The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-02-26
BIBLE HISTORY.
What Modern Scientific Investigation. ana
Discoveries are Showing.

What Modern Scientlnc lnvestlgatioha""
Discoveries are Showing.
The following is from Sir j. w. Daw-
sons Modern Science in Bible Lands"
''Some 5000 years ago, according to
history professedly written by contem-
poraries, the Hebrew people, migrating
from Egypt, sojourned in this inhospita-
BILE region for forty years on the way to
Palestine. No one in the intervening
ages is known to have followed their
precise route. Arab and Christian ira
ditions have, it is true, ventured to fix
the sites of some of the leading events
of the march. Travellers have passed
hastily over portions of the ground, and
have given to the world the impressions
produced on their minds by crude obser-
walton without accurate measurements.
The results arrived at were so various
and discordant that any one of half
dozen theories might be held as to the
actual route and its more important
stations, and skeptics might be pardon
ed for supposing that the writer OF the
history knew less Of the ground than
many of the subsequent visitors.
"But now science intervenes with its
special methods. A corps of trained
surveyors, armed with all the appliances
Of their art, and prepared to make OBJ
servations as to climate, geology, and
natural history, enters the peninsula at
the point where Moses is represented to
have entered it, and prepare to follow
in his footsteps. They first endeavor to
settle approximately the crossing-place
Of the fugitives, and inform us OF the
precise circumstances which must have
attended that event, not emitting the
strong east wind which still sometimes
blows with terrific force down the gulf;
they examine the wells of Moses, and
test their water, and describe the
structure Of that remarkable shur, or
wall Of rock, from which the locality
derives its Bible name, and which bar
red the way Of the Israelites toward
the east, and caused them to make a
long detour to the south. They proceed
southwark from station to station and
we'll to we'll, noting the remarkable CO.
medicines, heretofore overlooked, with
reference to the characteristics Of the
terrible wilderness of Sin, the various
ways by which the table-land may be
penetrated from the coast, the apparent
ly devious course of the Israelites. md
their 'encampment by the sea- i. .ey
show how the host must have turned
abruptly to the east by Wady Feiran,
and how this brought them into conflict
with the Amalekites. They explain the
tactics of the battle of Rephidim, with
the effect Of the victory in opening the
way to . junction with Jethro and the
Midianites, and to the great and we'll
watered plain Of Err Rahah in front of
Mt. Sinai. They show how this plain
and mountain fulfill all the conditions
of the narrative Of the giving of the
law. and explain the necessity for the
miraculous supply Of water before the
fight with the Amalekites, and the sup
ply of water and pasture to which that
battle gave access.
Gas we follow the laborious investiga
tons of the surveying party and note the
number and complexity of the under
signed agreements between their obser
vations and the narratives in Exodus
and Numbers; as we study their account
Of the geology, productions, and anti
quities of the country, trace its topo
graphy on their beautiful maps ant
photographs, and weigh their calcula
lions as to the supplies of water, food
and pasturage at different stages of the
journey, we feel that the venerable mar
rative of the Pentateuch must be the
testimony of veracious eyewitness
and all the learned theories as to late
authorship and different documents dis
appear like mist"