The news & observer., 1905-11-05

Mr.. Wall Flander Petrie of Eng
land. is a distinguished Psychologist.
lie is publishing an elaborate work on
Egypt-"A History of Egypt from the
XIX to the xxx Dynasties
numerous illustrations. 1t is work
of Importance and interest. 1t has
reached its third volume which has
been just issued. This volume covers
the exodus, and extends to the last of
the very numerous dynasties. He
gives the dates of the Nineteenth
Dynasty during which the exodus of
the children of Israel under Moses
occurred-that is between 1928, be-
fore Christ and 1902, b. c. But this
is very indefinite as to time. A brief.
review of the volume in the New
York Saturday Review has this:
so complete has been his search over
Egypt that Mr.. Petrie can name some
of the very Cabinet officers of Sety L.,
who died 1900 b. c. Pasar was his
vizier. Panabu his chief archer, Huy-
Shcra his scribe of gold. RamesSu
H. has a list of over 200 officials fol-
lowing his story.
'It is unexpected to find no men
tlon of the Exodus. On April Il, B.
c. 1929. Merenptah defeated the Liby-
ans, and i'm song of triumph for this
victory occur these words: 'Devas-
tated is Tehenu. LibyaD Ka-
naan is seized with every evil
the people of Israel is laid waste
their crops are not. kharu (Pales-
tine) has become as a widow by
Egypt" This, says Mr.. Petrie. is the
only mention of the name Israel on
any monument; it is clearly outside
of our literary information, which has
led to the belief that there were no
Israelties in Palestine between the go
ing into Egypt (of Jacob and his
family and the entry at Jericho,
(after the Exodus.
After that from Mr.. Petrie, it need
not surprise any one that he asserts
that the records in Egypt give no con-
firmation of the bad treatment of the
lsraelites by the Egyptians, or the
Scriptural account of the Exodus that
followed. He says the records under
his own eyes teach quite another
thing. Most sane people Will stan
four-suuare by the records under
eternal Holy Scriptures of Jehovah.
The Bible account is everlastingiy
true whether or not Mr.. Petrie can
find records of it among Egyptian
memorials that come to him. 1t was
somewhat disastrous to their Egyptian
prosecutors, and it was probably not
thought profitable or wise to have it
recorded But be this as it may, it
is well known that through the last
half century many confirmatory dis
c~veries of the Bible statements have
Zen found. DIR. Bliss, in his lii
chisle Discoveries, some ten years
ago, had many finds and among
EN- many kinds of implements in
cIuding a wine-press and a hot-blast
furnace containing iron ore and Stag.
The English Sunday Magazine said
of these discoveries by DR.. Bliss that
he made a highly interesting dlscov-
cry on the 14th of May, 1892 He
discovered the foundation walls of
great Amorite city, called Lachish.
The walls were thirteen feet thick, and
twenty-eight feet high He unearth-
ed i'm a great ash-bed a stone ridge
shaped and coffee colored. There are
inscriptions on either side. 1t con-
tains letters from the Governor OF
Lachish to the ruling Pharohs or
Egypt Seventeen years ago, in 1885,
a woman discovered similar tablets at
Tell-al-Amarna, in Egypt, about 80
miles south of Cairo. These tablets
contained no less than 10 letters
from Palestine, and, mark this, and
there were recovered the names of
kings who were contemporary with
Joshua, and 'they confirm the his
toricaI accuracy of the Bool OF
Joshua" says the Sunday Magazine
Some of the letters are from Lachish
and both IN style ana CONTENTS, lHey
agree with the tablet above men
toned. found by DR.. Bliss at Lachish.
So these two interesting finds con-
firm each other, beth in style anG
contents.
The Sunday Magazine says that
400 or 1900 years before Christ, the
Amorites knew how to use the hot air.
blast instead of cold air; and that they
anticipated the modern improvement
i'm iron manufacture due to Nelson,
and patented in 1928. AT the bottom
of the Tell, DR.. Bliss laid bare what
he believed to be the foundations of
the old Amorite city.
This discovery marks new epoch
i'm the history of exploration in Bible
lands. This tablet contains letters
from the governors of Lachish to the
Pharaohs of Egypt, and there is no
doubt about the exact date.
Many of my readers doubtless are
more or less familiar with the now
famous Moabte Stone. which is be-
lieved to date from $40 to 900 before
Christ The Magazine quoted from.
says that the "LachiSh tablet is the
first written record of pre-lsraelite
times that has yet been found on the
soil of Palestine. The Lachish letters
are i'm entire harmony with the meas
ureless egotism and vanity which are