Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-02-27

| blown over the ruins and In the course
| OF time the city would be completely
| obllterated.
| Generations afterward, perhaps. the
progeny of the builders OF the ruined
| cites would wander back to the land
| OF their forefathers. They would hunt
around until they had found the loca-
! ton of some ancient temple or mas
1 sive building. Here they would begin
| the building of another city. II has
| taken thousands of years to build one
city obiterate it and then build upon
| the same site another city But such
| has been done. That is why. the deep
er we dig In the ruins, the more cities
we find, and the more ancient are the
| tablets we are able 10 uncover.
SOME TABLETS or HISTORY.
with what we find by digging In the
| ruins we are able TO prove absolutely
certain parts OF the Old Testament. We
| do not have to modify the Bible in the
light OF recent discoveries. The tower
1 OF Babel which has been found at last,
| Is not myth. 1t was a huge tablet Of
| history, 1t was a temple upon which
were written the great deeds Of the
| airors, and the good and great men
| OF the times, The expression OF the
| Temple of Babel I'LL It shall reach the
| heavens seems strange to US. 1t was
| Eotfing more than an oriental saying. |
wonder II some 5000 years hence. New
| York City should be eNcavated what
| tie archaeologists would say II they
read the expression of one Of the mod
| err tall buildings, 1T is great sky
| sCraper" They would ask each other,
Why In the world did they want to
scrape the SKYE That will show you
| how we read certain meanings in the
| Bible"
one interesting statement made by
the lecturer was that the date OF the
beginning OF the world as printed In
the margins OF Bibles, 1904 h. e. Is Civ
! en- on the authority OF one Bishop
Usher and by what authority he was
able to furnish such Information was
something that had not yet been ascer-
| tained. lie also called attention To the
! fact that modern views as to Old Tesla
ment history were decidedly ephemerlal
| and often based on a misconceptlon of
what the sacred text actually meant.
! So that where this text and the mon
umental inscriptions verified each 9TH
er, the modern student imagined there
was a contradiction, and that the Bib
| itca. narrative was in error because he
| failed to understand the real chracter
! OF the language, and the historical en-
| vironment OF the same,
OLD TESTAMENT A TRANSCRIPT.
Dean Penniman also said, In fuller
statement The Old Testament deals
| chiefly with the Jews, and only Incl
| dentally with other nations They
| found In the records of other nations
mention Of the Hebrews only just as
| there was contact between them. Il
| might be well II they had a statement
| of the on Testament confirmed by AS
syrian kings, and vice versa, As a
matter Of fact a good many dlscrep-
| ANGLES disappear in the light of fuller
| knowledge. Many OF those mentioned
| In Genesis have been recorded as
| myths. Their names are now found In
| some OF the tablets since discovered.
| The Old Testament was a transcript OF
| transcript. and no one knows how far
| back the transcript goes"
The lecturer said Jerusalem was not
a Jewish city until several centuries
| after the occupation OF Palestine by
| the Hebrew nation, and existed long
before under the name of Salem--how
| far back Is not yet known. He then
| referred TO Melchisedek whom the
| Scriptural narrative speaks Of as with
out parents or lineage, or beginning or
end OF days. This has been hard TO
understand, but 1t Is now cleared up
by the tablet or cuneiform historical
| records which show that this being
without parentage or days referred TO
| Melchisedeks priesthood which was
| from everlasting. and docs not refer
TO any such thing as exemption from
| the ordinary provocative processes of
human kind. A peculiarly of the
cuneiform records Is that they do not
| refer 10 defeats and misfortunes of the
| various royal dynasties. but only 10
| their triumphant achievements and
| successes whereas the Bible narrates
| defeats and mistakes as we'll as sue
| cess, and thereby stands as positively
truthful and impartial history.
TABLETS IN TINE OF ABRAHAM,
Dean Pennlman exhibited several
| tablets made from burnt clay both In
| the time OF Abraham and In the time
| OF Moses. He said they were the genu-
| Inc original articles, and not transcript
| lions. They related to business trans
| actions, and read several, one being an
| agreement to pay so much money for
| a ring In 20 years, and another on trial
| OF a public officer for corruption Then
| the speaker also showed by tablets
| that there existed away back In the
carly ages OF the world methods OF
brokerage and commission which were
| not unlike the transactions of cotton
| brokers In the southern states today;
| and he also called attention to the fact
| that the shabastor vases containing In
| soriptionfand which were made thou
sands ofY years ago in Nippur were
turned of from lathe and with other
| fashioning tools that must have been
| ike what we have today I'm that class
| OF work. These vases are OF Just as
| fine symmetry and pattern as any we
| have now. The dean made his audi
ence laugh when he remarked how
| careful the ancients were TO enclose
| their private correspondence I'm clay
| cnveopes--like pie crust, which was
much like the pie crust OF today and
| lasted thousands Of years, Then the
| fact that there Is yet a great deal
| Ia be learned from excavations, was
| illustrated by stating that only
| within mparatively recent years
was It discovered by digging In the
| sands, that there was large temple
| standing between the front paws Of
| the Sphinx. The excavations az Nippur
| began In 1859, and only a part Of the
| city has as yet been uncovered The
| atest occupancy of the city was about
| the time OF Xerxes. four centuries be-
| fore Christ.
one passage in Ezekiel, not well hith-
| erto understood, was made clear by the
| lecturer. The passge Is where the pro-
! phet states that he saw his vision by
| the river Chebar Now Il has been claim
| ed that there never was any such river
because no one could locate II, But
recently discovered profane records
show that this river was a nayigable
canal which formed the boundary OF
certain parcels Of land, So Ezekiel was
combining himself to historical fact
THE SALE OF JOSEPH.
| The lecturer made a point In saying,