p. 7 | OF VITAL IMPORT by Amos R. Wells

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 12, 1913

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 31.

OF VITAL IMPORT

By Amos R. Wells

way, and cover a large number of subjects relating to both person and property. Tho written in the time of Abraham, they show that courts and a high state of civilization existed in Babylonia for centuries before his day.

How does this discovery tend to prove the Bible?

It had been held that the laws of the Pentateuch could not have been written by Moses, because they belonged to a state of civilization centuries after his time. Indeed, for a long time it was believed by skeptics that Moses and the men of his day did not even know how to write, and had no books. The Code of Hammurabi shows us a civilization as far developed as that of the Pentateuch, existing a thousand years before Moses. The resemblances between the two sets of laws are in many parts so close as to show common customs of the two nations, or else some indirect or direct knowledge of Hammurabi's code on the part of Moses. The immense superiority of the Bible, however, is shown by the fact that, as Professor Price says, "the Hammurabi law looks rather at the external act, while the Pentateuch regards the inner thoughts, feelings, and desires." This is the element of inspiration.

What are the Tel-el-Amarna tablets?

They are more than three hundred tablets made of baked clay, found in 1887 by a peasant woman at the village of Tel-el-Amarna, on the Nile, about one hundred and seventy miles south of Cairo. They proved to be cuneiform inscriptions in the Babylonian language, and are a series of letters written to two Egyptian kings about 1400 B.C., by the governors of Syria, Palestine, Phenicia, and Philistia, and the kings of Assyria and Babylonia.

How do the Tel-el-Amarna tablets help to prove the Bible?

They show that Palestine was then tributary to Egypt, but that it had been for a long time previously a province of Babylonia. They show that Palestine was at that time—when the Hebrews were captives in Egypt—in a greatly disturbed state, and among the enemies of the Canaanites is named a people called Khabiri—probably the Babylonian equivalent of "Hebrew"—some part of the Hebrew race. In such a state the country would be far more easily taken by the Hebrews under Joshua. The letters contain the name Jerusalem, which was not known to have been in use at that early date.

What is the Black Obelisk?

It is a famous monument of black marble, now in the British Museum. It was cut in the reign of Shalmaneser II, king of Assyria, 860-825 B.C. A series of sculptured pictures shows men of different nations bringing tribute to Shalmaneser, and among them are a file of Jews. The inscription says that these came from Jehu, whose career as king of Israel is fully set forth in the Bible.

How does this discovery help to prove the Bible?

This monument, with other Assyrian records of the time that have been deciphered, describes the wars that were waged by Assyria with Syria, and shows how Syria was a buffer state for Israel, and how the Assyrian defeat of Syria left Israel free to expand and become strong. This furnishes a perfect explanation of much in the history of the northern kingdom that the Bible does not stop to unfold, and it all fits in perfectly with the record in Kings and Chronicles.

What is the Moabite Stone?

It is a large slab of black basalt, now in the Louvre. It was found in ancient Moab, east of the Dead Sea, and was cut in the reign of Mesha, king of Moab, about 850 B.C. The stone is a tribute to Chemosh, the Moabite deity, and the inscription relates how he became angry with his people, and allowed Omri, king of Israel, to conquer them, and exact from them a large annual tribute. After the death of Ahab, the Moabites revolted, and won back their independence.

How does the Moabite Stone help to prove the Bible?

In language and literary style it comes very close to the Bible, and reads like a chapter from Kings or Chronicles. It refers to Jehovah, illustrates a number of details of the Bible, and perfectly harmonizes with what the Bible tells us about the relations between Moab and her Hebrew neighbors.

What are the Egyptian discoveries of the times of the Hebrew bondage?

The mummy of Rameses II, the Pharaoh of the bondage, has been found. The city of Pithom has been discovered, and the actual storehouses built by the Hebrew slaves, the lower portion built of bricks containing straw, but most of them being made of bricks without straw. We also have the mummy of Menephtah II, the Pharaoh of the Exodus. We possess a hymn of victory addressed to him and mentioning Israel. It is probable also that the inscriptions show the death of his son, while yet young, in the last of the plagues.

How do these Egyptian discoveries confirm Bible record?

They all fit in perfectly with the Bible account. Other researches show the location of Goshen, where the Hebrews lived, and the line of boundary forts that turned the escaping host of slaves down to the Red Sea. The Bible harmonizes with all that is known of Egyptian civilization.

How do discoveries regarding the Hittites confirm the Bible?

There are in the Bible many references to the Hittites, and they are pictured as a considerable nation. Until recently nothing was known of this nation except what the Bible tells us, and therefore some scholars denied that there ever was such a people. But now the records of Egypt and Assyria show us the Hittites as a people that for nearly seven centuries was one of the greatest in the world, occupying Northern Syria and Southern Asia Minor. In that region there have been discovered many of the ruins of Hittite buildings, and many of their crude rock carvings, together with inscriptions in strange hieroglyphics that have not yet been deciphered.—Amos R. Wells, in "Christian Endeavor World."