The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-02-15
CBY WILLIAM T. ELLIs.)

CBY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.)
That yonder Russian, in boots as
trachan cap and tight-waisted, long
sl<irted velveteen coat, waiting IN the
railway station, is a real person ana an
emigrant from his homeland we can
easily understands; but that Sheik
Abraham, far off in the distance OF
the centuries, wearing a long abeyah,
or cloak, and Arab head-rool, sitting
in his black tent at noon, is just as
real an emigrant and quite as truly an
historical parsonage as the RUSSIAN
is not so easy to grasp. If this great
and romantic bit of history is TO mean
anything to the reader, he must get
a clear, strong hold of the truth that
the characters involved are as real
individuals as President Tart ana
King George; and that the places are
as definite as Chicago or Toronto or
London or Picking.
The migration of this man Abra-
ham from MesOpotamia TO canaan
has had a greater influence upon the
human race than any other outgoing
of a people from its native home;
greater than the movement of the
Mongol human tides; or of the Danes
to Britain, or of the MoOrs to Spain,
or of the Turks to Europe, or or
Europeans to America. On this point.
which is we'll worthy of a columns
treatment by itself, it must suffice TO
say that the three great monothelstlc
religions trace their course back to
that enligrant whom they in common
call Father Abraham" Five hum
dred million Christians, two hundred
million Moslems and ten million Jews,
or nearly half the total population of
the globe, regard Abraham as the
called prophet of the Most High.
The Brick and the Exile.
The present Turkish war, which
may yet open the doors of Palestine
once more to the Jews of earth. links
us with Abraham, for all the scenes
OF this migration story are laid with
in what is now the Turkish Empire:
and Mesopotamia, the old home of
Abraham, may soon come under an
other dominion, which will restore its
ancient fertility and prosperity and
inevitably open up the secrets of that
desert mound which was once Ur of
the Chaldees.
An ancient brick is one link with
Abraham which I personally have.
While travelling in Babylonia two
years ago. about the desert above Ur
of the Chaldees, L visited the remark
able excavations of the University of
Pennsylvania at Niffur. With my
own hands 1 dug from a lower wall
one of the huge fifteen-inch square
bricks stamped in the center with the
name of the king at whose order it
was made. The other evening an As
syriologist offered to read it for me;
but he returned it with word that the
language was older than the common
cunieform inscriptions. It goes back
beyond the time of Abraham.
Is Abraham a mythical figure in the
dim mists of remotest antiquity to be
questioned by every smart" and I'M
lettered skeptic? Here by my fireplace
is a brick bearing written record from
Il date far beyond his time. And here
also in this case full of cunieform tab
lets which is brought from his old
home may be records of Abrahams
father or his contemporaries.
Does it seem fantastic to suggest that
one day. and that within the life of
most readers of these lines, the OK
cavatSr's spade will unearth the secrets
of Ur and the Chaldees; and that when
the clay tablets are brought to light,
those lit lie books, or letters, that sug-
gest shredded wheat biscuit. they may
tell the details of the business trans
action of the sale of the property of
Abraham's family; for was not Terah
the father of the best business people
on earth We know now, beyond all
guess work. that it was the usage of
his time to make and file record
of these transactions on cunieform tab
lets. CorroborationS of the inspired
story quite as remarkable as this have
been brought out. in the fulness of
time from Gods storehouses in the
desert sands Even the school boys
now know of Hammurabi. the great
king who was contemporaneous with
Abraham and who caused the laws of
his time to be inscribed on stone pillars,
and set up for the peoples instruction.
\ Historic Journey.
AS Russian peasants migrate to ST.
IBERIA by entire families and village at
once as every traveller on the Siberian
railway has seen, so this exodus of
Terah and his family from Ur of the
Chaldees, and later the going out of
Abraham from Haran. was patriarchal
servants and flocks and property, went
at once Let us pause to recall Terah /.
to memory, even while we eXalt his
son Abraham. There is a great deal of
talk about ''self-made men" which is !
sheer nonsense. The stuff that was
in Abraham he got from his father. |
Josephus says that Terah left Ur of the |
ChaldeeS because of the heather prac- |
tees around him. The courage and
other pioneer virtues needed for this |!
adventure were within Terah's breast !
1t was a slow journey the family
made from Cr of the Chaldees, a re- /
gion then now famous for the breed !
ing of camels. The caravan was long,
and the animals and retainers were
many Then. as now. three miles an
hour was the average progress of the
camel caravan. and we may be sure
that as they came up through the cities
of this plain they stopped from time
to time. Probably they sojourned at
Oll TIE way, dl4Q liIS 10Iuple VI
Bel which the University of PennsyI-
vania has excavated may have been
seen by the eyes of Abraham 1900
years before Americans looked upon it, 4
Certainly the caravan stopped at Ba-
bylon. that great and dominant city, |
and father and son went out to the |
great ziggurrat, or tower of Babel /
and unused together upon that story |
If, as is likely, they followed the right |
bank of the Tigris, they tarried at /
Asshur, the ancient capital of AS |
Lei