defend his own earth-form from the blight that his new enemy1 ,jehovah1 had sent on all that represented the great and powerful ,ptah-,seker-,asar4 ,thus ,god humbled the sacred ,apis in the same stroke that crushed the cult of ,hathor4 ,to this record must also be added the name of ,nut1 the goddess of the sky1 and the wife of ,geb4 ,she it was who produced the egg out of which the sun hatched1 so in reality she preceded ,horus and even ,amon-,ra1 even though they ascended to a higher power and authority later4 ,she is depicted with a female human body1 and the head of a cow4 ,however1 she does not wear the solar disk1 nor the headdress of ,hathor1 as she was a little lower in the social company of the weird organization of nonsense and mysticism that was the religion of ,egypt4 ,the simple summary of the whole record is just this3 all the gods of ,egypt were not able to defend the cattle1 when the ,lord ,god ,jehovah stretched out ,his hand to smite them6 ,this the people of ,egypt were forced to concede1 as their cattle died by the thousand before their bewildered eyes1 while not one of the herds of ,israel lost so much as one head of cattle by the murrain4 ,illustration3 ,reshpu ,the ,sixth and ,seventh ,plagues are simple to deal with1 as the record of ,egypt gives valuable aid to the unprejudiced student here4 ,imhotep was the god of medicine1 and the guardian of all the healing sciences4 ,prayers were made to him for protection as well as for cures1 and he was greatly revered4 ,in like manner1 ,reshpu and ,qetesh were the gods of storm and of battle1 and they controlled all the natural elements except the light4 ,so the noisome and painful boils struck the devotees of ,imhotep and left him powerless to aid his praying following1 and their plight was pitiful indeed4 ,how little it helped to see that the followers of the god ,jehovah1 at whom ,pharaoh had sneered with ridicule1 were comfortable1 and with unblemished skins6 ,no suppurating sores advertised the pain of the ,hebrews2 the good hand of their ,god was upon them1 to protect them from the very disaster that came upon all the ,egyptians for ,israel's sake6 ,the medical man of the twentieth century1 whose article we are now considering1 attributes all this painful consequence to the bacteriological pollution of the ,nile1 which was accomplished by the skill and wisdom of ,moses4 ,the present writer of this refutation is not utterly ignorant of the science of bacteriology1 but he humbly confesses that he does not know of any pathogenic micro-organism that would bite everybody except a ,hebrew6 ,we would like to know the name and the nature of such a bacterium or bacillus6 ,the ,hebrews were exposed to the same flies1 the same germs1 the same stench of the dead frogs1 the same epidemic that was consequent upon this chain of events1 unless ,moses vaccinated or inoculated them all1 some three and a half millions in number4 ,truly the natural explanations of the supernatural cause reason to totter on her throne6 ,illustration3 ,sebek ,but if ,god was at war with ,imhotep1 ,reshpu and the gods of healing1 and desired to scatter their following and to open their eyes to the folly of idol worship1 we can see how ,he might protect ,his own1 while smiting the followers of the false religion4 ,in that case also1 ,moses would not need to be the only man in antiquity who could call up a devastating hail storm at the dictate of his own will4 ,moses could leave it to ,god to shame ,reshpu and the other gods of the elements in the eyes of their devotees4 ,the ,eighth ,plague1 that of the locusts1 is the easiest of all to comprehend4 ,this was a direct blow at the ,egyptian conception of ,providence1 and a sweeping victory over all that was holy in the eyes of this idolatrous people4 ,these ancient people ascribed the fertility of their fields and the abundance of the harvests to certain specific deities4 ,the modern scholar establishes this fact by studying the hymns of praise and the votive records of the ,egyptians4 ,but after the hail had hammered their lovely ripening crops flat on the ground1 and even while they mourned their loss1 swarms of locusts descended like a cloud1 and swept the land as clean of vegetation as a forest fire could have done4 ,to see ,god's purpose in this act1 we need only consider the prophecy of ,joel4 ,with a fidelity to detail that arouses the admiration of the modern entomologist1 this prophet of ,israel portrays the devastation of the land by a swarm of locusts1 as a judgment from ,god upon ,his own people4 ,when famine and want stare men in the face1 and they are beyond the hope of other aid1 then they turn back to ,god in sorrow and in repentance4 ,for where can men turn except to ,god1 when the land lies barren and devastated1 and famine stalks the earth8 ,thus in ,egypt1 when ,god would teach an unforgettable lesson to the proud and haughty king whose impertinent comment had been1 8,who is this ,jehovah801 ,he punctuated ,his answer to ,pharaoh's question with a swarm of locusts4 ,it is reasonable to conclude that long after the starving ,egyptians had forgotten the pangs of hunger that came inevitably on the heels of that visitation of consuming insects1 the lesson of that visitation remained4 ,all these disasters1 following one after the other1 had struck telling blows at the very foundation of ,egypt's religion4 ,but a worse was to follow4 ,the ,ninth ,plague struck at the very apex and head of all the ,great ,company of the pantheon4 ,the most essential thing in all the physical realm is light1 and the ,egyptians seemed to realize this fact4 ,the darkness of the ninth plague was a supernatural darkness4 ,this much is evident from the record1 which says that it covered the land so grossly1 the people sought refuge in bed6 ,evidently artificial light would not penetrate that fearful gloom2 but the children of ,israel had light in their dwellings6 ,of course they had it6 ,they are the people who later sang3 8,jehovah is my light and my salvation40 ,but the songs of the ,egyptians were directed to different gods entirely4 ,here1 then1 was a golden opportunity to test the might of these conflicting ideas of deity4 ,is ,jehovah able to maintain ,his superiority over the hosts of the ,egyptian gods8 ,they were indeed mighty in the hearts of the people1 and the contest was long and grim4 ,first of all to consider1 there was the incomparable ,thoth who had worked out the system of placing all the stars1 the sun and the moon in the heavens4 ,he had arranged also the seasons1 as they had been decreed by ,ra4 ,although inferior to ,ra and to ,horus1 nevertheless ,thoth gave light by night1 and on those days that the sun was not visible4 ,he also gave ,isis the power needed to raise the dead1 and to offend him was to suffer eternal loss4 ,remembering that the ,hebrews had lived under this culture and psychology for generations1 and considering that they all must have been tinctured somewhat with these beliefs1 many of them must have trembled indeed when ,jehovah calmly engaged in battle with ,thoth6 ,so the ,lord ,god not only smote the god of ,egypt in this part of the conflict1 but ,he also established ,his personal superiority in the minds of ,his own despairing people4 ,certainly1 when this plague ended1 the ,hebrews hastened to follow ,his next commands without hesitancy1 even though those commands laid them in danger of the death penalty under ,egyptian law4 ,illustration3 ,sekhmet ,a lesser deity1 but also a powerful one who suffered grievously in loss of prestige while the darkness reigned1 was the fire-goddess ,sekhmet4 ,she was the divinity of fire1 and thus also of artificial light4 ,this darkness that covered the land during this plague was called 8thick0 darkness1 and it was so impenetrable that for three days and nights1 the ,egyptians stayed in bed6 ,they saw the face of no man in those dark days and dense nights1 and it is evident that artificial light was useless4 ,only in the houses of ,israel did any light shine1 but in each dwelling in ,goshen the light was undimmed4 ,so it was demonstrated in the case of ,sekhmet1 the lioness-headed goddess of artificial light1 that she was powerless when ,jehovah invaded her realm4 ,with what delight did ,moses remember all this1 when later he wrote the words of the ,first ,chapter of ,genesis4 ,how his heart must have thrilled as he spoke of ,god commanding the light to shine on the first day of creation1 and recorded the obedience of the light to the spoken word of ,israel's ,god4 ,he had seen that when ,god commanded darkness all the gods of ,egypt were powerless before ,jehovah1 and that it was therefore simple for ,god to reverse the process1 and bring light to alleviate the darkness of the chaos4 ,the section of the pantheon that crumbled in the regard of the devoted ,egyptians that hour was a broad and numerous company4 ,no divinity of all the polytheistic company was very much more reverenced than ,horus1 the hawk-headed4 ,he was called 8the eye of ,ra10 and was the god of the noontime sun4 ,when the flaming heat of ,ra was just overhead at the hour of midday1 and when its light and heat were the most intense1 ,horus was in the ascendancy4 ,when the deep darkness of the ninth plague hit the land1 the hearts of the people were sick with fright4 ,believing that the sun was born anew every morning1 and having an intense and well-thought-out system of deities connected with this rite1 they must have thought that there had been wholesale slaughter and failure among the heavenly beings4 ,but there still would smoulder in their deepest thinking1 the dim hope that at noon the incomparable ,horus would glow1 as ,ra was the omnipotent1 and his eye could not be dimmed4 ,but not only did the noon pass in the same awful darkness1 but two more noons followed each other in slow succession1 and the feebleness of the once-revered ,horus could no longer be doubted4 ,so when they said1 8,who is mightier than ,horus80 the children of ,israel could reply with grateful hearts1 8,jehovah is2 see1 we have light in our dwellings60 ,but like many other heathen and idolatrous people1 the chief object of ,egyptian worship was the sun itself4 ,the natural mind can comprehend this1 and there is a little of the ,parsee in most modern men4 ,so to the ancients the sun was a personification of beneficence and providence4 ,the worship of the sun took many forms in ,egypt1 but the oldest and most general form of that worship was in the person of the god ,ra1 who appears in ancient records in many guises1 and under many names4 ,perhaps the most common of these names is ,amon-,ra4 ,he was unquestionably the chief form of deity to the ,egypt of ,moses' generation4 ,illustration3 ,taueret ,as far as it can be said that the ,egyptians conceived of a god-principle1 this was expressed in the person of ,ra4 ,he was the creator of earth and of heaven1 and of all things therein4 ,all other gods were parts of his person1 and members of his body and substance4 ,the pantheon was headed by ,ra1 and after him came the gods and goddesses who were parts of his body4 ,one was his eye1 another his ear1 while still another was his foot4 ,this quaint conception was carried out for every known section of the anatomy1 which the ,egyptians seemed to have known fairly well4 ,seeing1 then1 that ,ra was immanent1 pervasive1 and the principle back of all deities1 he was the chief object of ,jehovah's enmity1 and the real subject of the contest and conflict4 ,in all the other plagues the parts of ,ra were defeated1 and now at last the two ideas are locked in the final struggle4 ,it was preposterous to the ,egyptians that any god or power could be superior to ,ra1 as the sun is the source and seat of all power4 ,but the plague of darkness left him shorn of power and greatness1 and prostrated him before the feet of ,jehovah forever4 ,three theophanies had ,ra1 and ,god desecrated every one of them6 ,ra appeared in the form of the sun3 so that was blotted out of the sky for three days4 ,sometimes he walked the earth in the form of the first-born of a cow1 if that first-born was a bull4 ,so the first-born of all the cattle died1 and ,ra was covered with shame4 ,occasionally he was supposed to visit men in the form of a ram4 ,the first-born were all sacred to him and dedicated to him from birth3 yet when all the first-born of ,egypt died1 the babes of ,israel1 with their cattle and flocks were all safe1 because they were under the shed blood of what was ,ra's chief theophany1 next to the sun6 ,the application of the blood to the lintel and the doorpost was an act of blasphemy against ,ra1 yet in that very defiance the ,hebrews were acknowledging at last that ,jehovah should be their ,god forever1 in that ,he had proved ,his power4 ,illustration3 ,amon-,ra ,the ,tenth ,plague intrudes into the sphere of the ninth4 ,the death of the first-born was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back1 as far as the ,egyptian resistance to ,jehovah was concerned4 ,this is still aimed primarily at ,ra1 although there were notable deities other than he that suffered defeat in this last and awful skirmish4 ,when the ,children of ,israel left ,egypt1 bribed to depart by a people who were prostrated with grief1 the mourning ,egyptians pressed upon them the cattle and the flocks1 the gold and the jewels requested4 ,anything to get rid of the devotees of the awful ,being who left every home in ,egypt bowed in sorrow1 and who had slain1 as well1 every particle of faith the people had in the once-powerful gods of the land of captivity6 ,to name many of these gods would be to weary the reader4 ,but we cannot refrain from naming ,meskhemit1 who was the goddess of birth4 ,she was also the companion of ,hathor1 and overshadowed the first-born of the land4 ,to what avail1 when all died who were under her divine protection6 ,and even stronger than she1 was the mighty ,min1 the god of virility and generation4 ,closely related to ,amon-,ra1 being the means of extending the power of ,ra to those who worshipped him1 he too1 fell with a resounding crash1 when the hand of ,the-,only-,god-,that-,there-,is swept all the idols of ,egypt off their pedestals1 in what might be called the greatest 8ten rounds0 ever fought6 ,not only did ,jehovah win the battle and the crown1 ,he also won every round6 ,the victory was complete and crushing4 ,illustration3 ,set ,many centuries later1 ,paul the ,apostle recalled all that is implied and stated here1 when he wrote the ninth chapter of ,romans and the seventeenth verse4 ,here it is stated that ,god dealt so with ,pharaoh1 that the name of ,god should be advertised throughout all the earth4 ,is it so advertised8 ,witness this article1 cited above6 ,thirty-five hundred years have come and gone since these things transpired1 but the mind of man has not been able to escape from the demonstration of ,god's power that ,he gave in that far-off day4 ,and all we can say about this latest attempt to explain the victory of ,god in the land of ,egypt by attributing it all to the smartness and genius of a learned man1 is1 it just will not stand up6 ,for the ,god who smashed the pantheon of ,egypt evidently knew that this attempt was due1 and ,he raised from the dead1 in an archeological resurrection1 the witnesses to the facts at issue4 ,and we have done nothing in this simple reply but review their evidence6 ,but in so doing1 we note again that modern science1 whenever her voice may be heard1 establishes the ,scripture and vindicates its claim1 that 8holy men of old spake as they were moved by the spirit of ,god40 ,,chapter ,v ,sources ,one of the many questions that are frequently asked of the archeologist1 and one that is most difficult to answer in a few brief words1 concerns the source of his material4 ,there is a sort of mystery that hovers over this modern calling which intrigues the fancy of the average layman4 ,when an archeologist begins to dig in some barren waste of sand and comes upon a buried city that has been missing from the history of men for multiplied centuries1 it impresses the casual observer as magic of the blackest kind4 ,there is1 however1 nothing supernatural or uncommon about these discoveries1 although the element of chance does enter in to a minor extent4 ,some of the greatest and most prolific fields we personally have investigated were brought to our attention when the plow of a farmer cast up a human skull and focussed attention upon that particular field4 ,generally1 however1 the sources of archeology are uncovered by hard1 patient1 painstaking labor4 ,when an able prospector starts out in his search for gold1 he is guided by certain known factors that have been derived from the experience of generations4 ,panning his way up a stream-bed1 the keen-eyed hunter of fortune tests every spot that previous experience had taught him might be profitable4 ,he may labor at one thousand barren sites before he strikes gold4 ,if he is in a mountainous country and the placer deposits are not rich enough to pay him to tarry on the spot where the first discovery was made1 he will work his way on up the stream1 testing site after site for increasing values4 ,if the show of color in his pan suddenly ceases1 he knows that he has passed the sources of these wandering fragments4 ,he then goes back to the last point where he found traces of gold and then begins to search the side canyons and branch streams that lead into the main channel4 ,in this way he traces his path step by step to the ledge from which the gold originally came4 ,after laboring weary months1 or even years1 with heart-breaking disappointment and grim1 hard work1 if he is fortunate he announces a discovery4 ,the thoughtless immediately credit his good fortune to the goddess of luck and wonder why they also could not be blessed that way4 ,this illustration is an exact picture of the manner in which archeologists go about their business4 ,there are certain sites that experience has taught us should be profitable to investigate4 ,the region is carefully combed for surface indications4 ,these may be such things as shards of pottery1 arrowheads1 fragmentary bones1 or any of the ordinary debris that indicates a site of human habitation or burial4 ,when the surface indications suggest the probability of a real find1 then the digging commences4 ,most of our great discoveries are made only after months1 and even years1 of painstaking survey4 ,these surveys must be made by men who are expert in the interpretation of surface indications and fragmentary evidences4 ,thus it is at once apparent that there is really nothing supernatural or magical about this sober craft2 it is scientific in its procedure4 ,there is no 8doodle-bug0 for archeology such as is sometimes used by those who are found around the fringe of geology4 ,it must be remembered that the orientals differed greatly in their building methods from the occidentals4 ,it is customary among us to excavate to bed rock before we lay the foundation for a building4 ,the orientals1 however1 began to build right on the surface of any site that suited their fancy4 ,for instance1 a wandering tribe of nomads desiring to settle either temporarily or permanently1 would pick out a hill that was more easily defended than a level site would be4 ,upon its crest1 they built their houses and generally fenced the scene for the purposes of defense4 ,within these fortifying walls they dwelt in more or less security until they became rich enough to be robbed4 ,it would not be long1 however1 under the brutal law of might that prevailed in those ancient days1 before some marauding band would overrun that site with fire and sword4 ,the walls would be breached or cast down and the inhabitants put to sword or carried away into slavery4 ,usually fire would sweep the homes of this once contented people and their memory would soon be forgotten4 ,to one who has seen the sand storms of the ,east1 the rest of the story is self-evident4 ,even in our own times and in our own land1 we have seen what can happen when drought and wind begin to move the surface of a country and make the efforts of man fruitless and unavailing4 ,when men lived in these sites of antiquity and kept the encroaching sands swept and shoveled out1 they were able to maintain their position of security4 ,as soon1 however1 as the site was deserted1 the sand would begin to drift over the deserted ruins4 ,in a very few years the remains of the ruined city would be lost from the sight of men4 ,perhaps a century or two would pass by1 during which this abandoned region would be devoid of habitation4 ,plate #f ,illustration3 ,mace-head in ,british ,museum ,plate #g ,illustration3 ,note cuneiform writing and sculpture on stone weapon ,then another company of people looking for a permanent dwelling place would chance upon this hill4 ,finding it suited to their requirements they would immediately start building upon the surface4 ,with no knowledge whatever that a previous group of people had made this hill their habitation1 the new dwellings and walls would rise high upon the covered ruins of the earlier period4 ,within a comparatively short time they also would be the victims of some wandering conqueror1 and once again the wrecked habitations of men would be repossessed by the drifting sands of the desert4 ,it is not uncommon that in the course of a thousand years such an experience would be repeated from three or four to a dozen times upon the same site4 ,when the archeologist finds such a mound or hill1 he has a treasure indeed4 ,by excavating this deposit one stratum at a time1 he builds up a stratographical record which is highly important in reconstructing a consecutive history of this region4 ,the date factors of the various strata are generally established by the contents of each horizon of dwelling1 in turn4 ,if the archeologist depends upon facts instead of his imagination1 a credible chronology for the entire region can thus be constructed4 ,in such a recovery the common life of the people of antiquity is revealed in amazing detail4 ,we learn their customs of living1 something of their arts and crafts and their manner of labor4 ,their knowledge of architecture is clearly portrayed through such ruins as remain1 and the general picture of the incidental events that made up their living is clearly developed as the work proceeds4 ,since the destruction of such a city was usually catastrophic1 the record suddenly breaks off at the point of the tragedy4 ,the abruptness wherewith the life and activity ceased1 leaves all of the valuable material undisturbed in situ4 ,this circumstance1 though unfortunate for the ancients1 is a happy one for the archeologist who thus is enabled to rebuild their times and lives4 ,these sites yield many types of material4 ,in establishing chronology1 the most important of all of these is probably the pottery4 ,there is no age of men so ancient that it does not yield proof of human ability in the ceramic art4 ,without aluminum cooking utensils or iron skillets1 the folk of antiquity depended upon clay for the vessels of their habitation4 ,dishes1 pots1 jars1 and utensils of a thousand usages were all made of this common substance4 ,before the invention of paper1 clay was also the common material for preserving written records4 ,as each race of people had its own peculiarities in the use of clay1 the pottery that is found on a given site is one of the finest indications of a date factor that the site can contain4 ,even after the invention of papyrus or parchment1 these types of writing material were too costly for the average person to use4 ,requiring some cheap1 common1 readily accessible material upon which to write1 the poor of antiquity laid hold upon the one source of supply that was never wanting4 ,this consisted of shards of pottery4 ,by the side of every dwelling in ancient times might be found a small heap of broken utensils of clay4 ,the ingenuity of man suggested a method of writing on these fragments4 ,in every home there was a pen made of a reed and a pot of homemade ink4 ,with these crude tools1 the common people corresponded and made notes on pieces of clay vessels4 ,when a fragment of pottery was thus inscribed1 it was called an ostracon4 ,these ostraca are among the most priceless discoveries of antiquity4 ,they were written in the vernacular and dealt with the common daily affairs that made up the lives of the humble4 ,they shed a flood of light upon the customs and beliefs of the mass of the people4 ,some of the wall inscriptions of great conquerors1 if taken by themselves1 would give an impression of grandeur and splendor to their entire era1 if we believed such record implicitly4 ,but for every king or conqueror there were multiplied thousands of poor4 ,these were the folks who made up the mass of humanity and whose customs and lives paint the true picture of ancient times4 ,therefore1 these ostraca1 being derived from the common people1 are the greatest aid in the reconstruction of the life and times wherewith the ,bible deals4 ,another source of evidence is found in tools and artifacts which show the culture of any given time and region4 ,knowing how the people worked and what they wrought1 has been of priceless value to the ,biblical archeologist4 ,since the critics made so great a case out of the alleged culture of the people in every age1 it is eminently fitting that the refutation of their error should come from the people themselves4 ,still another source of archeological material is to be found in the art of antiquity4 ,it seems that from the time of ,adam to the present hour the desire to express our feelings and emotions in the permanent form of illustration has been common to man4 ,the sites of antiquity testify to this fact in unmistakable terms4 ,in the art of the days of long ago many subjects were covered4 ,much of the painting and sculpture had to do with the religion of the time4 ,thus we can reconstruct the ,pantheon of ,egypt very largely from the illustrations that come to us from monuments and papyri4 ,another large section of ancient art dealt with the history of the time in which the artists lived and wrought4 ,since the work of such artists was generally intended to flatter and please the reigning monarch1 most of this illustrated history is military in nature4 ,thus we are able to confirm much of the ,old ,testament history through the recovery of ancient art4 ,other artists1 in turn1 dealt with the human anatomy1 the style of dress and the industries of old4 ,when we gather together all of this illuminating material1 it is safe to say that ancient artists have brought to us a source of material which is not the least of the treasures of antiquity4 ,a final source of material is found upon the walls that made up the actual dwellings of old4 ,this business of scribbling names and dates upon public buildings or objects of interest is not unique to modern men4 ,deplorable as the custom may be1 this ancient vulgarity has1 nevertheless1 proved a great boon to the archeologist of our day4 ,for instance1 many of the scribes and officials of antiquity1 traveling about the country upon the business of their lords1 would visit one of the tombs of a former age4 ,prompted by curiosity and interest in the grandeur of antiquity1 they came to stare and to learn4 ,their emotions being aroused they desired some expression4 ,this desire they sometimes satisfied by inscribing upon the wall of a certain tomb or temple their names and the fact that at such a date they visited and saw this wonder4 ,since they generally dated their visit by the reign of the king under whom they lived and served1 a chronology may be builded for antiquity from this source of material alone4 ,it has been more or less customary in our era for the itinerant gentry to leave valuable information for fellows of their fraternity who come along after them4 ,this custom also is a survival of an ancient day4 ,a man journeying from one region to another would stop by the side of a blank wall and inscribe road directions for any who might follow after him4 ,sometimes he would add his name and the year of the reign of a given monarch4 ,it was not unusual also for such an amateur historian to make some caustic and pertinent comments upon the country1 the officials1 or the people4 ,these spontaneous records are priceless4 ,they are the free expression of an honest opinion and are not constructed with the idea of deluding posterity with a false standard of the grandeur of some conquering king4 ,it is rather amusing now to look back to the long battle that was fought between criticism and orthodoxy in this very field4 ,with a dogmatic certainty which was characteristic of the assumptions of the school of higher criticism1 these mistaken authorities assured us that the age of ,moses was an age of illiteracy4 ,in fact1 the extreme scholars of this school asserted that writing was not invented until five hundred years after the age of ,moses4 ,we have ourselves debated that question with living men4 ,one such occasion occurred recently1 when we were delivering a series of lectures at ,grand ,rapids1 ,michigan4 ,the subject had to deal with archeology and the ,bible1 and the men in attendance seemed to appreciate the opening lecture extremely4 ,therefore1 we were the more surprised when a gentleman1 clad in clerical garb1 came forward and in the most abrupt and disagreeable manner demanded1 8,by what authority do you state that ,moses wrote the ,pentateuch8 ,your dogmatic assertion is utterly baseless60 ,in some surprise we replied1 8,i am sorry to sound dogmatic1 as ,i try never to dogmatize4 ,all that ,i mean to imply is that ,i am absolutely certain that he did write it60 ,our humor1 which was intended as oil on troubled waters1 turned out to be more like gasoline on raging fires6 ,the exasperated gentleman exclaimed with considerable more heat than he had previously manifested1 8,you can't prove that ,moses wrote the ,pentateuch60 8,i don't have to10 ,i replied1 8as the boot is on the other foot6 ,may ,i quote to you a section from ,greenleaf on ,evidence8 ,here is the citation3 #8,when documents purporting to come from antiquity1 and bearing upon their face no evident marks of forgery1 are found in the proper repository1 the law presumes such documents to be authentic and genuine1 and the burden of proof to the contrary devolves upon the objector4' ,now1 my dear brother1 these documents do come from antiquity4 ,they bear no evidence of forgery1 and have thus been accepted and accredited in all of the ages that make up three millenniums of time4 ,you face a problem if you are going to repudiate all the evidence and tradition of their credibility4 ,just how are you going to prove that ,moses did not write these books ascribed to him80 8,that is easy10 the scholarly brother retorted4 8,moses could not have written the first five books of the ,bible1 because writing was not invented until five hundred years after ,moses died60 ,in great amazement ,i asked him1 8,is it possible that you never heard of the ,tel el ,armana tablets80 ,he never had6 ,so we took time to tell him of the amazing discovery of this great deposit of written records from the library of ,amenhetep the ,third1 and their bearing upon the great controversy4 ,then we told him also of the older records of ,ur1 that go all the way back to the days of the queen ,shub ,ab1 and manifest a vast acquaintance with the art of writing as far back of ,abraham as this patriarch in turn preceded the ,lord ,jesus ,christ6 ,he frankly confessed his total ignorance of this entire body of accumulated knowledge1 and then closed the debate by stating1 ,plate #h ,illustration3 ,ancient seals1 depicting historic events4 ,illustration3 ,seal ,illustration3 ,seal ,illustration3 ,seal ,illustration3 ,section of a funerary papyrus1 showing the progress of the soul on its journey in the ,other ,world 8,well1 it may be that every one else in antiquity could write1 but ,moses couldn't44460 ,and such an one would accuse another of dogmatism6 ,because we stand upon the certainty of the approved and orthodox conception of the credibility of the ,scriptures1 and maintain our case with the most exact evidence1 we are not 8scholarly40 ,yet here is a reputedly religious leader1 utterly ignorant of an enormous body of knowledge derived from a generation of research1 who misleads those who are unfortunate enough to be under his ministry1 and offers them the fallacious1 repudiated1 and utterly baseless conclusions of higher criticism1 in the place of the living bread which ,god has provided for ,his children6 ,this is but to be expected when we think the matter through4 ,the bread of life is to be found only in the pages of ,god's ,book4 ,therefore1 if the source of this bread is rejected and derided1 the bread cannot be available6 ,the great pity of the matter is seen in the fact that this attitude is entirely untenable1 in the light of our present knowledge4 ,although our science has demonstrated a remarkable culture for the very age of the patriarchs1 we are faced with religious leaders who are so far behind the advanced learning of our day that they still teach the outmoded nonsense of criticism1 and claim that ,moses could not write6 ,it is rather amusing in the light of this dogmatic assurance of critical authorities to journey back through the hallways of time and find that writing was a common custom a thousand years before ,moses1 or even a thousand years before that6 ,throughout ,egypt especially1 the art of writing was a universal possession among all classes of the populace4 ,the toilet articles used by the beauties of ,ancient ,egypt were highly engraved with charms1 and with prayers to the goddess of beauty4 ,as an ,egyptian damsel prepared herself for the evening's engagement1 she would read these prayers and charms which were supposed to give her divine aid in impressing the ladies with her outstanding beauty6 ,poems of love and lyrics of passion were engraved upon her toilet articles and were incised upon the walls of her apartment as well4 ,in addition to this1 most of the ancients wore amulets to guard them against the evil eye and every sort of disaster4 ,some wore engraved pectorals that showed the high development of the art of writing to a great antiquity4 ,businessmen of various kinds1 minor officials and even the common people carried upon their persons seals wherewith to sign the documents and contracts of their casual business affairs4 ,from this common source there is a kaleidoscopic view of ancient life that thrills the observer with its ever-changing magnitude4 ,it is almost impossible to limit the value of such discoveries as to the integrity of the ,scriptures4 ,in all this enormous mass of authoritative data not one single fact has ever been derived which argued against the credibility of any statement in the ,bible4 ,an even more important source of historical evidence is found among the papyri of old4 ,this valuable material was invented in ,egypt at a very early age4 ,in ,upper ,egypt the ,nile was bordered1 and in some places overgrown1 with a prolific reed which is scientifically called 8cyperus papyrus40 ,it is from this name that the paper manufactured from this substance derives its identification4 ,the manufacture of papyrus was a simple procedure which nevertheless required time4 ,briefly stated1 strips of the papyrus reed1 cut to a uniform length and saturated with water1 were laid down side by side4 ,another layer of strips was laid across them transversely1 and usually a third layer was superimposed upon the second layer4 ,these layers of reed1 being laid in alternate directions1 were then pounded with a flat paddle and smashed into a pulp4 ,when the mass dried1 it was a sheet of rough paper1 somewhat comparable to the paper towels that are used in our generation4 ,the edges were trimmed smoothly and the surface of the paper was smoothed off with a shell or rubbed with sand4 ,this finished side of the paper was called the obverse and was the side upon which writing was customarily inscribed4 ,so expensive was this substance1 however1 that frequently both sides would be covered with writing4 ,in that case the rough side was always known as the reverse4 ,many of these papyri not only were inscribed with a written text but were highly illustrated with scenes depicting the life and customs of the people4 ,these illumined papyri1 some of which go back to a very remote age1 are of tremendous value to the student of the ,scriptures4 ,we have1 for instance1 papyri from ,egypt at the time of ,moses1 showing the fowlers engaged in capturing quail4 7,see ,plate #aj47 ,these birds being tired by their long flight in their annual ,african migration1 fell easy victims to the men who smote them to the earth or captured them in hand nets4 ,incidentally1 the author has frequently been offered such quail upon the streets of ,cairo by vendors who earned a precarious living by peddling such game4 ,many ,scriptural events are attested in this manner by these illustrated manuscripts4 ,since there was a high content of starch in the finished papyrus1 it was possible to make them any length desired4 ,by moistening the edges of two sheets and pressing or pounding them together1 the result would be a single sheet when the joint had dried4 ,this process could be continued indefinitely4 ,as a method of comparison let us note that the entire ,gospel of ,john could be written on a papyrus of the usual width1 if it was eighteen feet in length4 ,such a long sheet would be rolled to form a complete volume4 ,the longest papyrus we have ever seen is in the ,british ,museum and is exhibit ,no4 #iiii4 ,this single sheet is #ace feet long4 ,another papyrus of unusual length is that which shows the funery experiences of the scribe ,ani4 ,this is a highly illumined specimen and contains many illustrations of the soul of ,ani1 as he goes through the intricate process of achieving eternal life in the realm of ,osiris4 ,this papyrus is #gh feet long and is one foot1 three inches wide4 ,the average sheet of papyrus1 however1 is about six by nine inches4 ,these papyrus records are divided into many kinds and types4 ,some of them are funery1 and deal with the events of the decease and resurrection of the individual4 ,most noteworthy among the papyri of this type are the various texts of the 8,book of the ,dead40 ,these are illuminated with scenes of religious beliefs4 ,they depict the experience of the soul on its pilgrimage into the hereafter4 ,they tell of the conditions of life in the other world and the manner of entering into a blessed state after death4 ,there are also papyri that deal with pure literature4 ,almost every subject common to modern literature is found in the ancient records of this type4 ,for instance1 fiction was a common field for the scribe of antiquity4 ,the ,british ,museum contains many of these prized papyri1 as does the ,egyptian ,museum at ,cairo4 ,it might surprise the modern reader to know that the ,egyptian people of old highly prized stories of mystery and imagination4 ,some of their greater manuscripts bear a strong resemblance to portions of the ,arabian ,nights1 and they may indeed have been the original basis of that later production4 ,in the ,british ,museum a papyrus1 ,no4 #ajahc1 is a fine example of this common theme4 ,this is entitled1 8,the ,tale of the ,two ,brothers40 ,in the introductory section1 the life of a humble farmer in ancient ,egypt is given in detail4 ,the familiar triangle develops between the elder brother1 his wife and the younger brother4 ,the plot develops when the wicked wife made herself sick by rancid grease1 and1 bruising herself with a stick1 lay moaning on the floor when her husband returned4 ,accusing the younger brother of attempted assault1 she aroused her husband's anger to the point where he grabbed an edged weapon and set out to kill the suspected villain4 ,the oxen1 however1 told the younger brother of the ambush that was set for him and he fled the home4 ,marvelous miracles occurred during this flight1 which opened the eyes of the elder brother to the injustice that he had been about to perpetrate4 ,whereupon he returned home1 and satisfied the demands of the stern justice of his day by slaying his wife and feeding her body to his pet dogs4 ,the rest of the story is taken up with the wanderings and adventures of the younger brother4 ,this record goes back to the thirteenth century ,b4 ,c41 and is a perfect specimen of the fiction of that time4 ,limited space will not permit the introduction of other notable classics of fiction such as the story of the shipwrecked sailor2 the story of the doomed prince2 the story of the possessed princess2 the story of the eloquent peasant1 and any number of other records1 nor is their presentation essential to the development of our thesis4 ,their value1 however1 is seen in the fact that not only do they depict the literary tastes of antiquity1 but they delineate many of the common details and incidents of the daily life of those ages4 ,there are also any number of poems which have a high historical value4 ,we shall refer later to the famed poem of ,pentauer1 which immortalizes the victories of ,ramses the ,second1 which this great conqueror achieved over ,egypt's ancient enemies the ,hittites4 ,the discovery of this record was the first appearance of the ,hittites in archeology and caused a sensation in the ranks of ,biblical criticism4 ,among the more sober types of literature will be found narratives of pure history4 ,such would be the lists of the kings1 giving the chronology of the dynasty of each4 ,records of conquest1 lists of tribute1 and the names of captive races form the bulk of this type of material4 ,there are also books of maxims teaching the higher morality of the age in which the papyrus was written4 ,in a word1 the literature preserved in the papyri of ,egypt deals with religious aims1 books of magic1 records of travel1 and the science of that day4 ,from the latter we learn their beliefs and technique in the realm of astronomy4 ,their system of mathematics is preserved for us in such prize records as the ,rhind ,papyrus which deals with the geometry of that age4 ,this papyrus is in the ,british ,museum and is numbered #aj1jeg4 ,in the ,museum at ,cairo is a papyrus illustrating the geography and cartography of antiquity4 ,this famous map shows the religious divisions of that province1 which is now called the ,fayyum4 ,others of these papyri deal with medicine as it was practiced in that ancient day4 ,there are1 of course1 biographical papyri that are almost innumerable1 all of which reconstruct for us the lives and times of these people who are so long dead1 but far from forgotten4 ,among the most important of all the varieties of papyri are those which preserve for us the embalming technique practiced at various stages in the development of this art in ,egypt4 ,since the ,egyptians believed that the resurrection of the body and its eternal life depended upon the preservation of the physical form1 they took great pains in their preparations for the burial of their dead4 ,the most graphic description of the method used is given by ,herodotus and is thus familiar to all students of history4 ,this noted writer states that three general methods were used by the ,egyptians and the cost of each was graduated to the thoroughness of the method4 ,the most expensive means of embalming was an elaborate process indeed4 ,the abdominal cavity was opened and the viscera were removed from the body4 ,these were carefully washed in palm wine1 thoroughly dried and sprinkled with certain aromatic spices4 ,the brains were withdrawn from the head and treated in this same fashion4 ,these cavities were then dried and filled with a combination of bitumen1 myrrh1 cassia and various other expensive and astringent spices4 ,the openings were then sewed up4 ,a tank was prepared which was filled with a solution of soda1 and the body was steeped in it for seventy days4 ,after removal from this pickling solution the body was thoroughly dried in the hot sun and anointed with spicy compounds which had the two-fold purpose of imparting a fragrant odor to the mummy and of further preserving its structure4 ,the process was completed when the body was wound with the strips of linen with which all students of ,egyptology are so familiar4 ,the cost of this type of embalming varied1 of course1 in each dynasty1 but as a general average it would be in the neighborhood of #aejj in our modern currency4 ,when we consider the disparity between our standard of money value and that of ancient ,egypt1 it can be seen that such a preparation was enormously expensive4 ,a cheaper method of embalming consisted of dissolving the viscera by means of oil of cedar4 ,the flesh also was dissolved with a caustic soda solution1 and the skin shrunk tightly to the bones4 ,this dessicated form was then wrapped in the traditional linen bandages4 ,the cost of this process was in the neighborhood of #cjj in the currency of our day4 ,for the very poor1 however1 a cheaper form of preparation was used4 ,the body was dumped into the tank of soda1 where it was alternately saturated and dried for a period of seventy days4 ,the pickled body was then handed over to the relatives1 who wrapped it according to their own ability and means and arranged for burial at any convenient site4 ,this process would cost in the neighborhood of #a4ej in our present standard of currency4 ,it will be noted that the customary period of embalming was seventy days4 ,a discrepancy has been fancied here between this ordinary custom and the embalming of ,israel1 as it is recorded in the fiftieth chapter of ,genesis4 ,the third verse of that chapter states1 8,and forty days were fulfilled for him1 for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed3 and the ,egyptians mourned for him three score and ten days40 ,the discrepancy1 however1 has been cleared up by the discovery of the fact that under the ,hyksos ,dynasties the period of the embalming was forty days instead of seventy1 and the mourning of the dead was more important than the time used in preserving the body4 ,in the ,egyptian ,museum at ,cairo1 exhibit ,no4 #abgj1 is a magnificent anthropoid sarcophagus from the time of ,psammetichus the ,second4 ,the inscription on this sarcophagus confirms the statement that the embalming process lasted seventy days and is a testimony of the honesty of the undertaker in that he did not shorten the time for the extra profit involved4 ,it is to the reverence for their dead that was manifested by all in ,egypt that we owe our present wealth of archeological material4 ,the most voluminous evidences for the accuracy of the ,bible come to us from burial sources4 ,very often the coverings of the corpse were inscribed with verbose descriptions of the life1 morals1 and piety of the dead individual4 ,a further source of material is found on the cartonnage4 ,when the body had been encased in bandages a type of coffin was made that is called mummiform or1 more commonly1 anthropoid4 7,see ,frontispiece47 ,this first covering was made of some plastic material1 which was moulded to the form of the individual to be buried4 ,in the earlier days this cartonnage was made of strips of linen cloth pasted together and covered with a type of shellac4 ,while still plastic1 this material was moulded to the contour of the head and shoulders of the occupant until it took on a rough resemblance to the individual4 ,this may have been the origin of the death-mask custom which continues in some regions even to the present time4 ,in later times this first covering was gilded1 and1 in the case of the very rich1 might be decorated also with eyes of obsidian or lapis lazuli4 ,in later periods1 the cartonnage was made of outmoded papyri4 ,these were dampened and moulded into a mulch like the method of using papier-mache in our generation4 ,in so doing1 however1 the writing was not demolished4 ,some of the greatest discoveries of antiquity have come to us when a cartonnage made of papyrus has been carefully separated into its original sheets and the writing thereof recovered4 ,when the mummy was enclosed in its cartonnage1 a wooden coffin was then prepared1 which quite frequently was also anthropoid in shape4 7,see ,plate #aa47 ,not only did it maintain the form of the human body1 but very often it had also a painted portrait of the dead person to identify the deceased4 ,this wooden coffin was painted and inscribed on the inside and the outside with a record and history of the individual1 to which were added scenes and texts from the ,book of the ,dead4 7,see ,plate #ab47 ,this second coffin was not always made of wood1 however4 ,in the case of ,tut-ankh-amen1 the coffin was of solid gold1 and constituted a tremendous treasure in itself4 ,this was possible only to a monarch or a noble of enormous wealth4 ,the final covering was the sarcophagus1 a great rectangular box sometimes made of wood1 but often formed of stone4 ,in this box the anthropoid coffin was carefully placed and the lid was tightly sealed4 ,in preparing the sarcophagus1 every inch of the inside would be engraved with a record of the history of the individual as well as of the times in which he lived4 ,on the inside of this box1 the bottom1 both ends1 and the two sides would be covered with writing as closely as the characters could be engraved4 ,not content with this1 the industrious scribe of antiquity also covered the outside of the sarcophagus1 both ends1 both sides1 and the top with further writings4 ,we have illustrated this custom clearly in ,plate #ac4 ,to make the case complete1 the noble1 the wealthy1 and the great of antiquity were buried in tombs1 the walls of which were illuminated with frescoes1 murals1 and texts in written script that covered every square inch of space on the ceiling1 as well as on the four walls4 ,all of the visitors to the ,valley of the ,kings in ,upper ,egypt have wondered over these remarkable and complete records4 ,they are1 however1 more than just a curious sight to satisfy the interest of the tourists4 ,they are one of the priceless sources of valuable information concerning the coincidence of ancient history with the text of the ,scripture6 7,see ,plate #ad47 ,still another source of material and information is found in the innumerable stelae which covered the ancient world4 ,the word 8stele0 is a ,greek word meaning 8an upright stone40 ,archeologically it applies to slabs of stone which were erected over a burial site in the fashion of a headstone in our modern custom4 ,some were square1 some rectangular1 and some were artistically rounded at the top4 ,in the case of a burial stele1 the name of the man so honored1 together with a record of his life and conduct1 was carved in high relief upon the stone4 ,thereon were named the king and the dynasty under which the dead man had lived1 and sometimes the important historical events of that reign4 ,always such a stele contained the episodes of history to which the given individual had personally contributed4 ,they are a large source of historical information4 ,these stelae were sometimes erected in public places as memorials of great events4 7,see ,plate #ae47 ,when ,ramses the ,second won his great campaign against the ,hittites1 he ended a five hundred year period of warfare in which the ,egyptians had been consistently defeated4 ,to celebrate his victory1 a voluminous account of his valor and skill was carved upon a large number of stelae and erected in prominent centers throughout his kingdom4 ,so also ,amenhetep the ,third set up a stele to record his conquest of the country of ,abhat4 ,this beautifully preserved record may be seen in the ,british ,museum4 ,it is exhibit ,no4 #feg in ,bay #f4 ,in the ,egyptian ,museum at ,cairo there is a stele originally erected by ,amenhetep the ,third4 ,we shall refer to this one again because his successor ,menepthah appropriated this stele1 and because it contains his record of the ,israelites1 who are thus acknowledged by the monarchs of ,egypt to have been a people of importance in the annals of their empire4 ,the most stupendous source of material is found in monuments4 ,the larger and most important type of monument is of course the buildings of antiquity4 ,to the ,egyptologist the most entrancing and magnificent spectacle on the face of the earth is the ruined temple at ,karnak4 ,the general public is so familiar with the magnitude and extent of these stupendous ruins1 it is not necessary to make more than a brief reference to them in this paragraph4 ,any standard encyclopedia1 such as the current ,britannica1 carries a more or less lengthy article on this subject1 and the number of interested observers who have studied these ruins is almost beyond estimating4 ,the present city of ,luxor1 in ,upper ,egypt1 was once known as ,thebes1 and was the center of government in times long past4 ,three very important sources of study are found in that vicinity4 ,there is the great ,valley of the ,kings1 where so many of the dead great of ,egypt were buried4 ,then also there is the great temple at ,luxor1 which is still in the process of recovery4 ,it is to be regretted that excavations there have been halted for some time1 due to the fanaticism of the ,moslems1 who refuse to permit a mosque to be moved from the top of the remaining mound1 under which the balance of this great temple still lies buried4 ,last1 but far from least1 there is the great temple1 called ,karnak4 ,the evidences that have been recovered from this site carry us as far back as the early stages of the ,old ,kingdom1 and may indeed be pre-dynastic4 ,there are a number of temples that have been erected upon this site1 which contribute to the glory of its past history4 ,the earliest relics found are flint instruments1 and there are a number of recoveries from the ,middle ,kingdom also4 ,while the famed archeologist ,legrain was in charge of the work of recovery here1 he opened one great pit from which an unbelievable amount of material was recovered4 ,in this one find1 seven hundred and fifty large statues were dug up1 and more than twenty thousand smaller objects were recovered from this same pit4 ,this was largely a ,middle ,kingdom deposit4 ,it may be said that the entire history of the land is seen here1 from the archaic age to the end of the ,ptolemaic period4 ,there are three major ruins that make up the vast monument of ,karnak1 which1 with the avenue of ram-headed sphinxes1 is almost a mile in length4 ,each of these three enclosures has its own story to tell4 ,the smallest one is the most northerly1 and was built by ,amenhetep the ,third4 ,ramses the ,second added to its structure1 and the imposing gate was built by ,ptolemy ,euergetes the ,first4 ,this magnificent gate is practically all of the original structure that remains today4 ,the outline of the foundation of the original temple may be traced1 but its material1 with the exception of the gate1 has long since disappeared4 ,the south enclosure contained the temple built to the glory of the goddess ,mut by ,amenhetep the ,third1 of which also very little of the original structure remains4 ,behind this temple1 however1 is a sacred lake1 shaped like a horseshoe1 upon which tradition says the barge of the sacred lady used to appear4 ,indeed1 there are fellahin in ,egypt today who maintain that at certain times when the moon is just right1 this notable barge may still be seen if one is fortunate enough to be on the spot at the right time4 7,we regret to say that the times that we were there were never the right ones67 ,there were small temples and shrines inside both of these enclosures where various kings honoured other deities in the lengthy pantheon4 ,some traces of these may still be seen here and there1 and much more may yet be brought to light by the excavations now being conducted there by the ,department of ,antiquities4 ,it is the third enclosure which is the great one1 and the really thrilling monument4 ,it is about #a1ejj feet square1 so that it is at once apparent that it is immense4 ,undoubtedly it is the largest temple ever constructed by man4 ,two million1 two hundred and fifty thousand feet of floor space make quite a place of worship in any day and age6 ,the original sanctuary was probably begun by ,usertesen the ,first1 who dedicated it to ,amon-,ra4 ,having done so1 the king then used the walls1 pillars1 beams1 and all other available space to carve a record of his own reign and greatness2 not forgetting1 of course1 to give ,amon-,ra due credit here and there for such divine aid as the ,pharaoh may have needed from time to time6 ,the drawings1 paintings1 and carvings of this monarch are a fine source of information concerning his times and peoples4 ,this seems to have established a precedent at ,karnak1 for the original temple was added to by ,thothmes the ,first1 who faithfully followed the example of his predecessor1 and told what a mighty man he also turned out to be6 ,then ,seti the ,first followed him1 to be in turn replaced by ,thothmes the ,third1 and neither neglected to carve the tale of his power and successes on the additions to the original temple that ,usertesen had started4 ,the next builder was ,amenhetep the ,third1 and after him the three successive ,ramses all built extensive votive shrines and temples4 ,the amount of carving1 painting1 and hieroglyphics that covers all this mighty pile of stone work is almost unbelievable1 and leaves the beholder amazed and somewhat awed4 ,the most noteworthy section of the standing ruins is the great hypo-style hall1 which is one of the architectural wonders of the world4 ,this hall is #aga feet deep and #cch feet in breadth4 ,the roof was supported by #acd mighty columns1 set in #af rows1 of which the two central rows were by far the highest4 ,the roof of this great hall was #gh feet above the floor1 and the entire structure was covered with reliefs and painted scenes from the conquests and lives of the builders4 ,here are to be found the most gratifying evidences of the integrity and accuracy of the ,scripture that the most ardent devotee of the ,bible could desire4 ,the ,pharaohs who appear in the text of ,holy ,writ are there on ,karnak's walls as well1 and this testimony of ancient heathen monarchs is conclusive and final4 ,as the kings of antiquity consistently carved upon the walls1 the pillars1 and the beams of ,karnak the proud record of their conquests1 it is inevitable that this source of material should be drawn upon heavily by the exponent of the ,scripture4 ,in a later chapter we shall return to ,karnak again and again to read these treasured accounts4 ,there are many other temples of antiquity that are of almost equal value1 such as the great temple at ,luxor4 ,students have long been familiar with the nature of the great pyramids which have also a great contribution to make to our sources of evidence4 ,it is to be noted1 however1 that only an honest and honorable evaluation of these evidences is of any aid to the faithful student of the ,scripture4 ,one of the greatest but most nonsensical heresies of our generation is the false teaching that parades under the name of 8,british-,israelism40 ,this ridiculous fantasy is predicated upon the false premise that the ,great ,pyramid is a prophecy erected under divine leading4 ,by a weird interpretation of its mathematical proportions1 it is presumed to portray a prophetic record of coming events4 ,it is the source of more fantasy than has ever been derived from any other misapplication of coincidence6 ,the advocates of ,british-,israel heresy claim that the pyramids were never used as burial sites4 ,this is1 of course1 arrant nonsense4 ,they were nothing but stupendous graves4 ,we have ourselves been in the burial chambers of the ,great ,pyramid and have seen the sarcophagi4 ,we have had the pleasure of examining the great stone casket that was taken out of the pyramid1 containing the mummy of the buried king1 as well as the replica thereof which was put back into this burial chamber to satisfy the interest of visiting tourists4 ,we have been in the burial chamber of the queen and the royal children as well4 ,we have seen these mummies that came out of the ,great ,pyramid1 have poked our way into the treasure room and have seen some of these recoveries which were made when the pyramid was entered4 ,to show something of the interest the kings of antiquity had in their resting places1 it is recorded on credible ancient authority that the building of this ,great ,pyramid occupied twenty years1 and that three hundred thousand men were employed in the building4 ,ten years were occupied in the one task of quarrying the stone4 ,another decade passed by in the erection of the monument4 ,herodotus states that the men worked in groups of ten thousand1 laboring three months at a shift4 ,the records of ,herodotus contain a description of the construction of earthen ramps up which the stones were skidded by means of wooden machines4 ,the ,cairo ,museum contains a number of very valuable exhibits from this greatest of all burial mounds4 ,so also has the second pyramid of ,gheza1 in turn1 yielded its mummies1 as have the others which have since been breached4 ,we cannot ignore the great evidence given by the type of monument composed of the obelisks1 the erection of which delighted the ancient conquerors4 ,these consisted of enormous stone shafts that towered into the air sometimes to a distance of seventy feet4 ,these great spires were engraved with the name of the monarch1 a description of his greatness1 and some of the more important records of his reign4 ,in closing1 we must not neglect to mention also the boundary markers that were so common in the ,assyrian culture4 ,these engraved stones1 often illustrated with sculptured figures in high relief1 are of unique importance not only because of their written records but also because of their ubiquity4 ,throughout all of the ancient world of ,mesopotamia they seem to have been in general use4 ,since they were an important factor in deciding the title of a section of land1 they were carefully made and preserved4 ,the date factor is generally a certain year of the reign of a given king1 and the historical information derived from monuments of this type is practically unlimited4 7,see ,plate #af47 ,also1 since the ancients had no hinges1 it was customary in constructing a door to have it turn upon a pivot4 ,beneath the door sill was a hollowed stone customarily called an ouch4 ,this acted as a bearing which supported the weight of the door and enabled one man easily to swing a very heavy structure4 ,these ouches were generally engraved with the name of the building1 the purpose of the building and1 perhaps1 the cost and record of the construction4 7,see ,plate #ag47 ,from all these scattered sources1 then1 we gather together the unified testimony of multiplied thousands of men once dead who speak from the long silence of their forgotten era4 ,their united testimony is an unbroken chorus of assurance for those who are concerned over the integrity of the text of the ,scripture4 ,in the bewildering mass of all this evidence which together would weigh so many tons that the figure1 if computed1 would appear fabulous1 there is not one word1 one testimony1 or one fact that has contradicted or disproved a single line of the ,holy ,bible4 ,plate #i ,illustration3 ,herds of cattle1 such as the ,hyksos kings possessed ,plate #aj ,illustration3 ,ancient mural of the slaughter of cattle ,illustration3 ,papyrus showing the capture of quail ,,chapter ,,vi ,fragments 8,rome was not built in a day10 is a self-evident truth3 but it is equally true that it was not excavated in a day1 either6 ,in fact1 as all visitors to ,italy can testify1 the ,department of ,antiquities is still working on some of the more ancient sites1 and certain of the most extensive ruins are just beginning to emerge for the delight of our generation4 ,archeology is a very fine exposition of the truth inherent in the old proverb of science3 8,research is the examination of the tenth decimal place40 ,there are many stupendous monuments that have been uncovered with surprising speed1 but the majority of our most valuable evidence has been derived from long and patient digging1 and is often composed of innumerable fragments from here and there4 ,standing alone1 any one of the many items that appear to be inconsequential would arouse no interest in the average observer1 and would be passed over without comment4 ,such evidence is similar in its accumulative force to the action of water4 ,a drop1 or any number of single drops of water1 attracts very little attention1 but when enough of them combine to form a flood1 great cities and whole nations sit up in alarm and pay strict attention to the course of the flow4 ,so it is today with the flood of facts that make up the great stream of discovery1 and constitute so forceful a demonstration of the value and accuracy of the ,bible4 ,a few facts from ,egypt suddenly fit into the pattern of certain other events that occurred in ,assyria1 and these in turn naturally correlate themselves with a record inscribed upon a stone by some king of ,moab4 ,like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle1 these isolated and apparently unrelated facts make a complete picture when they are intelligently assembled1 but careless or ignorant handling can never show the marvelous pattern in its complete beauty4 ,in this chapter we will offer a group of these fragments from here and there1 and show their value to the student who seeks evidence on the question of the authority of the ,holy ,word4 ,their accumulated force is irresistible1 and their final authority cannot be refuted4 ,just as grains of sand make up a mighty mound when they are assembled into one great heap or deposit1 these fragmentary facts have an imposing authority when they are taken together4 ,in support of this statement1 we shall cite the problem of chronology4 ,one of the greatest difficulties that has always faced the students of antiquity was the construction of an accurate and detailed chronology4 ,the early ,egyptians paid no attention whatever to chronological sequence1 but dated the episodes and events which they recorded by the year of the contemporary monarch4 ,among the ,chaldeans and the ,sumerians1 however1 lists of eponyms were carefully kept4 ,in the ,assyrian meaning of this word an eponym was an official whose name was used in a chronological system to designate a certain year of office4 ,from these consecutive records of the eponyms1 king-lists of unusual and detailed accuracy were compiled4 ,a great deal of the difficulty in harmonizing the chronological factors in the study of antiquity has recently been solved by a close study of these canons1 which studies were first begun by ,sir ,henry ,rawlinson4 ,as an instance1 we note that one such consecutive list gives all of the eponyms from ,b4 ,c4 #hic to #fff4 ,another magnificent aid to the ,biblical chronologist is found in the astronomical data which were so carefully kept at the same historical period4 ,through these credible records we have the material to check the accuracy of the king-lists that adds to their tremendous value4 ,for instance1 a tablet has come to us stating that in the eponym of one ,pur-sagali1 there was an eclipse of the sun which took place in the month ,sivan4 ,since ,sivan would be composed1 according to our calendar1 of the last two weeks of ,may and the first two weeks of ,june1 it is easy to make an astronomical calculation to fix this date4 ,we are delighted to find that there was an eclipse of the sun which would have been visible at ,nineveh on ,june #ae1 #gfc ,b4 ,c4 ,with this factor fixed1 we can now date all of the events of that period of antiquity from these king-lists to the time of the beginning of the reign of ,assur-bani-pal4 ,another such tablet1 which came from ,babylon1 gives us an opportunity to check back the other way4 ,this tablet merely states1 8,in the seventh year of the reign of ,cambyses1 between the #afth and #agth of the month ,phemenoth1 at one hour before midnight1 the moon was obscured in the vicinity of ,babylon by one-half of her diameter on the north40 ,we then turn to our modern astronomical sources and learn from them that there was just such an eclipse of the moon which would have been visible in ,babylon in the year #ebb ,b4 ,c4 ,since this was the seventh year of ,cambyses1 it follows that he must have ascended in the year #ebi4 ,this is exactly what is demanded by the ,biblical chronology accepted at our present time4 ,incidentally1 by correlating the prophecies and history of the ,old ,testament to the proved chronological points in these records1 archeology has vindicated the historical and traditional acceptance of those dates which criticism unsuccessfully disputed4 ,the kings of ,israel and ,judah1 with the writing prophets of each monarch's reign1 may now be correlated into this accredited system of chronology4 ,when this is done1 the traditional and accepted dates for the prophecies of the ,old ,testament which orthodox scholarship has always maintained1 are established beyond reasonable doubt4 ,in the confused condition of the ,egyptian chronology it is difficult to dogmatize concerning the exact identification of certain pharaohs whose records are contained in the ,sacred ,text1 but who are not identified by their prenomen in ,holy ,writ4 ,a good deal of this confusion1 however1 is being dissipated with surprising rapidity due to the recovery of some hitherto unknown sources4 ,the tendency of our present day is to concede that the ,pharaoh ,thotmes1 whose name is more commonly given as ,tuthmosis1 was the pharaoh of the ,oppression4 ,there is a great deal of reliable authority for adopting this view4 ,this mighty sovereign1 whose history we have partly covered in connection with his sister1 wife and domineering queen1 ,hatshepsut1 in the portion dealing with the times of ,moses1 according to the best chronologist1 reigned fifty-one years4 ,he died in #addg ,b4 ,c41 and was succeeded by ,amenhetep the ,second4 ,this fact would make it practically certain that the latter monarch was the pharaoh of the ,exodus4 ,there is a great deal of gratifying demonstration in the new chronology which1 being purged from the gross errors that naturally resulted from chronological differences inevitable to pioneers in ,egyptology1 has brought great comfort and aid to the orthodox believer in the ,old ,testament4 ,there were almost as many different dates given by the critics for the ,exodus from ,egypt as there were critics4 ,it may be noted in passing that one of the major difficulties of criticism and one of its foundational weaknesses is to be seen in the fact that each individual critic is his own highest authority4 ,the only finality that criticism recognizes is the dogmatic decision of a particular individual to believe one way or the other4 ,so it is rather hard to say that criticism in general held to any certain thing4 ,the consensus of opinion1 as far as such can be gathered from criticism1 however1 would make the date of the ,exodus not any earlier than #abbj ,b4 ,c4 ,plate #aa ,illustration3 ,cartonnage in the anthropoid sarcophagus ,plate #ab ,illustration3 ,showing both outside and inside writings and decorations on anthropoid sarcophagus ,the new chronology1 derived from archeological research1 has utterly and finally upset these critical conclusions4 ,the ,exodus can be credibly dated now to within a span of ten years4 ,the earlier probability is #addg ,b4 ,c4 and the latest possible time would be #adcg4 ,it may be said that if we consider the archeological sources alone1 there is a possible spread of thirty years1 but no more4 ,even if we make the most liberal concessions1 the ,exodus must be fitted into the record between #addg and #adag ,b4 ,c4 ,allowing then for the years of wandering in the wilderness1 the fall of ,jericho occurred with a possible spread of ten years1 between #adjg and #acig4 ,the earlier date is now accepted as by far the most credible4 ,we may state almost with finality that ,jericho was destroyed in #adjg ,b4 ,c41 and remain secure in that conclusion4 ,therefore1 if ,tuthmosis died in #addg1 the reign of ,amenhetep the ,second would have ended in #adba4 ,these perplexing seals of ,amenhetep1 if they have not been derived by intrusion1 would thus have had a sufficient time to reach ,jericho in connection with some official business of the kingdom in the forty years elapsing between the ,exodus and the assault on the ,canaanite city4 ,it will be remembered that ,josephus makes a passing reference to the statement of the ,egyptian historian1 ,manetho1 that the pharaoh of the ,exodus was ,amenophis4 ,amenophis is another form of the name ,amenhetep1 which would add a great deal of authority to our present conclusions4 ,josephus is not willing to acknowledge the dependability of ,manetho1 due to the fact that ,manetho came so long after the event4 ,but since the ,egyptian historian preceded ,josephus by some three hundred years1 the older authority would seem to be at least as dependable as ,josephus6 ,incidentally1 this fact1 if accepted1 would be a confirmation of the accepted date for the ,tel-el-amarna tablets with the reign of ,amenhetep4 ,the final word as to the date1 based upon authoritative evidence derived from the pottery culture as given by ,dr4 ,garstang1 makes the destruction of ,jericho to have been not later than #adjj ,b4 ,c4 ,thus the pendulum of opinion and discussion has now swung back to the point where we can authoritatively stand upon the earlier conclusions of the ,book of ,joshua and accept its credibility without the slightest question4 ,most of us can remember how recently it was the fashion for the opponents of the ,bible to laugh at those who believed in the historicity of ,joshua's strange conquest of the ,canaanite city of ,jericho4 ,the collapse of the walls of that ancient city has long been a source of mystery to the scientific student1 and of hilarity to the unbeliever4 ,the faith of the intelligent is vindicated1 however1 and the laughter of the unbeliever is stilled1 by the exhaustive work that archeology has done in the vicinity of ,jericho4 ,the site has been explored a number of times1 but the most comprehensive and conclusive work was done by the #aicc expedition that was headed by ,dr4 ,garstang4 ,the walls of ,jericho were mighty1 and as long as they stood the city was impregnable to the armed forces of antiquity4 ,the unusual structure of ,jericho's walls was manifested when they were uncovered from the dirt and debris of centuries4 ,the word 8walls0 is properly given in its plural form as there were outer and inner walls that entirely encircled the city4 ,there was1 first of all1 surrounding the city completely1 an outer wall1 which seemed to have been held up as much by faith as by gravity6 ,ever since we had the first opportunity of personally examining the geology of ,jericho and noting the insecure structure upon which those walls were builded1 our own private wonder has not been that the walls fell down2 rather we have been bewildered by speculating as to what in the name of physics ever held them up6 ,perhaps it was the binding of the buildings that anchored the outer wall to the inner wall1 and made a sort of tripod structure of the whole1 which accounted for this phenomenon4 ,some fourteen feet back from the outer wall and roughly paralleling the convolutions of the former1 there was an inner wall of the same height as the outer one4 ,across these two walls great beams had been laid1 and dwellings constructed upon this unique foundation4 ,the outer wall was pierced by the one gate1 in exact accordance with the description in the ,book of ,joshua4 ,there is no natural explanation to account for the unique evidence of the collapse of these walls4 ,they were not undermined by military engineers1 for they all seem to have collapsed around the entire circumference of the city at one and the same time4 ,they were not shaken down by an earthquake4 ,this would have resulted in a haphazard piling of the wall material in a number of different directions4 ,it seems as though a mighty blast had been set off in the center of the city1 thrusting the walls outward1 in what might roughly be described as a circle4 ,this collapse of the walls naturally resulted in the wrecking of the houses builded thereon4 ,when the preliminary clearance had been made and the excavators came down to these great ruins1 every demand of the ,book of ,joshua was satisfactorily met by the conditions there uncovered4 ,in the remnants of the houses found in ,jericho there was overwhelming evidence of a systematic destruction by fires that were set to sweep the entire ruin4 ,among the most interesting and significant of the charred evidences were the great stores of burned grain which showed that even the food of ,jericho had been dedicated to the fire1 as ,joshua had commanded4 ,when the discoveries of ,jericho were first publicized1 ,dr4 ,garstang could find only one apparent contradiction between the record of ,joshua and the evidences in the city4 ,that was in the time factor1 or chronology1 that was involved4 ,in the cemetery of ,jericho upon its excavation1 there were found two seals of the ,pharaoh ,amenhetep the ,third4 ,since this monarch reigned probably at least a hundred years after the time of ,joshua1 it was difficult to reconcile the apparent discrepancy4 ,the apparent difficulty1 however1 dissolves when we consider the possibility of later intrusion4 ,before the excavations at ,jericho could begin1 it was necessary for the workers to clear away the remains of a fortress of ,ramses1 the monarch who headed the nineteenth dynasty1 which in turn followed that of the dynasty of ,amenhetep the ,third4 ,since this site had been temporarily used by the ,egyptians two hundred years after its destruction1 it is highly probable that it might also have been temporarily visited by them the century immediately following its destruction4 ,if the presence of two seals of ,amenhetep are to be taken as a date factor in view of the fact that burials at that site were by intrusion1 then a great case could be made for a later date by the ruined fortress of ,ramses4 ,the pharaoh who ruled in the day when ,joshua led the conquest of ,canaan was most probably ,tuthmosis the ,third1 who reigned contemporarily with the ,queen ,hatshepsut until he was sufficiently entrenched to overthrow her dominion4 ,this queen1 as all the evidence most clearly suggests1 was most probably the one who drew ,moses out of the ,nile4 ,the contemporary and collateral evidence is fairly conclusive1 so that this fact is generally accepted4 ,relegating the one anomalous discovery1 then1 to the probability of intrusion1 we find that ,jericho1 perhaps more than any other site in antiquity1 has vindicated the record of the ,old ,testament text4 ,in this very connection1 it is interesting to note how the queen ,hatshepsut came into the record1 and first interested the student of apologetics4 ,the eminent archeologist1 ,flinders ,petrie1 found a tablet on the slope of ,mt4 ,sinai which was written in an archaic script that baffled every attempt to decipher its mystery for nearly thirty years4 ,but at long last ,professor ,hubert ,grimme1 who held the chair of ,semitic languages at the ,university of ,munster1 made out two words4 ,one of these was the ancient ,hebrew name for ,god1 which in this form of writing appeared as 8,,jahua40 ,the other word that ,dr4 ,grimme succeeded in reading was 8,,hatshepsut10 who was known from her monuments and obelisk4 ,with this key1 the table was quickly deciphered1 and was ascribed to ,moses4 ,the text as it appeared follows3 8,i am the son of ,hatshepsut overseer of the mine workers of sin chief of the temple of ,mana ,jahua of ,sinai thou oh ,hatshepsut wast kind to me and drew me out of the waters of the ,nile hast placed me in the temple 7or palace740 ,on the reverse were directions for locating the place where the writer reported he had buried certain tablets of stone1 which he had broken in his anger4 ,since all the landmarks the writer used to identify the place of burial have disappeared1 nothing has so far come from the search that resulted when this tablet was at last read4 ,incidentally1 this queen ,hatshepsut left her mark upon the age in which she lived1 as she was one of the most persistently determined women who ever appeared upon the pages of ancient history4 ,there is a remarkably complete record of her history and her imperial reign which may be read today in the relics of her times and in the ruins of the great works which she caused to be constructed4 ,her important place illustrates one of the difficulties of chronology1 which we have previously mentioned4 ,her background is clear and undisputed4 ,when ,tuthmosis the ,first died1 his son and heir ,tuthmosis the ,second succeeded to the throne4 ,he was a physical and mental weakling1 and very little is known of him from the monuments of old4 ,but he married his half-sister ,hatshepsut1 and started a train of events that had surprising consequences4 ,incidentally1 it was the custom for ,egyptians to marry in the closest family ties1 and brother and sister more often wed than not4 ,in view of this famous lady's character and later conduct1 it is highly probable that the king had no choice in marrying his sister1 but was led to the slaughter whether he would or not6 ,at any rate1 he died very soon after the wedding1 and the widow ,hatshepsut declared herself queen4 ,to make her position secure1 she married her young stepson and half-brother1 ,tuthmosis the ,third1 who was the legal and rightful heir to the throne4 ,during his boyhood the queen reigned in undisputed power1 and developed the country in a surprising manner4 ,she was a feminist with a vengeance1 and called herself ,,king ,hatshepsut1 and stated that she was a god and as such was entitled to worship and obedience4 ,what is more1 she made it stick6 ,since she could not lead her armies in person1 she pursued the ways of peace1 and the troubled land had rest and prospered4 ,some of the greatest building operations of the ancient world were begun and finished under her direction and patronage4 ,plate #ac ,illustration3 ,detailed study of outside and inside of anthropoid coffin4 ,note voluminous record ,illustration3 inside ,illustration3 ,outside1 or rectangular coffin also covered with writing and records ,illustration3 records ,plate #ad ,illustration3 ,murals and frescoes from tomb walls ,illustration3 murals and frescoes ,illustration3 murals and frescoes ,illustration3 murals and frescoes ,when her husband-brother-consort became of age1 he naturally rebelled against her usurpation4 ,he gathered a company of adventurous nobles about him and forced the queen to abdicate1 after which she disappeared under circumstances which would have interested ,scotland ,yard1 if that noted institution had been in existence in that day and place6 ,the ambitious young king took the name of ,tuthmosis the ,third1 and left a brilliant record as a conqueror and builder4 ,counting the twenty-one years he lived as co-regent with ,hatshepsut1 he ruled the land fifty-three years1 which was an enviable span for those warlike days4 ,if the present accepted chronology is right1 he came to the throne in #aeja ,b4 ,c4 and died in the year #addg4 ,this would have made him the ,pharaoh of the ,oppression6 ,in which case1 the queen ,hatshepsut would have unconsciously offended him in elevating ,moses to a place of prominence and power1 which might explain why ,moses felt it necessary to flee from ,egypt when he was in trouble4 ,at any rate1 out of this tangled skein of human conduct and ambition1 some present help is offered to the learning of our day by the known facts that have been clearly established from the relics of this embattled couple4 ,the name of the queen ,hatshepsut was abhorrent to her brother-husband-regent-successor2 and he tried to obliterate it wherever it appeared4 ,but she had built so many great works and had left such ample records that his actions in this matter came to nought1 and she lives today to shed the assurance of probability upon the record of ,moses4 ,we have seen her obelisks1 her records and some of the ruins of her great works1 and the entire pattern is of a piece with the demands1 both chronological and ethnological1 of the text of the ,scripture4 ,it is apparent that not only dead men1 but also dead women1 may tell tales1 if their voices are heeded and the ears of the listener are not stopped with the wax of infidelity and disbelief4 ,the amazing and scrupulous accuracy which is maintained by the ,old ,testament in its historical statements is once again demonstrated by the record of ,ahaz as it is given in the ,old ,testament and found on the monuments in ,assyria4 ,we read in ,,ii ,kings and the sixteenth chapter1 these words3 ,in the seventeenth year of ,pekah the son of ,remaliah1 ,ahaz the son of ,jotham king of ,judah began to reign4 ,twenty years old was ,ahaz when he began to reign1 and reigned sixteen years in ,jerusalem1 and did not that which was right in the sight of the ,lord his ,god1 like ,david his father4 ,but he walked in the way of the kings of ,israel1 yea1 and made his son to pass through the fire1 according to the abominations of the heathen1 whom the ,lord cast out from before the children of ,israel4 ,and he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places1 and on the hills1 and under every green tree4 ,then ,rezin king of ,syria1 and ,pekah son of ,remaliah king of ,israel1 came up to ,jerusalem to war3 and they besieged ,ahaz1 but could not overcome him4 ,at that time ,rezin king of ,syria recovered ,elath to ,syria1 and dwelt there unto this day4 ,so ,ahaz sent messengers to ,tiglath-pileser king of ,assyria saying1 ,i am thy servant and thy son3 come up1 and save me out of the hand of the king of ,syria1 and out of the hand of the king of ,israel1 which rise up against me4 ,and ,ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the ,lord1 and in the treasures of the king's house1 and sent it for a present to the king of ,assyria4 ,and the king of ,assyria hearkened unto him3 for the king of ,assyria went up against ,damascus1 and took it1 and carried the people of it captive to ,kir1 and slew ,rezin4 ,the visit of ,ahaz which closes this record was made in #gcb ,b4 ,c4 ,tiglath-pileser has left his own story of these stirring events and has called ,ahaz by name upon his monument4 ,the unfortunate action of ,ahaz in calling for ,assyrian aid against his enemies ,pekah king of ,israel and ,rezin king of ,syria1 resulted1 according to ,tiglath-pileser's account1 in his invasion of both ,syria and ,palestine4 ,from thence he carried away into captivity the two tribes of ,reuben and ,gath1 and the half tribe of ,manasseh4 ,the distress of ,israel was not ended until ,hoshea1 shortly afterward1 became the new king of ,israel4 ,as a matter of policy he formally accepted the yoke of ,assyria and became the vassal of ,tiglath-pileser4 ,in the ,assyrian ,room of the ,british ,museum1 ,wall ,cases #ad to #ah contain a valuable collection of inscribed bowls1 ostraca1 and fragments of records which extend from the days of ,assur-resh-shi1 down to the end of the ,assyrian dynasty4 ,among them are fragmentary inscriptions from the reign of ,tiglath-pileser the ,third4 ,he is known in the ,scriptures also by his ,babylonian name of ,pul4 ,in ,i ,chronicles #e3bf both names are found in the one verse1 as though the scribe were anxious that the identification should be complete3 ,and the ,god of ,israel stirred up the spirit of ,pul king of ,assyria1 and the spirit of ,tiglath-pileser king of ,assyria1 and he carried them away1 even the ,reubenites and the ,gadites1 and the half tribe of ,manasseh1 and brought them unto ,halah1 and ,habor1 and ,hara1 and to the river ,gozan1 unto this day4 ,tiglath-pileser again appears under the name of ,pul in ,,ii ,kings #ae3ai3 ,and ,pul the king of ,assyria came against the land3 and ,menahem gave ,pul a thousand talents of silver1 that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand4 ,in the twenty-ninth verse of this chapter1 however1 his ,assyrian name is given alone1 as is done in the sixteenth chapter4 ,in the above cited wall cases1 exhibit ,k #bgea1 is an inscription of ,tiglath-pileser's setting forth some of his conquests1 and an account of certain of his building operations4 ,among the tributary kings who accepted his yoke1 he specifically mentions ,ahaz king of ,judah4 ,modern man is so used to the phenomena that make up the miracle of our modern living that such fascinating possessions as this are not generally appreciated and properly valued4 ,here1 however1 we hear again the voice of a man who died in the year #gbg ,b4 ,c4 ,the phenomenon is seen in the fact that in spite of the indescribable vandalism and wreckage wrought by those intervening ages1 a fragment of clay persisted1 and remained in existence until it could be uncovered from the dust heaps of antiquity by the one generation that desperately needed its testimony and was able to interpret and prize its record6 ,here indeed is a dead man who tells tales1 and who tells them with such authority and accuracy that the mouth of criticism is stopped and the ,word of ,god completely vindicated4 ,incidentally1 ,tiglath-pileser's record corroborates the prophecy of ,isaiah1 concerning the destruction of both ,israel and ,syria1 because they had joined their forces to make war upon ,judah4 ,this prophecy is given at length in the seventh chapter of ,isaiah and was the instance of introducing the greater prophecy of the final redemption of the people with the coming of ,messiah4 ,he was to be identified1 according to ,isaiah1 by means of the miracle of the virgin birth4 ,when ,omri1 the general of the armies of ,israel1 was elevated by popular acclaim to the throne of dominion1 he climaxed an astonishing career that left a deep impression upon antiquity4 ,at the beginning of his reign the nation was divided in its allegiance and this division resulted in a civil war that was bitter1 though brief4 ,the power and might of ,omri quickly pacified and subdued the land1 which accepted his dominion1 and for twelve years his hand guided the helm of the ship of state4 ,one of his earlier acts was to buy the hill of ,samaria for a sum that is given as two talents of silver1 which would be in the neighborhood of #d1jjj in our reckoning4 ,so impressive was his personality that from his day on to the end of the kingdom1 the land of ,israel was generally known among the ,assyrian peoples as the ,land of ,omri4 ,on the black monolith for instance1 which was set up by ,shalmaneser the king of ,assyria1 there are many sculptured pictures which illustrate the text of this priceless historical record4 ,one of the scenes shows that among the conquered rulers1 one is entitled 8,jehu the son of ,omri40 ,a record is made of the silver1 gold1 lead1 vessels of gold1 and of other materials that ,jehu brought in tribute to ,shalmaneser4 7,see ,plate #ah47 ,this black obelisk may be seen in the ,nimrud ,central ,saloon of the ,british ,museum in ,london4 ,that this was a general is seen from the fact that on the nine-sided prism which gives the record of ,sargon concerning his conquests in ,palestine1 the great ,assyrian lists the people of ,israel whom he calls 8,bit-,khu-um-ri-a0 7,omri-land71 among other subdued races4 ,omri was succeeded on the throne by ,ahab1 who was a young man when he came to the throne4 ,he left an unenviable record of apostasy and idolatry1 but was none-the-less a courageous and able administrator whose work strengthened the realm greatly4 ,in the twenty-two years of his reign the ,word of ,god was ignored and unbelief swept over the land4 ,in his day the first persecution of ,god's people1 which was directed against their ministry1 began when his wife ,jezebel caused the slaughter of the prophets4 ,the entire career of ,ahab occupies considerable space in the records of the ,old ,testament and is almost as prominent in the monuments of antiquity4 ,one of the most outstanding and notable of his early acts was the famous overthrow of ,benhadad1 the king of ,syria4 ,the invasions of ,israel by ,benhadad are fully covered in the historical texts of the ,old ,testament1 so they need no recapitulation here4 ,when the ,syrian king suffered an overwhelming and crushing defeat at the hands of ,ahab1 he submitted himself to the king of ,israel with a humble plea for mercy4 ,in spite of the denunciation of the prophet1 who warned that ,benhadad would bring disaster upon the realm1 ,ahab restored him to his ,syrian dominion and made a covenant of brotherhood with him4 ,later on1 ,ahab and ,benhadad united in a rebellion against their ,assyrian overlord in one of the most disastrous acts of his career4 ,the battle that decided the campaign was fought at ,karkar4 ,in the ,british ,museum1 the ,nimrud ,central ,saloon exhibits a stele of ,shalmaneser the ,third which bears the identifying number of #hh4 ,the inscription sets forth the names1 titles1 and ancestry of the king and gives a complete account of several of his military adventures4 ,he states that in the sixth year of his reign1 he battled against certain allies who had rebelled against his authority4 ,among them he lists 8,ahab of the land of ,israel40 ,shalmaneser tells how he defeated this coalition and slew fourteen thousand of the ,syrian warriors in one great battle4 ,plate #ae ,illustration3 ,commemorative stele ,plate #af ,illustration3 ,ancient boundary markers ,illustration3 boundary marker ,illustration3 boundary marker ,illustration3 boundary marker ,on the monolith of ,shalmaneser the record begun on this stele is further continued4 ,this battle1 according to ,shalmaneser's chronology1 would be about #hed ,b4 ,c4 ,this ,benhadad is known on the ,assyrian monuments variously by the names of ,hadad-ezer and ,hadad-idri4 ,he is authenticated by the finest type of historical proof that the most carping critic could demand4 ,incidentally1 ,benhadad is one of the forty-seven kings mentioned in our preliminary remarks1 who were supposed to be legendary characters1 until archeology called them forth from the dead to testify in their own behalf4 ,ahab was one of the most industrious builders who ever occupied the throne of ,israel4 ,although he lacked the resources of ,solomon1 there are a number of records in the ,scripture that shed light upon his architectural interests4 ,in ,i ,kings #bb3ci all of this activity is summarized in their brief epitome3 ,now the rest of the acts of ,ahab and all that he did1 and the ivory house which he made1 and all the cities that he built1 are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of ,israel4 ,the hill of ,samaria1 which ,omri had purchased1 passed by inheritance to ,ahab4 ,the ivory palace that is mentioned in ,i ,kings #bb3ci was built on this site4 ,solomon may have had his throne of ivory1 but ,ahab improved upon that idea1 as this text seems to imply4 ,this summer palace which he built for himself and ,jezebel on the crest of the hill of ,samaria has been the scene of recent expeditions4 ,a great deal of archeological industry has been expended in reconstructing the beauty and marvel of this palace of ,ahab4 ,it has been discovered that the walls were decorated with ivory carvings1 and that much of the furniture was inlaid with ivory4 ,this valuable substance was used with a profligate hand to construct one of the most splendid edifices of all antiquity4 ,some of the most skilled craftsmen of human history were employed by this enterprise4 ,to show something of the ability of these ancient artists1 we present a photograph of the figure of an ivory lion which came from the site of ,ahab's palace4 ,the illustration is magnified four times1 but tiny as this priceless relic is1 the lines and perfection of the carving cannot be excelled by any craftsman today4 ,the ,harvard expedition under ,dr4 ,reisner1 and the joint expedition of #aica1 both made delighted comment on the unprecedented perfection of the structure of this great palace4 ,it covered an area between seven and eight acres in extent2 the masonry of the building was no less than marvelous in the perfection of its structure and joining4 ,concerning these ivory miniatures1 inlays1 and friezes1 the leader of the expedition said1 8,these ivories are the most charming example of miniature art ever found on an ,israelite site40 ,by referring to the ivory lion in ,plate #ai the reader can see that this is indeed the fact4 ,the excavations at ,samaria have been going on since the ,harvard expedition began in #aijh4 ,among the valuable finds from the ivory palace of ,ahab must be listed a group of seventy-five ostraca4 ,these ancient fragments of pottery1 inscribed and engraved with the homely affairs of the daily life of ,ahab's time1 contain the same script as is found on the ,moabite stone4 ,this great relic of antiquity has had a fascinating but unfortunate history in itself4 ,it will always be a matter of sincere regret that the first discoverer of the ,moabite stone did not make a copy of its complete text4 ,the ,moabite stone states that ,ahab reigned forty years4 ,the ,scripture record1 however1 makes his reign to be twenty-two years4 ,according to the credible chronology of ,,ii ,kings1 upon the death of ,ahab1 his son1 ,jehoram1 ascended to the throne and reigned twelve years4 ,mesha1 who had accepted the lordship of the able ,ahab1 rebelled against the weaker son4 ,at some time during this reign1 ,mesha1 a minor king of ,moab1 tired of paying to ,israel the annual tribute of one hundred thousand lambs1 plus one hundred thousand rams1 with the wool thereof4 ,he rebelled against the overlord of ,israel and successfully threw off the yoke4 ,on an enormous stele which was erected at ,dhiban by the successful king we find these words3 8,i ,mesha1 son of ,chemosh-melech1 king of ,moab1 the ,dibonite4 ,my father reigned over ,moab #cj years and ,i reigned after my father4 ,i have made this monument for ,chemosh at ,qorhah1 a monument of salvation for he saved me from all invaders and let me see my desire upon all my enemies4 ,omri was king of ,israel1 and he oppressed ,moab many days1 for ,chemosh was angry with his land4 ,his son1 ,ahab followed him and he also said3 ,i will oppress ,moab4 ,in my days ,chemosh said3 ,i will see my desire on him and his house and ,israel surely shall perish forever4 ,omri took the land of ,medeba and dwelt in it during his days and half the days of his son1 altogether #dj years4 ,but ,chemosh gave it back in my days4 ,i built ,baal-,meon and made therein the ditches2 ,i built ,kirjathaim4 ,the men of ,god dwelt in the land of ,ataroth from of old1 and the king of ,israel built there the city of ,ataroth2 but ,i made war against the city and took it4 ,and ,i slew all the people of the city1 for the pleasure of ,chemosh and of ,moab and ,i brought back from the ,arel of ,dodah and bore him before ,chemosh in ,qerioth4 ,and ,i placed therein the men of ,sharon and the men of ,mehereth4 ,and ,chemosh said unto me3 ,go1 seize ,nebo of ,israel and ,i went in the night and fought against it from the break of dawn till noon2 and ,i took it1 slew all of them1 #g1jjj men and boys1 women and girls and female slaves1 for to ,ashtar-,chemosh ,i devoted them4 ,and ,i took from thence the ,arels of ,yahwah and bore them before ,chemosh4 ,now the king of ,israel had built ,jahaz and he dwelt in it while he waged war against me1 but ,chemosh drove him out from before me44440 ,when this great monument was first discovered in #ahfh1 its value was of course not appreciated and no copy of the text was made4 ,the ,museum of ,berlin heard of it and moved for its purchase4 ,an employe of the ,french ,consulate heard of the negotiations1 and offered a large bribe for the possession of the stone4 ,the ,turkish officials then interfered4 ,the superstitious ,arabs1 believing that the monument must have some magical value1 broke it into a number of fragments and distributed the pieces as amulets1 or charms4 ,a ,french agent1 however1 industriously pursued these fragments and with the help of a squeeze which he had made1 reconstructed the major portion of the writings4 ,the ancient name of ,jehovah occurring on this text was an additional delight to these students of antiquity4 ,certain small cities that ,israel had wrested from ,moab were returned to ,mesha at the time of this rebellion4 ,jehoram1 and ,jehoshaphat1 the kings of ,judah1 later battled against the increasing power of ,moab and administered a crushing defeat to the ,moabites sometime after the successful uprising that is recorded here in this text4 ,among the ostraca excavated at ,samaria1 were some that mentioned many of the historical personages of the ,old ,testament1 which also enhanced their value in the eyes of archeologists4 ,the later expedition to ,samaria which was working in #aica1 apparently reached the foundations of the first buildings of ,omri4 ,they have left a record stating1 8,no remains earlier than the building of ,omri are to be found upon this site40 ,this being so1 we cannot question the statement of the text that ,omri was the original builder on the crest of the hill of ,samaria1 which fact is in itself of considerable importance to the subject of our present study4 ,the question has been raised as to what the effect would have been on the problem of the integrity of the text of the ,scripture if this site had proved to have been like the other regions excavated1 and was occupied by many older and underlying ruins6 ,the simple answer is that such a discovery was not made2 and the evidence that has been derived is of such nature that this portion of the sacred ,book must be accepted by the intelligent and informed scholar4 ,these fragmentary events and references are of as much value as are the individual bricks that make up the mass of a wall or a building4 ,one or two standing alone would be relatively unimportant1 but when scores of such evidences are gathered into a composite unit1 they offer a formidable and impressive structure of evidence that is extremely difficult to refute4 ,although it has been the custom to construct the critical argument against the integrity of ,god's ,word from imagined minor errors in the text1 so intrenched is critical dogmatism that nothing but a major rebuttal will be heeded4 ,happily1 a major structure may be erected from minor materials3 and thus these fragments serve their destined purpose4 ,plate #ag ,illustration3 ,stone ouches1 or door-sockets ,illustration3 door-sockets ,plate #ah ,illustration3 ,the famed ,black ,obelisk1 which confirmed the record of ,jehu ,illustration3 ,hamath ,inscription ,,chapter ,,vii ,the ,rebirth of an ,empire ,among the ancient races that are catalogued in the lists which appear in the pages of the ,old ,testament1 the most important one in the presentation of this thesis is the ,hittite race4 ,in the heyday of their brief popularity the higher critics indulged in an orgy of refutation concerning these sections of the ,scripture4 ,since the ,hittites are mentioned forty-eight times in the pages of the ,bible1 if it could be proved that these people were fictitious in character1 the critical case against the ,old ,testament would be demonstrated beyond question4 ,it would almost seem as though the writers of the ancient word had invited this contest with deliberate intention4 ,it is impossible to justify the manifold appearances of the ,hittites in the ,sacred ,word1 if they were not an actual people4 ,in addition to the many other references1 in the various lists of races given as occupying different portions of the ancient world1 the ,bible mentions the ,hittite peoples twenty-one separate and distinct times4 ,the eminent dean of higher criticism1 the late ,canon ,driver1 ascribes these historical catalogs of peoples to imagination and fiction1 and refers to them in such words as these1 8,the ,hittites are also regularly mentioned in the rhetorical lists40 ,canon ,driver is careful to note that these lists of peoples are found in that section of the ,scripture which he calls the 8,elohistic ,manuscript40 ,it is not hard to understand that one who starts with the assumption of incredibility1 would have trouble believing in the reality of the statements in a document so treated4 ,the writers of the ,scripture1 in their dealings with the subject of this forgotten people1 sketch an amazing picture indeed4 ,they portray a warlike1 powerful1 well organized race whose genius at colonization and military ability combined to win for them a veritable world empire4 ,the center of their dominion was ,syria1 but from thence they reached out to lay their yoke upon ,egypt1 to overrun ,palestine1 and to force the early ,assyrians to pay tribute to their might and power4 ,it seems almost inconceivable that in the voluminous records of antiquity there should have been no single word concerning this mighty race4 ,for until the closing decades of the nineteenth century1 the ,hittites had no place in secular history4 ,they were preserved to the memory of man1 simply and only because of the forty-eight ,old ,testament references which we have previously mentioned4 ,the scholarly critics argued that it would be impossible for a world empire to disappear from history without leaving a single trace4 ,they insisted that if a race of men had ever lived who dominated the world of their day1 common sense would incline us to the conclusion that they could not suddenly fade away from the memory of man and leave no evidence of their existence4 ,but they did6 ,from the very beginning of this argument1 it should have been apparent that there were two ways to approach the problem4 ,one way was the method which was adopted by the higher critics1 namely1 to assume that the ,old ,testament is fallible4 ,adopting as the grounds of investigation the pre-conceived conclusion that the records of the ,old ,testament are fallacious and incredible1 the critics then proceeded to search for proof of this basic assumption4 ,by dogmatically asserting that the ,old ,testament was not historical1 but that much of its contents consisted of folklore and myth1 inductive conclusions were offered as proof of this presumption4 ,it did not seem to occur to the higher critical scholars that a better way to study the ,word would have been to concede the historicity of the text until it was disproved by evidence4 ,this1 of course1 has ever been the method used by the orthodox student of the ,word4 ,we might say in passing that this is not only the intelligent technique but is also the safer process4 ,to say the very least1 it saves the embarrassment that inevitably comes to him who arrays himself against the integrity of the ,word of ,god6 ,the first appearance of the ,hittites in the ,bible is in the fifteenth chapter of the ,book of ,genesis1 verse twenty3 8,and the ,hittites1 and the ,perizzites1 and the ,rephaims40 ,this is perhaps the very earliest coincidence of archeology with the records of the ,scripture4 ,in the various lists of races who were to be displaced by ,israel1 according to the covenant ,god made with ,abraham1 the ,hittites are frequently named4 ,without any reservation or qualification whatever1 this text which we have just cited states that the ,hittites were ,canaanites4 ,according to ,genesis #aj3ae1 the ,canaanitish people came through the line of ,sidon and ,heth4 ,it is apparent also from ,genesis #aj3f1 where ,canaan the son of ,ham first comes into the record1 that these ,hittites1 if they had existed1 would have been akin to the early population of ,chaldea and ,babylon4 ,it is an interesting fact to note that the monuments of antiquity which have restored these ,hittites to their proper place in secular history1 show them to have had a mixture of ,semitic and ,mongolian characteristics4 ,in the various appearances of these people in the ,old ,testament records1 it is to be noted that several characters married ,hittite wives4 ,bathsheba1 who was the mother of ,solomon1 and thus infused a ,gentile strain into the genealogy of ,mary1 who was the mother of our ,lord1 was a ,hittite woman4 ,in ,i ,kings #aa3a1 it is also stated that ,solomon1 among his many political marriages1 had taken to himself wives from among the ,hittites4 ,these people1 although unknown in the orderly annals of human history1 might have been recognized had the scholarly ability of earlier generations been able correctly to interpret obsolete systems of writings4 ,the ,assyrians called them the 8,khatti40 ,in the ,egyptian inscriptions they are known as the 8,kheta40 ,the fact that these names referred to the ,hittites was not known until the ,hittite inscriptions themselves were read and interpreted and the fact of their reality established4 ,it is to be regretted that in a work as short as this one we have not room to recapitulate their long and fascinating history4 ,the romance of their recovery of their rightful place in the annals of human conduct is all that we can present in this chapter4 ,they were thrust by human ignorance into the outer darkness of forgotten things1 but we can trace the hand of ,god in bringing them back into the light of remembrance and establishing them in their proper place of glory and prominence among the empires of antiquity4 ,without hesitation we would offer this as the perfect demonstration of the manner in which ,almighty ,god cares for ,his ,word4 ,when ,his ,book is assailed and discredited1 ,he will1 if need be1 raise the dead to establish the integrity of the ,inspired ,record4 ,it might be noted in passing that secular history is now often corrected by archeology4 ,the misunderstandings and errors which were alleged to appear in the ,bible1 and which are common to the production of a purely human document1 are being done away with as we read them again in the light of the monuments4 ,wherever such correction has been made1 it has had the effect of bringing secular history into complete harmony with the ,bible4 ,so in restoring the empire of the ,hittites to the staid columns of accredited history1 the ,divine ,record is again confirmed4 ,it is inevitable that these ,hittites should appear in the ,ancient ,word1 as they largely parallel the history of the ,hebrew kingdom in point of time4 ,from the days of ,abraham to the end of the kingdom of ,israel1 the ,hittites and the ,hebrews walked side by side and hand in hand4 ,during that time ,hittites and ,israelites alike are the enemies of ,egypt4 ,alike they battled against ,babylon and ,assyria1 they intermarried1 had treaties and covenants each with the other1 and had a well developed system of commerce between the nations4 ,plate #ai ,illustration3 ,small ivory lion from ,ahab's palace ,author's collection 7,photo by ,dworshak7 ,plate #bj ,illustration3 ,fragmentary frieze showing ancient chariots 7,museum of the ,university of ,pennsylvania7 ,king ,solomon1 the merchant prince1 had developed business relations with all of the many chieftains and kings of the ,hittite peoples1 and had a well developed trade in the horses and chariots for which the ,hittites were famous in their day4 7,see ,plate #bj47 ,this coincidence of affairs began when ,abraham consummated the first commercial transaction that is mentioned in human history4 ,before ,abraham left ,ur of the ,chaldees to begin his strange pilgrimage1 the ,hittites were already established in ,canaan4 ,it must not be thought that ,abraham at that time was the ancient prototype of our modern hobo1 wandering from point to point with no estate6 ,the pastoral pursuits of ,abraham had built up for him flocks and herds that made him enormously wealthy4 ,he was an able strategist1 and his military skill1 combined with his personal valor1 had elevated him to a high position of power and influence4 ,in the land of ,canaan he was treated with honor and admiration as befitted his station and position4 ,his armed retainers constituted a formidable army for that day1 and this trained manpower compelled respect for ,abraham1 the wandering prince4 ,when ,sarah died1 the ,hittites were in possession of the land and ,abraham recognized the validity of their title when he opened the negotiations for a burial plot for ,sarah1 by defining himself as a stranger and a sojourner in their land4 ,with typical oriental courtesy in bargaining1 the ,hittites replied to his request for a burying place for his dead wife by saying1 8,hear us1 my lord1 thou art a mighty prince among us10 and they offered him freely and without price the choice of a plot for a sepulchre4 ,abraham designated the cave of ,machpelah as his choice and offered to pay the full value of the site4 ,this courtesy1 of course1 was expected of him4 ,though it had been offered as a free gift1 it would have been a breach of manners of the worst type1 according to the customs of that day1 for him to have accepted the gift4 ,it will be noted in this account in ,genesis that when ,abraham weighed out the requested price of four hundred shekels of silver1 the statement was made that it was the shekel which was the current money with the merchants4 ,the sum was equivalent to about #cjj in our present system of values4 ,this is the first reference made to coinage1 and it fits in beautifully with the archeological indications that the ,hittites were the inventors of the principle of coining both gold and silver as a medium of exchange4 ,from this first moment of their contact with ,abraham there is no period of ,hebrew history1 up to the time of the fall of ,samaria1 where the people of ,israel lost contact with the nation of the ,hittites4 ,their mercenary soldiers became captains in the army of ,david and ,solomon1 and they were occasionally allied in important battles in which the people of ,israel fought side by side with them4 ,it is amazing that the critics1 in the face of the tremendous emphasis laid upon the ,hittite empire by the writers of the ,scripture1 did not exercise some discretion in their repudiation of the historicity of this people4 ,even while the tongues of the unbelieving were clamoring with loud denunciations of the text of the ,word of ,god1 ,libya1 ,syria1 and ,asia ,minor in general exhibited magnificent sculpture1 incised stones1 and monuments written in a strange system of hieroglyphics that none had been able to read4 ,these proved later to be the records of the ,hittite peoples as they themselves had cut them with their own hands4 ,we shall later refer to the great work of ,dr4 ,a4 ,h4 ,sayce in deciphering these hieroglyphics4 ,his achievement in that instance was1 in the annals of human history1 one of the greatest triumphs of pure reason4 ,before this was done1 however1 the ,hittites had begun to stretch themselves and stir in the tomb of oblivion4 ,their long sleep was ended and they began to rise from the dead1 when experts in ,egyptology read the record of ,ramses the ,second4 ,it is not too much to say that these early discoveries threw the camp of higher criticism into utter confusion4 ,ramses the ,second successfully ended a period of warfare with the ,hittites which had vexed and distressed ,egypt for more than five hundred years4 ,so great was the power of the ,hittite empire that no previous conqueror or king in ,egypt had been able to shake off their yoke completely4 ,indeed1 ,ramses the ,second succeeded in so doing only by contracting an important political marriage with a ,hittite princess4 ,the center of the ,hittite empire was ,charchemish4 ,on the site of ,megiddo1 which was so often the scene of battles in successive years1 the forces of ,ramses fought with the armed forces of the ,hittites4 ,there the ,egyptian monarch successfully defeated the ,hittites in one of the most stirring battles preserved to us in ancient records4 ,the ,hittites at this time were governed by a number of kings who had a close confederation in all affairs pertaining to the empire4 ,in the day of ,ramses the confederation was headed by the king of ,kadesh4 ,according to ,ramses' record1 which is preserved for us on the walls of ,karnak1 all 8the kings and peoples from the water of ,egypt to the river-land of ,mesopotamia obeyed this chief40 ,this army of the confederation massed itself on the bloody field of ,megiddo in a battle which lasted six hours4 ,ramses tells in detail how he marched and maneuvered his forces to gain strategic advantages4 ,it was a coincidence that the battle began on the morning of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the ascension of ,ramses the ,second4 ,he celebrated the anniversary of his crowning by throwing off the yoke of the ,hittites4 ,a complete victory was denied ,ramses1 due to the fact that when the ,hittite force broke and fled before him1 his army failed to take advantage of the rout4 ,falling upon the rich plunder1 they fought among themselves over the spoils so long that the ,hittites were able to enter their fortified city and barricade it against the ,egyptians4 ,an element of humor enters into the final statement4 ,ramses recounts that he besieged the city for a number of days1 but since 8,megiddo had the might of a thousand cities1 the king graciously pardoned the foreign princes40 ,in the list of the spoil that the ,egyptians gathered from this battle1 there occurred the names of one hundred nineteen towns and cities which henceforth paid tribute to ,egypt4 ,the next important item was the capture of nine hundred twenty-four chariots1 including the personal chariot of the ,hittite king which was plated and armored with gold4 7,see ,plate #bj47 ,although ,ramses boasted that he had 8completely overthrown the might and power of the ,hittites10 the future history of this ,pharaoh depicts campaign after campaign lasting until the end of his life4 ,at least nine campaigns are recorded on the walls of ,karnak1 in each of which the ,hittites were singularly exterminated1 completely overthrown1 and defeated for all time hereafter4 ,the only trouble seems to have been that the ,hittites didn't realize how completely they were defeated1 so that they came back again and again6 ,the nearest to peace that ,ramses ever achieved1 in his dealings with this race1 was when upon his marriage with a ,hittite princess1 a great treaty was signed4 ,in the records of his battles1 ,ramses refers to the ,hittite king as 8the miserable lord of the despised ,hittites40 ,when he records the treaty that he made at the time of his marriage1 he refers to the same man as 8his noble and magnificent brother1 a fellow to sit with the god of the sun by the side of ,ramses himself40 ,it is evident1 then1 that some of ,ramses' records must be taken with a grain of salt4 ,we noticed recently1 as we were studying and photographing the battle scene of ,megiddo which is portrayed on the north side of the great temple at ,karnak1 that ,ramses is shown as having thrown to the ground all the ,hittites and as having slain their king4 ,seven years later1 however1 the king is still alive to give his daughter in marriage to ,ramses6 ,since the ,hittites were at this time the central power of the ancient world1 peace with them meant peace with all the other enemies of ,egypt4 ,perhaps1 for this reason1 ,ramses' boasting of his great victory might be pardoned4 ,this great battle is also immortalized by a contemporary poet4 ,the papyrus copy of this poem is now in the possession of the ,british ,museum4 ,many stanzas from this notable work1 however1 are to be seen in connection with the magnificent battle pictures at ,karnak4 ,some of these are also repeated in the temple at ,luxor1 as well as on the great monument at ,abydos4 ,professor ,wright refers to this poem as 8the earliest specimen of special war correspondence40 ,this work is known as the poem of ,pentauer4 ,pentauer is the name of a ,theban poet who wrote his dramatic ode two years after the battle between ,ramses the ,second and the ,hittite horde4 ,the boastful extravagance of his language becomes a bit wearisome as he sings the praises of ,ramses and chants of the impossible feats of the monarch4 ,an example of hyperbole is offered in this verse3 8,king ,pharaoh was young and bold4 ,his arms were strong1 his heart courageous4 ,he seized his weapons1 and a hundred thousand sunk before his glance4 ,he armed his people and his chariots4 ,as he marched towards the land of the ,hittites1 the whole earth trembled4 ,his warriors passed by the path of the desert1 and went along the roads of the north40 ,the 8miserable and deceitful king of the ,hittites10 however1 had prepared an ambush4 ,when the ,hittites sprang their trap with their king in their midst1 ,pharaoh called on his mighty men to follow him4 ,leaping into his chariot1 he assaulted the numberless horsemen and the armored footmen of the horde of the ,hittites1 and plunged into the midst of their ablest and bravest warriors4 ,as he fought his way into the press of these noble horses1 ,ramses looked around to see how his force was getting along4 ,to his surprise he found that they had not followed him2 and he was hemmed in by two thousand five hundred chariots which were manned by the mightiest of the ,hittite champions4 ,deserted by his entire army1 ,pharaoh saw that he had to rely upon his own ability1 so 8shouting for joy1 with the aid of the god ,amon1 he hurled darts with his right hand and thrust with the sword in his left hand60 ,he 8slew two thousand five hundred horses which were dashed to pieces60 ,he 8laid dead the noble ,hittite knights until their limbs dissolved with fear and they had no courage to thrust60 ,he swept them into the river ,orontes and slew as long as it was his pleasure4 ,it is quite evident that ,pentauer relied largely upon his imagination for the details of this great battle4 ,however exaggerated this poem may be1 nevertheless it has some historical value4 ,especially is this so since the poem of ,pentauer and the ,karnak record of ,ramses the ,second are in virtual agreement as to the essential details of this battle4 ,plate #ba ,illustration3 hieroglyphs divinity king country plurality supremacy e1 i4 u1 o4 dimes1 di tu1 to kus ku khat1 khattu si es tar sis sar tarku1 tarkus kue1 mesi seal1 inscription 8to speak0 sun-god3 8behold0 ,illustration3 ,from such funerary papyri much valuable information regarding ,egyptian beliefs and customs is derived ,incidentally1 the walls of ,karnak yielded from the records of other kings the historic evidence of an actual ,hittite empire4 ,tuthmosis the ,third immortalized the ,hittites on the walls of ,karnak when he gave a list of towns in the land of the ,hittites over which he was victorious4 ,unquestionably this list contains the first and oldest authentic account of ancient cities1 which are frequently afterwards mentioned in the ,assyrian records as well4 ,this record is found in the splendid temple which is called the 8,hall of ,pillars0 and which was erected by this notable pharaoh4 ,it has been said that in this work the art of ,egypt reached its highest point4 ,certainly the walls and pillars are literally covered with the beautifully engraved pictures and names of the races and cities which the pharaoh had conquered4 ,when the ,department of ,antiquities was working upon the wall of a lower section1 a catalog of one hundred nineteen conquered places came to light4 ,this record showed that1 more than three hundred years before the ,israelites entered the land of ,canaan1 the ,hittites were established in a powerful dominion over that lovely land4 ,there are seven separate records of the contacts of this pharaoh with the people who were the ,hittites4 ,ramses the ,first has also left a record of the treaty of peace that he made with the ,hittite king ,seplal at the end of the war that he unsuccessfully fought to throw off the yoke of this people4 ,on the north wall of the temple at ,karnak1 he gives the route of his march and tells of the victories that he won4 ,he did not1 however1 delineate his final capitulation4 ,this conflict resulted in a treaty of peace which is recorded in this account4 ,the successor of ,ramses the ,first was ,seti the ,first1 and in his day the treaty was broken4 ,according to ,seti1 it was the ,hittites who offended against the covenant1 and he also engraved on the walls at ,karnak an account of the consequent battle with its result4 ,to bring just a short line from his voluminous record1 he acknowledges his own greatness in such an inscription as the following3 8,seti has struck down the ,asiatics2 he has thrown to the ground the ,kheta4 ,he has slain their princes40 ,telling them how he concluded a treaty with the ,hittites1 to the enhancement of his own glory1 ,seti's record concludes with these words3 8,he returns home in triumph4 ,he has annihilated the people4 ,he has struck to the ground the ,kheta4 ,he has made an end of his adversaries4 ,the enmity of all people is turned into friendship40 ,with just this brief reference to the voluminous records to be found in ,egyptian archeology1 we would be able to establish the triumph of the ,bible in the realm of historical accuracy1 had we no other sources4 ,the fact of the matter1 however1 is that the ,assyrian and ,babylonian accounts of the ,hittites are at least as numerous as are the ,egyptian4 ,it may be noted in passing that1 although filled with consternation at these marvelous discoveries in ,egyptology1 the critics were by no means silenced4 ,it would have been better for their later reputation had they graciously accepted their defeat and acknowledged that they were in error4 ,instead1 they rushed into vociferous refutation of the newly discovered ,egyptian records4 ,unfortunately1 their denunciations and renewed claims were given wide publicity by being included in the then current edition of the ,encyclopedia ,britannica4 ,it is to be regretted that this great encyclopedia has often been a tremendous aid to criticism in spreading its errors and fallacies4 ,this in large measure is due to the fact that there is a common reverence for this great work in the mind of the average human4 ,there is a certain class of readers who hold this notable reference work in such great reverence that its authority to them is greater than that of the ,word of ,god4 ,it must be remembered1 however1 that the encyclopedia of each generation represents only the current thought of that brief period of human experience4 ,anything that is written by man is subject to later revision or repudiation1 as human knowledge increases4 ,so in this great compendium of human wisdom it is unfortunate that much space was given to the famed critic1 the ,rev4 ,t4 ,k4 ,cheyne4 ,this eminent authority was a ,fellow of ,balliol ,college1 ,oxford4 ,in the above cited article1 he treated the statements of the ,bible as unhistorical and classified them as pure folklore4 ,concerning the ,biblical references to the ,hittites1 he used these exact words1 8,they cannot be taken as of equal authority with the ,egyptian and ,assyrian inscriptions60 ,in dealing with ,abraham's purchase of the burial plot for ,sarah1 he had a great deal to say in refutation of the possibility of any accuracy in the record4 ,at the conclusion of his criticism he stated1 8,how meager the tradition respecting the ,hittites was in the time of the great ,elohistic narrator1 is shown by the picture of ,hittite life in this reference40 ,dr4 ,cheyne fell into the great error of claiming that the ,hittites were only warriors4 ,because they are thus shown on the walls of ,karnak1 he concluded that they were mercenary troops who never entered into business transactions4 ,in his article on the ,canaanites in this above cited encyclopedia1 he goes so far as to say1 8,the ,hittites seem to have been included among the ,canaanites by mistake4 ,historical evidence proves convincingly that they dwelt beyond the borders of ,canaan40 ,these conclusions were also advocated by his great colleague and collaborator1 ,prof4 ,w4 ,h4 ,newman4 ,dr4 ,newman was also a ,fellow of ,balliol ,college at ,oxford and is the author of the once famous 8,history of the ,hebrew ,monarchy40 ,in all of this work he maintained that the ,hittite references in the ,old ,testament were unqualifiedly unhistorical4 ,they prove beyond question1 according to the author1 that the writers of the ,old ,testament were totally unacquainted with the times of which they wrote4 ,his conclusion was that the ,old ,testament was written many centuries after the events which it purports to depict4 ,he stated with finality1 along with ,dr4 ,cheyne1 that the ,hittite people were limited to ,syria and had no place in ,palestine4 ,thus the story of ,abraham buying territory from them at ,hebron is unquestionably mythological4 ,these ardent advocates of a collapsing theory should have waited6 ,it was not long after these utterances were printed that ,prof4 ,sayce deciphered certain of the ,assyrian records of ,tiglath-pileser4 ,these showed that in the reign of this monarch1 as late as #aacj ,b4 ,c41 the ,hittites were still in command of all the territory from the ,euphrates to ,lebanon6 ,again the ,word of ,god was vindicated1 when the monuments1 as they were deciphered1 yielded the interesting information that the ,hittites were notable colonizers4 ,they also covered all the ancient world as merchants1 and their caravans and trade-routes were the earliest to be established4 ,they are in ,assyrian annals depicted as artisans and artists4 ,although all of them could fight when war was inevitable1 they had a standing army for the casual and necessary protection of the realm4 ,dr4 ,newman was unfortunate also in choosing the time in which he charged the ,bible with error4 ,at a most unfortunate period for criticism in the history of archeology he questioned the details of ,hittite prowess in the incidental references of the ,scripture4 ,as though the scientists of that day were in league with the ,lord1 they laid bare in site after site a refutation of all the critics maintained6 ,it will be remembered that in connection with the siege of ,samaria1 as the story is given in ,,ii ,kings1 the seventh chapter1 there is a peculiar but important reference to the ,hittites and their known power4 ,the people of ,israel who were commanded by ,jehoram were distressed by the siege of their capital when ,benhadad of ,damascus had pressed them to the limit of their resistance4 ,famine and disease had swept ,samaria1 so that the remnant faced the choice of surrendering or perishing4 ,elisha had prophesied a deliverance1 and in verses six and seven in the seventh chapter of ,,ii ,kings1 the fulfillment of ,god's promise is given in this way3 8,for the ,lord had made the host of the ,syrians to hear a noise of chariots1 and a noise of horses1 even the noise of a great host3 and they said one to another1 ,lo1 the king of ,israel hath hired against us the kings of the ,hittites1 and the kings of the ,egyptians1 to come upon us4 8,wherefore1 they arose and fled in the twilight1 and left their tents1 and their horses1 and their asses1 even the camp as it was1 and fled for their life40 ,professor ,newman found a great deal of grounds for hilarity in what he called this 8childish narrative40 ,he says1 8,the unhistorical tone is too manifest to allow of our easy belief in it40 ,he admits that there may have been some unusual deliverance of ,samaria1 because of collateral records of dangerous night panics among various hordes of antiquity4 ,he adds1 however1 in reference to the ,bible account1 8,the particular ground of alarm attributed to them does not exhibit the writer's acquaintance with the times in a very favorable light4 ,no ,hittite kings can have compared in power with the king of ,judah1 the real and near ally1 who is not named at all4 ,nor is there a single mark of acquaintance with the facts of contemporaneous history40 ,two sources of information1 however1 have since been derived that flatly refute the learned ,professor and vindicate the accuracy of the record of ,god's ,word4 ,the ,assyrian sources show conclusively1 upon the examination of their records1 that the ,hittites at that time were the greatest power with which the monarchs of ,chaldea had to deal4 ,in the records of ,assur-,nasir-pal a long and powerful tribute is paid to the military might of the ,hittites4 ,so in that day they were still a strong and warlike people4 ,they were especially dreaded by the armies of antiquity because of the unique distinction of their chariots4 ,it is to this fact that the writer of ,,ii ,kings refers when he speaks of 8the noise of chariots40 ,the walls of ,karnak give us a clear and illuminating description of these ancient weapons of battle4 ,each chariot was drawn by two horses1 armored and shod with spikes4 ,three warriors rode in each chariot4 ,one of these handled the reins1 while the other two plied arrow1 javelin1 sword1 and dart1 working untold havoc in the closely packed ranks of ancient infantry4 7,see ,plate #bj47 ,plate #bb ,illustration3 ,monuments of ,petra1 showing extent of the ruins in one direction ,plate #bc ,illustration3 ,looking the opposite way from ,plate #bb ,it is also noted that ,assur-,nasir-pal has given a detailed account of the treasures that he derived from the defeated ,hittites4 ,among them he lists with great delight 8swift chariots with horses therefor40 ,whenever this monarch won a victory over the ,hittites1 he refers again and again to their chariots4 ,one such reference is seen in this statement3 8,the chariots and warlike engines of the general of ,charchemis ,i laid up in my magazines40 ,we have already noted that ,solomon was engaged in trade with the people called ,hittites1 taking chariots and horses in exchange for his merchandise4 ,ramses the ,second states that the ,hittite chiefs were distinguished among the nations 8for their swift chariots and horses and their engines of war40 ,it would seem indeed that the writer of ,,ii ,kings was better acquainted with the times of which he wrote than was the later critic who disdains the authority of the ancient scribe6 ,shalmaneser made five references to the ,hittites1 in every one of which he refers to their chariots4 ,in the monument of ,shalmaneser1 which is now found in the ,british ,museum1 the inscription represents the ,hittites at ,charchemish with various of their allies fighting against ,shalmaneser4 ,he concludes this record by saying1 8,with them ,i fought2 their corpses like chaff through the country ,i scattered4 ,multitudes of chariots and horses trained to the yoke ,i seized40 ,sargon also tells of his overthrow of the ,hittite kingdom1 and mentions the chariots that were so formidable an aid to their military campaigns4 ,it may be noted in passing that ,dr4 ,cheyne1 like the eminent ,dr4 ,sayce1 was later converted to faith in the integrity of the ,word of ,god4 ,this might be called one of the later victories of the ,hittite empire4 ,its people have risen from the dead to fight for the faith and for the ,book which alike were delivered unto the saints by the ,spirit of ,god4 ,some of the later writings of ,dr4 ,cheyne constitute a frank repudiation of his earlier position4 ,his lectures and sermons1 after his discovery of the integrity of the ,bible1 still linger in the memory of those who were privileged to hear them4 ,the summary of the matter presents a complete victory for the orthodox school4 ,first1 as to the extent of their empire1 the ,egyptian and ,israelite inscriptions give three hundred geographical names in connection with the domain and rule of the ,hittites4 ,these cover almost every section of the ancient civilized world4 ,these same inscriptions also present a long list of the allies and the dependencies which paid tribute to the ,hittite kings4 ,lists of the satraps who reigned as vassals to the ,hittites have also been recovered4 ,secondly1 the ,hittite inscriptions themselves have now yielded their secrets to the earnest student4 ,the earliest note of ,hittite writings comes from a traveler1 who in #ahab discovered some incised stones and engraved mounds which were covered with unknown hieroglyphics4 ,these finds were made at ,hamath1 a small city in ,syria4 ,in the light of the archeological interest of our generation it seems incredible that these inscriptions were then ignored completely for threescore years4 ,then ,dr4 ,william ,wright1 a ,protestant missionary in ,damascus1 was enabled1 by the authority he wielded through his friendship with high government officials1 to procure these stones and to remove them4 ,some of these relics had been built into the houses of ,hamath and were part of the walls of occupied domiciles4 ,one at least was so heavy that it took eight hours for four oxen to move it one mile4 ,the romance and adventure of his indomitable pursuit of these stones is covered in ,dr4 ,wright's own memoirs and writings4 ,at this time1 ,dr4 ,a4 ,h4 ,sayce1 one of the greatest archeologists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries1 began the tedious task of deciphering these hieroglyphics4 ,with no aid1 such as the ,egyptologists received from the ,rosetta ,stone1 ,dr4 ,sayce started out on a cold trail4 ,his ultimate victory constitutes one of the greatest triumphs of pure reason in the long record of human endeavor4 ,to show something of the difficulty that ,dr4 ,sayce faced1 we have portrayed on page #aid one of these ,hittite inscriptions written in the hieroglyphics of their time4 ,we have also shown in plate #ba the key that was worked out by ,dr4 ,sayce4 ,dr4 ,william ,wright1 working independently1 arrived at practically the same conclusions4 ,when these records were publicized as ,hittite inscriptions a storm of protest came from the critics of the ,scripture1 who utterly rejected the findings of both ,sayce and ,wright4 ,they attempted to minimize any historical value that might be derived from the translation of these inscriptions4 ,having built their case against the integrity of the ,bible so strongly upon the error presumed to be found in the ,hittite references1 they could not give up their demonstration without a struggle4 ,at this time there came to light a reference to a silver disk that had previously been offered to the ,british ,museum4 ,this consisted of a convex silver plate4 ,it had every resemblance to the ordinary boss which is found on the top of the handle of a dagger when such instruments are decorated4 ,this boss1 or plate1 had in its center a picture of a warrior standing upright4 ,he was dressed in the typical garb of a ,hittite soldier4 ,around this warrior were two rows of hieroglyphics1 one on either side4 ,these hieroglyphics were enclosed in a circle4 ,outside the circle was an inscription in the cuneiform script4 ,when this boss was offered to the ,british ,museum1 they kept it a while for study and rejected it on the grounds that it was probably spurious4 ,fortunately1 however1 they had made an electrotype copy of this article4 ,when the conclusions of ,sayce and ,wright were rejected by the critics1 ,dr4 ,sayce heard of this exhibit4 ,thinking that it might be a way to the ,hittite inscriptions1 he prosecuted his search for the original4 ,it had disappeared1 but he fortunately recovered the copy that was in the ,british ,museum4 ,this copy then became paramount evidence4 ,at a glance1 ,dr4 ,sayce identified the hieroglyphics as being ,hittite in origin4 ,using the key that he had worked out for the translation of the hieroglyphics1 he translated the boss to be the possession of one ,tarkondemos4 ,having read this in the ,hittite hieroglyphics1 he then translated the cuneiform text and found the two to be identical4 ,this vindication of the accuracy of this earlier work won the confidence of the scholarly world in the ,hittite inscriptions4 ,this was the deciding voice4 ,the ,hittites became historical to the modern scholar from the records of ,egypt1 ,assyria1 and ,babylon4 ,they become real to us from their own inscriptions4 ,nowhere in all the records of human research and endeavour is it possible to find a greater and more complete assembling of the vindication of the integrity of the ,word of ,god4 ,even though the hand of the ,almighty must shake the very foundations of ancient history1 ,he has sworn that ,his ,word shall be maintained4 ,thus ,he has called from the limbo of forgotten races an entire nation in an archeological resurrection1 that they1 though dead1 may tell their tale of the credibility of the ,word of ,god4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,the ,resurrection of ,edom ,from the staggering mass of archeological material and evidence which is at the disposal of the twentieth century scholar1 it is very difficult to choose the most perfect illustrations of our theme4 ,if the case of the ,hittites offers a complete refutation of the critical theories concerning the origin and veracity of the ,old ,testament1 the resurrection of ,edom is no less dramatic and valuable4 ,the word 8,edom10 together with its various derivates such as 8,edomite10 occurs more than fourscore times in the text of the ,old ,testament4 ,as the history of this region and its various inhabitants unfolds in the ,old ,testament story1 there is a complete1 remarkable and stirring record of this land and its people that covers many centuries of time4 ,the word ,edom first occurs in the twenty-fifth chapter of ,genesis1 thirtieth verse3 8,and ,esau said to ,jacob1 ,feed me1 ,i pray thee1 with that same red pottage2 for ,i am faint3 therefore was his name called ,edom40 ,in this first instance the word appears in connection with the eldest son of ,isaac1 whose name was changed from ,esau to ,edom because of the strange incident of the sale of his birthright4 ,the pottage that his younger brother1 ,jacob1 had cooked was made from a lentil which gave a red hue that was characteristic of any food in which this particular lentil was used4 ,so1 because ,esau exchanged his priceless rights of inheritance for a pot of red mush1 his name was thereafter called ,edom4 ,in the thirty-sixth chapter of ,genesis1 verses one1 eight1 and nineteen1 this same definite statement is carried out3 8,now these are the generations of ,esau1 who is ,edom40 8,thus dwelt ,esau in mount ,seir3 ,esau is ,edom40 8,these are the sons of ,esau1 who is ,edom1 and these are their dukes40 ,here we read that the dwelling place of ,esau and his people was in mount ,seir1 and that ,esau is ,edom4 ,hence the name of ,edom was also applied to the people who descended from ,esau1 as well as to the country wherein they dwelt4 ,this region of the ancient world was also known as mount ,seir4 ,it was so named because of the progenitor of the ,horites who originally dwelt in that section4 ,we are told that this people derived their name from ,hori1 who was the son of ,seir4 ,this ancient people habitually dwelt in caves4 ,therefore1 by transition1 their name came to mean cave dwellers1 as it was descriptive of their type of habitation4 ,if one should journey from ,jerusalem to the center of ,edom today1 the most convenient route would lie through the modern city of ,amman1 which is at the present writing the seat of government of ,iraq4 ,on the outskirts of this city1 and all through this region1 the limestone caves are today occupied by families of people4 ,they1 with their folks1 their horses and cattle1 and all of their possessions1 dwell in these ancestral caves in contentment as their fathers have always done before them4 ,these caves are furnished as our modern homes are equipped1 with rugs1 tapestries1 and all the treasures that go to make a human habitation into a home6 ,to summarize the ,old ,testament record of ,edom and ,edomites1 we must begin by noting that although ,esau sold his birthright1 his brother ,jacob actually stole the blessing4 ,we are all familiar with this fascinating drama of the deception wrought by ,jacob at his mother's insistence1 when he impersonated his brother to deceive his dying father4 ,this account constitutes one of the implacably honest records characteristic of the ,bible4 ,no other book known to man is so frank in the delineation of the weaknesses of its leading characters1 as ,god can deal honestly with sin and failure1 since ,he knows how to overrule such1 and effect a cure6 ,when ,esau learned that the blessing of his father had been stolen by his younger brother1 he took a solemn oath that as soon as the days of mourning for his father were ended1 he would slay ,jacob1 the deceiver4 ,his vengeance was frustrated1 however1 as ,isaac and ,rebekah sent ,jacob to ,padan-aram4 ,here ,jacob met a shrewd bargainer more ruthless than himself2 and dwelt in ,padan-aram for twenty years1 during which he prospered enormously4 ,on his way home from his long sojourn1 the account tells how he met ,esau4 ,two chapters of ,genesis1 namely1 the thirty-second and the thirty-third1 are occupied with this dramatic and human document4 ,still burdened by the guilt of his dishonest conduct in the matter of the blessing1 and perhaps feeling also that he had been less than honorable in buying the birthright1 ,jacob prepared an enticing bribe to soften the wrath of ,esau4 ,word had been brought to him that ,esau was coming to meet him with four hundred retainers1 and ,jacob believed that the hour of reckoning had come4 ,the score of years1 however1 had softened the wrath of ,esau1 and he greeted his younger brother with love and affection4 ,refusing to accept any bribe or present at his hand1 he made him welcome to his possession4 ,the record distinctly states that at that time ,esau was dwelling in ,seir4 ,it is evident that he must have prospered there1 as the genealogical tables in the thirty-sixth chapter of ,genesis list his progeny4 ,all of his grandsons appear in the record as dukes4 ,verses one1 eight and nine of this chapter identify the ,edomites as descendants of ,esau4 ,they further identify the land of their dwelling with the ancient site of ,seir4 ,to clarify this point1 we here reproduce these three verses3 8,now these are the generations of ,esau1 who is ,edom40 8,thus dwelt ,esau in mount ,seir3 ,esau is ,edom40 8,and these are the generations of ,esau the father of the ,edomites in mount ,seir40 ,verse twenty begins the list of the previous inhabitants of ,seir1 who are called the ,horites4 ,these people are listed in ,genesis #ad3f as among the races that were smitten by ,chedorlaomer in the days of ,abraham in the notable ,battle of the ,kings4 ,it seems evident1 then1 that ,esau was powerful enough to overcome the ,horites and to impose his dominion upon them4 ,the two companies intermarried and became the ,edomites of the later record4 ,the next important point in their development is introduced in the twentieth chapter of ,numbers4 ,as the children of ,israel were making their notable journey from ,egypt to the land of ,canaan1 ,moses sent a courteous request to the king of ,edom asking permission to make a peaceful passage across that land4 ,the salutation of ,moses was brotherly and affectionate4 ,he reminded the king of ,edom that ,israel and the ,edomites were brethren4 ,he asserted his peaceful purpose1 and gave a pledge not to harm the fields or the crops with the passage of his flocks4 ,the king of ,edom summarily refused this courteous request in the most graceless manner4 ,he threatened the company of ,israel and forbade them to pass over his domain4 ,the answer of ,moses was a renewal of the request for peaceful passage4 ,this time1 ,moses stated that they would stay to the high and rocky way where no harm could come to the land from their herds4 ,he even covenanted to pay for such water as the flocks might drink4 ,the result was a renewal of the threat to oppose the passage with the edge of the sword4 ,consequently the people of ,israel were forced to make a circuit of ,edom1 and they passed around its border by way of mount ,hor4 ,from this time on1 there was implacable enmity between the two great branches of these ,semitic people4 ,the subsequent history is a constant record of battle and hatred on both sides4 ,saul fought against them in the days of his might1 and records with delight his various successes against them4 ,when ,david occupied the throne warfare was renewed4 ,so great a nuisance did the ,edomites prove to the people of ,israel in ,david's day1 that this great warrior king finally directed a complete campaign against them4 ,in the notable battle that was fought in the salt valley1 he slew eighteen thousand of the ,edomite army and pressed on to capture their cities4 ,in their conquered strongholds1 he placed capable garrisons4 ,under ,joab these garrisons patrolled the land for more than six months4 ,at this time ,benhadad1 to whom we shall again refer1 escaped to ,egypt to become a later source of distress to ,israel4 ,in all of their history1 the ,edomites were consistently allied against ,israel4 ,they never missed a chance to vex their kinsmen4 ,no matter who the enemy of ,israel might be1 the ,edomites hastened to form an alliance with that foe and gladly accepted the occasion to battle against ,israel4 ,this bad blood that existed between these races1 who should have been allied by the ties of consanguinity1 resulted in the prophecies that foretold the final overthrow of ,edom and the destruction of the people4 ,such a prophecy is written in ,jeremiah #di1 verses seventeen and twenty3 8,also ,edom shall be a desolation3 every one that goeth by it shall be astonished1 and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof40 8,therefore hear the counsel of the ,lord1 that he hath taken against ,edom2 and his purposes that he hath taken against ,edom2 and his purposes that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of ,teman3 ,surely the least of the flock shall draw them out2 surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them40 ,when ,nebuchadnezzar finally took the people of ,israel away into their great captivity1 the ,edomites rejoiced without restraint4 ,their happiness was utterly unbounded and they celebrated with every means at their disposal4 ,they overran the southern regions of ,judah and took much of that land for themselves during the days of the captivity4 ,jeremiah1 in the ,book of ,lamentations1 reproves their unnatural jubilation and warns ,edom that the same fate that overtook ,israel will come upon them4 ,so also the prophet ,ezekiel speaks from his refuge and warns ,edom4 ,in the twenty-fifth chapter of ,ezekiel1 we read in verses twelve to fourteen1 this following warning3 8,thus saith the ,lord ,god2 ,because that ,edom hath dealt against the house of ,judah by taking vengeance1 and hath greatly offended1 and revenged himself upon them2 8,therefore thus saith the ,lord ,god2 ,i will also stretch out mine hand upon ,edom1 and will cut off man and beast from it2 and ,i will make it desolate from ,teman2 and they of ,dedan shall fall by the sword4 8,and ,i will lay my vengeance upon ,edom by the hand of my people ,israel3 and they shall do in ,edom according to mine anger and according to my fury2 and they shall know my vengeance1 saith the ,lord ,god40 ,joel adds his voice in a characteristic reference such as we find in the third chapter and nineteenth verse of his prophecy3 8,egypt shall be a desolation1 and ,edom shall be a desolate wilderness1 for the violence against the children of ,judah1 because they have shed innocent blood in their land40 ,so also ,amos1 in chapter one and verse eleven utters this fateful sentence3 8,thus saith the ,lord3 ,for three transgressions of ,edom1 and for four1 ,i will not turn away the punishment thereof2 because he did pursue his brother with the sword1 and did cast off all pity1 and his anger did tear perpetually1 and he kept his wrath forever40 ,thus the prophet is moved of ,god to list the continued transgressions of ,edom1 and the consequent and subsequent judgment4 ,so literally were these words of the prophets fulfilled that ,edom was not only overthrown and its people vanquished1 but for a great deal more than a thousand years the very name of their city and people dropped out of the memory of men4 ,here is one more case where a great people catastrophically disappeared from the stage of history1 leaving no secular record of the part that they had played in the drama of human life4 ,needless to say1 this was the critics' great occasion6 ,with a vociferous unanimity they argued and wrote that there had been no city called ,edom1 and no people called ,edomites4 ,since the word 8,edom0 literally means 8red10 the critics erected a fanciful demonstration purporting to show that the ,edomites would be any people with a red complexion4 ,according to their fanciful theory1 any race or group of people whose skin or hair was red would be poetically called ,edomites4 ,when the defenders of the text pointed to the denunciations in the prophets1 the critics laughed them out of the picture4 ,these utterances were listed as pure1 poetic fancy and figurative diatribes4 ,the critics pointed out that all such outbursts were found in the prophecies6 ,as a stated principle of higher criticism1 all prophecies are repudiated4 ,they are held to be purely fanciful1 and any fulfillment is entirely coincidental4 ,this attitude is the proper one for criticism to assume4 ,the supernatural fulfillment of prophecy is one of the strongest evidences of the ,divine origin of the ,scriptures4 ,such demonstrations cannot be reconciled with the critical basis of humanism4 ,therefore1 it is only logical that it be ignored or denied in a critical approach to the text4 ,the enemies of orthodoxy had one strong argument that in the early day seemed to be unanswerable4 ,their constant cry was 8,where is ,edom80 ,admittedly1 this was a question that the orthodox believer could not answer4 ,the city had disappeared1 the people were forgotten1 and no relic nor remnant of this race remained4 ,it was not until the nineteenth century of the ,christian era that the resurrection of ,edom began4 ,the first and earliest archeological reference to ,edom which was discovered1 was a statement from the record of ,ramses the ,third1 who proudly boasted that in his great campaign he smote the people of ,seir4 ,the next discovery came when the record of ,tiglath-pileser was read4 ,in his story he told of the campaign against ,rezin1 king of ,syria4 ,he recounted that among other vassals who yielded to his yoke1 he received homage from ,quaus-,malaka of ,edom4 ,this ,rezin1 with whom we shall later deal in ,tiglath-pileser's voluminous records1 is the king of ,syria who is warned in the seventh chapter of ,isaiah as allied with ,israel against ,judah4 ,following this1 we have the monument of ,esar-haddon4 ,he also tells how among his ,assyrian conquests he overthrew the ,edomites and forced their king to render homage and allegiance to his power4 ,again1 the records of ,nebuchadnezzar tell us that in his final battle with ,judah1 the ,edomites were among his allied forces4 ,gradually1 as this people began to rise from the silence and obscurity of forgotten antiquity1 something of their customs and beliefs began to be recovered4 ,at least three of their deities are known today4 ,these are ,hadad1 ,quaus and ,koz4 ,about #cjj ,b4 ,c41 ,edom fell into the hands of a people who were called the ,nabataeans4 ,their inscription claims that they captured ,edom1 exterminated its then numerous population and occupied its capital1 which was ,petra4 ,here1 then1 is the final vindication of the text of ,scripture4 ,this city1 ,petra1 is variously mentioned in the ,old ,testament text as the center of ,edomite dominion4 ,it is sometimes called 8,sela0 in the historical and prophetical references1 and twice is referred to by the name of 8,rock40 ,obadiah calls the city 8the rock10 the ,greek form of which would be 8he ,petra40 ,it is thus evident that it was known peculiarly for its structure4 ,this fact appeared to be of no significance until archeology had brought it to the prominence of our present comprehension4 ,the issue of the ,national ,geographic ,magazine for ,may1 #aijg1 made ,petra so well known to the ,english speaking world that there remains little to be said of an historical nature to establish the actuality and certainty of this great discovery4 ,with the collapse of the ,roman empire1 ,petra disappeared from the knowledge of mankind and became shrouded in mystery and darkness4 ,it began to emerge into the light again when a young ,swiss traveler first visited its site in #ahab4 ,the record of his discovery was not published1 however1 until ten years later4 ,the next notice of the site of ,petra was taken when two ,british naval officers visited the splendid remains in #ahah1 and published their observations seven years later4 ,after this it became the custom for adventurous travelers to take a brief look at the stupendous beauty of this forgotten city and make some passing mention4 ,the real exploration of ,petra1 however1 began some thirty years ago when certain ,german scholars made a scientific investigation of the site4 ,the results of their labors were printed only in ,german1 and filled a surprising number of lengthy volumes4 ,a large literature on ,petra is now in the possession of the ,english speaking world1 but surprisingly little of a definite nature is known about its earlier inhabitants4 ,the monuments of ,petra1 which we here illustrate in plates numbered ,plate #bb and ,plate #bc1 were not built by the later inhabitants1 who were called ,nabataeans4 ,these monumental structures were carved out of the living rock4 ,some of them were temples1 and others were tombs4 ,to illustrate the extent of these works1 we may note that the great open-air theatre at ,petra would comfortably seat a crowd of three thousand spectators4 ,just a word of explanation is necessary before we proceed to the application of this discovery4 ,petra1 the capital of ,edom and the principal city of the ,edomites1 is found in the most rugged region of that part of the earth4 ,the land is thrown up into abrupt ranges1 which are deeply incised with canyons and gorges until they form one of the wildest and most entrancing geographical spectacles to be seen in the ,eastern world4 ,in some regions the underlying structure is limestone4 ,the walls of the canyon1 however1 are largely porphyry and sandstone4 ,the sandstone is brilliantly colored with hues which run from brown through red1 to a definite purple4 ,some of the strata1 grotesquely twisted and torn and laid bare by erosion1 are among the loveliest and most entrancing geological studies in that region4 ,in approaching the site of ,petra1 it is necessary to journey up a narrow canyon called in the ,arabic1 a siq4 ,this approach is so narrow that almost all of the way it is scarcely possible for two horsemen to ride abreast4 ,this might have been an important factor in deciding the site of the city in antiquity4 ,a dozen men could have successfully defended the approaches to ,petra against an entire army of invaders4 ,plate #bd will give some conception of the ruggedness of the country and the difficulty of approach4 ,in place of a truck1 such as would have been used in flat country1 we have the familiar donkey carrying the camera and supplies4 ,this resting place is in one of the wider sections of the canyon4 ,plate #be is the first glimpse of one of the amazing monuments of ,petra4 ,this great structure bears the ,arabic name of ,el ,khazne4 ,a full view of this temple is given in plate #bf4 ,petra was not built after the fashion in which cities are constructed today4 ,every structure was hewn out of the living sandstone4 ,the city has been called 8,the ,rose ,red ,city1 half as old as time10 and this description is perfect4 ,when the sunlight strikes the ruins of ,petra1 it is as red as blood4 ,edom1 indeed1 and ,edomites1 might well be applied by the ancients to the color and beauty of this old site1 as well as to its inhabitants6 ,in plate #bg we have illustrated this manner of carving a dwelling from the living stone in the great structure which the ,arabians call ,el ,deir4 7,see ,plate #bh47 ,observing this photograph1 you will note that the rock wall has been hewn away into the shape of columns1 pillars1 and decorated facade in the similitude of a building that has been put together by the orthodox style of masonry4 ,such1 however1 is not the case4 ,plate #bi shows some of the detail of one of these notable monuments4 ,it will be observed that the workers began from the top and carved their way down4 ,in the upper left corner of the picture a series of holes will be seen4 ,these were chiseled for the foothold of the workers who started the process4 ,their manner of labor was unique4 ,the architect laid out the size1 shape1 and site of the building1 and the workmen began to cut away the stone about the top of their designated area until they had a recessed trough some ten feet deep into the face of the cliff1 on the top and both sides4 ,then1 beginning with the top of the structure1 they carved that slab in the similitude of a building4 ,as they worked their way down1 they shaped the pillars1 carved these brilliant decorations and recessed the cliff on both sides to make their monuments stand forth4 ,plate #bh shows the result of this type of labor1 looking from the bottom upward4 ,reaching the bottom of their carved columns1 these artisans would then chisel away between and behind the posts that they had formed of the face of the cliff until they had a great square entry way4 ,the face of this entry way would be further beautified by carving the semblance of a doorway4 ,a short tunnel would then be run back into the cliff to serve as a hall1 and rooms hollowed out on the inside into a series of apartments or caves4 8,cave-dwellers10 indeed1 is the proper name for these people6 ,plate #bd ,illustration3 ,the rough approach to ,petra 7,photo by ,matson7 ,plate #be ,illustration3 ,approaching ,petra by way of the main siq the first sight of the ruins ,the extent of their operations may be dimly understood from plates numbered plate #bb and plate #bc4 ,some of these tombs that are here depicted1 were never finished4 ,a few of them have suffered from the ravages of time1 but the general state of preservation of these priceless monuments of ,petra is fascinating4 ,in plate #cj we have depicted the approach to the garden tomb4 ,by the side of this tomb there is the ascent to the 8high place0 for the sacrifices of their idolatrous religion4 ,in plate #ca we have shown the altar and the 8high place40 ,these high places of antiquity should be the subject for a volume in themselves4 ,they are mentioned one hundred two times in the ,old ,testament4 ,being the altars of heathen sacrifices1 they were the subject of constant denunciation on the part of the ,lord ,god and were a source of trouble and distress to ,israel during all her periods of apostasy4 ,the groves to which the prophets refer and which the godly kings cut down1 were the places where ,ashtoreth was worshipped4 ,very few systems of degenerate religion in antiquity were more lecherous and vile than the cult of this unclean goddess4 ,the high places1 however1 were the altars where sacrifice was made to the gods of the heathen nations4 ,as these sacrifices were very often human1 and as it was not uncommon for the ancients to dedicate their children to the fierce and abominable worship of their false religion1 the people of ,israel were sternly forbidden to have any contact with such idolatrous practices4 ,so when godly kings occupied the throne1 they destroyed the 8high places40 ,in a time of apostasy the high places were builded and dedicated again4 ,some of the most stirring denunciations of the prophetic sections of the ,old ,testament are in the words that ,god directs against the high places of ,israel and in the announcing of ,his final and complete victory over them4 ,this high place shown in plate #ca is characteristic1 then1 of the ancient custom4 ,it shows that the ,hittites had forsaken whatever knowledge they may have derived from their earlier ,hebrew origin and were wholly dedicated to the practices of idolatry4 ,incidentally1 the worship of ,god is still practiced by ,israel1 but the 8high places0 of ,edom and all other heathen centers are merely curiosities today6 ,as far as artistry and ability are concerned1 antiquity knew no greater or more capable people4 ,the monument that they have left to mark their mysterious disappearance is a lasting testimony to their culture and power4 ,but more than that1 it is a living1 resurrected testimony to the truth and credibility of the ,word of ,god6 ,there is no scene of desolation and ruin that amazes the spirit of man as much as the desolation of ,edom4 ,forsaken of human occupants1 the wonderful ,rose ,red ,city is today a curiosity to be viewed by the hardy adventurer who would study the antiquities of the ,eastern world4 ,just what hands constructed these noble temples and tombs it is not at this time possible to say4 ,the ,nabataeans were incapable of producing this kind of work1 nor would they have invested the time4 ,the bodies of the departed were spread upon the field as fertilizer or buried in the most indescribably filthy pits of their day and time4 ,the ,semitic peoples who preceded them1 however1 have left this record in stone as a testimony to their reverence for the dead4 ,what the future will yield in the hoped-for excavations of ,petra1 no one is able to say4 ,if1 however1 a spade is never sunk into soil and no more appears to the gaze of man than is seen by the casual traveler today1 we have sufficient to call forth a doxology from the hearts of those who love and reverence the ,word of ,god4 ,we cannot refrain from commenting again and again upon the marvelous manner in which the ,author of this ,great ,book has cared for ,his own case4 ,the consternation and defeat of the critics have been complete in this instance4 ,what a quaint conceit it is in our generation to note that ,god is so firm in ,his promised defense of ,his ,book1 that ,he will move to crush the enemies of the ,word even if it is necessary to smite their fallacious fancy with a carved mountain of stone6 ,,chapter ,,ix ,the ,brazen ,shields of ,rehoboam ,in the logical presentation of this subject1 we now come to that period of history in which the pharaohs1 who are named by name in the ,scriptures and are thus identified beyond question1 make their contribution to the evidence which sustains the record of the ,bible4 ,laying aside controversial discussions as to the identity of the various pharaohs who preceded1 we note that the first of ,egypt's many monarchs to appear under his personal name in the ,word of ,god is ,shishak the #ast4 ,his name appears on the monuments of ,egypt as ,shashanq the #ast1 but his own records identify him as the 8,shishak0 of ,i ,kings #ad1 and ,,ii ,chronicles #ab4 ,the outstanding accomplishments of his entire reign seem to have been the invasion of ,palestine and the capture of ,jerusalem4 ,in the account which this monarch left in the priceless writings at ,karnak1 the most noteworthy is the story told on the second pylon of the main temple1 where the conqueror has given a list of all the towns and villages which he overthrew in ,palestine4 ,to this he added a record of the gold and silver ornaments that he carried away from ,jerusalem4 ,he specifically noted the bucklers and shields of ,solomon and also the golden quivers which ,solomon's father had captured from the king of ,zobah4 ,once again we listen to some collateral gossip from far antiquity to see the background of this strange invasion of ,jerusalem4 ,weaving together records of forgotten campaigns1 homely events of family affairs1 the conduct of pragmatic generations1 the history preserved in the books of the ,old ,testament1 together with the voices of monuments and ruins1 we gradually achieve a basis of understanding4 ,the ,pharaoh ,siamen1 whose capital was at ,zoan1 appears to have been an ally of ,edom4 ,in the days when secular historical records begin to coincide with the record of the text1 ,edom was ruled by a regent4 ,king ,hadad was a lad of tender years1 and though he nominally was vested with the crown1 his able and powerful mother ruled in his name4 ,the queen regent1 incidentally1 was an aunt of ,solomon4 ,holding that thought in temporary abeyance1 we will continue to investigate this quaint family alliance4 ,david and ,jonathan made a successful assault upon ,edom1 which resulted in the capture of the city4 ,such rights and powers as a conquering monarch has always abrogated to himself1 then devolved upon ,david in respect to ,edom4 ,when it became apparent that the city would fall1 the queen regent took her young son and fled to ,egypt for safety4 ,in view of the fact that ,edom and ,egypt were at that time allies1 the royal party was well received and1 with the prodigal hospitality of that day1 became guests at the court for the balance of their lives4 ,plate #bf ,illustration3 8,el ,kahzne0 7,the ,temple of the ,urn7 ,plate #bg ,illustration3 ,showing the manner in which these buildings are carved from the living stone ,in the course of the passing years1 ,siamen was gathered to his fathers1 and ,psabekhanu the #bnd reigned in his stead4 ,the wise mother of ,hadad1 knowing that alliances do not always outlast the persons who made them and1 desiring to protect ,hadad's interests in the country that they had lost by force of arms1 entered into a typical and common intrigue4 ,she brought about the marriage of her son1 ,hadad1 with a sister of ,psabekhanu4 ,thus1 ,hadad became the brother-in-law of the reigning monarch of ,egypt and1 presumably1 strengthened the ties that bound the ,egyptian power to the interests of his small country4 ,in the meantime1 ,solomon1 who had succeeded his father1 moved to protect his inherited claim on ,edom4 ,this he did by marrying the daughter of ,psabekhanu4 ,it is presumed that the relationship of a son-in-law might be a stronger claim for alliance than that of a brother-in-law4 ,some short while later the second daughter of ,psabekhanu married the ,prince ,shishak4 ,thus ,solomon and the heir-apparent of the throne of ,egypt1 ,shishak1 became brothers-in-law4 ,by marriage1 however1 the queen of ,edom was their aunt4 ,at a glance the student can see that affairs were a bit messy1 to say the very least4 ,hadad maintained his rights to ,edom and conducted at the ,egyptian court an intrigue for his restoration4 ,the desires of ,pharaoh were divided between his natural wish to keep the peace and his interest in the importunities of his brother-in-law1 as weighed against the desires of his son-in-law4 ,through this tangled scheme of alliances it came about that ,solomon's son would have some legal rights of succession in ,egypt4 ,but ,shishak's son would have the same claim to succession in ,palestine4 ,solomon1 being much older than ,shishak1 died first4 ,the story which now follows is recorded in the ,word of ,god1 and on the pillars of antiquity1 for1 shortly after the death of ,solomon1 ,shishak invaded ,judah4 ,the 8why0 of the matter is easily understood4 ,the first reason was loot4 ,the brief account that is given in ,i ,kings #ad3be-bh is here appended to introduce our consideration of this event3 8,and it came to pass in the fifth year of king ,rehoboam1 that ,shishak king of ,egypt came up against ,jerusalem3 ,and he took away the treasures of the house of the ,lord1 and the treasures of the king's house2 he even took away all3 and he took away all the shields of gold which ,solomon had made4 8,and ,king ,rehoboam made in their stead brazen shields1 and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard1 which kept the door of the king's house4 8,and it was so1 when the king went into the house of the ,lord1 that the guard bare them1 and brought them back into the guard chamber40 ,in that record it is noted that among the treasures of the house of the ,lord which ,shishak carried away1 were the shields of gold which ,solomon had made4 ,for a description of these shields and some conception of their value1 we turn to the tenth chapter of ,i ,kings1 verses fourteen to seventeen3 8,now the weight of gold that came to ,solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold1 8,besides that he had of the merchantmen1 and of the traffick of the spice merchants1 and of all the kings of ,arabia1 and of the governors of the country4 8,and king ,solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold3 six hundred shekels of gold went to one target4 8,and he made three hundred shields of beaten gold2 three pounds of gold went to one shield3 and the king put them in the house of the forest of ,lebanon40 ,the wealth of ,solomon has never been adequately computed4 ,it is stated that from the tomb of ,tutanhkamen1 in the most famous excavation of our generation1 treasure to the value of #ad1jjj1jjj was recovered4 ,the splendor and wealth of that pharaoh were insignificant compared to that of ,solomon1 the ,magnificent4 ,we see1 for instance1 in this fourteenth verse that ,solomon's income in gold bullion alone was almost the exact equivalent of #bj1jjj1jjj in our day and time4 ,we must understand1 however1 that there was a vast difference between the values of the money standards of that time and of our own4 ,the ratio would be about #ae to #a4 ,for instance1 a silver shekel would buy a cow2 a half-shekel would buy an ass4 ,if we evaluate their currency by purchasing power1 it would take fifteen of our dollars to equal one of theirs4 ,so the sum of gold1 which is the equivalent of #bj1jjj1jjj by our former gold standard measurement1 gives a conception of the annual income of ,solomon1 only if it is transmuted to our present ratio of purchasing power4 ,this figure does not include all the tariff and income from taxes1 the profit on his merchandising and the tribute in gifts of vassal nations4 ,he was in the fortunate circumstance of paying income tax to himself so that his income remained undiminished6 ,the gold of ,solomon was hoarded for a unique and peculiar purpose4 ,when ,david desired to build a house for the worship of ,god1 his offer was rejected on the ground that he was a man of blood4 ,however1 the ,lord said that his son should build the house of prayer1 and ,david began the hoarding of gold for the erection and beautification of that temple4 ,the estimates of the amount of gold that went into that temple go as high as two and one-half billions of dollars4 ,it is not too much to say that no building ever erected by the hands of man could excel the beauty1 the artistic perfection1 the splendor1 and the intrinsic value of the temple that ,solomon built4 ,in the ,scriptural citation in ,i ,kings1 we have just read of the two hundred targets or bucklers of beaten gold4 ,also1 there are catalogued the three hundred shields of beaten gold2 three pounds of gold went into the construction of each shield4 ,at the present rate of gold values1 that would mean that each of these shields was worth #afhj4jj4 ,there was considerably over a half million dollars of pure gold hammered into those shields4 ,this glittering and entrancing treasure intrigued the greed of every conqueror of antiquity1 but no man was able to take it from the ,house of ,god while ,his protection and care were upon it4 ,it is not to be wondered that ,shishak considered the capture of that treasure as the highest achievement of his reign4 ,the second reason for ,shishak's invasion1 however1 was mainly political4 ,after the death of ,solomon1 the kingdom was divided4 ,rehoboam1 possessing the ,southern kingdom1 was a weakling who was1 moreover1 under the influence of vicious1 untrustworthy counselors4 ,perhaps his tendency towards idolatry may be traced to his mother who was an ,ammonite and whose influence1 undoubtedly1 turned him away from monotheism4 ,at any rate1 ,bel1 ,ashtoreth1 ,moloch and ,baal were worshipped throughout the land on every high hill and under many green trees4 ,the most unclean practices were indulged in by the people until the judgment of ,god necessarily descended upon them4 ,shishak's chief concern was not over the idolatry of the people1 however1 but over the effect of their dereliction upon the development of the kingdom4 ,in order to protect his possible rights of succession in ,palestine1 he moved to make ,rehoboam a vassal1 and brought him under the yoke of bondage1 making him a governor for ,egypt4 ,a more comprehensive account of this invasion is given in the twelfth chapter of ,,ii ,chronicles4 ,a great many people have raised the question as to why we have the duplication of the record in the books of ,kings and ,chronicles in the ,scripture4 ,it has been argued that the same stories told again in ,chronicles are a senseless and useless repetition of the record already written in ,kings4 ,this specific instance is perhaps as fine an answer to that objection as can be found4 ,it might be said that the ,books of ,kings recount the deeds of men and the ,books of ,chronicles deal largely with their motives4 ,the ,books of the ,kings record history as enacted by man1 while the records of ,chronicles give ,god's side of the story and tell the 8why0 of things that would otherwise be mysterious4 ,for instance1 the twelfth chapter of ,,ii ,chronicles begins1 8,and it came to pass when ,rehoboam had established the kingdom1 and had strengthened himself1 he forsook the law of the ,lord1 and all ,israel with him40 ,here is a bleak1 unvarnished record of apostasy4 ,the price of a man in his own position and standing has led him to debauch a nation spiritually and morally4 ,therefore1 the second verse follows as a natural consequence3 8,and it came to pass1 that in the fifth year of king ,rehoboam1 ,shishak king of ,egypt came up against ,jerusalem1 because they had transgressed against the ,lord40 ,here is an illuminating comment upon the motives and principles that underlie this record4 ,it is a foreshadowing of the first chapter of ,romans4 ,when men give up ,god and deny ,him a place in their culture and practices1 it is inevitable that ,god will give them up to the consequences of their vile conduct4 ,in this case it was ,shishak who brought judgment upon ,jerusalem4 ,his twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand cavalrymen were supported by so many infantry that the number was never totaled4 ,they are called 8innumerable10 which is a simple way of saying that the number was too vast to take time counting them4 ,we are then told that when ,shishak had captured all the outlying cities of ,judah and was on his way to ,jerusalem1 the prophet ,shemaiah frankly told ,king ,rehoboam that his trouble had come upon him because of his apostasy4 ,in blunt words he delivered this graphic warning3 8,thus saith the ,lord1 ,ye have forsaken me1 and therefore have ,i also left you in the hand of ,shishak40 ,when this message was so courageously delivered1 the princes of ,israel and the godless counselors of the apostate king together prostrated themselves before the ,lord and acknowledged that ,his judgment was just and ,his decision was righteous4 ,the record continues with the fact that when the ,lord saw that they had repented1 ,he promised to save the humbled court and the threatened city4 ,but with the promise of deliverance from destruction there came also the grim edict that in order that they might learn the difference between serving ,god and being under the bondage of a heathen culture1 they should be subject to ,shishak and serve him4 ,thus in ,chronicles we do have the account repeated that was given to us in the record of the ,kings1 but with additional details that illumine and clarify the record4 ,shishak swept the land bare of precious metals and took away the treasures of the temple as well4 ,not only did he leave the king and the court destitute of their priceless ornaments1 but he carried away also the shields of gold which ,solomon had made4 ,plate #bh ,illustration3 ,note how top of building seems to erupt from the hill ,plate #bi ,illustration3 ,compare size of men in the doorway of 8,el ,deir0 ,we now enter into a consideration of one of the most tragic and humiliating spectacles in all antiquity4 ,when the penitent and restored king saw the effects of his apostasy1 he called the people back to the practice of their earlier faith and himself came daily to the house of the ,lord for the exercise of prayer4 ,but as the humbled monarch knelt in prayer1 he could not keep his eyes off the vacant walls4 ,where the five hundred golden objects had once hung1 testifying to the wealth of that house and the greatness of his father1 there was nothing but the bare wall4 ,it must be remembered that those golden ornaments had not belonged to him4 ,they had been hung in their places to praise and glorify ,god by his greater ancestor4 ,therefore1 when an enemy came and stole them away1 it was a constant and mute reproach to him because of his own failure to live up to the standards and greatness of a preceding generation4 ,the troubled king gave orders that the targets and shields should be replaced with copies of what had been lost4 ,there was1 however1 neither gold nor silver in the land1 for ,shishak had made a clean sweep of all that was valuable4 ,thus1 having lost the reality of their treasure1 the best they could do was to make a cheap similitude in brass4 ,needless to say1 brass is a pitiful substitute for the precious metal which we call gold4 ,if it is kept in a shining condition1 at first glance brass may have some resemblance to the nobler metal1 but it quickly tarnishes and its glitter fades4 ,for this reason1 the targets and shields of brass were stored in the house of the guard4 ,at the hour when the king came to the temple to pray1 the guard polished these ridiculous substitutes and hung them in their places so that the king might delude himself by the glitter and shine1 and thus have some balm for his troubled spirit4 ,there is1 of course1 an element of humour in this tragic record6 ,the moral lessons are almost innumerable and would provide a minister with sermon material for days on end4 ,we are faced with a somewhat similar situation in ,christendom today4 ,upon the walls of the ,house of ,faith1 our believing fathers hung the golden shields that constitute the doctrines of ,christianity4 ,the brilliant glory of those foundational treasures was never threatened as long as the church was true to ,god4 ,but we in our generation1 alas1 have allowed an enemy to come in and rob us of many of those golden shields4 ,we cannot over-emphasize the fact that it is always an enemy who seeks thus to despoil the ,house of our ,faith4 ,though he may come in the guise of a friend1 or even of a relative1 as in the case of ,shishak1 the man who robs us of our golden shields is an enemy at heart and in purpose4 ,may we illustrate this suggestion by saying1 for instance1 that our fathers believed in the golden fact of the deity of ,jesus ,christ4 ,they held as a basic fact of ,christianity that in the person of our ,saviour1 ,almighty ,god was incarnated to be the ,redeemer of mankind4 ,satan1 in the person of many of his charming and well-mannered cohorts1 has stolen that shield from many a temple of prayer4 ,men speak now of the 8divinity0 of ,jesus instead of the 8deity40 ,having established this premise1 they then continue with the statement that we are all divine and have this same spark of divinity within our spirits1 to a greater or lesser extent4 ,when the golden shield of the deity of ,christ disappeared from the walls of many churches that had once been ,christian1 the worshippers made a beautiful substitute with the brazen replica of ,unitarianism4 ,the tarnished brass of that un-,christian doctrine is a miserable substitute indeed for the blessed assurance that is resident in the fact of the deity of the ,saviour4 ,our fathers believed also in the virgin birth of the ,son of ,god4 ,they accepted literally the record that ,almighty ,god himself had given of the incarnation of ,his ,son4 ,our fathers believed that the body of ,jesus was formed in the womb of a virgin woman because of the direct visitation of the ,holy ,ghost4 ,thus1 the birth of ,jesus ,christ was a biological miracle1 and ,he owed even ,his earth origin to ,his heavenly ,father alone6 ,this foundational fact of the ,christian revelation has disappeared from the walls and the worship of many a once-,christian gathering4 ,in the place of that golden fact there is the ghastly and brazen substitute of an illegitimate child1 who was probably the fruit of a woman's sin6 ,and then men wonder that the old-time power and greatness of the ,christian faith seem lacking in much of our land today6 ,in like manner1 the golden shield of redemption through the shed blood of ,calvary has been exchanged for the brazen substitute of a 8,perfect ,example40 ,the physical resurrection of ,jesus ,christ has been bartered for a misty idea of some sort of a spiritual resurrection that has no bearing upon the facts of the record that ,god has given to man4 ,shield by shield1 and buckler by buckler1 the things that were given to us for our defense1 gleaming with the intrinsic value of a supernatural revelation1 have been stolen away by the enemy4 ,the humanistic substitutes that have replaced them have left us at the mercy of the enemy who would destroy our souls4 ,but great as are the moral lessons involved in this record1 its apologetical value is incalculably greater4 ,it has been the custom in our day to question the historical accuracy of much of the record of the ,scripture4 ,so it is with considerable interest that we turn back to ancient ,egypt to see what can be learned from the external sources of pure archeology concerning these sections of the ,old ,testament4 ,the visitor to the ,british ,museum may come away well acquainted with this man ,shishak4 ,in the fourth ,egyptian ,room1 in ,table ,case 8,o01 there is a pair of gold bracelets1 the exhibits being numbered #acd and #ace4 ,these beautiful ornaments are overlaid with lapis lazuli1 and a blue substance which is similar to faience4 ,the inside of each is inscribed with a text written in hieroglyphics stating that the bracelets were 8,made for the ,princess10 the daughter of the chief of all the bowmen1 ,nemareth1 whose mother was the daughter of the ,prince of the land of ,reshnes4 ,this ,nemareth was the descendant in the fifth generation of ,buiu-auau1 a ,libyan prince who was the father of ,shishak the ,first4 ,in this same case1 exhibit number #bag is a heavy gold ring set with a scarab carved from soapstone1 which is inscribed with a clearly cut cartouche containing both the prenomen and nomen of ,shishak the ,first4 ,looking further in this case1 exhibit number #cib is a silver ring inscribed with the titles of an official who held many important positions under two monarchs4 ,he was president of the granaries1 also a prophet of the fourth order1 served as a scribe and at one time was libationer in the reigns of ,psammetichus and ,shishak4 ,the most important of all the records of ,shishak1 of course1 is the voluminous account that he caused to be engraved at the ,temple of ,karnak4 ,a detail is added in ,shishak's record that is not contained in the ,scriptures4 ,according to the conqueror1 to strengthen the ties of vassalage1 he gave ,jeroboam one of his daughters in marriage4 ,this complete record of ,shishak's we photographed1 studied carefully1 and found eminently satisfactory1 with the single exception that the king of ,judah is not named by name in ,shishak's account of this conquest4 ,but he does tell of the capture of ,judah1 the rape of ,jerusalem1 and gives a categorical list of cities and villages overthrown4 ,he specifically mentions the bucklers and shields of gold that he took from the temple4 ,in a word1 this science of archeology1 upon the authority of men long dead1 but who have since been raised to testify1 stamps an emphatic ,o4 ,k4 upon this section of the ,sacred ,record4#a ,the next king who parades these pages under the designation of his proper name is the ,pharaoh ,zera1 who has also been identified with ,osarkon4 ,shishak's first-born son1 named both ,usarkon and ,osarkon the ,first1 succeeded his father to the throne as the last of the ,tanite kings of the twenty-first dynasty4 ,this son1 in turn1 was called ,shishak and became the high priest of ,amon4 ,osarkon the ,first was succeeded by ,takeloth the ,first1 who1 in turn1 was followed by ,osarkon the ,second4 ,since both of these ,osarkons figure in the ,scriptural account1 we briefly cover their record as it occurs in antiquity4 ,being emperor of ,ethiopia1 as well as of ,egypt1 the first ,osarkon1 or ,zera1 had a vast horde of ,ethiopian allies who fought with him in his important conquests4 ,this entire line was of ,libyan extraction4 ,a portion of ,africa that is now temporarily possessed by the crown of ,italy seems to have given rise to this family of conquering rulers4 ,undoubtedly the designation 8,ethiopian0 was suggested by this ,african ancestry4 ,the ,scriptural account of this man's ill-starred military expedition is given in the fourteenth chapter of ,,ii ,chronicles4 ,when ,king ,abijah died1 his son ,asa succeeded to the throne4 ,the ascension of ,asa was followed by ten years of such peace and prosperity as was almost unprecedented in those troublous times4 ,the reason given is that ,asa was a godly man and found favour in the sight of the ,lord4 ,he shattered the images erected to unclean idols1 cut down the groves where ,ashtoreth was worshipped1 demolished the altars and the high places1 and purged the land of its apostasy4 ,he compelled the people of ,judah to return to the true faith and to obey the ,lord and ,his commandments4 ,he strengthened the fortified centers and in a masterly fashion built up his reserves4 ,the ten years of prosperity and industry found the land of ,judah in an enviable condition that left it well worth robbing6 ,since the opportunity to steal and loot was the only incentive required by the grim pragmatists of antiquity1 ,zera1 or ,osarkon1 gathered together an army of a million foot soldiers1 reinforced with three hundred chariots1 and journeyed toward ,palestine to loot the land4 ,the vicinity of ,mareshah was chosen as the site of the battle and ,asa came out with his pitiful little company to defend his possessions4 ,the drama of this record begins in the eleventh verse of the fourteenth chapter of ,,ii ,chronicles in the great prayer of ,asa3 ,plate #cj ,illustration3 ,enroute to the 8,high ,place0 ,plate #ca ,illustration3 ,the ,altar of ,sacrifice 8,and ,asa cried unto the ,lord his ,god1 and said1 ,lord1 it is nothing with thee to help1 whether with many1 or with them that have no power3 help us1 ,o ,lord our ,god2 for we rest on thee1 and in thy name we go against this multitude4 ,o ,lord1 thou art our ,god2 let not man prevail against thee40 ,the high-hearted courage and simple faith of ,asa is sufficient introduction to the very natural result1 which follows in simple words3 8,so the ,lord smote the ,ethiopians before ,asa1 and before ,judah2 and the ,ethiopians fled40 ,we then read a condensed account of the pursuit that ,asa and his people indulged in1 chasing the horde of ,egyptians all the way across their own border4 ,they were in such confusion that they could not recover and make a stand1 so that not even a rear-guard action was fought4 ,the children of ,israel recaptured all of the cities that ,rehoboam had lost1 and with a typical ,hebraism the account concludes with the statement that 8they carried away exceeding much spoil40 ,although they never recovered the golden shields1 it is to be hoped they got their equivalent in the value of this recounted spoil4 ,it was the universal custom of conquerors to record their victories and say nothing of their defeats4 ,therefore1 it is a bit startling to find this record of ,,ii ,chronicles borne out by the account the ,egyptian monarch has left of his own campaigns4 ,this simple paragraph is illuminating3 8,seventeen campaigns ,i waged4 ,in sixteen of them ,i was victorious4 ,in the seventeenth campaign ,i was defeated4 ,not by man1 ,heaven fought against me40 ,so even in the record of a defeat this man can brag that his strength and greatness were so phenomenal that only the ,lord could overthrow him4 ,once again1 a dead man tells a tale4 ,he also1 in the illuminating account that he has left1 rises from the dead to write 8o4 k40 across the pages of ,holy ,writ1 attesting its historical fidelity and the accuracy of its records4 ,,chapter ,x ,mingled ,voices ,the next definite contact between ,israel and ,egypt is found in the graphic and terse statement of ,,ii ,kings #ag3d1 8,and the king of ,assyria found conspiracy in ,hoshea3 for he had sent messengers to ,so king of ,egypt1 and brought no present to the king of ,assyria1 as he had done year by year3 therefore the king of ,assyria shut him up1 and bound him in prison40 ,from this point on1 the records of ,egypt and ,palestine are so enmeshed and tangled with the records of ,babylon and ,assyria that we cannot separate them in their presentation4 ,this king ,so is identified as the ,egyptian monarch ,shabaka1 who is also known by the names ,sebichos1 ,sabakon1 ,sabacoa1 and ,seve4 ,he seems to have been a man of implacable cruelty1 if we may judge from the ,greek record of his manner of succession4 ,he was preceded on the throne by ,bakenrenef1 who was one of the wise and kindly lawgivers of ,egypt4 ,this noble ruler was one of the first of all the ,egyptian kings to come in direct contact with the classical ,greeks4 ,the ,dorian invasion had now come to an end and the ,greeks were free to trade and colonize in the ,mediterranean1 and in the vigour of their advance they had pressed on to the mouth of the ,nile4 ,they had established a close connection with ,sais1 and by #gjj ,b4 ,c4 had entrenched themselves strongly in the culture of that section of ,egypt4 ,the ,pharaoh of our present interest1 ,so1 invaded that section of ,egypt and captured ,bakenrenef in a swift and short campaign4 ,the ,greek records relate that after treating his defeated enemy with brutality1 ,so then burned him alive4 ,he then established himself as king and ruled not only all of ,egypt but ,ethiopia as well4 ,he was thus a contemporary of ,shalmaneser1 ,sargon1 and ,sennacherib1 all of whom have a direct bearing upon the records of the ,old ,testament4 ,one of the interesting discoveries made at the royal library at ,nineveh was a seal bearing the name of ,shabaka1 or ,so4 ,the visitor to the ,british ,museum1 upon entering the ,assyrian ,room1 may pause before ,table ,case 8,e0 and see this fascinating exhibit of the actualities of these events4 ,in about the year #gjj ,b4 ,c41 according to the record of ,holy ,writ1 when ,shalmaneser had dealt kindly with ,hoshea1 who had accepted his yoke and agreed to pay tribute1 the faithless king of ,judah entered into conspiracy with ,sebakah4 ,since the common name1 ,so1 is the one that is used in the ,scripture1 we shall refer to this pharaoh by that name from this point on4 ,the tribute that ,hoshea should have paid to the king of ,assyria he diverted1 and paid it into the hand of ,so for the help that was promised him in throwing off the yoke of ,assyria4 ,there is abundant reason to believe1 from all the collateral records1 that this conspiracy was promoted by ,so and ,hoshea4 ,this action on the part of the ,hebrew king was entirely unwarranted and consisted of a breach of faith on his part4 ,indeed1 the prophet ,hosea utters a stern and unmistakable reproof against this action in the strong words of the first verse of his twelfth chapter3 8,ephraim feedeth on wind and followeth after the east wind3 he daily increaseth lies and desolation2 and they do make a covenant with the ,assyrians1 and oil is carried into ,egypt4 ,the ,lord hath also a controversy with ,judah1 and will punish ,jacob according to his ways2 according to his doings will he recompense him40 ,as a result of this conspiracy1 ,hoshea was captured by the king of ,assyria and carried away into an imprisonment4 ,the plan did not work out as the faithless allies had intended4 ,shalmaneser invaded ,palestine to punish this rebellion4 ,this wise and able general divided his forces1 so that a major portion of his military strength lay between ,egypt and ,palestine at a part of the border that was easily defended4 ,when ,so found that the cost of reaching ,hoshea with aid was to be a major battle which would endanger his entire dominion1 he simply defaulted and left ,hoshea to bear alone the brunt of the battle4 ,the prophecy of ,hosea was thus literally fulfilled4 ,with the faithlessness that ,hoshea had manifested toward ,shalmaneser1 he had been rewarded by the defection of ,so from his covenant4 ,it is interesting to note that ,so seemed to have been a little ashamed of his conduct1 for he offers a rather flimsy excuse for his failure to stand by his contract4 ,his statement is that ,hoshea had paid only half of the price agreed upon and for that reason he came not to his aid4 ,in this invasion of ,shalmaneser's1 many of the ,hebrew people were taken captive4 ,hoshea1 after being for some time incarcerated in disgrace and punishment1 was forgiven by ,shalmaneser and restored to his throne and dominion4 ,shalmaneser seems to have reasoned that having once failed and having tasted of punishment1 ,hoshea was now to be trusted4 ,thus1 the first conspiracy ended with the common people of ,samaria paying the price4 ,two years later the faithless and foolish ,hoshea again listened to the siren song of rebellion as it was sung by the deceitful ,so and again rebelled against his over-lord and benefactor4 ,shalmaneser1 in great wrath1 again moved against ,samaria1 which resisted in a bitter struggle that lasted three years4 ,although the following details are not all mentioned in the text of ,,ii ,kings1 seventeenth chapter1 they are emphasized by the change of person in the record4 ,in this bitter conflict of three years1 no help came from ,egypt4 ,the seventh verse of the text says that the children of ,israel had sinned against the ,lord1 their ,god4 ,they had gone again into idolatry and had put themselves back under the yoke of ,egypt1 from which ,god had repeatedly redeemed them4 ,the miserable and faithless ,so turned out to be a bruised reed indeed6 ,but while this campaign was being fought1 ,shalmaneser disappeared4 ,a revolution took place in the homeland and the common oriental disease which may be described as six inches of steel between the ribs1 quietly removed ,shalmaneser from the scene4 ,a usurper named ,sargon1 who writes his own genealogy and calls himself 8the son of ,nobody10 succeeded to the throne4 ,thus in the seventeenth chapter of ,,ii ,kings we have many royal persons1 and in order to keep the records straight1 we set them forth this way3 ,hoshea was the king of ,samaria2 and he reigned over ,israel nine years4 ,shalmaneser the ,fifth was the king of ,assyria1 who is mentioned in the third verse by name4 ,the fourth verse continues a record of ,shalmaneser1 in carrying away ,hoshea and punishing him4 ,so is the pharaoh with whom we have been dealing4 ,the king of ,assyria who is not named in the sixth verse1 is ,sargon1 who succeeded to the throne after the probable murder of ,shalmaneser4 ,this ,sargon is the second man of that name to have reigned in ,assyria4 ,the time of his reign may be given as from #gbb-gje ,b4 ,c4 ,the first ,sargon reigned sometime in the twentieth century1 ,b4 ,c4 ,sargon the ,second thus reigned for almost eighteen years4 ,he was a war-loving monarch1 and that eighteen year reign was one continuous1 unbroken series of foreign campaigns4 ,combining his forces with the small host of the ,philistines1 he joined battle with the ,egyptians at ,raphia4 ,going directly to this campaign1 after the termination of his campaign against ,samaria1 he administered a crushing defeat to the forces of ,so and had no further difficulty with this pharaoh during the balance of his reign4 ,in the ,british ,museum1 ,table ,case 8,b10 which occupies a section of the second ,northern gallery of the ,assyrian ,room1 contains some magnificent baked clay cylinders which are the original annals of ,sargon4 ,these priceless records came from the ruins of a tremendous building excavated by ,m4 ,botta at the ancient site of ,khorsabad1 which was later proved to have been the palace of ,sargon4 ,most of the sculptured objects from this discovery are in the ,museum at ,paris4 ,these written records1 however1 which are of infinitely more value to the student1 are fortunately on deposit in the ,british ,museum4 ,in the ,assyrian ,saloon of the ,british ,museum the interested student will also behold an inscription bearing the identification number #ab1 whereupon are recorded the names and titles of ,sargon the ,second1 together with a brief and epitomized account of his conquests in various sections along the coast lands of the ,mediterranean1 including his famous victory in ,judah4 ,a more complete record is found in the ,assyrian ,room4 ,in ,table ,case 8,e10 exhibits #aa and #ab1 are two nine-sided prisms containing a graphic account of the expeditions of ,sargon4 ,all of his campaigns in ,palestine are covered and include his conquest of ,israel1 which he calls 8,omri land40 7,these exhibits are identified by the ,museum numbers #bb1eje and #ajh1gge47 ,a further record of ,sargon's bearing upon the text of the ,old ,testament will be found in the ,assyrian ,room in wall case ,no4 #i4 ,exhibits #a-aa are fragments of an eight-sided cylinder containing part of the records of ,sargon1 particularly recording the campaign against ,ashdod1 which is also preserved for us by ,isaiah in the twentieth chapter1 verse one4 ,the people of ,ashdod had made a league with ,judah and this outburst of ,isaiah's was a stern reproof against this procedure4 ,the prophet objected chiefly because the league depended upon the strength of ,egypt4 ,to the end of his life1 ,isaiah never gave up his justified distrust of that country4 ,this1 in a brief summary1 presents the records of ,shalmaneser and ,sargon as they authenticate the ,biblical account of the conduct of the wretched ,so4 ,sargon recounts that ,azuri1 who was king of ,ashdod1 had refused to pay the tribute that was due to the ,assyrians4 ,consequently he was deposed by ,sargon1 who elevated his brother ,akhimiti to the place of dominion4 ,whereupon the people of ,ashdod rebelled and raised ,yamini to the throne4 ,they then entered into a conspiracy with ,philistea1 ,edom1 ,moab1 ,egypt1 and ,judah4 ,sargon recounts their defeat and the bringing back under the sway of his yoke the cities and peoples who joined the conspiracy4 ,a graphic and significant story is contained in the brief and short words of ,sargon's own record--8,samaria1 ,i looked at4 ,i captured4 #bg1bhj families who remained therein ,i carried away40 ,the tragic end of ,hoshea and all of his noble counselors and advisers is thus summed up in a brief and terrible sentence4 ,sargon the ,second was followed in turn by ,sennacherib1 of whom a great deal is known from his monuments4 ,their testimony coincides with the story of the ,southern ,kingdom during the reign of ,hezekiah4 ,three years after the ascension of ,hoshea to the throne of ,israel1 ,hezekiah began to reign over ,judah at ,jerusalem4 ,he had a long and interesting reign1 occupying the throne for twenty-five years4 ,in the course of his reign1 ,sargon the ,second died1 and ,sennacherib inherited the throne4 ,encouraged by the success of his predecessor ,sargon in foreign campaigns1 ,sennacherib invaded ,judah to round out his empire4 ,hezekiah accepted his yoke without offering resistance1 and paid him a vast tribute4 ,we are now in the eighteenth chapter of ,,ii ,kings which repeats part of the events of the tragedy in ,israel as they were observed by the scribe in ,judah4 ,the invasions of ,shalmaneser and ,sargon are recapitulated and the carrying away of the people of ,samaria by ,sargon is again authenticated4 ,but the scribe is more interested in recording the events that make so stirring a chapter in the closing days of the kingdom of ,judah4 ,in verses thirteen to seventeen1 the story of this first invasion and the surrender of ,sennacherib1 is told in these words3 8,now in the fourteenth year of king ,hezekiah did ,sennacherib king of ,assyria come up against all the fenced cities of ,judah1 and took them4 8,and ,hezekiah king of ,judah sent to the king of ,assyria to ,lachish1 saying1 ,i have offended2 return from me3 that which thou puttest on me will ,i bear4 ,and the king of ,assyria appointed unto ,hezekiah king of ,judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold4 8,and ,hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the ,lord1 and in the treasures of the king's house4 8,at that time did ,hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the ,lord1 and from the pillars which ,hezekiah king of ,judah had overlaid1 and gave it to the king of ,assyria40 ,between the sixteenth and seventeenth verses of the eighteenth chapter of ,,ii ,kings1 ten silent years roll by4 ,they are voiceless as far as our text is concerned1 but they are vocal when we listen to the monuments4 ,it may have been about #gje ,b4 ,c4 when ,hezekiah accepted the yoke of ,sennacherib4 ,in the meantime ,sennacherib had strengthened his alliances and was prepared to essay a conflict with ,egypt4 ,the nephew of ,so1 who is called ,tirhakah in the ,bible1 murdered the successor of ,so1 which was his son1 ,shabataka4 ,having gained an empire by this ruthless spilling of the blood of the rightful heir1 ,tirhakah began an ill-fated reign4 ,he rashly matched strength with ,sennacherib1 who was more than willing to add ,egypt to the nations who bore his yoke4 ,the armies of ,assyria and ,egypt joined battle at the border at the site of ,libnah and a mighty conflict resulted4 ,realizing the strategic importance of an enemy who would threaten the rear of the ,assyrian host1 ,tirhakah made overtures to ,hezekiah and invited him to join in a rebellion to throw off the yoke of ,assyria4 ,hezekiah being willing to save the enormous tribute that beggared his country annually1 listened to the voice of ,isaiah who advised him to join the rebellion4 ,so ,hezekiah pronounced defiance against ,sennacherib and all of the ,assyrian hordes and announced the independence of ,judah4 ,the battle of ,libnah was then fought1 and ,tirhakah was disgracefully defeated4 ,the pitiful remnant of his army fled and left ,sennacherib the unchallenged conqueror of his day4 ,the position of ,hezekiah can well be imagined4 ,the strength and might of ,egypt had been brushed aside by the armed power of ,assyria1 and tiny ,judah was put in the position of defying the greatest military power of that era4 ,while ,sennacherib was busy in a mopping-up campaign at ,libnah1 he sent three trusted generals to lay siege to ,jerusalem and to demand the surrender of ,hezekiah4 ,the blasphemous oration of one of these generals1 ,rab-shakeh1 is given voluminously in the eighteenth chapter of ,,ii ,kings4 ,there was a good deal of truth in some of ,rab-shakeh's arguments4 ,he described ,pharaoh as 8a bruised reed upon which if a man leaned1 it would pierce his hand and wound him to the death40 ,he rightly said that no other countries had been delivered from ,sennacherib by the power of their gods4 ,his error was in assuming that therefore the ,god of ,israel would also be defeated by the power of ,sennacherib4 ,he gave the king some short while to think over the policy of surrender1 and sat down to invest the city4 ,hezekiah1 in his bitter dilemma1 sought out ,isaiah1 whose advice he had followed with such disastrous results4 ,the thirty-seventh chapter of ,isaiah contains the answer that ,isaiah made1 and the exact words of his prophecy are also found in the nineteenth chapter of ,,ii ,kings1 verses six and seven4 ,to comfort ,hezekiah1 ,isaiah said to the king's messenger3 8,thus shall ye say to your master1 ,thus saith the ,lord1 ,be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard wherewith the servants of the king of ,assyria have blasphemed me4 ,behold1 ,i will send a blast upon him1 and he shall hear a rumour1 and return to his own land2 and ,i will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land40 ,it is well to keep this prophecy of ,isaiah's in mind until we see how perfectly it was fulfilled in complete detail4 ,in the thirty-fifth verse of ,,ii ,kings1 the nineteenth chapter1 the 8blast0 occurred4 ,the statement is made that the angel of the ,lord went out and slew #ahe1jjj of the flower of the ,assyrian army4 ,the next verse says in graphic words1 8,so ,sennacherib king of ,assyria departed40 ,the literal translation in ,english of that graphic word would be1 8,so ,sennacherib king of ,assyria #8beat it'40 ,we cannot blame him for the haste of his departure4 ,arising after a night of slumber to find #ahe1jjj of his best warriors mysteriously slain1 terror must have smitten his heart4 ,at that exact moment word reached him of a rebellion in his own land4 ,this was the 8rumour0 of which ,isaiah had prophesied4 ,he returned to put down this rebellion and never again invaded ,judah4 ,twenty years later he was murdered4 ,between verses thirty-six and thirty-seven of the nineteenth chapter of ,,ii ,kings1 a full score of years passed by4 ,after his murder1 his son1 ,esar-haddon1 came to the throne and continued the story of conquest and intrigue4 ,in the meantime1 the defeated ,tirhakah was unquestionably chagrined to learn that little ,judah had been delivered from the power that had defeated him4 ,to apologize for his own failure to support ,judah1 ,tirhakah claimed credit for the defeat of the ,assyrian horde by claiming that his god1 ,amon1 had caused the camp of the ,assyrians to be invaded by millions of field mice4 ,he claimed that these tiny rodents in one night ate up all the bowstrings of the army and thus they were unable to fight4 ,his interpretation of the event is a bit sketchy1 to say the least6 ,in the ,assyrian ,room at the ,british ,museum1 a very important exhibit will be seen in ,table ,case 8,e04 ,this is a six-sided clay prism containing an unabridged record of ,sennacherib's own account of these stirring events4 ,here he has given us his story of the invasion of ,palestine and the siege of ,jerusalem in the days of ,hezekiah4 ,so important is this record that we produce here1 in its entirety1 the fifth oblique 7or plane7 of this great prism3 8,in my third campaign ,i went to the land of the ,hittites4 ,i marched against the ,city of ,ekron and put to death the priests and chief men who had committed the sin of rebellion and ,i hung up their bodies on stakes all around the ,city 444 but as for ,hezekiah of ,judah1 who had not submitted to my yoke #df of his strong cities1 together with innumerable fortresses and small towns that depended upon them by overthrowing the walls and open attack1 by battle1 engines and battering rams ,i besieged ,i captured2 ,i brought out of the midst of them and counted as a spoil #bjj1jjj persons great and small1 male and female1 besides mules1 camels1 sheep1 asses and oxen without number3 8,hezekiah himself ,i shut up like a bird in a cage in ,jerusalem his strong city4 ,i built a line of forts against him and kept back himself from going forth out of the great gate of his city4 ,i cut off his cities which ,i had spoiled out of the midst of his land and ,i gave them to ,metinti1 king of ,ashdod1 and ,padi ,king of ,ekron and ,til-,baal1 ,king of ,gaza and made his country small4 ,in addition to their former yearly tribute and gifts ,i added other tribute and homage due to my majesty1 and ,i laid it upon them4 ,the fear of the greatness of my majesty overwhelmed him1 even ,hezekiah1 and he sent after me to ,nineveh my royal city1 the ,arabs and his bodyguards1 whom he had brought for the defense of his royal city ,jerusalem1 and had furnished with pay along with thirty talents4444 ,eight hundred talents of pure silver1 carbuncles and other precious stones1 a couch of ivory1 thrones of ivory1 and elephants hide and elephant tusks1 rare woods of all kinds a vast treasure1 as well as ,unachs from his palace1 and dancing men and dancing women4 ,and he sent his ,ambassador to offer homage40 ,this fascinating document is one of the greatest treasures that archeology has produced for the careful student of ,christian apologetics4 ,it is notable not only for what it tells but also for much that is left unsaid4 ,in the grim1 brutal days of these ancient conquerors1 a defeated enemy could expect little mercy at the hands of the victorious4 ,the kings of ,assyria ruled by fear and by the implacable1 swift certainty of punishment for rebellion4 ,sennacherib here refers to a common practice of his day1 that of impaling rebellious enemies as a lesson to other vassals4 ,in this particular document he recounts how they hung the bodies of the rebel leaders on stakes around their captured cities4 ,the technique of this execution was simple4 ,a heavy post was driven into the ground until it was about as high as a tall man's shoulder4 ,the top of the post was sharpened to as fine a point as the tools of that day would permit4 ,in some cases1 the rebel was picked up by a pair of burly executioners who swung him through the air and jammed him down with great force upon the pointed stake4 ,there they whirled him as a sort of a human pinwheel until life quickly fled his shattered form4 ,this was a comparatively merciful way of impaling4 ,in other cases the victim was set upon the sharpened stick until gravity bore down his suffering body to the point where death relieved him after hours1 and even days of misery and torment4 ,but while ,sennacherib recounted the successful punishment of the rebels of the many cities who had joined in this uprising1 it is to be carefully noted that he changed the tone of the record in the case of ,hezekiah4 ,he could not say that he impaled him or otherwise punished him for the rebellion6 ,all he could say was1 8,as for ,hezekiah himself1 ,i shut him up like a bird in ,jerusalem1 his capital city40 ,sennacherib can tell of the fenced cities and small villages in the outskirts of ,judah which he despoiled from the hand of ,hezekiah1 but he never laid hand on the person of the king himself1 nor did he enter the sacred city4 ,the 8blast0 of ,isaiah's prophecy can alone account for the failure of ,sennacherib to crucify ,hezekiah along with his other rebellious enemies4 ,also it is to be noted that by a violation of chronological accuracy1 ,sennacherib 8saves face10 after the ancient custom of the ,eastern lands4 ,a conqueror of his standing and authority cannot admit that he was defeated before the walls of ,jerusalem4 ,therefore1 at the end of this record he gives a list of the treasure that ,hezekiah had paid before in his original subjection6 ,this listing of tribute is falsely made to appear as though it were after the siege of ,jerusalem4 ,by the simple expedient of introducing at the end of a defeat the record of a previous payment1 ,sennacherib seeks to delude posterity and wipe out the memory of his one outstanding defeat4 ,this great prism of this ,assyrian conqueror is unquestionably one of the strongest bricks in the wall of defense that archeology is erecting around the ,sacred ,word of ,god4 ,there are many other records left by ,sennacherib that are also of tremendous importance4 ,the ,british ,museum has a magnificent section which is devoted very largely to those ,babylonian and ,assyrian chronicles1 many of which coincide with this period of history4 ,the murder of ,sennacherib that was prophesied by ,isaiah and recorded in the nineteenth chapter of ,,ii ,kings1 is accredited and substantiated by archeological sources4 ,we learn from the records of ,babylon that the years between the debacle at ,jerusalem and the death of ,sennacherib were occupied with wars much nearer home4 ,we read in those chronicles that the ,elamites of ,suziana1 together with certain allied peoples1 again rose in rebellion4 ,it took a number of campaigns1 which ultimately ravished the whole of ,suziana1 to put down this uprising4 ,in fact1 the campaigns of subjection were not entirely successful until ,babylon was destroyed in #fhi ,b4 ,c4 ,in the interim1 when not busy subduing his ,elamite subjects1 ,sennacherib campaigned in ,cilicia1 where he overcame the armed force of the ,greeks1 penetrating as far as ,tarsus in his victorious marches4 ,the ,babylonian records conclude by saying that he was assassinated by his sons in the year which by our reckoning would be known as ,b4 ,c4 #fha4 ,in the ,babylonian ,room of the ,british ,museum1 ,table ,case 8,e0 contains an exhibit which bears the ,museum number #ib1ejb4 ,this consists of a clay tablet which is an extensive chronicle written in the ,babylonian characters4 ,it delineates a list of the principal events which occurred in both ,babylon and ,assyria over an extensive period of time4 ,the history begins with the third year of the reign of ,nabu-,nasir1 who ascended his throne in ,babylon in #gdd4 ,the record continues to the first year of ,shamash-shum-ukim1 with whom we shall deal in a future reference4 ,in the third column of this chronicle1 lines thirty-four and thirty-five state that ,sennacherib was killed by his son on the twentieth day of the month ,tebet in the twenty-third year of his reign4 ,this murder is rather graphically described in terse1 but satisfactory terms in the record of the nineteenth chapter of ,,ii ,kings4 ,there is no more definite and positive example of the coincidence of archeological discovery with the text of the ,scripture than is provided by the records of ,sennacherib4 ,though dead for more than two and one-half millenniums1 he indeed has a tale to tell6 ,we can condense his record into one graphic1 simple sentence which we can sign with the name of this great king1 8,the historicity of the ,sacred ,page is unquestionable in the light of archeology60 ,the next pharaoh of antiquity who challenges our interest with his confirmation of the ,scripture1 is variously known by the name of ,necho1 which is his prenomen as used in the ,scripture text1 and by the ,egyptian forms of ,nekau and ,uohemibra4 ,he was1 perhaps1 the greatest of the later conquerors who sought to extend the power of ,egypt1 and he was certainly the last of that remarkable group4 ,he expended a good deal of the revenues of the crown in rebuilding the canal of ,seti the ,first1 which had formed a waterway between the ,nile and the ,red ,sea4 ,it is difficult at times to place absolute credence upon the numerical estimates of the ancient chronicles of ,egypt1 but it is highly probable that ,necho employed more than a hundred thousand men in this work4 ,herodotus gives great honour to ,necho1 telling us that he sent out certain ships of ,phoenicia which circumnavigated ,africa4 ,he maintained a mercenary army of ,greeks1 and had one fleet in the ,mediterranean1 and the other in the ,red ,sea4 ,his record in the ,scripture is tangled inextricably with that of ,assyria and ,babylonia1 and for that reason we must sketch-in the background of this coincidence and appearance4 ,shalmaneser the ,fifth began the phenomenal rise to ascendency of the great power of ,assyria4 ,babylon was the chief adversary and the strongest foe that ,assyria faced in the development of her world empire1 which ultimately climaxed in ,sennacherib4 ,finding it impossible to preserve the loyalty of the ,babylonians1 who were a proud and haughty people1 ,sennacherib finally destroyed ,babylon and carried away its people into captivity4 ,when ,sennacherib died1 according to the record of the nineteenth chapter of ,,ii ,kings1 his son1 ,esar-haddon came to the throne4 ,esar-haddon1 more of a statesman than a conqueror1 rebuilt ,babylon4 ,he united ,assyria and ,babylon into one great domain1 naming the combined kingdom ,babylonia4 ,for the sake of administration and as a gesture of amity1 he made ,babylon his capital4 ,thus the rebuilt city became the seat of government and the center of the culture of ,babylonia4 ,the name ,esar-haddon means 8victorious10 or 8conqueror40 ,one of the greatest of all the mighty kings of ,assyria1 he was a worthy successor of ,sargon1 ,shalmaneser1 and ,sennacherib4 ,his name occurs but three times in ,holy ,writ4 ,the first occurrence is ,,ii ,kings #ai3cg1 where it speaks of his ascent to the throne4 ,the next occurrence is in ,isaiah #cg3bh where this record of ,,ii ,kings #ai3cg is confirmed by the hand of the prophet1 who was an active participant in those stirring events4 ,later1 ,ezra refers to him in the second verse of his fourth chapter4 ,in this latter reference1 the remnant who returned from the ,babylonian captivity name him as the cause of their captivity and acknowledged that he gave them the freedom to worship their own ,god in their own way4 ,in the reign of ,menasseh1 ,esar-haddon died and was succeeded by two sons4 ,the elder of these was the famous ,assur-bani-pal1 who was made over-lord of the entire kingdom1 with the section that was once called ,assyria as his particular domain4 ,his younger brother1 ,shamis-shum-ukim was given dominion over ,babylon1 where he reigned as vassal to his wealthy brother4 ,the ,british ,museum is replete with the records and materials from the reign of ,assur-bani-pal and from the brief and tragic rule of ,shamis-shum-ukim as well4 ,the fine hand of ,egyptian intrigue enters into the record at this point1 again tangling up the ,assyrian records in a triangular bout between ,judah1 ,egypt1 and ,babylonia4 ,the ,pharaoh ,necho1 alarmed by the growing power of ,babylonia1 gathered together a mighty host and invaded the territory of the great ,assyrian king4 ,as a preliminary to this invasion1 the ,pharaoh ,necho persuaded ,shamis-shum-ukim to rebel against his older brother and to declare his independence4 ,into this conspiracy ,necho succeeded in drawing ,syria and ,judah4 ,the blow was struck at the dominion of ,assur-bani-pal while he was battling certain tribes near his ,eastern border4 ,when the couriers brought him word of the revolt of his brother1 and of the coalition formed against him at the instigation of ,necho1 ,assur-bani-pal made a swift and remarkable march1 returning to his threatened territory4 ,necho hastily assembled his army1 and the major battles were fought on the terrain of ,syria4 ,syria was quickly reduced1 ,babylon pacified1 and ,assur-bani-pal emerged completely victorious4 ,necho1 not having had time to prepare his defenses1 was overthrown1 defeated1 and forced to bow in subjection to ,assur-bani-pal4 ,from the record of the victorious king1 we offer the following paragraph as a condensed but detailed account of these tremendous events3 8,after removing the corpses of the rebels from the midst of ,babylon1 ,cuthra1 and ,sippara1 and piling them in heaps1 in accordance with the prophecies ,i cleaned the mercy seats of their temples4 ,i purified their chief places of prayer ,i appeased their angry gods and goddesses with supplications and penitential psalms4 ,their daily sacrifices which they had discontinued1 ,i restored and established as they had been of old4 ,as for the rest of them who had flown at the stroke of slaughter1 ,i had mercy on them4 ,i proclaimed an amnesty upon them4 ,i brought them to live in ,babylon4 ,the men of the nations whom ,sam 444 had led away and united in one conspiracy1 ,i trod down to the uttermost parts of their borders4 ,by the command of ,assur1 ,beltis1 and the great gods my helpers1 the yoke of ,assur which they had shaken off ,i laid upon them4 ,i appointed over them governors and satraps1 the work of my own hands40 ,from this account it will be seen that ,assur-bani-pal slew his rebellious brother and destroyed the principal leaders of the revolt1 with the exception of those who had pleaded for mercy4 ,as a result of this defeat at ,charchemish1 ,necho was dethroned and led in chains to ,babylon4 ,this ,chaldean conqueror had a policy that was unique for his day4 ,it was his consistent practice to deal mercifully with the repentant4 ,when the ,pharaoh ,necho professed sorrow for his conduct1 ,assur-bani-pal1 following his established custom1 restored him to ,sais where he was to rule ,egypt as a province of ,babylonia4 ,at this time1 ,josiah of ,judah also accepted the yoke of ,assyria and became a vassal of ,assur-bani-pal4 ,from what we learn of the character of ,king ,josiah1 we would expect that he would be faithful to his pledges and promises and1 indeed1 this very faithfulness was the cause of his death4 ,the ,pharaoh ,necho1 smarting under his defeat and wounded deeply in his pride1 quietly gathered together a tremendous army and rebelled against ,assur-bani-pal the second time4 ,in this second conflict1 ,charchemish was the chosen battle ground4 ,although many strategic battles had been waged back and forth about this important center1 this is generally referred to as the ,first ,battle of ,charchemish4 ,this reference is undoubtedly predicated upon the fact that the ultimate struggle between ,assyria and ,egypt1 which gave the latter power a world dominion1 centered about this field4 ,in order to reach the battle ground1 the ,pharaoh ,necho marched his horde across the terrain of ,palestine4 ,the story of what followed is familiar to every student of the ,old ,testament4 ,in the thirty-fifth chapter of ,,ii ,chronicles1 beginning with the twentieth verse and ending with the twenty-seventh1 this incidental tragedy is told4 ,josiah1 who had taken the pledge of fidelity to ,assur-bani-pal1 gathered together his small army and sought to prevent this passage of the ,egyptian army across his domain4 ,it is recorded that ,pharaoh sent his heralds to ,josiah offering to leave the land of ,palestine unmolested on condition that they gave him no opposition in his plans for battle4 ,the pharaoh went so far as to claim that he was on the business of ,god4 ,although ,king ,josiah had disguised himself in the common dress of a humble man-at-arms1 he seems to have been recognized4 ,the sharpshooters among the archers picked him as their target and he fell sorely wounded4 ,he died after being taken to ,jerusalem1 and all of the people of ,judah and ,jerusalem mourned for him4 ,jeremiah the prophet deeply loved the godly king because of his fidelity to the law1 and the fourth chapter of the ,book of ,lamentations contains part of the dirge of ,jeremiah concerning the death of the king4 ,in the meantime1 hindered by the abortive attempt of the faithful ,josiah to delay his passage1 ,necho swept on to the banks of the ,euphrates where a notable battle was fought4 ,the assault of ,necho found the ,assyrian monarch unprepared4 ,the force that he had gathered at ,charchemish was inadequate to defend his borders1 and ,assur-bani-pal was defeated4 ,in the meantime1 ,jehoahaz had succeeded his father ,josiah and was reigning at ,jerusalem4 ,the sway of the young king was short and ended tragically after ninety days4 ,on his way home from his victory at ,charchemish1 the ,pharaoh ,necho deposed ,jehoahaz because of his father's conduct and put ,eliakim on the throne4 ,thus the younger brother of ,jehoahaz became king over ,judah in his place4 ,the ,pharaoh changed the name of ,eliakim to ,jehoiakim and once more ,judah became a vassal to the might and power of ,egypt4 ,the unfortunate ,jehoahaz1 laden with chains1 was carried away to ,sais4 ,there he dragged out a miserable existence until death brought him a happy release from captivity and degradation4 ,the ,pharaoh ,necho imposed upon ,palestine a fine for their opposition which would be about the equivalent in our modern currency of #bjj1jjj4 ,in considering the difference in purchasing power1 however1 that would be about #c1jjj1jjj in our money4 ,these incidents are either expressly stated or are referred to in many portions of ,holy ,writ4 ,we first find them in the twenty-third chapter of ,,ii ,kings4 ,the twenty-sixth chapter of ,jeremiah1 verses twenty-one to twenty-three1 contains a bleak record of the hardship and oppression that resulted when men of ,god were slain for speaking ,god's ,word concerning the events of this grim and dismal affair4 ,in the nineteenth chapter of ,ezekiel1 the third and fourth verses of this record1 the prophet sings a lamentation over the 8lion's whelp0 and sorrows that 8he shall be bound in chains in the land of ,egypt40 ,then from the fifth verse on1 the prophet caustically berates the land because that another of the lion's whelps1 suddenly raised to maturity1 devoured the men who had raised him and laid waste their land and cities4 ,our present interest1 however1 is to be found in the records that deal with these events in the sources of archeology4 ,it would be inconceivable that the mighty ,necho should fail to boast of his power and victory when he had won so notable an ascendancy over all of his enemies4 ,in the voluminous records of the ,pharaoh ,necho1 the vainglorious boasting of this long-dead monarch comes to us today as a welcome1 added voice to the rapidly swelling chorus that testifies to the historical accuracy of the ,old ,testament4 ,leaving the record of ,necho1 however1 for the present moment 7as he enters the story again in the reign of the succeeding ,babylonian monarch71 we turn to the sources of ,babylonian and ,assyrian antiquity for the authentication of these affairs by the mighty ,assur-bani-pal4 ,now1 indeed1 it becomes difficult to choose the most effective and pointed evidences1 as we are embarrassed with so vast a wealth of material4 ,it would take many days indeed for a careful student to exhaust the possibilities in that collection of the material of ,assur-bani-pal that is found in the ,british ,museum alone4 ,in this notable and incomparable deposit of priceless fact and information1 there is no more striking section than that which is derived from the works and records of this stormy ruler4 ,in about the year #fff ,b4 ,c4 this conqueror finished the third of his campaigns against ,egypt1 and with the sack of the ,city of ,thebes1 again established the dominion of ,assyria over ,egypt4 ,the mighty king then turned his military attentions to the northern regions of his empire and thrust his borders out to an unprecedented extent4 ,at the same time1 with a part of his forces he waged a long war with the ,elamites on his southeastern border and subjected that country to the yoke of ,assyria4 ,putting down the ,elamite uprising with a stern and bloody hand1 he left a lesson in implacable cruelty that the ,elamites never forgot4 ,in the ,nineveh ,gallery of the ,assyrian section of the ,british ,museum may be seen great sculptured slabs from the walls of ,assur-bani-pal's palace1 which are numbered #de to #ej4 ,at our last visit they were to be seen on the ,eastern side of the gallery4 ,these relics completely illustrate his conquest of ,elam4 ,exhibits #de to #dg further show the crushing of the ,elamite forces1 and the action is so dramatically depicted that the careful student may sense the excitement which seems to prevail4 ,a voluminous text accompanies the pictured action so that there is no possibility of mistaking the meaning of the illustrations4 ,at this time ,shamis-shum-ukim joined in the great revolt to which we have referred in a foregoing paragraph of this chapter4 ,there are two accounts in the archeological records as to the end of ,shamis-shum-ukim4 ,although a twin brother of ,assur-bani-pal1 he was some hours the younger1 and thus was nominally subject to him under ,assyrian law4 ,one account says that he was taken prisoner and that ,assur-bani-pal had him burned at the stake4 ,the other account says that ,shamis-shum-ukim1 seeing he was about to be defeated1 locked himself in a small section of the palace1 which he set afire and burned himself rather than surrender4 ,there was at this time a revolt in the ,egyptian section of the empire which resulted in some long conflicts1 which are also given in these records4 ,it was also at this period that ,assur-bani-pal left the record above cited1 of the pacification of ,babylon and the submission of ,josiah4 ,the ,british ,museum has a very large collection of letters from the library of ,assur-bani-pal at ,nineveh1 many of which are of high significance in the study of these historical episodes4 ,these letters cover a broad scope as they include the reports1 requisitions1 and communications of dignitaries4 ,some of these came from the crown prince1 others from local governors and still more from various military captains4 ,they deal in specific detail with military operations1 uprisings1 rebellions1 and their suppression4 ,they tell of the dispatch of troops to the provinces1 with lists of expenses and expenditures4 ,such intimate details of ,assyrian science as the reports of astronomers for regulating the calendar of the year are found there1 and illuminating comments upon the political trend of the days4 ,there are many references to these episodes1 as would naturally be expected4 ,one of the great monuments to be found in the ,babylonian ,room of the ,british ,museum1 and numbered #ij1hfd1 is a stone stele with a rounded top1 that is a treasure indeed4 ,the upright full-length figure of ,assur-bani-pal is shown in his capacity of high priest4 ,this stele contains a lengthy chronicle recording the names1 honors1 and genealogy of the monarch and tells of his godly conduct and fidelity to his religion4 ,there is a note of sadness and an index to the character of this great ,assyrian in the line where ,assur-bani-pal declares that he himself had appointed his twin brother ,shamis-shum-ukim 8to the sovereignty over ,babylon so that the strong may not oppress the weak40 ,passing over a great many of these sources1 we come now to the ,assyrian ,room where1 in ,table ,case 8,e10 we find two ten-sided prisms of ,assur-bani-pal which bear the ,museum numbers #ia1jbf1 and #ia1jhf4 ,these lengthy records are inscribed with the outstanding incidents in the earlier years of his busy life4 ,beginning with an epitomized statement concerning his birth and education1 as all good biographies should begin1 he took occasion to recognize the great prosperity of ,assyria that immediately followed his elevation to the throne4 ,then quickly the warrior king launched into some graphic descriptions of his principal military expeditions4 ,here he tells of the two expeditions against ,tirhakah in ,egypt1 to which we have referred above4 ,among the allies who accompanied him to fight under his banner1 who were already subject to him1 he mentions levies from ,cypress1 ,asia ,minor1 ,syria1 and ,palestine4 ,after citing the events and victories of five campaigns1 the record then introduces the sad tragedy of ,shamis-shum-ukim1 a portion of which we have cited in a preceding paragraph4 ,in all1 there are nine campaigns covered in these prisms1 and the student of historical accuracy may find great substantiation for his confidence in the truth and fidelity of the ,word of ,god from these fascinating records4 ,in the same case is an eight-sided clay prism of ,assur-bani-pal1 numbered #ic1jjh4 ,this also contains a shorter reference to these same events4 ,to convey an adequate and detailed account of the materials available from the time of ,assur-bani-pal and his unfortunate brother would require a large volume by itself4 ,we have come to that point1 however1 where ,assur-bani-pal's record concludes as it touches the ,scripture4 ,so we satisfy ourselves temporarily with this brief introduction of an epitomized section of those evidences4 ,three years after the battle of ,charchemish1 where ,assur-bani-pal was temporarily defeated1 a new and forceful conqueror appeared in the person of ,nebuchadnezzar the ,second4 ,assur-bani-pal was succeeded by ,nabopolassar1 who will be ignored in this record because of the fact that he is not named by name in the text of the ,bible4 ,nabopolassar1 however1 had a gifted son who succeeded him as ,nebuchadnezzar the ,second1 and who began his training for the crown by assuming command of the army as the chief general under his father and with his parent's consent4 ,the first great campaign that ,nebuchadnezzar fought1 brought ,egypt back under the dominion of ,babylon4 ,to see the background of this event1 it must be noted that after the death of ,assur-bani-pal1 the ,medes invaded ,nineveh and captured that stronghold4 ,whereupon ,nabopolassar reasserted the independence of ,babylon and conducted a number of brilliant campaigns to secure the ascendency of his kingdom and to establish his supremacy over the entire ancient world4 ,when ,nineveh fell1 the ,pharaoh ,necho1 with whom we are now dealing1 entered the story again4 ,necho invaded ,syria and ,palestine and successfully campaigned up to the banks of the ,euphrates4 ,at ,charchemish he met the host of ,nebuchadnezzar for what is known as the ,second ,battle of ,charchemish4 ,necho entered this conflict with considerable confidence1 due to his previous victory on this same field4 ,this time1 however1 a different experience awaited him4 ,nebuchadnezzar crushed the ,egyptians with an overwhelming defeat and drove them back to their own border4 ,as a result of this battle1 all ,palestine1 with the exception of ,judah1 acknowledged the authority of ,nebuchadnezzar4 ,the ,babylonian general took ,jehoiakim captive and slew the ,pharaoh ,necho4 ,all of these events are recorded by the ,pharaoh ,necho1 by ,assur-bani-pal1 and by certain humbler captains and leaders4 ,the ,pharaoh's record is complete up to the time of the second battle4 ,but as ,necho did not survive this campaign1 there is a dramatic break in his record4 ,however1 what is wanting from the ,egyptian sources1 is happily supplied from those of ,babylon4 ,it is not to be expected that the young conqueror would remain silent concerning his early victories4 ,his father1 ,nabopolassar1 also recounts with some satisfaction the military ability of his son4 ,through all of his reign1 however1 ,nebuchadnezzar was more of a builder and architect than conqueror1 although he frequently took the field in notable military action4 ,most of the relics from his reign have to do with the building of great temples and edifices4 ,there are1 however1 a number of fragmentary chronicles such as that which1 in the ,babylonian ,room of the ,british ,museum in ,table ,case 8,e10 bears the number of #cc1jda4 ,this recounts a later expedition undertaken by ,nebuchadnezzar in the thirty-seventh year of his reign4 ,this was to put down an uprising in ,egypt4 ,there are innumerable tablets and records in the ,british ,museum that attest the order and genius of the government in the forty-two years of ,nebuchadnezzar's reign4 ,we will refer to this later when we come to the closing period of his great career4 ,we have introduced the historicity of ,nebuchadnezzar now1 and the coincidence of his account which climaxes the reign of ,necho1 to establish at one more point the historical accuracy of the ,old ,testament text4 ,the last ,pharaoh who comes into the account of the ,sacred ,book is positively identified as ,hophra4 ,he is called ,apris by the ,greeks1 and is frequently found in the hieroglyphics under the name of ,psammetichus1 the ,second4 ,his name1 ,hophra1 occurs in the ,scripture only once1 which is the forty-fourth chapter of ,jeremiah and the thirtieth verse4 ,here the three great characters of this last drama are found conjoined in these simple words3 8,thus saith the ,lord2 ,behold ,i will give ,pharaoh-hophra king of ,egypt into the hand of his enemies1 and into the hand of them that seek his life2 as ,i gave ,zedekiah king of ,judah into the hand of ,nebuchadnezzar king of ,babylon1 his enemy1 and that sought his life40 ,hophra was a rash1 inexperienced1 over-confident ruler who wasted what small strength and wealth his kingdom possessed in useless warfare against mighty powers which were manifestly beyond his ability to cope with4 ,the background of his contact with the ,sacred ,record begins with his conspiracy that enmeshed ,zedekiah4 ,this entire rebellion was a faithless and degraded example of lack of honour and responsibility to a plighted and pledged word4 ,this is primarily so because after the defeat of ,necho and his subsequent death1 ,nebuchadnezzar raised ,hophra1 the son of ,necho1 to the throne of ,egypt where he governed as a satrap4 ,he was to reign for ,babylon1 and had taken the oath of fidelity to his over-lord and master4 ,to make matters worse the conduct of ,zedekiah added insult to injury6 ,when ,nebuchadnezzar dethroned ,jehoiakim and carried him bound in chains to his subsequent death in ,babylon1 he was followed on the throne by ,jehoiakin who reigned for a very brief period4 ,then ,nebuchadnezzar raised ,zedekiah to a position of power and on his twenty-first birthday elevated him to the governorship of ,jerusalem4 ,for the better part of eleven years1 he reigned more or less successfully4 ,he seems to have been a graceless scoundrel and utterly without honour4 ,completely violating their treaties and their oaths of fidelity1 ,pharaoh and ,zedekiah joined in a conspiracy and rebelled against the power of ,nebuchadnezzar4 ,it is a matter of wonder to the modern student that these kings of ,judah never learned their lesson4 ,the ,chaldeans besieged ,jerusalem to put down this revolt1 and ,hophra marched to its aid4 ,because the company of ,chaldeans was small1 as ,nebuchadnezzar had not anticipated a strong resistance1 the wise captains of this advance-guard did not join battle with ,hophra1 but retired in good order rather than fight a hopeless conflict when they were so strongly outnumbered4 ,the city of ,jerusalem went wild with delight and rejoicing over its deliverance4 ,the gloomy ,jeremiah warned the leaders in vain that the ,chaldeans would return1 and in overwhelming force4 ,refusing to listen to the prophecies of ,jeremiah1 the people treated him harshly and cast him out4 ,while the city was rejoicing at this early victory1 ,jeremiah himself gave a manifestation of confidence in the ultimate fulfillment of his own prophecies1 when he fled from the city and delivered himself voluntarily into the hands of the ,chaldeans4 ,in the meantime1 ,hophra1 overcome with pride at his easy victory1 boasted with blasphemy that not even could ,god defeat him6 ,the sycophantic ,zedekiah acquiesced in this boasting and blasphemy and showered the foolish ,hophra with unlimited compliments4 ,with ,jeremiah gone and all of ,judah turning to the ways of idolatry1 ,god did not lack champions4 ,messengers and prophets were sent rapidly to ,zedekiah and to the princes of the kingdom1 but they mocked the messengers of ,god and despised ,his words4 ,they misused ,his prophets1 until the wrath of the ,lord rose against ,his people beyond remedy4 ,therefore1 says the thirty-sixth chapter of ,,ii ,chronicles1 8,he brought upon them the king of the ,chaldees1 who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary1 and had no compassion upon young man or maiden1 old man1 or him that stooped for age2 he gave them all into his hand40 ,the strongest voice that was raised for ,god in this dark hour was that of ,ezekiel4 ,at this time1 the prophet was in ,babylon and from there he spoke the words that are found in the first sixteen verses of his twenty-ninth chapter4 ,this is undoubtedly one of the most comprehensive and remarkable prophecies concerning any nation that the student of this fascinating subject may deal with4 ,for the sake of refreshing the mind of the reader1 we publish here this prophecy in full3 8,in the tenth year1 in the tenth month1 in the twelfth day of the month1 the word of the ,lord came unto me1 saying1 ,son of man1 set thy face against ,pharaoh king of ,egypt1 and prophesy against him1 and against all ,egypt3 ,speak1 and say1 ,thus saith the ,lord ,god2 ,behold1 ,i am against thee1 ,pharaoh king of ,egypt1 the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers1 which hath said1 ,my river is mine own1 and ,i have made it for myself4 8,but ,i will put hooks in thy jaws1 and ,i will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales1 and ,i will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers1 and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales4 8,and ,i will leave thee thrown into the wilderness1 thee and all the fish of thy rivers3 thou shalt fall upon the open fields2 thou shalt not be brought together1 nor gathered3 ,i have given thee for meat to the beast of the field and to the fowls of the heaven4 8,and all the inhabitants of ,egypt shall know that ,i am the ,lord1 because they have been a staff of reed to the house of ,israel4 8,when they took hold of thee by thy hand1 thou didst break1 and rend all their shoulder3 and when they leaned upon thee1 thou brakest1 and madest all their loins to be at a stand4 ,therefore thus said the ,lord ,god2 ,behold ,i will bring a sword upon thee1 and cut off man and beast out of thee4 8,and the land of ,egypt shall be desolate and waste2 and they shall know that ,i am the ,lord3 because he hath said1 ,the river is mine1 and ,i have made it4 8,behold1 therefore ,i am against thee1 and against thy rivers1 and ,i will make the land of ,egypt utterly waste and desolate1 from the tower of ,syene even unto the border of ,ethiopia4 8,no foot of man shall pass through it1 nor foot of beast shall pass through it1 neither shall it be inhabited forty years4 8,and ,i will make the land of ,egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate1 and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years3 and ,i will scatter the ,egyptians among the nations1 and will disperse them through the countries4 8,yet thus saith the ,lord ,god2 ,at the end of forty years will ,i gather the ,egyptians from the people whither they were scattered2 8,and ,i will bring again the captivity of ,egypt1 and will cause them to return into the land of ,pathros1 into the land of their habitation2 and they shall be there a base kingdom4 8,it shall be the basest of the kingdoms2 neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations3 for ,i will diminish them1 that they shall no more rule over the nations4 8,and it shall be no more the confidence of the house of ,israel1 which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance1 when they shall look after them3 but they shall know that ,i am the ,lord ,god40 ,analyzing this prophecy1 we note the personal element that is introduced when ,god arrayed himself against ,hophra and all of the land of ,egypt4 ,this people who1 as we have seen1 worshipped the ,nile and counted it a deified object1 had also acquiesced in the claims of ,hophra who went so far as to state that he was the one who had made the river and caused it to continue to flow4 ,adopting this figure1 the prophet speaking for ,god1 says that ,hophra shall be caught like the fish and cast into the fields by the side of the banks4 ,the sixth verse states that all the population of ,egypt is to be taught a bitter lesson4 ,they shall know forever that ,god is ,lord1 in the punishment they shall reap for their defections against ,israel4 ,verse eight contains the information that this punishment is to take the form of an invasion that shall leave the land desolate and waste4 ,this punishment was to come upon the land and the people because of their idolatry and their sins against ,israel4 ,from verses ten to twelve1 a bleak picture is drawn of utter desolation which shall prevail in their land for forty years4 ,the prophecy then turns upon the pivot of the thirteenth verse to a time of a partial restoration4 ,this restoration1 however1 is limited in the ,divine ,word to the effect that ,egypt shall be the basest of the kingdoms of the earth4 ,it shall never be permitted to exalt itself again in the council of the nations4 ,it is to be eternally diminished and debased4 ,the consequent history of ,egypt has been a complete vindication and fulfillment of this prophecy4 ,nebuchadnezzar invaded ,judah and carried away the last remnant of that graceless people into captivity in ,babylon4 ,all those who had joined in the defection of ,zedekiah1 great and small1 old and young1 they slew with the sword4 ,then the angry ,nebuchadnezzar swept on into ,egypt and devastated that land1 until1 it is recorded1 8not a living thing1 man or beast10 was left in that once populous country4 ,for forty years it lay1 wasted and idle4 ,then the counselors of ,nebuchadnezzar advised that the land be colonized in order that it might produce revenue for the crown4 ,the first attempt failed because of the climate and the unique conditions of agriculture in a country that required constant irrigation and whose crops depended upon the sole source of moisture the river ,nile4 ,therefore1 the counselors gathered together such remnant of the ,egyptians as remained from the captivity and sent them back to repopulate the land4 ,every student of history will recall that ,egypt has been the basest of kingdoms from that hour to this4 ,it has been dominated in turn by the ,persians1 the ,greeks1 the ,romans1 the ,arabs1 the ,turks1 the ,french1 and the ,british4 ,one notable effort was made in historic time to raise ,egypt to its former grandeur and power4 ,the reader will recall the great campaign of ,napoleon by which he thought to revive this ,mistress of ,antiquity and make ,egypt an adjunct of his own imperial greatness4 ,if ,napoleon had read and believed the twenty-ninth chapter of ,ezekiel1 he could have spared himself this useless and expensive campaign4 ,we all recall that when victory seemed to be in sight1 ,napoleon's power and greatness shattered itself upon an immovable rock4 ,this was composed of the small remnant of indomitable ,british who refused to recognize the fact of their defeat when it stared them in the face4 ,and that courageous and noble refusal to give up1 when they were quite evidently hopelessly overthrown1 was again vindicated in the final result4 ,the army of ,napoleon was broken1 discomfited1 decimated1 and defeated4 ,finally1 it was deserted by its discouraged leader1 who probably never knew why he had failed4 ,he was not fighting against the allies only1 nor was he defeated entirely by ,british valour4 ,napoleon was fighting against the ,word of ,god and the will of ,him whose hand is able to raise to power and to cast down again4 ,from that hour to this1 and even in our present moment of historic time1 ,egypt remains the basest of the kingdoms of the earth4 ,to come back to the miserable ,hophra1 his final end came when he was assassinated by his own general1 whose name is given by the ,greeks as ,amasis and who appears on the monuments under the name of ,iahmose4 ,amasis occupied the throne until the final conquest by ,nebuchadnezzar4 ,we note again the coincidence of ancient records with the accounts that portray these events in the books of ,,ii ,chronicles1 ,jeremiah1 and ,ezekiel4 ,voluminous sections of the ,word of ,god are extended a strong and friendly hand of historical authentication by the secular records which have survived from that time4 ,in the ,british ,museum will be found tablets1 stelae1 portraits1 and sculptured remnants from ,egypt which have been derived from those unsettled times4 ,in the ,egyptian collection of the ,british ,museum1 the exhibit numbered #aceh contains a portrait of ,hophra4 ,there are also a number of scarabs in ,table ,case 8,b0 in the ,fourth ,egyptian ,room1 and a fragmentary sistrum in the ,fifth ,egyptian ,room1 all of which bear the name of ,hophra and authenticate his record4 ,thus we have seen in a brief but accurate recapitulation of generations and centuries of history that dead men do tell tales6 ,we have ,hophra's record together with the annalistic tablet of ,amasis to aid us in our understanding of these stirring days4 ,added to that1 the record of ,nebuchadnezzar brings additional confirmation of the thesis that is maintained in this brief work4 ,the evidence of archeology as it bears upon the text of ,god's ,word is final and complete wherever men have delved into the records of those days4 ,it may not be exactly what was in the mind of the ,lord ,jesus ,christ when ,he uttered the words1 but we can certainly apply to the generation in which we live1 ,his striking statement3 8,if men should hold their tongues1 the very stones would cry out60 ,and if living men will not speak the truth concerning the finality of the ,bible--dead men must6 ,,chapter ,,xi ,vindication of ,daniel ,nowhere in all this long and profitable study has archeology more perfectly and thoroughly vindicated the accuracy of the ,scripture than in those portions of the disputed record that are found in the ,book of ,daniel4 ,a great deal remains to be discovered at ,nineveh and ,babylon1 and it is highly probable that the excavations to the present hour have but scraped the surface of the marvelous treasure that remains to be uncovered4 ,it is a happy circumstance1 however1 that in our present incomplete but numerous sources1 a great deal of information has been brought to light in vindication of the prophet ,daniel4 ,in the heyday of its brief popularity1 the school of higher criticism pounced with great glee on the alleged inaccuracies and historical errors in the ,book of ,daniel4 ,the general argument against the integrity of this writing may be summed up in a simple resum4 ,in the ,book of ,daniel1 there are supposed to be a number of outstanding philological anachronisms4 ,the school of higher criticism1 in its weird procedure1 made great capital of the presumed cultural development of the people with whom the record dealt4 ,daniel is pictured in the ,bible as having lived and written in the last days of the ,babylonian dynasties4 ,he was carried away from his native land as a lad when the wrath of ,nebuchadnezzar was poured out on ,jerusalem in the days of ,zedekiah4 ,he lived throughout the reign of each of the last ,babylonian kings1 and was alive when ,cyrus signed the decree that enabled the remnant to return to ,jerusalem4 ,no leader of ,hebrew life and thought lived in a more stirring span of history than did ,daniel4 ,the bright minds of the higher critics1 which were never limited in their flights of fancy by historical fact1 concluded that the ,greek language could not have reached the courts of ,babylon until after the conquest of ,alexander4 ,in examining the ,hebrew text of this book1 the self-styled scholars claimed to have found eleven ,greek words in ,daniel's manuscript4 ,the occurrence of these words was sufficient evidence that the ,book of ,daniel was not written in the days of the ,babylonian dynasty1 but must have originated after the exile and in the days of ,alexander4 ,this was the first great argument directed against the credibility and authenticity of this prophecy4 ,the second alleged fallacy in the ,book of ,daniel is to be found in the predication of the entire book4 ,the sweep and movement of ,daniel's account begins with the adventure of certain young lads of the royal seed who were carried away as hostages to ,babylon4 ,daniel's own records state that by orders of ,nebuchadnezzar these young ,hebrew boys were put in the schools of learning where they might be instructed in the wisdom of ,babylon1 and taught patriotism1 and affection for the conquering power of ,chaldea4 ,to this basis of the entire narrative criticism objected vociferously and strenuously4 ,the argument advanced by this now discredited school was that the brutal conquerors of that day did not treat their hostages with such kindness and courtesy1 and so the entire record was declared to be incompatible with the known facts of history4 ,the third and more serious objection of the critics was directed against the appearance in ,daniel's manuscript of certain stories which were alleged to consist of pure myths4 ,among these is the story of the three ,hebrew children in the fiery furnace4 ,the demands of intelligence were supposed to find this utterly unreasonable and the doubters declared that such a miracle could not have occurred4 ,another weakness in the structure of the narrative was presumed to be found in the preservation of ,daniel in the den of lions4 ,in fact1 this whole record was relegated to the realm of improbability1 as this method of execution was never practiced by the ,babylonians4 ,these objections constituted the case in the dogmatic assertions of the advocates of higher criticism4 ,the strange experience of ,nebuchadnezzar for the year of his madness1 when he supposed himself a beast of the field and lived without the benefits of his civilization1 added strength to this objection against the historicity of a book that incorporates in its structure such palpable fables4 ,the final and most crushing argument1 however1 was the discovery of certain alleged historical inaccuracies that permeate the text of ,daniel4 ,when ,nebuchadnezzar died1 the kingdom seems to have fallen into a condition that was little short of anarchy4 ,nebuchadnezzar the ,second reigned from #fjd ,b4 ,c4 to #efa ,b4 ,c4 ,upon his death1 he was succeeded by ,evil-merodach who reigned for two years4 ,this unhappy monarch passed off the scene by violence1 and his murderer1 ,neriglissar1 succeeded him to the throne4 ,after a short reign he1 in turn1 was removed by ,labshi-marduk who reigned but the portion of a year4 ,he also met a sudden and unfortunate end and the succession was in a condition of anarchy4 ,being backed by the army1 ,nabonidus1 who according to most accounts was the son-in-law of ,nebuchadnezzar1 saved the throne and established himself in power4 ,having the complete confidence and trust of the military1 he established his dominion and reigned from #eee ,b4 ,c4 to #ech4 ,but in the year #ech1 ,cyrus the ,great captured ,babylon and overran the entire kingdom4 ,cyrus reigned until #ebi and was followed by ,cambyses4 ,in #eba1 ,cambyses was succeeded by ,darius who1 in turn1 gave place to ,xerxes4 ,thus we have a complete and fairly accurate record of those stirring days that followed ,nebuchadnezzar4 ,but in all profane history there was no record of a king by the name of ,belshazzar4 ,yet a surprising portion of the ,book of ,daniel is given over to the events and incidents in the life and reign of this 8mythical0 king4 ,according to the critics1 such historical inaccuracy was sufficient to condemn the manuscript4 ,upon these and lesser grounds1 therefore1 criticism tore ,daniel out of the ,old ,testament and denied him any place in the records of credible historians4 ,had the hopeful enemies of faith waited but a few short years1 they might have saved themselves all this work and trouble4 ,so thoroughly has the voice of archeology accredited the accuracy of ,daniel's writings1 that those who foolishly surrendered their faith in the historicity of this ,book1 have been forced to replace the disputed record1 and ,daniel has been vindicated as has no other questioned writer of antiquity4 ,to bring a brief and simple refutation of this critical argument concerning alleged discrepancies1 we shall go back to the primary argument4 ,the reign of ,nebuchadnezzar was characterized by a recrudescence of architecture and busy years of building4 ,the great king spent his enormous revenues in the construction of public buildings1 and the land blossomed under his influence and sway4 ,it was inevitable that the delvings at the site of ,babylon should have brought to light some of the palaces and works of this great kingdom4 ,it was the custom among the ,babylonian builders to mark their public buildings1 even as we do in our present culture4 ,upon the cornerstone of our city hall or court house1 we engrave the name and purpose of the building1 with the date of its erection4 ,over the doorways of our libraries and public buildings we chisel deeply into the building stones the name of the building and a brief dedication4 ,it seemed to be almost providential that one of the first great marble palaces discovered in the ruins of ,babylon was designated by the builders themselves as 8,the ,place of ,learning40 ,there captive princes were taught the learning of ,chaldea4 ,this one discovery reopened the whole case of the credibility of ,daniel4 ,his historicity was questioned primarily upon the grounds that such schools did not exist1 and captives were not so treated4 ,the foundational vindication of ,daniel that emerged from the dust of countless centuries1 caused a re-examination of the entire structure that criticism had reared against his integrity4 ,the result was a complete vindication of ,daniel and his record4 ,the argument of philology also turned against its producers and showed that their case against ,daniel was baseless4 ,it has been shown that eight of the eleven alleged ,greek words in ,daniel's manuscript are ,sumerian and not ,hellenistic4 ,at one time the ,sumerian language was the universal language of ancient diplomacy4 ,as ,french was the language of international correspondence until recent times1 when it has been largely displaced by ,english1 so most of the courts of antiquity conducted much of their business in the ,sumerian tongue4 ,this custom1 however1 was discontinued by the time of the ,persian conquest4 ,if there is any value in the argument of philology for the dating of a manuscript1 the evidence is conclusive that ,daniel could not have written after the time of ,nebuchadnezzar1 for the ,sumerian language was no longer in use from that time on4 ,the three bona fide ,greek words that do occur in ,daniel's writings are an evidence for his accuracy and historical fidelity1 rather than a source of criticism1 as has been implied4 ,these three words are the names of musical instruments that were ,greek in origin4 ,the language of music was and is universal and it did not take generations for such words to penetrate to the courts of other nations4 ,as an instance1 the reader may remember that the seven-stringed harp was invented by the ,greek poet ,terpander4 ,assur-bani-pal died twenty-five years after the invention of this harp4 ,he shows it1 however1 upon his monuments1 and the statement is made that one was buried with the king4 ,the ,babylonian records depict this harp under its ,greek name4 ,thus we see that instead of taking centuries for a ,greek word to reach ,babylon1 this word had become a household word in a few short years4 ,so the argument of philology turns out to be a boomerang which returns to smite the critic who hurled it4 ,the tales that are told by dead men who have no purpose in deceiving the living1 not only enhance our understanding of this disputed text1 but bring to us irrefutable evidence of its scrupulous accuracy4 ,the case for ,daniel's vindication is even more graphically presented when we come to the realm of these sections of alleged folklore and fable4 ,it is of course necessary that the careful scholar walk warily so as not to over-emphasize the facts at his disposal4 ,there is a tendency among those who have a justified confidence in the ,book of ,god to allow their natural elation over the illuminating vindication wrought for the ,scripture by archeology to result in an unfortunate over-emphasis4 ,here is where we face an illustration of such a tendency4 ,in one of the earlier excavations at ,babylon a peculiar building was uncovered which at first sight appeared to be a firing kiln in which bricks or pottery might be baked4 ,it was rounded in the typical shape common to the ancient beehive1 which is preserved even among some of our kilns of the present generation4 ,when the inscription was deciphered that designated the purpose of the building1 however1 it was startling to read1 8,this is the place of burning where men who blasphemed the gods of ,chaldea died by fire40 ,the tremendous significance of this discovery becomes at once apparent4 ,the tendency would be to explain with delight1 8,we have discovered the fiery furnace where ,shadrach1 ,meshach1 and ,abed-nego walked with the ,son of ,god40 ,such an application of this fact1 however1 would not quite be warranted4 ,this may or may not have been the ,scriptural site of that great miracle4 ,we can say1 however1 that the three ,hebrew children in the fiery furnace can no longer be consigned to the columns of mythology and dismissed as simple folklore4 ,this discovery has showed us without doubt that there was such a furnace as ,daniel depicts4 ,it was customary to punish blasphemy in this fashion1 and the ,chaldean monuments and annals are replete with instances of men being burned alive1 who had angered the king or rebelled against his sovereignty4 ,so1 then1 the implacable1 unrelenting voice of archeology penetrates the innermost retreats of higher criticism to destroy1 in this instance1 their familiar and favorite argument of folklore and mythology4 ,no less dramatic and interesting was the accidental experience of the famed excavator ,dieulafoy1 who fell into what at first sight would have been called an ancient well4 ,being rescued by his companions from his uncomfortable1 but in nowise dangerous1 situation1 they proceeded with their work to the point of identification4 ,the well turned out to be a pit which was used as an open cage for wild animals1 and upon the curb was found the inscription1 8,the place of execution where men who angered the king died torn by wild animals40 ,once again we must tread cautiously1 for we cannot say with dogmatic finality1 8,this is the place of ,daniel's experience40 ,we can say1 however1 with positive assurance that there was such a pit of execution1 and the only unusual feature in ,daniel's experience was that he came out alive under the defense and protection of the ,god whom he served4 ,in the excavation of the palace at ,shushan1 an ancient record was uncovered giving a list of four hundred eighty-four men of high degree who thus died in a den of lions4 ,the name of ,daniel was not found among them4 ,this might be accepted as collateral evidence that ,daniel escaped alive from that place of execution4 ,even the strange experience of ,nebuchadnezzar1 who dreamed that he would be turned into a wild beast and roam the fields like an ox1 has also been accredited4 ,it will be remembered that the mighty monarch dreamed of a tree that stood in the center of the earth and grew to an unprecedented height4 ,its towering branches swept the heavens and from all the ends of the earth its foliage was visible4 ,fruit hung upon this tree that satisfied the needs of men1 and the very beasts of the field shadowed themselves under its spreading branches4 ,even the fowls of the air dwelt safely therein1 and all living things drew strength and protection from this mighty growth4 ,the dream continued to the point where a ,holy ,one came down from heaven and ordered the destruction of the tree4 ,the trunk1 the branches1 the leaves1 and the fruit were all to be swept away1 but the stump and roots were to be undisturbed4 ,the heart was to be changed from a man's heart1 and the heart of an animal was to be given it until seven times should pass over that stump4 ,this drastic action was explained by the ,holy ,one as being intended to teach the high and lordly king that only the ,most ,high rules in the kingdom of man1 and that ,he gives dominion to whomsoever ,he will4 ,he has the right and authority to make the basest of men to sit in the places of highest power and to humble the most lordly4 ,upon coming to ,daniel with his troubled spirit1 the king sought an interpretation of the dream4 ,daniel recounts that for the passing of an hour he was so astonished and troubled in heart he could not find the strength to speak4 ,the king1 whose kindly affection for ,daniel is one of the wonders of that day1 besought him to speak frankly and not to allow his affection and regard for ,nebuchadnezzar to hinder him from telling the complete truth to the troubled king4 ,daniel's interpretation was given in simple but graphic words3 ,the tree which grew and reached the heavens1 whose leaves1 branches1 and fruits sheltered and nurtured all flesh1 was a symbol of the mighty ,nebuchadnezzar4 7,it is true that in the day of ,nebuchadnezzar he builded a world empire1 as far as the cultured races of mankind extended47 ,but because of the high pride which was natural to the human heart over such great accomplishments1 the ,most ,high ,god had decreed that the king should be humbled4 ,he should forsake the councils and fellowship of men and sleep in the open fields1 wet with the dew of heaven2 imagining himself to be one with the beasts of the earth1 ,nebuchadnezzar was to learn humility4 ,daniel then pleaded with the king that by repentance and restitution he should forsake his sins and dedicate himself to the pursuit of righteousness4 ,thus by showing mercy1 he might receive grace and his iniquities be blotted out4 ,twelve months later the prophetic dream was fulfilled4 ,as the king strolled on the roof of his great palace1 he surveyed the might of ,babylon and boasted in his heart saying1 8,this great ,babylon have ,i not myself built it2 have ,i not erected this kingdom and this house by the might of my own power and for the honour of my majesty40 ,while this exalted boast was still echoing upon the king's lips1 there fell a voice from heaven which said that the hour of the fulfillment of the prophecy had come4 ,madness fell upon ,nebuchadnezzar1 and he fled from the presence of men4 ,sleeping in the open fields and dwelling with the beasts of the earth1 his hair grew as long as an eagle's feathers and his nails became like the claws of a bird4 ,during those seven years of the madness of ,nebuchadnezzar1 his faithful counselors administered his kingdom1 apparently in the earnest hope that the reason of the king would be restored4 ,their confidence was justified1 for at the end of seven years the king recounts that he lifted up his eyes to heaven and understanding returned to him4 ,thereupon he blessed the ,most ,high ,god and swore that he would bless and honour ,him that liveth forever4 ,he confessed that the dominion of ,god is an everlasting dominion and ,his kingdom is eternal4 ,his psalm of praise exalted ,almighty ,god above the reach of men4 ,when his reason had thus been restored1 the king again occupied the throne of ,babylon and profited by this experience4 ,the glory and honour of his kingdom he henceforth attributed unto the majesty and kindness of ,god4 ,the king testified personally that the words of ,god are true and ,his judgments righteous4 ,he turned to monotheism1 and became the greatest convert1 perhaps1 that ,daniel had made in all of his ministry4 ,this brief account of those amazing seven years is given by ,daniel in the fourth chapter of his great prophecy4 ,the literal words of the king are preserved for us in that historical record4 ,this is perhaps the most outstanding instance of critical repudiation of the text that we have in the ,old ,testament4 ,the whole record was uncompromisingly declared to be a fabrication of a vivid imagination4 ,it fell to the lot of the great ,sir ,henry ,rawlinson to find the original document wherein ,nebuchadnezzar tells this episode exactly as ,daniel had given it4 ,the most dramatic and astonishing vindication of the integrity of the text that the ,book of ,daniel has sustained1 providentially occurred in that field of criticism which was supposed to be the strongest evidence that criticism possessed4 ,this was in the realm of the historical accuracy of the ,book of ,daniel4 ,the basis of the critical contention was right to a certain extent4 ,profane history possessed no record of a king in ,babylon by the name of ,belshazzar4 ,when the period of anarchy in ,babylon ended by means of the military coup that placed ,nabonidus upon the throne1 it took a short while to quiet the realm and restablish the authority of the crown4 ,nabonidus then gave himself to a period of construction and rehabilitation4 ,in the course of his work on the fortifications of his capital city1 ,nabonidus was strengthening the walls at certain neglected points4 ,delving deeply1 to buttress the foundations1 he came upon the ruins of an ancient palace which had been built centuries before by ,narum-sin4 ,the discovery so delighted king ,nabonidus that he became a confirmed archeologist4 ,he reconstructed this palace of ,narum-sin and turned it into a museum of antiquity4 ,the delight of discovery drove the energetic ,nabonidus into expeditions far and wide4 ,the administration of the kingdom became of secondary importance to him4 ,he had a son whose name appears in the ancient records as 8,belt-sar-utzar10 which is given in the record of ,daniel as ,bel-shazzar4 ,upon the thirtieth birthday of his son1 ,nabonidus made him regent1 and the throne of ,babylon was thenceforth occupied jointly by ,nabonidus and ,bel-shazzar4 ,because the more common form is familiar to our readers1 we will from this point on designate him by the ,biblical name of ,belshazzar4 ,the decrees and laws were signed1 of course1 by the seal of ,nabonidus1 the senior monarch1 but the practical administration was left in the hands of the regent4 ,this will explain why ,belshazzar1 wishing to honour ,daniel for the interpretation of the writing upon the wall1 with which we shall deal later1 offered to make him the third ruler of the kingdom4 ,this1 of course1 is eminently unorthodox6 ,it was always the custom in antiquity1 if records can be trusted1 to honour a man by giving him the hand of the king's daughter in marriage and making him ruler over half the kingdom4 ,belshazzar could not go so far as this4 ,nabonidus1 his father1 was the number one ruler as long as he lived4 ,belshazzar1 the regent1 was the second ruler of the realm4 ,therefore1 if ,daniel became prime minister and had an office second in authority to ,belshazzar1 he would be the third ruler in the kingdom4 ,how amazing indeed is the historical accuracy of this ancient ,book6 ,these writers were faultless in their efforts to keep the ,scripture in line with the historical facts4 ,in this case they have been inspired even in their choice of numerical descriptions in the honours conferred upon their heroic characters4 ,so now we peer into ancient ,babylon through the telescope of archeology and we see a quaint situation4 ,nabonidus1 the kind and able monarch1 fascinated with the study of antiquities1 has left the active control of the kingdom to his son and heir1 ,belshazzar4 ,the prince regent1 however1 was not able to stand prosperity4 ,he seems to have degenerated into a drunken profligate who spent all of his time in the dubious pleasures of sin4 ,the administration of the kingdom fell on evil days during the brief span of time that ,belshazzar was in authority4 ,as nearly as we can build an accurate and credible chronology from the now available records of ,babylon1 ,belshazzar became regent in #eda ,b4 ,c41 and in the year #ech ,b4 ,c4 the ,babylonian dynasty disappeared4 ,in those three years great and marvelous events were being shaped in the womb of time4 ,cyrus1 thereafter called the ,great1 had previously begun his phenomenal rise to power4 ,apparently he had been born a minor prince in an obscure tribe of the ,medes1 but was endowed with genius and brilliancy from his early youth4 ,the picture that is now painted of ,cyrus1 as we see him in the treasured records1 depicts this fascinating personality engaged first of all in welding the scattered families of the ,medes into a close1 binding organization that made them a power4 ,so rapid was his climb to dominion1 there is no other explanation to account for the phenomenon than that of ,isaiah1 who in his forty-fifth chapter1 states that the ,lord ,god ,almighty ,himself had raised ,cyrus to the position of world dominion4 ,this prophecy we shall refer to later2 but our present purpose is to show the conjunction of ,cyrus with ,belshazzar4 ,we come to a period of time when the records are fragmentary1 but it is evident now that ,cyrus the ,mede became naturalized as a ,persian that he might occupy that throne and combine it with his own kingdom4 ,when the youthful ,cyrus had combined ,media and ,persia into one great dominion1 a new world empire was born1 although it was not immediately apparent4 ,after a number of successful forays and campaigns that enlarged his possessions and strengthened his position until he felt himself to be well nigh invincible1 the ambitious ,cyrus turned his eyes toward ,babylon4 ,he realized that if he possessed ,babylon1 he would indeed be the master of the earth4 ,cyrus is reported to have sent an ambassador to ,nabonidus saying1 8,come thou under my yoke and ,i will be thy protection and defense40 ,the modern system of #8muscling in' is supposed to be a development of the racketeers of our generation4 ,these modern pragmatists1 however1 are merely amateur performers at an old game1 at which the ancients were masters4 ,this invitation of ,cyrus1 of course1 could be interpreted only one way4 ,in the vernacular of the modern day1 it was a case of surrender1 8or else40 ,when the ,persian ambassador arrived at the court of ,babylon1 ,nabonidus was absent on one of his many expeditions4 ,belshazzar1 as usual1 was in the midst of a drunken orgy and was more concerned with the hilarity of the hour than with the future safety of the kingdom4 ,with that ill-guided and perverse humour which is characteristic of the insanity of drunkenness1 the ,regent conceived a brilliant jest4 ,he caused the ambassador to be hewed into pieces and packed into a basket which was returned to ,cyrus with a note saying1 8,this we will do to you and your army if you invade our empire40 ,when this insult was delivered to ,cyrus1 the outraged king was so wild with indignation that he could not contain himself long enough to assemble his army4 ,he ordered ,darius the chief of his bodyguard1 who was one of his ,median counselors and companions1 to assemble an advance force and lay siege to the city4 ,while ,darius invested the city1 ,cyrus was to follow with the balance of his cohort4 ,thus the scene was set for the most singular episode of those stirring days4 ,it occurred on the birthday of ,belshazzar1 which marked the beginning of the third year of his regency4 ,the ignoble king had gathered to himself all the lords and ladies of his court1 the thousand dissolute companions who were the fellows-in-drunkenness of this king4 ,belshazzar again conceived a drunken jest1 which struck him as highly humourous4 ,in the midst of their debauch1 he ordered that the sacred vessels1 which his grandfather1 ,nebuchadnezzar1 had taken from the temple of ,god in ,jerusalem1 should be brought to the table to be used as flagons for their drinking bout4 ,this was done1 and as this godless and idolatrous crew drank from the holy implements dedicated to the ,god of ,israel1 they toasted the idols of ,babylon and sang their praise4 ,even while they were thus engaged1 according to the fifth chapter of ,daniel1 a hand appeared which wrote on the wall and pronounced the doom of the kingdom4 ,almost at this exact hour1 ,darius1 the counselor1 friend and commander of the vanguard of ,cyrus' army1 appeared before the walls of ,babylon6 ,to the surprise of the great ,median general1 the gates of the city were open4 ,this is according to his own record4 ,it being the birthday of ,belshazzar1 the entire city was celebrating in a fashion made popular and characteristic by the debauched ruler4 ,wine had been provided for the guards that they also might share in the happy celebration of the king's natal day4 ,the drunken soldiers had failed to close the city gates with the coming of nightfall1 and by the time ,darius appeared before the city1 they were in a stupor of drunkenness4 ,the able ,mede1 skilled in all the arts of ancient warfare1 moved swiftly1 well knowing the value of a surprise attack4 ,his company1 although few in number when compared to the complete might of the armed forces of ,cyrus1 was sufficient to hold the city1 if it could be gained4 ,daring men fell upon the drunken guards and slew them4 ,leaving a small company to guard the gate and keep it open1 ,darius' troops swept through the city to the very palace of ,belshazzar4 ,slaying all whom they met upon the way1 they fell upon the royal company with a shock of complete surprise4 ,scarcely had the voice of ,daniel finished interpreting the words that the hand of ,god had written upon the wall1 when the sword of ,darius fulfilled the prophecy by slaying ,belshazzar4 ,darius caused the head of ,belshazzar to be sent to ,cyrus with a grim and brief note1 saying 8,the kingdom is thine4 ,do thou enter40 ,when ,cyrus1 therefore1 came with his mighty company1 the city already had been captured by ,darius and ,cyrus had only to make a triumphal entry4 ,in the meantime1 ,nabonidus heard that his kingdom was invaded1 so he gathered a force and marched to the relief of ,babylon4 ,when he arrived1 however1 he found that the city was already in the possession of ,cyrus4 ,acting with characteristic wisdom1 he laid down his arms1 surrendered to ,cyrus and cast himself upon the mercy of the great king4 ,he was well received1 and lived as an honoured guest in the court of ,cyrus until he died a natural death several years later4 ,cyrus ruled ,babylon through ,darius1 his counselor and friend1 whose courage and strategy were rewarded when the king made him satrap of ,babylon4 ,herein is found a reconciliation of the apparent contradiction between the two statements made by ,darius and ,cyrus concerning the fate of the king of ,babylon4 ,although the critics never bothered to notice such1 archeology has its difficulties as well as has ,scripture4 ,darius tersely recounts1 8,in the night that ,i captured ,babylon1 ,i slew the king40 ,the annalistic tablet of ,cyrus1 however1 contains this note1 8,in the day that ,i entered ,babylon1 ,i made the king my captive40 ,the contradiction is more fancied than real4 ,the two generals are speaking about two different kings6 ,darius killed ,king ,belshazzar2 ,cyrus made ,king ,nabonidus his captive and friend4 ,because of the insult that ,belshazzar had offered to his majesty1 ,cyrus caused the ,regent's name to be stricken from all the available records and thus ,belshazzar's name passed out of history and faded from the memory of men4 ,for twenty-five hundred years the only record of the name of ,belshazzar that was preserved for posterity was found in the writings of ,daniel4 ,this very historic accuracy of ,daniel was the source of a great deal of the critical rejection of his notable writing6 ,the first discovery in archeology that shed light upon these events was the prayer cylinder of ,nabonidus4 ,upon the ascension of ,belshazzar to the regency of the kingdom1 ,nabonidus caused to be engraved in all the temples of ,bel a prayer for the protection1 praise1 and prosperity of his son1 ,belt-sar-utsar4 ,in the excavations at ,mukkayyar1 one of the great buildings uncovered was the temple of the moon god4 ,in each of the four corners of the building1 ,nabonidus1 who had rebuilt the temple1 had caused a clay cylinder to be buried containing the record of the work4 ,on this cylinder1 which dedicated the rebuilding of an ancient temple which was originally constructed about seventeen centuries before the day of ,nabonidus1 the kindly king engraved the prayer for his son and heir1 to which we have previously referred4 ,the name of the moon god was ,sin1 and he was one of the chief deities of the land of ,babylon4 ,the wording on the cylinder that particularly interests the student of historical accuracy is found in these words3 8,oh1 ,sin1 thou lord of the gods1 thou king of the gods of heaven and of earth1 and of the gods of the gods1 who dwellest in heaven1 when thou enterest with joy into this temple1 may the good fortune of the temples ,e-sagil1 ,e-zida and ,e-gish-shirgal1 the temples of thine exalted godhead be established at thy word4 ,and set thou the fear of thine exalted godhead in the hearts of my people1 that they sin not against thine exalted godhead1 and let them stand fast like the heavens4 ,and as for me1 ,nabonidus1 the king of ,babylon1 protect thou me from sinning against thine exalted godhead and grant thou me graciously a long life and in the heart of ,belshazzar1 my first born son1 the offspring of my loins1 set the fear of thine exalted godhead so he may commit no sin and that he may be satisfied with the fullness of life40 ,in the ,british ,museum1 ,table ,case 8,g0 in the magnificent ,babylonian ,room contains these cylinders1 which are numbered #ia1abe to #ia1abh2 the cylinders of ,nabonidus are many4 ,some of them recount his building operations1 while others give the record of his discoveries of some of the great monuments of antiquity in the search for which he spent so much of his time and treasure4 ,perhaps no single event in the long records of archeology so startled and delighted the careful students whose interest was in the authority of the ,word of ,god1 as did this discovery of the name of ,belshazzar4 ,in one magnificent demonstration archeology thus accredited the history included in the prophecies of ,daniel1 and shattered the conclusions of criticism beyond the possibility of recovery4 ,also in this same section and case of the ,british ,museum1 there is a portion of a baked clay cylinder inscribed by ,cyrus4 ,this bears the ,museum number of #ij1ibj and is a priceless record4 ,we are tempted to believe in the providential preservation of this fragment1 since the balance of the tablet has been destroyed and is missing4 ,in this particular record1 ,cyrus describes his conquest of ,babylon1 following a recital of some of the chief preliminary events in the early part of his reign4 ,he ascribes his good success to the god ,marduk4 ,he tells how he had forced all nations to accept his standard until finally1 under divine command1 ,marduk caused him to go to ,babylon4 ,because of the significance of this statement and its bearing upon our foregoing paragraphs1 we reproduce this much of the words of ,cyrus1 8,marduk the great lord1 the protector of his people beheld his good deeds and his righteous heart with joy4 ,he commanded him to go to ,babylon and he caused him to set out on the road to the city and like a friend and ally1 he marched by his side2 and his troops with our weapons girt about them1 marched with him in countless numbers like the waters of a flood4 ,without battle and without fighting1 ,marduk made him enter into his city of ,babylon2 he spared ,babylon tribulation and ,nabonidus the king who feared him not1 he delivered into his hands40 ,the ,babylonian sources of the ,british ,museum also contain an amazing number of highly important documents which cover every year of the reign of ,cyrus in ,babylon1 namely1 ,b4 ,c4 #ech to #ebi4 ,these records are concerned with commercial transactions1 legal business and documents that deal with the personal and public life of the people4 ,such homely affairs as a deed recording a loan of three thousand bundles of onions from one man to another is legally dated by the year of the ascendency of ,cyrus4 ,the apprenticeship of slaves to various masters in the arts and sciences1 the worship of the people1 the blossoming of prosperity under the firm but kind rule of ,cyrus1 all make up a wonderful picture of those days and times4 ,therein are included apparently unconscious references to the historic events that are of such tremendous interest to those who today read the ,word of ,god in the light of this historical illumination4 ,there are1 of course1 also many private and public letters preserved from this period which are found in ,table ,case 8,h0 of the ,babylonian ,room1 where they are available to the student who cares to delve into the minute evidences of those days and times4 ,we shall have to condense a great deal of this material1 however1 into the one simple statement that the ,book of ,daniel is historically accredited by these voluminous records6 ,thus there is only one possible basis whereupon criticism of ,daniel may be continued today4 ,in all kindness1 but in absolute assurance1 we must say that the rejection of the historicity of ,daniel by our generation can be predicated only upon complete ignorance of an amazing body of historical knowledge that is available to the student4 ,either that1 or there is a sad desire in the heart of the critic to frustrate the purpose of the ,word of ,god even at the expense of the surrender of personal integrity4 ,the original construction of the case against ,daniel did appear formidable at first4 ,it has turned out1 however1 to be a tissue of falsehood1 and ,daniel has emerged from the den of liars unharmed and under the continuing protection of ,god1 even as he came forth in safety from the den of lions4 ,with the coming of ,cyrus1 the ,assyrian and ,babylonian dynasties ended and ,persian history began4 ,much of this period of the ,persian sway was contemporaneous with the times of the ,maccabees1 and is of tremendous importance and interest to the student of the history of ,israel4 ,but since that same period parallels the four hundred silent years1 during which the voice of ,god was not heard through the prophets1 and sacred revelation is awaiting the appearance of ,jesus ,christ1 there is very little of archeological value from those years that can be useful to the establishment of our present thesis4 ,the exception to this would be seen in the case of the return of the people to rebuild ,jerusalem1 and to establish a ,jewish culture1 so that ,jesus could be born in the land of ,israel1 and minister to the people of ,israel1 as the prophecies had foretold4 ,the events of this return are told in the prophecies of ,ezra and ,nehemiah1 which are abundantly substantiated by secular evidence1 and have thus not been questioned or disputed by criticism to any major extent4 ,cyrus has left an account of this return1 and the great king seemed to be vastly elated over the opportunity thus to show kindness to the people of ,israel4 ,according to the record that is generally received1 ,cyrus the ,great signed the decree authorizing the return of the children of ,israel to rebuild the walls of ,jerusalem and the temple of ,god1 primarily because of one of those fascinating anticipations of coming events which is the peculiar field of prophecy4 ,it is recorded that the scribe ,zerubbabel entered the presence of ,cyrus and with the grandiloquent salutation of that day bowed himself and said1 8,oh king live forever6 ,be it known unto my lord the king that our ,god hath named him by name in the prophecy of ,his sacred writings generations before the king was born40 ,when ,cyrus expressed a desire to inquire into this wonder1 there was brought into his presence the scroll of the prophet ,isaiah and to him was read the forty-fifth chapter4 ,the opening verses of this chapter contained this statement3 8,thus saith the ,lord to his anointed1 to ,cyrus1 whose right hand ,i have holden1 to subdue nations before him2 and ,i will loose the loins of kings1 to open before him the two leaved gates2 and the gates shall not be shut4 8,i will go before thee1 and make the crooked places straight3 ,i will break in pieces the gates of brass1 and cut in sunder the bars of iron3 8,and ,i will give thee the treasures of darkness1 and hidden riches of secret places1 that thou mayest know that ,i1 the ,lord1 which call thee by thy name1 am the ,god of ,israel4 ,for ,jacob my servant's sake1 and ,israel mine elect1 ,i have even called thee by thy name3 ,i have surnamed thee1 though thou hast not known me40 ,this is a significant prophecy indeed6 ,isaiah wrote these words about the year #gab ,b4 ,c4 ,cyrus took over the dominion of ,babylon #ech ,b4 ,c4 ,so in this ancient prophecy the conqueror is named by name some century and a half before he was born4 ,his conquest of all nations was clearly delineated and the explanation was given that ,god had pre-named him for the sake of the thing that he should later do for ,israel4 ,astounded and deeply moved by this evidence of divine favour1 ,cyrus wrote a notable decree which is preserved for us in these exact words3 8,thus saith ,cyrus king of ,persia1 the ,lord ,god of ,heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth2 and he hath charged me to build him an house at ,jerusalem which is in ,judah4 ,who is there among you of all ,his people8 his ,god be with him and let him go up to ,jerusalem1 which is in ,judah1 and build the house of the ,lord ,god of ,israel1 7he is the ,god17 which is in ,jerusalem1 and whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth1 let the men of his place help him with silver1 and with gold1 and with goods1 and with beasts1 besides the free-will offering for the house of ,god that is in ,jerusalem40 ,with this authority1 the remnant returned to start that magnificent epic of the history of ,israel that climaxed with the coming of the ,redeemer of whom also ,isaiah had written4 ,there is a sense of frustration that is inevitable to any writer who attempts to cover so vast a subject as this present work in the limits of one small volume4 ,the difficulty has not been in finding evidence to support the thesis that 8dead men tell tales0 which vindicate the historical infallibility of the ,bible4 ,we have been embarrassed by too much evidence6 ,so we have sought to present only the most striking cases1 such as can be confirmed by any reader1 without the background of years of archeological education4 ,unlimited tons of material have been passed over with scarcely a mention1 due to the limitation of time and space4 ,the author has hoped to achieve one purpose in this volume1 namely1 the arousing of a definite interest in the average reader which will cause that person to study the sacred page with understanding and appreciation of its force and authority4 8,these ,scriptures10 said the ,apostle ,paul1 8are able to make thee wise unto salvation40 ,it is imperative in the light of this purpose1 that they be able to sustain their claim to divine origin as well4 ,with the prayer that ,god will bless ,his ,word to the salvation of the many in these closing days1 we have thus offered you the testimony of men long dead1 whose words nevertheless live on in the records of tablets and tombs4 ,and with those evidences1 we have also an increased assurance in the infallible character of the ,bible1 and are historically justified in receiving it 8as it is in truth1 the ,word of ,god40 ,,bibliography ,baikie1 ,james ,the ,amarna ,age ,baikie1 ,james ,lands and ,people of the ,bible ,baikie1 ,james ,a ,history of ,egypt 7,two ,volumes7 ,bennett1 ,charles ,w4 ,christian ,archeology ,blackman1 ,a4 ,m4 ,luxor and ,its ,temple ,boscawen1 ,w4 ,st4 ,chad ,the ,bible and the ,monuments ,boulton1 ,w4 ,h4 ,egypt ,budge1 ,e4 ,a4 ,wallis ,from ,fetish to ,god in ,ancient ,egypt ,budge1 ,e4 ,a4 ,wallis ,books on ,egypt and ,chaldaea ,budge1 ,e4 ,a4 ,wallis ,the ,literature of the ,egyptian ,chiera ,they ,wrote on ,clay ,clay1 ,albert ,t4 ,a ,hebrew ,deluge ,story in ,cuneiform ,clay1 ,albert ,t4 ,amurru1 the ,home of the ,northern ,semites ,cobern1 ,camden ,m4 ,the ,new ,archeological ,discoveries ,deissman1 ,dr4 ,adolf ,light from the ,ancient ,east ,delitzsch1 ,friedrich ,babel and ,bible ,gadd1 ,c4 ,j4 ,a ,sumerian ,reading ,book ,gadd1 ,c4 ,j4 ,history and ,monuments of ,ur ,gardiner1 ,alan ,h4 ,egyptian ,grammar ,garstang1 ,j4 ,burial ,customs of the ,ancient ,egyptians ,garstang1 ,j4 ,the ,land of the ,hittites ,goodspeed1 ,george ,stephen ,a ,history of the ,babylonians and ,assyrians ,grenfell1 ,b4 ,p4 ,tebtunis ,papyri ,a4 ,s4 ,hunt ,j4 ,g4 ,smyly ,grenfell1 ,b4 ,p4 ,greek ,papyri ,habershon1 ,ada ,r4 ,the ,bible and the ,british ,museum ,hilprecht1 ,herman ,v4 ,recent ,research in ,bible ,lands ,hilprecht1 ,herman ,v4 ,explorations in ,bible ,lands ,during the #aith ,century ,hogarth1 ,d4 ,g4 ,authority and ,archeology1 ,sacred and ,profane ,huffman1 ,prof4 ,j4 ,a4 ,voices from ,rocks and ,dust ,heaps of ,bible ,lands ,kennedy1 ,sir ,alexander ,b4 ,w4 ,petra1 ,its ,history and ,monuments ,kenyon1 ,frederic ,g4 ,our ,bible and the ,ancient ,manuscripts ,king1 ,l4 ,w4 ,assyrian ,language 7,vol4 #e7 ,koldewey1 ,robert ,the ,excavations at ,babylon ,kyle1 ,melvin ,grove ,the ,deciding ,voice of the ,monuments in ,biblical ,criticism ,kyle1 ,melvin ,grove ,excavating ,kirjathsepher's ,ten ,cities ,laurie1 ,rev4 ,thomas ,assyrian ,echoes of the ,word ,layard1 ,austen ,henry ,layard's ,discoveries at ,nineveh ,lynch1 ,w4 ,f4 ,expedition to the ,dead ,sea and ,the ,jordan ,marston1 ,sir ,charles ,the ,bible is ,true ,marston1 ,sir ,charles ,new ,bible ,evidence ,martin1 ,percy ,f4 ,egypt--,old and ,new ,maspero1 ,gaston ,new ,light on ,ancient ,egypt ,maspero1 ,gaston ,egypt--,ancient ,sites and ,modern ,scenes ,milligan1 ,george ,greek ,papyri ,miller1 ,h4 ,s4 ,general ,biblical ,introduction ,moulton1 ,james ,hope ,from ,egyptian ,rubbish ,heaps ,murray1 ,margaret ,a4 ,egyptian ,temples ,nelson1 ,byron ,c4 ,the ,deluge ,story in ,stone ,orr1 ,james ,the ,bible of the ,old ,testament ,orr1 ,james ,the ,bible ,under ,trial ,petrie1 ,flinders ,measures and ,weights ,petrie1 ,flinders ,royal ,tombs ,petrie1 ,flinders ,researches in ,sinai ,pilter1 ,w4 ,t4 ,the ,pentateuch4 ,a ,historical ,record4 ,politeyan1 ,j4 ,discoveries from the ,nile to the ,tiber ,ramsay1 ,sir ,william ,st4 ,paul1 the ,traveller and the ,roman ,citizen ,luke the ,historian ,the ,trustworthiness of the ,new ,testament in the ,light of ,recent ,discovery ,rawlinson1 ,canon ,egypt and ,babylonia ,st4 ,clair1 ,george ,creation ,records ,smith1 ,george ,the ,chaldean ,account of ,genesis ,smith1 ,g4 ,elliott and ,egyptian ,mummies ,warren ,r4 ,dawson ,stadelmann1 ,h4 ,cleopatra ,tischendorf1 ,dr4 ,c4 ,codex ,sinaiticus ,todd1 ,j4 ,a4 ,the ,banks of the ,nile ,weigall1 ,arthur ,the ,life and ,times of ,akhnaton ,weigall1 ,arthur ,e4 ,p4 ,a ,guide to the ,antiquities of ,upper ,egypt ,wiseman1 ,p4 ,j4 ,new ,discoveries in ,babylonia ,about ,genesis ,woolley1 ,sir ,leonard ,abraham4 7,recent ,discoveries and ,hebrew ,origins7 ,woolley1 ,sir ,leonard ,ur of the ,chaldees ,woolley1 ,sir ,leonard ,the ,sumerians ,worrell1 ,william ,h4 ,a ,study of ,races in the ,ancient ,near ,east ,wright1 ,g4 ,f4 ,scientific ,confirmations of ,old ,testament ,history ,wright1 ,william ,the ,empire of the ,hittites ,publications of the ,british ,museum3 ,a ,guide to the ,babylonian and ,assyrian ,antiquities ,the ,babylonian ,story of the ,deluge and the ,epic of ,gilgamesh ,the ,babylonian ,legends of the ,creation and the ,fight ,between ,bel and the ,dragon ,the ,book of the ,dead ,the ,mount ,sinai ,manuscript of the ,bible ,the ,new ,gospel ,fragments ,the ,rosetta ,stone ,pamphlets3 ,the ,bearing of ,archeological and ,historical ,research ,upon the ,new ,testament4 ,by the ,rev4 ,parke ,p4 ,flournoy4 ,the ,witness of ,archeology to the ,bible4 ,by ,a4 ,m4 ,hodgkin4 ,biblical ,history in the ,light of ,archeological ,discovery ,since ,a4 ,d4 #aijj4 ,by the ,rev4 ,d4 ,e4 ,hart-,davies4 ,the ,value of the ,spade4 ,by the ,rev4 ,m4 ,g4 ,kyle4 ,the ,syriac ,forms of ,new ,testament ,proper ,names4 ,by ,f4 ,c4 ,burkitt4 ,,footnotes #a;,as this book goes to press1 the grave of this ,shishak has just been discovered in the famous ,valley of the ,kings4 ,the first word is that the grave is intact1 unspoiled by robbers4 ,if this proves to be so1 much material of value to the ,biblical student will probably be recovered4 ,transcriber's ,notes --,silently corrected a few typos4 --,retained publication information from the printed edition3 this e,book is public-domain in the country of publication4 --,canonically replaced 8plate number0 with 8plate0 in plate references4 --,in the text versions only1 text in italics is delimited by underscores4