,*.*.*,'-f.'.»iT.-.
t
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
Xibrar^ of Tbis tortc ZhcoloQ ^
EDITED BY THE REV. WM. C. PIERCY, M.A.
DEAN AND CHAPLAIN OF WHITELANDS COLLEGE
ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
WAS THE OLD TESTAMENT WRITTEN
IN HEBREW?
EDOUARD NAVILLE, D.C.L., LL.D., F.S.A.
LIBRARY OF HISTORIC THEOLOGY
Edited bv the Rev. Wm. C. PIERCY. M.A.
Eiuh V'olumf, Demy &vo. Cloth, Red Burnished Top, 5s, net,
VOLUA\ES NOW READY.
THE PRESENT RELATION'S OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION.
By the Rev. Professor T. G. Bonney, D.Sc,
ARCH.\EOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
By Professor Edodard Na%'ille, D.CL.
M.\RRIAGE I.N" CHURCH AND STATE.
By the Rev. T. A. Lacey, M.A. (Warden of the Loadon Diocesan Penitentiary).
THE BUILDING UP OF THE OLD TESTA.MENT.
By the Rev. Canon R. B. Girdlesiome, M..\.
CHRISTL\NITY AND OTHER F.\ITHS. An Essay in Comparativo Religion.
By the Rev. W. St. Clair Tisdall, D.D,
THE CHURCHES IN BRITAIN. Vols. I. and //,
By the Rev. Ai.pred Pldmmer, D.D. (formerly Master of University College, Durham).
CIL-VRACTER AND RELIGION.
By the Rev. the Hos. Edward Lyttelton, M.A. (Head Master of Eton College),
MISSIONARY .METHODS, ST. PAUL'S OR OURS ?
By the Rev. Roland Allen, M.A, (.Author of " Missionary Principles ").
THE RULE OF FAITH AND HOPE.
By the Rev. R. L. Ottley, D.D. (Canon of Christ Church, and Regius Professor
of Pastoral Theology in the University of Oxford),
THE RULE OF LIFE AND LOVE.
By the Rev. R. L. Ottley, D.D.
THE CREEDS : THEIR HISTORY, NATURE AND USE.
By the Rev. Harold Smith, M.A. (Lecturer at the London College of Divinity),
THE CHRISTOLOGY OF ST. PAUL (Hulsean Prize Essay).
By the Rev. S. Nowell Rostron, M.A, (Late Principal of St, John's Hall, Durham).
MYSTICISM IN CHRISTIANITY.
By the Rev. W. K. Fleming, \LA., B.D.
RELIGION IN AN AGE OF DOUBT.
By the Rev. C. J. Shebbeare, M.A.
The following works are in Preparation : —
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION I ITS
PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.
By the Rev. Prebendary B. Reynolds
THE CATHOLIC CO.NCEPTION OF
THE CHURCH.
By the Rev. VV. J. Sparrow Siupsoh, D.D.
COMMON OBJECTIONS
TO CHRISTIANITY.
By the Rev. C L. Drawbridge, M.A.
THE CHURCH OUTSIDE THE EMPIRE.
By the Rev. C R. Davey Biggs, D.D.
THE NATURE OF FAITH AND THE
CONDITIONS OF ITS PROSPERITY.
By the Rev. P. N. Wacgett, M.A.
THE ETHICS OF TEMPTATION.
By the Ven. E. E. Holmes, M.A.
AUTHORITY AND FREETHOUGHT
IN THE MIDDLE AGES.
By the Rev. F. W, Bossell, D.D.
EARLY CHRISTI.AN LITERATURE.
By the Rev. Wm. C Piercy, M.A.
GOD AND MAN, ONE CHRIST.
By the Rev. Charles E. Ravbh, M A,
GREEK THOUGHT AND
CHRISTLAN DOCTRINE.
By the Rev. J. K. MozttEY, M.A.
THE GREAT SCHISM BETWEEN
THE EAST AND WEST.
By the Rev. F. J. Foakes- Jackson, D.D.
THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL IN
OLD TESTA.MENT HISTORY.
By the Rev. A. Troelstra, D.D.
Full particulars of this Library may be obtained from the Publisher.
LONDON: ROBERT SGOTT.
ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE
OLD TESTAMENT
WAS THE OLD TESTAMENT
WRITTEN IN HEBREW?
BY
EDOUARD NAVILLE
D.C.L., LL.D., F.S.A
FOREIGN ASSOCIATE OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE, PROFESSOR
OF EGYPTOLOGY AT " ^ UNIVERSITY OF GENEVA
LONDON: ROBERT SCOTT
ROXBURGHE HOUSE
PATERNOSTER ROW. E.G.
M CMXI I I
a^
EDITOR'S GENERAL PREFACE
IN no branch of human knowledge has there been a more
lively increase of the spirit of research during the past few
years than in the study of Theology.
Many points of doctrine have been passing afresh through
the crucible ; " re-statement " is a popular cry and. in some
■directions, a real requirement of the age; the additions to
our actual materials, both as regards ancient manuscripts and
archaeological discoveries, have never before been so great as
in recent years ; Unguistic knowledge has advanced with the
fuller possibihries provided by the constant addition of more
data for comparative study; cuneiform inscriptions have been
deciphered, and forgotten peoples, records, and even tongues,
revealed anew as the outcome of diUgent, skilful and devoted
study.
Scholars have speciaUzed to so great an extent that many con-
clusions are less speculative than they were, while many more
aids are thus available for arriving at a general judgment ; and,
in some directions at least, the time for drawing such general
conclusions, and so making practical use of such speciaUzed
research, seems to have come, or to be close at hand.
Many people, therefore, including the large mass of the parochial
clergy and students, desire to have in an accessible form a review
of the results of this flood of new Ught on many topics that are of
hving and xdtal interest to the Faith ; and, at the same time,
" practical " questions— by which is really denoted merely the
apphcation of faith to life and to the needs of the day— have
certainly lost none of their interest, but rather loom larger than
ever if the Church is adequately to fulfil her Mission.
It thus seems an appropriate time for the issue of a new series
of theological works, wloich shall aim at presenting a general
survey of the present position of thought and knowledge in
various branches of the wide field which is included in the stiidy
of divinity.
V
2071757
vi EDITOR'S GENERAL PREFACE
The Library of Historic Theology is designed to supply such
a series, written by men of known reputation as thinkers and
scholars, teachers and divines, who are, one and all, firm upholders
of the Faith.
It will not deal merely with doctrinal subjects, though pro-
minence will be given to these ; but great importance wiU be
attached also to history — the sure foundation of all progressive
knowledge — and even the more strictly doctrinal subjects wiU
be largely dealt with from this point of view, a point of view the
value of which in regard to the " practical " subjects is too
obvious to need emphasis.
It would be clearly outside the scope of this series to deal with
individual books of the Bible or of later Christian writings, \vith
the lives of individuals, or with merely minor (and often highly
controversial) points of Church governance, except in so far as
these come into the general review of the situation. This de-
tailed study, invaluable as it is, is already abundant in many
series of commentaries, texts, biographies, dictionaries and mono-
graphs, and would overload far too heavily such a series as the
present.
The Editor desires it to be distinctly understood that the
various contributors to the series have no responsibihty whatso-
ever for the conclusions or particular views expressed in any
volumes other than their own, and that he himself has not felt
that it comes within the scope of an editor's work, in a series of
this kind, to interfere with the personal views of the writers. He
must, therefore, leave to them their full responsibihty for their
own conclusions.
Shades of opinion and differences of judgment must exist, if
thought is not to be at a standstill — petrified into an unpro-
ductive fossil ; but while neither the Editor nor all their readers
can be expected to agree with every point of view in the details
of the discussions in all these volumes, he is convinced that the
great principles which lie behind every volume are such as must
conduce to the strengthening of the Faith and to the glory of
God.
That this may be so is the one desire of Editor and contributors
alike.
W. C. P.
London.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
THE title of this book: Archaeology of the Old Testa-
ment, does not agree exactly at first sight with
its contents, which turn entirely on the question of lan-
guage, and in which I have attempted to show that the
books of the Old Testament, as we know them, in their
present Hebrew form, are not in the original language
written by their authors.
This question, which seems purely literary, is, however,
archaeological in its origin. It has been raised by excava-
tions in Egypt. It arose when first the fellaheen unearthed
the Tel-el-Amarna tablets, and afterwards when the
pick and spade of scientific explorers brought to light
the Aramaic papyri of Elephantine.
When the bearing of these two thoroughly unexpected
finds is considered on all sides and when the circumstances
in which these documents originated, the political, social
and religious conditions which they presuppose are
studied without any bias, one cannot help being led to
question the assumption which has been long undisputed
and held as unassailable, that these books of the Old
Testament are in the language used by their authors
when they wrote them down, and that they went through
one change only, that of the script. For square Hebrew
does not go further back than the time of the Christian
era, when it took the place of the old Hebrew or Canaanite
alphabet. Such is the foundation on which rest all the
vii
viii AUTHOR'S PREFACE
present systems which profess to explain the composition
of the Old Testament, especially the constructions of
the critics, their minute anal^-sis of the text, and the
conclusions they have derived from that analysis.
In regard to this, I put forward the following facts
which can hardly be disputed. Before Moses, and after
his time, Babylonian cuneiform was used in Palestine for
official documents, contracts, and anything connected
with law. The popular form of Babylonian and Assyrian
cuneiform, their book form, was Aramaic as we know from
the so-called bilingual tablets, and from the Aramaic
version or papyrus of the inscription of Behistun. The
Jews settled in Egypt wrote and spoke Aramaic, which
was not the language of the country. The script peculiar
to the Hebrew or Jewish language, the square Hebrew, is
derived not from the Canaanite, but from the Aramaic
alphabet.
These facts, the historical value of which may be
recognized without being a Semitic scholar, do not seem
to have been grasped by the critics in their fullness.
Philological criticism is here out of place. History is the
point of view from which these discoveries have to be
studied ; and looking at them in that light, I have been
drawn to conclusions very different from the theories
now in vogue. Some of these conclusions have only
dawned upon my mind by degrees, from a careful study
of the Aramaic papyri.
During the last ten years the historical methods have
gone through a period of change. Anthropology and
biology claim to be heard. For an explanation of the
past, we now look, more than was done before, at the
present condition of mankind. This principle I have
endeavoured to foUow, and the reader will find that
in several cases I have taken examples from the
AUTHOR'S PREFACE ix
present day which seemed to strengthen the argument.
Our notion of language is also different from that of
the old linguistic school. Language is no more pre-
eminently a written text. It is the speech of living
men, which may vary according to time and locahties.
Social circumstances may have induced men to invent
an alphabet, to adopt a written language. But this
progress towards unity is more or less conventional ; it
is not limited by political boundaries. It may extend
in religious, literary or legal matters over countries where
the people speak different dialects. A written language
has not of necessity a script of its own which distinguishes
it from neighbouring idioms. It may adopt one in
common with other languages. Cuneiform is one of
the most striking examples of an alphabet used for
different tongues.
Historical facts viewed in the light of new methods
are the foundation of my theory, which in certain respects
will be considered as more radical and revolutionary
even than Reuss* critical system when it first appeared.
Relying on that evidence, I can, using the expressions of
one of the most conservative critics, the late Dr. Briggs,
" have the face " to challenge " the Old Testament
scholars of the world." On the other hand the readers
will recognize that the new line I have taken has brought
me back to the old traditional view about the authorship
of several books of Scripture. I hope that such chapters
as that on Egypt will show that it is not through any
" dogmatic environment " but from a sincere con\dction
based on facts, that I joined the " contemptible minority "
which still believes in the Mosaic authorship of the
Pentateuch and that I have ranked myself among the
so-called " anti-critics " in spite of the distinguished
divine's prophecy, " The signs of the times indicate that
X AUTHOR'S PREFACE
in a few years they will disappear as completely as the
slave-holders."
This book consists of two parts, each of them dealing
chiefly with the results of one of the two great discoveries.
Since it is intended for the public, and not for scholars
only, I have not gone into long discussions. Philological
questions being left aside, by the nature of the argument,
it was not necessary to mention the names of the critics,
except occasionally. For instance, in the chapter on
Genesis I quote Kautzsch and Socin, not because their
views are not held by others, but because on their analysis
of that work rests the coloured or " rainbow " Genesis
which is well kno\vn. The quotations of the BibHcal
text are always from the Revised Version, the translation
generally used by scholars.
I cannot close without expressing to the Rev. Wm. C.
Piercy my deep thankfulness for the invaluable help he
gave me in improving my English style. Still, I must beg
the British and American readers who will do me the
honour to peruse these pages, to be indulgent as regards
the form, and not to mind here and there expressions
which may sound too much hke French, the native
language of the present writer.
Whatever may be the judgment of the critics, I shall
feel myself very fortunate if my conclusion that the words
of the Old Testament, like those of our Lord, have come to
us in a form which is not their original garb, and that the
oldest of them are the work of the author whose name they
bear, may attract the attention of those who have a
sincere reverence for the Holy Writ, and may induce
them to look more closely into systems which are now
generally presented by their authors and supporters as
being above discussion.
EDOUARD NAVILLE.
CONTENTS
PART I
THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT BEFORE
SOLOMON
PAGE
CHAPTER I
THE LANGUAGE 3
Babylonian Cuneiform. ..... 3
The old Hebrew Alphabet ..... 25
CHAPTER II
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT . 30
The First Four Tablets ..... 30
The Garden of Eden and the Land of Egypt . 36
Ham and Canaan ....... 43
Abraham ........ 51
Abraham, Isaac and Abimelech .... 57
CHAPTER III
EGYPT 66
The " Days " of Creation 66
Joseph ......... 70
zi
xu
CONTENTS
CHAPTER IV
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN
The Exodus .
The Tabernacle .
Deuteronomy
The Archives
PAGE
89
89
115
127
130
PART II
THE LATER BOOKS.
CHAPTER V
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE . . .139
The Colony at Elephantine . . . .139
The Temple ........ 145
The Language , . . . . . .163
CHAPTER VI
ARAMAIC 175
Ezra . . . . . . . . • 175
The Prophets . . . . . . . 1S9
CHAPTER VII
THE PRESENT FORM OF THE OLD TESTAMENT . 19G
CONCLUSIONS 202
PART I
The Books of the Old Testament before
Solomon
I
ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE
OLD TESTAMENT
Was the Old Testament written in Hebrew ?
CHAPTER I
THE LANGUAGE
Babylonian Cuneiform
IN what language were the earliest books of the Old
Testament originally WTitten ? I mean the Penta-
teuch, and the books prior to Solomon's time. This
question will certainly startle a great number of my
readers. Up to the present, it has always been admitted,
and considered as above discussion, that they had been
written in Hebrew, and that the texts which we have
were original, and not translations, not even adaptations
from another idiom.
Still, various circumstances might have brought doubt
to the minds of those who have made a closer study of
these texts, especially to the higher critics who rely nearly
exclusively on philological arguments.
It is an absolutely certain fact that these books have
not been written in the square Hebrew of our Bible.
This script, which is a modified form not of the old Hebrew
or Phoenician alphabet, but of the Aramaic, did not
assume the appearance under which we know it, before
the time of the Christian era. Even then it was written
without vowels. The vowel points added to it by the
3
4 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Massora do not go further back than the fifth century,
and the s\'stem was not completed till about the eleventh.
We learn from Joscphus that the manuscripts brought
to Ptolemy Philadelphus were written in characters
very like the Syrian, or as we should say the Aramaic, and
the rabbis tell us that Ezra brought from Babylon the
Assyrian writing, ashurit, which was not the square
Hebrew, but the Aramaic, such as we know it from the
papyri found at Elephantine.
But before the Aramaic, the alphabet commonly in use
must have been the Canaanite or Phoenician, known to us
b}' the inscriptions coming from Phoenicia proper and
Carthage, and outside of these regions by a small number
of engraved texts, the most important of which are the
stele of Mesha, the king of Moab, and the inscription of
Siloah of the time of Hezekiah, and also by the newly
discovered ostraca from Samaria.
Was this alphabet ever used for books ? Have the
earliest documents of the Old Testament been written
with those characters ? This very grave question has
been raised quite lately, and discoveries such as the
tablets of Tel-el-Amarna compel us to face it and to take
it into serious consideration. Looking at it in the light
of the different finds of the last thirty years, we cannot
but arrive at the conclusion that the oldest documents of
Hebrew literature have been written neither in the Hebrew-
language, nor with the Hebrew script, but in the idiom
and with the characters of the tablets of Tel-el-Amarna,
namely Babylonian cuneiform.
In studying the beginnings of a Htcrature hke that
of the Hebrews, we must bear in mind an important fact
too often overlooked, and which we may observe every-
where in our time in spite of our schools. There is a
considerable difierence between the speech of the people
THE LANGUAGE 5
and their written language. When we consider nations
of the remote past, owing to our own education we can-
not sufficiently divest ourselves of the idea that there is
an abstract thing called " the tongue " which is subject
to strict rules set down by scholars. Every man is
imbued with these rules from his childhood, and their
domain is limited by definite geographical boundaries.
This view, which still prevails largely in philology, is
purely theoretical and is opposed to the facts observed
by anthropology.
Spoken language existed long before it was put down
in writing. In many parts of the world, there are still
primitive tribes or nations for whom language is only
speech, and who know no writing. They do not feel
the want of it. In their commercial intercourse, when
they barter or exchange, they do not employ any written
document. In any transaction which is binding for the
future, they would call for witnesses ; and their laws are
mere customs transmitted from father to son, without
much change, and these sometimes persist through ages.
Writing, or rather written language, is a convention, the
result of social progress, and it supposes a more advanced
degree of civilization. But written language does not
supersede the original speech, it does not mean its abolition,
not even its change, except in highly civilized modern
nations with compulsory education. Both may have a
parallel existence and their own special domain.
Especially if we consider the religious books, the
difference is particularly striking. Take for instance the
Bible ; even in Protestant countries where it has been
translated into the native tongue, the people do not use
the language of the Bible. The labourer in the field does
not speak as does his clergyman in the pulpit, and a certain
respect for Holy Writ may even prevent him from using
6 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
sentences or words taken from its contents. Supposing
we wished to ascertain the language of a peasant from
one of the rural counties, we should not turn for that to
the Authorized Version. The reverse is equally true.
This difference exists not only for religious books, but
also for laws which are transmitted in the same form
and in the same words during many generations ; and
generally speaking for all legal documents, as well as for
records of what has taken place in the past. They are
composed in a language more or less conventional,
although here and there, in ofhcial \vritings, in contracts
or anything connected with law, local expressions may
appear borrowed from what is spoken by the people.
It would be easy to quote many instances of these facts,
taken from languages of the present day, though schools
and education greatly contribute to unify the language
of a country and to wipe away the variety of dialects
such as that existing even in a small land like Switzer-
land. The origin of these dialects certainly goes back
earlier than the first attempts at literary language.
But let us revert to the old Hebrews, to the contem-
poraries of Abraham, to Moses or to the early prophets
like Samuel. There is absolutely no proof that in that
remote time there existed already a written literature ;
I mean a written Hebrew such as that which we find in
the Bible.
That does not mean that there was no literature of the
people, no unwritten compositions such as we find in
nearly all nations. Take the primitive men who do not
know what writing is, or those who practically have no
writing, the illiterate populations of some remote parts
of Europe, the peasants of the Middle Ages, or the people
who till recently hved chiefly on war and brigandage ;
they have their literature, their songs, their myths and
THE LANGUAGE 7
often very fine poetry. The authors of these songs or of
these poems are often unknown ; they were not men
trained in the schools. They have not composed their
songs pen in hand in a language approved by literary
authorities and called by them classical. Their poetry
has been dictated to them by the inspiration of the hour,
and it has been transmitted orally from generation to
generation perhaps long before it was put down in writing,
or before some lover of folklore gathered it for fear it
might be forgotten. We might quote a great number of
national songs the origin of which is not known ; they
nearly always are in the common and usual language of
the people, and they are quite independent of the written
literature which may exist at the same time and among
the same people.
This unwritten literature may increase and progress
even where there is a considerable written literature
which rules in its own field. A striking instance may be
quoted from the history of the city of Geneva. In the
night of the 12th of December, 1602, the city was miracu-
lously saved from a treacherous attack by the Duke of
Savoy. This event is called in the popular language
" V Escalade." The following morning the population
flocked to the cathedral and sang Psalm cxxiv. But
this was not the popular Te Deum. There arose a long
hymn, from beginning to end in the popular dialect.
The first words would be translated': "He Who is above."
As the original does not belong to the written language,
there is no orthography for these words and they may
be spelt in various ways. The learned who follow the
rules of historic grammar will write : ce que I' en Haul ;
but this is not the usual spelling, which is either ce qu'e
I'aino, or ce que laino. In a popular song like this, people
do not apply the rules of the schoolmaster, they write
8 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
what they hear and what the}- speak ; for them words are
sounds, and they are guided by the ear.
This hymn arose in a city where a few years before
Calvin had pubhshed his works, which are considered
as the standard prose of the time, where he had preached
his sermons, where his successor, Theodore Beza, was
still teaching, and where there was a considerable litera-
ture in the French of the time. This was understood by
the people, but it was very different from the ever3'-day
speech, and from the popular h3'mn. It was their re-
ligipus language'and also the official one, used for purposes
of law and in the councils of the government. Let us
suppose the case of a philologist two thousand 3'ears
hence, arguing that the written language of Geneva
cannot be the same French as that which was used in
France, but that there must be a specially Genevese
written literature in the Genevese language which becam.e
literary when the hymn of 1602 was written. This
learned man would reason in a way very similar to that
of some Hebrew scholars who consider it to be certain
that there existed in early times a Hebrew written
literature, and who rely for their conclusion upon the
following fact.
I shall quote only one of the most eminent Hebrew
scholars. Professor Kocnig tells us that a literary Hebrew
language must have existed at least at the time when
the song of Deborah originated, which according to the
judgment of the most acute critics goes back as far as the
time of the Judges. In my opinion the song of Deborah
does not prove anything as to the existence of a written
Hebrew language. Deborah is a prophetess, she is one
of those heroines, of whom we know several in history,
who arise in critical times. Her nation is crushed down
by Jabin the king of the Canaanites. She calls on
THE LANGUAGE Q
Barak and commands him to gather the Israehtes and to
march against the oppressor. Barak refuses to do so,
unless Deborah goes with him. They smite the enemy,
and when Barak pursues him, Jael shows him Sisera
whom she has slain.
Hearing of this great deliverance, Deborah does not sit
down to write a poem (Judges v.). She breaks forth into
a paean of praise and joy. She sings : " Awake, awake,
Deborah, utter a song." She is carried away by her
feelings, and such a mighty exultation can only be ex-
pressed in language spontaneous and familiar to her, such
as she, as well as the triumphant Israelites, speak every
day. She does not consult the books which may exist
at the time, she does not shape her sentences in accordance
with the words of the law, of which she was probably
absolutely ignorant ; she sings. Her hymn may after-
wards have become a national song, a song of victory
which one generation transmitted to the following, until
it was written down by the author who compiled the book
of Judges ; but certainly it is quite independent of anj-
written literature, and it does not give the slightest
indication as to the existence of books written in the
same language. Unless it has been modified in later
time, it shows what the Israelites spoke in her time,
but nothing more. We might be tempted to consider
Deborah's song as a piece of a WTitten literature, if the
discoveries of the last twenty years had not revealed to
us the great use made in Palestine of Babylonian cunei-
form.
It certainly was an archaeological event of first impor-
tance when the fellaheen of Tel-el-Amarna in Middle
Egypt came upon the hoard of cuneiform tablets, an impor-
tant and valuable part of the archives of Amenophis IV.
It is hardly necessary to describe anew this correspondence.
10 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
It first revealed the absolutely unknown and startling
fact that Babylonian Cuneiform was the usual written
language in Palestine at the time of the Eighteenth
Dynasty. It is quite natural, and what might have been
anticipated, that kings of Mesopotamia like Burnaburiash
should use that language and writing, which evidently
were their own. But it was all the more surprising and
unexpected from governors of the Palestinian cities who
had to write to their sovereign and report to him what
was going on in the region they governed. Why did
Abd-hiba of Jerusalem, Abi-milki of Tyre and all the
prefects of Zidon, Megiddo, Ashkelon, Gaza, write in Baby-
lonian unless it was their own written language. For
the king of Egypt did not understand it ; he was obhged
to resort to the help of a targumajiu, a dragoman. Letters
of that kind must be in the language either of the ruler or
of the subject. Since it was not that of the Pharaoh, it
could only be that of the Canaanite governors.
The scholars who have studied that correspondence are
unanimous in saying that it is Babylonian or Assyrian
with a clear Canaanite trace. One of them who has
made a special study of those texts with that point of
view. Dr. Boehl, says that the Assyrian of these letters
is only a thin veil which hides the native language of the
writers. This fact seems to me the best proof that these
letters show the written language of the country. They
are permeated with words and forms belonging to the
spoken language. This might have been expected. Take
a language like French, which extends over various
countries and over a wide area. Two letters, written one
at Bordeaux and the other at Brussels, will not be in a
language exactly similar. Especially if the writers are
not very cultivated, their letters will deviate from the
typical and conventional prose which is called French and
THE LANGUAGE ii
contain local words, perhaps also local forms. Two
legal documents will perhaps differ still more, since they will
be obliged to make a greater use of words to which the
people are accustomed. It seems to have been exactly
the same with Assyrian or Babylonian. A writer in
Babylon would not forget his own dialect, nor would the
governor of Ashkelon. The script is the same for both,
and so is the language in its general appearance ; neverthe-
less it bears traces of what is spoken in the native country
of each of them.
The correspondence of Tel-el-Amarna, which is later
than the first settlement of the Hebrews in Canaan but
older than the conquest of Canaan, is not all that we have
of cuneiform documents from Palestine. A rich harvest
of tablets was gathered at Boghaz Keui, the capital of
the Hittites. In that place was discovered the cuneiform
copy of the treaty between Rameses II and the king of
the Hittites, Hattusil. From Palestine itself originated a
series of letters and edicts written both in Assyrian and
Hittite concerning the Amurru, the Amorites, a Palestinian
nation.
In Palestine, at Gezer, two contracts have been dis-
covered. According to Professor Macalister more might
have been found had the excavations on that spot not
been stopped by a native cemetery. These contracts are
about the sale of property. They are legal documents
having a local origin, and in language which must have
been the legal language of the city. They are in cunei-
form Assyrian ; one very fragmentary letter is said to
be in cuneiform Babylonian. These contracts are of
the years 650 and 647 B.C., showing that even at that late
time cuneiform writing was still in use.
At Taanach also eight tablets or fragments have been
discovered. I cannot do better than quote the words of
12 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
the excavator, Dr. Sellin. After having said that from
1500 to 1350 Babylonian writing was the only one used
at the courts of the princes of Palestine, the learned author
adds : " Even supposing that this writing was used only
by the rulers and their officials, and that the people could
not read or WTite, this fact is certain : in the already exten-
sive excavations carried on in Palestine, no document was
I ever found except in Babylonian writing. As for the
Phoenician old Hebrew writing ... it cannot be asserted
with certainty that it existed before the ninth century." ^
Thus, from the time preceding the conquest of Canaan
down to the seventh century, we find in Palestine cunei-
form documents in the Assyrian or Babylonian language,
which was the literary language as well as that of laws
and religion, differing up to a certain point from the
speech, or idiom, of the people, as we see that literary
language does at the present day even in the most civilized
countries.
It is not necessary to go back to the origin of cuneiform
writing, which succeeded a linear script and which took
its well-known appearance when the writer saw that he
could write much more quickly by pressing his stylus
into soft clay. Cuneiform may be called the cursive
writing of an old linear script. It entirely superseded
the linear since it was copied even on the sculptures of
the palaces. Cuneiform writing can be imitated by
engraving on stone or metal ; but it cannot be written
on anything but wet clay. It cannot be pressed into
hard material such as a potsherd, nor can it be written on
soft or thin stuff such as papyrus, or even 'skin.
In Mesopotamia where clay was abundant, all kinds
of documents could be written on tablets. Not so in
Palestine, a mountainous and dry country. Clay tablets
^ Tell Taannek Nachlese, p. 35.
THE LANGUAGE 13
were used there for documents of importance which had
to be preserved, like the deeds of property found at
Gezer, letters which had to travel a long way, edicts and
treaties of the Amorites ; but for common use, in a country
where clay was not always at hand, it was necessary to
have also another method of writing. For a short note or
memorandum, for inscribing the number of jars of oil or
wine, what corresponded to the scrap of paper which we
use in such cases was a potsherd. On potsherd it was not
possible to impress cuneiform characters with a stylus ;
one could only make a coarse engraving or write with
pen and ink. Therefore it was necessary to have an
alphabet, different from cuneiform, which could be written
and not pressed. The Canaanite, or so-called Phoenician,
alphabet must have been at first a potsherd writing. If
we look at the most ancient specimens, the ostraca found
by Mr. Reisner at Samaria, we see that they are notes
regarding what may have been the royal cellar, or its
contents in wine and oil. The same excavation has
produced also a cuneiform fragment which has not yet
been deciphered, but which shows the presence of the two
writings at the same time.
The Canaanite writing cannot be traced in Palestine
before the time of Solomon, that is not until there were
close relations with the Phoenicians. Whether the Phoe-
nicians were the inventors of that alphabet or whether it
is to be attributed to others is a question which is now
very much discussed. No doubt they must have made
great use of it in their trade, and must have contributed
to diffuse it among their neighbours as far as the Greeks.
But at the time of the Tel-el- Amarna correspondence the
governors of Tyre and Zidon also wrote in cuneiform.
Let us now revert to what we read in Genesis : Abram
went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, came first unto
14 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Haran, and from there to the land of Canaan. We know
the written language of Ur, the present Mukayyar.
At first it was Sumerian, and after the Semitic conquest
it was the Bab\'lonian, which, later, was called Assyrian.
The script was that of the Sumerians taken over by the
Semites, the engraved linear being very soon entirely
superseded by the pressed cuneiform. It is hardly to be
supposed that Abram,^ if he could write while he was in
Mesopotamia, did not use Babylonian cuneiform.
As for the language which he spoke, we do not know
exactly what it was. It certainly belonged to the Semitic
family, but it probably differed from the book-language,
from the style and forms of edicts, laws, or even rehgious
texts, as is the case, even now, with the colloquial and
popular idiom. Semitic scholars tell us that it must
have been very like that which was spoken in Canaan.
" Whether Abraham adopted the language of the Canaan-
ites, or brought the Hebrew with him from the East, is
unimportant, for the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian are
nearer the Hebrew and Phoenician than they are to the
other Semitic languages. If these languages, as now
presented to us, differ less than the Roman languages, the
daughters of the Latin, in their earlier stages, in the time of
Abraham, their differences could scarcely have been more
than dialectic." We thoroughly agree with Dr. Briggs'
view. Between Abraham's idiom and that of Mamre, the
Amorite, or Abimelech, the king of Gcrar, there was only a
difference of dialects ; therefore they understood each
other easily.
Dialects are generally unwritten languages. Here
again I may be allowed to take an example from modern
times, namely, from the German language. German-speak-
1 In the use of Abram or Abraham, I follow exactly the differing
use of the Bible (R.V.) for the different periods of his life.
THE LANGUAGE 15
ing nations extend over a vast area in Europe. But what
is called German, the literary, conventional language, the
origin of which may be traced to Luther's translation of
the Bible, covers a considerable number of dialects which
are not written, which go back to a high antiquity and
which are still in use in the present day. I need not go
very far. In the parts of Switzerland where German
is spoken, each canton has its own dialect. What is
heard at Berne sounds very differently from what is heard
at Zurich. Nevertheless two men from these cantons
who are in conversation will understand each other without
the slightest difificulty ; they will both read the same Bible,
which is not in the idiom which they speak ; when they
write they will also both use the same forms, the same
words, and the same spelling. Here the distinction
between written and spoken language is as clearly marked
as possible.
The circumstances must have been analogous in
Canaan. The excavations have shown that between
2500 and 2000 B.C. a Semitic invasion conquered the
old Canaanite population, and covered the greatest part
of the country. The invaders evidently brought not
only the idiom they spoke, but also their written lan-
guage, which was Babylonian cuneiform. The tablets of
Tel-el-Amarna and those of Taanach are indisputable
proofs that, at the time of the Eighteenth Dynasty,
Babylonian cuneiform was the written language of the
country. At a later date the finds of Boghaz Keui,
the correspondence of the Amorites, show that there had
been no change in that respect. Even in the seventh
century, at Gezer, cuneiform was still in use for certain
documents, although by that time the Canaanite alphabet
had been adopted. The old tradition had remained in
force.
i6 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Now let us think of the Israehtes in Egypt. They
evidently took with them the language of Canaan, a
tongue foreign to the Egyptians, one which they did not
know. We read that Joseph's brethren, "knew not that
Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter
between them." During the time of the captivity,
living by themselves, apart from the Egyptians, they
kept their language, as did, later, the Jewish colonists
who settled in the country, like those of Elephantine.
If the}' had any writing, we have no proof whatever that
they had the Canaanite alphabet, which, if it existed,
was not used in Canaan, since the Egyptian captivity
is the time of the Tel-el-Amarna correspondence. Besides,
it is not probable that there were many of them who
could write. The Israelites were nomads, shepherds who
had preserved in Egypt their former way of living, and
for whom the persecution consisted in a forced change
of their habits. Instead of living the easy life of shep-
herds, they were compelled to be masons under hard
taskmasters. In the life of cattle drivers there are not
many occasions for writing ; there is hardly any necessity
for it. Therefore we must consider that among them,
those who could write were only a few exceptional persons.
The only one of them who is known as having had
what we might call a literary education is Moses, who
was brought up like the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
which means, as Stephen says in his speech, " that he was
instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians." With-
out giving a historical value to the legends which Josephus
relates about the youth of Moses, we can admit what is
shown by the narrative of Exodus, that he kept up some
intercourse with his countrymen, and perhaps that he
was used as an intermediate agent between the Egyptians
and their Hebrew subjects. Moses could wTite ; this is
THE LANGUAGE i;
constantly mentioned in the history of his hfc. But,
certainly, the Semitic writing which he learnt at Phar-
aoh's court was not the Canaanite, and could only be
Babylonian cuneiform. Among the discovered tablets
there arc answers from the Egyptian king. He must
have had at his court men who could write the same lan-
guage as that of the letters he received. The reports
sent to him by the governors of the Palestinian cities
were not in Egyptian, they were in the language of those
officials ; and Pharaoh would not have been understood
if he had answered in Egyptian hieratic. It was necessary
that he should have men who could write the language
of Abd-hiba of Jerusalem, or Gitia of Ashkelon, dragomen
like those of the embassies of the present day. If Moses
was taught a Semitic writing, which seems natural
considering his origin and position, it is obvious that he
learnt Babylonian cuneiform, a writing which allowed
him to have intercourse with the Semitic world of his time.
The first writing of Moses mentioned is the Decalogue,
the two tables of the law. The late eminent Semitic
scholar, M. Philippe Berger, had already come to the
conclusion that the tables of the law were written in
cuneiform, this being thus the sacred writing mentioned
in Exodus xxxii. i6 : "and the tables were the work of
God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven
upon the tables." When Moses had hewn "two tables
of stone hke unto the lirst, he wrote upon the tables
the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments."
(Exod. xxxiv. 28). Therefore Moses knew what is called
God's writing.
If we turn to Egypt, we see that hieroglyphical script
is also called the writing of the god himself. The Rosetta
stone teaches us that hierogl3'phs were called " the writing
of divine words," and when we read of " writings of divine
(•
i8 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
words which are the book of Thoth," of an inscription
engraved in blue " by the god himself," it clearly means
writings in hieroglyphs which Thoth was supposed to
have taught to mankind, and the expression is quite analo-
gous to that of Exodus (xxxi. i8) : tables of stone wTitten
with the finger of God.
In the case of the tables of the law, there is absolutely
no reason to suppose that they were written in Egyptian
hieroglyphs. Egyptian was not the language of the
Israelites ; they probably did not understand it, nor
was this script their script, while Babylonian cuneiform
extended all over Western Asia. Besides, if they had
WTitten the Ten Commandments in hieroglyphs, which was
a picture writing, they would have had in the very text
of their law likenesses of " forms in heaven above or in
the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth "
which were strictly prohibited by the Second Command-
ment.
The existence of a sacred writing which could only be
cuneiform, different from the cursive, lasted as late as
the prophet Isaiah, perhaps even later. We read (ch. viii.
ver. i) : " And the Lord said unto me : Take thee a
great tablet, and write upon it with the pen of a man
For Maher-shalal-hashhaz." The word which the
Re\'ised Version translates " tablet " is found only in
this passage. The LXX have here : "a piece of new
and large paper," and the Coptic has " a large piece of a
new book " ; the word book being that which in old
Egyptian means a roll of papyrus. The French transla-
tion of M. Philippe Berger is : " prends un grand rou-
leau." Thus, according to all these translations, what
the prophet is told to take is a piece of soft material,
papyrus or perhaps skin, but neither a wooden nor a stone
tablet.
THE LANGUAGE 19
The Hebrew words hereth-enosh, " pen of a man,"
show that there was a distinct instrument for another
writing ; and if we inquire with what this " pen of man "
is contrasted, we find only the "finger of God" with
which the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone,
were written (Exod. xxxi. 18). This explains the word
enosh for man, which is generally poetical, and is em-
ployed " of man " in comparison " with God," especially
when the writer wishes to contrast the weakness and in-
feriority of mankind with the majesty of Godhead. A
striking instance of this passage of the eighth Psalm, verse
3 : " When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers
. . . What is man (enosh) that Thou art mindful of him.
..." As there are two writings, the writing of God and
that of man, the word for man is naturally enosh.
The word hereth is translated in the dictionaries by
"style," an instrument for engraving on metal, and by
metonymy as we say, style. But the LXX and the
Coptic use two Greek words which mean a pencil, or
sometimes a drawing in outline. This agrees well with
the sense given by them to the first word : a piece of
paper or skin on which they cannot draw anything but
cursive writing ; for cuneiform can be sculptured on
stone, but otherwise it is a ^v^iting produced only by
pressure on wet clay ; it is not a drawing. The instru-
ment used for cuneiform can only form wedges, it cannot
make any curved line, it cannot draw. The pressure of
the four-sided stylus would leave no trace on paper
or skin, nor could it be used with ink. At the same time
cuneiform could not be pressed into hard stuff like pot-
sherds. Therefore, for any material which was not clay,
it was necessary to have another alphabet, the Canaanite
or the Aramaic alphabet, a writing which could be used
with pen and ink or engraved on material like wax,
20 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
wood or potsherds. Undoubtedly this is the writing
meant by Isaiah in using the words hereth enosh. \\'hat-
ever be the hteral translation of these two words, their
true meaning is that given in the margin of the Revised
Version ; " common characters." Thus it seems certain
that as late as the time of Isaiah there were two writings ;
one which was considered as having been originally the
work of God engraved by His finger, the cuneiform,
and one which was called human because it was used in
every-day life and not for law or any literary purpose.
The old Hebrew potsherds found at Samaria, which
are the accounts of the cellar of the king, show distinctly
for what original purpose this alphabet was invented.
Can we suppose that this script was used for the word of
God or for the sentences of a legislator ? We can hardly
think so ; and the fact that Isaiah is specially told to
use common characters seems to indicate that he did not
employ them when he wrote the word of God. The
reason he is told to make this exception is given in verse
i6 : " Bind thou up the testimony, seal the law among
My disciples." This confirms the translation of the LXX.
Isaiah is to take a piece of large paper, he is told afterwards
to roll it up, to tie it with a piece of string and seal it,
as was done for the Egyptian papyri. Cuneiform could
not be pressed on any material which had to be rolled,
therefore it was necessary that the prophet should use
common writing, but the Babylonian cuneiform was still in
existence in Isaiah's time.
Beside the Decalogue, Moses had to write the laws
which God Himself had taught him. He would not use
hereth enosh, nor the common characters, admitting even
that they were invented in his time which is far from
being established. They would never have been called
the work of God. It is even doubtful whether in Palestine
THE LANGUAGE 21
they were adopted by learned people, for, except the
stele of Mesha and the inscription of Siloah, there are no
literary documents in that script, which may never have
been used for books.
Moses called himself an Aramean like all the Israelites
of his time. " An Aramean ready to perish was my
father," says the author of Deuteronomy (xxvi. 5.) Even
Josephus, the Jewish writer living under the Roman
emperor, has preserved that tradition. When in his
history he reaches the point of the arrival of Jacob in
Egypt, he interrupts his narrative, as Genesis does, in
order to introduce the description of the family of the
patriarch ; but before beginning the list he gives the follow-
ing curious reason for quoting all the names : " I
thought it necessary to record those names, in order to
inform those who do not suspect it that we are Mesopo-
tamians and not Egyptians."
The ancestor of Moses, Abram, is said to have started
from Ur. In his native city he must have heard of the
great legislator Hammurabi, " the royal offspring whom
Sin has created, who enriched the city of Ur," as he says
in the introduction to his famous code of laws. Can we
suppose that Abram and his tribe, leaving Mesopo-
tamia, where the literary language was Babylonian
cuneiform, a language which was especially that of
such laws as were called a divine inspiration, could take
to Canaan any other literary language and any other
writing ? If at that time there had been in Mesopotamia
a cursive writing, it would have been Aramaic, and not
Canaanite Hebrew.
Since, after centuries of bondage in Egypt, the Israelites
still considered themselves as Arameans, they must have
preserved some tradition of the old country. It is quite
possible that Moses knew who Hammurabi was, and that
22 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
this king was for him a legislator above all others. WTien
he had to write laws himself, laws which God had dictated
to him, as Marduk was said to have done for the Baby-
lonian ruler, Moses must naturally have been inclined to
adopt the language and writing in which the great law-
giver of his country had proclaimed and \vritten his code.
It was the most appropriate language for laws and also for
expressing divine words.
The more attentively we consider the circumstances
in which Moses lived, the nation to which he belonged,
and the traditions which he followed, the clearer it
appears that he could not have written anything but
Babylonian cuneiform. This fact gives to his books a
special character and throws a pecuHar light on his
whole work. We are too apt, in studying old writers of
that remote time, to apply to them the cut-and-dried
rules of the present day. We have now for every author
some special fixed requirements which he has to fulfil.
We have classified authors, we speak of an historian, a
poet, a novel-writer, and for each one of these there are
strict regulations which he cannot put aside. Besides this,
a writer, especially a prose writer, has before his eyes a
definite plan ; his work has a beginning and an end, and
unrolls itself in accordance with a scheme which he has
in his mind.
There is nothing of this in the case of Moses. He is
not a professional writer ; he is a prophet and takes his
tablets only when he feels inspired, or, as is often said,
when the Lord speaks to him. One day he will be a poet,
he will strike up the hymn of Miriam after the passage of
the Red Sea. In the desert he will be the law-giver and,
hke Hammurabi, he will teach his people the law which
he has received from God and write it down in order that
it be not forgotten. Another time he will feel prompted
THE LANGUAGE 23
to record the ways of God towards His people since the
beginning of the world. He will describe the creation of
the earth, of the animals and of man, or he will picture
Abraham's life. He will go into great detail about
Joseph's time, and, for a reason which we can only presume,
omit entirely what happened from Joseph's death to his
own time.
It is very important to remember that Moses does not
write in a book, not even in a papyrus roll. He is not
obliged to take up his narrative where he left off. Cunei-
form tablets are independent of each other, each one
forms a whole. Nor is it necessary that he should follow
the chronological order ; the tablets relating the history
of Joseph may have been written before the description
of the creation.^ The introduction of a tablet may sum
up or even repeat what is found on another, as we see in
the first two tablets of Genesis. There is no plan which
binds the author to a certain order of his tablets or to
certain proportions. It will be the redactor's task to
put the tablets in order chronologically, to make a book
out of them, like Genesis, and to link them together by
transitions. Nevertheless the fact of Moses having
written on tablets wiU always appear in the lack of
connection which we notice in certain parts of the Penta-
teuch, especially in Genesis and which has been interpreted
by the critics as showing the hands of several authors,
the most important of whom are the Elohist, the Jahvist
and the writer of the Priestly Code.
But the most serious consequence which we derive
from the fact that the oldest Hebrew documents were
written in Babylonian cuneiform, is that we must recog-
nize that these books are not original documents as
regards language. In their present form, they are trans-
^ On tablets intended to form a series see p. 183.
24 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
lations or adaptations of documents written in another
idiom. This is very much hke what we have in the case
of the New Testament. The rabbinic Hebrew in which
we now read the books of Moses is to them what Greek
is to the words of our Lord. Philological criticism, on
which rests the reconstruction of the books of the Old
Testament, has been exercised upon translations. The
texts which the critics continually dissect with their
philological microscope and in which new authors are
constantly being discovered are not original. The pic-
ture shown to us of a kind of mosaic made of stones
gathered in various places, the manufacture of
which is described to us in the most minute detail, is all
based upon what is but the latest form given to words
and writings of the old Hebrew writers which have under-
gone several transformations. I shall only mention two :
that of Ezra, who is said to have brought from the Captivity
the writing called b}' the rabbis ashurit, the Assyrian,
which is the Aramaic of Mesopotamia, and the transforma-
tion due to the rabbis of the first centuries of the Christian
era who adopted the square Hebrew and the vowel
points.
Ezra made a change of language as well as of writing.
"WTiere he transcribed the books in Aramaic characters,
it was in order that they might be better understood,
because at that time the Aramaic language was becoming
more and more the idiom of the country. He not only
replaced the alphabet by another, he adapted the text
to the language which was then spoken and written.
One can hardly call it a translation since it was only
'l a dialectic modification. But that is enough to shake
considerably, I even might say to destroy, the confidence
in results which the critics have attained mainly through
philological and literary analysis of the present text.
THE LANGUAGE 25
How many of the books of the Old Testament may
have been written in Babylonian cuneiform ? Evidently
everything of which Moses was the author or which was
written by Joshua, his disciple and successor. In Joshua
we know from the proper names, especially those of the
cities, that there was an older text which the LXX used
for their translation. From Joshua to David's time,
during the period of the Judges and the incessant wars
of the Israehtes with their neighbours, it is probable that
there was not much writing. The Philistines against
whom the Israelites struggled, and who, according to the
latest discoveries, are supposed to have come from
Crete, were probably not Semites. It is not likely that
they introduced into the country a new alphabet. If
anj'Teligious book was written at that time, as its author
was a prophet or a man instructed in the law, he would
naturally employ the sacred script and the language of
Moses, the Babylonian cuneiform. However, there must
have been, at an early date, an alphabet for common use.
There is no doubt that there was one at the time of the
prophets. We have seen that it is mentioned by Isaiah,
and Jeremiah is described as writing with ink in a roll.
That is the regular bookwriting of which we do not know
with certainty whether it was Aramaic or the Canaanite
alphabet. Old examples of Canaanite are the potsherds
found at Samaria by Mr. Reisner and which are of the
time of Omri, the father of Ahab. This alphabet, the
Canaanite, or so-called old Hebrew, is the same as the
Phoenician, and we find it after Phoenician influence was
strongly established in the country.
The Old Hebrew Alphabet
Most Semitic scholars admit that the first Canaanite
inscriptions are of the time of David or Solomon. It has
26 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
been argued that this alphabet bears the character of a
script which has been long in use, therefore it must go
back much further. But we do not know where it was
invented, whether in Phoenicia or, as Professor Sayce
thinks, among the tribes of Northern Arabia. It may
be much older in its native country, and yet be a later
importation into Palestine. Admitting that it was
known in Palestine before Solomon, it does not follow
that it was used for books and especially for sacred writings.
It is even questionable whether old Hebrew or Canaanite
was ever chosen for books, particularly in the most
ancient times. We have no remains of anything hterary
in Phoenician or old Hebrew. The stele of Mesha of Moab
can hardly be called a literary document. One can fancy
a king of Moab having his inscription engraved in the
language spoken by his subjects who perhaps had no
literature nor script of any kind. What the excavations
have revealed to us of literary matters are only two
things : the cuneiform tablets of Tel-el-Amarna, Lachish,
Gezer. Taanach, and Boghaz Keui, showing that Babylon-
ian was the written language of Palestine at the time of
Moses and later, and the papyri of Elephantine, from
which we gather that the Jews who had left their country
to settle in Egypt spoke and wrote Aramaic.
The introduction of the Phoenician, or old Hebrew,
alphabet must be connected with the increase of Phoeni-
cian influence in Canaan. We do not know when the
Phoenician cities first became independent under their
own rulers. In the correspondence of Tel-el-Amarna,
the letters of Abi-milki of Tyre and Zimrida of Zidon are
the same as the other ones, and are written in the same
language. The distinct Phoenician character of these
cities does not yet appear. As I said before, the Phoeni-
cian or Canaanite alphabet seems to have been invented
THE LANGUAGE 27
for common use, for writing on any material. An alpha-
bet of that kind would be particularly useful for a nation
of tradesmen like the Phoenicians. Various theories
have been put forward as to its origin. We shall not
inquire whether it comes from a tribe in the Arabian
desert, or from the North. But it is hardly to be sup-
posed that it originated among the Hebrews who, especi-
ally before Solomon's time, were an agricultural nation,
and do not seem to have been much occupied with hterary,
or even industrial, pursuits.
The circumstances changed when Solomon came to
the throne. His reign seems to have marked an im-
portant step in the progress of civilization. From the
first, he was desirous of building a temple which should
be a central point for the kingdom in general, but chiefly
for worship according to the prescription of Deuteronomy :
" the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of
all your tribes to put His Name there, even unto His
habitation " (xii. 5). But he had neither the necessary
material for building a temple worthy of being " God's
habitation," nor the skilled workmen who could work
metal. He was obliged to apply to Hiram, King of
Tyre, with whom he was at peace, and with whom he had
made a league. He sent to him saying (i Kings v. 6-
2 Chron. ii. 7-10) : " Now therefore command that they
hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon ; and my servants
shall be with thy servants ; and I will give thee hire for
thy servants according to all that thou shalt say ; for
thou knowest that there is not among us any that can
skill to hew timber like unto the Zidonians." It is the
king himself who says that his subjects did not know how
to work timber.
It was the same with metal (i Kings vii 13) : " And
King Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of TjTe.
28 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
He was the son of a widow woman of the tribe of Naph-
thah, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass,
and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and
cunning to work all works in brass." Now if we consider
the enormous levies of men sent to Lebanon to hew
cedar and fir under the direction of Zidonians who
instructed them how to do this, is it not natural to sup-
pose that the Zidonians taught them also their alphabet,
that the accounts, probably on potsherds, of the hire for
the servants of Hiram which Solomon's ofhcers had to
pay were written in Phoenician script ? Industry cannot
very well go on without writing ; and if Solomon had
to rely upon the industry of the Phoenicians to such a
large extent, surely he may well have taken over their
writing also, and made use of it. The adoption of this
new writing probably took place naturally amongst
the workmen of the two nations, but if it became general
amongst the subjects of Solomon, it must have emanated
from the king himself by a decree or edict proclaimed
by the highest authority in the kingdom. \Yha.t gives
to this hypothesis a certain degree of probabihty, is
the fact that Solomon is described to us not as a warrior,
like his father David, but as a man having literary
tastes. He is said to have been an author : " who spoke
of trees from the cedar that is in Lebanon, even unto
the hyssop that springeth out of the wall ; he spoke also
of beasts and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of
fishes." Without taking the above passage too literally,
we may infer that he was more qualified than any of
the rulers who reigned at Jerusalem to adopt characters
infinitely simpler and easier to handle than the cuneiform.
After Solomon, the time when we see Phoenician in-
fluence most prevalent, was during Ahab's reign. In his
father's time the Phoenician script was commonly used
THE LANGUAGE 29
at Samaria, as we know from the great number of ostraca
found by Mr. Reisner in Omri's palace. I fancy that it
was owing to the conquest of Moab by Omri and Ahab
that the Canaanite writing extended as far as Dhibon,
where Mesha wrote his inscription. Later, Phoenician
influence must have been in conflict with Assyrian,
and was entirely superseded, especially in Judea, by the
Assyrian conquest.
The idea that Solomon established in his kingdom
the Canaanite writing for common use is an hypothesis
which is not yet proved, but it seems to me to agree with
the historical circumstances such as we know them from
the books and with the character of Solomon, which
was totally different from that of his father, and from
that of the rulers of Israel, whoever they were, judges or
kings, who preceded him. We are led again to the con-
clusion that before Solomon's time all rehgious books must
have been written in Babylonian cuneiform.
CHAPTER II
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT
THE evidence that has been reviewed in the pre-
ceding chapter seems to prove that the first
books of the Old Testament were written in Bab3'lonian
cuneiform, on tablets. We should hke now to consider
further the bearing of this fact on the form of the book
of Genesis. We shall consider chiefly the events which
took place before the arrival of Jacob and his family in
Egypt. Literary arguments rather than archaeological
will often have to be adduced and also information
which may be derived from Egyptian writings. But
the reader must not expect to find here a complete study
of this venerable document. A few points only will
be chosen, showing the Mosaic authorship and the unity
of the book.
The First Four Tablets
The review of the facts has led us to conclude that
the Pentateuch and the earlier wxitings of the Old Testa-
ment were originally wTitten in Babylonian cuneiform.
Therefore they were written not in books, but on tablets.
This fact is so important that I must be allowed to dwell
again on the character of writings on tablets ; for this
circumstance involves a complete change in our views
concerning these writings and in our method of studying
them. We have to do away with the description and
30
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 31
the nature of what we call a book, whether it be written
on a papyrus roll or printed Hke those of the present
day. A book, especially an historical one, is made on
a definite plan ; it has a beginning and an end, and it
must be composed according to a definite order. If it
is divided into chapters, the middle ones or the last
will not be ^vritten before the earher ones. The second
chapter presupposes the first, it is intimately connected
with it as its logical successor. There is no break between
the two, and the same connexion exists between the
second and the third.
A tablet is something quite different. It is a whole,
a composition, we might even say a book in itself ; it
is not connected with another, it does not follow a pre-
vious one, it does not go on to a succeeding one. It
has no fixed place in a series as have the chapters of a
volume. The author may write his tablets whenever
he likes, he is not bound either by a chronological order
or by a definite plan. Supposing a tablet to be a narra-
tive, it may require an introduction which recalls facts
mentioned in another one, or it may even be a summary
of such facts. Therefore a series of tablets put together^
in book form, as was probably done by Ezra for thai
tablets of Moses, will necessarily produce a compositiori
hke Genesis, where the connexion is very loose between
the different parts, and in which there are repetitions
and a complete absence of proportion in the way each
subject is treated. - Naturally, a scholar who has not
divested himself of the notion which we have of a book
will find himself tempted to find different authors in a
text which consists of fragments, pieced together, which
one author WTote at various times and under various
circumstances.
\Mien Ezra compiled the tablets he could not begin
32 ARCPIAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
otherwise than by those which referred to creation.
We can easily separate the first four : the creation of
heaven and earth, the creation of mankind, the generations
of men as far as Noah, and the deluge.
The first begins with an indication of time : in the
beginning, iv apxv, God created the heaven and the earth ;
then the writer relates the work of the six days, after
which God rested. Being the summary of God's com-
plete work, the narrative mentions the creation of man
and the fact that he is to have dominion over all that had
been made before. Since the creation of man is only an
episode in the whole work, one feature in the general
picture, it is not treated with such detail as it is in another
tablet, the special subject of which is the creation of man-
kind. The tablet ended with these words : (ii. 4.) " These
are the generations of the heaven and the earth when
they were created." It is evidently an error to consider
these words as the title of the next narrative — we should
say, of the next tablet — which does not speak either of
the creation of the heaven or of that of the earth. Some
critics, e.g. Kautzsch and Socin, and others, have very cor-
rectly considered these words as the end of the first
narrative. This seems also to be the interpretation of
theLXX., who translate: Avtt) rj /St/Q\o9 YeveVeo)? oupavov
Kol j)]<;, ore iyeveTo. ' ' This is the book of heaven and earth
when they were created." A book ended there, or as we
should say, a tablet. The word /9//9\o?, papyrus-book,
is employed here because the LXX translated from
Aramaic papyrus-rolls.
Now begins a new tablet, which, as we have said, is
independent of the first ; it is a book in itself. Therefore
the first sentence does not follow the last one of the other
tablet, as would be the case with two pages. It is a new
narrative which requires an introduction. The events
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 33
related occur after the creation, but the author begins
with contrasting the primitive state of the earth, when it
was first created and before the existence of man, with
the Garden of Eden (ii. 4.) "In the day that the Lord
made heaven and earth iv rjfiepa eTTolrjcrev Kupio<i 6 6e6i;
the earth was entirely barren, " for the Lord God had
not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no
man to till the ground." But, when the Lord had formed
man. He put him into the Garden of Eden, the vegetation
of which was luxuriant. Why ? — because a " river went
out of Eden to water the garden," and man was there
" to dress it and to keep it." At the beginning no rain
and utter barrenness, on the contrary in the Garden of
Eden where man had been put, abundance of plants and
fruits due not to rain, but to a river which divides itself
into four branches, a detail which it is very important to
notice. I do not believe that the critics have ever paid
any attention to this fact, since they suppose that all
that is said of the river is an interpolation due to a different
author. This, I do not hesitate to say, shows a strange
lack of insight into the composition of the narrative.
Why should the author have mentioned at the beginning
the absence of rain and the emptiness which was the result
of it, if it was not to put it in opposition to the riches
and plenty which a river brought to the garden. It is
interesting to notice that this reveals an author who knew
Egypt. For him fertility is derived not from rain, but
from a river, and this river divides itself into several
branches. Evidently when he wrote that description
Moses had the Nile before his eyes. We shall see in
another chapter that he again quotes Egypt as the type
of a fertile and rich country.
After the description of the river, which is somewhat
detailed, the wTiter reverts to man whom the Lord has
D
34 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
put in the garden. He describes the command given to
man not to eat from one of the trees, the birth of Eve, the
temptation, the fall and its consequences, the birth of Cain
and Abel and of their first descendants. The tablet closes,
like the former one, with these words, which I translate
from the LXX : (v. i.) " This is the book of the generation
of mankind." Avti] n) ^i^\o^ 'yeveaea><; avOpco-rrcov. Here
the Hebrew also has the word " book." The tablet of
the creation of mankind ends there.
Another tablet begins (v. i. ) It also has the necessary in-
troduction and it opens exactly like the former one with
the words : " in the day that "...?? vp-hi*- i-rrol-naeu
6 deo^. The author is about to describe the generations
of men as far as Noah, and very aptly begins by saying
that God made men male and female, therefore they could
give birth to children. He here mentions only the father,
while in the tablet of the generation of mankind the
mother is nearly always mentioned. Here again we may
recognize the man who knew Egypt, where the idea that
a divine being, for instance a god, could give birth to his
son from his owti substance, by himself, was very famihar,
an idea with which the writer of the tablet disagrees
completely.
I believe we have also the indication of the end of this
tablet. It goes as far as Noah, and the words (Gen. vi. 9),
" these are the generations of Noah," seem to have been
misunderstood. They cannot apply to the following
narrative, which is that of the deluge. Even critics like
Kautzsch and Socin have noticed the discrepancy between
the title and the text, since they translate : this is the
family-history of Noah. We must translate this rubric
like that of the first tablet, to which it is exactly similar
in Hebrew : " this is the generation of Noah." It is his
genealogy since Adam.
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 35
The tablet of the deluge, which follows, is one of the
most important of Genesis. It is, in fact, the description
of Noah's life until his death. It bears very strongly the
same character as each of the previous writings. It is a
book in itself, which Moses may perhaps have written
before he wrote the tablets of creation. Naturally, at
the beginning the writer introduces the man who may
be called the hero of the deluge. Noah was a righteous
man who had three sons, and he walked with God while
the inhabitants of the earth were corrupt. This is a
repetition of what is in another tablet, which might be
unknown to the reader, since this is not a mere continu-
ation of it. In my opinion, this tablet ended with the
death of Noah (ix. 29).
We cannot now go further in the separation and analysis
of these tablets, which are no longer in their original lan-
guage. But such seems to me the method according to
which these ancient texts ought to be studied. They are
a series of tablets, arranged by Ezra or by some compiler,
whoever it might be. Each tablet is a whole in itself
and may contain facts or sentences found also in another.
The task of the critics is now to separate them and to
distinguish the old documents from the work of the com-
piler. Putting them together, changing their language
and their script must necessarily have had some influence
on the text. I should fancy, for instance, that the compiler
would replace geographical names absolutely unknown
to his contemporaries by those in use in his time, just as a
French writer of the present day might put Paris in
place of Lutetia.
I believe that if the Pentateuch is studied in this light,
many of the assertions which are proclaimed by the critics
to be unassailable are bound to disappear. What reason
is there for assigning different authors to the four tablets
36 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
which we traced in the first nine chapters of Genesis ?
For instance, the first tablet, the creation of heaven and
earth, being attributed to the Priestly Code, must be
post exilic, and therefore 400 years younger than the
second, the creation of mankind, which is Jahvist. Yet
there is no discrepancy between them, though they are
independent, and we have found no ground whatever to
question their being the work of one author.
Kautzsch and Socin distinguish four authors in the first
two chapters of Genesis, and one tablet has to be divided
between two or three. On the contrary, we have noticed
that each tablet is a whole which unfolds itself quite
logically, and that so-called repetitions from another form
the introduction necessary in order that the tablet may
be well understood.
Why should Moses not be the author, as he is said to be by
the tradition of many centuries ? Why should his tablets
not have been preserved just as much as Hammurabi's
code, or the letters of the Palestinian governors ? I am
convinced that the fact of the Pentateuch having orig-
inally been written on cuneiform tablets, when new
discoveries shall have confirmed the information which
we have already derived from the fact, will be a fatal
blow struck at Wellhausen's theory, and that it will be the
end of the " Rainbow Bible," of the picture with variegated
colours, each one representing an author whose name,
origin and date are absolutely unknown, and whose
conjectural existence is based merely on a literary criticism
which is quite irrelevant since it is not appHed to an
original text.
The Garden of Eden and the Land of Egypt
The tablet of the creation of mankind gives the de-
scription of the Garden of Eden, out of the ground of which
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 37
the Lord God " made to grow every tree that is pleasant
to the sight and good for food." We noticed that this
luxuriant vegetation was due, not to rain, but to a river
which " went out of the garden to water Eden " and after-
wards divided itself into four branches described at some
length. This seems to reveal an author who knew Egypt,
the fertihty of which proceeded, and still proceeds, not
from rain, but from its magnificent river. Moses had
Egypt before his eyes ; that country was for him the type
of the most fertile and rich land which he could imagine.
We find an allusion to Egypt in another passage also ;
in Genesis xiii. 10. Abram has come out of Egypt with
his nephew Lot. Their herdsmen quarrel, and in order
that there should be no strife, Abram tells Lot that they
must separate, and that he may go to the right or to the
left. Lot lifts up his eyes and beholds " all the Plain of
Jordan that it was well watered everywhere, before the
Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden
of the Lord, hke the land of Egypt as thou goest unto Zoar."
It seems natural to connect this passage with the
description of Eden. The Plain of Jordan is well watered,
hke the garden which the Lord prepared for man, and also
like the land of Egypt " as thou goest unto Zoar." Surely
the two descriptions must be by the same author.
The critics have cut them up between various writers.
The description of Eden is by the Jahvist, except what
is said of the river ; that belongs to the redactor. In
the thirteenth chapter the verse quoted above is also by
the Jahvist, but the words " like the land of Egypt "
are put down as a late gloss, the author of which is not
known. On the contrary, we shall see that these words
belong to the old Mosaic text.
This conjecture of the critics is due to a confusion in
the vowel points of the Massora, which resulted in their
38 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
not distinguishing two quite different cities of Zoar.
Undoubtedly there was a City of Zoar south of the Dead
Sea, in Moab. There Lot took refuge after the destruction
of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is mentioned in Deuteronomy
(xxxiv. 4) as the southern point of the view before the
eyes of Moses, and also by the prophets Isaiah and Jere-
miah. There is what is called a popular etymology of the
name in what Lot says to the angel, " Oh, let me escape
thither, is it not a httle one ? . . , therefore the name
of the city was called Zoar," which means " little." The
LXX always transcribe the City of Moab Segor, I'^ywp.
This city was separated from Egypt by the whole Sinaitic
desert, so it cannot be meant in the passage of chapter
xiii.
" Like the land of Egypt as thou goest unto Zoar "
refers to a quite different city, which the LXX read Zogora :
Zoyopa, the Egyptian Zar. This city is well known.
It was on the most eastern branch of the Nile, the Pelusiac.
Not only do we find it mentioned in many inscriptions,
but we have a picture of it in one of the sculptures repre-
senting the campaign of King Seti I, of the Nineteenth
Dynasty, against the populations of the Sinaitic peninsula
and the southern part of Palestine. It was called a
fortress, and we see that it consisted of pylons and towers
on both sides of the river, joined by a bridge. It has
long ago been identified with the present Kantarah {the
bridge), one of the stations on the Suez Canal which used
to be, and was till quite lately, one of the entrances into
Egypt for the caravans coming from Palestine. In-
scriptions lately discovered have confirmed the identifi-
cation of Zar with the site of Kantarah. The road from
Egypt to Canaan through Zar was the most northerly one.
There was another more southerly one through Pithom,
of which we shall have to speak further. Zar was con-
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 39
sidered as the limit of Egypt on that side as late as the
Ptolemies. Its name in Egyptian contains a sign indicat-
ing that it is a foreign word. On the east was the desert
where, here and there, the Pharaohs had dug wells and
built towers and stations on the road to Canaan ; but it
was neither so well- watered nor so well cultivated as the
land on the west.
The western part of the Delta between the Tanitic and
Pelusiac branches was a very rich land. As late as the
fourth century a Christian pilgrim, Silvia Aquitana,
describing it, says that when she journeyed along the Nile
(the Pelusiac branch) she went " through vineyards which
produced wine, and vineyards producing balsam, through
orchards extremely well cultivated, fields and gardens.
What more ? I do not think I ever saw a more beautiful
territory." Although the good lady, who is a perfect type
of many tourists of the present day, beheves whatever is
said to her by her guides and sees the old Israelites every-
where, the description she gives of that part of the country
is most interesting. It is a striking illustration, given
quite unintentionally, of the passage in Genesis.
That part of the country has changed considerably
since Silvia Aquitana's journey. The silting up of
the Pelusiac and Tanitic branches, the formation of Lake
Menzaleh, due to the sinking of the ground, have destroyed
the former beauty of the land. A few years ago the ruins
of the great city of Tanis could only be reached by going
across marshes and a swampy country, the quite barren
white soil of which is the salt land, the type of sterihty for
the Psalms and for Jeremiah. Evidently that part of the
Delta is quite different from what it was even in Ptolemaic
times. Canals are now being dug there in order to restore
to that region part at least of its ancient fruitfulness.
The passage : " like the garden of the Lord, like the
40 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
land of Egypt as thou goest unto Zoar," is extremely
embarrassing for the critics. It is supposed to have been
written by the Jahvist who lived in the kingdom of
Judah in the ninth century (b.c). In that case, there is
absolutely no reason for speaking of Egypt, a country
far distant and unknown to the inhabitants of Judea.
In comparing the land of Sodom and Gomorrah with
another which was particularly beautiful, it is obvious
that the writer must have chosen a region which his
readers knew, so that they might judge how far his com-
parison was true. He has first spoken of the garden of
the Lord, which I have no hesitation in considering as
being Eden, the ideal type of fruitfulness and beauty.
Eden had never been seen by any of the contemporaries
of the writer, so he must choose a country which they
might see : Egypt.
Then the author cannot have been one who lived in
Judea. His comparison would not in that case have
appealed in the least to his readers. Supposing it made
in our time by a Scotch preacher to his congregation, it
would come to this : like the garden of the Lord, like
Normandy as thou goest to Le Havre. What kind of
impression would such a comparison make upon Scotch
hearers ?
Most of the critics consider the words, " hke the land
of Egypt," as a gloss. We shall not inquire whether
there is any reason for inserting this gloss into the text
since this insertion makes the sentence quite incongruous.
For Zoar is always considered by them as being the city
south of the Dead Sea ; therefore on the way to Zoar
thou dost not go through the well- watered land of Egypt,
but, on the contrary, through a waterless desert ; so
that the whole passage is quite inconsistent and mean-
ingless.
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 41
It is not much clearer when, with Kautzsch and Socin,
we strike out the gloss and translate : like the paradise
as far as Zoar. The paradise does not exist ; how can
there be a way from that garden towards Zoar ? Other
critics suppose that the Upper Jordan valley is the Garden
of the Lord. But we do not think that this name is ever
applied to the Jordan valley ; besides, going from there
to Zoar it was necessary to skirt the Dead Sea, the very
region which had been destroyed. How then could this
be the second term of the comparison ? I need not dwell
longer on the utter inability of the critics to give a reason-
able explanation of this sentence unless they correct the
text. Some of their translations are absolutely meaning-
less.
There seems to be only one way to solve the difficulty,
and to interpret the sentence as it is, without striking out
anything. But before coming to Egypt, let us begin
with " the Garden of the Lord." In my opinion, this
cannot be anything else than the Garden of Eden, the
magnificent dwelling which the Lord had devised and
prepared for man. The author has before his eyes the
vision of the glorious creation of the Lord described in
another tablet. The land of Sodom and Gomorrah was a
true Eden. This comparison has for Moses a majesty and
a nobleness which it has lost entirely in modern times,
since the name Eden has been prostituted to hotels and
cajes-chantants.
But no one except Adam had been in Eden. The
author himself knows its existence only from tradition,
or from some early documents which had been preserved
unto his time. In order that his comparison may be really
telling for his contemporaries, he must quote something
which they have before their eyes ; and this is the land
of Egypt. Zoar, the Egyptian Zar, is the fortress on the
42 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
frontier, it is the place where Egypt ended. On the
eastern side of the Pelusiac branch the country is no longer
Egypt, it is the desert. The fertile and beautiful land
is on the west, so that the sentence means, as the LXX
and the Coptic read "like the land of Egypt, until thou
reachest Zoar" : &)<? t) 7^ Al-yvTrrov 6tu9 iXdelv eh Zoyopa.
There is no possible misunderstanding, the sentence is
WTitten for a man who lives in Egypt and who goes
towards the border-city of Zoar. How then can the
author be a writer in the kingdom of Judah ? For this
does not apply to a traveller going from Judea to Egypt.
It is just the reverse. At Zoar Egypt ends ; west of
it, towards Judea, there is the desert inhabited by the
nomads called the Shasu.
Let us now revert to the Israelites in Egypt. This
beautiful country is contiguous to the land of Goshen
where they reside. Probably a great number of them
know it, perhaps they know the city of Zoar on the way
to Canaan with which they may have intercourse of some
kind. Does any explanation account better for the
meaning of this sentence than that Moses was its author,
and that the tablet relating this episode of Abram's life
was written before Moses left Egypt ?
As we said before, there seems to be such a strong
connection between tliis passage and the description of
Eden, that it shows the hand of one single author for both
tablets. This is also the opinion of the critics, except
that they take out of the tablet of man's creation the
description of the river watering the Garden of Eden,
and out of this tablet the words " like the land of Egypt."
For the second time we notice that the suppression of
so-called interpolations or glosses destroys entirely the
drift of the passage ; and in this case takes away from
the sentence all reasonable sense. Thus in these short
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 43
passages : the description of the river in Eden, and this
comparison concerning the state of the land before the
destruction of the cities, while the critics trace there
different authors, we find only Moses writing in Egypt.
Ham and Canaan
The tenth chapter of Genesis, " the generations of the
sons of Noah," is one which has been most discussed by
the critics, who attribute it to various writers. We shal
consider here only one verse, (6) " And the sons of Ham,
Cush and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan."
There is no doubt about Mizraim, the ordinary name
for Egypt. As for Cush, it is generally translated
Ethiopia, the region of the Upper Nile, above Egypt.
Certainly this was the meaning of the name of Cush in later
times, as we know from Egyptian inscriptions ; but in
the chapter of Genesis where we find the origin and the
first dwelling of the various branches of mankind, it
seems established by the works of Ass3n:ian scholars that
Cush is Northern Arabia, " especially the district around
Djebel Shammar." ^
Phut, as Rouge first pointed out, is the incense country
of Punt situated on both sides of the Red Sea. The
Egyptian inscriptions place it either south or east of
Egypt, the real position being south-east.
One of the reasons for attacking the authenticity of
chapter x. is the name Canaan. Canaan being the
residence of the Phoenicians and the Hebrews, who both
spoke a Semitic language, the first ancestor of the in-
habitants cannot be a son of Ham. He must be a Semite.
Therefore they say that the hst is certainly erroneous
on that point.
Anthropology has now taught us, by unassailable facts,
^ Hommel in Hilprecht : Explorations in Bible Lands, p. 742.
44 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
that language and race are far from being identical and
that language is no sure criterion of the ethnical type of
those who speak it. H we look at the Egypt of the present
day, where nothing but Arabic is spoken b}'' the fellaheen,
we should say that the Egyptians are a Semitic popula-
tion. Yet Greek had been so generally adopted until
the Mohammedan conquest, especially as a written lan-
guage, and for documents of all kinds that, if we used the
same argument as the Hebrew scholars use about Hebrew
and which we controverted in the preceding chapter, we
should say that the Egyptians spoke Greek, and therefore
they belonged to the Indo-European stock. In this case
we can trace when the change of language took place
and we know the original idiom.
Not so with the old Asiatic nations about which we
have very scanty information, especially considering
that a conquest may have influenced language in many
ways. In ancient as well as in modern times, if the conquest
brought a change in the religion the original language
was immediately affected. For example we see that the
conquest of Egypt by the Arabs having resulted in the
destruction of Christianity and the substitution of the
mosque for the church, a change of language followed at
once : Arabic took the place of Coptic. The Cliristian-
ized Egyptian, the Coptic, remained only in families where
the Christian faith was preserved. It is still a religious
language, the language of the Church ; but since the end
of the seventeenth century it is dead as a spoken idiom.
In the same way Arabic superseded the North African
languages, it follows in the steps of the Mohammedan
religion. The tribes which have kept their idiom are
those whose Mohammedanism is merely nominal. The
same also with Turkish. In the empire of the Sultan it
Is the language of the conquerors, the followers of the
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 45
prophet, who often forced their behef upon their subjects
by the sword.
If we go back to Egypt, we find no trace of the language
of the Hyksos, who occupied the country for several
centuries, and who were certainly an Asiatic nation,
coming, according to all probabihty, directly from Asia.
They had another religion than the Egyptians. " They
reigned ignoring Ra," as a papyrus says ; and this was
one of the reasons why they were the objects of the hatred
of the natives. But they did not enforce their worship
on the Egyptians. On the contrary, they seem to have
adopted more and more the religion of the country they
had conquered, building temples on the same principle
and having the names of their kings enclosed in two
cartouches, one of which is introduced by the rehgious
title " son of Ra." The same happened at the Assyrian
conquest. Esar-haddon did not build in Egypt sanctuaries
to his gods, his religion did not conquer the worship of
Amon and Osiris. Therefore the language remained
the same.
We see also in antiquity, as well as in our time, that
the same language may be written by nations or tribes
belonging to different races, as is shown by the tablets of
Tel-el- Amarna. The population of Palestine was certainly
not homogeneous as to race and origin, neither was it
entirely Semitic ; nevertheless the governors of the various
cities wrote only a Semitic language ; and certainly it
would be a great mistake to draw an ethnological con-
clusion from this fact.
Assuming that the whole population of Canaan spoke
Semitic, it would not follow that it was a Semitic race.
1 should even say that the scanty indications which have
been preserved lead us to the opposite idea. It is said
that Canaan begat Zidon his first-born, and Heth. " And
46 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
the border of the Canaanite was from Zidon as thou goest
towards Gerar and Gaza, as thou goest towaids Sodom
and Gomorrah. ..." The territory of the Canaanite is
described by this passage as being in the first place the
fertile plain along the sea, from Zidon to Gaza, and then
turning at a right angle, it extends over Southern Pales-
tine and Judea as far as the Dead Sea, this part of the
country being inhabited by the Jebusites, the Amorites
and the Girgashites, evidently the descendants of Heth,
while six others, being in the north, must be the sons of
Zidon.
Whenever the text sums up the description of the
posterity of one of the sons, it adds : " Nations divided
in their lands every one after his tongue, after their
families, in their nations " . . . or " after their families,
after their tongues, in their lands, in their nations," showing
that the dispersion implies not only different lands, but
also different tongues. These passages do not lead to
the theoretical idea which has prevailed too long in
philology, as to Indo-European and Semitic languages,
of a typical mother-tongue whence dialects should have
diverged. On the contrary they agree with the idea
now advocated by anthropology, of the diversity of lan-
guage being simultaneous with the dispersion, so that one
does not know where to find the mother-tongue. The
further back we go, the greater is the variety, as with the
primitive people of the present day.
We learn from the Egyptian inscriptions that the
Sinaitic peninsula was first inhabited by a population
called the Anu Mentu. There are several branches of
Anu which are all African nations, inhabitants of Nubia,
and of the countries bordering Egypt on the west ; they
occupied also the valley of the Nile itself, where their name
has remained in that oiAn On, Hehopolis. They are cer-
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 47
tainly not Semites. They are a Hamitic population, sons
of Ham as much as are the Egyptians. It is quite possible
that the Anu Mentu, the population of the Sinaitic penin-
sula, may have marched further north and have occupied
also the southern part of Palestine, the mountains of
Judea, where the tenth chapter of Genesis locates the
sons of Ham. Those who were in the beautiful and fertile
plain along the sea might easily push further north as
far as Zidon.
On the coast, also, we find the Philistines. We do not
know exactly when they settled in the country to which
they gave their name. The most recent excavations tend
to show that they came from Crete, and also that the
civilization of this great island is closely related to that of
Egypt. The first inhabitants of Crete were undoubtedly
not Semites ; nor do they seem to have been Aryans ;
so that here again, even if the Philistines were already
settled in Canaan at the time when this tablet was written,
that part of the country was inhabited by descendants of
Ham.
But we have other indications that the Phoenicians
did not originally inhabit the coast of Palestine. Herodo-
tus says twice that they came from the Red Sea. It is
probable that by that name we must not understand the
whole of the present Red Sea. The northern part of the
Gulf of Suez is for Herodotus the Arabian Gulf ; so that
the name Red Sea may have extended to part of the
Indian Ocean and perhaps to the Persian Gulf. This
seems to connect them with some Cushite nations which
were settled on both sides of the present Red Sea. Lepsius
explained the Latin name of Poeni and the Greek cpoivi^
by that of the inhabitants of Punt, whose name he read
Puna, which most Egyptologists read Punti, and which I
read Puni. The assimilation made by Lepsius has to
48 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
be considered seriously, in spite of the contempt \\ith
which it has been treated by some German scholars.
According to this opinion, the Phoenicians would have
to be reckoned as belonging to the posterity of Phut,
one of the sons of Ham.
The tenth chapter of Genesis raises difficult questions
in reference to original authorship. We can understand
the Hebrews having preserved the tradition concerning
the creation of the world, or that of mankind. Even the
flood may be one of those popular narratives handed on
from father to son, through many generations. Nearly
all nations have traditions of that kind which are put
down in writing, sometimes very long after they originated.
It is not at all impossible that the Israelites had these
traditions before Abram left ]\Iesopotamia, especially since
they were intimately connected \\ith Abram's worship.
For we must not consider Abram's migration into Canaan
as that of a single family. It must have been that of a
tribe of some importance, since we see that on the occa-
sion of the war of the Mesopotamian kings against the
kings of Sodom and Gomorrah Abram led forth his trained
men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, so
that he must have been a chief ha\dng a power worth}' to
be compared with that of the rulers among whom he
settled.
If now we try to find the reason which induced Terah
to take his son Abram and his grandson Lot to go to
Canaan, stopping first at Haran ; and afterwards Abram
to take Lot as his companion and to choose as his abode
the South of Canaan, it is hardly possible to find for that
migration any other cause but religion. These words :
" Now the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy
country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's
house, unto the land that I will show thee ... So Abram
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 49
went, as the Lord had spoken unto him" (Gen. xii. i)
seem to show that his worship was not that of his family,
and that he went to Canaan, to a country where he could
practise his own religion without incurring the enmity
of those who were not followers of the same worship.
Applying to the Abrahamites a modern name, we should
call them a sect.
A sect naturally must have its rehgious books, relating
its origin. It has some documents showing whence it
comes and how it was born. In fact the first eleven
chapters of Genesis are nothing but the generation of
Abram, beginning at the first man. They are his pedigree.
These chapters may have been wTitten on tablets brought
from Haran, which Moses used or copied. He may have
chosen from among a larger number those which best
answered his purpose. The fact of these tablets having
been written in Mesopotamia accounts for their similarity
to the Assyrian documents on the deluge or even on
creation, a similarity upon which so many theories have
lately been based.
A few tablets may easily have been carried by nomads
even to a great distance, as were the letters written by
the governors of Palestinian cities, or the kings of Babylon
to Amenophis III in Egypt, Especially would this be the
case if the Abrahamites gave them a religious value ;
if these tablets were for them a kind of title-deed showing
that they were the tribe set apart to call upon the Name
of the Lord and be faithful to the worship of Yahveh
Elohim, the people with whom the Lord would make a
covenant, and in whom all the families of the earth should
be blessed ; surely they would take special care of them,
and value them as a treasure.
As we said before, these early tablets, which were left by
Moses as a collection of independent documents, were prob-
E
50 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
ably put into book form by Ezra when he turned them into
Aramaic. He may have added or inserted a few glosses
so that his [book might be better understood by his
contemporaries ; for instance, it is doubtful whether the
Philistines were known under that name at the time when
the tablet was written ; but here, again, there is no reason
for dividing this chapter between three or four absolutely
unknown authors.
The tablet describing the posterity of Noah began with
these words (x. i) : " Now these are the generations of
the sons of Noah." It ended with verse 32, which is the
end of the chapter : " These are the famihes of the sons
of Noah, after their generations, in their nations : and
of these were the nations divided in the earth after the
jflood." This sums up the genealogy, and teaches us that
the division of the nations took place after the flood.
We must remember that all this is WTitten, not by a
historian who considers it his duty to record all events
which took place at a certain time or in a certain country,
but by an author who has a quite different aim in view.
He has to show how everything is directed towards the
choice of Abraham and his posterity as the elect.
" These three were the sons of Noah : and of these was
the whole earth overspread " (ix. 19), says the tablet of the
deluge. " Of these were the nations divided in the earth
after the flood," (x. 32) are the closing words of the tablet
which we have just considered. In the following one we
learn how this division took place. The narrative begins
with the necessary introduction. The author goes back
to what happened immediately after the flood. There was a
time when the whole earth was of one language and of
one speech. But when men tried to build the Tower of
Babel, the Lord confounded their languages and scattered
them abroad upon the face of all the earth. Now in
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 51
this vast confusion of nations and languages, where could
be found the chosen ones, those who were set apart ?
They spring from one of the sons of Shem ; therefore
the writer reverts to this son of Noah, and to part of his
descent which he has mentioned before, in another tablet.
Arpachshad was the ancestor of the elect, and the writer
enumerates all his descendants as far as Abraham and to
the death of Terah, Abraham's father.
If we remember that this is a tablet not linked in writing
to another as two consecutive chapters of a book ; if we
take it as a piece of literature standing by itself, we cannot
but recognize that there is an intimate connexion between
the two parts which, at first sight, are so dissimilar.
There is no inconsistency. The genealogy of Terah is the
necessary sequel to the description of the chaos of man-
kind. It is the leading thread which will bring us out of
this confusion to Abraham's family. Therefore I cannot
understand how it can be attributed to three different
authors, two of whom would be separated by several
hundred of years, and one about whom the critics have
a very indistinct idea.
I consider that this is the last of the tablets brought from
Mesopotamia. It is quite possible that the first writer
gave them a somewhat different form. Moses may have
modified them in some respects. We find the trace of his
hand in the passage about the Garden of Eden and the land
of Egypt. He evidently had these old documents, and
embodied them in his own tablets in which he recorded
either events preserved by tradition, like the history of
Joseph, or those which took place in his time and of which
he could speak as an eyewitness.
Abraham
One of the striking features of Genesis is the complete
52 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
lack of proportion. Some events are described at great
length, others are entirely left alone. For instance, except
a few names, giving us the generations of Shem, there is
nothing between the dispersion of mankind and Abraham's
migration to Canaan. We have no account whatever of
the reason why Terah was called to leave Ur with part of
his family to settle in Haran, and why he did not go further,
but remained there until his death.
We must not consider Genesis as an ordinary book of
history. History as we understand it now did not exist
at that time. The idea of recording what had taken place
in ancient times merely for the sake of preserving the
recollection of the past did not occur to these old writers.
When they related what had happened many centuries
before their time, it was \\ith a definite purpose ; it was to
illustrate something they had at heart and which had for
them a special importance.
What constitutes the admirable unity of Genesis, al-
though it consists of separate parts not joined together like
the chapters of a book, and what is utterly disregarded and
even destroyed by the critics, is that from the beginning
every narrative is chosen so as to show how Israel is set
apart from the rest of mankind. The reason of that choice
is that a special duty will be laid upon Israel, it will have a
primary task to fulfil : the mission of worshipping Yahveh-
Elohim, and of having no other God but Him. Every-
thing tends towards that central idea from the very begin-
ning. The first tablets which we showed could be traced
lead us towards what we may call the cornerstone of the
history of the Israelites. It is remarkable how everything
which has no bearing on that dominating fact, the setting
apart of Israel, is passed over rapidly or left entirely out.
First comes the creation of heaven and earth, then that
of man and his generations ; those are mentioned with
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 53
hardly any detail. Noah is set apart and saved from the
destruction of the men who had been wicked and corrupt*
The deluge and the preservation of Noah is related at great
length ; the Lord made a covenant with Noah, and we are
taught how mankind was renewed from the families of his
three sons. They are scattered abroad, and are divided
into three branches, each bearing the name of one of Noah's
sons and described after their families, after their tongues,
in their lands, in their nations. In that restored humanity
one branch only is chosen, that of Shem ; among his
descendants one family only, that of Arpachsad, and from
his numerous sons and daughters, those who will be the
ancestors of Terah, the father of Abram.
We shall not hear any more either of the posterity of
Japheth or Ham, nor of the other descendants of Shem,
They are quite useless for the history of Israel.
Since this narrative is not written in a book, but on
tablets, there are what I may call literary irregularities,
repetitions and other failures against the rules set down by
masters in the art of writing. These literary faults have
been the stumbling-block of the critics, and have driven
them to that mincing process, to that cutting up of Genesis
into small pieces due to various authors from different
places and separated sometimes by several centuries.
This destroys completely the unity of the book, it hides
this higher conception on which it rests. Minute philolog-
ical analysis has obscured to the critics the true scope and
purport of the book. It has deafened their ears to the
leading note, though that note sounds m it from beginning
to end.
" Now the Lord said unto Abram (xii. i) : Get thee out
of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy
father's house, unto the land that I will show thee, and I
will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and
54 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
make thy name great." As I said before, this seems to
show clearly that it was a religious reason which drove
Abraham out of his country. His migiation is connected
with a blessing, and a blessing generally implies the
promise of multiplying and of giving birth to a numerous
posterity.
Abram is the man with whom the Lord made a special
covenant. He, above all others, is considered by the
Israelites as their ancestor. Therefore his life is described
at great length, as well as the various episodes which show
how God set him apart and promised him repeatedly that
he should be the father of a great nation. Not only do we
find here the outward events of his life, such as the deliver-
ance of Lot from the hands of the Mesopotamian kings,
but the writer of the tablets shows us what we may call his
religious character, his peculiar intercourse with God,
which is revealed by the sacrifice of Isaac, or by the mar-
vellous sort of discussion which Abram had with God about
the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. These two
striking episodes, wherein is brought forward in so vivid a
way the moral and religious life of Abraham, are attri-
buted by the critics to two different writers ; what I have
called the discussion with God to the Jahvist and the
sacrifice of Isaac to the Elohist who wrote one century
later in the Northern Kingdom, the Jahvist residing in
Judea. They must have both painted for themselves
Abraham's character with very similar colours, since both
wrote fragments which fitted so weU into the literary
construction raised by the redactor !
Here a question occurs naturally to our minds which I
shall have other occasions to repeat : Where did these two
authors get the traditions on which they based their nar-
rative ? — for we cannot suppose that they are romances of
their invention. There must have been in each kingdom a
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 55
tradition very similar, I might even say identical, though
the writers who recorded them did not live in the same
country, and wrote at a different time. How could these
two traditions correspond so weU to each other ? Who were
those authors ? What was their purpose in writing books
of which short fragments only have been preserved ? Even
if we admitted the existence of these two writers it would
be hardly possible to suppose that they had not at their
disposal an old document from which they both borrowed
the facts of their narratives.
The supposition which seems to me the most reasonable
is that these recollections of Abraham's life were preserved
by his descendants, and perhaps partly put in writing,
until Moses collected and re- wrote them. In the drift of
the narrative we find many Mosaic touches. Moses shares
the^same feehngs with Abraham and the same faith. He
has the same familiar intercourse with God. One may
well fancy that it is the same man who wrote Abram's
requests about Sodom and Gomorrah, when he dared not
plead for less than than six men, and Moses's own prayer
when on the border of Canaan he besought the Lord, say-
ing : " Let me go over, I pray thee, and see the good land
that is beyond Jordan," and received the answer : " Let it
suffice thee, speak no more unto Me of this matter."
Genesis not being an historical book, but a number of
tablets put together, it is not necessary that we should
always find a strict chronological order. Some parts may
be a summary of previous events in a man's life. For
instance, the last chapter, which refers to Abraham, begins
with these words (xxv) : " And Abraham took another
wife, and her name was Keturah," and the text goes on to
give the list of all Abraham's sons whose mother was
Keturah. This tablet gave Abraham's posterity exclusive
of Isaac's descendants. We must picture to ourselves
56 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Abraham as one of those great nomadic chieftains ; what we
should now call a sheikh. With those men, polygamy was
the rule, as it still is. One of their wives was the predom-
inant one ; she had special rights, and her sons were the
heirs ; but a powerful and rich man might have slaves and
concubines, wives of a lower rank, whose children would
receive gifts, Hke the children of Keturah, while all that
Abraham had was given to Isaac.
We must not think therefore that Keturah became
Abraham's wife only after Sarah's death. She is men-
tioned at the beginning of the tablet which relates the
patriarch's end and which gives the list of his posterity.
We do not know when Abraham took Keturah. Here the
author of the tablet recalls something in the past, as we
have already seen several times. It seems to me that the
true meaning would be better rendered if we translated
also here : Abraham had taken another wife.
As for Ishmael, he alone is mentioned with Isaac as
being Abraham's son. These brothers alone buried their
father, though there were many others. The explanation
of this fact lies in the circumstances of Ishmael's birth.
We see here thatSarai transfers her rights to Hagar : " It
may be that I shall obtain children by her." Therefore
she will consider Hagar's children as her own, and when
once such an utterance had been made to Abraham, and
probably before Hagar herself, it could not be withdrawn.
Sarai alone could use such language, since she had the
privileges of which Abraham could not despoil her, for it
rested on blood-kinship. Sarai was Abraham's half-sister.
This kind of marriage is often seen in Egypt, especially in
the royal family. A king hked to marry his half-sister
because in that case his son had a right to the throne on
both sides. Between Isaac and Ishmael there was the
same difference as between two Egyptian princes, on« of
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 57
whom is the son of a queen who entitles herself royal wife
and royal sister and the other of whom has royal blood only
through his father. In that case the king often confers
through association with his son the rights which this son
has not got from his mother's side. Sarai substitutes
Hagar for herself, and though she repents of it afterwards,
and obtains from Abraham the dismissal of Hagar, still
Ishmael comes next to Isaac and above his other brothers.
Hagar, who twice in her flight took the road to Egypt,
probably wishing to return to her own country, receives
the promise that her son will become a great nation. She
takes for him a wife from her^own people, and Ishmael
settles in the desert south of Canaan and also in the
northern part of Arabia. His descendants may have been
the Shasu, the nomads who, at the time of the Nineteenth
Dynasty, were the enemies of Seti I and against whom he
made his first campaign.
Abraham, Isaac and Abimelech
There is a narrative which occurs three times in Genesis
under very similar but not quite identical circumstances.
This narrative also has been a stumbling-block for the
critics. The first time that Abram goes to Egypt,
because there was a famine in Canaan, he says to Sarai his
wife (xii. 11) : " Behold now, I know that thou art a fair
woman to look upon, and it shall come to pass, when the
Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say. This is his
wife, and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.
Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister : that it may be well
with me, for thy sake, and that my soul may live because
of thee." Sarai does as she is commanded to do, and she is
taken into Pharaoh's house. But Pharaoh and his people
are stricken by great plagues, and they hasten to send
Abram away, with plenty of sheep and oxen, and he-asses
58 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
and menservants and maidservants, and she-asses and
camels. He was not to remain in the land.
A second time Abram does the same thing. Many
years afterwards, when both he and his wife were advanced
in age, after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (xx.)
he goes to sojom-n in Gerar. Again he says of his wife :
"She is my sister," and Abimelech, the King of Gerar, takes
her. But warned in a dream, he immediately restores
Sarah to her husband, and when he questions Abraham
why he has deceived him, he receives this curious answer :
"It came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my
father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness
which thou shalt shew unto me ; at every place whither we
shall come, say of me, He is my brother."
The third episode of the same kind is in Isaac's life
(xxvi). A famine occurs ; Isaac would feel tempted to do
as his father did, to go to Egypt, where there was corn in
abundance, but the Lord appears to him, and he is told to
dwell in the land. He therefore goes to Gerar to Abime-
lech, who must have been the son of the king who had
known Abraham. Isaac also likewise says of Rebekah :
" She is my sister," for he feared to say " my wife." But
Abimelech discovers that she is Isaac's wife and reproaches
him for having deceived him. Isaac does not leave Abime-
lech's country, but he increases so much in wealth and
power, that Abimelech says unto him : "Go from us, for
thou art most mightier than we." Thereupon we hear
of the quarrel between the herdsmen of Gerar and those
of Isaac because of the wells.
The critics have attributed the journey of Abram to
Egypt to the Jahvist, the episode with Abimelech to the
old Elohist writing about 750, and the narrative of Isaac
and Abimelech again to the Jahvist with fragments
belonging to the redactor. Undoubtedly these repetitions
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 59
are dilficult, and one may well understand the critics being
tempted to see there the hands of several writers ; especi-
ally in the case of Abram. If one gives to these stories
their most obvious interpretation, it seems that Abram
hopes that the beauty of his wife will save him and prevent
him from being murdered. This is well in keeping with
Abram's journey to Egypt, but not at all with his arrival
in Abimelech's territory. In that case one might well
suppose that the cuneiform tablets had not been arranged
in chronological order, and that this had to be placed earlier
in Abram's life.
But I believe there is another explanation, agreeing much
better with the circumstances of these three cases. It
seems to me to solve the greatest difficulties which stand
in the way of the critics.
We see that among the ancient eastern rulers, the
pledge, we might say the living pledge, of a treaty of peace
between two nations was a marriage or rather the gift
of a female relative of one of the kings to the other.
If we look at the tablets on Tel-el-Amarna, in the letters
of Dushratta the king of Mitanni to Amenophis III and
Amenophis IV, father and son, we see the importance which
the foreign king gives to these marriages with Giluhipa his
sister and Taduhipa his daughter.
Dushratta begins one of his letters with these words : " To
Nimmuria (Amenophis III), king of Egypt, my brother.
It is well with me, may it be well with you, with Giluhipa
my sister, may it be well with your house, your wives,
your sons." He singles out his sister among the wives of
Amenophis III. He will say the same thing of Taduhipa
who is his daughter : " May it be well with you, with my
daughter Taduhipa, your wife whom you love, may it
be well with your wives, your sons ..." Evidently
Taduhipa had taken the place of her aunt in the ro3'al
6o ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
harem. She is said to be the wifeof Amenopliisni, and
the word wife is the same as that used when he mentions
others. Curiously when Dushratta writes to Amenophis
IV he uses exactly the same language as he had done
towards Amenophis HI, his father, when speaking of his
daughter : May it be well with you, with your houses,
your mother Ti and the land of Egypt, my daughter
Taduhipa your wife, your other wives, your sons ..."
In one of his letters to Amenophis IV, Dushratta relates
how Nimmuria's father (Thothmes IV) sent to Artatama
his grandfather, " and for his daughter made request, my
grandfather refused. Five or six times he sent, but at no
time did he give her, and then when forced he gave her."
When Amenophis III sent to Shutarna, Dushratta's father,
as king, for his daughter, Dushratta's sister, " he never
gave her . . . five or six times he sent, and then forced
he gave her." Nimmuria makes the same request to
Dushratta. He asks for his daughter. Dushratta first
refuses and makes some difficulties about the price the
king of Egypt is to pay. Finally he agrees, and sends
her with a dowry which was countless. The princess
was conveyed by a messenger who had to pay the dowry
of Taduhipa. When Amenophis III saw her he rejoiced
very greatly and made her beautiful presents.
As far as one can judge, Amenophis III had not
Taduhipa long in his harem. Dushratta writes further :
" When my brother Nimmuria died, . . . whenNaphuria
(Amenophis IV) the distinguished son of Nimmuria by his
distinguished wife Ti entered upon his reign, I spoke say-
ing : Nimmuria is not dead, Naphuria his distinguished son
by his distinguished wife Ti is in his stead. He will not
change from its place one word from what it was before."
This means in the first place that he will take over Tadu-
hipa, and give her the same position as she had under her
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 6i
father, and henceforth we see in his letters that he always
calls Taduhipa the wife of Amenophis IV who had thus
inherited her from his father.
These letters show the real character of these marriages.
The princesses were the living pledges of friendship, a
kind of hostages which had to be renewed at the beginning
of a reign. Amenophis III asks first for Shutarna's
daughter, Giluhipa. After Shutarna's death, when Dush-
ratta is on the throne, he also asks for Dushratta's
daughter Taduhipa. Amenophis III dies and Dushratta
contrives that his daughter should be for the son exactly
what she had been for the father, his so-called " wife."
We must notice that in nearly all cases the king of Mitanni
yields only when he is " forced." This looks very much
as if his daughter had been taken violently, or as if he
could not resist the threats of the king of Egypt who
would have considered him as hostile, as an enemy,
if he had not given his daughter.
The correspo.idence of Amenophis III with KalHma-
Sin, king of Babylonia, turns almost entirely on marriages
of this kind. Even Buznaburiash, who corresponds with
Amenophis IV, also speaks of his daughter being sent to
the king of Egypt. This custom must certainly have been
very old in Babylonia, and Abraham, who was a native of
that country, must have known of it.
This same custom prevailed also amongst kings who were
not Mesopotamians. When, after long wars in which
his successes were certainly not so great as he boasts,
Rameses II at last made peace with the Hittites, the token
of friendship between the two rulers was a princess, the
daughter of the king of Kheta who is seen on a tablet
of the temple of Aboo Simbel coming to Egypt. She is
accompanied by her father.
A custom so general among the eastern sovereigns must
62 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
have been adopted also by the chiefs of tribes. When we
think of Abram leaving Mesopotamia, we must not imagine
a single family numbering only a few heads. Abram
was very hkely a sheikh, the head of a tribe sufficiently
numerous to provide him with a troop strong enough to
rescue Lot from the Mesopotamian kings.
Abram left his country for a religious reason. Probably
his faith differed from that of his countrymen. He was
going abroad to lands where he supposed he would find a
strange worship, and of which he would say : Surely the
fear of God is not in this place. Therefore, from the first
he made to Sarai the followdng request. I quote his
words (Gen. xx. 13) : " And it came to pass, when God
caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said
unto her. This is thy kindness which thou shalt show
unto me ; at every place whither we shall come, say of
me. He is my brother." This was a request made once for
all ; he did not say so in view of Egypt only, but for every
new place to which his wandering life might lead him.
He expected that there might be several occasions when
this statement on the part of Sarai would be useful to him.
and he instructed her accordingly at the moment of his
departure.
We shall not consider here the moral side of Abram's
conduct ; we shall only try to discover the reason which
induced him to act in this way.
One can imagine that in a time of famine the king of
Egypt was afraid of seeing a powerful tribe approaching
his frontier. He knew that his kingdom had often suffered
from the nomads of the desert, and he might well doubt
for what purpose these strangers came to the valley of the
Nile. Were they hostile invaders, or people who came with
peaceful intentions ? Were they a tribe with whom an
alliance might be made and whose friendship might be
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 6
o
guaranteed by the marriage of a daughter of the sheikh
with the king of Egypt ?
Abram had no daughter from Sarai ; he could not, hke
the chief of Kheta, send to the king of Egypt a daughter of
his own family on her mother's as well as her father's side,
following himself in her train. He therefore says that Sarai
is his sister. He does not actually offer Sarai to the king of
Egypt, but he uses this artifice in order to show to the
Egyptians that he comes to them as a friend, as a man
ready to seal his friendship by a marriage, to contract an
alliance with them. Sarai saves his life in that way.
Otherwise the Egyptians would have considered him and
his tribe as enemies, and would have killed him ; and if
they struck the sheikh, the head of the tribe, the tribesmen
would soon have been scattered or subdued.
Evidently the Egyptians were rather afraid of Abram's
power. When they saw that the marriage could not take
place, and that the friendship of Abram could not be guar-
anteed, they hastened to send him away, making him all
sorts of presents, perhaps on condition that he would leave
the country. The king in the narrative seems rather
impatient that he should go : "Now therefore behold thy
wife, take her and go thy way. And Pharaoh gave men
charge concerning him ; and they brought him on the
way, and his wife and all that he had."
Something very similar happened with Abimelech
(Gen. xx). The king of Gerar took Sarah in good faith,
evidently in order to be assured of Abraham's friendship.
Having as his wife the sister of the sheikh, he might feel
certain that there would be no hostile feeling from his
tribesmen. In fact when he also discovers that he cannot
marry Sarah, he contracts a kind of alliance with Abraham,
makes him presents, and says : " Behold my land is
before thee, dwell where it pleaseth thee." Afterwards
the two men make a regular covenant.
64 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
If we consider Abraham's conduct in that light, and if
we remember that these two incidents are the results of a
general instruction given to Sarai by Abram when they
first departed from ]\Iesopotamia, there is nothing extra-
ordinary that they should occur twice in Abraham's life
under similar circumstances.
The third similar occurrence is in Isaac's life. (ch. xxvi)
The country again suffers from famine and Isaac goes unto
Abimelech in Gerar. The critics attribute this narra-
tive to the Jah\ast, but they strike out the reference to
Abraham in the first verse of the chapter, the warning not
to go to Egypt and the repetition of the promises made to
Abraham. All this is attributed to the redactor.
This summary way of dealing with the text seems to me
again to show a lack of understanding of the whole history.
And the Lord appeared unto him and said : " Sojourn
in this land." It is quite natural that the Lord should
explain to Isaac why he is to remain at Gerar. The Lord
repeats to him all the blessings promised to Abraham, which
appear here for the first time in the narrative of Isaac's life ;
they had not yet been uttered to him in such a distinct
way. The Lord then renews with Isaac the alliance made
with Abraham, and since Abraham is quoted several times
and Isaac might feel tempted to do as his father had done,
there is nothing extraordinary that Isaac should be warned
not to go to Egypt, but to stay in the fertile land of Gerar.
Later, his son Jacob will be specially told to go down to
Egypt-
The verses struck out by the critics are of primary impor-
tance ; they are among those to which Moses must have
given the greatest weight. They constitute Isaac as the
rightful heir to Abraham ; not the heir merely of his wealth
and riches, but the heir to the promises — " For unto thee
and unto thy seed I will give all these lands, and I will
GENESIS BEFORE THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT 65
establish the oath which I sware to Abraham thy father."
This is not said anywhere else to Isaac in so many words.
There is only an allusion to it a little further on. It is the
charter given by the Lord to His chosen people. This is
the part which the critics assume not to belong to the
original narrative !
When Isaac arrived in Abimelech's land, the repetition
of what had happened before with Abimelech's father must
again be construed as something different from a mere
fancy for a woman " fair to look upon." Like his father,
Isaac stayed in the land, a rich country which the Egyp-
tians called Zahi, and from whence they drew corn. There
he became so great, his flocks and herds grew to such an
extent, that Abimelech asked him to depart, and, being
afraid on account of a quarrel which arose between the
men about the wells, asked Isaac to make a covenant with
him that he would do him no hurt. This covenant was
made on oath, since no daughter of Isaac's family could
be given in marriage to Abimelech.
Except this episode of Isaac with Abimelech, describing
how the Lord renewed His alliance with Isaac and how
Isaac made a covenant with Abimelech, we know hardly
anything of Isaac's life. All the rest refers to his sons and
explains why Esau the eldest was put aside in favour of the
youngest. Nothing else in Isaac's life had any bearing on
his position as heir to the promises. Moses left aside all that
did not lead him to his aim, which was to show how Israel
was the chosen people.
As I said before, there is no reason for attributing these
three narratives to different writers. Such episodes, when
they are understood in the right way, could well happen
several times in a man's life, whenever he changed his
dwelling-place.
CHAPTER III
EGYPT
IN this chapter I shall not go into the general question
of the influence exerted over Israel by Egypt. I
should Uke to show by a few instances that the writer of the
Pentateuch was a man who knew Egypt thoroughly weU,
as was the case with Moses. This is often revealed by
small details indicating a writer who has lived on the
banks of the Nile, and who sometimes speaks from experi-
ence. This is especially remarkable in the narrative of
Joseph's Ufe. Though these events took place long before
the time of Moses, the tradition concerning them had
been preserved amongst the Hebrews. The Exodus and
the journey through the desert, on the other hand, were
events of which Moses had been an eye-witness and where
he had often been the leader.
I shall merely follow the books as we find them in the
Bible, dwelling on the points most striking in this respect,
without attempting any systematic classification.
The " Days " of Creation
I cannot help thinking that in the first chapter of Gene-
sis there is decidedly an Egyptian influence ; not at all in
the sequence of creation — there is nothing similar in the
Egyptian mythology — 'but in the word day, in the division
of the period of creation into six " days." Here we must
remember the difficulty which the ancients had to express
an abstract idea. They generally had recourse to a meta-
66
EGYPT 67
phor or to something perceived by the senses. Even now,
though we have philosophical languages expressing the
most abstruse ideas, we constantly make use of metaphors
because we have not yet found the adequate expression to
define with sufficient correctness that which is in our mind.
When we say, for instance, " the sun rises," or in French,
" le soleil se leve," we use a metaphor to which we no
longer pay any attention, because it is too usual. In fact,
in both languages, we speak of the sun as of a man who
was lying down, and who gets up and stands, or as in
German, is going up.
Supposing it is necessary to express the idea which is
conveyed to us by the word " period," a certain length of
time having a beginning and an end, how will primitive
man, or even a man hke the old Egyptian whose thought
and language have not yet reached what 1 should call the
philosophical stage, how will such a man render that idea
which is so f amiHar to us ? For him the abstract conception
of a period does not exist. He knows only the measure-
ments of time connected with his hfe or with natural phe-
nomena which take place before his eyes. The notion of a
period, of a space of time independent of something which
touches his body or his life, is quite strange to him. He
will understand the day, beginning with sunrise and ending
with sunset, the month, the interval between two births of
the moon, the year consisting of so many moons ; the
Egyptian \vill know the interval between two risings of the
Nile. Therefore if he wishes to speak of a certain duration
of time having a definite beginning and end, the most
obvious metaphor at his disposal will be to call it a day.
This word here does not apply to the astronomical duration
of twelve hours opposed to the twelve hours of night ; it
is only a metaphor.
This seems to me the meaning of the word day in
68 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Egyptian. The chief document of the funerary literature
has a title translated in various ways : " Three single
words," Says Le Page Renouf, " perfectly unambiguous
when taken singly, but by no means easy of explanation."
In fact Renouf 's translation " coming forth by day "
hardly conveys any clear idea, especially if we remember
that day in Egyptian does not mean daylight, but it is
a date or a measure of time. Therefore I translate :
" Coming out of the day."
Several passages in the Book of the Dead teach us that
a man's life, the period between his birth and his death, is
called " his day," For instance the deceased says : "I
am delivered from the quarrels of those who are in their
day, I shall no more be among them." Or this : " I have
come forth from the day, and I shine among the gods."
The king Unas goes out of this day in the true appearance
of a blessed one (Khu), or he increases his day of life.
Elsewhere we find mention of a king being in his day, and
the variants say : "in his time."
After death the life of an Egyptian is no more a day, no
more a period with beginning and end ; his existence will
last with various phases and various episodes ; he will
take a great number of forms, but his existence in the other
world will be no more limited in time, he will have gone
out of the day,
A similar sense, a period with beginning and end, seems
to me to have been given to the word " day " in the first
chapter of Genesis, the chapter of creation.
We have first to notice that the Hebrew word translated
" created " does not apply to all that is done during the
six days : it applies to what might be called the prelim-
inary work : in the beginning God created the heaven and
the earth. The earth is described in Hebrew by two
words translated waste and void. In the LXX it is some-
EGYPT 69
what different : aopaTo^;, invisible, and aKaraaK€vacno<i,
unprepared, unarranged, void in the sense that nothing
that gives the earth its present appearance could be seen
at its first creation.
Afterwards begin the six days, the work of which is
summed up in the Fourth Commandment by the word
" made." If we follow the Egyptian metaphor, each day
is a definite period having a well-marked beginning called
the morning, and an end called evening. We have no
idea of the duration of these periods ; many things may
have happened in each of them, requiring a certain length
of time. But the important point to notice is that each
period had a beginning and an end ; it was not of an
indefinite duration. If we carry the Egyptian metaphor
still further, we must notice that between the days there
was night ; between the periods there was a certain length
of time during which nothing happened, when the creative
power was inactive. The only day in which there is no
mention either of morning or evening is the seventh, when
there was no creation at all. This is called " rest."
This conception of the six days of creation, six periods
the length of which is unknown, beginning and ending at
a definite moment, and separated by intervals, this
Egyptian metaphor I humbly submit to astronomers and
geologists and to the masters in natural science. It was A
the picture before the eyes of Moses, a picture which \
perhaps had already been before the eyes of his forefathers I
in Mesopotamia, of the way in which God had created the
earth and mankind. This creation is not an insensible
growth from an original atom or cell. The whole process
of bringing the world to its present appearance was divided
into six successive periods of a duration unknown to the
author of the tablet. Evolution may perhaps be found
within the space of the days, when the earth brought forth
70 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
the grass or the Hving creature after its kind. But for
Moses, evolution is not a principle on which creation in
general is based ; there are six breaks in each of which
something quite new appears. This sense given to the
word " day " seems to me to give us the true description
of the way of the creation of the world as Moses imagined
that it had taken place.
Joseph
The more one reads the history of Joseph, the more
clearly it appears that it must have been written by
some one who loiew Egypt very well, who had been a
witness of its customs, and who also had intercourse with
the officials at the court and with the king himself.
There are few parts of Genesis which show in a more
striking way the strangeness of the critical theory.
The whole narrative is remarkably even. There are no
unnecessary repetitions ; each part follows the other quite
logically, the general tone is the same. However, we are
told that we are not to attribute this whole story to a
single writer, but to four authors, who lived in different
parts of Palestine and several centuries apart. It is
impossible to reconstitute the continuous narrative of
any of them. They are known only by fragments and
sometimes distinguished only by bits of sentences, or even
by a single word.
The writings of two of them, the Elohist and the Jahvist,
must have been very similar, since they fit into each other
so remarkably well, though the ^^Titers are separated by
at least a hundred years, and belonged to two different
kingdoms. I do not intend here to discuss the evidence
upon which this extraordinary theory rests. It is chiefly
philological. Therefore if, as we beheve, the narrative
EGYPT 71
was written in Babylonian cuneiform, and in its present
form is only a translation or an adaptation to a later
language, this evidence is of very slender value. But,
apart from this, it seems most extraordinary that a sen-
tence should be cut up in this way (xl. i) : " And it came
to pass after these things," are said to belong to the
Elohist (c. 750 B.C.) ; " that the butler of the king of
Egypt and his baker offended their lord the king of
Egypt," to the Jahvist (c. 850 B.C.) ; " and Pharaoh was
wTOth," to the Elohist again. Or again (xxxix. 20),
" And Joseph's ma^er took him and put him into the
prison," Jahvist; "the place where the king's prisoners
were bound," a document of unknown date. Surely it is
difficult to imagine a writing put together in that way, and
producing a narrative the various parts of which are so
well connected. I say this only in passing, since this
discussion is outside the pale of this book.
Syncellus, the chronographer, says that all authors
agree in stating that Joseph was raised to his high position
during the reign of Apophis. This king is well known ;
he is mentioned in several inscriptions ; he was one of the
last Hyksos kings. Eusebius also says that Joseph
reigned over Egypt at the time of the Hyksos. We have
no reason to challenge the correctness of this statement,
which seems in conformity with the narrative.
The Hyksos were Mesopotamians who at the end of their
stay in Egypt had adopted the language, the customs,
perhaps even part of the worship, of the Egyptians. The
inscriptions of Apophis show that he had two cartouches
like the native Pharaohs, and that the second was intro-
duced by these words, " the son of Ra." The court must
have become very Egyptian, and some of the higher
officers were natives. For instance, it is said that Potiphar,
an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, was an
72 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Egyptian. The mention of this fact indicates that he did
not belong to the foreign element of the ruler. Otherwise
it would be needless to say that he was a native.
According to the theory of the critics, among the four
different hands which they distinguish in Joseph's history,
the main part of the work is due to the Elohist and the
Jahvist, the Jahvist writing in the Southern kingdom
about 850 B.C. and the Elohist in the Northern about
750 B.C. Taking what is called the short chronology, that
of Eduard Meyer, the events must have taken place 600
years before the Elohist and 700 before the Jahvist. How
could these authors know of the events of which they are
speaking ? What records could they have had, unless the
narrative is indeed mere romance which they invented ?
If it were an invention, would it not be extraordinary
that their romances should be so very similar, that, put
together, they make a continuous writing ? For instance,
except for a few sentences, the first journey to Egypt of
the sons of Jacob is said to be the work of the later writer.
The second journey, with the pathetic speech of Judah,
belongs to the Jahvist. Yet it presupposes the first, it
even alludes to it. Now when this narrative of the second
visit was written, what about the first ? It certainly
must have been described somehow, and the description
has entirely disappeared. When Judah says to Jacob
(xhii. 3), " The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying,
Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with
you," we cannot but suppose that the writer who recorded
these words must have related on what occasion and how
Joseph pronounced them, and so it is. We read of the
arrival of Jacob's sons in Egypt, of their being recognized
by Joseph, who spake roughly with them, and said :
" Bring your youngest brother unto me ; so s'hall your
words be verified, and ye shall not die." This is the neces-
EGYPT 73
sary introduction to the narrative of the second visit,
without which this cannot be understood, and we are told
that it was written a hundred years later ! How strange
are these two narratives : the Jahvist has no beginning,
and the Elohist is a mere introduction followed by no-
thing ! It is not possible to escape this extraordinary
description, if it is contended that the narratives are
inventions of the two writers.
If they are not romances, these narratives are not
documents based on historical records coming from Egypt.
The long period when Egypt was under the dominion of
the Hyksos was always considered as a time the remem-
brance of which was detested by the Egyptians. The
Hyksos are called in a papjnrus " a pestilence," and it is
obvious that the wish of the native rulers and their
subjects was to wipe away completely any recollection
which remained of the foreign invaders. It is not to be
supposed that any record remained in Egypt of what
Joseph had been, or even of his name. Why should any-
thing have been preserved of the favourite minister to a
sovereign of strange origin against whom the Egyptians
felt that religious hatred which is the most vivid and
the most inveterate ?
Let us fancy one of the two Palestinian authors going
to Egypt to get some information about Joseph, and about
the time the Hebrews spent in the country. Where
would he find it ? Certainly not with the priests, who
seem to have had no annals and records of that time ;
since Manetho, the Sebennyte priest who wrote the list
of kings, and who for that purpose epitomized what I may
call the state documents, had such very scanty informa-
tion about the Hyksos dynasties. Evidently there were
no historical remains of that time. Besides, if there had
been any, they would have been written in hieroglyphs,
^4 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
a writing certainly unknown to the inhabitants of Judea.
Moreover it seems extremely doubtful whether a stranger
would have been allowed access to books which were in
the hands of the priests, and for the understanding of
which he would have required an interpreter.
History for the mass of the people, for the public, if I
may say so, was engraved on the walls of the temples.
The deeds of the kings were recorded in the fine sculptures
which adorned the great sanctuaries of Amon and other
gods. This was the way that history was taught to the
Eg3^ptians, a teaching given chiefly by sight, by what was
famihar to the eyes, since probably very few could read
what was engraved on the walls. Its purpose was not to
give a faithful record of what had taken place, but to extol
the king, to pour on the sovereign the most lavish praise,
sometimes quite fanciful and unjustified. For instance,
on the walls of the temples and on the basements of statues
we often find long lists of nations or cities which were said
to have been conquered by the king, and to be his vassals.
But we frequently know that these nations, far from being
his subjects, were never even reached by the king who is
said to have dominion over them. This kind of evidence
is absolutely unreliable in the case of a king hke Rameses
II, a vain and boastful ruler, who only wished to dazzle
posterity by his numerous monuments and the profuseness
of the sculptures describing his achievements.
It is certainly not in inscriptions of that character that
anything might be expected to ^ found about the Israehtes,
except on the stele of Menephtah, where may be read the
only mention of the Israelites discovered up to the present
day. There it is said that they are no more. All we
know of the Israelites in Egypt as late as the time of Moses
is the personal history of Joseph and the arrival of his
family. Of all that happened from after Joseph's death
EGYPT 75
until the birth of Moses, Genesis is absolutely silent. We
do not know anything about it.
The history of the stay of the Israehtes in Egypt may
be summed up under two names only : Joseph and Moses.
Joseph was a very talented minister wlio rose to a very
exalted position in very extraordinary circumstances.
His activity may have been very beneficial to the country,
he may have been very successful in preserving the coun-
try from famine. By his achievements he may have won
the confidence of his sovereign, who perhaps rewarded him
with this Egyptian title : " His eyes in the South, and his
ears in the North " ; but still, Joseph was a subordinate ;
his deeds would not be recorded on inscriptions in the
temples. There everything was supposed to originate
mth the king, and it is very rare to find the mention of a
subordinate, except in definite cases.
If the biography of Joseph had been anywhere, it would
have been in his tomb, engraved or painted on its walls.
There is a tomb of the time of Amenophis III of the Eigh-
teenth Dynasty which is that of an official who had a
position quite analogous to that occupied by Joseph. We
see him receiving the tax-gatherers of the whole country
and assessing the taxation of thirty years under the eyes of
the king, who is represented as sitting on his thi'one. This
is the biographical record of a high officer hke Joseph, but
Joseph certainly had no similar tomb. We know of no
such monument of the Hyksos time. Joseph was not a
native. Besides, he had taken " an oath from the children
of Israel, saying, God wiU surely visit you, and ye shall
carry up my bones." He was embalmed, as were all the
people in Egypt, and " put in a coffin in Egypt," but
certainly no painted and ornamented grave was cut in the
rock for him ; it would have been an immediate breach
of the oath to put him in a " house of eternity," as the
76 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Egyptians called a tomb. Thus reviewing the historical
circumstances and the customs of the old Egyptians, we
come to the conclusion that for a Palestinian wxiter there
was no information about Joseph to be found in Egypt
nor to be derived from Egyptian sources.
The history of Joseph was known by tradition ; but
it was not a tradition preserved abroad in a foreign country
and \vritten down many centuries afterwards when the
conditions in which the Israelites lived were entirely
changed. If we study the details of it, we shall recognize
that the tradition bears the colour of the country where
the events took place, and that it was put down in writing
in the same country where the author could himself see
some of the customs he describes, and at a time when
he could hear some of the names of which he is speak-
ing.
Let us take, for instance, Pharaoh's dream : " Behold, he
stood by the river. And, behold, there came out of the
river seven kine, well-favoured and f atfleshed ; and they
fed in the reedgrass " (xli. 2). Why does this take place
near the river ? And why do the cows come out of it ?
Because the divine cow, the goddess Hathor, goes down to
the river : we see her repeatedly in the papyri coming
out of the mountain, and walking among the reeds, or
rather, the papyrus reeds, near the river. The beautiful
cow of Hathor found at Deir-el-bahari has on both sides
of her shoulders papyrus reeds which spoil the artistic
effect of the monument ; but they, as weU as her insignia,
are placed there on purpose to indicate that she is not an
ordinary cow, but the goddess issuing from among the
reeds on the banks of the river. Well might she be con-
sidered as the emblem of fruitfulness and abundance.
We have another example of the cow being taken not
only as the emblem but as the cause of abundance. It is
EGYPT 77
in one of the chapters of the Book of the Dead, called "To
give abundance to the deceased in the Lower world."
We read there the following words : "I know the names
of the seven cows and their bull, which give bread and
drink to the deceased." And the deceased asks that this
may be granted to him. The seven cows and the bull are
the vignettes which generally accompany this chapter.
Pharaoh's dream is quite Egyptian in character. We can
imagine, though that seems strange in some respects, the
recollection of this dream being preserved in the oral
tradition of the Israelites : the dream of the seven fat
cows followed by the seven lean beasts eating up the fat
ones. These general features may have persisted in the
memory of the descendants of Jacob : but the detail that
the scene takes place on the brink of the river, and that
the seven kine come out of the river and feed in the reed-
grass, reveals an eye-witness who had seen the cows coming
out of payrus-reeds, and who knew the idea which the
Egyptian associated with the cow. The second part of
the dream is not connected with the river, and is not so
markedly Egyptian. Nevertheless considering the first
part, I cannot help thinking that this dream must have
been written down in Egypt, and not in the northern
kingdom of Palestine many centuries afterwards.
When the history of Jospeh was written, the tradition
was very vivid among the Hebrews ; they knew that they
owed their arrival in Egypt and their settlement in the
country to Joseph ; he was the author of their present
situation. His body had been preserved, embalmed in his
coffin, so they certainly knew who he was and what had
been the cause of his marvellous rise. His history had a
special, I may say even a vital, interest for them, an
interest which must have waned considerably in a distant
country like Palestine, whether it be the northern or
78 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAIMENT
southern kingdom, when the poUtical conditions of the
people had changed entirely. Therefore the writer who
recorded it with minute details must have done so when
the life of Joseph was still fresh in their memor3^ when the
Hebrews were still living in the circumstances which were
the result of Joseph's action. The WTiter must have been
a man to whom the traditions of his people were par-
ticularly precious, who was impressed with the idea that
the Israelites were the chosen people and that all the
events of their history centred upon this fact.
The Egyptian names mentioned in the narrative also
point to an author writing in Egypt, with a full knowledge
of the Egyptians as well as the Hebrews, such as one might
expect in the case of Moses.
We read that Pharaoh rewarded Joseph for his marvel-
lous interpretation of the dream. He bestowed upon
him all kinds of favours and gave him the second position
in the realm. He also called his name Zaphenath-paneah.
All kinds of interpretations of that name have been pro-
posed. They generally start from the pedantic principle
of literal transcription, of seeking in the philological
rules the exact correspondence of Semitic letters with the
Egyptian signs. This is quite contrary to what takes
place in life, and to what we see every day. Supposing
a Frenchman has to pronounce a German or an English
name, he will imitate, as well as he can, what he hears.
There may be in the word letters unknown to him and
which he cannot pronounce, li in his transcription he
finds a syllable, the sound of which is familiar to him,
he will put it in, although its sense is absolutely differ-
ent from the original. This is what is called popular
etymology. It is obvious that in writing a name he wiU
reproduce what he hears and he will not consult philology
and its code of laws. What we see at the present day
EGYPT 79
has always been the same, especially in antiquity, where
writing was far less used than it is now.
Let us fancy the king surrounded by his court. Joseph
has just given his interpretation, and the king wishes to
raise him to the dignity which his wisdom and his great
shrewdness deserve. He does it as it is constantly done
now in the East and the recollection of which remains in
the French expression : il le nomme. He calls him by
that name. His new dignity is not conferred upon him
by a decree in due form registered and signed by a chancel-
lor, and confirmed later by a diploma. No, for the ruler
to address him by a new name or title is enough ; it is
even to-day the regular way of conferring a position ; an
eastern prince wishing to make a man a sheikh calls him
sheikh before his officials and his court.
Common sense indicates that the name by which Joseph
is called must have some reference to what he has just
done. This obvious fact, rather than Semitic grammar,
must lead us to the true interpretation of the name.
Since Joseph has a position next to the king, he must have
a name which he alone is to bear, and which must give
him some prestige in the eyes of the Egyptians. It cannot
be an ordinary name borne by any man. Hence the name
is that of an office, of an employment. The second part
of it, paneah, is the literal transcription of a word meaning
the school of learning, the sacred college. We know
from the inscriptions that to that school belonged the
learned men, the magicians. From there, according to
one Egyptian story, a magician was sent to exorcise
a princess in Mesopotamia ; according to the inscrip-
tion of Canopus, the hieroglyphical writing was called the
writing of the school of learning, of the sacred college.
Now we see that the king "sent for all the magicians
(margin, sacred scribes) of Egypt and all the wise men
So ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
thereof, and Pharaoh told them his dream ; but there was
none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh " (xli. 8).
The whole sacred college was found wanting. And " for-
asmuch as God had showed Joseph all this, and there was
none so wise and discreet as he was," Pharaoh put him
at the head of the sacred college. Zaphenath is only a
shght alteration, due to a Semitic mouth, of the Egyptian
which means head of, master of. Zaphenath-paneah
means therefore the head of the school of learning, of the
sacred college. This title is found in Egyptian inscrip-
tions.
This seems the natural consequences of what hap-
pened. Joseph had been the only one who could inter-
pret Pharaoh's dream. All the men who were supposed
to have that particular gift, whose office it was to interpret
dreams, had remained silent. Therefore the king puts
Joseph, to whom God had showed this and in whom
the Spirit of God was, over and above these magicians, to
be the first among them and their master. Pharaoh
does this in their presence and before his court by calling
Joseph by this name. Such seems the only reasonable
sense which we can give to the word Zaphenath-paneah.
Here the same question arises as about the cow. How
could the Elohist writer living in the northern kingdom in
the eighth century know this name, the altered form due
to a Semite of an Egyptian word ? We might understand
the sense of the word, its explanation giving the nature
of the title, being preserved by tradition, though it
would be somewhat extraordinary that this exact title
should have survived in the memory of the Israelites
during six or seven hundred years. But a foreign word
which the Israelites did not understand, having abso-
lutely no sense for them, how could such persist in their
memory, since they had no occasion to use that word,
EGYPT 8 I
and it was never pronounced to them ? If the Israelites
of the eighth century had any recollection of Joseph, he
was for them the hero, who from his position as slave
had risen to be second to the king, who had saved his
family from starvation, and who had brought them to
Egypt. They would remember the leading features
of his life, in reference to themselves ; but as to the
matters which were strictly Egyptian, his position towards
the priests and the magicians, the Egyptian word naming
his dignity, the remembrance of these would quickly
disappear as soon as they had left Egypt, and certainly
would not persist for centuries.
On the contrary, it is quite natural that Moses should
know all this. He had been educated at the court of
Pharaoh ; he was well informed as to the hierarchy both
clerical and administrative. The body of Joseph had
been preserved, it was deposited somewhere, lying in its
coffin. To that body was attached a tradition, perhaps
even a WTitten record by one of his countrymen, as to
what his life had been. The Hebrews staying in Egypt
had heard from their fathers that Joseph had been head
of the sacred college. They did not translate or explain
that title. They repeated it as they heard it. • They
understood what the Egyptian word meant, and when
they met Joseph's successor in that office, they called
him by that name, as did the Egyptians, merely altering
it a httle, so that it might be as similar as possible to
their own language. In the same way now at Constanti-
nople any stranger would call the head of the INIoham-
medan religion the sheikh-el-islam, though that were a
strange word to him. The Arab word will not be repeated
exactly alike by a Frenchman, a German, and an English-
man. Evidently the man who wrote that Pharaoh called
Joseph's name Zaphenath-paneah was in Egypt, and
G
82 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
wTote it for people who were staying in the country.
The title " Pharaoh " in books like Genesis and Exodus
interchanges with " King of Egypt " ; these words are
synonymous. Pharaoh is by far the more frequently
employed. The first time a Pharaoh is mentioned is
in the narrative of Abram's visit to Egypt ; there no
explanation of the word is given, the reader is supposed
to know that it means the King of Egypt. If now we
turn to the books written in Palestine, we find that the
explanation generally follows the word (e.g., i Kings iii.
i) : " And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh, King
of Egypt, and took Pharaoh's daughter." Since the
explanation is given at the beginning of the narrative of
Solomon's reign, it was not necessary to repeat it in the
following chapters (i Kings xi. i8). Hadad and the
Edomites came to Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and Hadad
found great favour in the sight of Pharaoh. It is the
same as with Solomon. Shishak is called only King of
Egypt (i Kings xxiv. 25), as well as So the King of Egypt,
to whom Hoshea sent messengers (2 Kings xvii. 4),
Tirhakah is called King of Ethiopia (2 Kings xix. 9),
Pharaoh, King of Egypt, is said by Sennacherib to be but
a bruised reed (2 Kings xviii. 21). In these instances
when the name of the king was given, the title Pharaoh
was absent. We find them both in the case of Pharaoh-
Necoh, King of Egypt (2 Kings xxiii. 29), who destroyed
Josiah's army at Megiddo, when Josiah himself was
killed, and of Pharaoh-Hophra, King of Egypt (Jer. xliv.
30)-
Evidently to these later writers the word Pharaoh was
not so famihar as to those living in Egypt. The way
that this word is used in the speeches of the butler and
the baker is a feature which helps to give to these speeches
a thoroughly Egyptian character. They would hardly
EGYPT 83
have such a character, if written by a wTiter of the northern
kingdom at a great distance in time and space from the
conditions under which these speeches were made.
1 might also speak of the two names Potiphar and
Poti-phera. Though the LXX give the same transcrip-
tion of both, the spelling is different in the Hebrew. The
final syllable is the name of a different god. Potiphar is an
Egyptian P hotcp Har, the gift or offering of Horus, and
Poti-phera P Iiotep Ra, the gift or offering of Ra. Ra
is the great god of Heliopolis (On), and it is natural that
his high priest should have a name containing that of
his god. Hotep Ra, mthout the article p, is met with on
various occasions as the name of the high priest of On, for
instance on the beautiful statue found at Medum which is
supposed to belong to the Third or early Fourth Dynasty
and where the high priest is seen sitting near his wife.
Probably this name was assumed when the man entered
upon his sacerdotal functions. P hotep Har, Fotiphax,
is formed in the same way ; Horus is the second name of
Ra the God of Heliopolis, who is called Harmachis-
Horus on the horizon.
The LXX make no difference between the two names.
They must have been the same in the Aramaic document
from which they were translated ; I suppose the confusion
comes from the fact that at that time the traditions about
Heliopolis were disappearing. HeHopolis during the
Ptolemaic period seems to have been more and more
neglected, and it decayed rapidly. Strabo gives the
most pitiful description of that city where, instead of a
learned college of priests, he found only a few ignorant
custodians who showed the monument to the strangers.
His description makes one think of many convents
or churches in Italy or Spain. Evidently at the time
of the LXX there was no longer a Hotep Ra as high
84 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
priest, and the translators gave to both officers a name
in a form usual at that time, and which would be
translated Heliodorus.
There are two more Egyptian touches in the history of
Joseph. They have been struck out by the critics as
later additions, but, on the contrary, they are proofs of
the old date of the narrative. One of them is the following
(xli. 46) : " And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood
before Pharaoh, King of Egypt." I believe the word
" stood " must not be taken here in the ordinary sense.
It would be a very imperfect summary of the scene already
related (see p. 79). The great event which took place
when Joseph was thirty years of age was not his mere
standing before the king. The word has here a sense
analogous to that which is said of the tribe of Levi, " to
stand before the Lord to minister unto Him " (Deut. x. 8).
It would come to this : Joseph was thirty years old
when he became a royal servant, minister to the king.
In consequence of that, as we read in the following verse :
" Joseph went out of the presence of Pharaoh, and went
throughout all the land of Egypt." If we had the original
Babylonian word of the tablet, I presume we should find
that it translated an Egyptian metaphorical expression
by which an appointment or a ceremony was indicated.
I do not think that those thirty 3'ears are to be taken
literally as referring to Joseph's actual age. His action
consists in assessing anew the taxation and rents through-
out the land in view of the time of abundance, followed
by seven years of distress. These assessments, as we
know from various inscriptions, were made at the end
of the period called Sed, when the Sed festival was cele-
brated. The Sed period lasted originally thirty years.
Joseph was at the end of the period of thirty years when
he was entrusted by Pharaoh with these new duties.
EGYPT 85
This seems to be the Egyptian explanation of the passage.
Since the Sed period had expired and had to be renewed,
Joseph went out at once to lay upon the Egyptians fiscal
conditions which were unusual. I suppose the thirty
years of the period have been attributed to Joseph as
those of his age either by Moses when he wrote the tablet,
or perhaps by the translators, who put it into Aramaic
or Hebrew.
Another number, which, 1 think, has to be interpreted
in the Egyptian way and must not be taken literally, is in
this passage (1. 22) : " And Joseph Hved an hundred and
ten years." It is repeated : " So Joseph died, being an
hundred and ten years old." Several Egyptian inscrip-
tions teach us that the extreme limit of old age was for
them a hundred and ten years. It is the number they
hope to reach. Various instances of it might be quoted.
I shall mention only one : Amenophis, the son of Hapi, an
official of the Eighteenth Dynasty, has left us his statue,
which differs in character from the great mass of these
funerary monuments. Instead of being represented as
young, strong, and healthy, Amenophis is shown as an
old man, with worn features and a decrepit face, and he
says : " I have reached eighty years as a great favourite
of the king, and I shall reach a hundred and ten years."
Nobody thinks of living beyond that number ; it is the
necessary end of life. I do not suppose that the Egyptians
of the time of Moses knew their age much more exactly
than they do at the present day. A man much advanced
in years and full of days would naturally be called a man
of a hundred and ten years. This is evidently what is
meant in the case of Joseph ; he had reached the last
limit of old age. As usual, this sentence, which has
such a distinctly Egyptian character, has been struck
out by the critics as a late gloss. One does not see for
86 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
what reason such a gloss should have been inserted, or
where the author of it would have got that information.
I shall not dwell longer on Joseph's history. Its Egyp-
tian character is clear from beginning to end. 1 hope
the details which I have quoted will have shown that
the author of that biography could have WTitten only
in Eg>'pt, ;amongst people who knew Egypt themselves,
and who had kept, together with Joseph's body, a vivid
recollection of what he had done, a recollection painted
with the Egyptian colouring of the life that Joseph had
led. Putting aside philological arguments which, as
we have said, have no value for a text which is not in its
original Ismguage, one cannot understand how such a
well-connected narrative, in such complete conformity
with the time and country where it takes place, could be
attributed to four different authors living at various
epochs several centuries afterwards and in a distant land.
Details such as those which I have quoted bring
out in the best way the original character of the writing.
Tradition remembers the leading features, the chief facts
of a life or of an epoch, but it neglects the Uttle touches of
no importance, and details which it does not understand.
These minute remains, sometimes a mere sentence of three
or four words, are faithful witnesses to the antiquity
of the writing, and are traces of the original hand.
I have not spoken of the episode of Joseph with Poti-
phar's wife. It is well known that in a papyrus called
The Tale of the Two Brothers, there is a scene which is
greatly similar. Much has been said and written about
the influence of one document upon the other. I cannot
agree with these assumptions. The Tale of the Two Bro-
thers is essentially different from Joseph's history. The
men in that tale move in a very different sphere. The mar-
vellous, one of the characteristic features of the Egyptian
EGYPT 87
tale, is so completely absent from the narrative of Genesis,
and so fully present in the other story, that I cannot see
any connection between them. Besides, the episode
itself, by its nature, may so easily occur, especially in
Oriental life, that there is no reason why two tales written
in two different languages and referring to people belong-
ing to two different nations, could not both contain a
very similar occurrence without supposing a common
origin.
Genesis ends with the death of Joseph, and, if we
look back through the whole book, we shall find Ariadne's
thread running through the whole of it. The separate
tablets of which it consists are not joined together like
the chapters of a continuous roll ; nevertheless, they are
connected by one thought, and one purpose, the fixed
intention of showing how Israel was set apart as the
people of God. The book is not the book of the annals
of Israel, it is not the complete and continuous narrative
of what happened to the people from the beginning, it
is the series of documents, if I may so express it, of title-
deeds, establishing Israel's special character and the
mission which Israel had to fulfil. Moses is so possessed
with this idea, he has such a deep sense of his duty as a
recorder of the events and circumstances through which
God led His people, that he neglects everything which
has no direct bearing on the history of his nation. For
instance, he does not mention the names of the kings of
Egypt of whom he is speaking, of the Hyksos ruler who
put Joseph at the head of his land, or of the persecutor,
or even of the sovereign before whom he had himself to
appear and from whom he had to wrest leave for the
departure of the Israelites.
The history of Egypt, as such, does not concern him.
Whatever changes have taken place in the land itself.
88 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE: OLD TESTAMENT
the wars wliich resulted in the expulsion of the foreigners
and the re-establishment of the native rulers ; later, the
rise in the power of Egypt, the mihtary expeditions
north and south, the conquests of the great kings of
the Eighteenth Dynasty, especially the conquest of
Palestine, all these events, which mark the highest point
ever reached by Egyptian power and Egyptian civiliza-
tion, leave Moses absolutely indifferent. He merely
describes the Israelites as prosperous at the end of Joseph's
life under the protection of the king of the land. He
will not say anything of their stay in Egypt as long as
the king does not interfere with their life as shepherds
and leaves them alone. He does not even mention that
in Egypt they were safe and quiet, while Canaan, the
residence of their father Jacob, was the battlefield of
Thothmes HI and of a confederacy of inhabitants strug-
gUng against the foreign invaders. Great battles were
fought, the whole land had to submit, governors were put
at the head of aU the cities. What would have become
of the Israelites had they been in Palestine during that
time, especially if they had become rich like Abraham
and Isaac ? They would perhaps have had a fate like
Lot when the kings of Shinar and others conquered the
country where he was living, and they would have had no
Abraham to deliver them. The achievements of the
Egyptian kings are entirely alien to the purpose of Moses,
who records on his tablets only the events about which he
had a definite national tradition, or of which he was an
eyewitness.
CHAPTER IV
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN
The Exodus
WITH the Book of Exodus the events begin of
which Moses was a witness. This history and
legislation was recorded by him on tablets. But, since he
now speaks of events of his time, events which concerned
himself or his countrymen, the form of his tablets is some-
what different. It is not now necessary to put an intro-
duction, explaining what the circumstances are in which
the events he is going to describe take place, or in which the
laws are executed. One tablet only requires this, the first
with which the Book of Exodus begins. It is necessary
to state in a few words who the Israelites are, his country-
men about whom he is going to relate such wonderful
events. They are all descendants of Jacob, his eleven
sons and their families amounting to seventy souls, who
came into Egypt where Joseph, the twelfth, was already.
They have " increased abundantly and multiplied, and
waxed exceeding mighty." No further information is
required, nor any reference to previous writings.
The narrative begins at once : " Now there arose a
king over Egypt which knew not Joseph." These few
words sum up events of the greatest importance which
had changed entirely the face of Egypt. Under the reign
of the last king, Apepi, perhaps the successor of Joseph's
king, war had broken out with the princes of Thebes. One
89
90 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
of them, Seqenema, had been killed in battle, as his
mummy shows ; nevertheless, the native rulers had suc-
ceeded in driving out the foreign d3masty. King Aahmes,
the liberator, had even captured the fortress of Avaris,
which they had built in the Delta, His successors were
powerful, and under their rule Egypt became a great
empire ; her armies went as far as Mesopotamia.
During the reign of this mighty Theban dynasty
everything connected with the foreign kings was eradi-
cated. Their dominion is described as a time of desolation
and ruin. A queen of the Eighteenth Dynasty says
in poetical language : " I have restored that which
was ruins, I have raised that which was unfinished since
the Asiatics were in the midst of Avaris of the Nortliland,
and the strangers were in the midst of the land, over-
throwing that which was made while they ruled in
ignorance of Ra." Evidently no recollection of Joseph
had been preserved except among the Hebrews. It
would have been hateful to the Egyptians as belonging
to a time, the remembrance of which was odious to them.
We see a trace of that feeling in the words, " which knew
not Joseph." In Egyptian, " ignore " (khem) has often
a hostile sense, for instance, in the inscription just quoted.
This sense must have been expressed by the Babylonian
word of the tablet. We have here an exact translation
of an Egyptian word which is again a Mosaic touch, a
detail not to be expected from a late author writing in
another country.
The same feeling comes out even more strongly in
Ex. i. 12 : " They were grieved because of the children
of Israel," where the margin reads, " abhorred." The
result of the hostihty of the new dynasty was the persecu-
tion inflicted on the Hebrews, as described in the words :
" And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN gi
with rigour, and they made their hves bitter with hard
service, in mortar and in brick, and in all matter of service
in the field, all their service wherein they made them
serve with rigour . . . therefore they did set over them
taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And
they built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and Raamses."
Other passages describe how hard this service was. It is
said that " they sighed by reason of the bondage, and
God heard their groaning " (ii. 23). " And the Lord
said : I have surely seen the affliction of my people which
are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their
taskmasters, for I know their sorrows " (iii. 7).
Evidently the persecution consisted in a complete
change in their way of living. The Israelites, when they
came to Egypt, were shepherds, nomads, possessors of
flocks of cattle ; as Joseph said to Pharaoh : " The men
are shepherds, for they have been keepers of cattle, and
they have brought their flocks and their herds and all
they have." They ask to be allowed^ to live in the land
of Goshen, which was particularly suitable for their way
of living. And Pharaoh says also to Joseph : " If thou
knowest any able men among them, then make them
rulers over my cattle." The Hebrews had been
shepherds for generations, and suddenly were compelled
to change entirely their way of life. Instead of the easy-
going life of cattle-drivers, they were to become brick-
layers, builders, navvies, condemned to a labour unknown
to them, and which clashed with all their traditions and
their abiUties.
In a painting of the time of Thothmes III, we see what
the Israehtes had to do. A number of men of a Semitic
type, who are called captives, and who probably come
from the cities of Palestine which had been conquered by
the king, are making bricks. Some of them fetch water
92 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
to wet the clay, others mould the bricks, others carry
them towards the place where a building is to be raised.
The overseer, or, as Scripture calls him, the taskmaster,
is there with his stick in his hand, ready to interfere if
he sees that the activity of the men is relaxing.
One can understand that kind of life being very dis-
tasteful to shepherds. It would be so at the present day
to Bedouin nomads. They merely look after their sheep
and goats, they do not know what real work is, there is
no activity for them except robbery, and, for some war-
like tribes, fighting. A shepherd would resent having a
taskmaster who is absolutely necessary to workmen,
even at present. The overseer with a stick in his hand,
in the picture of Thothmes HI, is what we call now a
reis ; he has to see that the men are working, and do
not sit down and remain idle, as is often done when there
is no reis. It was nothing exceptional for the Israelites
that they had taskmasters. It was the custom of the
country; work was, and is now done in that way. But
that the taskmasters were particularly hard and exacting
towards them and embittered still more their new life,
which was a heavy burden for them, seems certain. The
Israelites were treated as prisoners of war. We know
from the Assyrian and Egyptian sculptures what terrible
sufferings were inflicted upon enemies who had been taken
alive. There was no pity for them. The Israelites had
not made war. They were regarded as enemies transported
from abroad, from a conquered country ; they were used
as workmen, or rather, as slaves. We can easily imagine
what slavery was at that time, under such circumstances.
As for the order given to the midwives to kill the boys,
we would compare with it customs found now among
savage nations, where certain children have to be killed,
for instance, twins among several African tribes.
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 93
What seems extraordinary is that there should be only
two midwives for such an enormous population as the
Jews were at that time. We shall see further on how
that may be explained. But I believe no value must be
attributed to the numbers given in the Hebrew text.
Various explanations have been given of these numbers,
among which I have to mention particularly that of
Prof. Flinders Petrie.^ I must say that all these explana-
tions, even that which I propose myself, seem to be of
doubtful value. We must remember that our text is not
original ; it is a transcription, if not a translation, and when
numbers are represented by letters, it is easy to make an
error of transliteration which entirely changes the num-
bers. We shall have to revert to this point later.
. Certainly the time of the persecution in Egypt was for
the Israelites a period of great suffering, but we must
consider this also from the other side, from the Egyptian
point of view. The king who knew not Joseph says
to his people (Exod. i. 9) : " Behold, the people of the
children of Israel are too many and too mighty for us
(margin). Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they
multiply, and it come to pass that when there falleth out
any war, they also join themselves unto our enemies,
and fight against us and get them up out of the land.
Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict
them. ..." This is the'reason given by the Pharaoh for
dealing so harshly with the Israelites, and aU we can say
about his view is that it is quite sensible and true.
Let us picture to ourselves the state of the country at
the time when the king spoke these words. I still adhere
to the view advocated first by Lepsius, and still held by
most Egyptologists, that the persecutor of the Jews was
1 Petric's Israel and Egypt, p. 41 and fE.
94 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Rameses II, whose very long reign was the beginning of
decay for the Egyptian empire, and that the king of the
Exodus was his son Menephtah. We see in Scripture that
the king before whom Moses had to appear, against whom
he had to carry out a long struggle which ended in Israel's
deliverance, was not the same as the one who had compelled
the Hebrews to build the store-cities. When Moses had been
obhged to fly from Egypt and to take refuge with Jethro,
" it came to pass in the course of those many days that
the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed
by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry
came up to God by reason of their bondage." Evidently
the fact of the change of king had given the Israelites
some hope that there might be at least a slight relaxation
in the oppression with which they were afflicted.
The reign of Rameses II, the oppressor, is one of the
longest in Egyptian history. He was a vain and boastful
character, who wished to dazzle posterity by covering the
land with constructions whereon his name was engraved
thousands of times, and who plumed himself in his inscrip-
tions upon great conquests which he never made.
The political condition of the country was very different
from what it had been under his predecessors of the Eight-
eenth Dynasty. The great kings, such as Thothmes III
and Amenophis III, had nothing to fear from the Hebrews.
Probably they were not yet so numerous as they were
later ; besides, Egypt was not then threatened by her
immediate neighbours. Palestine had been conquered,
her cities as far as Zidon were tributary to Pharaoh. He
was the sovereign to whom the governors had to report.
In order to ensure the subjection of the native rulers, the
king had their sons brought to Egypt, and they were sent
from Egypt to take their father's place when he died.
Rebellion might arise among them, but they would never
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 95
be strong enough to march to the frontiers of Egypt and
endanger the safety of the realm.
At the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty, Amenophis IV
made a religious revolution. When I say religious, it
must not be considered as a change in the belief, or what
may be called the faith of the people. It was an attack
against the power of the college of priests at Thebes, and
an act of hostility against Amon, the god whom they
were worshipping. In order to break the power of his
priests, it was necessary to destroy their god and to try
to eradicate his worship from Egypt. The Tel-el-
Amama letters have shown us that, in spite of these
troubles, under Amenophis IV the power of Egypt was
imbroken in Palestine, and that the Mesopotamian kings
wished as strongly as before to make alliance with the
Pharaoh.
It is probable that the reaction which followed his reign
was accompanied by inner convulsions, during which
Palestine regained its independence, and that the domin-
ion of Egypt over her Eastern neighbour disappeared.
There must also have been migrations of those nations
towards the south, for we see that the father of Rameses
II, Seti I, had to fight the Shasu, the inhabitants of Sinai
and of the South of Canaan. The inscription speaking
of this sovereign says that the king goes out to defeat
the Shasu, " beginning at the fortress of Zar, as far as
Canaan." The fortress of Zar, the present Kantarah,
was on the extreme limit of Egypt, on the Pelusiac branch
of the Nile. This shows that the enemies were as close
as possible to the kingdom, since they were separated
from it only by a branch of the river. Seti, in spite of
his successes, did not go farther than the coast of the
Phihstines, and the Kadesh which he is said to have taken
was that in the South of Palestine.
96 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
The expeditions of Rameses II against the Khetas (the
Hittites) were certainly successful. Following the coast
of the Mediterranean, he went as far as the Nahr-el-Kelb,
but his wars seem to have had more the character of raids ;
his conquests were ephemeral, they did not lead to a
permanent possession of the coasts, as did those of Thoth-
mes III. In his treaty of peace with the Khetas, the two
enemies treat on equal terms ; it is even likely that the
conditions of peace were drawn up by the Khetas. AU
this shows that there were enemies of the Egyptians in
the immediate neighbourhood sufficiently strong to be
able to invade some day the Valley of the Nile. The
danger which Pharaoh took as a pretext for keeping down
the Israelites was not at all imaginary, especially^ since,
the enemies being Semites like the inhabitants of Sinai,
the IsraeUtes would have been tempted to side with
invaders who were of the same race as themselves,
and also as the memory of the rulers who had welcomed
the ancestors of the Israehtes, Joseph and Jacob, and
had settled them in the good land where they had pros-
pered, was detested by the Egyptians.
" And they built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and
Raamses . ' ' This also seems good policy on the part of the
king. The land of Goshen, which extended as far as the
Red Sea, the present Wady Tumilat, was the key of the
country. There ended several desert roads, by which
trade, caravans, travellers, and also military expeditions
might enter the country. The Wady Tumilat led them
to the very heart of the kingdom. The first city reached
was Bubastis, from which two or tliree days' march
brought them to Heliopolis and Memphis. These large
towns were at the head of the Delta, and the enemy
who occupied them cut the country in two.
In order to protect his kingdom against possible inva-
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 97
sions on that side, Rameses compelled the Israelites to
build two cities which were at the same time fortresses :
Pithom and Raamses. Pithom, the city of the god Tum,
was at a short distance from the present Ismailiah, at a
site called Tel-el-Maskhuta, " the mount of the statue."
This place can be identified from the numerous inscriptions
found in the excavations on the spot, ranging from the
time of Rameses II to the Roman Empire. Latin
inscriptions proved the correctness of the guess of the
French geographer, d'Anville, that the Greek name of the
city was Heroopolis, or Ero, which we know from Strabo to
have been at the head of the Heroopolitan gulf. It shows
that the Red Sea, even in Roman time, extended much
further north, and included what are now called the
Bitter Lakes and Lake Timsah, through which the Suez
Canal is running. The identity of Pithom and Heroopolis
was proved also by a passage in Genesis (xlvi. 28). It
is said that Jacob " sent Judah before him unto Joseph to
shew the way before him unto Goshen, and Joseph made
ready his chariot and went to meet Israel his father to
Goshen." Here the LXX are more precise. They read :
" He sent Judah before him to Joseph, to meet him at
Heroopolis unto the land of Rameses, and Joseph
having made ready his chariot, went to meet his father at
Heroopolis." Heroopolis is a Greek name, therefore the
Coptic version reads in the first sentence : to meet him " at
Pithom, the city in the land of Rameses, "and in the second,
" at Pithom the city."
The site of Pithom was the first discovered. I had then
suggested that Raamses might be the mound called Tel
Rotib, a few miles west of Pithom. My excavations had
not then given results of any importance. What Prof.
Flinders Petrie has found in this mound shows conclusively
that it was the City of Raamses. Wc know now the site
98 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
of the two cities built by the Israehtes : they guarded the
southern road from Palestine, and were a very effective
protection for Egypt. Therefore we cannot wonder that
Pharaoh emplo3'ed the numerous population settled in
the valley to raise this useful defence. At the same time,
it is natural that the Hebrews should resent strongly a
treatment which no doubt was applied to them with the
usual harshness of Eastern nations, and which was par-
ticularly oppressive since its purpose was to prevent them
from increasing in number so as to become a danger for
the State.
The details of the narrative certainly reveal an eye-
witness of the events described. For instance, the fear of
Pharaoh is expressed in this way : " lest they multiply,
and it come to pass that when there falleth out any war,
they also join themselves unto our enemies, and fight
against us." This shows that there was imminent danger
of the kingdom being invaded from abroad. In fact,
in the beginning of the reign of Menephtah, the king of the
Exodus, we see that a great invasion of African and
Mediterranean nations entered the Delta and reached the
neighbourhood of Memphis. That there had been danger
also from the side of Palestine is proved by the great
laudatory tablet of Menephtah discovered by Prof.
Flinders Petrie, in which we find the only mention of
the Israelites in an Egyptian text. It says that there is
nothing to fear from the Canaanite cities, because they
are " prisoners of all kinds of evil5," meaning that they
are entangled in internecine war. Israel does not exist
any more, and Kheta is at peace. Thus Israel is quoted
among the nations which the king had had to dread, and
this justifies what is said of Pharaoh. Would, as the
critics maintain, an inhabitant of Judea, writing many
centuries afterwards, be so well informed about the
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 99
state of the country, and relate such details harmonizing
so well with the circumstances in which the Hebrews and
their oppressors stood when the events occurred which
preceded the Exodus ?
How could this writer know the motives which induced
Pharaoh to persecute the Israelites ? These motives are
given as words spoken by the kmg, and this is m accordance
with the minds of these ancient peoples. A thought
does not exist for them independently of its outward
expression in speech ; it must be spoken, In many cases,
when translating these old texts into modern language,
we should say, " he thought," instead of, " he said."
The word " say " often expresses only an activity of the
mind, a thought, a wish, or another mental action. No
doubt the writer of later times knew of the captivity and
persecution. This tradition has lasted through the whole
history of the Jews, down to the present day. But since
the persecution arose from a political cause due to the
circumstances of the time, it is difficult to imagine how a
late writer could have known it, while for Moses, who
lived in the midst of those circumstances, it was perfectly
clear, and he described exactly what he saw or heard.
Another detail, thoroughly Egyptian, which reveals an
author who wrote in Egypt, is found in Exodus i. 15 :
" And the King of Egypt spoke to the Hebrews' midwives,
of which the name was Shiphrah and the name of the
other Puah, and he said : When ye do the office of mid-
wife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the birth-
stool. ..." This is exactly what v/e see in two famous
sculptures, one of the birth of the Queen Hatshepsu, and
another of the birth of King Amenophis HI. In both
cases the mother is sitting upon a stool and there are two
goddesses acting as midwives near her. In the case of
Mutemua, the mother of Amenophis III, each of the god-
100 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
desses holds one of the hands of the mother. It is not
likely that all the Hebrew women had two midwives, like
the Egyptian princesses. But here Pharaoh speaks
about what he knows and is accustomed to, and it is
impossible not to be struck by the thoroughly Egyptian
character of the narrative, which cannot be due to a
Palestinian writer, whatever be his date.
It is not so easy to discriminate the various tablets
of which this narrative consists, as it was in Genesis.
However, there is one easily discernible ; it goes from
chapter vi. 2 to vii. 7. It is the renewal of the Covenant of
the Lord with the Israelites and with the gathering of the
elders to whom Moses was sent. That is the reason why
the heads of their fathers' houses are here enumerated,
and, since at first they had not listened to Moses and
Aaron, a charge is given them " unto the children of
Israel, and unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring the
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt." The tablet
ends with saying that when Moses started for his mission
he was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and
three.
I shall not dwell on the ten plagues, which, in a weaker
degree, can many of them be found in Egypt at the present
day. I must say only from experience that the fourth
plague, translated " lice," seems to correspond better, as
the margin says, to the sandflies, certainly, as travellers
know, one of the most tormenting insects in Egypt.
Now we come to the Exodus proper, the marching of
the people out of Egypt. It is said that the Israelites
numbered about six hundred thousand on foot that were
men, besides children (xii. 37). As I said before, we
cannot in the least trust the numbers given in the
narrative. This census is difficult to understand. Why
should the men and the children only be mentioned, and
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN lOi
the women entirely omitted ? If it were so, that would
suppose a population of at least two million people, per-
haps even more. It would be a great part of the popula-
tion of the whole country. Two miUion people could not
inhabit the Wady Tumilat ; they could not be gathered
together at one spot, their camp would have covered a
wide area, and they would have required an enormous
quantity of food and water.
I do not feel competent to enter upon a discussion with
the Hebrew scholars upon this passage. I only suggest
a translation tentatively, the more so since there may
have been an error in the transcription from the cuneiform
or the Aramaic text. In this expression, " six hundred
thousand on foot that were men," could the words, " on
foot that were men," mean the strong ones, those who
could stand on their feet and walk and did not require any
help ? Only infants who could not walk and had to be
carried, :the parvuli of the Vulgate, would then be excluded.
There would not be a great number of them. This would
make, all told, only a few thousand above the six hundred
thousand. That would certainly be a large and powerful
tribe, nevertheless, it would be far more manageable than
a population of several millions, and there would be
no impossibility of applying to it what is related in the
narrative. This is an explanation based on the Hebrew
text as we have it ; but as this is not the original, it is
quite possible that the transcription may be incorrect.
The excavations at Pithom have thrown a great deal
of light over the direction of the route of the Exodus, and
upon its stations. The identification of the site of Heroo-
pohs which, according to Strabo, Pliny and the geographer
Ptolemy, was situated at the head of the Arabian Gulf, has
shown that the sea was very near to the country inhabited
by the Israelites, and that it was not necessary to make
102 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
long marches to reach it. Geologists hke Du Bois Ayme,
Linant Bey, Prof. Hull, and Sir William Dawson had
clearly proved from natural science that the Red Sea
extended in former times further north than it does
now, but here we have a proof from Roman inscriptions
that it was so in Roman times.
" The children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to
Succoth." Here we must take Rameses as meaning the
land of Rameses. In Genesis it seems synonymous with
Goshen, the centre of which must have been east of
Bubastis. From there they marched to Succoth. This
name, meaning " tents," is what we call a popular etymo-
logy, a transcription from the sound, in which the original
form of the name is sufficiently altered to have a sense in
the language of the foreign people who have to pronounce
it ; but this sense has nothing do to with the primitive
meaning of the word. This is the way in which tran-
scriptions are made at the present day ; they are not
according to the rules of philology. Succoth is the
Hebrew form of Thuket, or Thukot, the region where
Pithom was built. The name Thukot has in Egyptian
a sign indicating that it has a foreign origin ; it is not
Egyptian. I believe it is African : it appears in several
Hamitic languages of North Africa, where it means a
pasture. The region round Pithom was certainly a pasture
land, for we find in a papyrus that Eastern nomads ask
to be allowed to enter the country, so that they might
graze their cattle in the pastures of Pithom in Succoth.
In that part of the journey of the Israelites, water was
abundant, since they followed the fresh-water canal going
from Bubastis to the Red Sea. Leaving Succoth, they
skirted the Arabian Gulf and reached the desert of Etham.
From there, they could go straight across the desert,
towards the southern part of Palestine, towards Beer-
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 103
sheba. It was the road which Jacob had taken when he
came with his family to settle in Egypt. Caravans followed
it as late as the nineteenth century. The way " of the
land of the Philistines " along the coast of the Mediterra-
nean would have been nearer, but the Israelites would have
had to pass fortresses like Zar, which certainly would have
been great obstacles and would have occasioned fighting.
Arriving at the edge of the wilderness of Etham, the
Israelites could consider themselves well out of Egypt :
they had only to look forward to the happy day when,
having crossed the desert, they would reach the land
of the promise. But they would be in great danger, in
case the King of Egypt wished to pursue them. His
chariots would soon have overtaken this multitude, which
could not march very fast, and his host would have made
a slaughter of these fugitives, who had no way of escape.
This seems to be the reason why they received a command
which they must have considered as very extraordinary
and of a nature to shake their confidence in their leader.
They were not to change the direction of their march,
to incline it more north or more south : they were actually
ordered to retrace their steps (Exodus xiv. i) : " And
the Lord spoke with Moses, saying, Speak unto the
children of Israel, that they turn back and encamp before
Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-
zephon : over against it shall ye encamp by the sea.
And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are
entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in."
This order, at first sight, is certainly most startling.
Instead of marching straight on, on a road which was quite
open, they are told to turn back and to march south
towards a definite spot, where they will have the sea in
front of them, an insuperable obstacle between their
camp and the desert. It looked as if they were told to
104 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
walk into a trap. That is the way in which Pharaoh
interprets their march. The Israehtes are entangled in
the country, they wander in it at random, they cannot
leave it because the wilderness hath shut them in. They
went as far as its edge, but then, he thought, they were
afraid of its dangers, and dared not face the hardships and
difficulties for such a large tribe of a journey through the
desert. " What is this we have done, that we have let
Israel go from serving us ? " Pharaoh made ready his
horses and chariots to pursue them, and they came upon
them at the spot where the Israelites had been ordered
to camp.
Although the narrative of Scripture is very concise,
and there are no unnecessary details, it tallies so well with
the circumstances, especially with the local conditions,
that it is impossible not to attribute it to an eyewitness.
Supposing with the critics, that this chapter is a compound
of two documents, the Jahvist and the Priestly Code,
written by two authors living at four hundred years'
interval, since according to this theory the idea that they
copied an old document is excluded, they must have both
followed an oral tradition.
It is well known that tradition recollects the main
lines of an event : in this case, the fact that the Israelites
had been pursued by the Egyptians and that they had
been saved by the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea. But
it is most improbable, not to say impossible, that tradition
should have remembered the details of the first three
marches, the sudden change, when the Israelites reached
the hmit of the desert in the direction followed, and this
zigzagging in the land, suggesting to Pharaoh the idea of
pursuing them in order to bring them back to Egypt.
Surely these are not the features of a tradition which had
lasted five or nine hundred years. They are characteristic
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 105
of the written testimony of a man who has been a witness
of these events, and who has taken part in them.
This fact is still more striking when we consider what
is said of the place where the Israelites are to camp. The
two verses describing that place are attributed to the
Priestly Code, the la er of the two documents which are
said to be mingled in the chapter. The Priestly Code is
said to have been written by Ezra, according to some of
the critics, or by an anonymous author of the fifth century
according to others. Both authors are said to have come
from Mesopotamia, where Aramaic was the book language,
and at a time when Persian influence was strongly felt in
Palestine. Could a Jew hke Ezra, not living in Egypt, a
scribe in the service of the Persian king, have known about
nine centuries afterwards the exact spot where the passage
of the Red Sea had taken place ?
It is indicated here in the most precise way : the land-
marks of it are given. It cannot be a vast region, since
it is a camp. This contrasts entirely with the geographical
data given later. They are so vague as regards the
journey in the desert, that the way the Israelites followed
is very uncertain and has given rise to most divergent
theories as to their stations and marches during the forty
years in the wilderness. Here, on the contrary, the order
is given with a marvellous precision : " Speak unto the
children of Israel, that they turn back, and encamp before
Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-
zephon : over against it shall ye encamp by the sea." A
staff officer would hardly speak differently, and it is
obvious that an order of this kind has been written down,
either by the man who gave it, or the one who received
it. Here it cannot have been written by any other than
Moses, who had to execute it. It is not a tradition which
would have lasted as such through centuries.
io6 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Pi-hahiroth is the Egyptian name of Pi-kerchet, or
Pi-kcJier&t as it was pronounced by the Hebrews. By the
great inscription known as the stele of Pithom, we are
informed that it was a sanctuary of Osiris at a short
distance from Pithom : it was the Serapeum mentioned
by the Itinerary of Antonine as being eighteen miles
distant from Ero, Heroopolis. I believe this Serapeum,
Pi-hahiroth, to be the large Roman settlement which is
at the foot of the Djebel Mariam, south of Lake Timsah.
That is the northern landmark.
The southern one is Migdol, a name meaning in Hebrew
a tower. It is transcribed in the hieroglyphic texts. We
have information about this Migdol in several papjTi of
the British Museum. In one of them a scribe who is
going after two fugitives relates that first he arrived at the
enclosure of Succoth, evidently a wall protecting the
region against the invasions of the nomads. There he
was informed that the fugitives had crossed the water
north of Migdol of King Seti I. Another papyrus speaks
of a stronghold in the southern part of Succoth. Migdol
was a watch-tower which, from the aspect of the country,
I should place on the height called by the French the
Serapeum, and where, until thirty years ago, there was a
trilingual tablet, Egyptian and cuneiform, dedicated by
Darius. The watch-tower was necessary since, as we shall
see, owing to a phenomenon which took place occasionally,
the nomads found the sea open and could easily wade
through in order to pillage the royal domains on the other
side. The pasture land near Pithom was royal property,
as we know also from a papyrus where it is called the
great estate, or the farm with live stock. Therefore the
LXX instead of " before Pi-hahiroth," read " before the
farm."
" Over against Baal-zephon." l\Iost commentators
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 107
agree that this was not a city, nor even a village, but a
place of worship of a Semitic divinity, in the form and with
the name of Baal. It was, as the Targum explains it,
the sanctuary of an idol, the form of which is not known.
It may have been a mere stone. The name, Baal-zapuna
in its Egyptain garb, is mentioned in a papyrus which also
shows that it was outside Egypt, on the other side of the
sea. We may consider that it was a holy place, like the
tombs of sheikhs, which are generally built on hills, and
where people congregate on certain days. Even now there
is a place of that kind in that region. Going out of Lake
Timsah, there is a hill called Tussum, where a sheikh called
Ennedek was buried. Every year, about the 14th of
July, the place is visited by a great concourse of people
to celebrate a religious festival. There is, very likely, an
old tradition connected with the place, which may not be
exactly the spot where the sheikh was buried. It has per-
sisted through thousands of years. It is well known how
places of worship keep their sacred character through
ages, in spite of changes of religion. It may be that the
sheikh was buried there because the place was held sacred,
though Mohammed had dethroned Baal.
We have now the landmarks of the camping ground of
the Israelites. On the north Pi-hahiroth, Pikcrehet, not
far from Pithom, at the foot of the present Djebel Mariam ;
on the south-east Migdol, the mound near the present
station of the canal now called the Serapeum ; in front of
them the sea, and opposite, on the Asiatic side, a hill
where was the sanctuary of Baal-zephon.
It may be asked why this spot was chosen and pointed
out to Moses with such accuracy. The reason seems to be
that at that spot a phenomenon occurred which was the
means of escape of the Israelites. The sea receded under
the influence of the wind. " And Moses stretched out his
io8 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back
by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry
land and the waters were divided. And the children of
Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground,
and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand,
and on their left " (Ex. xiv. 21). It has often been noticed
by travellers in Egypt that when a strong wind blows
from a certain direction, the sea recedes, sometimes for a
great distance, and comes back again to its former bed
when the wind ceases or changes its direction. This
phenomenon is not rare in Lake Menzaleh, which com-
municates with the sea, in Lake Bourlos, and in other parts
of Egypt. There is nothing extraordinary in its taking
place in the part of the sea between the Timsah and the
Bitter Lakes ; moreover the slow rising of the ground,
which in later times cut off Lake Timsah from the Bitter
Lakes, was already being felt ; the sea must have been
very shallow and probably not ver}'' wide. One may
even suppose that it had been known before that this
phenomenon occurred at that particular spot, and it may
have been this reason which compelled the Egyptians to
build there a stronghold, a tower to watch the temporary
opening.
The description given of the phenomenon, especially
when it is said that the water was a wall unto them, indi-
cates that there was a stream, a current which could only
be produced by the tide. For the effect of the water
rising like a wall is a characteristic of this natural accident
when it occurs in a river. There arc well authenticated
reports of the opening of the Rhone at Geneva under the
influence of a very strong wind. It is distinctly said that
the people could walk from one bank to the other, and
that the water looked like a wall. In the case of the
Hebrews, the way under their feet must have been sandy
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 109
ground, and while they could easily wade through, it was
very bad soil for the chariots, the wheels sank into the
sand, "so that they drave them heavily." Not only
could they not overtake the Israelites, but they gave
up the pursuit, and, the wind ceasing, suddenly " the sea
returned to its strength, and the waters returned and
covered the chariots, the horsemen, even all the host of
Pharaoh that went in after them into the sea."
We see now the reason why the Israelites had to change
their itinerary. Had they remained on the northern
route, which they had chosen at first, and which was quite
open, they would have had nothing to shelter them from
the pursuit of the Egyptians. After having crossed the
Red Sea they were safe. Even if Pharaoh had not
suffered this disaster, the loss of his vanguard of chariots,
the sea now separated the Israelites from the Egyptians.
There again the trace of the eyewitness appears every-
where. He had seen the events he relates. He had lifted
up his eyes, " and behold, the Egyptians were marching."
He had heard the Israelites reproaching bitterly their lead-
ers : " Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou
taken us away to die in the wilderness ; wherefore hast
thou thus dealt with us ? " These are not inventions of
an author writing several centuries afterwards. In his terse
language Moses describes the anguish and the dismay of
the people who nearly rebelled against him ; and what
allowed him to stand perfectly calm in this storm of anger
and terror was his absolute confidence in his Lord. " Fear
ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord . . .
The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your
peace." This confidence is rewarded by the answer :
" Wherefore criest thou unto Me ? Speak unto the
children of Israel that they go forward." Judging this
narrative from the purely literary side, it bears the char-
no ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
acter of a scene which has been hved through ; and this
is quite in keeping with the remarkable accuracy of the
geographical data whereby is revealed an author who
knew perfectly the place of which he was speaking.
This route has been suggested before upon other grounds
by Linant Bey, a French engineer, who based it chiefly on
geology, and by the Norwegian Egyptologist, Lieblein.
It differs only slightly from that suggested by another
geologist. Sir WiUiam Dawson, who placed the passage
ten miles further south. The new proof of its correct-
ness rests entirely on information derived from the
excavations at Pithom and on the important inscriptions
discovered in the old city. They established that the Red
Sea extended much further north even in Roman time, a
fact which has been recognized by geologists, but attributed
to prehistoric times. This fact is the key of the whole
question. Now only can we see that the description of
the Exodus is in complete conformity with the geographi-
cal conditions of the country, and that there is no impossi-
bility of any kind in the description of the journey.
From Rameses to Succoth is not a long march, and
doubtless the joy of being free gave the IsraeHtes
additional strength, as would also the wish to be as soon
as possible out of the reach of their oppressors. One may
suppose that this first march had the character of a forced
march : they went as far as possible in the pasture region
of Succoth. From there to the edge of the desert of
Etham, which must have been near the site of the city of
Ismailiah, they did not march more than six or seven
miles, and when they turned back and had to skirt the
present Lake Timsah, it was not a long day's journey.
There was no extraordinary difficulty in their movements
as they are described in Exodus.
It is certainly different with the old explanation — that
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN iii
they passed the Red Sea in the vicinity of the present
city of Suez. This route supposed long marches quite
out of question for a large tribe of people going on foot,
such indeed as would be achieved with difficulty by a
caravan of camels. Besides, they would have found on
their track a serious obstacle : they would have had to
pass over the ridge of Djebel Geneffeh, a considerable
height difficult of access. In travelling by rail from
Ismailiah to Suez, before reaching the Bitter Lakes, the
way seems entirely closed by the Djebel Geneffeh and its
highest summit. Jos'ephus twice alludes to the fact that
the Israelites had before them steep mountains projecting
into the sea, and that they were shut up between the sea
and the mountains. Their way seemed entirely barred,
and this explains their despair, as described in Scripture
and by Josephus.
Lastly, upon the assumption that they passed as far
south as Suez, the command they received is absolutely
inexplicable and senseless. They are marching through the
desert as fast as they can ; how can they be told to turn
back, and to where ? What result would it have had for
them ? Instead of bringing them near the spot where they
are to cross the sea, turning back would only divert them
from that spot and expose them as a prey to Pharaoh's
pursuit. If the geographical conditions of the country
were those which this explanation implies, one can very
well understand how the impossibilities contained on this
hypothesis in the narrative, the complete discrepancy
with the local circumstances, have led the critics to consider
it as a late composition due to a man who had an approxi-
mate idea of the great lines of the tradition, but who was
absolutely ignorant of what the country was, and who had
never been there.
Certainly the narrative of the Exodus, and the passage
112 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
of the Red Sea, are episodes which bear in the strongest
way the Mosaic character, the mark of the eyewitness.
This comes out particularly in the greographical indica-
tions. The place itself, even in its present appearance,
is remarkably well fitted for what took place there several
thousand years ago. I have no doubt that whoever looks
at it from the hill of the Serapeum, the site where, in my
opinion, stood the watch-tower of Migdol, having the
Djebel Geneffeh at his back, will easily picture to himself
in the plain at his feet the multitude of the Israelites seeing
in the distance the dust of the chariots of the pursuers, and,
half mad with terror, looking anxiously at the sea, which,
far from being a barrier, was to be their way of escape.
An argument against the historical value of the nar-
rative has been drawn from the fact that not only does
the tomb of Menephtah exist at Thebes, but that his body
has been found mummified. This argument can only be
adduced from a very inattentive reading of the events.
Nowhere is it said that the king himself died in the sea.
Only his chariots and horsemen are spoken of — evidently a
quick vanguard sent to run after the Israelites, as would
be done now by a regiment of cavalry. This vanguard
was probably under the command of one of the princes ;
the head of the chariots was generally the king's son.
We have several examples of this, especially in the reign of
Rameses.
The song is probably not exactly what was sung by the
Israelites after their deliverance. I suppose that the
canticle they struck up immediately, when they saw the
destruction of Pharaoh's army and that they were safe on
the land, consisted of the first two verses, the burden by
which Miriam accompanied the dances of the women and
marked the rhythm, using at the same time a timbrel.
This would be exactly what is done still in Egypt, when
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 113
instead of by musical instruments a dance is accompanied
by a song, always the same and repeated over and over
again. Here, what inspired the dance of the triumphant
daughters of Israel would be the words :
Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously
The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.
As for the rest of the hjTnn, I do not see why it could
not be Mosaic. I should consider it as a hymn of dehver-
ance composed by Moses in remembrance of this great
event, to keep alive among the future generations the
recollection of the marvellous escape of the people from
the hands of the Egyptian king. I cannot help thinking
that it dated from the end of Moses' Ufe, when the Israel-
ites were on the border of the land of promise, and when
they had in front of them Moab, Edom, and the population
of Canaan. It seems to have a Deuteronomic character.
It reminds one of the last chapters of that book. Especi-
ally it supposes, as Deuteronomy does, that the first thing
the Israelites will do will be to choose a place for the Lord's
abode (xv. 13) : " Thou hast guided them in Thy
strength to Thy holy habitation . . . Thou shalt bring
them in and plant them in the mountain of Thine inherit-
ance. The place, O Lord, which Thou hast made for Thee
to dweU in ; the sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands
have estabhshed." Here also Moses cannot suppose that
there wiU be no abode for the Lord, that the ark will still
be under a tent, wandering from place to place. He
imagines the people singing that hymn of thanksgiving at
the sanctuary which the Lord's hands have estabhshed.
It is a psalm which he leaves to them for the future. It
is quite possible that the writer who collected the tablets
of Moses, whom we suppose to be Ezra, may have inserted
114 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
this hymn at that place, though it originally was
independent.
Moses was a poet, and we have other specimens of his
poetical works : the long song given by Deuteronomy
(ch. xxxii.), of which it is said : " and Moses came and
spake the words of this song in the ears of the people, he
andHoshea, the son of Nun " ; and the blessing which he
gave to the people before he went to the top of Pisgah.
The authorship of these h^nQins has been denied to him,
chiefly on linguistic or philological grounds. But if, as
we hold, these hymns are not in the original language in
which Moses wrote, those linguistic arguments are of
little value, and the contents of the hymns and their
nature alone has to be considered. We see nothing in
them which would prevent us from attributing them to
Moses.
There is another piece of poetry, a psalm, aJso a transla-
tion, called "a prayer of Moses the man of God " : this
name is found also in the LXX. This title has been rejec-
ted, like many others in the Psalms. But here we have an
opportunity for challenging the method of a good many
critics. This psalm is attributed to Moses. It is not
very difficult, any more than in the case of a considerable
number of writings, to argue that it is not the work of the
assigned author. This is a kind of philological game which
is practised largely in certain universities. Even suppos-
ing it has been shown not to be by the assigned author,
the critic is only half-way, and by far the easier half.
What is more difficult, is to show why the writing has
been attributed to that author, when it was so attributed
and by whom. On these points I have no hesitation in
saying that you often find the critic giving as an established
fact what is merely his own opinion, one frequently also
which is quite hypothetical. We are told that the psalm
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 115
of Moses never was written by him ; why ? Let us
remember first that philological reasons do not exist.
This psalm was transcribed, probably twice, from cunei-
form and from Aramaic, like other psalms, before
it reached its present form. To whom did it occur to
mention the name of Moses in connection with this psalm ?
Let the critic answer, not by what he imagines, but let
him adduce proofs and bring well established facts.
Judging from the contents of this psalm, since we have
not to consider its form, the thoughts which inspire it are
so well in harmony with the character of Moses and the
conditions in which he lived in the desert, that we see no
reason to throw aside the tradition, which is anterior to
the third century, since it is already in the LXX. Moses,
like all the prophets, could be occasionally a poet.
The Tabernacle
We shall not follow the Israelites in their long journey
through the desert. The direction they took, the stations
where they stopped during that long wandering, all
these questions are the objects of lively discussions among
scholars and travellers. One thing seems certain, that
they must have spent the greater part of the forty years
near Kadesh, in the northern region of the peninsula.
We should like merely to direct the attention of our
readers to the considerable changes produced in our views
on the books describing the legislation by the fact that
Moses wrote in Babylonian cuneiform. The books
in their present form are translations, therefore the Lower
Criticism, " which has to do with letters, words and sen-
tences as such, without regard to their literary form or
meaning," has no longer any locus standi here, and the
Higher Criticism, which " builds on the Lower Criticism
as its foundation when it takes the text of Scripture
ii6 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
from the hands of Lower Criticism and studies it as a
literature" (Briggs), sees its base disappear from under
its feet.
Let us take the description of the Tabernacle and of
the ark of the Covenant. All this part of the book of
Exodus is attributed by the critics to the document called
P, the Priestly Code, which at first was thought to be
the most ancient, but now is asserted to be the most
recent, being said to be post-exihan. Welihausen fixes
its date at about 444. Ezra is generally supposed to be
its author.
" The priest-code is realistic, and its reahsm is that
of the wilderness, of the wanderings and nomadic hfe . . .
it seems unlikely that it should be pure invention, or
the elaboration of an ideal which could not escape ana-
chronisms in some particulars. But if the fundamental
legislation is Mosaic, why might not the priestly com-
piler, taking his stand in the wilderness of the wander-
ings, have been true to his historic and ideal standpoint ? "
This view is advocated by Dr. Briggs, one of the most
conservative among the critics, who admits that the
fundamental legislation is Mosaic, and that Moses is not
a mere name. However, according to this learned
scholar's idea, the narrator who describes the wanderings
in the desert and some of the most striking episodes, such
as the constitution of the Tabernacle and the ark, is a
man who Uved six or seven hundred years afterwards,
not very long after the captives had returned from Baby-
lon, at a time when all the intercourse of the Palestinian
as well as the Egyptian Jews was with Persia ; so far so
that they had adopted the Mesopotamian writing, Ara-
maic. Under such circumstances there arose this author,
remarkably well informed in the ways of desert life,
as well as in history : and his information extended not
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 117
only to important facts, but even to detail and to features
of the civilization of Egypt, a country where most pro-
bably he had never been.
Let us follow what is written in Scripture. The Israel-
ites had left Egypt, a country where they could see a
great number of temples which were supposed to be the
abodes of the divinity. Some of them were of gigantic
proportions ; they generally were built of strong materials
and, as the founders engraved in their inscriptions, in-
tended to last as long as heaven. In the desert of
Sinai the Hebrews had received the law of the Lord,
they had witnessed the scene of the giving of the law.
On the third day, when it was morning, there were thun-
ders and lightning and a thick cloud upon the mound,
and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, and they
had trembled and stood afar off.
Afterwards they had again heard Moses receiving
God's commandment (Exod. xx. 22) : "Ye yourselves
have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
Ye shall not make other gods with Me : gods of silver, or
gods of gold ye shall not make unto Me. An altar of
earth thou shalt make unto Me, and shalt sacrifice thereon
thy burnt-offerings ... in every place where I record
My name I will come unto thee and bless thee. And if
thou make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of
hewn stone." This is the regulation for the worship of
the Israelites : they were to bring sacrifices and burnt-
offerings to the altar. But there was as yet no sign of
the presence of Jehovah among them, no place con-
sidered as the abode of God. The erection of such a place
seemed a natural consequence of the covenant which the
Lord had made with His people, the covenant which had
been concluded at a great sacrifice when the people had
been sprinkled with blood. Therefore the Lord spoke
ii8 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
unto Moses and commanded him that the children of
Israel should make Him an offering, every man who was
willing, of precious metals, and the valuables which they
possessed. " And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I
may dwell among them " (Exod. xxv. 8).
The first part of this sanctuary, that which was par-
ticularly considered as the abode of God, was the ark.
" And they shall make me an ark of acacia wood, and
thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without
shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown
(rim or moulding) round about." Further on it is related
that the ark was made of acacia wood by a man " called
by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur of the
tribe of Judah, who was filled with the Spirit of God in
wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in
all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to
work in gold and in silver and in brass, and in the cutting
of stone for setting, and in carving of wood to work in all
manner of workmanship " (Exod. xxi. 2, 3).
Thus the man who had to do all the work in the ark
and the Tabernacle is an Israelite of the tribe of Judah ;
he is not a stranger, but probably learnt his art in Egypt ;
for all the kinds of work enumerated there are exactly
such as were produced by Egyptian workmen, and had
probably been seen repeatedly by the Hebrews while they
were staying in the country.
Once again I have to ask the question, How could an
author of the time of the Persian kings know the name
of the workman who had been entrusted with that impor-
tant work ? How had his name been preserved, and not
only his own, but that of his father and his grandfather ?
Certainly it did not come down through seven or eight
centuries by oral tradition. It must have been recorded
in some written document. Ark and Tabernacle had
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 119
disappeared when the author of the Priestly Code is sup-
posed to have written. It would be strange in that case
that the name of the artist who made them in a remote
past should have survived. According to the critics, the
writer was true to his historical and ideal standpoint.
This can be admitted as possible in reference to the great
lines of the narrative and the general features of desert
life. But when it comes to definite facts, to points of
detail like this, the writer must have had some document
on which he might base his statement, and this document
could not be of a date very different from the acts it
related. It is far more credible that we owe the name and
the information about the artist to Moses himself, rather
than to an unknown author living, several centuries
later, in a distant country. We shall come to the same
conclusion about various other points.
" They shall make an ark of acacia wood," the staves
to carry it, the table, the boards, the Tabernacle, every
thing in wood is to be made in shittim wood, the acacia.
The name of the acacia does not appear anywhere else
except in Isaiah xli. 19, where the prophet, describing
the future state of felicity, says : "I will plant in the
wilderness the cedar, the acacia tree and the myrtle ..."
We do not find the acacia among the materials for the
construction of the Temple. The beams, pillars, floor
are made of cedar, the cherubim of the doors of the oracle
of olive wood, and the others of fir wood or cypress.
Since the Israelites were settled in Palestine, the tree con-
sidered as fit for sacred construction and worthy of this
employment was cedar. The house of God, the abode of
the Lord, could not be made of any other wood. \Micn
Nathan brings to David the commandment not to build
a temple, we read this (2 Sam. vii. 5) : " Shalt thou build
Me a house for Me to dwell in 1 for I have not dwelt in an
120 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
house since the day that I brought up the children of
Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked
in a tent and in a tabernacle. In all places wherein
I have walked with all the children of Israel spoke I a
word with any of the judges (margin) of Israel, whom I
commanded to feed My people Israel, asking : Why
have ye not built Me an house of cedar ? " An Israelite
did not conceive an abode for God being made of any
other material than cedar. This wood, and the cypress,
was also used by the Assyrians for their sacred construc-
tions. They speak of cedar wood which came from the
Amanus as well as from Lebanon.
On the contrary, cedar does not appear in the con-
struction of the ark and the Tabernacle. They are to
be made of acacia wood. By this name we are to under-
stand the tree called by the botanists acacia seyal. This
tree is found in Egypt, and the Egyptians made great
use of it. They used it for making furniture and boats.
It was the favourite wood for the doors of temples. In
the course of time it takes a fine black colour, which
the ancients imitated. It was also used sometimes for
coffins. Outside of Egypt the acacia scyal is found in
the Sinaitic peninsula, and near the Dead Sea, but not
further north. It may reach a great height, but it is
cut down too often when young by the Bedouins for
making charcoal.
Acacia is a tree of the Sinaitic desert, and it must have
been rather abundant at the time, since among the offer-
ings the Israehtes are ordered to bring acacia wood, pro-
bably felled, cut and gathered around their camp. But it
is not a Palestinian tree. Except for a few bushes, no
acacia trees are found in Palestine, especially not in the
north. However, in the Shephelah — what used to be the
coast of the Philistines — some fine specimens are found,
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 121
which are attributed by botanists to cultivation, but the
origin of which goes back to a very high antiquity.
The important point is that the acacia is a Sinaitic and
not a Palestinian tree : that after the conquest of Canaan
it was entirely put aside for sacred constructions, and
superseded by cedar. Here the narrator is entirely in
accordance with the local conditions, with the nature
of the desert and what could be found there. Can we
suppose that the post-exihan writer is so true to his
historical standpoint, that he can describe a kind of
construction which had been out of use for centuries
both in Palestine and Mesopotamia ? Does it not seem
more likely that the narrator had been in the desert
himself, and pictured what he had seen ?
Desert life, with a strong Egyptian influence in every-
thing referring to workmanship, this is what we find
in the narrative. For instance, in what is said of metal.
It is used for overlaying objects made of wood. When it
is used alone, as for the candlestick, it is said that it will
be beaten. Once only is it said that the metal is cast :
"And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for the ark."
This is in full agreement with what we find in Egypt.
There, whenever metal work is applied to an object of
large size, the metal was not cast, it was beaten. The
action of fire, the melting of the metal, was resorted to
only for small objects hke jewels. In the time of the
Sixth Dynasty, we have two statues of King Pepi and of
his son. It is possible that some small parts may have
been cast, hke the face, the fingers and the toes, but the
whole body is made of hammered slabs, nailed upon a
core which probably was made of wood. The Egyptians
seemed to have been particularly skilled in the use of the
hammer. They were very clever in beating the metal
so as to produce very thin plates of gold or silver, which
122 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
afterwards were overlaid upon wooden, or even stone,
sculptures. We have still a few statuettes covered
with a very thin sheet of gold and silver, and it is probable
that some of the wooden statues which have been pre-
served were covered in that way, but that their valuable
casing has attracted robbers. For instance, the head of
the cow found at Deir el Bahari was covered with gold ;
a great number of mummy cases were ornamented with
thin gold which was cut away by robbers. Therefore,
what is said about the ark and the Tabernacle — that all
the wood on both sides of the ark and the staves for
carrying it were overlaid with gold — is quite Egyptian.
It is curious to see that the only part of the ark which
is cast are the rings of gold for the staves of the ark. If
we look at the pictures representing the tributes brought
to the Egyptians by foreign nations from the south, the
gold is generally in rings or in powder. This shows that
the African nations, less civilized than the Egyptians,
knew how to cast gold in rings, so that this work must
have been familiar to the old Egyptians.
All the work commanded and described in the book of
Exodus could be done by any man skilled in Egyptian
handicraft. The few tool* he wanted, both for carpentry
and for jewellery, could be easily carried on a journey.
Even now in Egyptian villages, a carpenter who has
to make a piece of furniture does not go to his workshop ;
he generally has none. He takes the two or three neces-
sary tools, and goes to the house where he is required
and where he finds the wood provided for him. All the
woodwork for the ark and Tabernacle is very simple and
could easily be made anywhere.
The same is the case with the metal work. It is not
complicated. It consists chiefly of beaten work made
with a hammer. There are no large cast objects ; it
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 123
would have been impossible to have a sufficient furnace and
to make the moulds in the desert. Besides, it is doubtful
whether the Egyptians ever made large cast pieces. We
find no large bronze statues, such as the Greeks made
so numerously, except in quite late times. Here again
in Exodus we have a small detail which makes it unlikely
that this description should be due to a late author of
post -exilian time. How is it that such objects of second-
ary importance, like the rings through which were inserted
the staves for carrying the ark, are distinctly said to have
been cast, while the whole work was beaten ? It seems
most improbable that such a small point should have
been preserved by tradition. A narrator writing several
centuries afterwards would perhaps have said that
Bezalel made four rings ; he would not have distinguished
the two kinds of work.
The breastplate is also quite Egyptian. Several
similar jewels for kings and queens have been preserved.
They are of gold, with inlaid precious stones. Those
of the Twelfth Dynasty, much older than the arrival of
the Jews into Egypt, are particularly beautiful. There-
fore a skilled workman, coming from Egypt, could easily
make the breastplate for Aaron.
" The women that were wise-hearted did spin with their
hands, and brought that which they had spun, the blue,
the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen. And all the
women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom, spun the
goats' hair " (Exod. xxxv. 25, 26). This again may be done
in the desert, and bears an Egyptian character. Egypt was
the great centre of the manufacture of hnen in antiquity.
The considerable amount which has been preserved, from
the Old Empire down to Roman times, some of it of the
finest quality ; the quantity of hnen used for mummifying ;
all this shows that the fabrication of linen was one of
124 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
the chief industries of the country, and that a great use
of it must have been made in common life. I cannot go
into the question whether flax or cotton was used for it.
We are not sure of the sense of the Hebrew words, and
we must suppose that they had a precise meaning as in
our language.
Probably the Israelite women had brought from
Egypt the linen they offered for the Tabernacle and
which they spun : the weaving is said to have been done,
or at least directed, by Bezalel and his assistant Oholiab.
As for the curtains of goats' hair, the material was in
abundance, and it could be fabricated easily by the
women. It very likely was the same kind of stuff which
the peasant women still make in some parts of Italy from
the hair of their goats. All this description is in con-
formity with the way of living of a powerful nomad
tribe.
It is said that the Israelites carried away a great deal
when they left ; that, in their hurry to be delivered from
them, the Egyptians gave them " jewels of silver, and
jewels of gold, and raiment." It must have been as it is
now with the Arab women who often carry all their
fortune in jewels with which they adorn themselves ;
they wear heavy necklaces, sometimes very valuable,
which are their investments, all they possess. In a
numerous tribe, if the women sacrificed generously their
jewels, it might amount to a large quantity of gold
which was afterwards hammered and used for plating
and overlaying wood such as the staves of the ark, or the
mercy-seat. In those cases, the sheet of gold was very
thin. As for the candlestick made of pure gold of beaten
work, it must have been like the statue of Pepi, made of
thick plates fixed on a core probably of wood.
In the description of garments, and curtains, and
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 125
other pieces of textile stuff, there is a word of which it
seems to me doubtful whether it has been rightly under-
stood. It is said of the screen of the tent (xxvi. 36),
" Thou shalt make a screen of blue and purple and
scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroi-
derer." Of the ephod it is said (xxviii. 6) : " And they shall
make the ephod of gold, of blue and purple, scarlet and
fine twined hncn, the work of the cunning workman."
Between the screen and the ephod, there is the difference
that in the screen no gold is mentioned, and the work
is done by the " embroiderer," while there is gold in the
ephod and the work is done by the " cunning workman."
The word translated " cunning workman "occurs several
times, generally in connection with metal work (xxviii 15 ;
xxvi. I, 31 ; xxxvi. 8 ; xxxix. 8). Have we not here in the
ephod an example of what is found in the Mycenean
tombs, very thin gold ornaments in the form of flowers or
disks fastened to a garment, rather than a tnetal thread
which would have xomplicatcd the weaving ?
The small pieces of jewellery may have been melted,
as the jewellers of the present day melt them in the
villages. This does not require a very big fire. But I do
not beheve that the golden calf was cast. The words say-
ing that Aaron fashioned it with a graving tool (xxxii. 4)
seem to indicate that it was sculptured and plated after-
wards, so as to look like a molten calf, like the statue of
Pepi of which one may say that it looks exactly hke a
molten figure. Besides, we have no indication as to the
size of the calf.
Two of the coverings are said (xxvi. 14) to be ram's skin
dyed red, with a covering of sealskin above. Reims'
skins were very easy to obtain and to dye, but it is some-
what strange to find skins of an animal called, according
to the translator, either seal, porpoise, or dugong. Though
126 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
this sea animal is said to be abundant in the Red Sea,
it is difficult to imagine the Israelites engaged in hunting it,
and it seems natural to follow the LXX, who translated
" of blue colour," being dyed rams' skins.
The pillars were to rest on sockets, which may be
either silver or brass. I found a socket of that kind at
Bubastis. It consists of a cube of bronze, on the top
of which is a depression in which the piUar rested, or
on which the door turned if it was a hinge. Those
made for the Tabernacle must have had a similar
form.
I shall not go into the discussion on the reconstruction
of the Tabernacle and its dimensions, but I must insist
again on the remarkable conformity of the description
with the local and historical circumstances. There is
absolutely nothing revealing a writer of the fifth century,
who would have been rather under Persian influence.
For instance, speaking of curtains and embroidery beauti-
fully worked and used for sacred purposes, a writer of
that time would mention Zidon and Zidonian women. On
the contrary, the author seems to know Egyptian industry
very weU, but never to have gone further than the desert.
Egypt and desert produces alone are adduced. This is
particularly striking in the case of acacia wood, considering
that after the arrival of the Hebrews in Canaan, it is never
mentioned again and dropped entirely out of use for
purposes of worship.
Is not Moses the man who was most able to write such
an account, to record the name of the skilled artists who
had achieved the construction and all the works of art
it contained, and to go into such minute details about
the ornaments, the colour and size of each curtain and
covering, the material out of which it had to be made ?
Can we suppose that so detailed a tradition had lasted
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 127
unwritten more than eight hundred years and outhved
the Tabernacle and the Ark ?
Deuteronomy
I should like, before leaving the subject of the composi-
tion of the Pentateuch, to revert to the question of Deuter-
onomy which I have raised elsewhere.^ The critics are
nearly unanimous in asserting that the book of the law
discovered by Hilkiah under Josiah was Deuteronomy,
or part of it. In this I fully agree with the critics. For
Deuteronomy is exactly the book which might be found
under such circumstances.
Deuteronomy is said to be the last words spoken to the
people by Moses when he was going to disappear; when
his earnest request to be allowed to " go over and see
the good land that is beyond Jordan " had been finally
refused. Israel is on the verge of Canaan, the conquest
of which is assured. Therefore the language of Moses
is somewhat different from what it was in the desert.
He supposed that, like all neighbouring nations, the
Israelites will have a king, and he devises some laws con-
cerning him. But what he alludes to several times is that
there will be the place " which the Lord your God shall
choose out of all your tribes, to put His name there,"
and to make it His Habitation. Since every Israelite was
to have a fixed abode, Moses assumed that the Lord also
will have one which He shall choose. He cannot imagine
that when each man in Israel will be settled in his habita-
tion " the Lord will have none, and His habitation
will still be a tent going from place to place." He,
Moses, cannot say where it will be, since he is not allowed
to enter the country.
1 The Discovery of the book of the Law, under King Josiah
(S.P.C.K.).
128 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
The critics lay much stress on the fact that Deuteronomy
prescribes that sacrifices must be offered in one single
place, and that this unity of worship, as well as of supreme
judiciary, was only realized much later, after the building of
the temple ; so that the composition of Deuteronomy must
be put at a much later epoch than Moses, not long before
Josiah. But^the discrepancy between the law, if there is
one/ and the practice at the time of the Judges down to
Solomon's reign may be easily explained. The habitation
of the Lord which Moses foresaw, which seemed to him the
necessary consequence of the Israelites settling down
each in his house and under his fig tree, never was chosen,
never was singled out among the tribes, until Solomon's
time. The Israelites therefore could not bring their
sacrifices to the place which the Lord had chosen, since
there was no such place, and the Ark was still erratic,
deposited in a tent, and could be moved from one place to
another. There was no habitation of the Lord. This
state of things is described when Nathan said to David :
" Thus saith the Lord ... I have not dwelt in a house
since the day that I brought up the children of Israel
out of Egypt even to this day, but have walked in a tent
and in a tabernacle. (2 Samuel vii. 6j. . . . In all places
wherein I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word
with any of the judges of Israel when I commanded to
feed my people, saying : Why have ye not built Me
an house of cedar ? . . ."(i Chron. xxviii. 6).
The choice of the place and the building of the house
was to be done only by a man whose special mission it
should be. Moses died before having passed the Jordan,
Joshua did not feel called to accomplish such a task, and
when David thought of it, when, as he says, it was in his
heart " to build a house of rest for the ark of the
1 See p. 145.
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN I2q
covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God,"
(i Chron. xxviii 2.) he was not allowed to do it. " God
said unto me : thou shalt not build an house for My name,
because thou art a man of war. . . . Solomon thy son
shall build My house and My courts. ..." Thus from
the time of the conquest to the reign of David's son, part
of the Mosaic law could not be accomplished, because
there was no habitation of the Lord, and no one to build it.
Solomon is the king appointed to build the cedar house.
In order to establish for ever that the temple is the place
" chosen by the Lord to put His name in," he does what
the Assyrian kings often did, he hides in the wall as
foundation deposit a cuneiform tablet of the law of
Moses, of that book which is a summary of it, and which
speaks of that place " which the Lord will choose." The
book remained buried in the wall until great repairs made
in the temple revealed it to Hilkiah.
It is hardly necessary to repeat the narrative of the
discovery of the book of the law. The temple was in the
hands of a great number of workmen and masons, repair-
ing cracks in the walls and using for that purpose hewn
stone. One may fancy that they came upon the cunei-
form tablet, and did not pay any attention to it, as common
workmen or masons w^ould do now not only in repairing
old walls but even in excavations. Hilkiah found it
in the rubbish, or he picked it out when it fell out of its
hiding-place ; and when Shaphan the scribe, the secretary
of the king, came to see the payment of the cost of the
repairs, " Hilkiah said unto Shaphan the scribe : I have
found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And
Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it.
And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the
king w'ord again." (2 Kings xxii. 8).
The narrative is very brief, but it shows very clearly
K
130 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
how the scene took place. When Shaphan comes into
the temple, Hilkiah tells him that he has found the book,
and hands it over to Shaphan, who reads it aloud. After-
wards he goes back to the king to bring him his report, as
he was ordered to do, and he reads the book again to the
king. Wlien Hilkiah says he has found the book, why
does he give it to Shaphan ; why does he not read it
himself ? Because most likely he could not read cunei-
form. He knew that the law was written in such char-
acters, he also could suppose that a book coming from
the foundations of the temple must belong to the law ;
but it was the secretary of the king, the man who had to
correspond with the Assyrians, who read the writing which
had been that of Moses, which was still used for official
documents, and which had not yet altogether been super-
seded by Aramaic.
Summing up again what seems to me the result of
the excavations of the last thirty years, namely, that the
oldest books of the Hebrews prior to Solomon's time
have been written in Babylonian cuneiform, I should
like my readers to observe that in this long discussion,
I have adhered strictly to the text of Scripture ; for
instance, for the Pentateuch, I know only of Moses the
author, and Ezra the compiler. On the other hand, the
numerous writers, of whom for Genesis there are seven
according to Kautzsch and Socin, have been called into
existence by the critics, without any trace whatever
being left in the text of their name, time, origin or
dates. They are mere hterary creations.
The Archives
Before leaving the books of Moses, the cuneiform
tablets which were the work of the great legislator, we
have to raise an important question. How were these
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 131
tablets preserved ? How did one generation hand them
over to the next ? Here, I must say frankly, we are
entirely in the field of hypothesis. For we have no indica-
tion whatever in Scripture which might put us in the
right track. So that we can reason only from analogy,
and see what the neighbouring nations did with their
tablets.
Documents of that kind were of great value. They
were not like inscriptions on potsherds or on a scrap of
paper. It would not have been necessary to take the
trouble to bake the clay on which the text was engraved,
if it were not for the desire that they should last as would
be the case with religious texts, laws, literary composi-
tions, contracts, legal documents, such as are found in
great number. These tablets were generally collected
in deposists, archives or libraries. Several of them are
famous, such as the library of Assurbanipal at Kuyun-
iik, discovered by Layard, part of which has been brought
to the British Museum. It contained thousands of tablets
of all kinds, grammar and language, literature, religion,
mythology, magic, everything concerning the administra-
tion of the country, the treaties with neighbouring
nations, civil laws and contracts, even natural science.
This is the most considerable collection found as yet, and
its exploration is not even yet finished.
Another library of the same kind, to which belonged
perhaps also a school, has been discovered at Nippur, and
has also yielded thousands of tablets, some of which
belong to the early Babylonian civilization, so that it is
possible that the Ass3n:ian king, in collecting his hbrary,
may have made use of the older one at Nippur. It seems
that in those libraries the clay tablets were gathered and
preserved in a methodical manner, placed on shelves of
wood or clay, or sometimes stored in jars.
132 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
At Boghaz Keui also, the tablets were found in a place
of small area, which the discoverer, Dr. Winckler, calls a
part of the royal archives, very much ruined, and of
which probably the greater part is lost.
At Tel-Taannek, in Palestine, the explorer Dr. Sellin,
who discovered there a few cuneiform tablets, speaks of
a small library contained in a large clay box. This is
what is recommended by Jeremiah (xxxii. 14) : " Take
these deeds, this deed of the purchase, both that which is
sealed and the deed which is open, and put them in
an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days."
In Egypt, the precious archives of Tel-el- Amarna were
said by the natives to have been contained in an earthen
vessel or jar. It is but seldom that a cuneiform tablet
is found isolated or alone. There are generally a certain
number of them, a collection more or less numerous accord-
ing to the importance of the place and of the nation. We
may suppose that the Israelites followed the custom of the
Mesopotamians, their fathers, and that they deposited
their tablets in a city which thus became their " book-
town." It is possible that it was also the custom of the
inhabitants of Canaan. We hear of a city called Kirjath-
sepher, a city destroyed by Caleb's brother (Joshua xv. 15,
16), " the city of books," which may have been a place
where existed such a deposit of documents. This is
confirmed by the LXX, where the name is translated
JloXi? jpafi/jbdrcop, the city of writings, of written docu-
ments, civitas litterarmn by the Vulgate, and by the Coptic.
Did the Hebrews have a city of archives, or at least
a place where their religious or legal documents were
deposited, such as the tablets written by Moses which con-
stituted the Pentateuch ? Here we are obliged to resort
again to a mere hypothesis, since Scripture is absolutely
silent on that point. I think Hebron may have been that
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 133
place, or perhaps Shcchem, but I rather inchne to Hebron.
Hebron was given to the tribe of Judah and to Caleb,
the only survivor of the spies sent by Moses forty years
before ; to him it had been promised that the land
wherein his foot had trodden should be his inheritance
(Joshua xiv. 9). He himself, though he was fourscore
and five years old, was as strong as in the days when Moses
sent him, and his family seems to have been very warlike
and brave. They had to conquer the most difficult part
of the country, that inhabited by Anakim : they smote
and destroyed Kirjath-sepher, and Hebron was given to
Caleb, " because that he followed the Lord, the God of
Israel." One may w^ell suppose that the members of this
family were chosen to be the guardians of the books which
had been brought from Egypt.
Besides, Hebron was a place where the Israelites had
ancestral traditions. There, Abraham had purchased the
field of Ephron the Hittite, in order to bury his dead Sarah,
who had died at the age of hundred and seven and twenty
years, in the cave of Machpelah (Gen. xxiii.) : " And the
field and the cave that is therein was made sure unto Abra-
ham for a possession of a burying place by the children of
Heth." When Abraham died, Isaac and Ishmael, his
sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah. Esau and
Jacob did the same for Isaac, and when he was dying,
Jacob charged his sons to bury him wdth his fathers, in
the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, naming all those
who had preceded him, the last of whom was Leah, his
wife, whom he himself had buried (Gen. xlix. 29).
This family sepulchre in Canaan, this cave in which tliree
generations had found their rest, was the lasting pledge
that the land was their inheritance and that they could
claim its possession. It seems natural that the writings
which recorded God's covenant with Abraham and with
134 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
his people, what may be called the deeds on wliich rested
their character of the elect among the nations, should have
been brought to the same place, to Hebron, in the keeping
of the faithful Caleb's family and of the Levites to whom
the city was given.
It is perhaps owing to the character of Hebron that it
became David's capital until he conquered Jerusalem and
built there his palace. Saul was dead, and David, who had
become king, did not know where he would settle and
estabUsh what we should call the seat of the government.
It is said " that David inquired of the Lord, saying :
ShaU I go up into any of the cities of Judah ? And the
Lord said unto him : Go up. And David said : Whither
shall I go up ? And he said : Unto Hebron " (2 Sam.
xii. i). Then all the tribes of Israel came to him, paid
him homage, and anointed him as king. David reigned
there more than seven years.
It seems probable that when the Temple of Solomon was
built, when Jerusalem and His sanctuary became the place
which the Lord God had chosen "to cause His name to
dwell in," the archives, that is, the law and the books of
Moses, were brought there, perhaps also the later ones. In
Assyrian temples as well as in Egyptian, libraries —
archives — were generally in the immediate vicinity or were
part of the construction. Shall we find anything of the
archives of the Temple of Jerusalem ? Has anything of
them been preserved ? Have they escaped the havoc and
destruction produced by the successive sieges and by the
numerous invaders whose fire and sword have too often
brought ruin on the platform where the temple stood ?
Will these invaluable treasures ever be recovered ? That
IS the secret of the future.
The reason why, until now, the epigraphic results of the
excavations have been so scanty in Palestine is perhaps
THE JOURNEY TO CANAAN 135
the fact that the cuneiform documents are generally col-
lected and stored in libraries, or archives, and not scattered
all over the country. The discovery of one of these de-
posits, which may only have been a box full of documents,
might have the most weighty consequences, and change
entirely the current points of view. The best instance of
this is the discovery at Tel-el- Amarna. But for this jar,
dug by the fellaheen out of a mound of Middle Egypt,
we should be still in complete ignorance as to the language
written in Palestine before Moses and after his time, and
critics might still support the view that in the time of Moses
the Hebrews had no writing in which his books might be
composed. Afterwards the discoveries at Susa, and
at Boghaz-keui have shown to what extent Babylonian
cuneiform had spread over Western Asia, and it would
be certainly surprising if a small country Hke Palestine
were an exception and had a book-WTiting of its own.
PART II
The Later Books
CHAPTER V
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE
The Colony at Elephantine
NEXT to the finding of the Tel-el-Amarna tablets,
and as weighty in its bearing on aU the questions
concerning the books of the Old Testament, is the dis-
covery, in the ruins at Elephantine, of the Aramaic papyri
left by a Jewish colony on that spot. They were aU dug
out of the mounds of the old city, from the heaps of
decayed bricks which the natives carry away as manure
for their fields.
The first lot was purchased from dealers by M. Robert
Mond and Lady William Cecil : they were said by the
dealers to come from Assuan ; but subsequent excava-
tions made by M. Rubensohn at Elephantine, the pic-
turesque island in front of Assuan, have proved that they
came from the same spot, where he himself discovered
another batch, still more valuable than the first since it
contains historical documents the date of which is well
known.
The greatest part of these documents belong to the
time when Egypt was under Persian rule. They extend
from the twenty-seventh year of Daiius I (494 B.C.) to
the fifth year of Amyztaeus, the native ruler who reigned
after the Egyptians had shaken off the Persian yoke ;
thus they nearly cover the whole of the fifth century B.C.,
when the Persian Empire was at its height.
The men who wrote these papjri were Jews ; they knew
139
140 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
and observed the feast of the Passover. I\Iany of the
names quoted are those of the Israehtes in Canaan, and
they had a temple to their god Yaho. It seems that they
were a military colony. They were settled in Elephantine
with their families, and they were divided into six " stand-
ards." Nevertheless, it may be questioned whether they
were real soldiers, and whether they left their country
to be mercenaries forming a garrison. It seems that
they were organized in "standards " so as to be able to
fight in case of need. Since they were settled on the
southern border of the country, they might be attacked
by invaders coming from Nubia ; therefore it was
necessary that they should resist and repel their attacks,
or at least delay their march sufficiently for troops to
arrive to protect the country. Their organization was
exactly similar to that of the tribes crossing the desert
(Num. ii. and iii.). Then the tribes marched by their
" standards," with the ensigns of their fathers' houses,
and there was a prince for each tribe. The children of
Israel in the desert could hardly be called an army, but
they were sufficiently organized to fight the enemies
whom they might encounter on their way to Canaan.
Long before the reign of Darius, the Jews had
begun to go to Egypt and to settle there, probably
out of fear of the Assyrians. It is quite possible that
some of them were among the foreign mercenaries whom
Psammetichus II led to war against the Ethiopians ;
but the Jews who emigrated to Egypt were not soldiers
only. They went there with their families because Egypt
was a country apparently more peaceful and more settled
than their own. Although they did not give up theu:
nationaUty and their worship, since they built a temple
to their God whom they call Yaho, a return to Egypt
was not in accordance with the religious tradition, and the
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE 141
law, especially was it against the strong warnings of Deuter-
onomy, and therefore Jeremiah spares no effort for pre-
venting his countrymen from deserting the land of their
fathers for Egypt. Over and over again we hear the
prophet warning the Jews against this flight.
Among the first words which the prophet had to cry in
the ears of Jerusalem are these (ii. 18) : " And now what
hast thou to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters
of Shihor ; " Shihor being the first branch of the Nile which
they reached. There they will not find the peace for
which they are looking : " Thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt
also, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria" (iv. 26). On
another occasion, in the time of Zedekiah, Jeremiah
utters this threat (xxiv. 8) : " Thus saith the Lord :
So wiU I give up . . . the residue of Jerusalem and them
that dwell in the land of Egypt." After the capture of
Jerusalem a great number of Jews wished to go to Egypt
(xlii.). The prophet then " cried in their ears " this curse
against those who should go : " Then it shall come to pass,
that the sword which ye fear shall overtake you there
in the land of Egypt, and the famine whereof ye are afraid,
shall follow hard after you there in Egypt ; and there you
shall die ... O remnant of Judah, go ye not into
Egypt : know certainly that I have testified unto you
this day." All warnings and reproofs were in vain ;
they carried the prophet with them to the city of Daphnae,
where Jeremiah had to do the symbolical act of " taking
great stones " and " hiding them in mortar in the brick-
work, which is at the entrv of Pharaoh's house in Tah-
panhes " (xliii. 9).
It was not at this moment only that the Jews went
to Egypt, and Jeremiah does not speak only to those who
emigrated at the time of the Assyrian conquest. One of
the chapters of the prophet's book begins thus (xliv. i) :
142 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
" The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the
Jews which dwelt in the land of Egypt which dwelt at
Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country
of Pathros." ]\Iigdol was a fortress in the north-east of
Egypt, the Magdolon of the Itinerary, said to be twelve
Roman miles south of Pelusiam. It was the first city
reached by travellers coming from Palestine, who had
followed the coast of the Mediterranean. Tahpanhes,
the Daphnae of Herodotus on the Pelusiac branch, not
far from the fortress of Zar, was one of the cities reached
by travellers coming from Canaan by a more southerly
route. It became important during the reign of Psam-
metichus I (c. 664 B.C.), who established there a camp of
mercenaries, among whom may have been some Jews. Pro-
fessor Flinders Petrie, who explored the place now called
Tel Defenneh, traced there the residence of the king,
which is still called the " Palace of the Jew's daughter."
These two cities, Migdol and Tahpanhes, were on the
extreme border of the country, and might be places of
refuge as well as permanent settlements. Noph, or Moph,
is translated by the LXX and the Vulgate, Memphis.
This city had a greater importance at that time than under
the powerful Dynasties Eighteen and Nineteen because the
political life had passed over from Thebes to the Delta.
Memphis was at the head of the Delta, and in the heart
of the country. Hosea speaks clearly of a permanent
estabhshment of the Jews at Memphis (ix. 6) : " For, lo,
they are gone away from destruction, yet Egypt shall
gather them up, Memphis shall bury them." The Israelites
went farther. They settled in Upper Egypt, called
Pathros, the Semitic transcription of the Egyptian word
meaning the "land of the south." Pathros is sometimes
joined with Mizraim, which in that case seems to refer to
Lower Egypt, for instance in the passage of Jeremiah
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE 143
(xliv. 15) : " Even all the people that dwelt in the land of
Mizraim, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah saying ..."
It may be questioned whether here the " land of Mizraim "
does not apply to the Delta, so that it would come to
this sense : in Lower and in Upper Egypt.
Ezekiel gives us a curious piece of historical information
about Pathros. Speaking of the Egyptians, who after
forty years will be gathered from the peoples whither they
were scattered, the prophet says (xxix. 14) : "I will cause
them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of
their birth," or " origin " (margin) . The latest discoveries
show that the civilization of Egypt came down the river,
and that the kingdom of Upper Egypt is older than that
of the Delta, the origin of the civilization being African.
Pathros, being Upper Egypt, included the settlement
of the Jews at Elephantine and it may be that some of
the inhabitants of this settlement were among the Jews
who answered Jeremiah's rebuke by these words
(xlv. 16) : " As for the word that thou hast spoken unto
us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee.
But we will certainly perform every word that is gone
forth out of our mouth, to burn incense unto the queen
of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her."
There were among the refugees men who served " other
gods " and who were hostile to the worship of Yaho and
to His prophet.
There seems to be an indirect allusion to the Jewish
colony at Elephantine and at Assuan in a passage of
Ezekiel. The prophet describes the complete destruction
which will fall upon Egypt (xxix. 10) : " I will make the
land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation." This
calamity will strike the whole country from one hmit to
the other, from north to south ; and here, instead of
indicating the limits as the Eg}'ptians would do, Ezekiel
144 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
quotes the two Jewish settlements on the border, as the
margin reads : " From Migdol to Syene, even unto the
border of Ethiopia." This translation agrees with the
LXX (iTTo May8u)\.ou Kal Suj^'vt;? kuI eo)? bpioiv AWioiria';. In
the next chapter it is even clearer (xxx. 6 ; quoting again
the margin) : " They also that uphold Egypt shall fall,
and the pride of her power shall come down from Migdol
to Syene ; they shall fall in it by the sword. Here also we
read in the LXX : diro MayScoXov e(o<i Svijvrj^ fxa-^^aipa
irecrovvrac. The prophet writes for Jews, and he would be
much better understood by them when he quotes the
most northern and the most southern cities which they
knew that some of their countrymen inhabited.
Thus from the time of Hosea, who lived during the reigns
of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, we see the Jews going
to Egypt, taking refuge there ; not only in the north
of the country near Palestine, but even in Upper Egypt.
This is confirmed by a prophecy of Isaiah (xix. i8) :
" In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt
that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the
Lord of Hosts ; in that day shall there be an altar to the
Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at
the border thereof to the Lord." This passage must not
be taken as historical, but it shows that Isaiah had this
migration to Egypt before his eyes ; the idea of Jewish
settlements in Egypt was far from being strange to his
mind, and he may have known that in his time some of
his countrymen had gone to the valley of the Nile and
established themselves there.
The military colony at Elephantine was only one of
these settlements, and it is natural that, being on the
border, the colonists should have been employed as soldiers
for the protection of the country. It is quite possible
that the same thing took place at Tahpanhes (Daphnae),
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE 145
where, we know from Herodotus, there was a garrison of
foreign mercenaries. It seems erroneous to think that
the IsraeUtes came to Egypt only as soldiers. They were
tempted to emigrate to Egypt probably because they felt
their own country unsafe owing to the growth of the
Assyrian power.
The Elephantine papyri have taught us these two ex-
tremely important facts. The Israelites brought to Egypt
their worship ; they built a temple to Yaho at Elephan-
tine, and also they brought from their country their lan-
guage, which was not Hebrew, but Aramaic. That this
language was used by the Jews at Elephantine was as
great a surprise as the revelation made by the tablets of
Tel-el-Amarna that Babylonian cuneiform was written
all over Palestine at the time of Moses. As we shall see,
it throws a pecuHar light on the question of the writing of
the later books of the Old Testament.
The Temple
The most interesting of the documents from Elephantine
is found in two copies, one of which is better preserved
than the other ; its date is the year 407 B.C., during the
reign of Darius Nothus. It is a letter written to Bagoas,
the Persian governor of Judea. This Bagoas is known
to Josephus ; he was a successor of Nehemiah as governor
of Judea ; so hkewise the high priest in Jerusalem,
Johanan, is called by Josephus 'loawr}^. The document
is so important, and it brought to light so many new
facts, that I am obhged to quote it in full, using the
admirable translation of Professor Sachau, the editor of
the second find of those texts.
" To our Lord Bagoas, the governor of Juda, his ser-
vants Yedoniah and his companions the priests of the
fortress of Yeb.
146 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
" May the God of heaven salute our Lord at all times,
and increase his favour \vith King Darius and the sons of
the royal palace a thousand times more than now, and
give thee long hfe. Be happy and strong at all times.
" Thus speaks thy servant Yedoniah and his com-
panions. In the mouth of Tammuz in the fourteenth year
of King Darius (July, 410), when Arsames had left to go to
the ^ King, the priests of the god Chnub in the fortress
of Yeb made a conspiracy wdth Hydarnes, who was head-
man here, with the following purpose : the temple of
the God Yaho in the fortress of Yeb must disappear from
there. Therefore Hydarnes,^ the accursed, sent a letter to
his son Nepayan, who was mihtary chief in the fortress
of Yeb, saying : The temple in the fortress of Yeb must be
destroyed. Then Nepayan brought Egyptian and other
soldiers, they entered the fortress of Yeb with their tools (?)
they invaded the temple and levelled it to the ground ;
the stone pillars which were there they destroyed, and also
the fine doors built with stones they destroyed, as well as
their wooden leaves and their sockets of bronze. The roof
of cedar wood, the furniture (?) and everything was burnt.
The gold and silver vessels and the objects which were in
the said temple they carried away and took possession of.
" Already in the time of the Kings of Egypt, our fathers
had built the temple in the fortress of Yeb. And when
Cambyses entered Egypt he saw this temple built ; and
while the temples of the gods of Egypt were all pulled
down, no damage was done to this temple by any one.
" Since this has been done to us, we, our wives and
children, we have worn mourning clothes, we have fasted
and prayed Yaho the Lord of heaven Who made us
acquainted as to Hydarnes the accursed (?)." A few
1 Waidereng, which Eduard Meyer considers as the Persian
name Hydarnes.
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE 147
obscure sentences indicate that they heard with pleasure
that he had perished as well as those who had taken part
in his criminal deeds.
" Also before this harm was done to us, we sent a letter to
our Lord and to Johanan the high priest, and his fellows the
priests of Jerusalem, and to Ostancs, the brother of Anani,
and the principals among the Jews, but they sent no answer.
" Therefore since the month of Tammuz of the four-
teenth year of King Darius, until the present day, we wear
mourning clothes, we fast, our wives are like widows, we
do not anoint ourselves with oil, nor do we drink wine.
Also from that time until now, the seventeenth year of
Darius, we have not brought unto the temple meal offer-
ings, incense, or burnt offerings.
" Now thy servants Yedoniah, his fellows and all the
Jews, the inhabitants of Yeb, say the following : When
it pleases our Lord, remember this temple to build it up,
since we are not allowed to build it up. Turn towards
those who receive thy benefits and mercies. May a letter
be sent from thee concerning the temple of the God
Yaho, saying that it will be built up again, in the fortress
of Yeb, as it was built before. In thy name they will
bring meal offerings, incense and burnt offerings on the
altar of the God Yaho, and we will pray for thee at all
times, and our wives and "our children, and all the Jews
who are here, when it will have been done that this temple
be built up again.
" And the merit for thee with Yaho the God of heaven
will be greater than the merit of a man who brings him
burnt offerings and sacrifices in the value of 1,000 talents.
As for the gold, we have sent a message and given
information. Also we have reported the whole of this
in a letter in our name to Delayah and Shelemyah, the
sons of Sanaballat the governor of Samaria.
148 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
" Arsames does not know anything of what has been
done to us."
As Professor Sachau says, the excavations at Elephan-
tine have enriched our knowledge as to the Old Testament,
by a new and most pregnant chapter. We hear, in this
document, of events which took place when Egypt was
under Persian dominion and was part of the Persian
Empire. There was a satrap of Egypt, who is probably
Arsames, mentioned twice in the letter. He must have
been powerful, since if he had not been away on a visit
to the king, his presence might have prevented the attack
of Hydarnes against the Jews and their temple.
But what seems rather extraordinary is that the Jews
of Elephantine appeal not to the satrap nor to the king
himself, but to the governor of Judea, Bagoas, a Persian
also, and they do not ask for help, nor merely for his
backing up the request, but for a direct order that the
temple be rebuilt, for a letter saying that it was to be
rebuilt, and that as before, the three kinds of offerings
should be brought to the altar. Bagoas must therefore
have had some special authority over the Jews in Egypt,
and sufficient power to regulate everything concerning
their worship. How far the authority of the governor of
Judea extended over Egypt, and over Egyptian affairs,
we do not know.
A curious detail, which reminds us strongly of eastern
countries at the present day, is that this favour has to
be paid for. The messenger who carries the letter has
been instructed " as to the gold," very hkely the sum that
Bagoas has asked for beforehand, and which was to dis-
pose him favourably towards the request of the Jews.
One of the most important facts contained in this letter
is the statement that, aheady in the time of the Kings
of Egypt, a temple had been built in the fortress of Yeb.
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE 149
" In the time of the Kings of Egypt : " this formula is
thoroughly Egyptian ; we find it constantly in the texts,
with the meaning " long before." Here it has this special
sense : the temple was raised before the Persian conquest,
when the native Pharaohs were stiU on the throne.
The Egyptians at that time seem to have had no
objection to the introduction of a foreign sanctuary and a
foreign God into their land. Therefore the destruction
of the edifice by Hydarnes and the Egyptians cannot
be traced to religious hatred. Though the Egyptians in
the time of their native rulers were not particularly pleased
at the sight of this sanctuary to a strange God, they do
not seem to have interfered with the worship, nor to have
hindered it in any way. What may be considered as the
cause of this sudden outburst of illwill, of the conspiracy
of the Egyptians who succeeded in taking a Persian,
Hydarnes, as their leader, is jealousy of the natives against
the Jews. They had suffered in their religion and their
worship at the hand of the Persian King. Cambyses
had made a terrible havoc among the temples, even the
most beautiful like those of Thebes ; their sacred animals
had not been spared ; and in sight of this religious ruin,
the sanctuary of the Jews stood intact ; it had not been
touched, as we hear from the Jews themselves. Certainly
this preservation of the Jewish temple must have appeared
to the Egyptians as most offensive and arbitrary, and
therefore its destruction was resolved upon and carried
out. They took care to have a Persian leader, so that his
action should not differ from what Cambyses had done.
At the time of the native Pharaohs there was a temple
to Yaho, or Yahu. This name of their God is the Jehovah
of our Bible, a wrong vocalization which should be read
Yahveh. In this letter no other god is spoken of as
being worshipped in the temple. He stands alone. The
150 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
building itself was large and even costly. Fine doors are
spoken of, the posts of which were of stone ; the roof was
made of cedar wood. This shows that the Jewish colony
at Elephantine was, already under the Pharaohs, rich and
numerous. They evidently wished to imitate as well
as they could the Temple of Jerusalem, where no wood was
used for the roof, except the cedar which Hiram sent
to Solomon. For timber to come from the Lebanon as
far as Elephantine would undoubtedly be very expensive.
But the Jews would not have considered any other wood,
especially not acacia which was used in Egypt for sanctu-
aries, as worthy to be employed in God's house. The
gold and silver vessels deposited in the temple were also
an imitation of what existed in the Temple of Jerusalem,
which had been carried away several times, first by Shishak,
who conquered the country in the time of Rehoboam,
and lastly by Nebuchadnezzar.
All the critics declare that the Temple of Elephantine
was built before the law of Deuteronomy, the date of
which is the year 621, wherein the unity of the sanctuary is
prescribed. This unity of the sanctuary has always been
considered as a proof of the late date of Deuteronomy.
The question is whether it is really a law and whether there
is not a different construction to be put on this so-called
command.
As Dr. Orr pointed out, there is already in Exodus an
allusion to one sanctuary, xxiii. 17, 19: " Three times in
the year all the males shall appear before the Lord God . . .
The first of the firstfruits of thy groun(i thou shaft bring
into the house of the Lord thy God." It is obvious that
a law of this kind could not very well be enforced in the
desert, where there was no definite spot where the worship
of God was established and when the people were wander-
ing from place to place. But let us look at the law itself.
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE 151
It belongs to the last words said to have been spoken
by Moses to the people, when they were on the border of
Canaan, close to the land where they were to establish
themselves after their long desert journey. It is quite
natural that there should be some change in the tone of
Moses, who at that moment had a more distinct view of
what the Israelites would have to do in Canaan, when they
would be settled in the promised land instead of being
nomads living under tents for years.
In reference to the unity of the sanctuary, we read this
(Deut. xii. 5) : " Unto the place which the Lord your
God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name
there, even unto His habitation shall you seek, and thither
thou shalt come, and thither ye shall bring your burnt
offerings and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the heave
offering of your hand. ... Ye shall not do after all the
things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever
is right in his own eyes : for ye are not as yet come to the
rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God
giveth thee. But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in
the land which the Lord your God causeth you to inherit,
and He giveth you rest from all your enemies round about,
so that ye dwell in safety ; then it shall come to pass that
the place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause
His name to dwell there, thither shall ye bring all that I
command you ; your burnt offerings and your sacrifices,
your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand . . . take
heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in
every place that thou seest : but in the place that the
Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer
thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I
command thee."
Deuteronomy is supposed to be the law which, accord-
ing to the critics, never was decreed by Moses. It is a
152 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
work of the time of Josiah or of Manasseh. For some,
more respectful to the sacred text, it is the work of a pious
reformer grieved by the idolatry of the time of IManasseh,
who dared not bring it forward himself but who hid it in
the temple where it was found by Hilkiah. Others do not
hesitate to call it a forgery due to Hilkiah or to the party
of the priests, who by the artifice of the discovery of the
law of Moses succeeded in bringing the king to their side.
This law about the unity of sanctuary under this peculiar
form had a sufficient authority to be considered as an
absolute prohibition of raising a temple at any other place
than Jerusalem. Here only God was to be worshipped.
Here only burnt offerings were to be brought to the Lord.
It is certainly very strange if this law is a plagiarism
of the language of Moses, if it is a positive veto against
the erection of a house of God anywhere else than at Jeru-
salem, that the law should have been put in that form.
It is not a command. It differs entirely from what is
enacted as binding the Israelites for ever, such as : " Thou
shaft have no other God but Me." Here we find nothing
of the kind. Take heed, rrpoaex^ a-eavTM, pay attention.
It is a recommendation rather than a command, and there
is no penal sanction, no threat of a terrible punishment
attached to its violation. The command is only in the
last words : there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings^
and there thou shalt do aU I command thee.
Moses had no definite idea of what would take place after
he had left the Israelites, when they would be in that
good land wherein he was not allowed to set his foot.
He only supposes that there will be a place " which the
Lord shall choose in one of the tribes." He feels certain
that in the land " which the Lord your God causeth " the
Israelites " to inherit," . . . where they will live in safety,
there will be a place set apart as the habitation of the
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE 153
Lord ; but he has no idea of what it will be ; he does not
think of a house of cedar, of a magniiiccnt and costly
temple ; he has before his eyes only the Tabernacle and
the Ark, for which he wants a fixed abode, a place of rest.
As we said before, no place was set apart until the time
of Solomon, when the magnificent house of God was
dedicated, when it was offered to the Lord in the ceremony
described in the eighth and ninth chapters of the First Book
of Kings, when the priests " took up the ark, and they
brought the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord unto its place,
into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place."
If the law of the unity of the sanctuary such as it is drawn
up in Deuteronomy did not exist, surely this was the
occasion upon which to enact it, and even to proclaim it
aloud before the people. This would have been the most
powerful means of establishing for ever that Jerusalem
and its temple was the place which the Lord had chosen
among the tribes. If nothing of the kind was done at that
moment, when this law was the necessary consequence of
the building of the temple, it seems to prove that the law
already existed and was well known among the people.
Let us now consider the date — 621 B.C. — which the critics
speak of as well established ; and the interpretation which
they give of the origin of the law of the unique sanctuary.
Josiah had just come to the throne, after the reign of
Manasseh who had followed a hne quite contrary to that
of his father Hezekiah and who had wiped away all
traces of the partial reform attempted by Hezekiah.
Josiah was quite young when he succeeded his father,
and the high priest Hilkiah, with his party, saw that it was
a favourable occasion to attempt a great reform in which
they would have the upper hand. It was necessary that
this reform should originate with the king, and therefore
they invented the story that a copy of the law had been
154 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
found in the temple ; they read it to the king, who was so
strongly impressed that he rent his clothes and forthwith
set this great reform in motion. The cornerstone of this
reform was, according to the critics, the unity of the
sanctuary commanded by the words of Deuteronomy,
the book said to have been found in the temple and
attributed to Moses in order to give it greater authority.
One of the favourite arguments of the critics is the
argument " a silentio." A law does not exist, because it is
not observed. This is a quite conventional reasoning
and contrary to what we see every day. Every civilized
country has in its legislative armoury a certain number
of laws which are never observed ; they have fallen into
disuse ; they are no longer in keeping with the time. The
older they are the more completely are they forgotten.
Occasionally one of them may be revived and reappear in
its somewhat antiquated form. This may have happened
at the time of Hilkiah. The reformers may have revived
the words of Moses, they may have quoted his very
words as they were written down in Deuteronomy, his
last book, and this would explain the strange form of the
law of unity and its referring to circumstances quite
different from those of Josiah's reign. If Hilkiah had
invented the words of Moses, he would not have given
them such an inadequate form. They would have been
a command. A text on which a deep and far-reaching
reform is based, must be positive and clear, its interpre-
tation must not be open to any doubt. Here, according
to the critics, what is for them a law invented by the
priest and prohibiting absolutely the construction of a
temple and the celebration of the worship outside of
Jerusalem, is a text which does not mention Jerusalem
or any definite place, and in which the idea of a temple
does not appear and seems totally strange to the author !
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE 155
Even if we admit that this is the veto to which the critics
attach such great importance, the building of the temple
at Elephantine is no argument for asserting its non-exist-
ence at that time, for it was not binding for the Jews
settled in Egypt. The colonists at Elephantine, if they
knew it, had no reason to think that it prevented them from
building a house to their God Yaho. In certain respects
their condition was similar to that of their ancestors
in the desert. " Ye shall not do after all the things that
we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his
own eyes : for ye are not as yet come to the rest and
to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth thee.
But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which
the Lord your God causeth you to inherit, and He giveth
you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye
shall dwell in safety ; then it shall come to pass. ..."
Undoubtedly the Jews at Elephantine were not dwelling
"over Jordan," they had not as yet come to their rest and
their inheritance, and they might justly consider them-
selves as being allowed to do " whatsoever was right in
their eyes." It is interesting to see that one of the first
things they thought of when they were in the Egyptian
settlement, in a strange land, was to build a temple to their
national God. In this respect they differed completely
from their countrymen of the Captivity, who never wished
to build a temple in their new home, though men like
Ezra and Nehemiah were powerful enough at the court
of the Persian Kings to have obtained from these rulers
permission to have a national sanctuary. But they were
captives, brought out by force from their native land,
and they always hoped that their stay in Mesopotamia
would be only temporary. On the contrary, the Jews in
Egypt never considered themselves as exiles, they went to
Egypt of their own freewill.
156 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Another proof that the colonists would not have con-
sidered themselves as bound by the so-called Deuter-
onomic prohibition, is that long after the year 621 — about
the year 154 B.C., in the reign of Ptolemy Philometor —
the high priest Onias, who had fled before Antiochus Eupa-
tor, built the Temple of Onion at the place now called
Tel-el- Yahudieh, in the Delta. Not only had Deuteronomy
existed at that time, even according to the critics, for
more than 450 years, but the Jews in Egypt had also its
Greek translation by the LXX. These various facts are
sufficient to show that the construction of the temple at
Elephantine does not prove anything as to the late date
assigned by the critics to Deuteronomy.
Another statement of first-rate importance, which the
colonists make in their request, is that since the destruc-
tion of their temple, they can no longer hold their ser-
vices ; they cannot fulfil their ceremonies, which consist
in meal offerings, incense and burnt offerings. There-
fore they entreat Bagoas to write a letter allowing them
to reconstruct their sanctuary as it was before, and " on
the altar of the God Yaho they will offer in His name meal
offerings, incense and burnt offerings."
It is impossible to read twice of these rites, by which
they sum up their worship, without being struck by the
fact that they are exactly those prescribed by the two
first chapters of Leviticus, a book entirely assigned by
the critics to the Priestly Code. In Leviticus these rites
are described at great length and with minute detail. Here
again there is no mention of any temple, only of the altar
before the tent of meeting. And these rites are said to be
a law decreed during the fifth century with the authority
of the King of Persia, to regulate the worship of the temple
newly rebuilt at Jerusalem !
This is what we find in Leviticus (ii.) : " When any
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE 157
one offereth an oblation of a meal offering unto the Lord,
his oblation shall be of fine flour, and he shall pour oil
upon it and put frankincense thereon. And also (id. 14)
if thou offer a meal offering of firstfruits unto the Lord,
thou shalt offer . . . bruised corn of the fresh ear. And
thou shalt put oil upon it, and lay frankincense thereon :
it is a meal offering." Frankincense is the accompani-
ment of meal offering. As for the burnt offerings (i.), what
is to be done is prescribed in case it should be an offering
of the herd, a buUock, or an oblation of the herd of the
sheep, or a burnt offering of fowls. Leviticus lays do^vn
a very precise ritual in that respect.
Is not the coincidence of the Aramaic text with this
chapter very striking ? For the text of the letter imphes
that this definite kind of worship went back also to the
time of the kings of Egypt. Temple and ritual were one
thing which they had lost, and which they asked should
be restored. They had brought that pecuhar form of
worship when they came from Palestine to settle in
Egypt, and when they wished to build a temple to Yaho,
it was to perform before Him those ceremonies which
were characteristic of His worship, and were regulated
by the old laws of Moses. They entreat the governor
to let them revive their old traditions, to allow them to
live the rehgious life to which they are attached because
it had been that of their fathers. They would not have
spoken in the same tone if their worship had been a
foreign importation coming from Persia, and established
not long before in the temple at Jerusalem.
Some of the critics admit that the Priestly Code contain-
ing the law was written by Ezra and that it was solemnly
proclaimed to the people of Jerusalem by Nehemiah in
the year 445. If this was so, the law must have taken
some time to reach Egypt, and in that case when the
158 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
temple at Elephantine was destroyed the worship with a
Levitical form was a quite recent institution. These
colonists would not feel for that new ritual, which they
had not known in their own country, which did not come
from their fathers, the strong attachment which they
express in such a touching way in their letter. For since
it had ceased, owing to the destruction of the temple,
" they wear mourning clothes and fast, their women are
like widows, they do not anoint themselves with oil, and
they drink no \Adne. ' ' They care not to separate the build-
ing itself from the worship of Yaho ; for them, both belong
to the same tradition, they appeal to the same recollections.
" In Thy name they will bring meal offerings, incense
and burnt offerings to the altar of the God Yaho." A
curious commentary upon this sentence may be found in
the Book of Ezra (iii.2), where we read of the Jews when
they first went back to Jerusalem under the leadership
of Zerubbabel : " They builded the altar of the God of
Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in
the law of Moses the man of God. And they set the altar
upon its base . . . and they offered burnt offerings morn-
ing and evening." For the Jews at Jerusalem, as well
as for those at Elephantine, the central part of the worship
consists in the burnt offerings on the altar. It is important
to notice these words in Ezra : " as it is written in the law
of Moses." At that time, when the Jews were allowed
by Cyrus to rebuild their temple — in the year 537-6 —
there was no " Priestly Code " as yet ; it was seventy or
eighty years carher than the supposed composition of
that code ; still Moses is quoted as being the author of
the law to which they conformed. And this law was not a
tradition ; it was " written," this word occurs again {iii. 4),
about the feast of the Tabernacles. " And they kept the
feast of Tabernacles, as it is written." So the books.
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE 159
or rather the tablets, had been preserved ; perhaps carried
away from Jerusalem with the precious objects of the
temple, and restored by Mithredath the treasurer
(Ezra i. 8).
Some of the critics admit that the ceremonies mentioned
in the letter, for instance, the burnt offerings, go back
to a high antiquity ; they were forms which had crept
into the worship of the temple and in that way had become
inveterate customs deeply rooted in the religious habits
of the people. According to this theory, the Priestly
Code, being most traditional and conservative in its
character, would have merely codified, and regulated
in their details, ceremonies which existed long before.
This theory does not explain anything as to the beginning
of the ceremonies ; it supposes a kind of spontaneous
origin during the centuries of the existence of the temple.
Besides, we can make the same objection here as we have
done in the case of the supposed prohibition of Deuter-
onomy. This codification of old customs is made in
view of the new temple, built after the Captivity ; it
will have to be solemnly proclaimed to the people in a
feast which is a faint rehearsal of the dedication of the
temple by Solomon. One may well ask here the same
question as before. Wlien Solomon had completed
the building, when he solemnly declared that it would
be devoted to the worship of Yaho, how is it that at that
unique moment nothing was done to regulate the worship ?
If there were not as yet fixed laws as to the offerings
and as to the place to which they were to be brought,
was, here again, " every man to do whatsover was right
in his own eyes ? " This seems to be the occasion when
the laws about the worship would naturally be codified,
and their observation enforced. Since nothing is said
about the ceremonies to be celebrated in the future
i6o ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
and the way in which they were to be performed, we must
admit that the necessary regulations existed already. This
seems to be implied in the words spoken by the Lord to
Solomon (i Kings ix. 5) ... If thou wilt walk before
Me as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart and
uprightness to do according to all that I have commanded
thee, and wilt keep My statutes, and My judgments :
then I will establish the throne of the kingdom over
Israel for ever . . . but if ye shall turn away from
following Me, ye or your children, and not keep My
commandments and My statutes which I have set before
you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them,
then . . ." Commandments, statutes, judgments are the
words designating the law given to Israel by the Lord. In
this law the moral side and the ceremonial are so intimately
connected, that it is hardly possible to dissociate them.
Take, for instance, what is said of the offerings and sacri-
fices in the first chapter of Leviticus. There the ceremony
is merely the outcome of the moral and spiritual side of
reUgion — Solomon could not have one without the other.
If he had the moral commandments and statutes, he
certainly had the ritual — the outward acts which cor-
responded to the moral law and were the visible signs of
its existence — especially when he had just built a magnifi-
cent edifice intended to be the central point of the worship.
Nor would he have the ceremonies without the laws
explaining why they were established, by what feeling
they were actuated, and when they were to be performed.
The same was the case with the Jews at Elephantine ;
they had not inherited from their fathers a senseless
ritual, ceremonies void of any meaning. If in the time
of the Pharaohs, when they had raised the temple,
they presented meal offerings, incense and burnt offerings,
they knew why they did so, and for what reason they
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE i6i
had received the command to do so. I cannot help
thinking that these few words of the letter, saying that,
when the temple will be rebuilt as it was before, " they
will bring meal offerings, incense and burnt-offerings,"
show that when the temple was founded, they already
observed the law which is attributed by the critics to a
Priestly Code of so much later date.
Besides tliis letter, there is another document which
alludes as clearly as possible to another Mosaic institu-
tion — the Passover. It is older than the letter and
even than the destruction of the temple ; it is of the fifth
year of Darius (419 B.C.). Unfortunately it is so frag-
mentary, that in the reconstitution there must be a
great deal of guess work. It is a letter from a man
called Hanan3'ah, who informs his countrymen that
the king has sent to the satrap, Arsames, a message con-
cerning them. From the fifteenth to the twenty-first
of the Babylonian month Nisan, the Abib of Exodus,
they have to abstain from leavened bread, which is the
distinctive feature of the Passover. It looks as if they
had not been able to do it previously. The observance
had been perhaps temporarily hindered. I do not believe
that this decree of the king is enacted for all the Jews
of the Persian Kingdom, as Prof. Eduard Meyer main-
tains. It seems, on the contrary, that this decree is
especially intended for the Jews at Elephantine. Probably
they had been prevented from celebrating the Passover
by the Egyptians. The Passover implied the sacrifice
of a lamb. We must remember that the ram was the
emblem of Chnub, the local god. The ram was thus the
sacred animal of the place, and in the way the lamb was
sacrified at the Passover there may have been something
repugnant to the Egyptian inhabitants. The Jews were
obliged to turn to the king and to have his support in
M
i62 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
order to be allowed to celebrate their feast according
to the old ritual. It is quite possible that the sight of
the sacrifice of the Passover may have increased the
hatred of the native population against the foreign
worship, and may have contributed to the destruction
of the temple where a sacrihce took place which they
considered a desecration.
Another very striking feature of the letter to Bagoas is
that we find in it an echo of the teaching of nearly all
the prophets, who constantly repeat to the people that
the value of outward ceremonies is only secondary and
that what is required of them as of primary importance
is that they should foUow the commandments of their
God. Samuel already gave the people that warning on
the solemn occasion of Saul's return from his campaign
against the Amalekites (i Sam. xv. 22) : " Hath the
Lord as great dehght in burnt -offerings and sacrifices, as
in obeying the voice of the Lord ? Behold, to obey is
better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of
rams." In their letter the Jews entreat Bagoas to say
a word which wiU aUow them to rebuild their temple
and to restore the worship of their God ; and before
their God Yaho these acts of kindness will be of greater
value than that of the man who " offers burnt-offerings
and sacrifices to the amount of a thousand talents of
silver." We are here reminded of words in the Book of
Proverbs to which these words of the Jews appear like a
commentary : " To do justice and judgment is more
accepted to the Lord than sacrifice" (Prov. xxi. 3).
Thus we recognize here not only the form but the
spirit of the old Mosaic law, and it is not possible to admit
that all this is the result of a composition of Ezra, brought
from Babylon, and imported into Palestine forty years
before. In spite of the shortness of the letter to Bagoas,
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE 163
we can say that the facts it mentions mihtate distinctly
against the late date of the Priestly Code, and in favour
of the Mosaic origin of the law.
The Language
Just as the Tel-el-Amarna tablets were a revelation
as regards the language which was written in Palestine
at the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty, the Elephantin6
papyri have given us an equally great surprise in showing
us that the language spoken and written by the Hebrews
in Egypt was Aramaic. The explanation generally given
for this unexpected fact is that the Hebrews had given
up their native language, and adopted that of the country
of their rulers, the Persians, at the same time keeping
their own tongue for rehgious purposes only.
This explanation does not seem to agree with the facts
as we know them from the papyri. In the letter to Bagoas
the Jews state clearly that their temple had been built
by their fathers at the time of the Egyptian kings. This
temple was standing when Cambyses invaded the country,
and the Persian conqueror respected it. It was not
destroyed, though he did destroy those of the Egyptians.
If the temple of the Jews dated from the time of the
native Pharaohs, it must have been erected when the
Twenty-sixth D3masty, the Saites, reigned over Egypt,
a time when the Israelites flocked to Egypt both as
mercenaries and through fear of the Assyrians, when
there was no Captivity as yet, and no Persian dominion.
The Israelites of Migdol and Noph brought to Egypt
their own language, as would be especially likely since
they preserved also their form of worship and their God.
If they had changed their language they would have
adopted that of the land where they settled rather than
Aramaic — the language of a country hostile to the
i64 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Eg3^ptians, and with which they had no intercourse.
If Aramaic was not their language, brought from Palestine,
we must admit that at some given moment there was a
complete change. They gave up their native idiom so
thoroughly that the new one became the popular language.
For we know from the finds at Elephantine that the usual
pieces of writing, the familiar letters, the most trivial
notices, for which they used potsherds as we do with scraps
of paper, were all written in Aramaic.
If this change took place, is it possible to fix any reason
or any date for it ? It cannot have been earlier than
the establishment of the Persian rule. Why should
the Jews have anticipated the new state of things and
adapted themselves beforehand to an organization which
did not exist ? Cambyses did not remain long in Egypt,
and if his successors established a Persian administration
in the country, that does not mean that they changed
the language, nor even that the officials were obliged to
write to their ruler in his tongue. It is not so in the Tel-
el-Amarna tablets ; the subordinates of Amenophis III
do not write to him in Egyptian. They use their own
idiom and their own script ; and if such is the practice of
governors writing official documents, much more is it to
be expected from men who are the priests of the Temple of
Yaho, and who speak not only for themselves, but in the
name of the whole population of the place. They would
not use a foreign tongue. If the Persians had abolished
the religion of the Jews, and compelled them to adopt
another one, a change of language would have followed.
But, on the contrary, they were very respectful to
the worship of Yaho ; when they were playing havoc
with the Egyptians' sanctuaries they had not touched
that of Elephantine. Language and religion are always
intimately connected in the case of these old nations.
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE 165
It is therefore hardly possible tc doubt that the Jews,
who came to Egypt in large numbers, at the time of
Josiah and probably before, spoke and wrote Aramaic.
This was the language which they brought from their
country. Aramaic, the language spoken at Jerusalem
at the time of our Lord, was known and used in Palestine
before the Captivity, before the Hebrews returned from
Babylon. This seems to be the conclusion we have to
draw from the language of the papyri found at Elephantine.
In considering a language hke Aramaic, we must not
be ruled too completely by principles which have pre-
vailed too long in linguistic studies ; we have to look
more at what takes place at the present day. A language
is not encircled by pohtical boundaries. It can spread
far beyond the limits of the country where it is sup-
posed to have originated ; it may have many dialects,
some of which are transitions to the idiom of a neighbour-
ing nation, as we find now with the German spoken in
Alsace. Some of the dialects may have been written,
and some may be mere speech. It is certainly an error
to suppose that a language is the exclusive property of a
nation, and that the presence in the same region of two
idioms which are not identical, proves the simultaneous
presence of different ethnic elements. Also a very im-
portant fact, too often disregarded and left aside, is
that what is called the language of a nation consists
of two or three elements, more or less different : the
idiom of the common people, which is generally not written,
the literary language, that of books of legal or official
documents, and perhaps also, especially in antiquity, that
of religion. This is found to be the fact in a reduced
degree at the present day in nearly all the countries of
Europe, in spite of the uniformity produced by school
and education. The colloquial idiom of an Enghsh peasant
i66 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
or a Scotch workman is not that of the newspapers, nor
that of the Authorized Version.
Anthropology has long ago dispelled the idea that
language and race correspond exactly to each other ;
language is not always a racial sign, nor even does
it usually mark an ethnic difference. Therefore I cannot
admit — what is still the base of historical systems, even
in recent books — the idea that Aramaic was the language
of a nation called the Arameans, and Assyrian the language
of Assyria, or that the existence in Assyria of Aramaic
documents proves the invasion of Mesopotamia by
Arameans who at last became predominant, since their
language was the only one in use.
Babylonian or Ass^nrian and Aramaic have existed
together in the same nation. They are parallel idioms.
I beheve we have positive proofs of this assertion. Here
I must revert to the fact upon which I insisted in the first
chapter, and the importance of which cannot be under-
rated. Babylonian and Assyrian are always written in
cuneiform. No Assyrian document is found in any other
script. On the other hand cuneiform can only be pressed
on wet clay. It cannot be written on any soft material
like paper or skin. Cuneiform, therefore, was not sufficient
for the requirements of common life, and it was absolutely
necessary to have another script, which was Aramaic.
We have positive proofs of this.
Aramaic has been spoken by different nations, and is
not the property of the inhabitants of one definite country.
The name Aramean may have been applied to a man or a
people who spoke Aramaic, just as in our time in a French-
speaking country one would call " un Allemand " any
one who speaks German, whether he be Swiss, Austrian, or
German. It seems that Aram in the Old Testament is a
name similar to that of the Anu in the Egyptian inscrip-
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE 167
tions. Just as there are various kinds of Anu, there are
also several Aram : Aram-Naharaim is most frequently
met with, and translated by the LXX Mesopotamia,
Aram Zobah and of Beth-rehob (2 Sam. x. 6) and others
are also found. We must consider Aram as standing for
an ethnic group — the most important one of the old
Semitic branch— and we must not forget that the Hebrews
considered themselves to be Arameans.
We have positive proofs that Assyrian or Babylonian
and Aramaic existed at the same time, in the same country,
parallel to each other. The simultaneous presence of the
two languages has been explained by the fact that the
Arameans had invaded Mesopotamia, and that although
their political power had been broken, they had succeeded
in acquiring a great influence in the land, especially in
the economic hfe of the nation. They concentrated the
commerce in their hands, so that their language was not
only used for trade, but became in the ninth century B.C.
the diplomatic language of Western Asia, as Babylonian
cuneiform had been in the fifteenth. Aramaic became so
necessary and so useful, that possibly an Aramaic chancery
was estabUshed by the side of the Assyrian. In contracts
Aramean officials appear as witnesses, and King Esar-
haddon prays his god Shamash for the happiness of his
Assyrian and his Aramaic writers.
The character of the bihngual documents seems to
exclude the idea that the two languages belonged to two
different peoples.
Let us consider once more what cuneiform is. It is
not a writing ; it is an impression which can be produced
only on wet clay. It is used for rehgion, for law, for con-
tracts, for letters to be carried abroad, for treaties, for
historical records, for any document which must be
abiding. This alphabet marks a language which differed
i68 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
from the colloquial idiom ; as in our time that of a judge
or a clergyman differs from the speech of the man in the
street. It was not popular ; it could be read only by
men having a certain education and training, priests or
professional writers.
Being suited for one material only, this method of
writing was absolutely inappropriate for trade and for
the requirements of ordinary life, when it was necessary
to write on paper, skin, potsherds, wood, or anything
which was at hand. It was absolutely necessary to have
another, and I have no hesitation in saying that that
other was Aramaic.
Among the Assyrian sculptures have been found scenes
representing scribes writing down the number of the slain.
They have long roUs which may be either papyrus or
skin — some flexible material — and they inscribe on these
rolls the number of heads brought to them, a mode of
reckoning the losses of the enemy which was still in use
in some eastern countries not very long ago. Certainly
these scribes do not write cuneiform ; they must have
used a script suitable to the material which they unrolled.
As proof that what these scribes wrote was really
Aramaic, we can bring forward the exceedingly interesting
bilingual documents. Amongst the first discovered were
the bronze weights in the form of lions, belonging to the
end of the eighth century. They have Assyrian cuneiform
and Aramaic inscriptions. The Assyrian gives the date
of the object, and the name of the king. This is the
official part, the royal mark of the weight, but its height,
the number of units it represented, is given in Aramaic,
and the Aramaic does not contain anything else. Aramaic
was thus the popular script, that which the tradespeople
could read. What they cared for was the quantity, the
weight expressed. This is what they wanted, and not
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE 169
the royal name. Just so in our time, the shopkeeper reads
on his weight the number of pounds it is worth, and not
the armorial bearings of the State, or the official mark,
whatever it is, indicating that the weight is correct.
Still more convincing are the Assyrian tablets with
Aramaic dockets written on the side. These tablets are
generally contracts — the most popular kind of cuneiform
documents — and these dockets give in Aramaic the
names of the people concerned, and also a short summary
of what the tablet contains. One of the most ancient
is of the time of Sennacherib (687 B.C.). It gives the
name of the vendor who owns three shops. The docket
is for the people who could not read the official cuneiform.
It is in the language and script which they used every day.
Here we again have a proof of the simultaneous exist-
ence of two forms of the language, just as we find even now
in civihzed countries. The language of rehgion, of law,
and of all important documents is not that of the people ;
there may be a great amount of local differences, the
idiom of the people may change, it may evolve, while
the official language keeps for much longer its original
form. In this case there is also the difference of script
for cuneiform could never be popular. This tablet
shows that already in Sennacherib's time the popular
language and the popular script was Aramaic, while
everything official or legal was written in Assyrian cunei-
form, as were also rehgious or literary compositions
which had to be preserved.
Languages are not limited by political frontiers, especi-
ally when these frontiers may change through conquests
or invasions. There are languages which spread in
the neighbourhood, and enlarge the area which they
occupy ; at the same time they drive away languages
belonging to nations less numerous and less powerful, so
170 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
that at last the latter may be restricted to a small area
and become extinct. There is an example of this in
Switzerland. There a language special to one of the
cantons, with a literature — the Romanche of the canton
Grisons — is diminishing rapidly, and although efforts
are made to keep it up, it will soon disappear and be
swamped by German, which is spoken by the majority
of the population of Switzerland. In the same way we
may imagine Aramaic, which was spoken by a large and
warlike population, gaining ground over Hebrew and
spreading rapidly in Palestine by conquest or by com-
mercial intercourse. This would be the more easily the
case, since the Hebrews belonged to the same ethno-
graphic group as the Assyrians, for they considered
themselves Arameans. No wonder then that Aramaic
should have spread to some parts of Palestine, and that it
was brought to Egypt by the Hebrews who settled there.
The Hebrews understood Aramaic, and the Assyrians
could speak the language of the Jews. There is only a
difference of dialect between the two. In this respect
there is a most instructive passage on the occasion of the
siege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians (2 Kings xviii. 26 ; cf.
Is. xxxvi. II). When Rabshakeh comes near the walls
of the city and meets the messengers of Hezekiah, to
whom he brings his master's threats, the three officers
say to him : " Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the
Aramean language ; for we understand it : and speak not
with us in the Jew's language, in the ears of the people
that are on the wall." Rabshakeh met this request with
the utmost contempt : " Then Rabshakeh stood and
cried with a loud voice in the Jew's language ..." His
words have even that coarseness which appeals to the
lowest ; he used such words purposely because he did
not come to speak to the king, or to make an arrangement
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE 171
with him about his submission to the Assyrian conqueror ;
on the contrary, he wished to induce Hezekiah's men to
abandon him, he promised them peace until they should
be transported to a country better than their own.
In order to be understood it was necessary that he
should speak the language of the people, not that of the
educated, but of the common soldier, of the man who had
left his field for the defence of Jerusalem. Aramaic in
the time of Sennacherib was the language of the trade, and
probably of the national intercourse, of the numerous and
powerful Mesopotamians with their weaker neighbours.
Therefore the people who had a certain education in
Palestine knew it and very hkely could write it. Men
like Ehakim, who was over the household, Shebna the
scribe, and Joah the recorder, were instructed in Aramaic
and perhaps made great use of it ; for the men of the
people, Aramaic was " another tongue," in so far as the
popular dialect is different from a written and Hterary
language, just as French differs from the patois which
were, or perhaps are still, spoken in some remote parts of
France, or German from the dialects of the various can-
tons of Switzerland. It is not many years since one could
meet in Savoy, a French-speaking country, people who
spoke only patois and could not understand French ;
the same was true with German in some remote valleys of
the Alps. In both cases we have present side by side
idioms belonging to the same family, to the same linguistic
group, but sufficiently separated to sound like something
unknown to the uneducated. Jewish (lovSaiaTi) and
Aramaic were in this relation to each other. Jewish is
here the language spoken to the people on the wall.
In the other passage where " Jewish " is mentioned,
it is put in the same rank as the dialects spoken at a
short distance. This is in Nchemiah xiii. 23 : "In
172 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
those days also saw I Jews that had married women of
Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab, and their children
spoke half in the speech of Ashdod {'A^oDnaTi) and could
not speak in the Jew's language (lovSaVcrTi), but according
to the language of each people." Ashdod was a city of
the Philistines near the sea, both Ammon and Moab
were on the east of the Jordan, so that, according to the
passage, east and west of Judea were spoken so-called
" languages " which were not Jewish, Ammon had not
the same as Moab, each people had its own, so that the
country was divided amongst many local dialects, one
of which was Jewish ; and in these two passages, the only
ones in the Old Testament where Jewish is mentioned,
it clearly means the dialect spoken in Judea.
Hezekiah the King, hke the men of his household,
could read Aramaic. When Sennacherib, upon receiving
threatening reports about Egypt, was obliged to raise the
siege of Lachish and to march against Libnah, he sent a
letter to Hezekiah. This letter from a camp must have
been written by one of those scribes such as are represented
as counting the trophies on a battlefield and writing on a
roll of papyrus or skin ; it could not be cuneiform. It
was Aramaic, the common language of Sennacherib's
time, as we know from the tablets. It seems probable
that the letter was a roll. After Hezekiah had read it,
" he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it
before the Lord." The word of the LXX dveirrv^ev
is to be translated " unrolled it," Vulg. expandit. This
shows clearly that it was not a tablet. If, on the contrary,
the King of Assyria had sent to Hezekiah a treaty of peace,
an important document which had to be preserved, and
to be put in the archives, it would have been a tablet
written in cuneiform.
By Hezekiah's time Aramaic had already spread in
THE PAPYRI FROM ELEPHANTINE 173
Palestine, certainly among the educated, as we see from
this narrative, and it must have gained much ground
through the invasion of the Assyrians, owing much of its
spread to trade and to the influence which a great empire
is sure to exert over a small and weak country fast tending
towards disruption. Therefore we cannot but admit
that the Jews who settled in Egypt brought Aramaic
with them, it was the language which they wrote already
in their native country ; and not only was it the written
language, the literary idiom, but it was also used in every-
day life, since tlie ostraca are also written in Aramaic.
Hebrew is not the language of the colonists at Elephan-
tine. The learned editor of the papyri, Professor Sachau,
after speaking of Aramaic, which does not differ from
Hebrew more than a German dialect from another, adds
these significant words : " With the keenest interest I have
searched every bit, every fragment, from Elephantine in
the hope of finding something Hebrew, but in vain. The
Jewish colony at Elephantine had Hebrew names, but
everything written was in Aramaic. For me also this
fact was surprising. ' ' Then Professor Sachau describes the
growth of Aramaic, which in his opinion appeared under
the Sargonide Dynasty, and which increased in such a
way that at Christ's time all the Semites north of Arabia,
and Christ Himself, spoke Aramaic.
Not only did the colonists write and speak Aramaic,
but they never used the Canaanite writing, which seems
to have been for them " another tongue." There have
been found at Elephantine a certain number of Phoenician
inscriptions ; they are generally on amphoras, either on the
belly or on the handle, and contain a proper name dis-
tinctly Phoenician, with an indication of the measure. To
what these names refer it is difficult to say. Professor
Sachau inclines to think that they are the names of the
174 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
potters who had at the same time to control the measure.
In that case one would expect to find the same name
occurring repeatedly among these inscriptions, because
one can hardly suppose that there were so many Phoenician
potters at Elephantine.
It seems more natural to attribute the presence of these
vases and these inscriptions, as Professor Eduard Meyer
does to the wine trade between Phoenicia and Eg\-pt, of
which we know from this statement of Herodotus : " Twice
ayearwine is brought into Eg\-pt from ever\' part of Greece,
as well as from Phoenicia, in earthen jars." The \vine and
oil which filled the cellar of Omri of Samarai came perhaps
also from Phoenicia, and therefore the ostraca found there
were in that script. Whatever may be the origin of these
inscriptions at Elephantine, one thing seems certain :
for the Jews at Elephantine, the Canaanite script, always
considered as their own and in which all their books are
generally supposed to have been written, was something
alien and used only by strangers.
The Jews at Elephantine had a temple where they
celebrated the Passover, and where they made sacrifices
as prescribed in Le\iticus. A question naturally arises
here : Did they have the book of the law ? Here again
we cannot express more than a conjecture. It is possible
that they had Deuteronomy, that part of the law of Moses
re\'ived by King Josiah, and read in the language of the
day to the assembled people. The book could not be
in cuneiform tablets, which the Jews ignored even more
than the mass of the Arameans, it must have been in the
popular form and language in Mesopotamia, Aramaic,
the more so since it was written on papyrus. The
transition from the cuneiform to Aramaic we have seen in
the bilingual tablets.
CHAPTER VI
ARAMAIC
Ezra
EZRA undoubtedly played an important part in all
matters connected with the law. As we read in
his book (vii. 6), " he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses
which the Lord the God of Israel had given." Ezra had
set his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and
to teach in Israel statutes and judgments {id. lo). He
seems to have found extraordinary favour with the King
Artaxerxes, since in the seventh year of his reign the king
issued a decree allowing Ezra to go to Jerusalem ^vith a
certain number of his countrymen, and providing him
with all that was necessary for the worship, especially for
sacrifices, and giving him a right " to appoint magistrates
and judges, which may judge all the people that are
beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God ;
and teach ye him that knoweth them not" (vii. 25).
This was the second return from the Captivity, which
took place in the year 458, nearly sixty years after the
dedication of the temple under Darius in 516. On his
arrival, Ezra found that the inhabitants of Jerusalem
had broken the commandments of the law of Moses
(Ezra ix.), that " the priests and the Levites had not
separated themselves from the people of the land, doing
according to their abominations. . . ." For, to quote his
175
176 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
words, " they had taken of their daughters for themselves
and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mingled
themselves with the peoples of the land : yea the hand of
the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass."
Ezra describes the shock which he received on hearing
from the princes what the state of things was, so that " he
sat astonied until the evening oblation." We have
his pra^^er and his confession, which impressed the people
so strongly that they gathered together unto him and
made a covenant with God to put away all their wives,
and such as were born of them that it should be done
according to the law. A certain number of priests with
clJers and judges were appointed, before whom all who
had married strange wives were to appear so that they
might be separated from their wives, and that they might
give their hand that they would put their wives away.
Here Ezra's narrative breaks off. Certainly it would
be surprising, if, as according to the critics he did, he came
to Jerusalem to effect a reformation based on laws which
he had himself written under the name of Moses, that he
should be so completely upset upon seeing that these laws
had been violated. His language to the people would
not have been understood. When he prays for them, he
appeals to facts they knew and had known for generations,
and his feelings are re-echoed by his hearers who assemble
in great number, confessing their guilt. There is no
opposition against Ezra's condemnation of their conduct :
on the contrary, on hearing his words, they declare at once
that they are quite willing to act in accordance with God's
commandments and to dismiss their strange wives with
their children. Would they have felt guilty at once, if
the recollection of the old Mosaic law had not been sud-
denly revived in their minds so strongly that they dared
not go against it, but submitted at once to its dictates,
ARAMAIC 177
though to do so must have been a hardship for some of
them.
We hear no more of Ezra for thirteen years. Probably
he returned to Mesopotamia, and during his absence from
Jerusalem the Jews seem to have been " in great affliction
and reproach " ; the walls were broken down, and the
gates burnt with fire. What happened at that time we
hear from Nehemiah. He, hearing the history of the
people at Jerusalem, says in his prayer (Neh. i. 7) : " We
have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor
the judgments which Thou commandedst Thy servant
Moses." For him also, the law which has been broken is
the law of God given by Moses.
When Nehemiah had rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, he
celebrated the feast of Tabernacles (Neh. viii.), and, to
make it more solemn, the people " spoke unto Ezra the
scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the
Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest
brought the law before the congregation . . . and he read
therein . . . from early morning till midday. . . . And
Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people . . .
and when he had opened it, all the people stood up."
From these passages, we gather that the people \^dshed
to hear the law of Moses, the command w^iich the great
prophet had received from the Lord. For them, the law
was the words of the great legislator. This law was in a
book which had to be opened, probably a roll of papyrus
or skin, therefore it was not a text written on a tablet in
cuneiform. This is an important point to note.
But more important still is that which we read next
(v. 7) :" The Levites caused the people to understand . . .
and they read in the book, in the law of God distinctly,"
or, as the margin says, " with an interpretation,"
" and they gave the sense, so that they understood the
178 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
reading," or, " and caused them to understand." This
seems to show clearly that the law was not wTitten in the
language spoken by the hearers. " So that they under-
stood the reading " cannot mean that they spoke loudly
enough or distinctly enough to be heard. It is clear that,
when an assembly wants to listen to the reading of the
law, those chosen to read it would be those who have a
good voice, reaching far enough. We may compare the
Levite who acted on that occasion to the Mohammedan
priest, to the muezzin who call to prayer from the minarets,
or to the imams who read the Koran in the mosques.
The law itself was sufficiently simple and clear. There
was nothing intricate or mysterious in its decrees, it did
not require an extraordinary intelligence, or an initiation
of any kind, so that these words of the margin, " they read
with an interpretation," and the following sentence,
" and they gave the sense, so that they understood the
reading," cannot in my opinion mean anything else than
this : They put it in the popular language, so that the
people could understand. It is not properly a trans-
lation, since we have here only a difference of dialect.
It is exactly as if in our times a German-speaking clergy-
man were to explain Luther's Bible in one of the dialects
of Germany or Switzerland.
We have seen before that the language of the inhabitants
of Jerusalem is called Jewish : it had already that name
in the time of Hezekiah. Bibhcal scholars have generally
considered that this " Jewish " meant Hebrew, the
Hebrew of Scripture. Then the law was not written
in Jewish, or the hearers would not have needed any
explanation. In my opinion, to which we shall revert
further, it was written in Aramaic, the popular form, the
book form of cuneiform, and these passages seem to
confirm what was suggested before : that Jewish was a
ARAMAIC 179
spoken idiom, the dialect of Jerusalem and Judea, but not
a written language.
On the twenty and fourth day of the seventh month, the
Jews celebrated a feast of humiliation and made a cove-
nant and wrote it, that they should keep the law and
serve the Lord. The prayer which precedes it is a short sum-
mary of the history of the Israelites. There is mentioned
this most important fact : " Thou madest known unto
them Thy holy sabbaths, and commandest them command-
ments and statutes and a law, by the hand of Moses Thy
servant " (Neh. ix. 14). Once more (xiii. i) Nehemiah
quotes the book of Moses, in which was written the pro-
hibition that no Ammonite or Moabite should enter the
assembly of God. The law is everywhere attributed to
Moses, and if, according to the critics, it is not the work of
the great lawgiver, every mention of his name is a deliber-
ate falsehood. In the mouth of Ezra, who is said by some
critics to be the author of the Priestly Code, which con-
tains the greater part of the ceremonial law, it is the fraud
of a conscious forger.
" Ezra was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the
Lord God of Israel had given (Ezra vii. 3) ; he had set
his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to
teach in Israel statutes and judgments " {id. 10). Besides,
Artaxerxes speaks of " the law of thy God which is in thine
hand " {id. 15). Shall we take these passages as meaning
that Ezra wrote the law which fills the greatest part of the
four last books of the Pentateuch. In that case, when he
speaks of the law of God given by Moses, he is guilty of a
plain deception. He may have consulted the works of the
Elohist and the Jahvist, those two supposed writers who
both wrote books about the history of Israel, the length and
purpose of which are absolutely unknown to us : perhaps
|ie recorded and codified old customs which, according to
i8o ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
some critics, had crept into the ser\'ice of the temple ; but,
anyhow, the greatest part of the law is his work ; the name
of Moses is there merely to deceive his hearers and to give
to his words the necessary authority. In fact, the critics,
both in the case of Ezra and in that of Deuteronomy,
want us to believe that his work is nothing but forgery.
Even if it is not Ezra who is guilty of this deceit, it is the
anonymous and unknown author of the Priestly Code, so
that the imposture is the same.
One thing is rather astonishing. If Ezra wished to come
forward before his countrymen as a God-sent legislator,
why did he not appear as a prophet ? ^^^ly did he not
say, hke Isaiah or Jeremiah : " Thus saith the Lord " ?
Instead of that, he is a scribe who appeals to old traditions,
and who constantly hides himself behind the person of
Moses. But certainly in his time the name of Moses must
have had very little weight with his countrymen. What
could they know about him ? If we adopt the theories of
the critics, he had not witten anything, the records of the
birth of the people of Israel were not due to him, they
were a narrative by two different and recent writers living
at an interval of more than a century : the same authors
had related only part of the events of the Exodus and the
Hfe in the desert. Deuteronomy, a document of the sixth
century, which contained part of the laws, had been the
cause of an ephemeral reform which had had no morrow.
As for the bulk of the ceremonial laws, it did not yet exist.
What kind of prestige, of authority, could the name and
the work of Moses have had for them since he was but a
man first named in a document of the ninth century ?
Ezra's appeal could be listened to only if he reminded them
of laws which his countrymen knew and of which the
authority had been recognized by generations. If the
documents about the history of Israel are not what they
ARAMAIC i8i
are said to be, the long prayer pronounced by the Jews
on the day of humUiation (Neh. ix.), especially the first
half of it, must have been quite new language to most of
the hearers. The whole narrative in this prayer, from the
choice of Abram to the conquest of Canaan, must have
been another forgery Uke that of the law.
Taking the text of Scripture as we read it, Ezra must
have been a man learned for his time, who was occupied
with the study of the law. That probably means that he
was chiefly occupied with the Pentateuch, with the books
of Moses. The Jewish traditions attribute to him all
kinds of works, some of them quite impossible ; two of the
most important are the setthng of the canon of Scripture,
and the introduction of the Aramaic character. Various
scholars have considered that that Aramaic must have been
the square Hebrew, which is a derivative, not from the
Phoenician, or Canaanite, but from Aramaic. But,
considering the circumstances in which Ezra lived, the fact
that for many years he inhabited Mesopotamia, where
Aramaic was the written language, that he spoke Aramaic
with the king, that the laws of the King of Persia and the
letter which Artaxerxes gave him were in Aramaic,
that the requests addressed to the king " were written in
the Aramaic character, and set forth in the Aramaic
tongue " (Ezra iv. 8), it seems natural to conclude that
the Aramaic which he adopted was not the square Hebrew,
but Aramaic proper. That he knew Aramaic, that he
could speak and write it, is beyond dispute ; his book is
a proof of it, for several chapters are written in that
language.
Even if we admit that Old Hebrew was a script and an
idiom for books, we do not see how Ezra could pass from
the Canaanite alphabet to square Hebrew, which is a
modified form of Aramaic, without having first passed
i82 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
through the stage of Mesopotamian Aramaic, the script
of the bihngual tablets and of the papyri. If square
Hebrew were derived from Canaanite, one would under-
stand the change easily ; but it is not. The square
Hebrew letters are modifications of Aramaic ; those who
invented those characters must have used first the original
type from which they shaped their new letters.
Ezra was a scribe, a learned man. In Mesopotamia,
that means a man who could read the two ^\Titings in use
in the land : the Aramaic, the popular language, the
script of trade written on papyrus or skin, and the cunei-
form, used for religious and legal documents, and engraved
on clay tablets. We should therefore say that the chief
work of Ezra was to do what the Assyrian scribes did for
contracts, to turn into Aramaic the cuneiform tablets of
the law of Moses. The law was in his hand, so says the
king, so he must have seen and have been able to study
these tablets. How did they come to Babylon ? We do
not know ; perhaps with the contents and furniture of the
temple, with the vessels and the gold and silver carried
away by Nebuchadnezzar (Ezra v. 14), and which had
been kept apart.
Ezra, we suppose, made a book with the cuneiform
tablets written by Moses, he arranged them in order, put
them each in its proper place, so as to make a running and
continuous text. In this respect he must have found a
difference between the tablets, between the ones which
referred to the events previous to the arrival of the
Hebrews in Egypt and the later ones. The first must
have been brought from Mesopotamia by Abram when
he settled in Canaan ; those relating to Arbraham's and
Isaac's life, we may suppose, were brought to Egypt with
Jacob and his family. These tablets were not only part
of the genealogy of Jacob, they were also the title-deeds of
ARAMAIC 1S3
the covenant made by the Lord with the family of Jacob ;
they were Jacob's and his family's patent of nobility. It
is well known what a great value the Eastern nations attach
to genealogy, which they preserve religiously, even for
their horses. In remote antiquity, genealogies were the
only records of events ; there was no other history than
such family records. But these yearly tablets though
rewritten by Moses, had no literary connexion, they were
not a book, and that is, as we saw, what gives to the first
part of Genesis the character of an aggregate of separate
pieces ?put side by side.
It was quite different with the tablets written to tell
the story of what had happened since Jacob settled in
Egypt. There Moses had a clear and distinct tradition ;
he could see the body of the man who had played the most
important part in that history. He could write a running
narrative, a series of tablets, like several which have been
preserved, where the connexion from one to the other is
indicated by the last word, or by the last sentence of one
tablet being repeated on the next. That is the reason
why we cannot trace the tablets in Exodus or the following
books as easily as in the beginning of Genesis.
Ezra thus made a book out of the writings of Moses,
he wrote them out on a roll of papyrus or probably of
skin. This book the Jews asked Ezra to bring before the
congregation (Neh. viii. i) : " And Ezra opened the book
in the sight of all the people ; and when he had opened it,
all the people stood up " [id. 5). This shows that he did
not read from tablets, and, since a roll could not be written
in cuneiform, it could only be Aramaic. Ezra did for the
law of Moses what many Mesopotamian scribes must have
often done for their rehgious or legal documents. He
merely followed the practice of the country which he
inhabited, and wherein he was probably born. In this
i84 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
conception of his work there is nothing which is not in
accordance with the customs of the time. That Ezra
wrote in Aramaic, we can see also from some of the
chapters of his book.
We must admire the way he arranged the tablets of
Moses, especially those of Genesis, which are the most
ancient and not connected together as the later are.
He was evidently himself imbued with the idea which is the
leading principle of the whole book. The purport of
Genesis is to show how all events converged towards the
choice of Israel as the elect, and this idea Ezra certainly
cherished, and it guided him in his work. As we saw
before, the order adopted may not have been strictly
chronological. History or chronology, in the modern
sense, were not his aim. He had a higher task : he had
to repeat the work of Moses in showing to his countrymen
that they were God's people on condition that they should
keep His laws and commandments and not go after other
gods.
Another point is here of the greatest importance in
regard to the assertions of the critics. Ezra wrote in
Aramaic. Then, if he is the author of the Priestly Code,
the work most often considered as the groundwork of the
Pentateuch, this document was in Aramaic. Therefore,
like the supposed work of the Elohist and the Jahvist,
we have not got it in its original language, and the dis-
section] of the book has been practised on a text in a
different script and in a different idiom from that in which
it was originally composed. Textual criticism is here as
much out of place as with the other parts of Genesis ; the
very basis of the theory fails here as before.
Even if it were not Ezra who wrote the Priestly Code,
but some unknown Jew of post-exilian time, since his
writing comes from Mesopotamia these religious laws,
ARAMAIC 185
supported by the king of Persia's authority and taught
to the people at the same time as the poHtical laws of the
kingdom, could hardly have been in any other language
than Aramaic. Besides, if they had been in another idiom,
they would not have been understood nor have been
binding for Jews who, like those at Elephantine, spoke
and wrote Aramaic. One cannot conceive the Priestly
Code otherwise than in Aramaic. Therefore we do not
read it to-day in its original language.
The books of the law put by Ezra into Aramaic must
have been those which the priests used at Jerusalem, the
more so since Aramaic seems to have spread more and
more in the country, so as to become the language of the
people at the time of our Lord. Certainly, two hundred
years after Ezra, Aramaic must have been more deeply
rooted among the inhabitants of Judea than when he
came over from Mesopotamia. Therefore, when the king
of Egypt, Ptolemy Philadelphus, asked for the books of the
Jews to translate them and to add them to his library,
the thin films, which Josephus describes as covered with
gold characters, were written upon in Aramaic. This
seems to be confirmed by what the same author says
[Antiq. Jud. xv. ii. i) that the characters of the books
of the Jews were similar to those of the Syrians, and that
their language sounded alike, but that it was of a peculiar
kind. Some of the translators have understood this
sentence as meaning that these books were in a language
distinct from the Syrian, but I cannot agree with this
interpretation. These words of "a peculiar kind "
tStoT/aoTTo? seem to me to refer much more to the general
character of the books. The librarian of the king, Deme-
trius of Phaleron, says to the king that these books would
be very difficult to translate, because, though they were
like Syrian in script and sound, they were of a peculiar
i86 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
kind. It is certain that the tone of these books and some
of its words must have sounded very strange to the Greek
mind ; the translators must have been embarrassed at
first by the names of God, for instance by the name Yahveh
which, hketheLXX, we translate by" the Lord." This
is not a translation, it does not render the word itself :
that is another word meaning " the Lord " and always
spoken instead of Yahveh, which it was not allowable to
pronounce. The word Yahveh is explained as meaning
" I am " in Exodus iii. 14 : "I am that I am." We have
perhaps a trace of the true meaning in these words of
Aristeas, quoted by Josephus : " We worship the God
who has created everything, and we call Him properly
Zrjv [to live), deriving His name from the fact that He gives
life to all things." To Uve and to be are ideas very near
to one another.
In that case, the LXX solved the difficulty by following
the synagogue, but they must have had many other
difficulties.
It is hardly possible to give an historical value to the
narrative of Josephus, who, copying Aristeas, tells us of
the seventy-two old men, sent by Eleazar, who translated
the books of the law in seventy-two days. But, if we put
this narrative entirely aside and admit, with the latest
editor of Josephus, M. Theodore Reinach, that the trans-
lation originated in the Jewish congregation of Alexan-
dria, since we know that the Jews of Egypt wrote and
spoke Aramaic, we cannot suppose that they changed
their language, and it seems natural that they used
Ezra's version of the laws.
That there has been an Aramaic Version, not only of
the Law, but of other books of the Old Testament, seems
proved by our Lord's history. He spoke Aramaic, and
the multitudes whom He addressed must also have spoken
ARAMAIC 187
Aramaic. When, on the cross, our Lord quotes the twenty-
second Psalm, the quotation is in Aramaic. Therefore
there existed an Aramaic form of it.
Let us follow Jesus to the synagogue at Nazareth
(Luke iv. 16). " And He entered, as His custom was, into
the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
And there was dehvered unto Him the book of the prophet
Isaiah, and He opened the book and found the place
where it was written :
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He hath anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor ;
He hath sent Me to proclaim release to the captives
And recovering of sight to the blind.
To set at liberty them that are bruised.
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
And He closed the book and gave it back to the
attendant."
Jesus opens, or rather unrolls, the book of Isaiah, and
reads aloud the first verses of ch. Ixi. If we compare the
quotation with the Hebrew, or with the LXX, we find, that
it does not agree completely with either. The Hebrew,
in the third sentence of the quotation, reads thus : " He
hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim
the Hberty to the captives." The quotation omits the
first part of the sentence, but it adds : " and recovering of
sight to the blind," which is not in the Hebrew. The
LXX have both additions, that of the Hebrew and that
of the quotation. On the whole, the analogy with the
LXX is greater than with the Hebrew. One can imagine,
in a quotation, part of a sentence being omitted rather
than another being inserted. Therefore it seems probable
that our Lord read in a version of Isaiah similar to that
from which the LXX had translated, one of those books
that were in Egypt, sent by Eleazar if we believe the
i88 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
narrative of Aristeas, or used in the synagogue of
Alexandria, books which, as we have seen, were in Aramaic.
Jesus has the Aramaic alphabet before His eyes when
He says : " Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot
(iota) or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the
law, till all things be accomplished " (Matt. v. i8).
Iota is certainly the smallest letter of the Aramaic
alphabet, but it is not so in old Hebrew, The letter Z
often joined to iota in the word ZI (who) may well be
called a tittle in the Elephantine papyri.
We saw above that when Ezra read the law to the
assembly of the Jews, he and the Levites had to explain it.
The Aramaic of the law differed in its dialect form from
the Jewish spoken by the people ; but since Ezra's time
Aramaic had spread considerably in Palestine, the people
no longer spoke Jewish, and when our Lord quotes a
Psalm, He quotes it in Aramaic. This form of the Psalm
naturally occurred to His mind, and was the most familiar
to Him. I cannot help thinking that the roll of Isaiah,
which our Lord opened and read, was written in Aramaic.
Later it is said that the apostle Paul, addressing the
people at Jerusalem, spoke to them in the Hebrew language
(Acts xxi. 40). The same word " Hebrew " is used of the
inscription on the cross (John xix. 20), but we must not
take this word Hebrew as referring to a distinct language
known by its script and grammar ; that is, not to what
we now call Hebrew. We must remember that the ancients
had not the nice linguistic classifications of the present
day. Languages, for them, were not distinguished by
their nature, they had the names of the nations who spoke
them, whatever was their characteristic. " Hebrew,"
" Hebrew language," means here only the language spoken
by the Hebrews, which was Aramaic. Paul calls himself
a Hebrew of Hebrews (Phil. iii. 5), therefore for the ancients
ARAMAIC 189
his native language was Hebrew, though the hnguists of
our time would call it Aramaic. The proof that this name
Hebrew is ethnic and has nothing to do with philology lies
in the inscription on the cross where it is said that it was
written in Hebrew, in Roman {Pco/xala-Ti) and in Greek.
Roman, which we translate Latin, is no language at all,
it was the idiom spoken by the Romans ; it is the same
with Hebrew. The special language of Judea, " the
Jews' language," which in our Lord's time had been super-
seded by Aramaic, was called Jewish lovdaiari (see p. 162)
and not Hebrew.
The discovery of the papyri at Elephantine has
revealed to us a fact of great importance. The Jews in
Egypt wrote and spoke Aramaic : there was a Jewish
literature in Aramaic. When we try to realize what the
writings of the Jews were, we must give to Aramaic a much
greater place than before. Until the colonists of Ele-
phantine appeared, with their language, Aramaic was
considered to be a strange tongue to the Jews : it was
found in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel, the
men who had inhabited Mesopotamia. Nobody thought
that Jews Hving in foreign countries, hke Egypt, could
have any other idiom than Hebrew. The Tel-el-Amarna
tablets have taught us that cuneiform was the written
language of Palestine shortly before Moses and afterwards*
Elephantine has shown us that Aramaic was the language
of the Jews who took refuge in Egypt, and who certainly
did not learn it there. They must have brought it from
their native country.
The Prophets
Did the prophets write in Hebrew ; are the \\Titings of
any of them in their original garb ? This question
riaturally occurs after we have considered ^^'hat Ezra's
igo ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
work had been in reference to the law. Certainly Ezra
was chiefly occupied with the law. He endeavoured to
re-establish it amongst his people, but the prophets had
not been forgotten. In his prayer Ezra confesses that
the warnings of the prophets had not been heeded (Ezra
ix. id) : " And now, O our God, what shall we say after
this ? for we have forsaken Thy commandments which
Thou hast commanded by Thy servants the prophets,
saying . . ." Also in the day of humihation, described by
Nehemiah, the Levites, after having read in the law
blessed the Lord and after reviewing rapidly the history
of the people of Israel, speak thus : " Nevertheless they
were disobedient, and rebelled against Thee, and cast Thy
law behind their back and slew Thy prophets which
testified against them " (Neh. ix. 26). So that the pro-
phets are considered here as being the successors of
Moses, and they are witnesses against the people that
they have broken the commandments.
The teaching of the prophets was chiefly by word, by
speech ; they were the preachers who cried out the Lord's
warnings, but they had also to write, and they often re-
ceived the order to do so. In what language did they
write ? What script did they use ? In trying to solve
this important question we must put aside the view of
•language which still prevails largely in linguistic studies.
Language has not always a script. Just as now we see a
considerable number of idioms which have none, we can
imagine legitimately and even say with certainty that
this was the case with a considerable number of languages
in antiquit}^ among people whose civiHzation was not
very advanced. Judging from analogy with what we
see at the present day, the various populations of Palestine
belonging to the Semitic branch must have spoken
somewhat similar dialects ; they could understand each
ARAMAIC 191
other, but these idioms were only spoken, they had no
writing nor script. It seems natural to suppose that
Hebrew was one of these dialects. Hebrew has too long
been considered in a false light. To Hebrew, more even
than to any other language, has been applied this erron-
eous and theoretical conception of language as a kind of
moral entity, born nobody knows when and where, which
has its laws to which men have to submit. Modern
philology puts aside this abstract idea of the language
and considers only the men who speak and write. This
we must do in this case.
Abram was in Mesopotamia, in a land where there was
a book language with a script the age and antiquity of
which is not known, and which may have originated
with another nation, the Babylonian cuneiform. If
there was by the side of cuneiform another popular writing,
it was Aramaic. As it is in every nation even in our
time, the speech of the people was closely related to the
written language, but yet was slightly different. Was
this Mesopotamian dialect which the emigrants took to
Palestine Hebrew ? or was Hebrew another Semitic
dialect, that of the inhabitants of Palestine, among whom
the family of Abram settled ? If it was the latter we
must admit that Abram adopted it. This seems natural
and in conformity with what takes place in our time.
In every country where there are emigrants, the second
generation born in the new country has sometimes quite
forgotten the language of their fathers. From which of
the above sources Hebrew came is not of much import-
ance. Here I shaU be allowed to repeat a quotation
from Dr. Briggs ^ :" Whether Abraham adopted the
language of the Canaanites or brought the Hebrew and
Phoenician with him from the East, is unimportant, for
^ See p. 14.
192 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian are nearer to the
Hebrew and Phoenician than they are to the other
Shemitic families . . . in their earlier stages; in the time
of Abraham their difference could scarcely have been
more than dialectic." Dialectic — this seems to me to be
the exact word to be applied to the differences between
the speeches in Canaan and in Mesopotamia. But where
I am obHged to disagree completely from Dr. Briggs is
in this further sentence : " The Hebrew language as a
dialect of the Canaanites had already a considerable
Uterary development prior to the entrance of Abraham
in the Holy Land." I cannot see where the learned
Semitic scholar finds this literary development at that
early epoch. On the contrary, Hebrew seems to me to
have been a mere dialect, a spoken idiom without any
Hterature, or script of its own. It is an inaccurate
expression to speak of an old Hebrew script or of an old
Hebrew alphabet ; the proper name is Canaanite, for it
is the same as Phoenician, and we have many more
Phoenician inscriptions than Hebrew. That of Mesha
the Moabite is, moreover, in that character. An alphabet
is a way of expressing by writing that which is spoken,
and the same alphabet can be used for very different
languages ; it is not the property of any one of them.
In antiquity cuneiform has been used for Semitic and also
for great numbers of non-Semitic languages. In our
days Arabic letters are used for Arabic, Persian, Swahili
and Turkish, while the tendency is for the Roman alphabet
to supersede aU others, including the German, and it is the
only one now adopted for languages which had none.
It was the same with Canaanite ; on a smaller scale it
was used in various dialects of Palestine, chiefly in trade
and for the use of common life.
When the prophets had to %vrite their solemn appeals,
ARAMAIC 193
their warnings to the people which are said to be the
voice of the Lord and which often contained some terrific
threats, would they choose the Canaanite alphabet ?
Several of them certainly knew of the Mosaic law written
in cuneiform ; prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah were
not ignorant of it. A German scholar, Dr. Jeremias, on
the strength of the passage in Isaiah viii. i, which we
have noted above, suggests that the prophets may have
used cuneiform as a sacred script. In this respect a
difference must be made between men like Isaiah, Jere-
miah, men of high standing and advisers of the king,
who might be called men of education, and a prophet hke
Amos who says : (vii. 14) " I was no prophet, neither was
I a prophet's son ; but I was a herdman, and a dresser of
sycamore trees : and the Lord took me from following
the flock and the Lord said unto me. Go, prophesy unto
My people Israel." One may even ask in the case of
Amos whether he wrote his book himself or whether it was
written down for him by somebody else.
A passage which may throw some light on the question
is found in Proverbs xxv. i : " These also are proverbs of
Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah,
copied out." The English " copied out " does not seem
to correspond exactly to the Hebrew. The LXX trans-
late i^eypd^ayTo, which at first sight seems also to mean
" copied," but the Greek version adds two very important
words : " These are the Proverbs of Solomon aldBiaKpLToi.
In authors like Polybius this adjective means : the
unintelligible ones. This cannot refer to the sense of the
sentences — ^they are easy enough to understand — but to
the alphabet. They were unintelligible to those who
could not read cuneiform, as the law was to Hilkiah ; and
the men of Hezekiah did not only copy them, they wrote
them in a script which could be understood. This would
194 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
correspond to the word of the Vulgate iranstulerunt, and
also to the Hebrew word which according to Koenig
means " iibertragen," a word, which, hke the EngUsh
" translate " has a figurative as well as a proper sense.
This would represent very well the change of form pro-
duced by the passage from cuneiform to Aramaic.
According to this interpretation of the passage, Solomon
wrote in cuneiform. In our first chapter we have advo-
cated the idea that during his reign the Phoenician
alphabet had been introduced into the kingdom by
the people who worked upon the temple and who went
to Lebanon, But Phoenician script could not be used
for solemn words of the king which had the character
of a moral law. For such impressive sentences, which
people were to take at heart so as to rule their conduct
according to the precepts, the language and the
script of JMoses would be used. The change from cunei-
form is to Aramaic, so that this part of the book of Pro-
verbs, the title of which seems to indicate a later addi-
tion, would aheady be in Aramaic before Ezra's time.
We are led again to the prophets, and we have to face
the same question. Did the prophets write in Aramaic
or in their own native language ? Let us call this lan-
guage by its proper name. It is not Hebrew, it is Jewish
(Is. xxxvi II, Neh. xiii. 24). In the two passages where
it is mentioned it clearly means the common language
used by " the people on the wall " and by the mass of
inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea, and this was different
from the idioms spoken on the West or on the Phihstine
coast, in the East at Moab or at Ammon. Undoubtedly
Isaiah used that language when he spoke to his country-
men at Jerusalem, and even when he spoke to the king.
But was it a book language ? When Isaiah took the
" style of a man " and wrote, did he write Jewish ? and
ARAMAIC 195
did he write it in the Canaanite script ? This is a very
grave question, which docs not seem to have been as yet
seriously raised and the answer to which seems to me
logically derived from the facts newly discovered : the
prophets in their writings used the literary language
of their time, Aramaic, and when our Lord read
Isaiah in the synagogue or when He quoted the twenty-
second Psalm on the cross, these two texts which were
in Aramaic were in the original form they had when first
written down. It was not necessary for Ezra to transcribe
them. If they had at the beginning been in Jewish, one
does not understand the Aramaic stage which they went
through. Besides this fact offers us a ready explanation
of the present form of the documents of the Old Testa-
ment.
CHAPTER VII
THE PRESENT FORi\I OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
IF the Old Testament books were written in Hebrew
with the so-called old Hebrew alphabet why did
not the rabbis preserve the books as they were ? What
were the reasons which induced them to change the script ?
And, when they changed it, why, instead of modifying
the alphabet considered as their own, the old Hebrew,
did they adopt a variant of the Aramaic alphabet ?
Half a century ago the eminent French scholar, the
]\Iarquis de Vogiie established the fact that square
Hebrew was not derived from old Hebrew, or, as it is
now called, Canaanite ; but from Aramaic. The
bearing of this discovery does not seem to have been
reaUzed to its full extent, especially as regards the
fact that the inventors of the new script turned not to
the Canaanite, but to the alphabet which is supposed to
have originated in Mesopotamia, Aramaic. .
We are not certain at present that Canaanite was ever
the script of a book language ; what has been preserved
of it consists of inscriptions, ostracas, coins, but no book
or fragment of book properly so-called; while documents
like the papyri of Elephantine can only be the products
of a book language which had had a long existence.
Bearing this in mind, and also the fact of the Aramaic
derivation of square Hebrew, one is led to ask whether the
idea that writings hke the books of Kings, Isaiah or Job
196
PRESENT FORM OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 197
were in the Hebrew language and in Canaanitc character
is not a mere hterary hypothesis without any archaeolo-
gical evidence in its favour. No doubt Hebrew goes back
to a high antiquity as the dialect spoken by the Hebrews
perhaps as early as Abraham. Such a dialect may
last through centuries and deviate very little from its
original form. We have proof of its existence in this
passage : " When Laban and Jacob parted, and as a
taken of their covenant made a heap of stones, Laban
called it Jcgar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galecd
(Gen. xxxi. 47). The name given by Laban is clearly
Aramaic, meaning the heap of witness ; that given by
Jacob is Hebrew and the lexicographers give it the same
sense as the Aramaic on the strength of the translation
of the LXX. But this word Galeed, the same as the
geogi-aphical name of Gilead, though it is Hebrew, does
not prove anything as to this idiom being a book language.
The same is the case with the song of Deborah which, as
we have seen, was not written down by the prophetess
and may be compared to the often beautiful poetry found
in some remote villages of the Abruzzi, and recited or
sung in an Italian dialect very different from the literary
and written Itahan. In the same way I should call
Hebrew the national dialect of the Hebrews, generally
an unwritten idiom, having no script of its own, and, when
it was necessary to write it for common use, employing
the Canaanite alphabet.
We have seen already that when Hebrew is spoken of
as a language it is called Jewish ; both passages occur at
a late date in the times of Hezekiah and Nchemiah. In
both cases " Jewish " means the language of Jerusalem
and its neighbourhood. Especially when Nehemiah
speaks of it, it is the language of the Jews of the remnant
of the kingdom of J udah who had returned from Babylon
igS ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
to rebuild the temple and reoccupy their native land.
In connexion with this fact we have to notice these
two others. Square Hebrew appears about the time of
the Christian era, and this new Hebrew is a variant of
Aramaic. These three facts seem to support each other
and to countenance the following explanation.
The time of the Christian era was the epoch when the
Roman empire extended over a great part of the East
and West, when it brought under its yoke nations of very
different type and origin. Though Roman policy left,
as much as possible, to the subject nations their customs
and their worship, nevertheless a certain amount of
uniformity was necessarily introduced amongst them.
They had the same masters and were governed according
to the same principles. The Roman coinage was the
outward sign of their subjection to a common ruler.
Even the Jews were not absolutely hostile to their foreign
governors, since some of them, like St. Paul, were Roman
citizens and availed themselves proudly of their privi-
leges.
Though they were a Roman province the Jews had
retained a very strong national feeling ; they still remem-
bered that they were the elect, God's people, they still
repeated " we have Abraham to our father." But for
them their national existence was intimately connected
with their worship, with the strictest and the most formal
observance of that law to which they had added many
details. This worship distinguished them from the
Gentiles for whom they felt an undisguised contempt
and enmity. Their religion justified in their eyes their
exclusiveness, it was the barrier which separated them
from all the strange nations.
This rehgion, on which their life as a nation rested, was
regulated by their sacred books, the law of Moses and the
PRESENT FORM OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 199
prophets, and one may conceive how they would be
attached to those books and the kind of worship which
the rabbis more and more felt for its text. But the
form of these writings in the last centuries before Christ
had no distinctive character such as we might have
expected from the particularism of the Jews. The
writings were in Aramaic, the language of a considerable
literature ; they might be confused with other writings.
I believe therefore that the rabbis found it necessary
to give to their books a national character and appear-
ance. They turned them into Hebrew, the idiom spoken
by their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which was
certainly their own language, that of Jerusalem. This
they did not share with any other people. But this had
no script and it was necessary to invent one. They
would not take Canaanite ; that was not their own ; it had
been used by the Phoenicians and other nations like Moab.
They therefore invented a script, and for that they took
the alphabet to which they were accustomed and which
they used in their writings. They altered Aramaic
sufficiently for their new script to be distinguished from
it, so that it should stand by itself, and might be called
their own. Since its adoption by the rabbis, Hebrew
has thus become the distinctive language of the Israehtes,
and has given rise to a considerable literature.
The change of script, the adoption of square Hebrew
at a late date, is not denied. It is a well established
fact for all Hebrew scholars, who have generally inter-
preted it as a mere change of letters. Square Hebrew
according to them simply took the place of the old Canaan-
ite, the script of the Hebrew authors. This seems to
me to be somewhat too subtle for these old scribes.
The distinction between the letter and the word, between
the characters and the idea which they express has been
200 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
established by modern philology and is one of its element-
ary principles. One can hardly imagine the rabbis
changing merely the characters, transliterating a word
from the Canaanite character letter for letter into the new
script which they had adopted. It is quite different if
they applied for the first time a new script to a language
which had none before. They might have written it
with the Aramaic alphabet which was familiar to them,
but since they wished to have a distinct one, they merely
modified that.
One thing is important to notice. When the rabbis
turned the sacred books into the Jewish dialect, they did
not translate the name of God. The name Jehovah,
which is to be read Yahveh, is said (Ex. iii. 14) to mean
" I am." The word " to be " is not here in its Hebrew
form. It occurs in this form in two or three instances in
which it is called, by lexicographers like Koenig, old and
poetical. But it is the usual Aramaic for "to be " in
the papyri of Elephantine. From this word their name
of God Yaho or Yahu is derived. It is an abbreviated
form of Yahveh. Thus the origin of the name of God
is not Jewish, it is Aramaic. Certainly it would be
strange if the Hebrews had called their national God by
a name coming from a foreign dialect.
The difference in the language itself is only dialectical,
There is no wide breach between the Hebrew of the Bible
and the Aramaic of the letter to Bagoas ; we may even
suppose that the scribes and the rabbis knew both the
book language and the popular idiom just as a clergyman
to-day in England or in a Swiss canton would understand
equally well the text of the Bible and the popular speech
of the peasants amongst whom he is Hving. This sugges-
tion does not in the least impair the beauty of the Hebrew
language nor of the works which it has produced. Be-
PRESENT FORM OF THE OLD TESTAMENT 201
cause Deborah's hymn is in the popular idiom of her day,
it is not less striking ; the depth of her feehngs, the
triumphal emotion which pervades her heart does not
come out less strongly because her song is not a written
poem and was probably preserved in the memory of the
people for a long time before it was put down in writing.
Hebrew as a spoken dialect deserves our admiration just
as much as if from the first it had been a literary lan-
guage. Moreover it is interesting to think that the
invention of the square Hebrew was not a mere literary
fancy or a graphic simplification, but arose from a definite
and decided intention to separate their sacred books
from any other literature, and to set them apart as being
the charter of the election of the Jews and the foundation
of their national life.
CONCLUSIONS ■ ' . ■"';
THE reader who has followed me from the beginning
will, I hope, have understood the principle on
which are based the views here expounded as to how the
oldest books of Scripture have been \mtten. Some of
these views, for instance those on the language of Genesis,
had been already advocated by Assyriologists, chiefly by
Professor Sayce ; but I do not think that the general
idea as to the way in which they reached their present form
has been propounded before.
Since the year 1885 there have been two great discover-
ies, both made in the soil of Egypt, the Tel-el-Amama
tablets, and the papyri of Elephantine. In my opinion
these discoveries entirely change the traditional views
concerning the language in which the books of the Bible
have been written, and they sap the foundation of the
critical system which rests necessarily upon the assump-
tion that these books were original documents.
It is not the first time that excavations have'produced
such surprises, and have revolutionized not only literary
theories, but even the great lines of history. Half a cen-
tury ago whoever spoke of Homer, especially in German
universities, paid homage to Wolff and bowed before his
critical analysis of the poet's text. Since then Schliemann
has appeared. His untiring zeal and passionate love for
the Greek poet have revealed the remains of an unknown
epoch at Troy and at Mycenae. Men of my age can remem-
ber the incredulity with which the discoveries in the capi-
202
CONCLUSIONS 203
tal of the Atrids were first received, and now the Mycen-
ean civihzation is a rich chapter in the history of Greek hfe
and art. Older yet than Mycenae, Crete shows us a cul-
ture which nobody suspected before Sir Arthur Evans
brought it to light ; and now the old idea that civihzation
was introduced by the Aryans, that this branch of human-
ity had a sort of monopoly of culture and progress, is fast
being abandoned. There was, it is clear, a brilliant civihz-
ation before the Aryan invasions ; Africa, the dark con-
tinent which was looked at with a sort of contempt ; the
Hamites, despised because of Noah's curse, are coming
more and more to the front, and may have been after all
among the oldest teachers of that part of mankind which
Uved on the shores of the Mediterranean. These stupen-
dous discoveries, these entirely new fields, opened not long
ago in a chapter of history which scholars thought they had
correctly set forth from written documents and linguistic
analysis, we owe not to books but to the work of the spade,
to what has been found in the soil.
A discovery of a similar bearing has been made at Tel-el-
Amarna, in the remains of the archives of an Egyptian
king of the Eighteenth Dynasty. These tablets have
shown that at that time, shortly before Moses, the written
language of Palestine was Babylonian cuneiform in its
local form with traces of a popular idiom appearing here and
there. This fact has been confirmed by the excavations at
Boghaz Keui where have been discovered documents of a
later date. At the same time no trace of any kind of a
literary Hebrew has been found belonging to such a remote
epoch. Now, looking at the work of the critics in general,
this fact, so important and so well ascertained, has evi-
dently never been grasped in its fullness. In various ways
they have tried to fit it into their system, but at present
no critic has ever attempted to revise the system, to shape
204 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
it according to this fact, one of the best estabhshed in lin-
guistic history. Leaving aside the philological analysis on
which rests entirely the theory of the various documents of
the Pentateuch, and taking merely the historical fact
that the written language in Palestine, and not in that
country only, but in the whole of Western Asia from Meso-
potamia to the IMediterranean, was Babylonian cuneiform,
the conclusion which occurs naturally to our mind is that
Moses wrote in Babylonian cuneiform. This was preemi-
nently the language of laws, especially when they were sup-
posed to have been dictated by God Himself. Moses, an
Aramean, certainly had heard of Hammurabi the great
Babylonian lawgiver ; he had been educated at the court
of the king of Egypt where the correspondence not only
with the governors of vassal cities but even with the
sovereigns of Mesopotamia was in Babylonian cuneiform.
He learnt that language and that script in the palace of
Pharaoh. He may have spoken with his countrymen the
dialect they had brought from Canaan, and which can
be perceived in the letters of the governors, but this was
certainly no written language, it was the popular and
colloquial idiom, and not considered appropriate for laws
and for God's words.
Critics will not deny this fact, but they will argue, as
one of the most eminent of them WTote to me, that in the
Pentateuch nothing comes directly from Moses, and that,
at the utmost a few sentences may be older than the time
of the Kings. That objection I have tried to answer by
reviewing historically what is written about Egypt, about
Joseph's life, about the Exodus and the Tabernacle. How
could all these events be described as they are by two or
more various authors living in different parts of Palestine
and at different epochs ? How could, in pailicular, the
history of Joseph have been written down except by a man
CONCLI^STONS 205
who was in Egypt at the time when the tradition was very
vivid, when the Hebrews were still in Egypt and while they
knew whose action had induced them to settle there ?
The fact that all these narratives were written not as a
running book, but on tablets, changes completely the char-
acter of the composition. It explains repetitions, which
have been stumbling blocks to the critics, as the summaries
of what has been said in previous tablets. Also we can
distinguish those which were written separately and
joined together afterwards in a book, like the beginning of
Genesis, from those which were to form a series and are
therefore more closely linked together. The style of the
composition is no longer to be judged according to the rules
set down for a book.
Deuteronomy, a copy of which I believe to have been put
in the foundations of Solomon's temple, certainly bears the
character of the last words of Moses, the character of a time
when the people were in the sight of Canaan, when they
could see better in what country they were going to settle
and what were the inhabitants and their customs. Moses
speaks there for the first time of a king because he foresaw
that the Israelites would imitate the Amorites and the men
of Bashan who were the subjects of Sihon and Og ; this was
the way in which all neighbouring nations were governed,
but as to the worship he does not prophesy anything. He
is certain there must be a place chosen among the tribes
for the Lord's abode, but he does not know where. He is
not allowed to enter the good land, therefore he cannot
assume the glorious task of choosing that place ; that choice
will devolve upon his successors. The idea of a cedar temple
to the Lord is quite strange to him ; it does not even occur
to his mind. If the Pentateuch is the work of Moses, as
history and the contents of the book seem to prove, it
cannot have been written in Hebrew which if it existed at
2o6 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
all at that time was only a spoken idiom and not a book
language ; it must have been ^v^itten in Babylonian
cuneiform.
The first transformation it went through was to be put
into Aramaic, and this I attribute to Ezra. Such an enter-
prise seems to me to be in accordance with the character of
Ezra as described in his^book, and more especially in that
of Nehemiah, and also with rabbinical tradition concerning
him. Besides this it agrees also with the circumstances of
his time. That was the epoch where cuneiform was more
and more being abandoned for the popular language.
Several centuries earlier the Mesopotamian kings had
Aramaic scribes who explained to the people the contents
of the cuneiform contracts, and who marked them with
Aramaic dockets. Aramaic was the language in which
Ezra conversed with the king, the king's letters and de-
crees were in Aramaic, as was also the law of the king
which was to be obeyed hke the law of God (Ezra vii. 26).
Ezra, called by the king himself a scribe of the law of the
God of heaven, did for the law of Moses what many scribes,
his contemporaries did for other documents in Meso-
potamia.
Although Ezra occupied himself pre-eminently with the
books of Moses, it is quite possible that, as the tradition
of the rabbis alleges, he also settled the canon of Scrip-
ture for the Old Testament ; he perhaps collected and sifted
the writings which were to form the sacred volume. As it
came out of his hands the volume was entirely Aramaic.
The question as to the composition of the books of the
prophets and of the didactic books is not so clear for a
few of them. These writings, however, even if they were
not originally composed in Aramaic as perhaps some of
the Psalms, must have been put before the time of the
LXX in Aramaic, and they were in Aramaic when our
CONCLUSIONS 207
Lord read Isaiah at Nazareth, and when he quoted the
twenty second Psalm on the cross. This change of form and
script, which I have attributed to Ezra, cannot be called a
real translation ; it was only a dialectal modification.
When I come to the present form of the Old Testament,
the Hebrew of our Bibles, and have to explain its origin, I
feel in a position similar to that of the critics, who after
they had dissected the Pentateuch into small fragments
had to create the seven authors to each of whom they at-
tribute a different number of fragments. Having estab-
lished an Aramaic form for the Old Testament it is necessary
to explain the transition to the Hebrew language and to the
Hebrew script. In my opinion these two changes were
simultaneous. Hebrew, I have no doubt, was a spoken
language, the dialect of Judea and of a great part of Pales-
tine ; the tablets of Tel-el- Amarna already show its exist-
ence, but it had no script of its own. What is called old
Hebrew is Canaanite and is known much more by inscrip-
tions of Phoenicia and I\Ioab than by properly Jewish
texts.
When the rabbis wished to give to their religion, to their
laws, to their national life which rests entirely on their
books, a thoroughly and exclusively Jewish character, they
made a dialectal modification ; they turned their books
into the language spoken at Jerusalem ; but since that had
no script, they had to invent one and they adopted a
modified form not of the Canaanite but of Aramaic, the one
real book-language which they already knew. Between
the new script and the old one there was no greater differ-
ence than between the two idioms.
With this summary of my conclusions I close this book,
which, I have no doubt, most of my readers will find marked
by a boldness verging on presumption. I hope, however,
that they will recognize that in rejecting the^philological
2o8 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
criticism I have endeavoured to the best of my ability
not to deviate from historical facts. This method has 1 ed
me to endorse completely the traditional view as to the
books of Moses. I believe the books bearing the name of
the great lawgiver are really his work, but that the form
which they now have is not that of their original language.
The words of our Lord Jesus Christ likewise are not known
to us in the Aramaic in which they were uttered ; they are
known to us in Greek. But in the case of His words the
translation is a complete one, while in the Old Testament it
is merely a change of dialect.
INDEX
Aahmes, King, go
Aaron, loo, 123, 125
Abd-hiba of Jerusalem, 10,
17
Abel, 34
Abib, month, 161
Abimelech, King of Gerar,
14, 58, 59 64, 65
Abi-milki of Tyre, 10, 26
Aboo Simbcl, 61
Abram, Abraham, 6, 13,
21, 23, 37, 48, 49, 50,
51-65,82,88,133,181,
182, loi, 197, 19**. 199
Abrahamites, 49
acacia, shittim, 118, 119,
126, 150
acacia seyal, 120
Adam, 34, 41
Africa, 203
Ahab, 25, 28
Ahaz, 144
Alexandria, 186, 188
altar, 117, 156, 158
Amalekites, 162
Amanus, 120
Amenophis III, King,49,59,
60, 61, 75, 94, 99.164.
Amenophis IV, King, 9, 59,
60, 61, 95
Amenophis, son of Hapi, 85
Ammon, 172, 194
Ammonites, 179
Amon, 45, 95
Amorites, Amurru, 11, 13,
15, 46, 205
Amos, 193
Amyztaeus, King, 139
An On, 46, see Heliopolis
Anakim, 133
Anani, 147
Antiochus Eupator, 156
Antonine, Itinerary of,
106, 142
Anu, 46, 1 6',
Mentu, 46, 47
d'Anville, 97
Apophis, Apepi, King, 71,
89
Arabia, 173
Northern, 26, 43, 57
Arabian desert, 27
gulf, 47, lOI
Arabic alphabet, 192
language, 44
Arabs, 44
Aram, 167
-Beth-rehob, 167
-Naharaim, 167
-Zobah, 167
Aramaic alphabet, 3, 4,
19, 21, 24, 25, 181,
188, 196, 200, 207
language, 24, 50, 105,
115,130,145,163-170,
173. 178, 182, 183,
184, 185, 188, 189,
191, 195, 206, 208
pap>Tus rolls, 32
Aramcans, 21, 166, 167,
170, 204
Archives, 132, 134
Aristeas, 186
Ark of the Covenant, 113,
116, 118, 127, 128, 153
Arpachshad, 51, 53
Arsamcs, 146, 148
Artatama, 60
Artaxerxcs, 175, 179, 181
Aryans, 47, 203
Ashdod, 172
Ashkelon, 10, ir
Assurbanipal, 131
Assyria, 141, 166
Assyrians, 120, 130, 140
Assyrian writing, 4, 24
conquest, 141
cuneiform, 11
Kings, 129
language, 10, 12, 166
temples, 134
Avaris, 90
Baal, 107
-zapuna, 107
-zephon, 103, 105, 106
Babel, Town of, 50
Babylon, 4, 49, 1S2, 197
Babylonian, cuneiform, 4,
10, II, 15, 17, i8, 21,
22, 23, 25, 29, 30, 36,
115,130,1135,145,166,
167, 191, 203, 204
civilization, 131
language, 10, 12, 14, 26
Bagoas, 145, 148, 156. 162,
163, 200
Barak, 9
Bashan, 205
Bedouins, 92, X20
Beersheba, 103
Berger, M. Philippe, 17, 18
Beza, Theodore, 8
Bezcilel, 118, 123
Bitter Lakes, 97, 108, in
Boehl, Dr., 10
Boghaz Keui, 11, 15, 26,
132, 135, 203
Book of the Dead, 68, 77
Book of the Law, Finding
of the, 129
Bourlos, Lake, loS
breastplate, 123
Briggs, Dr., 14, 116,191,192
Bubastis, 96, 102, 126
Buznaburiash, King, 10,61
Cain, 34
Caleb, 132, 133, 134
calf, golden, 125
Calvin, 8
Carabyses, 146,149,163,164
Canaan, 11, 14, 16, 38, 47,
49. 57. 88, 113, 126,
127, 132, 140, 142,
144.151.192.204, 205
conquest of, 11, 12, 121,
181
South of, 48, 95
Canaan, son of Noah, 43
Canaanite alphabet, see
old Hebrew
language, 10
Candlestick, 124
Canopus, Inscription of, 79
Captivity, the, 24, 163, 165,
175
Cedar, 119, 120, 121, 128,
146, 150, 153, 205
Chnub, god, 146, 161
contracts, cuneiform, 11
Coptic language, 44
translation, 18, 19, 42,
97. 132
Creation in si.\ days, 66-70
of heaven and earth,
tablet of, 32
of mankind, tablet of,
32-34
Crete, 25, 47. 203
Criticism, Higher, 115
Lower, 115
cuneiform, character of,
12 19, 166, 167
writing, 192, 193
Cush, 43
Cushite, 47
cypress, 120
Cyrus, 158
Daniel, 189
Darius 1,106,139,140,175
Nothus, 145, 146, 147
David, 25, 28, 119, 128,
129, 134. 160
Da^vson, Sir William, 102,
no
day, 67-70
Dead Sea, 40, 41, 46, '120
Deborah, 8
song of, 9, 197, 201
Decalogue : Ten Com-
mandments, 17, 20
Delayah, 147
Deluge, Tablet of the, 35,
50, 53
Demetrius of Phaleron,i85
Deuteronomy, 21, 27, 113,
114,127-130,141,150,
153. 154, 156, 174,
180, 205
Dhibon, 29
209
210
INDEX
dialects, character of, 14
variety of, 6, 190, 191
Djebel Geneffeh, iii, 112
Mariam, 106, 107
Shammar, 43
dockets, Aramaic, 169, 206
Du Bois, A>ine, 10;
Dushratta, King of Mit-
anni, 59, 60, 61
Edom, 113
Edomites, 82
Egypt, 16,21,26,33,36-43,
51, 56, 57.66-126,140
Lower, 143
Upper, 143
Eg>T)tian hieroglyphs, 18,
79
papyri, 20
Egyptians, 21 47, 63, 72
Eleazar, 186, 187
Elephantine, colony at, 1 6,
139. 143, 144,150,189
papyri, 4, 26, 139, 145,
189, 196, 200, 202
Eliakim, 171
Elohist, 23, 54, 58, 70, 71,
72, 73, 80, 179, 184
Ennedek, Sheikh, 107
ephod, 125
Ephron the Hittite, 133
Esar-haddon, 45, 167
Escalade I', 7
Esau, 65
Etham, desert of, 102, 103,
no
Ethiopia, 43, 82, 144
Eusebius, 71
Evans, Sir Arthur, 203
Eve, 34
Exodus, book of, 16, 82,
89-125, 150, 183
Ezekiel, 143, 144
Ezra, 4, 24, 31, 35, 50,
113,116,130,157,175
-195, 206, 207
book of, 158
finger of God, the, 18, 19, 20
For Maher-shalal-hash-baz,
18
French language, 8, 10
Galeed, 197
Garden of Eden, 33, 36-43,
51
of the Lord, 41
Gaza, 10, 46
Generation of Noah, tablet
of the, 32, 34
Genesis, 23, 31, 48, 82, 183,
184, 202, 205
end of, 87
lack of proportion, 49
not a book of history,
52, 55
unity of, 52
Geneva, 7, 8, 108
Gentiles, 198
geographical names re-
placed, 35
Gerar, 46, 58, 63
German language, 14, 165,
171
Gezer, tablets of, 11, 13,
15, 26
Gilead, 197
Giluhipa, princess, 59, 61
Girgashites, 46
Gitia of Askelon, 17
Goshen, land of, 42, 91, 96,
I02
Greek language, 44, 208
Hadad, 82
Hagar, 56, 57
Ham, 43, 47, 48, 53
Hamites, 203
Hamitic population, 47
languages, 102
Hammurabi, 21, 36, 204
Haran, 14, 48, 49
Hathor, goddess, 76
Hatshepsu, queen, 99
Hattusil, King, 11
Hebrew. Old alphabet, Ca-
naanite, Phoenician, 3,
4, 12,13,16, 19,21,25,
29. 173.174, 181, 182,
188,192,193,194,195,
196, 197, 199,200,207
language, 4,14,145,173,
178, 18S, 189, 191, 192,
196, 197, 199, 200,
205, 207
literature, 4, 6, 203
rabbinic, 24
square, 3, 4, 24, 181, 182,
198, 199, 201
Hebrews, the, 4, 48, 73, 77,
81,90,91, 99,117,118,
126,130,188, 200, 205
Hebron, 132, 133, 134
Heliodorus, 84
Heliopolis, 83, 96
hereth-enosh, 19, 20
Herodotus, 47, 145, 174
Heroopolis, Ero, 97, loi,
106
Heroopolitan gulf, 97
Heth, 45, 46
Hezekiah, 4, 144, 153, 171,
172,178,193,197
Hilkiah, 127, 129, 152, 153,
154. 193
Hiram, King of Tyre, 27,
150
Hiram, worker in brass, 27
history in Egypt, 94
consisting of genealogies,
138
Hittites, Khetas, 11, 61,
G3, 96, 98
Homer, 202
Horus, 83
Harmachis-Horus, 83
Hc«ca, 142, 144
Hoshea, king, 82
Hoshea, son of Nun, 114
Hull, Prof., 102
humiliation, feast of, 179,
181
Hydames, 146, 147, 148,
149
Hyksos, 45. 7i, 71, 75, 87
Indian Ocean, 47
Indo-European languages,
46
Isaac, 54, 56, 58, 64, 65, 88,
133. 199
Isaiah, 18, 20, 25, 144,
180, 187, 188, 193,
194, 195, 196, 206
Ishmael, 56, 57, 133
Ismailiah, 97, no, iii
Jabin, King of the Canaan-
ites, 8
Jacob 21, 30, 64, 72, 77,
88, 89, 97, 103, 133,
182, 183, 197, 199
Jael, 9
Jahvist, 23, 36, 37, 40, 54,
58, 64, 70, 71, 72, 73.
104, 179, 184
Japheth, 53
Jebusites, 46
Jegar-sahadutha, 197
Jeremiah, 25, 39, 132, 141,
142, 143, 180, 193
Jeremias, Dr., 193
Jerusalem, 141, 155, 157,
165, 170, 176, 177,
178, 185, 194,199,202
Jesus Christ our Lord, 173,
185, 186, 187, 188,
195, 208
Jew's language. Jewish,
170, 171, 172, 178,
188, 189, 194, 195,
197, 200
Joah, the recorder, 171
Job, 196
Johanan, 145, 147
Jordan, plain of, 37
river, 127, 151, 155
valley, 41
Joseph, 16, 23, 51, 70-87
89, 204
Josephus, 4, 21, III, 145,
165, 186
Joshua, 25, 128.
Josiah, 82, 127, 128, 152,
153. 165, 174
Jotham, 144
Judah, 72, 97
Kingdom of, 40, 141
tribe of, 118, 133, 134
Judea, 42, 46, 47, 54,
74, 98, 145, 148, 172,
185, 194, 207
J udgcs, book of, 9
Kadesh, 95, 115
Kallima-Siu, King of
Babylon, 61
INDEX
211
Kantarah, 38
Kautzsch and Socin, 32,
34, 36. 41. 130
Keturah, 55, 56
Kheta, see Hittites
Kingdom, Northern, 54,
72, 77, 80
Southern, 72, 78
Kings, Books of, 196
Kirjath-sepher, 132, 133
Koenig, Prof., 8, 194, 200
Kuyunjik, hbrary at, 131
Laban, 197
Lachish, 26, 172
Language, spoken, 5
written, 5, 7
Latin, 189
Layard, Sir Henry, 131
Leah, 133
Lebanon, 27, 28, 120, 150,
194
Le Page Renouf, Sir Peter,
68
Lepsius, 47, 93
Levites, 134, 177, 188, 190
Leviticus, 156,157,160,174
Libnah, 172
Liebiein, Prof., no
Linant Bey, 102, no
Lot, 37, 38, 48, 54
Macalister, Prof., n
Machpelah, son of, 133
magicians, 79, 80, 81
Mamre, the Amorite, 14
Manetho, 73
Marduk, god, 22
Manasseh, King, 152, 153
Massora, the, 4, 37
Medum, 83
Megiddo, 10, 82
Memphis, 96, 98, 142
Menephtah, King, 74, 94,
98, 112
Menzaleh Lake, 39, 108
Mesha, King of Moab, 4
Inscription of, 4, 21, 26,
29, 192
Mesopotamia, 10, 12, 21,
49, 51, 62, 64, 69, 79,
90, 105, 121, 167, 177,
181,182,184, 185,189,
19T, 192, 196, 204, 206
Mesopotamians, 21,132,171
metal, beaten, 121, 122
metaphors, 67
Meyer, Prof. Eduard, 72,
161, 174
midwives, 92, 93, 99, 100
Shiphrah and Puah, 99
Migdol, 103, 105, loO, 107,
112
Magdolon, 142, 144, 163
Miriam, 22, 112
Mithredath, 159
Mizraim, 43
Moab, n3,' 172, 194, 199,
207
Moabitc, 179
Mohammedan conquest, 44
priest, 1 78
religion, 44, 81
Moses, 6, 16, 17, 20-25, 26,
33, 35, 36, 42, 43, 49,
55, 64, 66, 69, 70, 75,
85, 87, 89-135, 145,
151, 152,1154, 15'/, 158,
174,175,177,179, 180,
181, 182,184, 189, 190,
198, 204, 205,206,208
Mutemua, queen, 99
Mycenae, 202, 203
m>Ttle, 119
Nahr el Kelb, 96
Naphuria, see Amenophis
IV
Nathan, 119, 128
Nazareth, 187, 206
Nebuchadnezzar, 150, 182
Nehemiah, 145, 157, 177,
189, 190, 197, 206
Nepayan, 146
Nile, 33, 67
Delta, 39, 90, 96, 142,
143, 156
Pelusiac branch, 38, 39,
95, 142
Tanitic branch, 39
Upper, 43
Nimmuria, see Amenophis
III
Nippur, library at, 131
Nisan, month, 161
Noah, 34,35,50,51,53,203
Noph, see Memphis
Normandy, 40
Nubia, 140
offerings, 148, i6o
burnt, 117, 147,151,156,
157, 158
incense, 147, 156, i57
meal, 147, 156, 157
Og, King, 205
Oholiab, 124
Omri, 25, 29, 174
On, see Heliopolis
Onias, 156
Orr, Dr., 150
Osiris, 45
Ostanes, 147
Palestine, 10, n, 12, 26,
38, 45, 47, 70, 77, 82,
88, 91, 94, 95, 98, 102,
105, 119, 120, 121,
134,135,142,144,145,
157, 163, 170, 171,
173, 189, 190, 191,
192, 203, 204
Southern, 46, 47
Passover, the, 140, 161,
162, 174
Pathros, 142, 143
Paul, apostle, 188, 198
Pentateuch, 3, 23, 35, 36,
127,130, 132,179,181,
184, 204, 205, 207
Pepi, King, statue of, 121,
124, 125
Persia, 157
King of, X57, 181, 185
Persian gulf, 47
Petrie, Prof. F., 93, 97, 98,
142
Pharaoh, 10,16, 17, 57,63,
71, 78, 80, 82, 84, 91,
94, 96, 98, 99. 100,
103,104,109,111, 112,
141, 149,150,163, 204
dream of, 76
Pharaoh- Hophra, 82
I'haraoh-Necoh, 82
Philistines, 25, 47, 50, 103,
120
coast of, 194
philological criticism, 24,
207
Phoenicia, 4, 26, 207
Phoenician alphabet, see
Old Hebrew
inscriptions, 174
Phoenicians, 13, 25, 26, 27,
47, 48, 199
Phut, 43, 48
Pi-hahiroth, 103, 105, 107
Pi-kerehet or Pi-keheret,
106
Pithom, 38, 91, 96, 97, 101,
102, 106, 107, no
Plagues, the ten, 100
Pliny, 101
Polybius, 193
Potiphar, 71, 83, 86
Poti-pherah, 83
Priestly Code, 23, 36, 104,
105, 116, 119, 157,
158, 159, 161, 163,
179, 180, 184, 185
priests, 81, 83, 152, 153,
156, 185
primitive mjin, 6, 67
prophets, 189, 190, 192,
193, 194, 199
Proverbs, book of, 162,
193, 194
Psalm XXII, 187, 188,
195, 207
Psalms, 39, 114, 115
Psammetichus I, 142
II, 140
Ptolemaic times, 39, 83
Ptolemies, 39
Ptolemy, geographer, 101
Ptolemy Philadelphus, 4,
185
Puna, Piinti, Pceni, 47
Punt, land of, 43
Ka, god, 45, 71, 83, 90
Raamses, city of, 91, 96, 97
rabbis, 196,199,200,206,207
Rabshakeh, 170, 171
" Rainbow Bible," 36
212
Rameses II, King, ii, 6i,
74. 94. 05, 96. 97, "2
land of, 97, 102, no
Rebekah, 58
redactor, 23, 37, 58, 64
Red Sea, 22, 43, 47, 96, 97,
102,104,105,109, III,
112
Rehoboam, 150
Reinach, M. Theodore, 186
Reisner, M., 13
Revised Version, 18
Rhone river, 108
rings of gold, 122
river of Eden, 33, 37
Roman time, no, 123
language, V'uiJ.a.iTTi, 189
languages, 14
Romanche, 170
Rosetta stone, 17
Rouge, E. de, 43
Sachau, Prof., 145, 148,
173, 174
sacrifice, 117, 151. if^o
Saites, djmasty, 163
Samaria, 147
ostraca from, 4, 13, 20,
25, 29, 174
Samuel, 6, 162
sanctuary, 118
unity of, sec unity
Sargonide dynasty, 173
Sarai, Sarah, 56, 57, 62, 63,
64, 133
Saul, 134
Sayce, Prof., 26, 202
Schliemann, 202
sealskin, 125
Sed period, 84, 85
Sellin, Dr., 12, 132
Semites, 25, 43, 47, 96, i73
Semitic dialect, 191
invasion, 15
languages, 14, 45, 46
population, 44, 45
Sennacherib, 82, 169, 171,
172
Septuagint, LXX,i8, 19,20,
25, 32, 34, 38, 42, 68,
83, 97, loG, 114, 115,
126,132,142,144,156,
172,186, 187,197, 206
Seqenenra, King, 90
Serapeum, sanctuary of
Osiris, 106
station on the Suez
Canal, 106, 112
Seti I, king, 38, 57, 95, 106
Shamash, god, 167
Shaphan, 129, 130
Shasu, nomads, 42, 57, 95
Shebna, the scribe, 171
Shechem, 133
Shelemyah, 147
Shem, 51, 52, 53
INDEX
Shephelah, 120
Shihor, 141
Shinai-, land of, 88
Shishak, king, 82, 150
Shutarna, 60
Sihon, 205
Siloah, inscription of, 4, 21
Silvia Aquitana, 39
Sin god, 21
Sinaitic desert, 38, 117
peninsula, 46, 95, 96, 120
Sisera, 9
So, King, 82
sockets, 126, 146
Sodom and Gomorrah, 37,
40, 41, 48, 54, 55, 58
Solomon, 13, 25, 26, 27-
29, 82, 128, 129, 130,
134, 150, 153, 159.
160, 193, 194, 205
" standards," 140
Stephen, 16
Strabo, 83, loi
style, stylus, 19, 194
Succoth, 102, 106, no
Thuket or thukot, 102
Suez, in
gulf of, 47
Sumerian language, 14
Susa, 135
Switzerlimd, dialects of,
6, 15, 170, 171, 178
Syene, Assuan, 143, 144
synagogue, 187, 188
Syncellus, 71
Taanach, tablets of, n, 15,
26, 132
Tabernacle, 115-125, 128,
153, 204
Tabernacles, feast of, 159,
177
Tables of the Law, 17, 19
Tablets, clay, 12
character of, 30, 53, 183,
205
cuneiform, 23, 36, 130,
131, 182
forming a series, 183
of the renewal of the
Covenant, 100
with Aramaic dockets,
169, 182, 206
Taduhipa, princess, 59,
60, 61
Tahpanhes, Daphnae, 141,
142, 144
Taramuz, month, 146, 147
Targum, 107
targumanu, 10
Tel-Defenneh, 142
Tel-el-Amarna, tablets of,
4,9, II, 15, 16,26, 45,
59. 95, 132, 145, X63,
164, 189, 202, 203, 207
Tel-el-Maskhuta, 97
Tel-el- Yahudieh, 156
Tel Rotab, 97
Temple of Jerusalem, iig,
129, 134,150, 153,157
of Elephantine, 140, 145,
146,147,149,150,158,
174
of Onion, 156
Ten Commandments, see
Decalogue
Terah, 48, 51, 53
Theban dvnasty, 90
Thebes (Egypt), 89, 95,
112, 169
Thoth, 18
Thothmes III, 88, gi, 92,
94, 96 ; IV, 60
Ti, queen, 60
Timsah lake, 97, 106, 107,
108, no
Tirhakah, King, 82
Troy, 202
Tum, god, 97
Turkish language, 44
Tussum, 107
Two brothers, tale of the,
86
Unas, 68
unity of sanctuary and
worship, 126, 150, 152,
133. 154
UroftheChaldees, I3,i4i2i
Vogiie, Marquis de, 196
vowel points, 3, 4, 37
Vulgate, loi, 132, 142, 194
Wady Tumiiat, 96, 10 1
Weights, 168
Wellhausen, Prof., 36, 116
Winckler, Dr., 132
wind, East, 108
Wolff, 202
Yaho, 140, 143, 145, 146,
147, 149, 155, 156,
157, 158, 159. 162,
164, 165, 200
Yahveh, 149, 186, 200
Elohim, 49, 52
Yeb, fortress of, 146, I47.
148
Yedoniah, 146, i47
Zaphenaih-paneah, 78, 80
Zar, Zoar of Egypt, 37-
42, 95. 103, 142
Zedekiah, 141
Zerubbabel, 158
Zidon, city, 10,46,47.94,126
son of Canaan, 45, 46
Zimrida of Zidon, 26
Zoar of Moab, 37-42
Printed by Butler & Tanner, From* and London,
i II 1 1 HI HH HI CIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
AA 000 628 860 9
3 1158 00679 7830
M
■ '."'.,;?■■ -.'Vv:'-',
■ ' ■ \ '.• \' ■ ' ;'■.*!■ '• ' ■
.'■■'.* . >> ■
1 . •' '' ■ , >
'.':
■,:''f;.
■ 'f ■'■■1 ji '.''' '■■i'' .
•' ■■i:'-»'-v-v''\;i.v':,l:, ■'!':■ V'>-'. ■ ' ■ ^ ^
'■ ''^ ■ •",•.* 'ill' ij'-ilLi
":■•!;"
