ARCHAEOLOGICAL
DISCOVERIE'S AND THE
LITERATURE OF THE
OLD TESTAMENT

Zr. MA far dagrae- cf M. A.

Nficmgan State Coll age

2?: 12.23:: 5:23.? Leland Forrest

1 94-0

flillllllllHIllll”I“NilIIIIHIHNHIIIINIIUIllllllfllfl

1293 01841 3389

 

_.

~> - -.
U“,f._. ‘
-I

r:
’.
U
'
I‘I
. I
\
Q
r

, .‘vfi‘;

- . .'a
. “ ’
«GI-as.
. .

', -' "'5"
,.’ ‘ :-

 

 

 

ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES AS A GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING

THE LITERATURE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

by
AUBREY LELAND FORREST

A THESIS

Submitted to the Graduate School of Michigan
State College of Agriculture and Applied
Science in partial fulfilment of the
requirements for the degree of

master or Arte
Department of English
1940

Chapter

I.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

CONTENTS

Page

IIJTRODUCTION.0.00.0...0.00......0.000.000.0000... l

ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE GENESIS RECORD . . . . .

1.
2.
3.

5.

The Record of Beginnings . . . . .
The Fall and Redemption of ten . .
The Record of the Deluge . . .

The Time of Abraham and Melchizedek . .
Archaeology and the Joseph Record . . .

ARCHAEOLOGICAL LIGHT ON THE SOCIAL AND POL-
ITICAL DEVELOPHENT OF THE HEBREWS . . . . .

I.

EarlyHebrewlaWB...........

21 Later Deve10pments in Hebrew Society. .

3.

Use of Existing Haterials by Hebrews. .

ARCHAEOLOGICAL LIGHT ON HEBREW ARTS AND CULTURE.

l.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Music Among the Hebrews . . . . . . . .
Hebrew Sculpture and Statuary . . . .
Trade and Commerce in the Hebrew Nation
Mining and Petal Work Among the Hebrews
Literature and Learning . . . . . . . .
HebrewPottery.............

ARCHAEOLOGICAL LIGHT UPON THE DEVELOPMENT OF

THE RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF THE HEBREWS . . .

1.
2.

3. Hebrew Religious PrOphets . . .

Religion Before Hoses. . . . ..
Hebrew Religion After Soses . .

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

35
57

6O

62
64
68
70
74

80
80
86
91

95

D E D I 0 A T E D
TO
FRANCES JUNE FORREST

INTRODUCTION

Although the Bible is known all over the world, and
has been translated into practically every language and
dialect known, only recently did it occur to very many peo-
ple that this book cannot be understood sqmnr a casual and
hit-and-miss reading. The simplicity of the Bible hasoft~
en been cited. The idea that “he who runs may read" has,
by some chance, attached itself to this book, and to the
average person it is foolish to argue otherwise.

A bit of careful study, however, convinces any person
who would read this book understandingly that its meaning
is by no means so apparent as has been supposed. Clothed
in ancient metaphors and filled with allusions to events
and customs long since forgotten, much of its material be-
comes meaningless, unless some key to understanding it can
be discovered.

Happily, such a key has been discovered. Archaeology
ists, bent on either proving or disproving the record of the
biblical accounts, have brought to light much that is of great
importance in attempting to understand many heretofore unp
intelligible Bible stories and allusions.

Biblical Archaeology, on any significant scale, is of
comparatively recent origin. It was not until the beginning
of the second quarter of the nineteenuh century that any
scientific attempt was made to discover, classify, and inter-
pret the wealth of material which has been buried for cenp
turies far beneath the ground in Bible lands.

When once this important field was Opened, rapid advance-

ment was made from the very start. The spade began to turn
up materials which threw light on incidents of which mere
fragments are given in the Hebrew writings, enabling scho-
lars to solve many perplexing historical problems. Names
which.had been known.heretofore only in biblical writings
now appeared in the contemporary accounts, with illuminat-
ing comments on events, places, and persons which modern
men.had understood before only in.the light of the Hebrew
interpretationpeoftimes a fairly prejudiced view. Such is
the importance of recent archaeological discoveries in.the'
understanding of the literature of the Old Testament that
one writer has said, "For accurate understanding and inter-
pretation of biblical history, spades are trumps."*

Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, and Palestine have all
yielded ancient tablets, pottery, ruins of cities, and the
like that illuminate the Old Testament narrative. Archae-
ologists have found in these places remains of past civil-
izations, and have investigated their hi story in the fields of
art, architecture, literature, customs and religion, and
have used their findings to aid the modern student in arriv-
ing at a clearer understanding of the Hebrew literature.

In this study, this conviction has grown on the writer:
Scholars have taken the discoveries made, examined and class-
ified them, and then interpreted them according to their own
beliefs and prejudices. To the so-called "fundamental" scho-
lar, certain findings verify his “fundamental” beliefs. To

the much-heralded ”liberal" scholar, the same findi s ver-
* E.w.K. Mould, :Essentials of Bible History, p. 80.

 

 

ify his "liberal" convictions. Although the question of
the accuracy of the account given enters into the study of
any literature, and consequently is treated in the present
study of the Old Testament as the highest example of Bea
brew literature, this question is not treated in relation
to any school of biblical interpretation.

By the very nature of the case, this study is limited
to a few major incidents taken from the Hebrew record, with
comparisene with other accounts which explain either the
meaning or the source of the Old Testament accounts. It
can readily be seen that in much a limited study, many it-
ems of interest and importance are omitted because of lack
of time and space. It is the hepe of the writer to enlarge
and expand the present study by further investigation at

some future time.

I. Archaeology And The Genesis Record

One of the most discussed parts of the Old Testament
is the book of Genesis, with its record of beginnings, its
story of the call and blessing of Abraham, and the story of
the enslavement and final triumph of Joseph. It is upon
this part of the Hebrew literature, also, that the discov-
eries of the archaeolOgists have cast the most light. In
many parts of the ancient world, ancient papyri and stone
tablets have been found. In many of these accounts, light
is thrown upon the source and meaning of the Hebrew record.
Oftimes, also, interesting comparisons can be made between
the beliefs and ideals of the Israelites and their conteme

poraries.

l. The Record of Beginningg;
The immortal story of creation and early beginnings,
as told in the opening verses of Genesis, begins thus:
"In the beginning God created the heaven and
the earth. And the earth was without form, and
void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the
waters."*
After this account follows the record of the seven
days, the first six filled with creative activity, and the
seventh given over to rest on the part of God, giving

thereby agpattern for the Jewish Sabbath.
* Genesis 1:1,2.

The Genesis record of beginnings states that on the
first day of creation light was created. On the second,
the firmament was brought into order, and on the third, land
and vegetation were brought into being. On the fourth day,
the sun and moon were fixed in place. The fifth day saw the
develOpment of sea-life and the fowls of the air. On the
sixth day, the higher animals and man were created and given
their places, while on the seventh, God rested.

In understanding this record of beginning, and tracing
its source, the work of archaeologists is of untold value,
for no less than four accounts from other sources have been
discovered, giving the myths of ancient peOples regard-
ing the beginnings of things.

The best-known of these, and the one most like the Gen-
esis record, is the Babylonian account, which was circulated
in Babylonia about seven centuries B.C. This record has been
discovered, recorded on seven tablets, and divided into seven
epochs, or cantos. It tells the story of the making of man
and ascribes the creative work to:the Babylonian god, Marduk.

It is interesting to compare the two accounts, the Gen-
esis record and the Babylonian. The beginnings, as related
in Genesis, were all the handiwork of God, as was seen from
the verses quoted above. There is a striking similarity be-
tween the Opening paragraph of Genesis and the Babylonian
creation epic:

"Time was When above heaven was not named;

Below to the earth no name was given.

Then the primeval Abyss their begetter,

The roaring See who bore them,-

Their waters together were mingled." *

In comparing the two accounts, there are several not-
able likenesses and more-noticeable contrasts. The two agree
in assuming that primeval chaos consisted or a mass of waters.
The Hebrew account is divided into seven days; the Babylonp
ian into seven cantos. The Hebrew account ends with the Sab-
bath, and the Babylonian with a thymn in.praise to their god
Marduk. The two agree in placing the creation of the heave
one in the fourth epoch, and the creation of man.in the six-
th. In.the Hebrew account, the sun is created, but in the
Babylonian, since Marduk is the sun god, that planet is tak-
en for granted. The Genesis record affirms man's kinship
with God by stating that he was made in the image of God,
while the Babylonian account says that man was made from the
blood of Xingu, the dead god, thereby giving him.a kinship
with divinity that is just as close.

The chief difference between the two lies in the re-
ligious ideas contained in them. To quote a well-known
biblical archanIOgist:

"A more important difference lies in the religious
conceptions of the two. The Babylonian poem is mytho-
2logica1 and polytheistic. Its conception of deity is
by no means exalted. Its gods love and hate, they scheme
and plot, fight and destroy. Marduk, the champion, cons
quers only after a fierce struggle, which taxes his powb

ers to the utmost. Genesis, on the other handI reflects
* George A. Barton, Archaeology and the Bible, pp. 287 ff.

7
the most exalted monotheism. God is so thoroughly the

master of the elements of the universe, that they
obey his slightest word. He controls all withoutoef-
fort. He speaks and it is done. Granting, as most
éholars do, that there is a connection between the two
narratives, there is no better measure of the inspira-
tion of the Biblical account than to put it side by side
with the Babylonian. As we read the<3hapter in Genesis
today, it still reveals to us the majesty and power of
the one God, and creates in the modern man, as it did

- in the ancient Hebrew, a worshipful attitude toward the

Creator."*

Still another account found in Babylonia, now in the
British Museum, gives a bit of insight into another part of
the creation story. This epic attributes the work of crea-
tion to the goddess Aruru, and in part parallels the Genesis
account of God making man of the dust of the earth, and mak-
ing a living soul of him. This record reads:

"Aruru washed her hands;

Clay she pinched,off and spat upon it;

Eabani, a hero she created,

An exalted offspring, with the might of Ninib."**

These accounts of the beginnings of things are of great
value in understanding the Old Testament record. Scholars of

all shades of Opinion agree that there is a definite conn-
*Barton, Op. cit., -. 306

**Translated in Barton, Op. cit., 312

ection between these stories and the Genesis record. Some
see them as mere repetitions of the same stories:
"In Israel the writer considered Yahweh to be iden-

tical with Marduk."*

Others recognize the debt of the Hebrew writers to the
Babylonians, but believetthat the stories, while maintain-
ing some essential likenesses, have a different meaning to
the two peOples. I

Where did the Hebrews learn this Babylonian account?
Some have attdmpted, because of the likeness of these ac-
counts, to link the early roots of Hebrew religion and civ-
ilization very intimately with Babylonia. This position is
strongly contested by outstanding authorities today:

"The writer ventures to go even farther and to
claim that the influence of the Babylonian culture upon 1
the peoples of Canaan was almost nil."**

"Thus Amurru, Syria and Palestine, is declared
to be the home of the northern Semite; if not the
original home, at least an earlier home than Babylon-
ia. Thus the course of Semitic culture was from West

to east, and not from east to west.“***

The most satisfactory answer to the problem has been
proposed by Professor Mould:
“Strangely enough, a OOpy of this poem ( the Baby-
lonian creation epic) found its way into Egypt not
later than the early part of the fourteenth century

*Clay, Amurru, p. 17. **Ibid, p. 13.
***M. G. Kyle, Deciding Voice of the Monuments, p. 118.

Before Christ and was recovered with the Tell-el-Amarna
tablets. If Egypt was acquainted with the Babylonian story
a century before Moses' day, it is natural to suppose that
it was known pretty generally in the centuries following,
and would have been known to the Hebrews." *

In understanding the Old Testament records of beginnings
it can be said in summary:

1. The archaeological discoveries lead us to be-
lieve that all primitive pOOples possessed a certain
body of mythd, the purpose of which was to answer the
natural query, "How did things begin!"

2. The most ancient of these, namely, the Baby-
lonian and Hebrew, have so much in common that scho-
lars agree that they must have had a common source.

3. To read the Old Testament understandingly, it
must be kept in mind that this ancient material had a
different meaning to the people that first recorded it
than it has to us today. It cannot be read as a book
of present-day fiction is read and its truest value to
a present-day reader be realized. The customs, social
traditions, religious concepts, and other factors that
went to make up the total life-outlook of the people
that produced the Bible must be considered. This, to
a very great degree, is the contribution of archaeol-
ogy to the understanding of the writings of the Old

Testament.

 

* E.l. K. Mbuld, Essentigl of Bible History, p. 53.

10

2, The Fall and Redemption of Man.
One of the most important t0pics with wh1oh the Old

Testament writers deal is the problem of moral evil. How
did evil come into being? Or, is evil merely a superstition
without a basis in fact? It is both interesting and helpful
to compare the Hebrew story of man's purposes, failings,

and final success in his world, with the stories of other
ancient peoples. ‘

The purposes of man in his world, as recorded by the
Hebrew writer, was "to dress it (the garden of Eden) and
to keep it.”* His only restriction was concerning a cer-
tain.tree, “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof
thou shalt surely die."** .

A part of a Babylonian account of man's purposes in the
world was discovered in the city of Ashur. It has been
translated by Assyrian scholars, and a part of it deals in
a very similar way with the duty of man to serve the gods
by building their temples, keeping their cities, and car-
ing for their gardens:

”Let the bonds of the gods be bound upon them;
for future days the limit be established; The yoke
and the lifting cord on.their hands be placed, The

temple of the great gods unto a lofty sanctuary to

brine, The meadows to mark out, forever their limits

to establish.....To make the field of the Annunaki
* Gen. 2:15 ** Gen. 2:17

11

produce, To increase the abundance of the land,

To keep the feasts of the gods."*

The story of Adapa, recorded in.the four fragments of
the so-called "Adapa myth" which have been found, corres~
pond very closely to the story of the expulsion of man from
Eden in Genesis 3. The story agrees with the Genesis re-
cord, in that immortality seems to depend upon eating a
certain type of food. Also, for his disobedience, Adapa
was subjected to sickness, disease, and restlessness, much
as Adam*was doomed to toil, and Eve had the pangs of child-
birth imposed upon her. I

By the discovery of these accounts, scholars have
learned that the story of the beginning of moral evil, of
man's mortality, and his relation to his creator are not
the sole porperty of the Hebrew peeple as was once believed.
These stories, with some minor variations, seem to belong
to practically all ancient races. This thought agrees with
the biblical idea that the human race had a common ancestry,
as these stories would perhaps not be so universally known
if they had not come originally from a common source.

In comparing the Babylonian and Hebrew accounts, one
writer has said:

"An increasing number of modern scholars regard
the Babylonian story as an earlier form.of a narra-

tive which the Hebrew writer took and purified. 'Others

* Barton, op. cit., p. 315.

wt”
hold that it is a somewhat degefate form of the bib-

lical narrative. In any event, the Babylonian story
proves the Biblical conceptions to be very ancient,
and, by its contrasts to that of Genesis, it exhibits
the dignity and religious value of the Biblical narr-
ative. In the Babylonian myth, the gods, Ea and Ann,
are divided and work at cross purposes; Ea tells a
falsehood to accomplish his end. Genesis, while it
represents Jehovah as feeling and acting in a much
more human way than some parts of the Bible do, still
portrays him as a consistently righteous, omnipotent
God who demands obedience, and whose punishments are
the reasonable recompense of transgressions. The
superiority of the Old Testament stands out in strike

ing contrast."*

By comparing these accounts, we may conclude that the
problem of evil was one that was considered by different
ancient races, and was solved satisfactorily, to them at
least, by making disobedience of one person the beginning
point of universal disobedience.

Another purpose is seen, however, as we study the
Genesis record and compare it with other records. It be-
comes increasingly evident that these ancient writers had
as a second purpose the location of the cradle of civil-
ization. The Euphrates valley is agreed upon by practic-

* Barton, op. cit., p. 320.

12

13

ally all of them as the starting point of civilized life. *
And, strangely enough, we are made to recognize the right-
ness of’their assertions when we read the conclusions of
accepted students of archaeology. For example, Kyle has the
following to say regarding the rightness of the assumptions
of the Hebrews and Babylonians with regard to the cradle of
the race:

"This story of Eden purports to give a beginning,
to focalize the streams of history in one principal
fountain somewhere in the Euphrates valley. From this
same general region in Western Asia, also, the second
dispersion is represented to have taken.place. Thus
according to the Bible account, Eden, notwithstanding
the subsequent destruction of men by the Flood and
the repeOpling of the world, remains the starting point
of the race.

"The theory of this location of the point of de-
parture for the dispersion of the race, as indicated
by the record in the Bible and by facts ascertained by
research, is all but universally held. It cannot be
said that it is yet definitely substantiated, but it
is receiving cumulative corroboration along ethnolog-
ical and philological lines. Wherever it is possible
to trace back lines of migration of the early nations

i_mentioned, or to.gather notes of direction from the

 

* Genesis 2:14

* Line 23 of the Babylonian Creation Epic, Barton, op. cit.,
p. 311.

14

from the traditions of various peoples, or discover
indications of the derivation of languages, it is al-
ways found that the ultimate direction is toward a

comparatively small area in western Asia."*

When understood in the light of the myths existing
among contemporary races, the Hebrew story of man's moral
responsibility, his relationship to a God who is a moral
being, and.his essential brotherhood to all other exist-
ing races since all began with a common ancestry in the
Euphrates valley, gain new meaning. These accounts are
seen to be the property of a number of ancients peoples,
but which are purified and invested with a.higher meaning
by the writers of the Old Testament. They are not only a
group ofstories told interestingly, but in their new sett-
ing, they become instruments of great value for the lifting
of life to a higher level morally and socially. Because his
world.holdstogether through the intervention of a God who is
morally responsible, the Hebrew begins his long march upward
in setting forth a moral interpretation of the universe for
all men of all ages. Because he believed all men to have a
common ancestry, his writings have been sources of inspir-
ation to socially-minded men in every generation, although
the Hebrew*himself became for a time the most self-centered
of all men. The testimony of these ancient discoveries is an
invaluable aid to those who would understand the sources,
meaning, and values of the Hebrew record of man's beginning,

* Melvin G. Kyle, Deciding Voice of Monumentg, p. 63

15

2. The Record of the Deluge.

One of the most interesting parts of the Genesis re-

cord, and one upon which archae010gical discoveries have

cast a great deal of light, is the story of the great flood

which was recorded as covering the entire world:
"And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have creat-
ed from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and
the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it re-
penteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of
Noah: Noah was a Just man and perfect in his generations
and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons,
Shem, Ham and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt be-
fore God, and the earth was filled with violence. And
God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt;
for all flesh had corrupted.his way upon the earth. And
God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before
me; for the earth is filled with violence through them;
and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make
thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the
ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch."*

"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the se-

cond month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same
day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up,

and the windows of heaven were Opened. And the rain was

 

* Genesis 6:7-14

16

upon the earth forty days and forty nights."*

"All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of
all that was in the dry land, diod.”**

“Add it came to pass in the six hundredth and first
year, in the first month, the first day of the month,
the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah
removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold
the face of the ground was dry."***

”And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took
of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offer-
ed burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a
sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will

not again curse the ground any more for man's sake."****

This, in brief, is the story of the great flood accord-

ing to the Genesis record. As can be seen, the flood is said

to be the result of man's forgetfulness of God, and those
who were saved from it were to be the seed of a new race in
which God's purposes could be worked out.

In the discoveries of the archaeologists, some inter-
esting antecedents of this Genesis account have been found.
Perhaps the oldest account is that written in Nippur, and
generally believed to date back to circa 2000 B.C. The
tablet Opens with an account of man's coming restoration to
favor with the gods, and how four gods created men and ani-

‘mals. Then the building of cities is described. Following

 

* Genesis 7:11, 12. **Genesis 7:22
*** Genesis 8:13 ****Genesis 8:20, 21.

17

this account, Ziugiddu, who is to be spared in the deluge,
is given the warning, as was Noah in the Hebrew record:
”For the settlement of the gods a wall.......

Ziugiddu stood by its side, he heard......

"At the wall at my left side stand...

At the wall I will speak a word to thee

0 my brilliant one, let there enter thy ear

By our hand a deluge....will be sent.

The seed of mankind to destroy.....

Is the momentous decision of the assembly (of gods)

The words of Ann and Enlil...... "*

Then follows the description of the flood itself:
"The evil winds, the wind that is hostile, came;
The deluge...........came on with them
Seven days and seven nights
The deluge swept over the land,
The evil wind made the huge boat tremble.
Shamash came forth, on heaven and earth.he shone;
Ziugiddu the ship at the tOp uncovered,
The peace of Shamash, his light, entered into the boat.
Ziugiddu, the king
Before Shamash bowed his face to the earth.
The king---an ox he sacrificed, a sheep offered as ob-

lation."**

It is quite clear that this account, written some fif-

* Translated by Barton, op. cit., p. 342. **Ibid, 342.

 

[I‘ll

18

teen hundred years before the Hebrew version was put into
written form, has many points that are used as a foundation
for the Hebrew record. Ziugiddu, as Noah, was warned of the
approaching flood, although there is no hint as to why he

is given warning. Noah is represented as being warned be-
cause of his "righteousness." This account has no such 1
idea, although there is a Babylonian version, dating from
about 650 B.C., which attributes the deluge to the fact that
men repeatedly sinned, but were given many chances to obey
the gods. The flood was sent as a last resort.*

This account makes the deluge of shorter duration than
the Hebrew, but both end with the man who was saved from
it making a sacrifice. So nearly are they parallel that
it is evident.that the Babylonian was the original source
of the Hebrew account.

Another Babylonian flood account, written about a
century or two before the recording of the Hebrew record,
is morddetailed than the one mentioned, and more nearly
produces the elements which are outstanding,in the Gene-
sis record. The gods had decided to make the deluge, and
the hero of this account, Utnapishtim, was warned. We
have his account of building the ark, as follows:

"The strong....brought what was needed.
On the fifth day I raised its frame.
According to the plan its walls were 120 cubits high;

120 cubits correspondingly was extent of its roof.

* ROgers, Cuneiform Parallels to the 0.T;, p. 114 ff.

l9

laid down its hull; I enclosed it.
constructed it in storys, upto six;
divided it into seven parts....

ears of bitumen I poured over its outside;

UQHHH

ears of bitumen I poured over its interior. "*

Q

This reminds us of the Hebrew record of Noah “pitching
it within and without." Then followed the flood, which was
so fierce that

"The gods were frightened at the deluge,
They fled, they climbed to the highest heaven;
The gods crouched like dOgs, they lay down by the walls.

Ishtar cried like a woman in travail."**

Birds were sent out, until one found land, as in the
Hebrew record. After Utnapishtim.disembarked, he too made a
sacrifice:

”I appointed a sacrifice on the top of the mountain;

Seven by seven I arranged the sacrificial vessels;

Beneath them I piled reeds, cedar wood, and myrtle.

The gods smelled the savor,

The seas above the sacrificer collected like flies."***

Then follows a promise that another deluge will not
come on all people, but ”on the sinner let his sin rest."
Although plainly a forerunner of the Hebrew record, this
account illustrates the use to which the Hebrews put the

ancient myths which they used. The Babylonian record makes

*Barton, op. cit., 336. **Ibid, 337. ***Ibid., 338.

 

 

\

20

the gods at crossed and confused purposes, with the god
directly accountable for the deluge receiving punishment
from the others. They are frightened, cringing like dogs.
Finally, like flies they gather around the altar. How un-
like the stately dignity of Yahweh in the Hebrew record, who
is creator, all-powerful, and who speaks andit is done .

His act is not one of caprice, but has a purpose, and is
finally seen accomplishing that purpose.

The fact remains, however, that the archaeolOgists have
given an invaluable key to understanding this record in
these discoveries of the records from which it was taken.

It is seen that the Hebrew story is not an independent one,
But was based upon a tradition common to these ancient
races. In fact Frazer, in his study of Folk-Lore in the
Oldiestament, declares that he has found traces of the
flood record in the literature of the Babylonians, Hebrews,
Greeks, the people of India, Asia, Australia, Ploynesia,
South America, Mexico, and North America.* It is of spe-
cial interest to note that in the Aztec pyramids, discova
ered in Mexico and Central America, records have been found
that show a flood tradition very similar to the Babylonian
story.

It remained for the Hebrew historian to take this record
and invest it with a moral meaning, and make it a means of
revealing the dignity, power, and aplenty which the Hebrew
people attributed to their God, Yahweh.

* Frazer, Folk-Lore in the O.T.X l v. edition.

21

4. The Time of Abraham and Melchizedek.

One of the principal accounts used by the Hebrew his-
tOrian to record the early days of the Hebrew nation and its
background is the record of Abraham. Closely connected in
time and interest is the story of a priest-king by the name
of Melchizedek.

Of the beginning of Abraham as a man "called of Yahweh"
the Hebrew record states:

"Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee out of
thy country, and from thy kindred, and from.thy father's
house, and unto a land that I will shew thee. And I will
make thy name great. And I will bless thee, and thou
shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless
thee, and curse them that curse thee: and in thee shall

all families of the earth be blessed."*

Then follows the account of Abraham's moving out into ’
Palestine, then down into Egypt, because of a famine. It
appears_that with him was an army of over three hundred
servants, aside from his own family and What members Of his
tribe that had accompanied him. Sudh is the beginning of
the Hebrew race, and of the Hebrew progeny.

The chief interest in the story of the early wander-
ings of Abraham lie in.the fact that the type of life and
customs followed by hiliindicate a close connection between
the life of these early Semitic nomads with the life of

* Genesis 12: 1-3

22

Babylonia. Hammurapi, king of Babylonia at this period,
is recorded as conquering the "west land”, which meant the
Mediterranean coast, including Palestine. There was a
large amount of trade between the countries, and wagon
trains made the trip often. In fact, one man in leasing
a wagon to a friend during this time, specifically forbade
his driving it to "the land of Kittim," or the West.* During
this period, the name of "Abraham" appears often in the com-
mercial records of Babylonia, showing a large number of Se-
mitic peeple to live there.** Archae010gically, then, the
recordsof the name, customs, and type of living of-Abraham
furnish a link to account for Babylonian influences in Israel.

Whether the.historical or the eponymic view of the
narratives of Abraham and Melchizedek. is correct, the
value of the stories is the same. In understanding the
meaning of the stories, some recent archaeological discov-
eries are of great value.

For example, the story of Abraham's covenant sacri-
fice has had little meaning until its significance has been
brought out in full by the discovery of similar sacrificial
ceremonies among the Hebrews and other peoples. The story of
the sacrifice is as follows:

“And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that
I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take as an hei-
fer of three years old, and a she goat of three years

old, and a ram of threegyears old, and a turtledove, and
*Barton, 0p. cit., 355 **Ibid 151.

23

a young pigeon. And he took unto him.all these, and
divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one
against another: but the birds he divided not."*

To some, this answer given to Abraham is a meaningless
one, in view of the fact that he had asked pointedly for a
sign that he was to receive the inheritance promised. It
becomes understandable in the light of the following dis-
coveries made by Professor Frazer:

"We know from Jeremiah that it was the custom of
contracting parties to cut a calf in twain and pass
between the pieces. That this was the regular form
observed on such occasions is strongly suggested by
the Hebrew phrase for making a covenant, which is lit-
erally to “Cut a covenant,’ and the inference is con-
firmed by analOgies in the Greek language and ritual;
for the Greeks used similar phrases and practiced sim-
ilar rites. Thus they spoke of cutting oaths in the
sense of swearing them, and of cutting a treaty instead
of making one. Such eXpressions, like the correspond-
ing phrases in.Hebrew and Latin, are undoubtedly de-
rived from a custom of sacrificing victims and cutting
them in pieces as a mode of adding solemnity to an oath

or a treaty."**

Professor Fraser then goes on to show that like customs

existed among the Scythians,,tribes of Assam, amonggthe

* Genesis 15:8-10
#* Frazer, op. cit., p. 154

.Assyrians, the Romans, and other ancient races.* By a care-
ful reading of the materials associated with these ceremon-
ies, the general custom seems to have been to cut the sac-
rifices in half, and then the contracting parties would pass
between the divided victim's parts, thus putting themselves
under a blood oath to perform.their covenant. The smoking
furnace and the burning lamp that passed between the pieces
of Abraham's sacrifice signified the passing of God between
them. We see in this the Hebrew conception of God as a per-
son much like themselves, who would contract individually
with another person. We understand the awful solemnity of
this covenant, for the passing between the pieces of a sac-
rifice always obligated the person even to death to fulfill
his agreement. The passage thereby gains a deeper meaning
for us, as it teaches, when understood from the light thrown
upon it from.the archaeological discoveries discussed by
Professor Frazer, that the God of Abraham had taken a solemn
oath to make his covenant good.

The time of Abraham is that generally- acceptd as beins
somewhere between 2000 and 1600 B.C. There were many Bedp
ouin princes during that period who lived as Genesis repre-
sents Abraham as living. It is altogether a false picture,
as has been proved by discoveries which give an accurate pic-
ture of that period, to imagine him a lonely, poverty-stric-
ken old man, persecuted because of his religious convictions.

This is the common view of him, and has been used for glowing

* Frazer, op. cit.,Ghapter I of Part II.

25

flights of oratory concerning the essential value of suf-
fering for a cause for millenniums. Of this experience,
Professor Kyle says:

"If semi-nomadic life was quite in vogue in the
land of the Amorite, it was no strange state or novel
experience for Abraham, for he only lived there the
life he brought with him. He came not as a lone emi-
grant to a Bedouin experience, but moved about as a
Bedouin Prince, and, on occasion, put three hundred
and eighteen men of his 'trained servants, born in his
own house,‘ into the field armed for battle, if batt-
le there should be....And though the sovereignty of
Babylonia was somewhat uncertain and insecure at the
time, the Jealous enemies on the southwest, the Hyksos
dynasty of Egypt, were themselves 'Bedouin Princes'
who were ready to accord Abraham a royal welcome, and
a safe retreat from famine.

"Thus the pathetic picture of a pioneer career in
a dangerous land has grown dim and dimmer until at last
it has faded out completely in the ever-increasing light
of contemporary history brought out by Babylonian and
Palestinian and Egyptian discoveries.'*

During this period, some cities were already well es-
tablished in Palestine. One of these was called Salem, or
what is now called Jerusalem. An incident which occurred
at this place gains new meaning,when.understood in the

* Kyle, Op. Cite, p0 76

 

 

 

‘n.

__.:\

light of contemporary history. This incident concerns Abra-
ham and Melchizedek, and the interest in it centers expressly
in a descriptive passage, saying that Melchizedek was "without
father, without mother, without descent, neither having begin-
ning of days nor end of life."*
In the first place, who could such a person as Melchize-
'dek be? Duncan says: I
"The earliest reference to Jerusalem occurs in
Genesis xiv in the incident of the rescue of Lot by
Abraham, The governor of that time is named Melchizedek'
which means 'Righteousness is my King.’ Melchizedek
thus appears to have been the Canaanite governor of the
period between 2000 and 1600, and to have combined the
office of Priest of El Elyon, the Amorite God of the

Mountains, with his position of governor."**

By referring to the Tell-el-Amarna letters, which many
scholars believe to be contemporary records of the Hebrew .
conquest, and others believe to be from the Patriarchal per-
iod, we find that a line of kings ruled in Palestine, but
held their authority only by permission of the king of
Egypt.. The customary salutation of these letters is some-
thing like the following:

"Behold, I am a shepherd of the king, and one who
brings tribute unto the king am I. Neither my father
nor my mother established me in this position, but it

was the mighty arm of the king himself who made me mas-
* Heb. 7:} **J. Duncan, Digging Up Biblical History, p. 100.

27

ter of the lands and possessions of my father."*

While this salutation does not identify Melchizedek
individually, it does give some insight into the mysterious
title given.him. His "without father, without mother,"
simply acknowledges that he holds his office by authority
of the King of Egypt, and not by hereditary right. Once
again the testimony of the rocks explodes a beautiful theo-

ry of the mystical nature of a famous character.

The discoveries of the archaeologists have given us an
insight into the meaning of the incidents mentioned above.
We may now ask, What, if anything, do they tell us of the
whole scheme of stories about this Patriarch? Again, it
must be said, nothing can be decided at the present time,
from an archaeological point of view, concerning the his-
toricity of these accounts. Stories of the wanderings, the
battles, the prowess, the kindness of the gods, of the fathe
er of many ancient races have been found. Frazer's study of.
folk-lore** has convinced him that almost all primitive peo-
ple had certain tales of prowess that were attributed to a
founder of their tribe. This custom still exists, in more
modern.literature. For an example, the Spanish legends of
El Cid Campeador, and others, give the miraculous visions,
battles, and the like of their national hero.

These studies have convinced most modern scholars that

if we are to get the greatest good out of the stories of Ab-

*Translated in Barton, cp. cit., p.443.
**Frazer, Folk-Lore in the Old Testament; 3 vvs.

28

raham, this patriardh must be considered as a type, with-
out consideration as to the historicity of the narrative,
although there is more reason to believe the story as a
true history than there is to consider it an eponymic device.
Its value, whether in the Hebrew account or in the Assyrian
or Arabic account of Ibrahim, is similar to that of the old
morality plays of early English literature. No one ever
stOps to argue if Evegyman really lived before considering
the literary and social worth of that old morality. Its
value is accepted face value, and its meaning is studied
out, ratherzthan questions of its historicity.

By giving us light on the times in Which the account
takes place, by helping us understand the rites and customs
related therein, and byhelping to explain hitherto unintell-
igible titles and metaphors, the archae010gists have Opened

up a new world of appreciation for the record of Abraham.

5. Archaeology and the Joseph Record.

, Joseph, one of the sons of Jacob and a great-grandson
of Abrahanh became prime minister of Egypt, and worked out
the first recorded plan of caring for surplus commodities!
This is a part of the Genesis record.

The first part of Joseph’s adventures in Egypt has to
do with his being enticed by Potiphar's wife and his re-
jection of her attention.

There has been found an ancient story, dating back to

about 1200 B.C. in its present form, which forms a striking

29

parallel to the story of Joseph's experiences with the wife
of Potiphar. It is called "The Tale of the Two Brothers.“*
Like Joseph, the younger brother in the tale was trusted by
his elder brother with all the elder had. The wife of the
elder brother, like Potiphar's wife, tempted the younger
brother, who resisted the temptation, as did Joseph. The
sister-inplaw, like the wife of Potiphar, charged him with
the crime he did not commit, to the misfortune of the youth.
Concerning this story, Professor Barton says:

"Scholars of the critical school regard this as
the original of the story in Genesis. While they re-
cognize that it is a theme which is not confined to
Egyptians and Hebrews (compare for other parallels
Lang, myth, Ritual and Religion, II, 303 ff), the fact
thatthe these-of the Biblical story is laid in Egypt
leads them to think it extremely probable that there

is a connection between the two."**

Kyle, on the other hand, sees no reason why there is
any connection.between the two:

"Is it so impossible to imagine that in the whole
history of Egypt there was more than one court scandal?
....Why then should this Tale of Two Brothers in the
time of Ramases II be asserted to be the original of the
story of Joseph? Are we to understand that, because
practically every scandal of French fiction involves

an unfaithful wife or woman of the demi monde, that

*Translated in Barton, 0p. cit., p. 36}.
**Ibid, 366 -

30

therefore there was no real Madame Pompadour? Let us
rather recOgnize thatt; he dangers of Oriental home
life always made reasonable Just such an episode in the
life of a manservant about the house.“*

More interesting thamithe archaeological light upon

the life of Joseph in the house of Potiphar are the records

of some man who garnered grain, as Joseph said he did.

Of this record, Professor Kyle says:

*

"Archaeological evidence, which thus far in the career
of Joseph has, for the most part, only cleared diffi-
culties out of the way, now becomes more positive con»
cerning the great work of Joseph the Prime Minister.

In the tomb of one Baba at el-Kab, now unfortunately
much mutilated, is an inscription of the time of Se-
Kenen-Ra-Taa III, a vassal king of upper Egypt under
the Hyksos rulers. Exact dates are here impossible,
but the time of this king and of this inscription is
known to be about the time of ApOphis, the traditional
Pharaoh of Joseph according to Syncellus....Baba says,
'I collected corn, as a friend of the harvest god. I
was watchful attshe time of the sowing. And when a
famine arose, lasting many years, I distributed corn
to the city each year of the famine.'....Great famin-
es are most rare in Egypt and the details of this narr-
ative of Baba follow the getails of the famine story in

the days of Joseph."**

Kyle, 0p. cit., 262

* Ibid, 263

31

Barton, on the other hand, does not identify this Baba
as Joseph. But, whether this is the same or not, this dis-
covery of the archaeolOgists helps us to understand that at
this time in Egypt, famines were known, and already social
planning was an art which was practiced with enough care
that the starvation usually resulting from famine was being
reduced. This account helps us to observe the growing so-
cial consciousness of man. He is aware of himself now as a
member of a society group, and as a man with social responp
sibilities.

This is the chief value of the Joseph stories, and the
stories discovered in Egypt which throw light upon.them. The
"Two Brothers" episode shows the beginning of man's conscious-
ness of trustworthiness. The sin, feared by both the younger
brother and Joseph, does not seem to be that of illicit re-
lationships with another's wife. It seems rather a sense of
.honor in being trusted that delivers both Joseph and the
brother. Man is aware of himself by this stage in his pro-
gress as a person who, if he is to live in peace, must be
able to trust at least those who are his chosen friends.
Then, as Joseph becomes ruler in Egypt, he deveIOps the fur-
ther thought of the responsibility of the ruling and govern-
ing group in society for the welfare of those over whom it
'rules. Such is the story of man's great adventure in living.

6. A Summarv of Genesis.

From.the archaolOgical records, we are to conclude that

the stories in Genesis, forishe most part, are the prOperby

32

of atnumberwof ancient peoples. By comparison, however, it
becomes evident that these records reach their highest form
in the Hebrew literature. They not only reach their high-
est literary form, but they reach their highest meaning in
the Old Testament record, also. They become symbols by
which the universe is explained,and by which man's struggle
for progress is illustrated.

Archaeological light upon Genesis also convinces us that
most of these stories, in their original form, were songs or
epic poems. They were to be sung around the camp-fire, in
their earlier forms, and to be used in the ritual of worship
in the later forms.

Because these stories are poems which have been muti-
lated someWhat in translation, their meaning and value have
often been missed. They are subject to the same freedom,
limitations, and poetic license that are accorded poetic
literature today. Many of the records that critics have at-
tacked with high glee as being evidences of unreliability are,
in fact, examples found in all poetry, of poetic symbolism.

While we find that stories that are common to all ancient
peOple in that section of Asiaere used as backgrounds of
biblical material, the myflical and the real can easily be
separated. We are not to argue that myths of old were believed
altogether by the Hebrew writers who used them, any more than
we are to affirm that Milton was deeply worshipful at the
lhrines of the Greek deities because he used Greek mytholOgy

in Paradise Lost.

33

In the light of the recent archaeological discoveries,
the book of Genesis becomes a living thing, rising out of
the traditions and experiences of an ancient peOple, yet
so filled with a symbolism that links it to the Universal
Nflnd that it is a challenge to us even today to a higher

social, moral, and religious life.

 

II. ARCHAEOLOGICAL LIGHT ON THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL DEVEL-
OPMENT OF THE HEBREWS.

When one thinks of the social and political structure
of the Hebrew people, he is apt to see in.his mind a highly
developed system of laws regulating agriculture, industry,
trade, and commerce, with the whole undergirded by a highly
developed system of religious worship, directed by a priest-
ly aristocracy. When the Hebrew literature is read, it is
so often interpreted in the light of all these supposed
develépments.

This picture of a highly cultured peOple, with well-
established social institutions is far from the truth. The
processes of deveIOpment through which the Hebrew people
passed before arriving at any semblance of national unity
or purpose is summed up by Scares as follows:

"From.the period when we first have knowledge of
the Hebrews as a nomad race on the borders of Pales-
tine to the life of the Jews in.the days of Christ,
there is a stretch of time about equal to that which
separates the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain from the
present day. We recognize a long develOpment in social
institutions from the primitive conditions of the pagan
Angles and Saxons to those of the complex civilization
of the twentieth century. If, for example, we should
undertake to study the family in English or American
life, it is evident that we should have to consider the

many modifications which that institution has undergone

35

through the centuries as a result of the changing con-
ditions of society. A treatment of the subject in a
static fashion would be wholly misleading. We must
take the same point of view in the study of the social

life of Israel."*

Not only from the records left us in the Old Testament,
but also from the findings of archanIOgists we can trace
~ in some measure the story of the develOpment of the Hebrew

political and social institutions.

1. Earlnyebrew Laws.

The earliest forms of Hebrew laws were laws to govern
a simple, nomadic society. They are what are sometimes re-
ferred to as "the first decalogue," or "the Book of the Gov-
enant," and are contained in Hebrew literature in the twen~
tieth to twenty-third chapters of Exodus, inclusive.

At a glance, it can be seen that these laws are to gov-
ern a simple society. PrOperty laws are concerned with such
prOperty as a nomadic peOple would normally move from place
to place in their wanderings. The social institutions of
such a society were naturally simple and primitive. The
family, patriarchal in nature, and ruled by the eldest or
strongest by common consent, was the chief unit of society.
Property ownership, hereditary rights of children, sharing
of pasture lands, marriage customs, and recognition of the

national God, Yahweh, were practically the only matters pgova
* To G. Scares. The Social Institutions and Ideals of the
Bible, p. 19.

36

ided for in the primitive Hebrew law system.

In studying these laws, and the social institutions
for which they lads provision and those which grew out of
them in later history, it is interesting to note that they
had.their roots in the older codes of laws which have been
brought to light by the archaeologists in recent years. Two
codes especially which preceded the earliest Hebrew code.
seem to have a bearing on the Hebrew laws, The oldest of
these, the code of Hammurabi, is a codification of the Baby-
lonian laws which were in force about 2000 B.C. The other,
the old Hittite code which has been found at Boghaz Koi, dates
from about 1350, and, while making some fundamental depart-
ures from the code of Hammurabi, is unmistakably related to
it. The earliest recorded Hebrew laws most probably date from
l250--1200 B.C., and, as will be shown, owe much to these old-
er codes.

The underlying basis for the primitive Hebrew code of
Justice was the law of blood revenge and the Semitic custom
of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Stated in the
language of the Exodus record:

"He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be

surely put to death." Exodus 21:12.

"Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot
for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, strips

for stripe.” Exodus 21:24,25.

In the code of Hammurabi, the basis for these laws had

been prepared over a thousand years before their inclusion in

37

the Hebrew code:
"If a sonstrikes his father, they shall cut off his
hand.
"If a man destroys the eye of the son of a patrician
they shall destroy his eye.
"If he breaks a man's bone, they shall break his

bone." *

It is interesting to note that both codes provide for
an escape from the harsh penalty if the taking of a life is
accidental. A close examination of the Exodus code shows it
to be much more democratic than the code of Hammurabi, which
made wide distinctions between the penalty for injuring a
patrician, a workingman, and a slave. Although the Hebrew
code recognises freeman and slaves, it gives the latter a much
more equitable protection than they enjoyed in.the sight of
the Babylonian code.

The Exodus code provides for the protection of such simp
ple property as a nomadic people might possess. It directs
that, if a man steals a sheep or an ox and kills it or sells
it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep.for
a sheep. In case it is not sold, he shall restore double.
(Exodus 22:1-9). The code of Hammurabi presents an inter-
esting background for these property laws:

”If a man.has stolen ox, or sheep, or ass, or pig,
or boat, either from a god (temple) or a palace, he shall
,gpay thirtyfold. If he i§_agpoor man, he shall restore

* Translated in Barton, 0p. cit., p. 397

38

tenfold. If the thief has nothing to pay, he shall be
put to death.

"If a man, who has lost anything, finds that which
was lost in a man's hand, and the man in whose hand the
lost thing is found says: "A seller sold it; I bought it
before witnesses"; and the owner of the lost things says;
"I will bring witnesses Who know that the lost thing is
mine"; if the purchaser brings the seller who sold it to
him and the witnesses in whose presence it was bought, and
the owner of the lost thing brings the witnesses who know
that the lost thing is his, the judges shall examine their
testimony. The witnesses before whom the purchaser purch-
ased it, and the witnesses who know the lost thing, shall
give their testimony in the presence of a god. The seller
is a thief; he shall be put to death. The owner of the
lost thing shall take that which was lost. The purchaser
shall take from the house of the seller the money Which

he had paid."**

Although much older, it can readily be seen that the

Babylonian laws on the rights of preperty owners presuppose

a much more highly develOped society than do the Hebrew

laws. In the Hebrew laws, the thief -was brought before God,

in much the same manner as the Babylonian thief was made to

swear before a god, but the final judgement under the Baby-

lonian code was given by the judges, while the Hebrew law

provided for a religious test to determine guilt.

The ownership ofyprOperty, especially livestgck, was

*Translated by Barton, 0p. cit., p. 379.

39

a matter which entailed certain responsibilities for the
primitive Hebrew, as well as granting certain privileges:
”If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die:
then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall
not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit.
But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time
past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he
hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or
a woman; the ox shall be stoned and the owner thereof
shall be also put to death. If there be laid on him
a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of
his life whatsoever is laid upon him...If the ox shall
push a Ianservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto
their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall

be stoned."*

these provisions show us the sense of social responsi-
bility*Mhich existed even in the primitive stages of Hebrew
society. When we read accounts of other nomadic peoples,
we very often do not find this highly defined recognition of
a man's responsibility for the acts of his property. As a
basis, the Hebrews used the code of Hammurabi, which has some
similar provisions:

”If an on when passing along the street gores a
man and causes his death, there is no penalty in that
case.‘ If the ox of a man has the habit of goring and
they have irformed him of his fault and his horns he

,m___JQ§§_notpprotected nor kept his ox in, and that ox
*Exodus 21 : 28-30, 32

 

4O

gores a man and causes his death, the owner of the ox
shall pay one half mana of money. If it is the slave

of a man, he shall pay one third of a mans of money."*

Although the relation of the Hebrew law to the Babylonp
ian is evident, some differences are apparent. The Hebrew
law demands the stoning of the ox, even in event of the loss
of a slave, and calls for either the death or a large ransom
on the part of the owner of the ox.

These instances are cited as examples of the Babylonian
and Hebrew preperty laws to show the relationship of the He-
brew conception of preperty to the ancient Babylonian conp
caption. Many writers have assumed that the Hebrew laws.
were a new departure in property legislation, without any
close precedent. They have been cited as examples of the
beginning of a higher order of society, but when seen in the
light of the backgrounds which archaeologists show them to
have, they appear to us but another step in.the ladder of
social legislation.

The marriage laws in the primitive Hebrew society were
simple statements of the responsibilities of a man to woman
if he decided to take her as his wife after having her in.his
house as a slave, or if he decided to give her to his son as
a wife. (Exodus 21:7-11). There is one further provision for
Justice if an unmarried woman is overcome by a man (Exodus
22:16). She can demand that he take her as his wife; or it

her father refuses to allow this, her father can demand a

* Translated by Barton, 0p. cit., p. 401

41

payment equivalent to the usual dowry of Hebrew daughters.
These statements, added to the original primitive Hebrew comp
mandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultry," seem to be the
total basis for marriage and chastity in the first period.

It is interesting to note that of the thirty-three
sections of the Babylonian code which deal exclusively with
the matters of chastity, marriage, and divorce, there are
none which parallel these primitive laws of the Hebrews.

The later Hebrew codes, found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy,
tend to become more like the Babylonian. No provision is
made in the biblical code for plurality of wives, though
that custom was practiced among the Hebrews. The Babylonian
code provided for the giving of concubines to their hus-
bands by the wives, which gives the background for such ac-
tion by Sarah (Genesis 16), and by Rachel and Leah (Genesis
30:1-14).

It would seem, after comparing the early Hebrew code
with the Babylonian, the Hittite, and the Assyrian ( the
latter dating back to approximately 850 B. C.), that there
is a slight departure upward in the Hebrew idea of chastity,
and of the rights of a bethrothed virgin. This departure
upward, which archaeologists so far have found to belong al-
most exclusively to the Hebrew codes, may be the distinctive
contribution to the universal idea of morality which the
primitive Hebrews have made.

The first Hebrew code also provided for worship of God

according to certain simple rituals. The principad matters

 

42

of worship specified in this code were these:

”Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou
shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any like-
ness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in
the earth beneath, or that is in.the water under the
earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor
serve them." Exodus 20:3-5a.

"Thou shalt not taket.he name of the Lord thy God
in vain." Exodus 20:7a

"Hetthat sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the

Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed." Ex. 22: 20.

Then followed the directions for keeping the Sabbath.
and certain feasts. It is to be noted.that in studying the
other ancient codes, no religious meaning is found therein.
To be sure, provision is made for temple prostitutes, for
swearing before a god, and for acts of the gods in taking
away property, but no essential spiritual interpretation of
life, personal or national,is:attempted. Thus again arch-
aeological discoveries have aided the modern student of an-
cient culture to discover the one contribution of the Heb-
rew nation to the pregress of the ages. His national gen-
ius has been.the interpretation of thbcwhole life in the
terms of religious and spiritual meanings, complementing

an otherwise strictly materialistic philosOphy of life.

43

2. Later Develqpments in Hebrew Societ .

This simple society of the Hebrews which existed in
the period of wanderings before entering Palestine natur-
ally underwent some great transformations when these peo-
ple settled down to a fixed manner of living. And, as the
~shift from a nomadic to an established society was made,
certain changes in social institutions were made, also. As
these changes came, new patterns were developed in the so-
cial, commercial, and religious life of the peeple. Did
they have any backgrounds for the regulatory laws which now
appeared? It will be seen that these, also, were influenced
by the Hittite and Babylonian codes.

Because of the higher level of agriculture practiced'
here, new laws regarding landmarks, inheritance, purchase
and sale of prOperty, and simple mortgage laws came into
being.

One fundamental law underlying the Hebrew land code was
that the/éffirngld not be sold (Leviticus 25:23). It could, how-
ever, be mortgaged and redeemed by its tribal owner, without
‘interest, but with a payment of a certain amount for the
privilege of buying it back, (Leviticus 25:24-34). This
non-saleable conception of property in the form of real es-
tate rested on the assumption that the land belonged to Yah-
weh in reality, and he was but allowing them to occupy it.

On comparing the land laws of the Babylonian code with
those in the Hebrew record, it will be seen that the Hebrew

44

assumes a more democratic organization Of society than does
.the Babylonian. Of the sixteen sections Of the code of Hamm-
urabi which deal with land * ten Of them deal with the rela-
tionship Of tennent and owner, while the Hebrew laws through-
out assume that each man willcawn and work his land.

The Hebrew code (Exodus 22:5,6) makes a man who causes
loss to his neighbor's crOp responsible for it. The Babylon-
ian code makes a like provision:

"If a man the side Of his strong dyke has neglected
and has not strengthened it, and in.his dyke a break oc-
curs, and the water destroys the farm—land, the man in
whose dyke the break occurs shall restore the grain
which was destroyed. If he is not able to restore the
grain, they shall sell him and his possessions for money,
and.the owners of the fields whose grain was destroyed
shall share it. If a man has Opened his sluice for
watering and has left it Open and the water destroys
the field Of his neighbor, he shall measure out grain to
him on the basis of that produced by neighboring fields.
If a man Opens the water and the water destroys the work
Of a neighbor, he shall measure out 10 Gur of grain for

each Bur Of land."**

0n the basis Of these comparisons, it is safe to state
that the Babylonian code, which was well-known to the Hebrews
during the time Of their formative period as a nation, helped
them tO formulate certain ideas Of fundamental Justice and to

gutline, in primitive form at least, certain "rights of man."
* Barton, Op. cit., pp. 382, 383. ** Ibid, 382 ~

 

45

In the later Hebrew laws, provision was made for inp
heritance rights to be passed on to the sons Of the house,
with the first-born getting twice as much as any others, and
if there were no sons, the estate was to go to the daughters.
If there were no daughters, nearest relatives received the
inheritance. (Deut. 21:15-17 and Numbers 27:8-11).

In the code Of Hammurabi, there are twenty-two sections
that deal with the inheritance, giving certain regulations
for the inheritance of a mother's dowry, the right Of an
eldest son to his gift given by his father for his marriage
above the stated amount received when the estate is divided,
and the right of women to their property, under certain con-
ditions.*

It is helpful to compare the two, for it becomes
at once apparent that the Hebrew code is indebted to the
Babylonian, but that the latter is a far more developed
system. The Hebrew society must have been very primitive,
and must have, at best, accorded women but scant recognition
and protection against want and poverty.

During this period Of Hebrewrhistony, it is apparent
that a part of the industrial system was based on the owner-
ship Of slaves. The words in the Decalogue which are trans-
lated "maidservants" and ”manservants” in reality are words
meaning "slaves”. It appears that, because Of natural mis-
fortunes, one landowner might mortgage his land, his child-
ren, or himself to anothe§_in a leangyear. If conditions

* Translated by Barton, p. 393,0p. cit.

continued unfavorable over a period of years, the unfortun-

ate man might find himself and his family slaves to the more
posperous fellow-countryman. The laws regulating slavery in

the Hebrew nation were simple:

"If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall
serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for noth-
ing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by him-
self: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with
him. If his master have given him a wife, and she have
born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children
shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself."*

”And if thy brother that dwelleth by theqbe waxen
poor, and be sold unto thee; thou shalt not compel him
to serve as a bondservant: But as an hired servant, and
'as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and shall serve
thee unto the year Of jubile: And then shall he depart
from thee, both he and his children with him» and shall
return unto his own family, and unto the possession of
his fathers shall he return....0f the children of the a
strangers that do sojourn among you, Ofthem shall ye
buy, and of their families that are with you, which
they begat in your land: and they shall be your possess-
ion. And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your

children after you."**

The Babylonian code, while forming the basis which the

Hebrew code outlines for_the treatment of slaves, does not
* Exodus 21:2-4 **Leviticus 25} 39-41, 45, 46a.

47

make any distinction between a fellow countryman and a stran-
ger, nor does it provide for the freeing of slaves at any
stated times.

Although the institution Of slavery is recognized in
the Hittite code, the.slaves evidently enjoyed certain priv-
ileges, something akin to those enjoyed by the Hebrew who
had become a slave to a brother:

"If a slave takes a free woman, the law is the
same (if they get on badly, they divide the house be-
tween them, the man takes the children except one,

' which goes to the woman).

"If a slave pays the bride price for a woman and
takes her for his wife, and gives her up, nO one shall
remit it. '

"If a jeweler or a shepherd takes a free woman and
does not pay the bride price, then he shall serve as a
slave for three years.

"If a slave pays the bride price for a free girl
and as a husband lives with her, no one shall afterward

take her away."*

It is evident that under this Hittite code slaves could
accumulate wealth, gain a free woman as a wife, and enjoy cer-
tain rights such as were guaranteed a Hebrew slave under the
Hebrew code. The humaneness Of these laws and their likeness-
es make it probable that they came from a common source.

It is interesting to note the custom mentioned of a

* Translated by Barton, Op. cit., p. 409

young man, unable to pay the bride price, serving as a slave
for a certain period instead. SO, instead Of considering the
. action of Laban toward Jacob (Genesis 29) a bit of heartless
scheming, by comparing these acts with the customs of other
ancient peOple,vvs.:seeigtbiem/tgltaggether right and natural. It
does appear, however, that Father Laban overworked poor Ja-
cob a bit, since three years instead of seven is prescribed
in the Hittite code.

Although it does not define the office nor tell howaududge
is installed, the Hammurabi code is based on a system Of
judges who shall administer justice under the code. They flare
expected to deal wisely, justly, and not to make a hasty de-
cision which must be retracted. This statement shows how
sure he must be of his ground before making a decision:

"If a judge has pronounced a judgement, made a decis-

ion, caused it to be sealed, and afterward has altered

his judgement,that judge shall they convict on account

Of the case which he decided and altered; the penalty

which in that case he imposed he shall pay twelve fold,

and in the assembly from the seat of his judgement they
shall eXpel him; he shall not return; with the judges in

a case he shall not sit."*

It is likely that this restriction was intended to make
the judge careful in his judgement, and also to make it im-
possible for an influential litigant to bribe him to change

his decision. A similargprovision is made in the Hebrew code:

* Translated by Barton, Op. cit., 378.

 

49

"Judges and Officers shalt thou make thee in all thy

gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout
thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just
judgement. Thou shalt not wrest judgement; thou shalt
not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift c
doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words

of the righteous."*

This idea of universal justice, while it is perhaps an
outgrowth Of the inherent sense Of fair play which all men
have, nO doubt is influenced by the epilogue which Hammu-
rabi has attached to his code:

"The Oppressed who has a suit to prosecute may
come to my image, that of a righteous king, and read
my inscription (code of laws) and understand my pre-
cious words, and may my stele elucidate his case. Let
him see the law he seeks, and may he draw his breath
and say, 'This Hammurabi was a ruler who was to his
peOple like the father who begot them. He obeyed the
order Of Marduk his lord, the commands Of Marduk he
followed above and below. He delighteth the heart of
Iarduk his lord, and granted happy life to his peOple

forever.’ Let him recite the document."**

The idea that the just man would be blessed of God was
taken from this epilogue and included in the Hebrew code as
follows:

* Deuteronomy 16:18, 19.
** Translated by C. F. Kent, Israel' 3 Laws and Legal Precedents,

p. 5.

50

"Thou shalt not wrest judgment....that which is al-
together just shalt thou follow, that thou.nsyest live,
and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth

thee."*

It is clear that this idea Of the longevity Of the
rulers who dealt justly had currency among many ancient
‘peOple, therefore it is not strange that it Occurs Often
in the Hebrew writings. In the account of Wenamon, found
among certain Egyptian records dating back to approximately
1100 B.C., in urging the king who captured him tO show mer-
cy, he pleads on the basis of long life for the just king:

"LO, art thou not glad? and dost thou not have
made for thee a tablet, whereon thou sayest: 'Amon-Re,
king of gods, sent to me "Amon- the-way", his divine
messenger, and Wenamon, his human messenger, after the
timber for the great and august barge of Amon-Re,king
of the gods? I felled it, I loaded it, I supplied him
with my ships and my crews, I brought them.to Egypt to
beseech for me 10,000 years of life from Amon, more

than my ordained life, and it came to pass."**

While it is true that the Babylonian laws, the account
of Wenamon, and the Hebrew code all promise long life to the
judge, and all other men as well, who dealt justly, it was
soon evident that certain restraints must be established to
assure truth and honesty. The bribe of a long life evident-
ly did not appeal to some persons. One of these restraints

* Deut. 16:19a, 20.
* From Breasted's Ancient Records, Egypt, IV p. 278.

51

in Hammurabi's code was the law concerning false witness:
"If in a case a man has borne false witness, or accus-
ed a man without proving it, if that case is a capital
case, that man shall be put to death.
"If he has borne witness in a case of grain or money,

the penalty Of that case he shall.himse1f bear."*

When the later Hebrew code was prepared, this law was
lifted almost bodily from the code Of Hammurabi and included
as a basis for the Hebrew idea of justice. It is the idea
of retaliation, making the unjust, the false witness, the
unfair accuser, suffer in the same way he had intended to
make the innocent suffer. This eXplains in a great measure
the underlying philosophy of justice found in the Hebrew
code. Their law with regard to this matter is:

”If a false witness rise up against a man for an tes-

timony against him to testify that which is wrong; Then

both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall
stand before the Lord, before the priests and the jud-
ges, which shall be in those days; And the judges shall
make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness

be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against

his brother; Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought
to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the

evil away from among you."**

As the Hebrew nation developed, the kiggship aroseI and
“3Drans1ated by Barton, Op. cit., p. 378

“*‘ Dent. 19:16-19

52

with it, a more coherent social pattern. The laws of the
land became more codified, and the life Of the peOple became
more normal. With the rise Of the kingship, however, arose
other difficulties. The great courts Of the kings must be
maintained at the expense of the common peOple. Taxation.
and Oppression Often resulted. The military leaders, the
king's courtiers, and others Of this type, became the pOpular
hero instead Of the common peace-loving man idealized in the
earlier writings, during the period in which the Hebrews faced
the future expecting great peace and prosperity in Palestine.
As a renowned example Of this Oppression, we need to call to
mind the building of Solomon's temple, palaces and other pub-
lic buildings. Most of these were built by forced labor, giv-
en partially by the captured slaves, and partly by Hebrews
who were forced to dO the work gratis. The wealthy class of
land owners in the nation, following the example of the king,
began to Oppress the poor and hire their labor cheaply.

The Babylonian code forestalled such a condition by de-
fining the price which should be paid for labor:

"If a man hires a field-laborer, he shall pay him.8 Gur

of grain per year. If a man hires a herdsman, he shall

pay him 6 Gur of grain per year."*

The Hebrew law-givers had such a provision in mind, to
be sure,when, following this pattern, a provision was placed
in their code requiring a laborer to be paid.his hire:

"Thou shalt not Oppress an hired servant that is poor

 

*Translated by Barton, Op. cit., 402

 

 

 

53

and needy, whether he be Of thy brethren, or of thy stran-
gers that are in thy land within thy gates: At his day
thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go

down upon it; for he is poor."*

The good intent of these laws, so needed because of the
plight of the poor in these countries, was evidently frust--
rated by the land owners, for we find in the laterm liter-
ature Of these ancient peOple some references to the Opp-
ression of the poor, much as is found in the Hebrew prOphe-
cy literature. Although no writings of this kind have come
down from Babylonia, one interesting document from.the approx-
imate time of Hammurabi has come from.Egypt, revealing the
already growing Egyptian social conscience.

This story, "The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant", relates
the experiences Of a peasant who left his home to find corn
for his children's bread. A serf of the chief Steward saw
his loaded asses, and robbed the peasant. After trying vain-
ly to secure justice from.the robber, the peasant brought.his
suit to the chief Steward, eloquently pleading not only his
own cause, but also that of all the poor. In the end, so
pleased was the chief Steward that he selected goods from the
estate Of the robber, according to the ancient ideas Of jus-
tice which we have Observed from both the code of Hammurabi
and the Hebrew laws, and sent the peasant joyfully on his
way home.

Some Of the pleas of the peasant are so like thegpleas

* Deut. 24:14, 15.

54

for justice found in the Hebrew prophets that they mgyx
‘well be studied in connection.with those writings., In mak-
ing his plea known to the Steward, the peasant calls to his
mind the treatment a ruler owes the widows and orphans:
"For thou art the father Of the orphan, the husband Of r
the widow, the brother Of the desolate, the garment Of
the motherless. Let me place thy name in this land high-
er than all good laws: thou guide without avarice, thou
great one free from meanness, who destroyest deceit, who

createst truthfulness."*

The Opposite of these characteristics are said by the
Hebrew prOphets between a thousand and fifteen hundred
years later (the Egyptian writing dates from circa 1800 B.C.),
to be things which are making for decay in the nation:
"Learn to do well; seek judgement, relieve the Oppressed
judge the fatherless, plead for the widows." **
"Thy princes are rebellious and Companions Of thieves ,
every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards:
they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause
Of the widow come unto them." ***
"Woe unto them.that decree unrighteous decrees, and that
write greviousness which they have prescribed; To turn
aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right
from.the poor of my peOple, that widows may be their
prey, and that they may rObethe fatherless."****

 

*Translated by Barton, Op. cit., 526.
** Isaiah 1:17. ***Ib1d, 1:23. ****Ibid, 10:1,2.

55

"And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be

a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the
adulterers, and against false swearers, and against

those that Oppress the hireling in.his wages, the widow,
and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger

from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord Of hosts."*

It is likely that in the days of the Hebrew captivity in
Egypt this "Tale of the Eloquent Peasant" was extant in the
literature which made up "the learning of the Egyptians." It
is likely that many other like writings were also known among
the Egyptians. With this learning as a background, the He-
brews included these ideas in their own laws and in their
prOphecies.

Such is the picture Of the rise of the Hebrew social
pattern, with the pictures Of its antecedents which the arch-
aeologists have helped to construct. For a long time, as has
been suggested before, it was thought that the Hebrew nation
was a completely new departure in national economy, without
any background. The statement concerning the tabernacle, "Make
it according to the plan showed thee in the holy mount," is
suggestive Of the way in which all Hebrew institutions were
thought to have developed. We see them now, however, as a peo-
ple who developed from a wandering nomadic tribe into a nation
Of civilized workmen, with their institutions such as agri-
culture, commerce, and religion, going through the normal

course of develgpment for such institutions13
*Malachi 3:5

 

56

The Hebrews, however, were ever the peOple of a great
hOpe. They looked at their devestated land, their ruined
temple and sacked cities, and wept while they prOphesied
of the coming of a great king who should drive the enemies
from their land, and make the nations round about to serve
the Hebrews,while they lived in peace forever. This was to
be the Hebrew golden age.

This idea, also, was the property of the Egyptians, as
can be seen from this prOphecy dating back about 2500 years
3.0.:

"A king will come from the south by the name of Ameni

He will be born from a woman of Nubia;

He will be born in the city of Nechen;

He will seize the crown of Upper Egypt

And set the crown of Lower Egypt on his head.

‘He will unite the double crown

And happily Join Horus and Set in love.

He will hasten through................

Mighty in his time.............

The peOple will rejoice in the time of the son of man;

His name shall endure for all eternity,

For they shall be far from misfortune.

He who entertains hostile thoughts

Shall be confounded for fear of him."*

This idea found.its way into the Hebrew writings soon

after the Egyptian captivity. Traces of it are seen in the
* Translated by Barton, op. cit., 522.

57

promise of the coming of a great prOphet, whose words will
- be a guide to the Hebrew nation, and who will lead them to
greatness (Deut. 18:15-19). In the prophecy of Daniel, this
Egyptian prOphecy is almost paralleled, especially in the
seventh chapter which describes this coming king, and gives
a description of him almost identical to this one, using the
designation "Son of man" to refer to him, as does the Egypt-
ian prOphecy. It is altogether probable that Daniel, who
was learned in all the wisdom of the East, could have known
this very Egyptian writing. Because of favorable trade re-
lations, he could have encountered it either in his own
Talestine or'in Babylonia, where he was a court captive.
This sense of destiny, then, is not alone a Hebrew idea, but
is common to Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, and possibly other

ancient nations.

1, Hebrew Use of Existing Material in Developing the
Hebrew Social Pattern.

In our study of the use made by the Hebrews of exist-
ing legal codes, wisdom.writings, and prophetic literature
in deve10ping the Hebrew social and political institutions,
the question naturally arises, "If these materials served as
a basis for the Hebrew pattern, what, if anything, did the
Israelites contribute to the deve10pment of social and pol-
itical precedents?”

It should be stated again that the likenesses between

the Hebrew legal code and the existing codes are so great

that it is a self-evident fact that the latter exercised a
great influence upon the Old Testament laws. Aside from
the similarity of material, there is a likeness in the man-
ner of setting up the legal statutes and gaining recognitionv
for them. Moses is represented as going up on the mountain
alone, and receiving the Mosaic code directly from the hand
of Yahweh. Hammurabi pictures himself as receiving his code
from the sun god directly.

A fundamental difference seems to be seen in the atti-
tude of the other‘codes and that of the Hebrew. Hamnurabi,
after so picturing himself receiving the code, takes full
credit to himself for establishing Justice, outlawing Opp-
ression, and the like. The Hebrew code, on the contrary,
interprets the national order in the terms of the laws of
Yahweh, with man as only the instrument and the legislation
coming from their God himself.

The ownership of land in the Hebrew code, while based
upon the Hittite and Babylonian, is stated to reside in Yah-
weh, and to be his gift to his nation. The other codes, while
recognizing certain religious ideas, are strictly material-
istic. The Hebrew attempts a spiritual interpretation of
national life.

The Hebrew laws regarding man's relationship to man are
much like the Babylonian in their Operation, but rest on.a
different fundamental basis. Men are non to be oppressmiamnord-
/‘:hne8 Hceobrew code because they are brothers, and Yahweh's child-

ren. In the other codes, Justice is to be secured because it

59

‘will help to make for happiness; in the Hebrew, because it
is an inherent right of man.

The Hammurabi code is prepared for a much more a d-
vanced society than is the Hebrew. From the study and com-
parison of these laws, we learn that the Hebrew nation was
comparatively poor, uncultured, and unused to governmental
proceedings.

In the code of Hammurabi and the Hittite code, certain
license was given freely for a lower moral code than is re-
quired under the Hebrew laws. If in anything it is super-
ior, the Hebrew code is superior in that it contributes to
the idea of law that certain moral ideals must be provided
for. In this it standsuniquely alone among the many ancient

systems of law.

60

III. ARCHAEOLOGICAL LIGHT ON HEBREW ARTS AND CULTURE.

If it can be said that the Hebrew social institutions
during the period of desert wanderings were in an extremely
primitive stage of deve10pment, it is equally true that the
arts and the culture of that period were likewise such as
would be expected of a simple and primitive people- Many
persons have idealized this period of Hebrew history, and
have supposed it to contain more fully develOped institu-
tions than any such simple society could contain.

After the occupation of Palestine, through contact with
other nations and through application to more peaceful pur-
suits on the part of her own peOple, the Hebrew nation began
to develop a national culture, with its attendant arts and
institutions peculiar to her own pecple. Archaeological dis-
coveries have done much to restore to us a picture oflthis

culture.

1 , Music amm the Hebrewg,
Any people who feel as deeply as did the Hebrews are

sure to eXpress themselves in music. It seems they sang in
times of harvest, in times of victory, in times of religious
worship. Those who have examined their songs have concluded
that artistically the male was very crude and primitive. It
seems to be more an overflowing expression of deep emotion,
instead 61" 1 trained artistry. It was a loud and piercing
unsic, accompanied by cymbals, the harp, the lyre, and the pipe

or fIUte e

61

In his excavations at Gazer, Dr. hacalistcr found in
the third Semitic stratum, or the period Just before the com-
:ing of Israel, a pipe such as was used for musical purposes.
It is really a stone whistle, very crude, about four inches
long, and about one and one-eighth inches around at the larb
ger end, and one half inch at the other. Since the word used
in.Genesis 4:21 means literally "a pierced thing”, it was no
doubt this perforated stone instrument that was attributed to
the inventive Jubal when it says of him V

”He was the father of all such as handle the.harp and

organ."

The music of the Hebrews was oftimes used to deveIOp a
mad ecstasy in their religious meetings. Prophets were said
to play on the instruments until the "spirit of the Lord came
upon them and they prophesied."

During this time, too, it seemed to be the custom of eve
cry king and governor to have his court musicians. The Old
Testament gives us an account of David as a.youth serving in
this capacity in Saul’s court.(I Samuel 16).

In reproducing the picture of this custom in the courts
of the kings of Judea, the court records of Sennacherib, who
overcame Hezekiah, king of Judas, and imposed a tribute on him,
furnish an.interesting story. Sennacherib recounts his con-
quest of Judas, and ends histale of it by giving a list or
the treasures that went to make up his spoil:

I "With 30 talents of gold, 800 talents of silver, pre-

cious stones, rouge, dakkasi, lapis lazuli, great angu—

62

gmi-stones, beds of ivory, stationary ivory thrones,
elephants' hide, ivory, ushu-wood, ukarinnu-wood, all
sorts of objects, a heavy treasure; also his daughters,
the women of his palace, male and female musicians he
sent after me to Nineveh, my capital city, and his mess-

enger to present the gift and do homage."*

The very fact that such a wide variety of rich treas-
ures was. contained in Hesekiah's palace is of interest, but
especially interesting is the fact that in the regular em-
ploy of that king there was a company of musicians. Such a
custom.must have existed in many ancient countries, for it
is evidently taken for granted in Sennacherib's record, with
no indication that it was unusual.

It would seem that from the semi-civilized Semite, liv-
ing in.his Bedouin tent and chanting his heroic ballads by
the side of his camp fire, to the picture of the richness of
the royal court or Hezekiah which the spoils enumerated must
indicate, the Hebrew peOple had made a long step upward in

the space of four-hundred years.

2. Hebrew Sculpture and Statuagg,

While it is true that the Hebrews did no sculpturing as
such, they did produce many wood-carvings and metal castings
representing both human and animal figures. Unlike many other
ancient people, theydid not produce these works of art as
such, but all were for a religious use. It will be kept in

_mind that such a custom was directly condemned by the Hebrew
* Translated in Barton, 0p. cit., p. 471.

53

religious law, which strictly forbade the making of any im-
gee (Exodus 20:&). Soon after the arrival of the Hebrews in
Palestine, many of them began to break this law, as recorded
in the book of Judges:

"And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers....
and followed other gods, of the gods of the peOple that
were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them,
and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the

Lord and served Baal and Ashtaroth.”*

Excavations of the archaeologist Dr. Eacalister at Ge-
zer show how easily and naturally the Hebrews could have
fallen into the form.of worship of the peOple around them.

Dr. Hacilister discovered a temple in the third.8emitic stra-
tum or Just before the Israelites came into Palestine. This
temple provided for Just such worship as is condemned by the
writer of Judges, and as part of its fixtures has several
sshetroth, or figures of the goddess Ashtart. Thus the He-
brews began to disregard their law, and make figures for their
own temples, all the way from.these small figurines to large
gruesome idols much like those used in idol worship about them.

Many imges of different types have been found, dating
from before the Hebrew invasion. Brazen serpents, figures of
the sacred bull, and other symbols strictly forbidden.by the
Hebrew law were used. All of them are crude as far as works
of art are concerned, but are of great importance in giving

agpicture of the religious influence exercised upon the Bag,
* Judges 2:12.13.

64

'brewe by thereligion of the peOple already in Palestine at
the time of the invasion.

wade and Commerce in the Hebrew Nation.

In the Old Testament record of the advancement of the
Hebrew nation, Solomon is given most credit for Opening up
avenues of trade for them. The story of fine beginning of
the Hebrew sea trade is given in these words:

"And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezionp
geber, which is beside Elomh, on the shore of the Red
sea, in the land of Edam. And Hiram sent in the navy
his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea,
with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir,
and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty
talents, and brought it to king Solomon.“*

”And the navy of Hiram....brought in from Ophir
great plenty of almug trees, and precious stones....
Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year

was six hundred threescore and six tahnts of gold."**

Some have Objected to this story of such a rich traffic,
on the grounds that such a poor country, in such uncivilized
days, would not be likely to carry on such a trade.* That
it was altogether normal is shown by certain archaeological
discoveries.

One of these is a tale of Wenamon, an Egyptian sea trad-
er_wh0'was_sent for cedars in Lebangnl_and was held captigg

» I Kings 9:26-28
.. I Kings 10:11. 14.

55

in.one of the ports he touched. He describes the number

of ships sailing the seas, and then recounts the great

price in gold, silver, royal linen, and other materials that

were given in exchange for the trees. Then is described

the work of telling the trees. and making them ready for

the ship:
'The prince rejoiced, and detailed 300 men and 300 0x9
en, placing overseers over them, to have the trees fell-
ed. They spent the second season therewith.....In.the
third month of the second season they dragged them to

the shore of the sea.“*

Then after many more adventures, the boat was loaded,
and fienamon made his way, amid many other mishaps, back to
Egypt.

This account, predating Solomon's time by at least a
hundred years, might be a description of the difficulties
undergone by that monarch in getting cedars for his great
public buildings, It does throw light on the Old Testament
stories of commerc;°by showing that shipping was an import-
ant industry, engaged in on a large scale. So, Solomon's
great cargoes become natural in the light of contemporary
trade records,

Trading, as recorded in the Old Testament, was a long
and tedious process, We have the record of Abraham's purb

phase of the cgve hachpelah. As_was the customll the ownegg
* Breasted's Ancient RecordsI Egypt, IV, p. 379

 

 

of the cave insisted that he must take it for nothing (Gen-
esis 23:6). fiany in reading this story have remarked that
these sons of Beth were extremely sympathetic in time of the
death of Abraham’s wife. Investigation, however, reveals
that this polite insistence was mere custom--the owner in,
tending meanwhile to drive a shrewd bargain. Bargaining and
arguing in trade is the meat and drink of the SEmite. so in
this account, after several protestations, Abraham weighed
out four hundred shekels of silver for the owner (Genesis
23:16).

When Hammurabi, king of Babylonia circa 2000 B.C., set
himself to write a commercial code, he purposely made it in-
possible for such a time of bartering to take place as is
recorded in Genesis 23. Here we have the first price-fix-
ing code, ante-dating the American Experiment by almost four
thousand years:

”If a man hires an oz for threshing, 20 Qa of grain
is its hire....If a man.hires a wagon only, he shall pay

40 Qa of grain per day. If a man hires a field-laborer

from the beginning of the year until the fifth month,

he shall pay him 6 She of money: as the sages of a tai-
lor, 5 She of silver; as the wages of a stone-cutter,

....She of silver....If a man.hires a boat to go up-

stream, it hires for 3 She of silver per day. If he hires

a boat to float downstream, he shall pay as its hire 2%
_fl_ She of silverxper day."* #7

*From harper's text, Code of Hammurabi, Sections 268-277.

67.

In these commercial lane from Babylonia, we can see a
comparatively greater social and economic maturity than can
be found inuthe Hebrew commercial regulations. In the first
place, no doubt the Babylonian law-giver had seen the great
amount of time wasted in bartering, so prices were fixed and
business became a matter of regularity. Then, it seems that
the Hebrew law-giver took for granted that a mere mention
of the rights of the poor ( Exodus 23:6) would secure equi-
table commercial relations. The longer eXperience of the
commercial Babylonians revealed the necessity of regulations.

All these records, made available to us by therecent
archaeological discoveries, help~ us to reconstruct a picture
of the hebrew commercialodeveIOpment, beginning with the
haggling barterer, and finally deveIOping into a little na-
tion that had its part in the "10,000 ships in the sea" which
Wenamon, in his speech, declared were known to be sailing
at that time.

It is interesting to note that about this time the idea
of guaranteeing merchandise dealt to anotherjbegins to appear
in certain archaeolOgical records. This tablet regarding
the sale of a slave, dating from the time of the Kings, has
been found recently:

“Whoever in the future at any time shall rise up
and lay claim, whether Atarkhasis (the seller) or his
sons, whoever against Nabushallimushunu or his sons le-
gal process shall begin, 10 manas of silver shall pay.

Against an attack of rheumatism for 100 days and legal

68

claims for all time he is guaranteed."*

Although this guarantee is founded on Hammurabi's code
regulating sale of slaves**, this instance recorded here
appears to be the record of a Hebrew transaction. The cone
tracting party is ”Atarkhasis, son of figshezib," and it is
believed thatԤg_is a translation of gggg, which would make
this name identical with the Hebrew Joshua. If this be true,
then the influence of Hammurabi's code is found in the life

of the hebrew's personal trading as late as 700 B.C.

4, Mining and Metal Work Amogg the Hebrewg.
It is evident from both the Old Testament record and the

discoveries of archaeologists that the Hebrews and the pecples
who occupied Palestine before their conquest were adept in
the art of metal work. The earlier period of Hebrew history
often.refers to "workers in brass” (Genesis 4:22), and in the
book of Numbers we have this provision for purification of
metal vessels:
“Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron
the tin and.the lead, everything that may abide the fire
ye shall make it go through the fire and it shall be

clean.”**

Along with other fine ornamentations, King Solomon is
said to have ornamented his public buildings with bronze, and
to have had much gold work in the temple.

__ It is probable that the metal arts were learned from

* Johns, gssyrian Deeds andg‘Documentg‘
**Numbers 31: 22, 23a

59

the previous inhabitants of Palestine, for archaeological
evidence is conclusive in pointing to an abundance of this
type of work in that country before the Hebrew invasion.
The Egyptian ruler Thothmes III (1501-1447 B.C.) has left
a record of his invasion of Palestine and Phoenicia. In
this record he lists as spoil chariots plated with gold,
chairs of cedar and ebony gilded with gold, and a sword of
bronze.* Part of the rapid advancement of the Hebrews in
metal work and a measure of their love for it in flheir put»
lic buildings may be attributed to the fine examples of it
which they found when they entered Palestine.

Shalmaneser III, King of Assyria from 859 to 825 B.C..
recorded his campaign against John, king of Israel. In.his
pictures of the campaign, Jehu is represented as sending rich
gifts by messengers who do homage. Shalmaneser describes
the gifts as being, in a great part, specimens of metal work:

"Tribute of Jehu, son of Omri: silver, gold, a
bowl of gold, a basin of gold, cups of gold, pails of
gold, bars of lead, scepters for the hand of the king

and balsam wood I received fromihim."**

When we read in the Old Testament account of the loot-
ing of the Hebrew temple by Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon (2 Kings
2#: 10-13), we learn that many gold vessels and templh
decorations were taken as loot at that time, as well as the
decorations from the king's house. The fact that John could

give such a tribute as Shalmaneser's obelisk mentions two
* A. H. Sayce, archaeology and Cuneiform Inscriptions‘Ipp.156-7.
. Translated by Barton, op. cit., p. 459.

70

centuries before the complete dismantling of the Temple by
Nebuchadrezzar, without taking the temple vessels, indicates
that a great amount of wealth must have been amassed by the

Hebrews in the In of vessels of precious metals.

5,_L;terature and Learging_Ag9ngche hebrewgg

In literature and in religion, as in no other cultural
pursuits, the Hebrew people were truly creative. In making
this statement, however, it must be said that even in these
fields of interest they were creative in the sense of treat-
ment and interpretation, and not in the sense of absolute
originality in subject matter. The literature of the Hebrews
had its distinct forerunners.

To begin with, the Hebrew literature is a literature of
religious subject matter. To be sure, the hebrew kings had
their court records, but even these were filled with a re-
ligious interpretation of history. This interpretation is
absent from the records of Shishak of Egypt, Ashurnasirpal
of Assyria, Shalmaneser of Assyria, and Tiglath-pileser of
Assyria, all of whom.have left us records of their conquests.’
These records simply state the acts of the kings, while the
Hebrew records attribute the acts of their kings to the com-
mand of their God, as in this instance from David's life:

I ”And it came to pass after this, that David in-

quired of the Lord saying, Shall I go up into any of

the cities of Judah? And the Lord said unto him, Go

* Translated in Barton, 0p. cit., pp. 455-65. “*2 Sam. 2:1.

71

In the literature of other peoples there have been found
some religious writings which may well be compared with the
Hebrew writings in their essential religious outlook. The
inscription of Liesha, King of h'oab during the time of Ahab,
is closeLy akin to the Old Testament records in its inter-
pretation of history in a religious manner:

“I am Masha, son of Chemoshmelek, king of hoab, the

Dibonite. My father ruled over Mosh thirty years, and

I ruled over it after my father. and I made this high

place to Chemosh in Qarhah because of the deliverance

of mesha, because he saved me from all the kings, and

because he caused me to see my desire upon all who.hated

me....And Chemodh said.to me: "Go take Nebo against Is-
rael"; and I went my night and fought against it from

break of dawn till noon, and I took it.......“*

It is most remarkable that.this moabite stone is the
only literature remaining from the Moabites, while the lit-
erature of the Hebrews has been preserved for us in such a
great measure, relatively speaking.

From the Phoenicians also we have a relatively small
amount of literary work remaining, principally the Rae-Sham-
ra tablets. One or these tablets contains a poem relating
the death of Alain, the vegetation god; how he was missed on
earth; and how his mother Anath destroyed death and brought
him;back to life. A part oiflthe poem follows:

* Hastings, Qictionary_of the Bible, v. III, 406.

 

"And he (Alein the lord), lives,
and he, Zebul, lord of the earth, exists.
In a favorable dream El-Deped heard:
'Good tidings, O my son when I have borne,
the heavens shall rain oil, the valleys
shall flow With. honey.‘
The good omen made El-Deped glad;
his faced used to be sad with grief,
but he put away grief and laughed.
He lifted up his voice and cried:
'I will sit down and rest
and my soul shall rest in my breast,

because Alain, the lord, live."*

This poem tells how Alain was missed on earth, how
life ceased to be passed on; and how, when his mother
Anath, a virgins overcame death, life and joy returned to
the earth.

Isaiah could well be indebted to this poem for his fig-
ures used to describe the joy of Israel When Yahweh again
turned his face in pleasure upon his pecple. Just as Alain
had left the earth, Yahweh had withdrawn.himself from.his
people. When justice and mercy were reestablished, then

”The wilderness and the solitary place shall be
glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blos-
som as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and re-

joice even with joy and singing.”**
”Translated by Barton, 0p. cit., p. 535, **Isaiah 3531.3.

73

In both.the prophecy of Isaiah and the Syrian poem, Uhe
idea of returning joy and life going on anew is connected
with the return of the favor of the god.

In.this Syrian poems written before 1500 3.0., the mo-
ther of Alain is a virgin. This figure was also used by Is-
aiah in describing a deliverer for Israel:

“Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,

and shall call his name Immanuel."%

The name “Immanuel" means simply "God amongfius” as
Alain meant "Our Lord.” For his prophetic writings, it would
seem probable that Isaiah was borrowing from this Syrian
poem. His creative genius is a thing of heightened treat-
ment, then, rather than complete originality in form and
subject matter.

Letters and learning seemed to flourished in Judah dur-
ing the time of Hezekiah. He is said to have had scribes and
recorders amongyhis court officials ( 2 Kings 18:18), which
would indicate a certain amount of literary activity. Learn-
ing of other types is indicated by the work which is said to
have been done which required the use of mathematical princi-
plea:

9 And the rest of the acts of hesekiah, and all
his unght, and.how he made a pool, and a conduit, and
brought water into the city, are they not written in the
book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?"#*

« l’saiah 7:14 “,2 Kings 20:20

74

This possession of such a high mathematical.skill as is
claimed for the men of Judah in Hezekiah‘s time is amply ver-
ified by tJQ discovery of such a conduit, 1700 feet long,
connecting the Virgin’s Well at Jerusalem with the Pool of
Siloam. An inscription describes the work:

"The boring through is completed. And this is the
story of the boring through: while'yet they plied the
drill, each toward his fellow, and while yet there were
three cubits to be bored through, there was heard the
voice of one calling unto another, for there was a cre-
vice in the rock on the right hand. And on.the day of
the boring through the stone-cutters struck. each to meet
his fellow, drill upon drill: and the waters flowed from
the source to the pool for a thousand and two hundred
cubits, and a hundred cubits was the height of the rock

above the heads of the stone-cutters.”*

Time the ntmn‘ deve10pment and the deve10pment in
mechanical science can be said to exercise no small amount
of influence on the peOple of the Hebrew nation. Their cul-
tural rise is being recorded by the record of the rising
tide of their literary achievement and by the adaptation of

other fields of learning to their social progress.

6, flebgew Pottggx
No discussion of Hebrew culture is complete without some

reference to the liscoveries of potterl and clay products.

 

* Translated in Barton, Op. cit., p. 475

75

They are, indeed, one of the most valuable sources of in-
formation Open to the srchseoloeist in reconstructing he-
brew developments.

During the wilderness period, the hebrews did not use
clay vessels, but used the unbreakable animal skin instead.
Even after entering Palestine, for some time wooden vessels
were used. Finally, however, the craft of the potter began
to develop, and his art became a necessaxy part of the daily
life of the hebrew people.

Discoveries of the remains of different types of pott-
ery are numerous, so only a few can be mentioned here. Of
special interest is the unearthing of the old city Kirjathp
Sepher, now called Tell-Beit-flirsim. It is referred to in
Judges 1:11-15 as being a gift bestowed upon the daughter of
Caleb ern her husband. AltOQother six successive cities are
found in six strsts on this site, the fifth being the He-
brew city built by 0thniel, after he captured and destroyed
this place (Judges 1:13).

The pottery of this stratum.sheds light upon a part of
the Old Testament narrative. It has to do with the Phills-
tines and their living in this old city with the Israelites.
During the time of Samson, the record states that

"ind the chillren of Israel did evil again in the
sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the
hand of the Philistines forty years."*

This warring_bsck and forth between the Philistinesbegg
‘7 (Ill-$538 13:1

 

 

76

Israel continued for'a number of years, as is recorded in
the book of I Samuel.

The pottery discovered in Eirjath-Scpher gives ample ev~
idence of Philistine residence in Palestine during this perk
iod, about 1100 B.C. In the stratum which contains the re-
mains of Othniel's city, a large of deposit of Philistino
pottery was found. It.has been identified as Philistine hy
the distinctive type of Jug, with the rhone—pipe strainer
on the spout. Also, the vases are painted in the Philistino
manner. Thus again the arhhaeologists, this time through the
medium of pottery, have illustrated for the modern reader
certain.passages in the literature of the Old Testament.*

In.the sixth stratum in Kirjath-Sepher was found a seal
bearing the inscription, “Eliakim, Servant of Jehoiachim,“
showing the date of the ruins to be circa 600 B.C. Many
relics are found here, the most interesting being a series
of Jar-handles with the stamp "To the King: hebron," seem-
ing to indicate that the Jar had been a wine or grain meas-
ure used to pay royal taxes in. Hebron was one of the four
revenue centers for the kingdom, and KirJath-sepher paid its
taxes there.“

The discoverers of this site find in these jar-handles
with the official stamp on them.an indication that the king
had at this time ordained an official measure, doing away
with the business trickery mentioned in nicah when he condemns
the trades men for their dishonesty:

* Accounts of the excavation of Kirjah~8epher are found in th.
3a2£32£;1_§£§§g§g§§ of the Palestine Exp. Fund, Oct. 1926.

"Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the
house of the wicked, and the scent measure that is abomp

inable?"*

While the Hebrews became prolific producers of pottery,
it is said that they never became artists at this craft.
The pottery found in the stratum of the hebrew occupation
of Canaan indicates that they were inferior in methods of
composition, baking, and shaping their ware. at first, it
appears to have been shaped on a hand-Operated wheel, but
Jeremiah's mention of "the wheels" indicates that by his day
the Hebrews had adepted the foot-operated potter's wheel.
In comparing the Hebrew pottery with other forms, Dunp
cmxmwm
W. P6, ‘, , v 1 ~ ..
i. cannot/Laid that the neurons snowed any maraed
originality in introducing new methods or forms. On
the contrary, they imitated badly....The tendency is
for curved surfaces to become strai;ht lines, which given

the vessel a stiff and angular appearance."**
L

The prophets in Israel, especially Jeremiah, used the
figure of the potter and the clay to show God's absolute sov-
ereignty. he observed the clumsiness of the Hebrew potter,
and noted that often he had to crush the vessel he had be-
gun and begin again,(Jer. 1831-9). In several cities, the
potter’s house has been found, with its.heap of broken Jars
which were cracked in the process of manufacturing. Jere-

“ ideal: 6 :10
*“J. G. Duncan, Uigglnx Ugrfiiblica Historl, p. 240

(o

‘miah.hsd noted these mishaps which attended the making of
pottery, and the waste of materials. He observed that the
vessel was beyond repair. He used this incident to illus-
trate a sermon:
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Even so will I break
this 990910 and this city, as one breaketh a potter's

vessel, that cannot be made whole again."*

If it is true that the Greek influence after Alexander
the Great was felt in the religious philosophy of the Heb-
rews, it is equally tree that this influence is seen in the
cultural life of the Hebrews by their imitation of Greek
forms in making pottery. Wares were now burned hard, and
the clays were the best. Pscslister, in his excavations at
Geier, found the broken pieces in this period to emit a dis-
tinct musical "Clint" as compared to the dull thud of the
clumsier were of the earlier period.

The Hebrew lamp is a most interesting study. It was
often a saucer, notched to allow for the wick to be prevent-
ed from falling into the oil. This lamp is often mentioned
in the scriptural writings. God is called the lamp of Is-
rael, (2 Sam. 29:29). Life is called a lamp. When the
thought of life’s uncertainty was eXpressed, the writers
naturally thought of the ease with Which this crude lamp
was extinguished; hence the eXpression "the lamp of the wick-
ed shall be put out, (Prov. 13:9).

Indeed, it must be said that the potter's wheel has giv-

A

*Jer. 19:11.

79

en a most interesting insight into the struggle of the
Hebrew against the Greek influence in his religious life.
We have seen in the Wisdom literature of the Old Testament
the gradual infiltration of the Hebrew religious conceptions
by the Greek ideal of the present "good life". Side by
side the two ideals often stand. Perhaps this struggle and
gradual victory of Hellenizing influences can be symbolized
by certain findings at Jericho. Ten Jar handles were

found here, bearing evidences of the Greek period. They
were shaped to imitate the Greek designs. They were im-
printed nith the mark of the potter. and his motto in Greek
letters. The motto, however, is distinctly Hebrew: "Jah
(abbreviation.for Jehovah) is my God.“ Thus we see the
Hellenizing influences side by side with the Hebrew deter-
mination.to be separate and distinct.

Although the hebrews never learned to excel in the
potter’s art. it is becoming increasingly evident that their
pottery is one of the most important means we have in.under-
standing the customs. manner of life, and history of'their

times.

80

IV. ARCHAEOLOGICAL LIGHT UPON THE DEVELOPTENT OF THE
RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF THE HEBREWS.

Repeatedly throughout this study, our path has crossed
and recroased the trail of Hebrew religious ideas. This is
natural, no matter what phase of the life of these people is
being discussed, for the history of the Hebrew people is
essentially the hi story or the deveIOpment of certain re-
ligious patterns. However. a study of the dove10pnent of
the forms in which.thc final thought in Hebrew religion were
cast is a study of great interest. aside from the other
phases of Hebrew life already considered. Upon this part of
the Old Testament record the archanIOgists have shed a great
deal of light.

ion a Nona b e 9 Mo

There are certain rites in the religious observances of
Israel that arise from such antiquity that their source and
original meaning are difficult to determine. What was the
source and original meaning of the sabbath, or circumcision,
and the rite of taking unleavened bread? The definite an-
swer is all but impossible to determine.

These rites were observed hy the nomadic Semites who
later developed into the Hebrews. They had a certain amount
of recognition before uosec' time. These, and a few simple
acts of worship, made up the religious system of the Semites.

The rite of circumcision.was known in ancient Asayria,

long before the rite was used in Israel. It was a tribal

82

custom only in Assyria. having little or no religious mean-
ing. When it was taken over by the early Hebrews, it was
invested with religious significance, and became a part of
their system permanently. It signified the setting apart of
the Hebrew as a peculiar property of Yahweh:

"This ,is my covenant which ye shall keep, between
me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among
you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the
flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the

covenant betwixt me and you.'§*

Some there are who connect this rite with the ancient
rite of branding slavesl as described in Hammirabi's code!”
in which case it would signin the complete submission of
the circumcised race to the commds of Yahweh.

It is now known that the ancient Babylonians had a day
which closely corresponds to the Hebrew Sabbath. It is de-
scribed in this passage:

”The seventh day is the feast of Marduk and Zar-
panit. It is an m1 day. The shepherd of the great peo-
ple shall not eat flesh cooked on the coals which is
smoked. The garment of his body he shall not change;

a clean one he shall not put on....At night before Mar-

duk and Ishtar the king shall bring his offering; a

libation he shall pour out. The lifting up of his hands

shall then be pleasing to the gods."***

*Genesis 17:10. ll.
*4! Discussed in Section II of this study, pp. 34 ff.
miranslated in Barton, 0p. cit., p. 317.

83

Fran these and other archaeolOgical discoveries. it
now appears quite probable that the Sabbath in some primi-
tive form was observed by the Hebrews before the giving of
the Mosaic laws. The purpose of the priestly account of
creation (Genesis l:l--2:3) is to show the observance of the
Sabbath from the dawn of history.

The Hebrew religion before noses included the worship
of certain images, called "teraphim." These are referred
to in Genesis:

"And Laban went to shear his sheep; and Rachel had
stolen the teraphim that were her father's.“

In those patriarchal days, each family seemed to have
its own images. to whom the head of the clan offered sacri-
fices. In excavating Geser in Palestine, several of these
teraphim, small figurines of Ashtart. have been found, ind-
icating that the Hebrews still followed this custom of hav-
ing family gods at the time of entering, although this had
been strictly forbidden.

Psalms in the form of prayers to Ashtart (Ishtar in Baby-
lonia) have been found in excavations in that country. A
portion of one of them is produced below:

”nother of gods. fulfiller of the commands of Bel.

Thou bringer-forth of verdure, thou lady of mankind..--

Begetress of all, who makest all offspring thrive,

Mother Ishtar. whose might no god approaches,

Majestic lady. whose commands are powerful,

 

1* Genesis 31:19

84

A request I will proffer. which--smy it bring good to me...
O my lady. teach me what to do. appoint me a resting-
place.

my sin.forgive, lift up my countenance."fi

It was perhaps such a chant as this that was offered by
the Hebrews before Moses' time before his teraphim. This
prayer has many likenesses to the Psalm, notably the lines
which call Ishtar all-powerful. and others (not quoted above)
which refer to the god of’heaven and earth:

"For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised:
he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of

the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens!’

That these family altars, where the clan head offered
sacrifices, continued until the seventh century B.C.. despite
the laws demanding public worship, is amply attested. In
Shechem, excavations reveal one of these small altars, two
feet high and 14 inches broad, in the ruins of a.home of
the seventh century B.C. era. **

Aside from the simple worship ritual carried on by the
head of the clan, the pre-Mosaic pecple often worshipped
the serpent. Ashtart usually was represented with a ser-
pent twined about her. Also, Hacalister discovered in Ge-
zer brazen serpents used for worship. and other indications
of the serpent being used in worship. We remember Moses

himself unkinggthe brazen serpent (Numbers EllILalthough it

“Translated in Barton. op. cit., p. #96.

**Duncan, op. cit., 101
*H

85

‘was not to be used as an object of worship. It was used
for this purpose. however, as is attested by this pass-
age:
"He brake in.pieces the brazen serpent that he.
see had made; for unto those days the children of Is-

rael did burn incense to it.”*

In this type of worship. the Israelites were not go-
ing afar to find a familiar object of worship, but were re-
turning to a well-known custom from which Hoses was try-
ing with small success to win them.

This simple religion of the Hebrews before noses.had
two outstanding taboos. One forbade the eating of swine,
and the other the soothing of a kid in milk. These were
sinnluded in Moses' law, but were already known to the peo-
ple. Archaeolcg1sts have discovered indications in Geser
that the pig was the animal of sacrifice in some of the
Ashtart cults. It was therefore forbidden,in order to es-
tablimh a wide breach between Yahwehism and flhe worship of
Ashtart. Again, the Rae Shamra texts give directions for
the slaying of a kid, and cooking him in milk for sacri-
ficial purposes. and a prayer to be prayed to Asherat. In
forbidding these customs, which archanIOgists show were a
part of the religious practice before the introduction of
the worship of Yahweh to the Hebrews, the law-giver of the
Hebrews hoped to widen the breach between the people sepa-
rated to mum and the ”nations.“ Thus the groundwork was
laid for the introduction of the Mosaic system of Yahwehism.

g; Religion Amonthhe Hebrews After Moses.

After the mystical experience of Moses in harsh, and
after the giving of the first decalogue, there was a de-
cided change in the outlines of the Hebrew religious pat-
tern. As has been stated, the old worship existed along-
side the worship prescribed in the Hosaic system. but it
was continually watched and gradually weeded out.

Hesse represents God as the Lord of’the storm and of
the mountain:

"And it came to pass on the third day in.the morning

that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick

cloud upon the mount. and the voice of the trumpet
exceeding loud; so that all the pecple that was in who

camp trembled."*

ArchaeolOgical discoveries have revealed an attempt
on the part of Amenophis IV, ruler of Egypt fromlAOO to
1350 B.C.. to establish a monotheism in Egypt. Aton, the
sun god, was to be worship exclusively. This attempt
failed, but the songs written about this time to the sun
god give a good example of fine poetry, and are the first
expression of a monotheistic idea, outside of the Hebrew
literature. The power attributed to this sun-god is ex-
pressed in this hymn to him:

"Thou art a craftsman shaping thy own limbs;

Fashioner without being fashioned;

Unique inghisggualitie§‘_traversing etgggity;

* Exodus 19:15.
0

87

Over the ways, with millions under his guidance....
Sole lord, taking captive all lands every day....
He makes the seasons by the months,

Heat when he desires,

Cold when he desires."*

It is certain that Hoses, learned in all the wisdom
of the Egyptians, knew this song. and the many others to
Aton.which flourished at this time. Other hebrews no
doubt were familiar with it also. So, when the first
utterance of’the Mosaic law was a demand for monotheis-
tic worship (Exodus 20:3). the children of Israel word
prepared by their knowledge of the Egyptian experiment
in monotheistic ideas to respond.

As a part of the Hebrew religion, certain festivals
and feast days now deveIOped. Examples of such days in
other religious systems before the Hebrews are numerous
in the archaeolcgical discoveries. The declaration of
a Babylonian Sabbath, quoted above (page 82)shows it to
be a day of abstinence. There were, however, certain
acts of sacrifice which closely correspond to the Heb-
rew holy days. In the Babylonian flood account. after
the hero left the ark, he worshiped:

“I appointed a sacrifice on the tOp of the
mountain peak; Seven'by seven I arranged the sacri-
ficial vessels....He brought my wife and made her

kneel at 3! side.”*“
aBreasted‘s Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, p. 315.
*“Translated in Barton, op. cit., 338

88

These passages from archaeological discoveries have
been cited to illustrate Uhe indebtedness of Moses to the
culture of Egypt for some ideas which were an essential
part of the Mosaic system. Although the Hebrews have re-
peatedly taken existing materials as bases for their re-
ligious patterns, it can be seen that such were heightened
and invested with a new and better meaning by the treatment
given them. Such is the mystical insight and genius of the
Hebrew pecple.

A national religion now emerges in hebrew history,
with its public places of worship, its code of laws reg-
ulating worship and other matters. Naturally a class of
people to conduct this worship also emerges, the priests.
Through them.tinally is worked out the elaborate ritual-
istic system.that is now known to us as the system of he-
brew worship.

Certain ethical aspects also emerge in the Hebrew
system at this period. Ag we have seen in the Babylonian
flood account (page 19), there was no sense of moral re-
sponsibility on the part of their gods. They were creat-
ures of caprice. The idea of a god of law and purpose is
found in the Egyptian hymns to Aton:

"how excellent are thy designs, 0 lord of eternity.

...Thy rays nourish every garden;

When thou risest thy live,

They grow by thee."* ._

4' Bar‘I‘on, 0p. cit., p. 503

 

89

Then follows a description of the regularity of the
sun: and his wonderful works. This long hymn is much like
,Psalm.lo4, in which the works of God in nature are de-
scribed in much the same attitude and manner. It seems
probable that the ideas from these great religious poems
may hays become a part of the Hebrew thought pattern
while in Egypt. If so, it seems natural that they should
go into the very groundwork_of the religious practices
that followed the Egyptian captivity.

The idea of a responsms: ~ deity began to make way
for a feeling of responsibility for ethical conduct on
the part of man., One hhmm.to Aton speaks of man being
established by this god in order to ”live in truth.“
This high ethical idea of God is transferred to the early
Hebrew system in these words:

"Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit
adulfiry. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear
false witness against thy neighbor."**

Although the Egyptian idea does not have the beauty
and depth that is found in the Hebrew, it formed a good
basis upon which these people began in building an idea
of a responsible deity who holds tOgether cities, towns,
tribes, highways and rivers, and a sense of man's result-
ant moral responsibility.***

It must be said that God was still thought taggers

*Barton. op. cit.. 504. “*Exodus'20:13-15o sessarton,
p. 503’ line 115.

9O

tribal deity, interested only in one tribe or nation. Aton
is said in one Egyptian.poem to be the one who is
"Illuminating the Two Lands (Egypt) with his disc“*

This idea was held in flash with regard to the god
Chemosh, during the time of the Kings of Judah. The shab-
ite Stone shows how similar the idea of their god was to
the hebrew idea of Yahweh:

"I am hesha, son of Chemoshmelek, King of hoab....

Omri. king of Israel-~he oppressed hoab many days, be-

cause Chemosh was angry with his land....but Chemosh

restored it in my day,"ee

This passage is very much like some in the hebrew re-
cord which attribute national misfortunes to the anger of
Yahweh:

"Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and

removed them out of.his sight: there was none left but

the tribe of Judah only.“***

the idea of Chemosh fighting for Moab is identical
with the tribal idea expressed in Nehemiah:

”In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the

trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall

:1 ght for us . "was

Thus we have the development of religion in Israel.
The worship of Yahwgh is now supreme. _Xahweh is a God Who

* Barton, op. cit., p. 500 **Ibid, p. 459.
***2 Kings 17:18 ****Nehemiah 4:20

91

is intensely interested in the national life of Israel.
Worship has now become something requiring offerings on
certain days in certain places, although some private wor-
ship still existed, as has_been shown. Yahweh is a God
who is responsible, hence be demands responsible action
on the part of his people. In this idea the Hebrew rel-I
igion outstripped all others in ancient times. Paying
Just tribute to the Egyptian ideas which they were famil-
iar with. we still must acknowledge the outstanding,digr
nity and religious insight in the Hebrew writings.

 

Religion, which was now a monofily of a class. soon
became a ritualistic form, and a means of accumulating
wealth for the priestly class. The idea of Eahweh as a
personal being became dimmed. It remained for the pro-
phets. arising after the time of the divided kingdom.
to call men‘s minds back to the older conceptions of re-
ligion. Their works stand as the supreme eXpression of
high religious purposes in Hebrew literature. It is of
interest to note that archanIOgical discoveries have re-
Vealed a like literature among other ancient people.

Against the selfishness of his day, Amos projected
his ideas of God as a worker of Justice for all. In this,
as in other fields, there is an Egyptian literature which
antedates Amos by about 1000 years. The great Egyptian

book which demands Justice for all is "The Tale of the

92

Eloquent Peasant", a part of which has been discussed be-
fore. In some ways it is almost a parallel of Amos:

"Thou guide without avarice. thou great one free
from meanness, who destroyest deceit, who createst
truthfulness. hrow evil to the ground. I will speak,
hear me. 30 Justice, 0 thou praised one, whom the
praised one praise. Remove my Oppression: behold, I
have a heavx.to carry. Behold, I am troubled in soul;
examine me, I am in sorrow....$peak the truth; do
the truth; for it is great, it is mighty, it is ever-
lasting. It will obtain for thee merit."*

This wonderful tribute to Justice and truth might
well have been the foundation for Amos’ immortal appeal
for these same qualities:

out, let judgment run down as waters, and

righteousness as a mighty stream."eu

Against this stern picture of the Justice of God,
Hoses, 3 fellow~pr0phet of the same period of Amos, out-
lines an appealing picture of the love of God. The Egypt-
ians alone have any like passages to show the love of a
god for human-kind:

"Thou (Aton) bindest them by thy love."***

The conception of Isaiah, recorded in Chapter 6 of
his proghecx. has no_precedent as far as archaeolOgists

*Burton, pp.526, Sc . **Amos 53a4 ***Barton, p. 501

93

have yet discovered. To be sure, the Babylonian prayers to
Ishtar mentioned above, and the Egyptian psalms to Aton,
all mention the glory, pomp, splendor and power of their
gods. But the idea, "I am unclean....for my eyes have seen
the Ring. the Lord of hosts,“ seems to be a new conception
of the dignity of Deity. Hitherto he has been regarded as
a large man, with certain human manners.

Slowly the prOphets of Israel realize that the glory
of their kingdom cannot be restored by natural means. The
final stage of development of their religious ideas, aside
from the Hellenistic conception of the value of wisdom,
was the looking forward to "the day of Yahweh.“ This is
best illustrated in Zephaniah:

"The great day of the Lord is near, it is near,
and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the
Lord: the mighty man shall cry bitterly. lhnt day is
a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day
of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and

gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness."*

Then follows the description of the wasting of Israel's
enemies by Yahweh, and the restoration of Israel’s power.
Restoration, then, wast o be by direct intervention of God,
rather than by natural growth and deve10pment.

An Egyptian prOphecy, dating back to circa 2900 B.C.,
furnishes a most interesting parallel to this prOphecy.

It begins by recounting_the evil abroad in thegland,ga§_
* Zephaniah 1:14, 15.

does Zephaniah. Then follows a prediction of the coming
or a great king who will unite upper and lower Egypt. he
will have power to give water, food, and contentment. He
will confound all who doubt, and those who even think re-
bellious thonghts will be destroyed.“ This idea, then, is
not strictly a hebrew idea. When trouble came to a nation,
oftimes it was interpreted as the displeasure of the gods,
and a promise was given of direct intervention by them,

and an era of peace.

The highest pitch of hebrew religious thought is to
be found in the prOphetical works. If they borrowed ideas
and figures from these Egyptian and Babylonian sources,
they have treated them so originally and with such inspir-
ation that they become alive with a new meaning in the he-

brew record.

Most, if not all, ideas discussed in this study have
been shown by archae010gical discoveries to have not orig-
inated with the Hebrew people. They were the property of
a common race, or of a number of races. If they were used
before, these ideas did not lose any of their meaning, for
the hebrews have taken them and given us the most outstand-
ing piece of literature in the world, The Bible. Whatever.
its archaeological antecedents, the work produced by these
people stands alone as mute evidence of their originality,
genius and insight.

 

 

% Barton, 0p. cit., p. 521 ff.

95

Bade, Frederic tilliam,#The Cld_Testament in the Liih
of Tod , (New York: uifflin, l927), 326 pp.
The sub-heading of this work is “a study in moral
development”: hence it is prnicipally evaluation. Yet,
the chapten on beginnings of hebrew religion are of
great value in developing the picture of hebrew backgrounds.

Barton, George A., égchaeology and the Bible, Green Fund
Bogk No. I7, (Philadelphia: American 5.3. Union, 1933),
59 pp.

The most complete source book available. Contains
translations of all important inscriptions that deal
directly with the Old Testament materials. Interest-
ing comparisons with these materials of Old Testament
narratives.

Blaikie, William G., 5 Manual of Biblefihigtorl, (Lon-
don: Nelson, 1919), 503 pp.

Professor Blaikie's workings long been an author-
itative source of information to Bible scholars. Its
material, while not recent, has the advantage of being
thoroughly studied and detailed in treatment.

Cambridge University Edition, Ihe_§ible,_King,Jahg§_125r
sion (London: Cambridge University Press).

 

Collett Sidney, All About the Bible, (New York: Revell,
19245. 324 pp. ”

If the author means that his work tells all about
the Bible, then his claim is ridiculous. If he means
that all his book deals with interesting biblical
background material, then his claim may be accepted.

Dean, 3.0., ‘an Outline of Bible Histqgg, (Cincinnati:
Standard, 1912), 217—pp.
A concise, thou not so scholarly, outline of
Bible history. Material is valuable in attempting
to gain a clear knowledge of the hebrew record of
beginnings.

Driver, 8. R.,_godern Research‘as_lllustrating the Bible,
Material like that in Kyle‘s evidences, but more
impartial evaluation.

Duncan, J. Barrow. Digging U3 Biblical Lietorx, Vol. I,
(New York: Macmillan. 1931}. 275 pp.

Reports in detail of the findinge of the archaeo-
lagical expeditions in Palestine. Special atten»
tion is given to the every-day objects found that
throw light on the daily lives of the people in those
times.

Frazer, James George. _Eolk-Lore in the Old Testament,
(N. 2.: yacmillan, 1923) 473 pp.
Interesting folk stories from various nations. with
their relationship to the Old Testament narratives.
The material is repeated often, making dull reading often.

Kent, Charles Poster, ghe OriginAand_Lermsnent Value of
the Old Testament. (N.¥.: Scribners, 1906), 370 pp.
Discusses the method and meaning of transmission of
the Old Testament stories from generation to gene-
ration, until they were put into wnting.

Kent, Charles Foster, Israel‘s Laws and Legal Pregg;
gents, (N.Y.x Scribners, 1907), 301 pp.
’ Contains a systematized code of the hebrew laws.
dividing them according to the period at which they
appear in Hebrew literature.

Kyle, xelvin Grove, Ihg Deciding Voice of the ficnumentg
ig_Biblical Criticism, Oberlin, Ohio: Bibliotheca Sac-
ra Company, 19255, 334 pp.

A critical discussion of the various archanIOgical
discoveries which influence biblical criticism, with
an attempt to evaluate and interpret the materials unp
der discussion.

Kyle, halvin Grove, hoses and.the*Monumen , (Oberlin.
Ohio: Bibliotheca Sacra 00., 1920;, 273 pp.
Dr. Kyle presents interesting archaeological ma-
terial on pentateuchal times. His work, while echo-

larly, cannotebe called unbiased.

 

Hould, Elmer t. K., E-eentia s 0 Bible histori. (N.Y.:
Nelson, 1939). 67 pp.
As the name indicates, a survey history of Bible
times, with references to archaeolosical materials
which throw light on that history.

 

Penninan, J. H... A Book About the English Bible.
Although this work is a discussion of the English

Bible, it gives a great deal of material of historical
interest. Especially interesting is the section on
social life, home conditions, rather-and-sou relation-
ships. and the like.

Politeyan, J., fiiblical Archaeologygand the hebrew
Vocation, (London; Elliot Stock), 105 pp.
' The interest of the author is especially in the
stories of Abraham. Much interesting information con,
cerning the excavations a Ur is given.

Scares, Theodore Gerald, The Social Instutions and Id
of the Bible, (N.Y.: Abingdon, 1921), 3‘5 pp.

10 the student of hebrew social institutions, this

book gives valuable aid. It traces the growth of so-

cial conscience, and the value of the social prophets.

 

Teasley, D. Otis, Historical Geography of the El 16.
(Anderson, Indiana: Warner Press, l917). 303 pp.
not a scholarly treatment, but a valuable book for
reconstructing the background of the biblical narrap
tive.

   

Wallis, Louis, gogiOIOgical Study of the Bible, (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press. 1927) 308 pp.
The entire hebrew system is interpreted in the light
of its sociological meaning. Traces the roots or Heb-
rew soc1010gica1 ideas back to original sources.

Woolley, Charles Leonard, Digging Up_the Past, (N. Y.:

Scribners. 1931), 138 pp.

Describes the methods of archaeolOgists, and gives
interesting report on diggings at Ur.

‘.

-') “t" “N

0“ '

:1"
qt 1:

\

h ‘

.-‘."';-.'

o" .
‘ H

"L

i ‘1‘."-
‘fl~ "Lo' \',

S

_ 3-
'nfiz'hi

Q.
. .7
.1-

i 3 't
" 1 FT"...; ft .-

-'~- ,
.

n,
v

..\

.r:1 1:

.— 1 u.‘ I“
- 8:. v

. . . . P 5

*~.

1

.fl

,
v

‘1‘; .

‘
I.

A :‘jd’i J; J _ ,

‘h-

h

.4

,' rut

." “T 4-.

.4!

H

." I
I

L

o I '
. b...""\'?f's -I.‘
t "N“ 10.x xv
O
“: q’?

0 O

I

It}

1.

" if-

a; '

J

.L.

I

4 .2 I. -
‘by I

I

.t-

- .

7.95%

‘e
.r’t‘

 

.

. 0"

 

 

“Till? Willi illi’llllli