Intermountain Jewish news., 1926-09-16
lIeNIah T.l.rrnnhI. Anenrrl

lou WIS uitai iAil'u ny lnt uItNh'OIOE-
ical expedition conducting excavations
at Shechem. Palestine. The discovery
was announced by Professor Ernst
Sellin, director Of the expedition, in
a cablcgrnm TO Bishop II. NJ. Du
Bose. the American sponsor OF the
expedition.
The date falls during the reign Of
Amen-hotep " of Egypt. near the
end Of the fifteenth century before
the Christian era, or century before
the birth Of Moses.
No tablet of the Tel-el-Amarnn
class has hitherto been found in Pal
estine. except the small cabinet Of
inscriptions discovered by Professor
Sellin at Taanach in 1909. These rep
resented local Palestine correspond
ence, but it is believed by Bishop Du
Bose that the reading Of the Shechem
tablet will show it to he of Egyptian
Syrian significance. If so, it will add
to the already established pre-emi.
nence of Shechem among ancient Pal
estine cities, in showing n fifteenth
century entente between Egypt and
the Amurru influence in Northern
Syria, of which Shechem was the
centre.
The Pharaohs of this period held
much Palestine territory, but the She
chem uncovering shows no sign of
foreign domination over it during the
Canaanitish age. Also this tablet,
Bishop Du Bose says. pushes back to
within two centuries Of the residence
of Jacob at Sheehem.
In addition to the tablet above re-
ferred to. Professor Sellin has in
formed Bishop Du Bose OF the uncov-
ering, in the lowest Canaanitish fun
dament, of n temple of El-Berith, Of
date of 1900 to 1000 before the
Christian era. 1t represents a modi-
fed monotheism. twilight zone be
tween polytheism and the worship of
one God.
Bishop Du Bose accepts the dis
covery as further substantiation of
the theory of the prevalence of mono
theism throughout the Amurru infu-
encc in the West Land from the he
ginning of the third millennium be-
fore the Christian era backward. The
effect of the establishment Of this
theory would be to upset the whole
critical view of the Babyionian origin
of the Genesis stories of creation, the
Garden of Eden, the fall of man and
the deluge.
Undeniable proof of the Biblical
history of the ancient city Of She
chem, the falling of the walls of
Jericho, the existence Of the well of
Jacob and other Biblical facts are es-
tablished by explorations in Palestine
in which Bishop II. NJ. Du Bose, Pres
ident of the three Tennessee annual
conferences of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church, South, participated, the
Bishop said upon his return from
Palestine, according to an Associated
Press despatch from Nashville, Tenn
Bishop Du Bose and party of Ger
man College professors led an ar
Genealogical trip in recent excava-
tions in Palestine and Egypt which
were begun about the time of the out
break of the World War and soon will
be completed.
The ancient city of Shechem, said
Bishop Du Bose, was definitely locat
ed with not contradiction of the ac-
count of the forgotten city as it ap-
pears in the Bible. The archaeolo.
gists, he declared. identified the Well
of Jacob, less than half mile outside
the gates of Shechem. Science estab-
lished, he said, that the well was on
the same geological level as the gates
of the Tower of Shechem.
This indicates, said Bishop Du Bose,
that the gates of the city were built
and the well dug within the space of
two or three hundred years of each
other.
Proof was established, the Bishop
claimed, of the historic City of Jacob.
1t was discovered, he declared, that
the foundations of Shechem were A.
900 years old.
The rounded curb of the well where
Jesus of Nazareth is recorded in the
New Testament as having sat and
talked with the woman of Samaria, is
still intact.
The excavations were made to
depth of 3S feet. Traces Of four an
cient civilizations were unearthed
those of the Canaanites, the Isrealites,
the Greeks and the Samaritans. The
walls of the city of Shechem meas
ured something like three miles in