The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-02-17
A BASKET OF JAR HANDLES.
Their Connection With Battling
psxgsue of the Bible,


In mound in Palestine Identified rs
| the site Of the ancient city of Gc7or
/ WAS found Il large number of jar ,lH,l-
dies. Enough 10 make Il hask'tful W'r''
collected hy the cN"aSators. Each h"%'
/ Il PETERS mark til" ualne of its nlk"l
| with u lcgcud \ basket of jar h.. y
dies might be expected tn have $cs.l.
interest for the philplpgst. says Il,
! Nac.tINtcr. til" author Of ~ HeCuf'
| Of Excavation aud Discovery In r.,
cstinc. lltt could hardly b" cXp"r'
To lie of historical valle. Yet this 30
lection of Shrrds enabled its finders
reviS" aud MAX" plain Il battling l's
SAKE in the Bible AMI 10 establish
ceflnert"d story through. several 9th"
isolatrd passages.
The obscure passage is IN 'lrpnE
rlcS. fourth chapter. sixteenth to tive.
ty-thtrd verses. 4 list of uHIncs 80 I'll.
arranged aS not t, appear a true go
caIo-y hHH h"rn widely accepted ~
mythical account If the descent -
tribes. These were the puttrr> as
the inhabitants of Nct;,un and Gedc",h
There they dw"lt win The King for Ii
work. is The end of the passage.
Each nf tie lar h1n'llet dug from tn.
r'Ii,tS of G,'l"r bears the i,tscrirt.,.
For The Ming" ami III" names Of III,
makers ar" the names of those in tie
Bible verses. except where i copy 4
has made ;tu errn,, Nhict. r.e,ltD.t...g
occurred. Revised by The it~N !,upa.
edge. the passage h"roIu"S Il culunir
g"n"alr%y of tie family Of thr potter
ami makes plain liz" story of thc.F
wanderiugs. bu each handle Also Is !
scarab. or beetle. which explains t,.t
reference to Il 'dauEhter of pharaph
an allusion to the fact that the potlrr@
followed the religion of Egypt.
1T becomes evident. therefore, tlrlt
here is The story of tn" MenUhpth, IT,,
descendants IF Menahcm. and cvvutu
ally of Caleb, sou Of Jephtlnnph They
long inhabited region south Of He
bron :iui followed many crafts. hut
principally tiInt of pottery SIaEjug
ilijS. il tie reign of IoHsh brought
tD"nt u til" n lice of the king of Judah
and royal patronage followed. possibly
i'll connection with the restoration of
the temple. In the days of zziah ONE
II The family. Shebaniah. son Of E.zr:l
ros" to be steward Of the royal estate
at Carmel
The family trademark" at this time
was the scarab. but under he right
eous kings AmaZiah. lothian aud "
Hiah this was suppressed
In the days of liezekiah raid Of the
wild semibarharoGs tribe of Simeon
was made into their territory. aud they
were forced 10 seek another home in
the south of Moab or the north Of
Edom. and. driving out the tl,lIe-
Kites. they settled there and lived in
neutrality-suspicious.
After the return from the captivity
they settled in Bethlehem and under
the name of Pahath-Moab. assumed II
position Of considerable Importance ,ln-
der Ezra and Nehemiah
All this story is in the Bible and
most of it in the hooks Of chronicles,
but in isolated fragments 10 which the
jar handles gave the connection. But
their whole significance il greater than
that. for they indicate that HE chap
tiers of Chronicles contain simply What
they appear to contain, the real gene
alogieS of real men. and in them one
need seek 10 mythical or symholit;Il
meaning