The Caldwell tribune., 1919-03-14

II i Z fascinating OCcUl aIion 70 >-GUy
the Great Religion OF the World; ana
II fs common among scholars TO speak
OF The Ten Great Religions There
Es been = great increase IN this
branch OF learning in the last - years
and students along these lines are
carefully watching 10 learn what WILL
b= fond when the next ruin oi tne
old world Is opened, or the last dis
covered old roll, o. inscription IS read
For bv these We may ger new kno"l-
edge OF the old language IN which
some OF the records are written Let
ne illustrate one fact which relates to
e.- cxu Holy Bible In the account
OF the advancement OF Joseph from
srisoa and from being 4 slave, to the
cost OF Prime Minister in Egypt
zhsre he was next 10 Pharaoh IN
rznk and authority. we are told IN the
Ard verse of the 4lst chapter OF
Genesis. And he made him to ride IN
the second chariot which he had; and
thew cried before him, Bow the knee;
and he made him ruler over all the
land Of Egypt
By consulting any reference bible,
authorized or old version. you will see
that another reading for the clause,
Bow the knee" is given in the margin
which Is Tender father The trans
ktors OF the bible could not make cut
Ehzr the Hebrew word At that point
meant There was no other word ike
IL IN the Hebrew That which seemed
nearest Ike IT was the compound
word Tender father" But what
sense was there in any one running
before Joseph's chariot and crying
~Tente--far1er~ So the translators
took he Hebrew word most ike It
zaNh HeGf,t aaSe sense and put IN
Bow liz E1e=- That made sense,
vas rtiszclsEe, bUt Il was not the
trz-sEzt9c-- u IL word that stood IN
the o--zzzzl -zxz- About thirty years
ago those <--5FEz AssyTIzn records,
dug Nd ou- oE tAe runs OF the East,
came across tazt Eord in Assyrian.
Some scholar Eho had studied that
puzzling word in Genesis N:43, was
studying Assyrizn and, as we say.
stumbled on to the fact that this was
the identical word In Genesis What
was it? In Assyrian It was Grand
NJ" II vas 6At @EG1A- lLACA
means counselor, grand vizier is first
counselor. or Prime Minister. Now
we have good sense in the passage,
and clear meaning. Those heralds
who ran before Joseph's chariot were
instructed to cry Grand Vizier,"
which made an announcement OF a
new appointment and did Joseph
honor, at one and the same time.
Somehow that Assyrian word had
erePt into the Hebrew record It may
have been originally written there, for
at that time Assyria was in power,
and We know the Assyrian language
was considerably used in Egypt at
that time, just as words from other
languages are now used by us in
speech and writing as many French
at the present time. But when the
Assyrian people ceased to exist, their
language gradually died out, and in
time every one lost the meaning OF
that word in Genesis Recent re-
search has discovered it and given its
meaning again So any day some new
discovery on a newly found inscrip-
ton, or by greater knowledge in read
ing language which has been long
dead. may give US added information
about one of those old religions. 1t
was so regarding the doctrine OF The
Resurrection in the Parsee holy books.
For long time it was thought that
certain passages therein taught the
doctrine of the resurrection OF the
human body. But later and better
knowledge of the language in which
they were written showed that in
those passages it was eternity to
which reference was made, although
the doctrine of the resurrection is
assumed all through those books.
Another illustration: The holy
book of the Mohamedans "The
Koran" is of such recent date
the records were all on the same roll.
that scholars know just what was
originally part of it; and those writ
ings which explain it are known as
commentaries. But with the Asiatic
religion of Brahmism and Paraseeism.
it is different. They are so old that
the language in which they were
originally written has long since
ceased TO exist; and in some cases it is
also true that the language into which
they were afterwards translated and
explained. has also been long dead !:
and in one instance a third also; but
the records were all on the same roll,
and for long time they were thought
to be one and the same. First one old
language had to be reproduced, resur-
rected we might say. and then an
other, and still another. Some of the
first and second languages were
written in the same character. or al
phabet. with the second and third It
took a long time to separate all these.
But when good and patient scholar
ship had performed this task, II was
found that the very oldest was quite
different from the second in age. and
sometimes utterly different from the
third in age. 1t was similar to the
Hebrew Old Testament of our Bible
being translated into Greek in Egypt
some time before the birth of Tesus.
some hundreds of years after our
Lords time this Greek edition was
translated into Latin. which is the
vulgate-version the Roman Catholic
church uses in its service. And what
is called the Douay bible is a trans