Daily Kennebec journal., 1910-07-07
Editorial Comment.
SLOWLY DISCOVERED TRUTH
As It Bears on the Old Testament
The Romance of Archaeology.
,From the Philadelphia Press)


asone. in the early days of our country,
when stern ecclesiastic views held sway,
every fact stated in the Bible was con-
sidered absolutely true in every detal''
and positive acceptance was insisted up
on. Cotton Mather and Alexander Cruz
den. and men of like character. were ale
most fanatical in this view of the scrip
lures. and the general church member
ship upheld their hands. Then came
tidal wave Of unbelief Critics announce
ed that Moses could not have written the
Pentateuch, for the reason that writlhs
was not known in that day, or at least
to the rowing tribes that he led through
the desert
The Hebrews were supposed to belong
to a period of the earliest dawn of CIVIL
cation, and the development of writing
from the earlier cuneiform characters
was traced from a period long after the
day of Moses. 1t was claimed that the
accounts of the Hittite nation were I'M
founded, and that the story OF Abraham,
Sargon and Accad were half, If not ALL
mythical, and the historical accuracy o1
the Old Testament was generally doubt
ed. That BelshaZZer never existed was
stoutly claimed. Won Bohlen and others
insisted that the story of Joseph was
fiction, as it told of the vine being culti-
waited in Egypt and the use of flesh as
food by the higher circles: also, that
sheep and oxen which were despised in
Egypt, We're among the presents OF
Pharaoh to Abraham. and not horses,
which were in common use at that time
in that land. DeWitte and the entire
cotere of critics absolutely denied that
there ever existed such nation as the
| Hittites, a. no mention was made of any
such nation in any place. Even the
monuments were silent regarding them.
1t was claimeda that the Old Testament
story of the deluge was not written by
Moses, but borrowed from the Babylon
ans centuries afterWard. when the He
brews were held in captivity. Then q
tide of careful investigation and research
set and the sober. careful investiga-
tions of students. added to the enterprs-
ing researches of the archeolOgists, have
shown that many of these claims are un-
founded. 1t is shown now conclusively
that writing existed long before the time
of Noses and entire libraries written be-
fore the Jews existed have been found.
The library at Accad, which consisted Of
over 10000 tablets. was founded by Sar-
gon about $500 B. c., and a larger library
existed at Telia, which dates back to 200
B. c.
The civilization of the Nile valley was
an accomplished fact long before Abra-
ham left Ur of the Chaldees, and having
lived among people who recorded all
events on stone tablets or in obelisks, it
would have been strange if Moses had
not written the history of the Jewish
people. 1t is now clearly proved that the
Hittite nation was a very real power.
Prof. Sayce states that before the time
of Elisha they had contended with the
Egyptians in western Asia, and at the
time of Jehoram, spoken of in II Kings,
vii: 6. they were still forceful enemies
and useful allies The Hittites Of the
later historical boks of the Old Testament
belonged to North, Klamath and Kadesh,
on the Orontes, being their most south
ern cities, but in the book of Genesis
there were other Hittites, ''the children
| of Heth," who lived in the extreme south
of Palestine. Space will mott permit a
full reference to the I1itite power. 1t was
not an empire like Egypt or Persia, un-
der a central head and controlled by the
dividual monarchs, led by king. for the
! purpose of warfare and conquest. and,
| so long as the warfare lasted, was a no.
mogeneous power. but when the ruler
| died the individual tribes asserted their
independence until brought into subiec-
ton again by powerful chief
1t was, however. very real factor in
the history of those rude times Belshaz-
ger was not eXen mentioned by Herodotus
and Aenophon, but Prof Sayce clearly
proved that Belshazzer ruled jointly with
his father. Regarding Joseph, the monu-
ments show that the making of wine
from grapes was known at that time and
aWlinson, in his magnificent work, saws
that animal food was used by the Egvp-
tian upper classes, and that horses were
| unknown at the period of Abraham. and
so far as can be ascertaned were first
brought to Egypt by the Hyksos invaJ.
ers. That the history Of the deluee was
borrowed from the Babylonians is cluear-
~ disproved by the Nippur tablet. which
was written centuries before tho Rabv-
lonian captivity.
thus the value of Holy Writ even in
historical sense. is clearly proved. and
as further explorations are made II ;s
Sa1e 10 assume that other corroboratjve
lactS Will come to light to strengthen
the faith of the scientist and the ,robao
Ioslst, as well as the faith of the humb,a
spirltuai bel1ever, in what that grand
olu man. Gladstone. has denomnate1: