Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1897-07-16

in the first place from unbelel IN
the word of God, and secondly from
Ignorance. for tire knowledge which
we possessed of these things sfrom
contenporaneous history was, even
25 years ago, very meagre.
A great controversy has been go
ING on whether the Patriarchs knew
how to write It was emphatically
denied by distinguished Biblical
scholars. but IL recent discovery
gives us an answer to this question
'In the year 1887 the Tel Amarna
| tablets were discovered in the ruins
of the Palace of Amenophis ~
King of Egypt This palace is about
| 1SO miles by river south of Cairo.
The tablets are of brick dating about
1880 B. c. inscribed i'll Aramaic, re
sembling Assyrian. The inscrip
tions consist of a large mass of poll
/ tfcal correspondence and were writ
ten by Phaencians, Amorites and
/ Phillistines to Amenophis III.
/ Among other events they record the
conquest of the country between
! Mount Seir on the east, AjalOn,
| Iachish Gezer on the west, and
| Shiloh and Rimmon on the north,
by the Israelites. They also CON
/ tain the name of one of the kings
/ killed by Joshua, namely Japhla as
| we read III Joshua, X 3, and Jabin,
King of Hazor, whom joshua Mt
! tackled is also mentioned. Joshua
XII. The Hebrews are called III
these letters Abiri and said to have
come from the desert and MF. S3ir.
| The date of these letters c0rreS-
ponds with the date which is to ho
| derived from the Bible, I Kg. VH:1,
! for the Hebrew invasion of Canaan.
These Tel Amarna tablets reveal TO
us two facts First, the art of writ
ing was known in Palestine at the
/ time of the CONQUEST and consequ-
entity before that time. 1t secondly
confirms the record the Bible gives
in regard to the conquest and also
that the kings mentioned are per
sons known in profane history.
Another very interesting fact is
revealed to us by an inscribed stone
| translated by Dr. Hommel, of Nun
Mich, it has reference to the birth
place of the Hebrew race. The in
scriptiOn states that the third of the
sons Of Shem were 'Arpaksad' from
whom sprang the Hebrew In the
second half of this name even JOS
ephus the Jewish historian recog-
nizes the word which the Hebrews
render Kasdini a. e.. ) Chaldees. Dr.
Hommel believes the name Arpak-
sad, the vowels of which are utterly
untrustworthy, should be divided so
as to show its derivation, first 'Ur'
second "Pi" which is an Egyptian
article, third, "Kasd" which is the
singular of =" Kasdini then the
word would mean 'Ur" of the
Kasd or "Chaldees. " This word
Ur-pa- kasd as it should be vowelled is
the Egyptian form of 4" Ur- kasdini
our Cur of the Chaldees. The
Bible tells us that Abraham came
from that place and here a stone, in
scribed thousands of years ago cor
roborates the Biblical statement.
1t has been said by those who OPP
pose the Bible that the Israelites
had never been in Egypt. 1t is in
deed astonishing whata large mum
Der of proofs we possess to-day in
support of the Bible narrative, the
Pharoah of the Exodus as we'll as
the Pharoah under whose reign
Joseph came to Egypt are known
, There are not only monuments cut
, deep into the rocks which run alona
the Nile but also a tomb has been
, discovered at Sakkara near Memphi,
I ,,e ia1,
ton stating about the following
"Eitsuph' which is the hieroglyph
ic name for Joseph, had been intro
duced into the land and become a
Saviour of his country, was made b1
. Pharoah the distributor and guard
) ian of the granaries of the land
7 This Pharoah's S name was "Apoplu
{ or Pheops
t These few examples may sufficr
, for our purpose for the material il
3 so great that we could bring for al
most every one of these dispute,
points one of these incorruptibl
: witnesses. From these resurrectet
f tablets voices speak to us telling u
3 that our faith is not founded OF
> myths and legends, a some want G.
make us believe. Man being un
{ willing TO declare the glory of Coo
= the earth opened her mouth and tn
. stones of the field testified and de
: clared the glory of God.
I Another narrative. much sneerel
: at, is the destruction of Sodom ant
1 GOmOrrah, some geOlOgists admi
a that volcanic eruption caused tn,
q calamity; But lot US hear wha
D Dr. Blankenberg, an eminent SEQ
f logist of the University of Erlange
e Germany, has to say on this ques
. ton. Il quote from the Independ
s ent ~ The destruction of Sodor
b and Gomorrah took place in the ALA
o vial or geological age South Of tn
= Peninsula Sisan there must, in an
a cient times, have been an exceeding
q ly fruitful valley in which the cite
5 Sodon and GOmOrrah and other
must have been situated, and thi
j. place has sunk below the water leve
probably through tremendous earth
e quakes, but not through volcani
J. eruptions While the process G
r sinking was going on, either throug
e friction or through lightning III
o inilammallle masses that were press
+ ing upward especially the asphal
IS and petroleum matters, We're ignite
n so that am immense sea of flame
:. covered the entire region, and this
l. described thus: "The smoke of tia
. land went up like the smoke of a ful
a mace. Gen. xix 2s.