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?|P"5^^»^i^^^5^^^5"TJfT5»^f»'"5^V*^^^5»'^5!"^5^!»'^^ 
 
The 'Bible Vindicated 
 
 BY 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries 
 
 IN 
 
 SCRIPTURE LANDS, 
 
 OI8CL08IN0 
 
 <A World of c4ndent Juried Treasure Bearing 
 
 ^red Testimony to the Truthfulness 
 
 of Sacred History; 
 
 Recdhering forgotten Langua.yes, Restoring Lost Empires to a. 
 
 place in the cAnnats of SM^nkind, And making clear and 
 
 easily understood many obscure passages of 
 
 the 'Divine Word. 
 
 The "whole designed to confirm the fact that the 'Bible is a 
 
 *ReveUtion from God to Man, that no Sceptic or 
 
 Cainller can gainsay, 
 
 OBTAINED FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES 
 
 By the author of •• The Harvest Home in Palestine^ or IsraeVs 
 National Thanksgiving Festival and its Signification " etc. 
 
 ST. JOHN, N. B. ; 
 
 R. A. H. MORROW, 59 Garden Street. 
 
 1899. 
 

 p 
 
 212 
 
 Entered according to the Act of Parliament of Canada, 
 
 in the year l8y(^, 
 
 By Rohkrt a. II. Morrow, 
 
 in the Oflice of the Minister of Agriculture at Ottawa. 
 
 ^niNrco *v jAMC* SeATciN, an aciiMAiN %t. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 m 
 
 
 I 
 
 This little book is an authentic record of the most im- 
 portant discoveries of modern research in liible lands, many 
 of which are strange, startling, undreamt of, and bear direct 
 testimony to the truthfulness of Sacred history, beyond all 
 controversy. It has been prepared with great care as to 
 accuracy of statement. In its composition no place is given 
 to anything that has not been fully sustained by undoubted 
 authority. It has been written under the conviction that 
 such a work is needed, and is sent forth with the earnest 
 prayer that the Holy Spirit may use it to strengthen the 
 faith of the Christian in the genuineness of God's Word, 
 remove the doubt of the Sceptic, and encourage all classes of 
 readers to a more diligent study of the Holy Scriptures. 
 " The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of 
 the Old and New Testaments, is the ou/y rule to direct us" 
 in the path that leads to eternal life ; and, if this Word is 
 made void by the traditions, misconceptions or scepticism 
 of those who profess to teach its doctrines, there is no siad/i 
 ground on which to rest the hope of our salvation. Although 
 the light of nature in man, and the works of God as they 
 are manifest in nature, declare plainly that there is a God ; 
 yet, it is only His Word and Spirit that can /ru/y reveal Him 
 unto us. It is therefore the duty of every man to investi- 
 gate for himself, as to the truthfulness of the Revelation 
 given by God to man " for the rule of his obedience," This 
 duty is enjoined on us by the Apostolic admonition : 
 
^m 
 
 4 Preface, 
 
 " Prove all things, hold fast that which is good" — Let 
 God be found true, though every man should be a liar. 
 
 It is evident that Infidelity, having become more rampant 
 to-day than ever before, and seeking to extinguish the light 
 of Divine Truth, God, in His Providential care of His own 
 Word, is calling forth from secret chambers of the earth, 
 where they have been long concealed, " the stones," and 
 other monumental records of ancient times, to " cry out" 
 in bearing witness to the veracity of His Word which alone 
 is Truth, in a manner that cannot be gainsaid. 
 
 From the writer's standpoint, none but those given over 
 to a reprobate mind can read the clear and convincing tes- 
 timonies of these witnesses, as they are recorded in the fol- 
 following pages, and doubt the authenticity of the Holy 
 Scriptures. Many of the memorials of discovery referred 
 to bear such unanswerable testimony to the truthfulness of 
 the Sacred narrative that no candid person can do otherwise 
 than accept the evidence. 
 
 To the many authors whose works have been consulted 
 or freely drawn upon in the composition of this book, the 
 writer would hereby acknowledge his indebtedness, and state 
 that due r redit is given to each by the use of quotation 
 marks or otherwise. 
 
 Assured that God's Word shall, in due time, be accepted 
 by all peoples and nations, this record of ancient testimony 
 to its truth is sent forth with the prayer that it may aid in 
 the bringing abojt of so desirable an issue. 
 
 A. L. O. N. B. 
 
 St. John, N. B., SefytemfHr 1899. 
 
T 
 
 Ivist of llluatratione. 
 
 I'AdE, 
 
 Baked Terra-coUa Tablet, giving an account of the 
 
 Flood, 19 
 
 The Celebrated Rosetta Stone 23 
 
 First lines of the Epic of Peniaur, 34 
 
 Full length view of the Mummy of King Pharaoh, 
 
 Rameses II., 44 
 
 Front view of King Pharaoh, taken after the Mummy 
 
 was unwound, 46 
 
 Profile of King Pharaoh as it now appears in the 
 
 Boulac Museum, 49 
 
 Photograph of Queen Nofretair, 51 
 
 Side view of King Pinetom II., 53 
 
 The Famous Moabite Stone, 69 
 
 Sennacherib's anticipated Victory at I,achish, 81 
 
 Plate 1. of the Tel el-Amarna Tablets 93 
 
 Ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's Great City — Babylon 1 13 
 
luniiiiary of Contents. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Preface, 3 
 
 List of Illiislralions, 5 
 
 Records of the Dim and [distant Past 9 
 
 A Wuild of Ihiried Trcasinv — Insciilicil Papyrus Rolls — 
 An Epitome of the Ancient World's History— lext of 
 Tablets Kecording the Successive Acts of Creation — The 
 
 C'ialdean i'ablet Legends of the Mood— Assyrian Taldets 
 
 Wonderful. A rcha'ol')(.',ical Kinds — ('uneiform lnvcii|jti<)ns— 
 The Kositta Stone Discovery, 
 
 Chaldean Dynasty of the Antedihivian I'eriod, 25 
 
 Extent of its Empire — The Mij^hty Men of Renown in those 
 days. 
 
 First Despotic Kmpire after the Deluge, '. 27 
 
 Its Vouiider and his (!liaiacter. 
 
 Establishment of the Rlann'te r)ynasty, 27 
 
 Its Extent- A Powerful ( onfeleracy— The I'irst Military 
 Cam])aign of Authentic History. 
 
 The Empire of the Hittites, 29 
 
 Discovery of Historical lnscri})tions at Hamath, Cajipado- 
 
 cia, Evconia, vSr'c — The Epic of Pentaur- Hero of the 
 
 Poem— Hitlite War Chariots— Great liattle at Kedash, 
 
 ^ etween Pharaoh and the Kheta -Millions of Archers — 
 
 The Ulood of the Slain — Pharaoh's Complete Victory. 
 
 The Great Tablet of Abii-Shnbal, 35 
 
 The Egypliiin Iliad. 
 
 Origin of the Canaanitish Flittites, • 37 
 
 Their Great Progenitor — First name by which tiioy were 
 distinguished — Their Territory. 
 
 
Snmmary of Content s. 7 
 
 i'.v(;k. 
 
 Ancient Tablets Discovery at'i'ei-elAmarna 39 
 
 The Real Analogy of McK bc/edek 40 
 
 tiled 'lob, Vassal Kiny of Jeriisalein--lA:ltfr3 from ihc 
 Governor of Jerustileni ti> the l"".},'ypti.in Kin^;. 
 Finding of the Body of Kaineses the Great second 
 
 Pharaoh'of the (ireat Oppression, 43 
 
 Description f)f llie Hotly— 'I he Keiynof tliis Giciit Monarch— 
 C!harart<.*r of the Man as porliayeil by the Muniniy's Fea- 
 tures — leading Causes of the OJ)prL•!.^■i<m of Israel in 
 Kyypt — Its Inauguration — Queen Nofretatr — King i'iw- 
 tom — Incidents connected with the Discovtry of Paraoh's 
 Mummy — A Story of Intense Interest — A Strange Kuneral 
 IVocession. 
 
 The Old Land of (ioshen i;S 
 
 Discovery of Tharaoh's Store houses built by the Israelites 
 at Pithoiu— Aile Mud— The Fithom H;icks— A Celebrati. 
 ^' 'iind — First Haitinj;- Place of tlu' Israelite* on iheir 
 Departure from K;;y])l--A Kemarkable Fhen;inienon — 
 The (ireat Deliverance of Israel from IJoniia^e. 
 
 The Famous Moabite Stone, 69 
 
 History of its Discovery — Correct translation of its Inscrip- 
 tion — The National God of Moab. 
 
 Wonderful Revelations in Palesti ne, 76 
 
 Discovery of the long lost sife of the Royal City of 
 
 Lachish, 77 
 
 Its Situation — Its Siege by Sennacherib and Destruction 
 of his great Host at this City- -The I'rimitive Founders of 
 Lachish — Its Egyptian Governor — A Remarkable Arch- 
 ajolofical Romance -One of the Chief Layers of the 
 Ruini-- Period of the Judges ascertained — A Great filank 
 in the History of Palestine- -The F-gyptian Supremacy of 
 Canaan. 
 
 The Philistine God Dagon 92 
 
 A Ploughman instead f)fa Fish man deity — Solution of why 
 the (iolden Mice were sent with the Atk on its return by • 
 the Philistines to Beth-shemesh. 
 
I 
 
 8 Summary of Contents. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 The Famous Siloam Inscription Discovery, 94 
 
 The Pool of Siloam Tunnel made by Hezekiah, 97 
 
 Its Purposes and Dimensions. 
 
 Another Tunnel of smaller Construction, 100 
 
 The Ancient Water Supply of Jerusalem 101 
 
 Solomon's Pools near Hebron, 102 
 
 Tlieir Dimensions an<l Connections. 
 
 The Underground Royal Quarries at Jerusalem, 103 
 
 Preparation of Stones for Solomon's Temple. 
 
 Import of the Wailing Place of the Jews, 109 
 
 Heart-rending Scenes — Litany of the Mourners. 
 
 The Ruin of Ancient Babylon 112 
 
 Reign of its king Nebuchadnezzar — Extent and Magnificence 
 of the City — Its Hanging Gardens — Its immense Walls, 
 Gates, and Towers — The Temple of Belus — The Tower 
 of Habel — Belshazzar's Impious Feast — Capture of the 
 City by the Medes and Persians — Its total Destruction in 
 fulfilment of Prophetic Predictions-- Description of its 
 present Ruins. 
 
 The Great Assyrian Capital, Nineveh, ....126 
 
 Discovery of its long lost site. 
 Complete Overthrow of Tyre, Capernaum, Jericho, 
 
 Samaria, and other cities of Palestine, 128 
 
 wm^:! 
 
 W 
 
T 
 
 IVIARVELbOUS DISCOVERIES 
 
 IN 
 
 BIBLE I^ANDS. 
 
 RECORDS of the dim and distant past, numerous and 
 varied, have been recently discovered in Bible 
 lands. Many of these discoveries are truly remark- 
 able, and bear direct testimony to the truth of Sacred story. 
 Some of them throw a flood of ligi.t upon hitherto dark 
 and obscure passages in the early history of the human race, 
 and others remove much of the mystery that has shrouded 
 many persons and j^laces. It is cheering to fii d, in the 
 providence of God, such witnesses coming forth from their 
 hiding places to support the Bible narrative, when it is 
 assailed, as never before, by secular scientists under the 
 guise of Higher Criticism, Modern Science, New Theology, 
 Liberalism, aed other popular phrases, and characterized as 
 '« cunningly devised fables," and unworthy of rational 
 belief 
 
 The clear and convincing evidence furnished by these 
 ancient memorials, should strengthen the faith of the 
 Christian in the genuineness and Divine authority of the 
 Scrii)tures, and anew assure him that "holy men of God 
 spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 
 
 In reference to this matter, a noted archaeologist who is 
 practically acquainted with the decipherment of the recently 
 
 
\ 
 
 lO Marvellous Discaveries in Bible Lands, 
 
 discovered monumental records of the olden times, assures 
 us that many of these silent witnesses support the Scripture 
 record beyond all question. His assertion is, that '• The 
 discoveries of ancient archaeology are ever growing more 
 numerous, more startling and more unexpected, and Oriental 
 archaiology declares with ever-increasing distinctness that 
 the history which the higher criticism has demolished is 
 history after all. To the assertion that the sacred books of 
 Israel are the fabrication of an age long subsequent to the 
 events they profess to record, and that the events themselves 
 are legendary and mythical, the Oriental archaeology returns 
 an emphatic NO." 
 
 Although Christian scholarship has never doubted the 
 authenticity of the Bible story, yet it has ardently longed to 
 catch some historical echoes, however faint, of ancient sacred 
 voices reverberating adown the ages, to add to the realistic 
 effect of Scripture narrative, and thus quicken apprehension 
 of the^striking events from which so many centuries separate 
 us. This desire is now, in a great measure, gratified, owing 
 to the fact that of late years scientific research has miearthed 
 
 A WORLD OF BURIED TREASURE 
 
 which brings us face to face with a hoary antiquuy, and 
 enables us to distinctly hear, as it were, a veritable chorus 
 of ancient echoes from the land of Ham, from the shores of 
 Phcenicia, from Canaan, from the valley of the Euphrates, 
 from the home of the Hittites, " from Melchi/edek, king of 
 Salem, and from the rock-cliffs of Desert-Sinai." 
 
 Owing chiefly to the operations of exploration and excava- 
 tion societies properly organized, rocks, tombs, monuments, 
 bricks, temple columns, palace walls, clay tablets, pottery, 
 coins, .seals, beads, necklaces, obelisks, buried cities, pave- 
 
i 
 
 Afariellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 II 
 
 iiient slabs, an(] other relics of olden limes in Eastern 
 lands, recently discovered, have all been made to contribute 
 to the vast fund of antiquarian information jjrcvioiisly ao 
 fjuircd by the traveller, explorer, j^hilologist, arclia;ologist, 
 and historian. * 
 
 From some of these sources materials have been collected 
 by which the language, belief, forms of worship, social 
 observances, and [)olitical records of Babylon, Nineveh, and 
 other vanished empires of ancient times may be a.scertained, 
 and their respective histories fairly reconstructed. 
 
 INSCRIBED PAPYRUS ROLLS, 
 
 taken from the nuimmies of long entombed kings, (pieens, 
 priests, princesses, and other monuinental inscrijitions in 
 the land of the Pharaohs, have furnished valuable informa- 
 tion as to the various dynasties, and the religion, ceremonies 
 and condition of life among the people of that remarkable 
 country — a country which is crowded with relics of remote 
 anti([uity, and whose temples, pyramids, tombs, and mounds 
 of ruined cities, speak of an untold grandeur that has long 
 since passed away, but which will always e.Kcite the curiosity 
 and command the admiration of the world. 
 
 Moving amid such splendour as must have been witnessed 
 in that renowned land by Joseph during the time of his 
 regime therein, it is not surprising that he advised his 
 brethren, when sending them up to Canaan to bring his 
 father down thither, to tell him of all his glory in Kgypt 
 and all that they had seen of those wonderful surroundings, 
 which have long since, in fuifilment of Scripture prediction, 
 become " a desolation." 
 
 E.tamining these discovered records of the far (listc.t 
 past as found in the Boulac Museum at Cairo, the Museum 
 
 I 
 
12 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 of Antiquity in iJerlin, the British Museum, the Museum of 
 Fine Arts in }k)ston, Museum of the l^ouvre at Paris, and 
 the other places where they are now stored, we can decipher 
 an epitome of the 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD 
 
 from the remotest j)eriod, and find many of the records in 
 I)erfect harmony with those of Divine Revelation. And 
 even where the Scripture narrative is silent as to the leading 
 events of the period, or merely mentions them by way of 
 inference, we have in these annals full records of untold 
 value to the Christian I istorian. 
 
 Commencing with the opening chapters of the Bible 
 history which has long stood as the only record of Creation, 
 the Sabbath, Paradise, the Fall, and the Flood, we tind that 
 some of the Chaldean and Assyrian clay tablets discovered 
 by Smith, Pinches, Boscawen, and others, give a similar 
 account of these events. Until quite recently it was doubt- 
 ful whether there was anything in ancient inscriptions 
 corroborative of the Scripture narrative of the Fall, but one 
 of the late discoveries in Babylonia, by Mr. St. Chad Bosca- 
 wen, has removed the doubt and confirms the Bible record 
 of that event beyond all controversy. Mr. Boscawen's 
 translation of the fragment of the tablet A^hich he found is 
 as follows; 
 
 *' The great gods, all of them determiners of fate. 
 They entered, and, death-like, the god Sar filled. 
 In sin one with the other in compact joins. 
 The command was established in the garden of the God. 
 The Asnan (fruit) they ate, they broke in two. 
 Its stalk they destroyed ; 
 The sweet juice which injures the body. 
 
Marvellous Disccn'cj'ies in Bible Lands 
 
 Great is their sin. Themselves they exalted 
 To Merodach their Tvedeemor he (the god Sar) appointed 
 their fate." 
 
 The complete group of these "Creation Tablets" seem 
 to be seven in number, and record 
 
 THE SUCCESSIVE ACTS OP CREATION, 
 
 composed in the form of an Assyrian epic, the design of 
 which was, according to acknowledged authority, " an 
 attempt to throw together in jwetic form the of cosmological 
 doctrines of the chief Assyrian or Babylonian schools and 
 combine them into a connected story." 
 
 Although only fragments of some of these tablets have, 
 so far, been discovered, yet enough has been found to show 
 the import of the whole. An authority in the decipher- 
 ment and translation of these tablet inscriptions states, that 
 *' A translation of the fragments we possess will be the 
 best commentary on their contents." The following lines 
 are given by this author, as a correct translation of the open- 
 ing portion of the first tablet which was discovered by the 
 late Mr. (George Smith ; — 
 
 *' When on high the heavens proclaimed not, 
 (and) earth beneath recorded not a name, 
 then the abyss of waters was in the beginning their generator, 
 the chaos of the deep (Tiamal) was she who bore them all. 
 Their waters were embosomed together, and 
 the plant was ungathered, the herb (of the field) ungrown. 
 When the gods had not ai)peared, any one (of them), 
 by no name were they recorded ; no destiny [had they fixed]. 
 Then were the [greatl gods created, 
 Lakhmu and Lakharau issued forth [the first.] 
 until they grew up [and waxed old,] 
 
 (when)the gods Sar and Kisar (the upper and lower firmament 
 were created. 
 
14 Marvellous Discoveries iu Bihk Laiiets', 
 
 Long were the days [until] 
 
 the gods Anil [Bel and Ka were created;] 
 
 Sar [and Kisar created them]." 
 
 At ' this line the tal)lel is broken, and the available in- 
 scription in order seems to commence on the seventeenth 
 line from the top of the third tablet in the series, and has 
 evidently a reference to our first parents under the tempta- 
 tion of Satan, who is called " the great Serpent." It reads 
 thus : 
 
 '* The gods have surrounded her (i, e. Tiarnat), all of them ; 
 
 Together with those whom ye have created, I (Merodach) 
 marched beside her. 
 
 When they had armed themselves (?) beside her, they ap- 
 proached Tiamat. 
 
 (Merodach), the strong one, the glorious, who desists not 
 night or day, 
 
 the exciter to battle, was disturbed in heart. 
 
 Then they marshalled (their) forces ; they create darkness (?). 
 
 The mother of Khubur, the creatress of them all, 
 
 Multiplied weapons not (known) before ; she produced (?) 
 huge snakes 
 
 whose teeth were pointed, unsj)aring was (their) edge. 
 
 She filled their bodies with poison like blood. 
 
 She clothed with terror the raging vampires. 
 
 She uplifted the lightning-Hash, on high she launched (it). 
 
 She fills them with venom (?), so that with 
 
 their bodies abounded though their breasts bent not. 
 
 She stationed the dragon, the great serpent and the god 
 Lakha [ma], 
 
 the great reptile, the deadly beast and the scorpion-man, 
 
 the devouring reptiles, the fish-man, and the zodiacal ram, 
 
 lifting up the weapons that spare net, fearless of battle. 
 
 Strong is her law, not previously repeated. 
 
 Thereupon the eleven monster.-) like him (i. e. Kingu) she 
 sent forth. 
 
 Among the gods her forces she (launched). 
 
 I^HM 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands, 
 
 15 
 
 She exalted Kingu (her husband) in the midst; (beside) her 
 
 (he was) king. 
 They marched in front before the army [of Tianiat]." 
 
 Further translation of this fragment of the third tablet is 
 impossible owing to its mutilated condition. A fragment 
 which forms another portion of the same tablet is that lately 
 discovered by Mr. Boscawen, the contents of which have 
 been referred to. Another .section of the same tablet giving 
 the beginnings of the last fourteen lines has also been re- 
 covered by Mr. Pinches, the inscription of which seems to 
 be in harmony with the other portions. 
 
 The fourth tablet is in good condition, and contains a 
 lengthy inscription of the same epic, the opening lines of 
 which refer to the " mercy-seat of the mighty " being estab- 
 lished, and Merodach, (the Creator) being "glorious among 
 the gods." The closing lines of this tablet read thus : 
 
 ** The sky is bright (?), the lower earth rejoices (?), and 
 he sets the dwelling of Ea (the Sea-god) opposite the deep. 
 Then Bel measured the circumference (?) of the deep ; he 
 established a great building like unto it (called) E-Sarra 
 (the firmament): the great building E-Sarra which he ouilt 
 in the heaven he caused Ann, Bel and Ea to inhabit as their 
 stronghold." 
 
 As to the fifth tablet, which describes the Creatipn of 
 the heavenly bodies and their appointment for signs and 
 seasons, only a portion of the beginning of it has as yet 
 been discovered. 
 
 The opening lines of the sixth tablet, much of which has 
 been destroyed, state : 
 
 ♦* At that time the gods in their asscml'.y created [the 
 beasts]. 
 They made perfect the mighty [monsters]. 
 
 ^^memmmm 
 
 m^ 
 
1 6 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 They caused Ihe living creatures [of the field] to come forth, 
 
 the cattle of the field, [the wild beasts] of the field, and 
 
 the creeping things [of the field]. 
 [Thev fixed their habitations] for the living cre<itures of the 
 
 field. 
 The) distributed [in their dwelling-places] the cattle and 
 
 the creeping things of the city, 
 [They made strong] the multitude of creeping things, all the 
 
 offspring [of the ground]." 
 
 The translator of this tablet says, that " the following 
 lines are too mutilated for continuous translation, but we 
 learn from them that ' the seed of Lakhama,' the brood of 
 chaos, was destroyed, and its ]>lace taken by the living 
 creatures of the present creation. Among these we may 
 expect man to be finally named ; whether or not, however, 
 this was the case we cannot say until the concluding 
 lines of the old Assyi-an epic of the creation have 
 been disinterred from the du5t-heaj)s of the past." It 
 is also believed that this sixth tablet also contained an 
 account of the institution of the Sabbath. 
 
 By consulting the whole of the available portions of the 
 epic, the most casual reader will be struck with the resem- 
 blance to the ofjcning verses of Genesis, leaving no room to 
 doubt that both have reference to the same events. 
 
 IN THE CHALDEAN TABLET LEQEND OF 
 THE FLOOD 
 
 the resemblances to the Bible narrative of that event are 
 also very remarkable. "The deluge, the ship for saving 
 life, the gathering of the wild beasts of the field, the shutting 
 of the door, the mountain of Nizar, the sending forth a dove 
 and a raven, and finally the rainbow," which are all referred 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in Hiblc Lands. 
 
 17 
 
 to, may be easily recognized as bring in accord with the 
 story of the flt)od recorded in (ienesis. 
 
 The following is the translation of the inscription on one 
 of the baked terracotta tablets found at Nineveh, in the 
 library of Assur-bani-pal, king of Assyria, who reigned some 
 seven hundred years B. C, and which is now in the British 
 Museum : 
 
 "The gods Anu, Bel, Ea, and Ad.ir, assembled together 
 in the city Surippak on the Euphrates, decreed a Hood, and 
 they bade Khasisadra to build a ship or ark large enough 
 to hold himself, his family, and his servants and cattle. 
 When the ship was ready Khasisadra entered with his 
 possessions, and closed the door, and the lloods came and 
 destroyed mankind. The flood lasted six davs and seven 
 nights, when the goddess Ishtar having entreated the gods 
 on behalf of mankind, the rain ceased. 'I'he shijj sailed 
 over the sea towards the land of Nizir, where it remained 
 until the waters abated. After seven days Khasisadra 
 sent forth a dove, bat it returned. Ke next sent forth 
 a swallow, and that also returned ; and lastly he sent 
 forth a raven, which did not come back again. When 
 Khasisadra saw this he sent forth his family and servants 
 from the ark, and upon an altar, set up upon a mountain 
 peak, he offered sacrifices to the gods. The gods accepted 
 the sacrifices, and rejoiced in their sweet-smelling savor ; 
 they clustered about them like flies." The " bow of Anu " 
 (the sky-god) is also mentioned. -Fhis Assyrian account of 
 the Flood is told to the mythical hero, Gilgamish by Khas- 
 isadra the sage." 
 
 Other similar incriptions to this tablet refer to the Tower 
 of Babel, and the confusion of tongues ; and when the 
 Chaldean traditions records are all discovered it will doubt- 
 less be ascertained that their corroboration of the Bible 
 story is one of the utmost importance. According to the 
 opinion of the best authority, they were written and de- 
 
1 8 Marvellous fHscovefiis in lUhii- Lands. 
 
 posileil in Archive ClKimbers of Chaklea long before 
 Moses wrote the Pcntateiith, and could therefore have 
 had no connection with each other. As it was also 
 clearly proved by scholars of the highest standing in 
 Great I'ritain and elsewhere, when assembled in Con- 
 vention at the annual meeting of the Victoria Institute 
 in London, July 1894, that "from readings in recently 
 deciphered Assyrian tablets. Monotheism (the belief in 
 one God only), and the name of Aa, Jehovah, was known 
 in Assyria generations before the time of Abraham," the 
 mention of a numlier of gods in tlie tablet inscriptions re- 
 ferred to had no df>ut)t reference to the idea of a plurality 
 of persons in the Godhead, such as wc have revealed in the 
 Scriptures, as the " Father, Son, and IIt)ly Ghost." The 
 illustration of one of these 
 
 ASSYRIAN TABLETS 
 
 on the op[)osjte i)age will give tlie reader an idea of what 
 they really are. 
 
 As a result of the decipherment of these and other similar 
 inscriptions which have lately been discovered. " the gen- 
 eral course of events and the internal develoj^ment of 
 Babylon and Assyria have become clear. We have quite 
 complete histories of a number of the Assyrian kings who 
 up to a short time ago were known only by name. The 
 lists of the occupants of the Babyk)nian and Assyrian thrones 
 are now virtually complete, onward from the fifteenth century 
 before our era. We know far more of Sennacherib and 
 Esarhaddon than we do of their contemporaries, Hezekiah 
 and Manasseh of Judea ; of earlier times we have at least 
 as copious records as of the early days of Greece and Rome ; 
 and if I'le hopes of the present are fulfilled, in another 
 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in lUhle I. an Is. 19 
 
 \ 
 
 •t 
 
 i 
 
 
 ri'iK 
 
 Bakep TKRR.\-C(vrrA Takikt, inscribed in ciiiicirDriii clia.actuis 
 
 vvitli the Assyrian Accoiml of tlic Deluge, from llie Library t)f 
 
 Assviibani pal, king of Assyria (H.*.'. 668-626), at Ninevi-li. 
 
 (British Miiseuin, No. K, 3375.) 
 
 fifty years our knowledge of Assyria and Babylonia bids 
 fair to rival in completeness what we know of the Middle 
 Ages." It is becoming more evident every day that the 
 resurrection of the past is going hand in hand with the 
 revelation of the present. Among the most 
 
 WONDERFUL AROHJEOLOOIOAL FINDS 
 
 in recent years " are the Assyrian Sculptures from ancient 
 Nineveh, which have now been removed to the British Mus- 
 eum. The preservation of these valuable art-relics may be 
 said to be cheifly due to the circumstance of their being 
 
g • - 
 
 r 
 
 20 Marvellous Disioveriis iti IH'olc Lands. 
 
 carvings upon thin slabs of stone. Had large blocks been 
 eniployt'd it is doubtful if they would ever have been brought 
 to Jiluropean Museums where only their historical value can 
 be justly appreciated. It is doubtful too, in that case, 
 wiicther they would have escaped destruction by violence 
 or the ravages of time. Hut it fortunately happened that 
 wlien the ancient buildings were destroyed, these precious 
 relics were safely buried among the derbis, and some of 
 them are to this day almost as fresh and perfect as when 
 they were finished by the sculptors of ancient Nineveh." 
 
 The best j^eriod of Assyrian Sculpture is that of Assur- 
 bani-pal, or Sardanapolus as he has sometimes been called 
 He was the eldest son of Esar-haddon, and last of the 
 Assyrian kings but one, empire of Assyria having fallen 
 during the reign of his son Saracus, through the treachery 
 of his chief general Nabopolassar, father of the renowned 
 Nebuchadnezzar. '* He was in every sense a great king. 
 He built the most magnificent of all the Assyrian palaces, 
 and collected within their walls the finest sculpture which 
 could be produced by native artists. He had a mind in 
 advance of the time. While other kings had been content 
 to leave behind them records of their exploits inscribed on 
 stone tablets and cylanders, he it was who founded the vast 
 collection of clay tablets whereon were inscribed copious 
 vocabularies and other information of the most valuable 
 kind, including the legends which relate to the Creation and 
 the Deluge." 
 
 "Through the remarkable excavations that have been 
 carried on during the past decades in the seats of ancient 
 culture, and dirough the laborious researches of modern 
 scholars, entire civilizations, of which only a short time ago 
 it was barely known that they had existed at all, have been 
 
T" 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in lUhlc Lands. 21 
 
 revealed to the astonished ga/e of this generation. Kroni 
 laboriously si)elling out each word, like a child learning the 
 alphabet, the decipherment gradually advanced, until to-day 
 scholars read an ordinary 
 
 CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTION 
 
 with almost the same ease as a i)age of Hebrew in the Old 
 Testament. In some cases, however, the decipherment of 
 the cuneiform inscriptions was attended to with even greater 
 difficulty than the reading of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, 
 of the celebratj ' Rosetta Stone ; but the two achievements 
 are to be reckoi. d among the most notable triumphs of the 
 human mind." As to 
 
 THE ROSETTA STONE DISCOVERY 
 
 it was by far the most important arch?eological discovery 
 that has yet been made in the Orient. The inscription 
 contained on this stone formed a key to the decii)herment 
 of the F.gyptian language and the interpretation of the 
 Egyptain records "which the Egyi)tians of old with great 
 lavishness carved on their buildings and monuments, espec- 
 ially their obelisks, painted on the frescoed interiors of their 
 tombs, and indeed placed on almost every object of use or 
 art. These writings were in characters called hieroglyphics^ 
 which is a Greek term meaning sacred carvings, or priestly 
 writing," The knowledge of the reading of these inscriptions 
 having died out with the decline of Egypt, the term " hiero- 
 glyphics " became a synonym for every inscribed character 
 that is of a mysterious nature. 
 
 The discovery of the Rosetta Stone was made in 1799 by 
 Bossard, a French officer, during the expedition of the French 
 to Egypt under Napoleon. It was found among the ruins 
 
22 Alarvelluus Disccicrics in Bible Lands. 
 
 at Fort St. Julien, a short distance from the Rosetta mouth 
 of the Nile, and four miles north of the town ot Rosetta, and 
 came into the possession of the British Museum in i8oi) 
 after the ciuitulation of Alexaudrea bv the British. 
 
 This stone is a slab of black basalt about three feet 
 long, bearing an inscrijition in three different characters, as 
 will be seen by illustration on page 23, the lower of which 
 was in Greek, and of course'was readily translated. The in- 
 termediate text was in characters since called Demotic, that is 
 the writing of the common people ; that at the head was in 
 mystic hieroglyphic character. " This inscription was copied 
 and circulated among scholars, and after long and ingenious 
 efforts the alphabet of the hieroglyphics was made out," 
 being mainly effected by the French savant, Champollion, 
 " so that now the^>e carvings are read with ease and certainty, 
 and a new flood of light has been thrown on the history of 
 ancient Egypt." The Greek inscription, when translated, 
 revealed that it was an ordinance of the priests of Memphis, 
 decreeing certain honors to Ptolemy Epijihanes, one of the 
 Greek sovereigns who ruled over Egypt from the time of its 
 conquest by Alexander to the first century B. C. "It con- 
 tains a command that the decree should be inscribed in the 
 sacred letters (hieroglyphics), the letters of the country (de- 
 motic), and the Greek letters, — and this for the convenience 
 of the mixed poi)ulation of Egypt under its Greek rulers. 
 It was also ordered that a copy of the decree should be set 
 up in every temple of the first, second and third grade in 
 Egypt." 
 
 In the decipherment of the various inscriptions on the 
 tablet, " 'x was natural to conclude that the three texts were 
 the same in substance," such as that inscribed on the cross 
 of our Saviour by Pilate, " and 'accordingly earnest efforts 
 
■nn 
 
 IP" 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in lUble Lands, 2}^ 
 
 
 
 
 »•'';' 'V:;<»H»lir!it^:.S»»t...ittIlllCtll8'!t*f»»».-'^<;i>1X 
 
 ,<)< X'' /l1.l*3-'-iMr«il<3t,?ilJ"T«<'.l !!!>(tlllll .'.t?''*"*, 
 
 (r/ii M('SI-H-■^/^."l.-.I'5^^^■^?!•=•+'f'l»'3»-■•.^^^•JttI ri-i(iSL2E;\ 
 
 
 .^:i;>^ 
 
 i 
 
 #>- 
 
 wiitttii** •*."*" i"* >r*w"-*£MM*n3^**T 
 
 '^ 
 
 ■ The " RosETTA Stone." 
 
 were made to decipher tiie hieroglyphics hy aid of the 
 Greek. The first clew was obtained by noticing that cer- 
 tain groups of hieroglyphic characters were inclosed in oval 
 rings," or cortouches, " and that these groups corresponded 
 in relative position with certain proper names, such as 
 Ptolemy, etc., in the Greek text." The ui)per portion of the 
 above illustration, were it large enough, would show these 
 oval rings inclosing the hieroglyphic characters. The 
 characters arc read from right to left. 
 
 In reference to the late Assyrian discoveries. Prof A. H. 
 Sayce, D. D., LL. D., Professor of Oriental Languages, 
 
24 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lauds. 
 
 Oxford University, England, who is one of the leading 
 scholars in the decii)herment and translation of these ancient 
 records, states, that " the revelations made to the archaiol- 
 ogist by Egypt have been exceeded by those made to him 
 by Babylonia and Assyria. The antiquity of Babylonia vies 
 with that of Egypt. The earliest Babylonia monuments 
 brought to Europe, and now in the Mu.seum of Louvre, tes- 
 tify to the existence of an ancient literary culture as well as 
 to an extensive commerce by sea and land. The Dorite, 
 out of which the monuments are carved, was imported from 
 the distant land of Magan, the name under which Median 
 and the Sinaiatic peninsula were denoted." He also asserts 
 in reference to Egyptian tablet discoveries, that it is proved 
 beyond all (juestion that "the age of Exodus was an age of 
 extreme literary activity, and that the Israelites and their 
 leaders lived in the midst of educated and literary popula- 
 tions. Egy])t, wherein they had sojourned so long, was 
 preeminently a land of scribes and of writing. Everything 
 was written upon : the walls of tombs and temples and 
 houses, as well as the small objects of everyday use. Go 
 where they might, letters and inscriptions stared them in the 
 face. Canaan, the goal at which they aimed, was likewise 
 a country of schools and libraries. It had also absorbed 
 the literary culture of Babylonia, and Kirjath-sepher, or 
 * Booktown,' was not the only ciiy in it which contained a 
 library or an archive-chamber. Even in the desert the 
 Israelites were surrounded by literary influences. The 
 archcTEological evidences for the highly literary character of 
 the age of Moses are sufficiently numerous and certain. 
 
 To imagine that the Israelites alone were buried in a slum- 
 ber of ignorance, while the populations around them were 
 busily engaged in reading and writing, is contrary to pro- 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lauds, 
 
 25 
 
 bability and common-sense. To prove anything so incredi- 
 ble requires arguments and not assumptions, and the argu- 
 ments have not yet been j>roduced. That they will ever he 
 forthcoming we may be ^xirmitted to doubt." 
 
 This statement of Pxofessor Sayce is certainly very strong, 
 and overthrows the idea held by many, that the Israelites, 
 when leaving their bondage in Egypt, were as ignorant and 
 uncouth as the American negroes on their emancipation 
 .from slavery. Those who have carefully studied the skill 
 and ingenuity manifested by Israel in the construction of 
 the Tabernacle in the wilderness, will have no difficulty in 
 accepting the views of Professor Sayce, 
 
 From some of the late discovered ret:ords it may also be 
 learned that away back m 
 
 THE ANTEDILUVIAN PERIOD, 
 
 over one thousand years before the flood, a renowned king, 
 known as " Sargon of Accad," flourished in Chaldea, found- 
 ing an empire which extended to the westward as far as 
 Cyprus. It is recorded of this monarch that he marched 
 his armies four times to the shores of the Mediterranean sea, 
 and eventually succeeded in welding all Western Asia into 
 a single kingdom, and that his son and successor, Naram- 
 Sin, continued the victorious career of his father, pushing 
 his conquests southward to the border of Egypt, overthrow- 
 ing the king of Midian, and becoming master of the coi)per 
 mines in the vicinity of .Sinai. Sargon is also accredited as 
 being the founder of a great library, long famous in the an- 
 nals of Babylonian literature. 
 
 An authority, referring to this ancien*. monarch, says : 
 *'One of the most beautiful specimens of Babylonian art is a 
 seal which was engraved during, his .reign." 
 3 
 
 
 » ; 
 
26 Alarvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 Although this monumental record is startling in its nature, 
 giving us a glimpse of the achievements gained by conquer- 
 ors during the antediluvian age of our world : yet it is 
 remarkable Low closely it coincides with the Scripture nar- 
 rative, which assures us that " there were giants" and 
 
 "MIGHTY MEN OP RENOWN" 
 
 in the earth in those days, leading us to infer that the ante- 
 diluvians manifested all the characteristics of Noah's prog- 
 eny, so far as war, rapine, and wickedness was concerned. 
 Of this people our Saviour says : " They were eating and 
 drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that 
 Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came 
 and took them all away." Boston, in his " Forfefold State," 
 makes the astounding assertion, drawn from these words of 
 our Saviour regarding this people, that, owing to their 
 wickedness and intemperate habits, " they were drowned in 
 wine and then in water." However this latter remark may 
 be, or however we miy feel inclined to discredit the testi- 
 mony of the silent witness'es referred to, can we honestly 
 doubt that during the sixteen hundred years extending from 
 the creation of man to the deluge, according to Ussher's 
 chronology, that dynasties and kingdoms were established 
 in various parts of the Eastern world similar to those after- 
 wards founded by the descendants of Shem, Ham and Jap- 
 heth ? If we take it for granted that the pe'^pb increased 
 more rapidly during the antediluvian period, owing to their 
 longevity, than they afterwards did, it is not surprising that 
 an empire was established in Chaldea five hundred years 
 after the expulsion of our first parents from the Garden of 
 Eden. According to the Scripture narrative, it is evident 
 that four hundred years after the deluge, when Abraham 
 
 I 
 
 
 ■m 
 
IIIIIIUH 
 
 Marvellous Discovcr'ws in Bible Lands. 
 
 27 
 
 entered Canaan, the F.gyptian monarchy had been founde(^ 
 and kingdoms established in various other places. It is 
 recorded that, soon after the murder of Abel, Cain builded 
 a city in the land of Nod, which the Jewish historian, 
 Josephus, says, he fortitied with walls and compelled his 
 family to come together to it. This city was called after the 
 name of its founder's eldest son, Enoch, and was doubtless 
 the beginning of 
 
 THE FIRST DESPOTIC EMPIRE ON EARTH, 
 
 the ruler of which may justly be termed the " Original 
 Nimrod" of Sacred story. Josephus also records that Cain 
 became a great leader of men into wicked courses, and that 
 his posterity were very numerous, and became intolerable 
 in war, and vehement in robberies. By a careful investiga- 
 tion of the Bible record it will be found that those who are 
 called "mighty men of rencvvn" were persons who had sig- 
 nalized themselves by some great military achievement, such 
 as David, and his heroic bodyguard referred to in the 
 twenty-third chapter of second Samuel. Frou) other records 
 of discovery it may be gathered that 
 
 THE ELAMITB DYNASTY, 
 
 of which Chedorlaomer was the chief ruler in the days of 
 " Arioch. king of Ella.sar," was a [>owerful confederacy, 
 which must have been establisiied at least one hundred years 
 before the migration of Abraham from Mesopotamia. 
 
 An incidental notice of the ravages of this monarch and 
 his three allies, given in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis 
 gives us a ghmpse of the vastness of that kingdom of West 
 Central Asia, over which he bore the sway it seems evi- 
 dent that his reign extended over the Tryo-Kuphrates basin, 
 
28 Marycllotis Discoveries in Dible- Lands. 
 
 and westward over Syria and Canaan to ilie border of 
 Egypt, a territory which is estimated as being over looo 
 miles from East to West, and 500 miles from North to 
 South. 
 
 Following the footsteps o! this potentate's march, which 
 is called 
 
 THE FIRST MILITARY OAMPAION OP 
 AUTHENTIC HISTORY, 
 
 we can see him traversing with ra])id marches the great 
 highway leading from Chaldea to the Mediterranean, along 
 the eastern banks of the Euphrates to Ilaran, crossing the 
 fords, and passing Carchemish of the Hittites, on to Dam- 
 ascus : thence down the east of the Jordan, smiting '• the 
 Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzims in Ham, 
 and the Emims in the plain of Kiriathaim, and the Horites 
 in their Mount Seiv, unto El-paran, which is by the wilder- 
 ness ; all the country of the Amalekites, and the Amorites 
 that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar." Not only that, but finally 
 fighting a pitched battle in the vale of Siddim, with the five 
 kings of the Cities of the Plain, whom he conquered, carrying 
 off Lo' with the spoils of Sodom, until the booty was rescued 
 by Abraham and his heroiC' bund of trained servants, who, 
 by fait h^ turned to flight tiie armies of these aliens, at the 
 V'ountain of Dan, where they were holding a jubilee over 
 their late victory. Such is the substance of the Scripture 
 narrative concerning this great warrior, whose name is given 
 on the Babj'Ionia monuments as Kudur-Mabug, lord of 
 ' ' ■ -. '* minister of the god l.agamar," who was one of the 
 vr . ■: nes in the FJamite pantheon. Thus then, by the 
 * c( iry 'nd study of the ancient monuments of Babylonia. 
 i'. ■■:■:■ !t;al character of Chedorlaomer's campaign has 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
 ^mmmMMMM 
 
Mnrvclluns Discoveries in Bible Lands. 29 
 
 been vindicated beyond all doubt. It has also been veri- 
 fied by Oriental tiesearch that Nimrod is a real historical 
 personage, who wafs doubtless the founder of the Elamite 
 monarchy, thus overthrowing the baseless assertion of 
 secular critics who would have us believe that he was one 
 of the characters of Babylonia mythology. 
 
 Another ancient kingdom of great influence and jjower, 
 which flashes across: our patli like a meteor, in the Bible 
 narrative, is that of 
 
 THE EMPIRE OF THE HITTITBS, 
 
 referred to in Judges i. 26 ; i Kings x. 29 ; 2 Kings vii. 6, 
 By comjiaring these passages with other portions of Scripture 
 history where reference to the Hittites is made, we are led 
 to infer that a strong nation of this people must have existed 
 in some region ajarc from those of the same name who 
 resided in the land of Canaan. It is explicitly stated 
 that Solomon supplied horses and chariots for " all the kings 
 of the Hittites," and also that the Syri^uis on hearing the sup- 
 posed " noise of a great host" rushing to battle, during the 
 night seige of Samaria, imagined that the king of Israel had 
 hired agaimt them, "the kings of the Hittites," implying 
 that the H'ttites were an important }3eople, otherwise the 
 powerful host of Benhadad would not have fled for their 
 lives as they did, leaving their valuable property behind. 
 
 Although the proof from the Bible record that a strong 
 nation of the Plittites was established in some country adjac- 
 ent to Palestine is strongly presumptive, yet it is only within 
 the last few years that we have been led to know anything re- 
 liable about the greatness of that peopli- wiio are incidentally 
 mentioned in the Scripture narrative. Historical inscriptions 
 discovered at Hamath. Cappadocia, I.ycaonia, in theTaurtus 
 
 •'•- ••""" 
 
tr- 
 
 30 
 
 Morvil/ons Discoveries tJi Bible Lauds. 
 
 range of mcjimlains and in Kgypt and Assyria, U.-ave no 
 room to doubt that the Hittites once formed an important 
 kingdom north ofCariaan, their dominion extending through- 
 out the greater part of Asia Minor, and were able to engage 
 in warfare with Eg>'pt in the days of her greatest power, and 
 also to hold their ground even in the face of the greal Assy- 
 rian monarch, Tiglath-Pileser. A few extracts from 
 
 THE BPIO OF PBNTAUR 
 
 i 
 
 mi 
 
 engraved on a huge tableau discovered in the main hall of 
 the great rock-cut Ten^plo of Nubia, will give some idea ol 
 what the Mittite nation really was. The hero of this poem 
 is i*haraoh, Rameses II., and the campaign which it cele- 
 brates was undertaken in the ftfth year of his reign, against 
 the Khita, or Hittites, and their allied forces in Syria and 
 Asia Minor, who had revolted from paying tribute to the 
 monarch of Iilgypt. 
 
 Against this great host " Rameses took the field in person 
 with the flower of the Egyptian army, traversing the Land 
 of Canaan which still remained loyal, and established his 
 Syrian headquarters at Shubtin, a fortified town in a small 
 'valley a short distance to the south-west of Kadesh," one of 
 the chief cities of the Hittites ou the Orontes river north of 
 Mount Lebanon. " Here he remained stationary for a few 
 days, reconnoitring the surrounding country, and endeavor- 
 ing, but wiihont success, to earn the wherea?)Outs f)f the 
 tsnemy. The latter, meanwhile, had their spies out in all 
 directions, and knew every movement of the Egxptian host." 
 
 At a cTitical moment the enemy enx;rged from his ambush, 
 and surrounded Kame->es with right, royal and desperate 
 v.ilor, and charged the 
 
1 
 
 mm 
 
 i 
 
 ^■1 
 
 MatvflUms Discoveries iit l^iblc Lands, 
 
 33 
 
 ( 
 
 the hoofs uf my horses. I foughl alone I Alont- I over- 
 threw millions ! It was only my good horses who obeyed 
 my hand, when I found myself alone in the midst of the foe. 
 Verily they shall henceforth eat their corn before me c.aily 
 in my royal palace, for they alone were with me in the lovu' 
 of danger." 
 
 It is also recorded that '• six times he rushed upon the 
 foe. Six times lie tranipled Uiem like siraw beneath liis 
 horses' hoofs. Six times he dispersed them single-handed, 
 like a god. Those that he slew not with his hand, he pur- 
 sued unto the water's edge, causing them to leap to destruc- 
 tion as leaps the crocodile." 
 
 The author of the poem foes on to .state that after this 
 great slaughter of the Hittites by IMiaraoh and his body- 
 guard, the Egyptian brigades cante up towards evening to 
 the field of conllict, ''and are rilled with wonder as they 
 wade through 
 
 THE BLOOD OB' THE SLAIN, 
 
 and behold the field strewn with dead and dying. 'J'hey 
 exalt the powers of the king, who overwhelms them with 
 reproaches." It is also stated that '' the next day at sunrise 
 Rameses assembles his forces, and achieves a signal victory, 
 followed by the submission of the Prince of Kheta, and the 
 conclusion of a treaty of peace," and that " this treaty was 
 shortly confirmed by the marriage of Rameses with a Khetan 
 Princess ; and the friendship thus cemented continued un- 
 broken throughout the rest of his long reign." 
 
 This remarkable poem is profusel illustrated by hiero- 
 glyphics on 
 
II 
 
 34 Marvellous Discoveries in Hiblc Lands. 
 
 THE GREAT TABLET OP ABU-SIMBEL, 
 
 showing every phase ol" the renowned brittle of Kadesh, 
 between the Egyptians and Hittites. Below will be 
 seen a fac-siinile of the opening lines of the poem, which 
 has been co|)ied from the original Hierctic pajtyriis in the 
 British Mtiseum. The British Museum docimient con- 
 tains one hundred and twelve lines of very fine hieretic 
 writui.;, and the last page ends with a formal statement that 
 it was '♦written in the year VII., the month Payni, in the 
 reign of king Rameses Mer-Amen, Giver of Life eternal like 
 unto Ra, his father, for the chief librarian of the royal 
 archives ... by the Royal Scribe Pentaur "' 
 
 TUK FIRST t.INES OF THE El'IC OF PeNTAUK. 
 
 * 
 
 It is obvious that Rameses had this poem published in 
 " a most costly manner, with magnificent illustrations. And 
 he did so upon a scale which puts our modern publishing 
 houses to shame. His imperial edition was issued on 
 sculpiureJ stone, and illustrated with bas-relief subjects gor- 
 geously colored by hand. Four more or less perfect copies 
 
 I 
 
 < 
 
 ' 
 
 I 
 

 I 
 
 AIar7>elloiis Discoveries in IVihlc Lands, 
 
 3' 
 
 HITTITE WAR CHARIOTS. 
 
 The record of this engagement reads thus . " Then llie 
 vile Prince of Kheta sent forth his bowmen and his horse- 
 men and his chariots, and they were as many as the grains 
 of sand on the sea-shore. Three men were they on each 
 chariot, and with tJiem were the bravest of the fighting men 
 of the KhtHa, well armed with all weapons for the combat. 
 They marched out on tlie side of the south of Kadesh, and 
 they charged the l)rigade of K.a ; and foot and horse of king 
 Rameses gave way before them. Then came messengers 
 to his majesty with tidings of defeat. .And the king arose, 
 and grasped his weapons and donned his armour, hke unto 
 Baal the war-god, in his horn- of wrath. And the great 
 horses of his Majesty came forth from their stables, and he 
 [tut them to their s|)eed, and he rushed tipon the ranks of 
 the Kheta. Alone he went — none other beside him. yVnd 
 lo 1 he was surrounded by two thousand five hundred chariots ; 
 his retreat cut off by the fighting men of Aradus, of Mysia, of 
 Aleppo, of Caria, of Kadesh, and of Lycea. They were 
 three on each chariot, and massed in one solid pbalanK." 
 
 Here the fonn of the poera changes, and Pharaoh, in his 
 frenzy, breaks forth in an impassioned ajjpeal to his god 
 Amen ; " None of my princes are with me," he cries, "not 
 one of my generals — not one of my captains of bowmen or 
 chariots. My soldiers have abandoned me — my horsemen 
 have tied — there are none to combat beside me ! Where 
 art thou, Oh Amen, my father? Hath the f.ither forgotten 
 the son? Behold ! have I done aught without thee? Mavc 
 I not walked in thy ways, and waited on thy words ? Have 
 I not built thee temples of enduring stone? Have I not 
 dedicated to thee sacrifices of tens of thousands of oxen, and 
 of every rare and sweet-.scented wood ? Have I not given 
 
I 
 
 i 
 
 t 
 
 .^. 
 
 5:? Marvel forts Discoveries in Dihlc Lernds: 
 
 ihcT ihe wliolt.- world in tribute? I call ii|H)n iIut, Oh Amerr, 
 my father ! I invoke Ihee ' Hehold, \ am alone, imd all 
 tht' nations of the tarih are leagued against rne ' My foot- 
 soldiers and my cnariolinen have abandoned me! I cull, 
 and nont hear my voice' But Ai»en is more than 
 
 MILLIONS OP ARCHERS, 
 
 more than hundreds of thousands of r;jvalry ! The rnighl 
 of men is as nothing. Amen is greater than all !" 
 
 On the conclusion of this |)t'tiiion to the ffod in whom he 
 trusted for aid, Rximeses becomes assured thai Amen ha.'» 
 heard the cry of his distress, and will lead him to victory, 
 goes or to exclaim : " l,o my voice hath resounded as far 
 as Hermonthis ' Amcin comes to my call. Me gives me 
 his hand. 1 shout aloud for joy, hearing his voice behind 
 me!" 
 
 At this juncture, Arnen is caused to reply: "Oh, 
 Rameses, 1 am here f [t is F, thy father f My hand i^ 
 with thee, and I aro more to thee than hundreds of thous- 
 ands. I am the Lord of Might, who loves valor, I know 
 thy dauntless heart, and I am content with thee. Now, lie 
 my vvill accomjilished" 
 
 Inspired by this lanciful assurance of his god. wt ^re told 
 that Romese.s bends his terrible bow and rushes with his 
 body guard upon the enemy. His appeal ti.' Ji'i deity for 
 aid is changed to a triumphal shout, in which he is repre- 
 sented as saying : •' Like Mentha, I let fly ray arrows to 
 right and left, and mine enemies go down ! f am as Baat 
 in his wrath ! The two hiu)dred thousand live hundred 
 chariots which encompass me are dashed to pieces under 
 
 ^i 
 
! 
 
 Marvellous /discoveries in Hi'^lc Lauds. 
 
 35 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 of this edition have survived the wreck of ages, and sve know 
 not how many have perished. These four are carved on 
 the pylon walls of the it. it Temple of Luxor and the 
 Ramesseum at Thebes, on a wall of the Great renii)le of 
 Abydos, and in the main hall of the great rock-cut Temple 
 of Abi-Simbel in Nubia. One of the tableaux in this hall 
 is fifty feet in length by forty feet in height, and it contains 
 many thousands of figures. A fifth copy is also graven with- 
 out illustrations on the side-wall of the Great Temple of 
 Karnak ; and some remains of a great battle-scene, with de- 
 faced inset iptions, appear to belong to another copy, on one 
 of the walls of the Tem[)]e of Derr, in Nubia, in these 
 temple-copies the poem is sculptured in hieroglyphics." 
 
 Besides these sculptured editions of this imuiortal poem 
 which is called 
 
 "THE EGYPTIAN ILIAD," 
 
 there were evidently popular editions of it issued which were 
 written on Papyrus rolls by professional scribes. The coi)y 
 which has been referred *:o as being in the Britis'j Musiiem 
 is one of these editions. *' A fragment of the same copy 
 may also be seen in the Museum of Louvre." 
 
 Although this epic, which is without doubt the most cele- 
 brated masterpiece of Egyptian literature, may have been 
 composed inerely to gratify the vanity of Rameses, yet it is 
 now o^ great historic value, revealing to us, as it does, the 
 resurrection of a people so powerful, and with dominion so 
 widely extended as that of the Hittites, whose existence is 
 '.■nerely mentioned in Scripture story ; and «''^o had no pop- 
 ular history to transmit to the world, save that of meagre 
 records engraved on monumental tablets which have defied 
 the corroding tooth of time, and which have lately been 
 
r 
 
 flBR-' 
 
 36 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 discovered in various districts where their power doubtless 
 once extended. When the inscriptions now obtained re- 
 garding this peoi)lc have all been deciphered, we may expect 
 valuable 
 
 1 •,\ 
 
 REVELATIONS OP THE FAR DISTANT PAST, 
 
 in which the Hittites played their part. " The ramifications 
 of their influence in religion and art had its influence upon 
 ancient Greek art, as seen in the pottery of Cyprus and the 
 Trojan plain." It is also pretty certain that this people 
 formed a different nation from that of the Hittites whose 
 dominion was limited to a portion of Canaan. 
 
 Some writers state that the Hittites who dwelt in Canaan 
 were an offshoot of a larger race known by the same name ) 
 but in face of the information now before us, this idea is 
 untenable. It is evident from the Bible record, that the 
 Hittites and Amorites, who dwelt in Canaan, were of the 
 same family, and consequently resembled each other in ap- 
 pearance; whilst the Egyjjtian monuments leach us that the 
 Hittites of the North were of very different origin and char- 
 acter from the Amorites represented on the Egyptian tablets, 
 the Northern Hittites are painted as being thick set and 
 short of limb, " w people with dark black hair, yellow skins 
 and Mongoli?n features, receding foreheads, oblique eyes 
 and protruding upper jaws." C)n their own monuments, 
 discovered in Asia Minor and elsewhere, the description 
 given by themselves harmonize to the letter with that of 
 Egyi^t. On the contrary, the Amorites are represented as 
 being a tall and handsome people, with white skins, blue 
 eyes and reddish hair, and having all the characteristics of 
 the white race. The 
 
 ii' 
 
s. 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. I'j 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE CANAANITISH HITTITES 
 
 dates back to a short period after the deluge, their progeni- 
 tor being Heth, one of the sons of Canaan, of the flimily of 
 Ham. At first they were called " the children of Heth," 
 and afterwards known as the " Hittites." The first men- 
 tion we have of them in Scri[)ture is in connection with 
 God's promise to Abraham at Mamre, in which case they 
 are enumerated as one of the nations inhabiting the land 
 which the Lord gave in covenant to the seed of that 
 Patriarch. 
 
 We are again told that at the time of Sarah's death 
 Abraham purchased the field of Machpebdi, with its cave, 
 as a family sepulchre in which to bury his dead, from one 
 of the Hittites who had pdfesession of the place. At that 
 time these Hittites, with whom Abraham came in contact, 
 evidently occupied the southern part of Canaan. It is rec- 
 orded that Esau married Hittite wives at Beersheba, and 
 Isaac and Rebekah fe?red that Jacob might follow his ex- 
 ample and sent him to Padan Arm to procure a wife of his 
 own kindred, thus leading us to infer that they were their 
 near neighbors. 
 
 From reference by Ezekiel (xvi. 3, 45) as to the nativity 
 of Jerusalem, it is not too much to hazard the opinion that 
 that city was founded by the Hittite and Amorite branches 
 of the Canaaniti?h family — " Thy father was an Amorite 
 and thy mother an. Hittite." 
 
 Six centuries after Abraham's day, when the spies visited 
 Canaan, the Hittites were dwelling in the mountains with 
 the Jebusites and Amorites, the Amalekites having then 
 possession of the South ; and forty years later, when Israel 
 entered the Promised 'Land, they were found occupying the 
 
,1 
 
 38 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 ! 1 
 
 t, 
 
 same position, and resisted Joshua with the other inhabi- 
 tants of the country. 
 
 After the death of Joshua it is beyond doubt that a rem- 
 nant of the same Hittite race still remained ia the land of 
 Palestine, for in subsequent times we find two of David's 
 warriors, Flittites, Uriah and Ahimelech ; and it is also rec- 
 orded that Solomon levied a tribute of bond-service upon all 
 the posterity of the Amorites, Hittites, Perezzites, Hivites 
 and Jebusites that were left m the land, whom the children 
 of Israel were not able to destroy (i King ix. 20, 21). 
 
 A careful tracing of the various generations of the Hittites 
 who dwelt in Canaan will make it clear that this people 
 formed one of the doomed nations of that land under Israel, 
 and could not have been the powerful nation with whom 
 Pharaoh came into contact. If we take it for granted that 
 they were one and the same people, we must believe that 
 Solomon allowed Hittite kings to reign among the people 
 whom he subjected to " bond-service," and also supplied 
 their kings with horses and chariots of Egyptian importa- 
 tion, and married some of their daughters as wives, (i Kings 
 X. 28, 29; xi. I ). Such an idea is absurd ; neither is it reason- 
 able to suppose that the Hittites, who dwelt in the mountains 
 of the Hill Country of Judea, or Southern Canaan, at the time 
 of the Exodus, were the people who engaged in deadly con- 
 flict with Rameses the Great at the famous battle of Kadesh. 
 As Moses was educated at the court of the Egyptian king, 
 woo was father of the Pharaoh of the great oppression, the 
 battle referred to must have been fought a short time pre- 
 vious to the Israelites' departure from Goshen. These 
 things considered it may fairly be ass'mied that the Hiltitish 
 nation of the North was one of the great empires of antiquity. 
 
 As to the final overthrow of this nation, it can be gathered 
 
 i 
 
 ^fjSgjMg^E^ 
 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 39 
 
 from Assyrian annals that "the Hittite merchants of Car- 
 chemish were famous, but when Carchomish fell before the 
 army of Sargon, father of Sennacherib, in the year 717 B. 
 C, their power was broken forever," 
 
 Secular history informs U5 that about one hundred years 
 previous to that t!me Shalmaneser II., conducted three 
 cam[)aigns against Damascus, which kingdom was aided by 
 the forces of Israel, Hamaih, the Hittires, and the Phcenic- 
 ians, all of whom were alarmed at the growing power of 
 Assyria, another proof of the existence of such a nation. 
 
 A glance at the circumstances connected with the over- 
 throw of the Hiitites will give us s' me idea of their greatness. 
 At that time Carchemish, their Capital, was one of the most 
 important cities of the East, commanding the passage of the 
 Euphrates from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean, thg 
 possession of which was therefore of great moment to the 
 neighbouring powers, and held by the Hitlites, who were 
 only expelled by one of the mightiest hosts that Assyria was 
 ever able to muster. * 
 
 "^ 
 
 ANCIENT TABLETS DISCOVERED IN 1888 
 
 by the Arabs at Tel el-Amarna, in Upper Egypt, one hun-_ 
 dred miles south of Cairo, tell of a people })ressing from the 
 North, southwards, and making it hard for the Egyptian 
 officials to hold their own in Canaan, and that peo[)Ie was 
 doubtless the Hittites. In these tablets the governors of 
 garrisons in the north, hard pressed by an enemy who is too 
 powerful for them, write to their liege lord in Egypt for 
 immediate assistance. 
 
 These Tel el-Amarna Tablets number over 300. and are 
 preserved in the British Museum, in the Museum of Antiq- 
 
fflnlS^'' 
 
 40 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 % :ii 
 
 i I 
 
 1 
 
 uities in Berlin, and in the Boulac Museum at Cairo, "^rhey 
 are of great value to the Bible student as well as to the 
 historian, as they fill u[j a blank in the Scripture history of 
 Palestine from the time of Jacob's family going down into 
 Egypt — to the conquest of Canaan by their returning de- 
 cendants under Joshua — a period estimated by some 
 authorities of nearly 500 years. During all that time we 
 learn nothing from Scripture of the nations who inhaliited 
 the land, further than a statement that when Abraham dwelt 
 in the land of piomise the Amorite, Hittite, Jebusite, and 
 other tribes of the family of Canaan, were in possession ; 
 and on the return of Israel from Egy|)t the same tribes were 
 still acknowledged as possessors of the same. But " the 
 Tel el-Amarna Tablets give information as to the political 
 condition of Canaan in the Fifteenth century, and they also 
 furnish remarkable corroboration in important particulars 
 of Scripture history." They inform us that *' Palestine was 
 then subject to Egypt, and garrisoned by Egyptian troops," 
 similar to that of India under British rule at the present 
 time. In these tablets 
 
 THE ANALOGY OP MELCHIZEDBK 
 
 is maintained by what is recorded of the meaning and an- 
 tiquity of the word " Jerusalem." It is evident, from these 
 tablet inscriptions, " that Melchizedek, king of Salem and 
 priest of theimost : High God, who is taken as a type of 
 Christ in his united kingly and priestly offices, was not the 
 solitary occupant of that dignity, but one in a succession of 
 priest-kings which continued to the times before the con- 
 quest. And that Abraham should have received Melchize- 
 dek's blessing was only the due acki'Owlcdgment of the God 
 of peace to One who i\ad delivered Palestine from the in- 
 
 ^! 
 
Alarz'vlhms Discm^crics in Bible Lands. 41 
 
 vader aivl given peace to the land." In reference to this 
 great Personage Professor Sayce says ; '* Two or three 
 years ago it would have seemed a dream of the wildest en- 
 thusiasm to suggest that light would !)e thrown by modern 
 discovery on the histor)' of Mekhi/.edek. Whatever linger 
 jng scruples the critic might have felt about rejecting the 
 historical character of the first half of the fourteenth chapter 
 of (ienesis, hi' felt none at all as to the second half of it. 
 Melchizedek, ' king of Salem' and ' priest of the most high 
 God,' appeared to be altogether a creation of mythology. 
 And yet among the surprises which the tablets 01 Tel el- 
 Amarna had in store for us was the discovery th;;t after all 
 Melchizedek might well have been a historical personage. 
 Among the correspondents of the Egyptian Pharaoh is a 
 certain Ebed-tob, 
 
 THE VASSAL-KING OF JERUSALEM. 
 
 Jerusalem was already an im; >rtant city, with a territory 
 which extended to Carmel in the South, and to (rath and 
 Keilah in the West, it was threatened at the lime by the 
 Khabiri, or 'CK^n federates,' coafederalcd tribes, it may be, 
 who had their centre at Hebron, and the letters of Ebed-tob 
 are largely occupied with appeals for help against them, 
 
 *' Ebed-tob held a position which, as he tells us, was unlike 
 tiiat of any other Kgy|)tian Crovernor in Canaan. He had 
 been appointed, or confirmed in his post, not by the Pharaoh, 
 hut by the oracle and i)ower of ' the great King,' the god, 
 that i.. 10 say, whose sanctuary stood on the summit of 
 Moriah. It was not from his 'father or from his mother' 
 that he had inherited his dignity ; he was King of Jerusalem 
 because he was tlie priest of its god. 
 
 '' In ;!ll thi.s we have an explanation of the language used 
 
 m 
 
42 Marvellous D r scorer ics in Bible Lands. 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 in reference to Melchizcdek. Melchizedek, loo, was • with- 
 out father, without irwiher/ and, like F.bed-tol), he wiis at 
 once priest and king. It was in viitue of hl.s priesthood 
 that Abram the Hebrew f)3rd tfthcs to biin after the defeat 
 of the foreign invader. Up to the »:lof?>ing days of the 
 Eighteenth Egyptian dynasty, if not later, Jerusalem was 
 governed by a royal priest, 
 
 "There is a reason, loo. why Melchi/X'dek should be termed 
 ' King of Satem' r.ither thun King of Jerusalem. In the 
 Cuneiforn> inscri|'tioP' the -ame of Jerusalem \% written 
 Uru-'Salfm, and a lex.cai tao-jet explains Uru as the eriuiv- 
 alent of the Assyrian Alu^ 'city,' 'Siilim wa» the god Df 
 ' peace,' and we may accv)' ''ng.> itt in Jerusalem ' the city 
 of the god of peace.' The fact is plainly stated in one of 
 the letters of Kbed-tob, now preserved at BtTlin, if ihe read- 
 ing of a fHjnnewhat obliterated Cuneiform character by Dr, 
 Wiixkler and myself is correct." 
 
 The same authority also states tJ>at '^some of these tablets 
 contain letters from the Governor of Jerusalem, to the Egyp- 
 tian king, who signs himnelf Abid-thuba, and are of special 
 interest. Both the Arnoriles ai^d Hittites, wlio dwelt in 
 Canaan, are mentioned in these letters as mingling together 
 as one racre in tl>e land." 
 
 A large number of these Tel el-Aiirarna tablets are as yet 
 nndeciphered, and will, no doubt, in due time yield up their 
 secrets. Meanwhile som»e of the tablets which have been 
 deciphered show the vastness of the l^^yptian Ejnpire ; they 
 also " .show the wide-spread ]^revalence of the Assyrian lan- 
 guage in the WesV and the antif[ui«y ot the art of writing :, 
 they give interesting indications of the character of the pre- 
 llebraic, the Canaianitish language of Palestine, from which 
 it seems clear that the language f>f Canaan w.>s essentially 
 

 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands, 
 
 43 
 
 
 
 identical with tlic Hebrew ; and they offer materials whicii, 
 when sifted and classified, will determine more clearly the 
 religi(»n of the Canaanites at that time." Many of the tab- 
 lets consist " of letters and desjiatches addressed by kings 
 and governors of Babylonia and Assyria, Mesopotamia and 
 Cappadocia, Syria and Palestine, to the Pharaohs Amenophis 
 III., and Amenophis IV., towards the close of the Eighteenth 
 dynasty, at a time when Palestine was a province of the 
 F, gy p I i an \\ m p i re . " 
 
 Previous to the discovery of the Tel el-Amarna tablets, 
 the finding of the body of Rame.ses II.. 
 
 THE SECOND PHARAOH OF THE GREAT 
 OPPRESSION, 
 
 whose cruel tr^'atment of the Israelites is so graphicjUy re- 
 lated in the book of Exodus, is one of the most important 
 discoveries made in corroboration of Bible truth. 
 
 After lying in state over three thousand years, incased in 
 a huge sarco[)hagus, deposited in a rock -cut cavern of the 
 earth, far beneath its surface, near Thebes, the spi.de of the 
 antiquarian broke into the dark resting place, and on the 
 fifth of July, 1881, the body of this renowned monarch was 
 discovered, with thirty-five other mummies of Egyptian 
 kings, queens, ]jrinces, and high priests, thus bringing the 
 mortal remains of "the old tyrant" to light, that his ])hysiog- 
 nomy might confirm the Sacred record of his awfiii cruelty 
 to God's aicient peoj.ile so many centuries ago. 
 
 As to the identification of this mummified body of king 
 Pharaoh, who was known as '• Rameses the (ireai,'' the 
 Scsostrii'ji of Cireek history, whose son Menej)tah 1. was the 
 Pharaoh of the l*",xodus, there is no doubt, as papri inscrip- 
 tions written in black ink, jireserved with the body, and 
 
44 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible L ait Is. 
 
 \ 
 
 ,' 
 
 M 
 
 S4i 
 
 ^4 
 
 M 
 
 \ 
 
 "m 
 
 uiiirkings on tlu; nuiuiiuy case, Hignt^d 
 by the high pviest and king Pinelum. 
 bear witness to the gcmiiiK*ness of the 
 content* of the royal casket. lUil -kpai i 
 frony thefie inscTii)tiun records, the fea- 
 tures ot the jiuininiy reveal, in tliar- 
 acters overwhelmingly convincin,c,% that 
 the living man was well qualit'ied to 
 eause the ffebrews to groan under their 
 Iwndage, which was doubtless increased 
 by his sou and successor, imlil (Vod 
 heard their cry and delivered theni by 
 executing fearful destruction upon their 
 tnemies, '• that nian, who liad but 
 sprung of earth, might them oj)press 
 u-i niore," 
 
 The following descrijition of the 
 
 nnnnmy will give the reader some idea 
 
 of what the character of the living per- 
 son might have been. It will be seen 
 
 by the portrait of the miutimy on this 
 
 |iage that ihe body is one of extreme 
 
 length in proportion to its thicknes. 
 
 measuring 6 feet 3 inches in height. 
 
 The i)rofile and front view of the face 
 
 which were taken when the l>ody was 
 
 unswathed are pediaps the best index 
 
 to the character of the living king. 
 
 These will be seen on pages 46 and 49. 
 
 ft will be seen that he forehead i.s lo'.\' 
 
 and narrow, the eyes small aiJtd close 
 
 together, the temples sunken,, cheek-bones prominent, jaw* 
 
 
 fl 
 
 m 
 
 Full length view of 
 mummy of King 
 Phiraoh, known as- 
 Kanieses II. 
 
 di 
 
IIIIIMIW 
 
 I 
 
 Marvillous Discoverivs in Uihle Lands. 
 
 45 
 
 bone massive and stronj^, month small and teeth exposed ; 
 the nose long, thin, arched and slightly bent at the tip ; the 
 expression is un intellectual, resolute and arrogant ; the top of 
 the head is bald, with a profusion of hair at the pole, and 
 on the eyebrows, which appear like dandelion down. A 
 few sparse hairs remain on the rcuii>les. At the time of 
 death the hair was evidently white, but the spices used 
 in embalming the body have dyed it a light yellow. The 
 beard was also white and thin, and appears as if it had 
 been shaven during life, but allowed to grow tbr a short 
 tiine before death ; or, it might have been possible that it 
 sprouted for a period after the body had been committed 
 to die tomb; ihe ears are lound, standing far out fromlhe 
 headland have Ixen pierced as if for the wearing of rings. 
 The corpse is apparently that of a robust old man who 
 died in the enjoyment of life and vigor. Although shrunken 
 and withered as it stands incased in 
 
 ITS ROYAL GILDED CASKET, 
 
 yet every indication of the features of this mummy " toll of 
 the warrior and the tyrant." Lying' thus as it were in state 
 in the Boulac Museum, with visage grin-i and determined 
 even in death, exposed to the gaze of every curiosity-.seeker 
 visiting the place, he is hated and despised by Jew and 
 Gendle, Pagan and Christian alike as -'a dishonored and 
 vile persecutor and oppressor.'' His long, hooked, Roman 
 nose, retreating forehead, deep-sunk«n eyeballs, heavy square 
 jaw, long scrawny neck, and ear by brown complexion, 
 variegated with black speckles, are now indignantly criticised 
 with impunity by the progeny of those whose ancestors once 
 revered the despot as a god of surpassing might and ma- 
 jesty. Such, alas I, is the end of human greatness when left 
 
■«■■■■■■ 
 
 46 uMarvt'llous Discoveries i/i Bible Lands. 
 
 I" 
 
 : 
 
 1' 
 
 Front view of Ramest.s II. from a photograph taken immediatePy 
 after unwinding tlic mummy. 
 
 to its own misguidance. How appropriate in this case is 
 the language of inspiration : " Man that is in honour, and 
 understandeth not, is hice the beasts that perish." Well 
 may it Ixi said ■' What wondrous faith in the doctrine of 
 immortality this great king evinced, not only by securing, 
 as he thought, the careful preservation of his body, but by 
 a lavish supply of sculpture on a colossal scale ! 
 
 So far as known, no other king ever made such ostentatious 
 
 * 
 
 ) •■ ; 
 

 mmmm 
 
 Marveilous Disanyries in Bible Lands, 47 
 
 sliow of his ambition. Of no king so much remains of 
 craftsman's skill, of artist's labor, and of ])oet's lore, to per- 
 petuate his name and fame." And now the tomb has given 
 up its dead Pharaoh, and his mummy stands surrounded by 
 some of the very works whose lustrous polish and exact en- 
 graving he caused to be done with so much care. lUit 
 these shall pass away in time, like a tale that is told, and 
 the place that nc -v knows them shall know them no more 
 forever. 
 
 THE RBIQN OF THIS QREAT MONARCH 
 
 extended over sixty-six years, and marked a very important 
 epoch in the annals of Egyptian history. According to ac- 
 cepted authority, through internal troubles in the nation, the 
 Eighteenth dynasty came to an end in the year 1324 B. C. ; 
 and in the same year the Nineteenth dynasty was formed by 
 Rameses I., whose reign of otfice was less than two years, 
 when he was succeeded by his son Sethi I., who was the real 
 founder of the Nineteenth dynasty, and, according to the 
 opinion of many, the Pharaoh who ''arose up a new ki.ig 
 over Egypt, which knew not Joseph," and inaugurated the 
 oppression against the Israelites. This king was known as 
 *' a great and warlike monarch, who conquered Syria, which 
 had revolted after the death of Amunoph III., and carried 
 his victorious arms to the borders of Cilicia and the Euph- 
 rates. He built the great hall of Karnak, and constructed 
 for himself the most beautiful of the royal tombs. For .; 
 number of years his son Rameses II. called the Great, vvuj 
 associated with him in the government, and after the death 
 of Sethi he became sole king and ruler of P^gypt, continuing 
 the great oppression to which his father had subjected 
 Israel. After the death of Kameses the Great, 1281 years 
 
 mIiii 
 
 \% 
 
>> \l^ 
 
 48 
 
 Marvellous Disan'cries in Bible Lands. 
 
 1 ' 
 
 ,■ 1 i ' 
 
 \ 
 
 m 
 
 
 B. C'., ))is son and successor. Mcneptah I., who war, the 
 fourteenth of his sixty sons, conliniied the cruel l)oiu]age 
 and bitter toil by which the children of Israel were made to 
 groan under the lash of their relentless taskmasters, until 
 "God heard their groanings, and reu^cmbered his covenant 
 with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacol)," and led tiiem 
 forth out of their house of bondage. This MeneiMali was 
 the " Pharaoh of the Exodus," and his father Rameses and 
 grandfather vSethi I., were known as the " Pharaohs of the 
 Oppression." liy turning to the early chapters of Plxodus 
 we learn " the tragic history that followed, the groanings, 
 the oppression, the plague, the deliverence, the passage of 
 the Red Sea, the overwhelming of Pharaoh and his chariots 
 in the waves." 
 
 As to the leading cause of the great oppression of the 
 Israelites by Sethi and Rameses, it may be said that the times 
 were critical. The new dynasty had come in upon a revolu- 
 tion, and it had to secure itself in permanence. There were 
 enemies on the north-eastern frontier, and, as far as Egyi)t, 
 held possession, pressing hard upon her representatives ; 
 the Khita, or Hittites, were gathering and growing bold 
 enough to threaten invasion, Sethi discovered in the Israel- 
 ites within his borders a source of real danger should these 
 Canaanitish nations invade the land, and so he said, "Come 
 on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it 
 come to pass that, when there falleth out any war, they join 
 also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and get them 
 up out of the land." (Exod. i. ']^\6). 
 
 It was in this condition of thiiigs that Sethi I. died, and 
 Rameses II. became sole ruler^ continuing the oppressive 
 scheme in relation to Israel which his father had introduced^ 
 
 Sq far as can be gathered fron'i historical' records Moses 
 
Marvilluus Discoveries in IribU Lands, 49 
 
 was born, anrl grew ui> as ♦' the son of Pharaoh's daujihter," 
 Thonnuthis-Neferari, by whom his life was savetl in infancy, 
 as recorded in the Scn'i tares, ft is also recorded that 
 Moses received his education at the '^'oiirt of Rame.ses 11,, 
 
 I 
 
 Profile of Kiny Pharaoh, Rainews II. as it no\s' ap{)ears 
 .in the BouKt^ Museum. 
 
 and being <' mighty in words and in deeds,'' as Steplien as- 
 serts (Acts vii, 22), was appointed General of the Egyptian 
 host to fight against the Ethiopians, v.'hom he conquered, 
 aiul before returning with his men to Egypt, married PrincesF 
 Tharbis, daughter of the king ot* Ethopia, who fell in love 
 with him because of the bravery he manifested in leading the 
 Egyptian army against the royal city of Seba or Sheba, where 
 she resided. Whether \st accept or reject this record in 
 
«a«ian 
 
 50 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands, 
 
 reference to the marriage of Moses, it is evidently clear from 
 Bible narrative that Moses " had married an Ethiopian 
 woman " at some period, besides Zipporah, the daughter of 
 Jelhro, priest of Midlan, at which Miriam and Aaron pub- 
 licly expressed their indignation (Ninibers xii. 1). 
 
 It is a remarkable attestation to the record of Sacred 
 Story in reference to 
 
 
 - i, 
 
 THE BONDAG-E OF ISRAEL IN EGYPT, 
 
 that the mummies of Sethi !., and his son Rameses II., two of 
 the Pharaohs of the opj)ression, have been discovered, and 
 now stand side by side in the Museum at Cairo, and that no 
 ingenuity of man has been able to find my trace of the 
 Pharaoh (Meneptha II.,) the fourth king of the nineteenth 
 dynasty, whom the Scripture emphatically declares, was 
 *< overthrown with his host in the Red Sea. (Ps. cxxxvi. 15). 
 
 As this Pharaoh was doubtless one of those who " sank 
 as lead in the mighty waters." and his body having, probably, 
 been devoured by sharks, it is vain to hope that his mortal 
 remains shall ever be discovered to be exposed as a curiosity 
 among the royal mummies of Egypt. Those who attempt 
 proving that the Pharaoh of the Exodus was not submerged 
 in the common deluge of the Egyptian host m the Red Sea 
 will find it a difficult matter, in face of the evidence 
 adduced by Scripture aid modern reseach. The Bible 
 narrative recorded in the fourteenth chapter of Exodus, and 
 r^jference to the fact in the huiidred and thirty-sixth Psaun, 
 to the writer's mind, leave no room to doubt that the king 
 of Egypt found a watery grave. 
 
 With the exception of the bod) of this Pharaoh, the 
 mummies of the greater mmiber f the Egyptian rulers 
 during the Eigiiteenth, Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twonty- 
 
 <M . i 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in liihlc Lands, 
 
 first dynasties have been discovcFed, including those of 
 Sethi I., Rameses II.. Ranieses III., King Pinelom, the i.igh 
 priest Nobseni, and Queen Ahmes Nofretair, whose life 
 portrait, as it appears on the gold-faced inner mummy-case, 
 which contains the body now in the Boulac Musenj, is given 
 on this page. On page 53 will be seen the })rofile of 
 Pinetoni II., as it was when photographed from the mummy. 
 
 Q Lf EE N N 1' RET A I R . 
 
 We would also gladly give the portrait, which we have 
 in our possession, of the mummified body of Sethi I., 
 but, as it is too gruesome to look upon without a shud- 
 der, \vc must draw the veil of obscurity over it, lest 
 the deformity of death might distress the reader. The 
 visage of this portrait conveys the idea that the living 
 man was not of amiable disposition, and, like Herod who 
 slaughtered the innocents at Bethlehem, might have died 
 "in the horrors" of a guilty conscience. The contour of 
 
5: 
 
 Marvcllans Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 % 
 I- 
 
 the head uninistak^tbly shows that he was a Pharac'h born 
 to rule. 
 
 The incidents connected with the discovery of the body 
 of Raine?es II., form 
 
 A STORY OV INTENSE INTEREST, 
 
 the facis o\' wjijch are these: "In a Hne of tomb-pits at 
 Dcr-el-Bahari, about four miles from the Nile to the east of 
 Thebes, lived four brother Arabs named Abd-er-Rasoul, 
 who supplied guides and donkeys to tourists desiring to visit 
 the ruins '"n that neighborhood. For a number of years the 
 officials of the National Museum at Boulachad seen funeral 
 offerings and other anticjuities brought from Thebes by re- 
 turning tourists, which they believed belonged to the dynasty 
 of Kameses II.. of his father Sethi, and of his grandfather 
 Rameses ]. Even scirabees bearing the cartouche of 
 Rameses II. had been dis})layed by innocent purchasers. 
 It was obvious lo the experienced ofticials at Boulac that 
 the mummied of those royal ])ersonages, which had been 
 missing from the previously discovered tomb where they 
 had been laid at death, had at least been found. M. Maspero, 
 the Director-Genera! of the Museum, at once set agencies 
 to work for the discovery of the parties in possession of the 
 secret. In a short time arrest after arrest was made, and 
 early in 1881 circumstantial evidence pointed to Ahmed 
 Abd-er-Rasoul as the ojie who could give the information 
 desired. Professor Maspero caused liis arrest, and he lay 
 in prison for some months. He also suffered bastinado and 
 die browbeating of the women repeatedly, he resisted bribes, 
 and showed no melting mood when threatened with execu- 
 tion. His lips told no more than the unfound tomb — and 
 not as much. Finally his l^rotiier Mohammed regarded the 
 
 li 
 
 ■ 
 
 J 
 
vfnm 
 
 . 
 
 li i 
 
 Marif€ll(ms Discoveries in Bihlc Lands. 53 
 
 -■\rW^ 
 
 'J;V^';..; ;,|!^;-3qiSW;55^ 
 
 KiNi; l'iNi:u).M II. 
 
 If 
 
 offer of ' l)akhshish,' which I'lofessor M:is|)cro deemed it 
 wise to make, as worth more to hiin than any sum lie might 
 hope to reahze from future pillaging, and made a clean breast 
 of the whole affair. How the four brothers ever discovered 
 the hidden tomb has remained a family secret. On July 
 5th, iS8i,thewily Arab conducted Herr Eniil Brugsch Bey, 
 curator of the Boulac Museum, to I)eir-el-]{ahari and pointed 
 out the ]iiding-i)]ace so long looked for. A long climb it 
 was up the slope of the western mountain, till, after scaling 
 a great limestone chft', a huge isolated rock was Annid. 
 Behind this a spot was reached where the stones appeared 
 to an expert oliserver and tomb searcher to have been ar- 
 
wmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 
 
 54 Marvellous Discoveries hi Bible Lands. 
 
 ranged by hand, ratiier than scattered by some upheaval of 
 nature. 'There,' said the sullen guide; and there the en- 
 terprising Emil Brugsch Bey, with more than Egyptian 
 alacrity, soon had a staff of Arabs at work hoisting the loose 
 stones from a well into which they had been thrown. 
 
 The shaft had been sunk into the solid limestone to the 
 depth of about forty feet, and was about six feet square. 
 Before going very far a huge palm log was thrown across 
 the well, and a block and tackle fastened to it, to help bring 
 up the debris. When the bottom of the shaft was reached 
 a subterranean passage was found which ran westward some 
 24 feet and then turned directly northward, continuing into 
 the heart of the mountain straight, except where broken for 
 about 200 feet by an abrupt stairway. The passage termin- 
 ated in a mortuary chamber about 13 by 23 feet in extent 
 and barely feet in height. There was found the mummy 
 of King Pharaoh of the Ojjpression, with nearly 40 others 
 of kings, queens, princes and priests. 
 
 These precious relics were removed from their hiding- 
 place at once, by three hundred Arabs who had been em- 
 ployed to do the work, under the direction of Emil Brugsch 
 Bey. The operation was a work of intense excitement. 
 Curator Bey was armed to the teeth, and had only one 
 faithful assistant, named Amed Effendi Kemal. while each 
 one of the Arabs was a thief, and would have killed his em- 
 ployer willingly had he only had the cc>' gc to do so, under 
 the conviction that they were being deprived of a great 
 source of future revenue. 
 
 One by one the coftins containing the mummies were 
 hoisted to the surface of the shaft, and after being sewed up 
 in sail-cloth and ma 'ting, were carried across the plain of 
 Thebes to the s .^mers awaiting them at Luxor. Two 
 
 J 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 55 
 
 squads of Arabs accompanied each sarcophagus — one to 
 carry it and a second to watch the wily carriers. When 
 the Nile overHovv, lying midway of the plain, was reached, 
 as many more boatmen entered the service and bore the 
 burden to the other side. Then a third set took up the 
 ancient freight and carried it to the steamers. The work 
 was slow and laborious, and took six days of hard labor, 
 under the July sun, to complete the task of freighting the 
 vessels." 
 
 The commander of this great undertaking reports thus : 
 " I shall never forget the scenes I witnessed when, standing 
 at the mouth of the shaft, I watched the strange line of 
 helpers while they carried across the historical plain the 
 bodies of the very kings who had constructed the temples 
 still standing, and of the very priests who had officiated in 
 them ; then beyond all, some more of the plain, the line of 
 the Nile, and the Arabian hills far to the east, and above 
 all, and with all, slowly moving down the cliffs and across 
 the plain, or in the boats crossing the stream, were the 
 sullen laborers carrying their antique burdens. As the Red 
 Sea opened and allowed Israel to pass across dry-shod, so 
 opened the silence of the Thebean plain, to allow 
 
 THE STRANGE FUNERAL PROCESSION 
 
 to pass — and then all was hushed again." 
 
 '* When all was ready the fleet departed from Luxor, 
 leaving the Arab helpers squatted in groups upon the The- 
 bean side, silently watching the floating cortege gliding down 
 the Nile. News of the ' grand find ' having spread like 
 wild-fire among the natives, the people assembled in crowds 
 at every available point of observation along the river's 
 brink, making most frantic demonstrations. The fantasia 
 
EBSBSBBjnera 
 
 ,JtlJii;i_U,',[J,J-J L'jy. JXi:.lu.'i._.,l.uu«uu>uj-JJuamiti 
 
 M nrvclloHs Discovcrus in J ihle Lands. 
 
 n 
 
 
 
 
 in 'I 
 
 
 f 
 
 dancers were holding their wildest orgies here and there ; a 
 strange wail went up from the men ; the women were scream* 
 ing and tearing their hair, and the children were so fright- 
 ened as to become objects of i)ity. Some of the most fan- 
 atical dervishes plunged into the flood in their attempt to 
 reach the boats, but a sight ,f the rifle drove them back, 
 cursing as they swam away. When nighi set in fires were 
 kindled and guns were fired in many directions. 
 
 '^ long Nile voyage having been completed, the mummies 
 were transferred from the steamers to the Boulac Museum, 
 where they were released from their swathings, Jime 1886, 
 in the presence of the Khedive and an assemblage of aug- 
 usl personages. The coverings being all removed by the 
 careful hands of Professor Maspero, the identity of Ramcses 
 II., his father Sethi I., his grandson Rameses III., the sup- 
 posed Pharaoh's daughter who adopted Moses as her own 
 .son, and a number ofother ' poor, shrivelling lumps of nior- 
 tality,' once animated by ' the breath of life,' and looked 
 upon as the human embodiment of the sun, or some other 
 fanciful deiiy, vvas established beyond all question. And 
 now labelled and numbered as the curiosities of antiquities, 
 these embalmed remains of kings, priests, princes and op- 
 pressors (^f Egypt, await the Archangel's trumpist on the 
 morn of the ' Cirand Assize,' when the Judgment shall be 
 set, and the books shall be opened, and every man shall be 
 rewarded according to his works." 
 
 The vicinity where these royal mummies were discovered 
 is dismal :\.v\d gloomy in the extreme. " The scorching sun 
 seems to have levied upon the hills for the last drop of 
 moisiurt- heaven gave them. Underneath are miles and 
 miles of tombs now rifled, but once the resting-places of 
 kings and peojile who shaped the destinies of the world for 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in J^ihlc Lands. 
 
 57 
 
 ages." The entrances to the subterranean tombs — the en- 
 trances to the cities ot the dead — which are seen in the 
 faces of the rugged hmcstone cliffs, appear as if they were 
 port-lioles in the sides of a ship of war. Not a thing of h'fe 
 IS seen in the whole region, and everv object on which you 
 ,^aze echoes the astounding fact, tluit. in fuUihnent of Divine 
 prediction, " Egypt has become a desolation." (Joeliii. 19). 
 In no country, ancient or modern, were there at one time 
 f so many r.ities, temples or tonil)S. lint the cities have be- 
 come rubbish-mounds. The tombs have been plundered 
 for ages, and are being plundered every day. The tt.'m|)les 
 ,; have been ravaged by the Persian, the Assyrian, and the 
 Mohammedan invader, defaced by the Christian iconoclast, 
 ;, iind smashed u]) for the limekiln by the modern Arab. Amid 
 ■ such surroundings the traveller must stand amazed as he 
 gazes upon the mammoth ruins looming u|) on every hand, 
 • to tell of the glory and dignity of tluU once mighty emoire, 
 i;efore whose frown many of the kings of earth did (juake, 
 : " In Upper Egypt those wrecks ai noble ruins are open 
 
 to the cloudless sky, and touched with the gold of dawn and 
 the crimson of sunset ; but in Lower Egypt, and especially 
 in the Delta where there is no desert, but only one vast 
 plain cf rich alluvial soil, they are buried under the rubbish 
 of ar^es, thus forming those gigantic mounds which are so 
 striking a fealun- of the scenery between Alexandria and 
 Cairo. Nothing in Kgyi>t so excites the curiosity of the 
 jiewly landed traveller vus these gigantic graves, some of 
 •which are identified with cities famous in the histor}- of the 
 ancient world, while others are problems only to be solved 
 il)V the use of the spade. He sees mounds everywhere ; not 
 only in the Delta, but in Middle Egypt, in Upi)cr Kgy; t, 
 and even in Nubia. And wherever he sties a mound, there, 
 
^ !' 
 
 
 I'i? 
 
 
 
 
 1 i - 
 
 ?■• 
 
 iM 
 
 :l 
 
 
 :i' 
 
 i- I' 
 
 ;.;!^ 
 
 ;• : 
 
 ,^^f 
 
 ; •* 
 
 ; h 
 
 !• ■•' 
 
 \f}i 
 
 
 
 i' i" ■ 
 
 
 ji;';' 
 
 
 '5 :' 
 
 .y. 
 
 !.' h: 
 
 'a'j 
 
 i^ h 
 
 ';U 
 
 11 
 
 58 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 but too surely^ he sees the native husbandiu.m digging it 
 away piecemeal lor brick-dust manure. 
 
 Jt was in order to rescue at least a part of the historical 
 treasures entombed in these neglected mounds, and esj)ecially 
 in the mounds of the Delta and the district of 
 
 THE OLD LAND OP O-OSHEN, /■ 
 
 that the organization, known as the Kgypt Exploration 
 Society, was founded in 1883, under the presidency of the 
 late Sir P>asmus Wilson. An influential committee was 
 formed in l^ondon, a subscription list was opened in Eng- 
 land and America, and the work of scientific explcntion 
 was immediately begun. 
 
 From that time to this, the Egypt Exploration Society 
 has sent out explorers every season, having sometimes two, 
 and even three, simultaneously at work in different parts of 
 the Delta. Each year has been fruitful in discoveries. 
 Ancient geographical boundaries have been traced ; the 
 sites of ♦amous ('ties have been identified; sculptures, in • 
 scriptions, arms, papyri, jewellery, painted pottery, beautiful 
 objects in glass, porcelain, bronze, gold, silver, and even 
 textile fabrics, have been found ; a Hood of light has been 
 cast ipon the Biblical history of the Hebrews ; the early 
 stages of the route of the Exodus have been defined ; an 
 important chapter in the history of Greek art and Greek 
 epigraphy has been recovered from oblivion ; and an archte- 
 ological survey of the Delta has been made, nearly all the 
 larger mo'mds having been measured and mapi>ed. This 
 survey is now about to be carried out on a much more ex- 
 tended scale, covering the whole of Egypt, and including 
 copies of inscriptions, photographs of monuments, triangula- 
 tions, careful descriptions of the condition of the ruins, etc. 
 
nm 
 
 T 
 
 Alati'ellous Disan'tnes in Bible Lands, 59 
 
 For this imjwrtant work two specially trained nrchitologists 
 will be desimtchcd every season by the Society." 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF PITHOM, 
 
 capital of Goshen, one of the twin " treasure-cities" built for 
 Pharaoh, (he Great Rameses, by the forced labour of the 
 oppressed Israelites, was the tirst find of the F.gyptian Ex- 
 ploration So<iety, and is another attestation to the truth of 
 Sacred history. In the ruins of this city we have a practical 
 historical commentary of the highest importance and interest. 
 *' Here we have the whole pathetic liible narrative (recorded 
 in the first c;.iid fifth chapters of Exodus) surviving in solid 
 eviuence to the present time " , 
 
 Beneath the ruins of this city are subterraneous chambers 
 covering an area of 650 feet square, surrounded by a wall 
 22 feet in thickness. This whole space is a honey-comb of 
 spacious cellars, separated by brick walls of from 8 to to 
 ieet thick. These chambers are now filled with sand, roof- 
 less, and without any doors, windows, or gates of any kind; 
 but on the top of the walls are niches raarkint^ the places 
 where beams have rested, and showing that above them 
 were buildings from which the only acess to these cham 
 bers must have been by trap-doors. Mere, then, we have 
 one of the store cities built for Pharaoh, for these chambers 
 could have been nothing else but granaries. This peculi- 
 arity of reservoirs, only accessible from the roof, exactly 
 tallies with the ancient representations of Egyptian granaries. 
 They are imique ; nothing else resembling them has been 
 found in Egypt. Specimens of the brick used in these 
 chambers can be found in the British Museum, and in the 
 Metropolitan Museum of New V'ork, and are usually from 
 
mmnsm 
 
 
 Hi 
 
 
 'i 
 
 Ji 
 
 l:^' 
 
 ! I 
 
 : f 
 
 i 'I 
 
 . .1:' 
 
 1 - SJI' 
 
 1 -i 
 
 6o MarviUous Discoveries in IHbte Lands: 
 
 four to eight inches square, and oneanti a half to two Inche;* 
 thick. 'I'hey are made of 
 
 NILE MUD, 
 
 pressed in n wooden mould, and dried in the si7r». Also, 
 tiiey are bedded in with iTK>rt;\r which i^> not cominon, tlie 
 ordinary inclhod being to bed them with mud, which dries 
 immediately, and holds almost as well and tenaciously as 
 mortar. This harmonizes with the Scripture narrative, vvhicl>i 
 states that '' the Egyptians made the chikken of Israel io» 
 serve with rigor, and they n-Ktde their lives bitter with 
 hard bondage, in iT)ortar and in bricks," 
 
 Further details of this pitiful S'tory tell lis how the poor 
 creatures were compelled to gather straw where they could 
 find it, after their supply had become exhausted, and after- 
 wards how they "^ were scattered abroad throughout all the 
 land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw" to mix with 
 their clay, without diminishing the tale of bricks- formerly 
 required. In harmony with this reeord , ' . ' . ,(• 
 
 THE PITHOM BRICKS : 
 
 are of "• three qualities. In the lower courses of these mas- 
 sive cellar walls they are raised with chopped straw :. higher 
 up, when the straw may be supposed to have run short, the 
 clay is found to t>e mixed with veeds — the same kind of 
 reeds which grow to th'^ day in the bed of the old Vharonic 
 eanal, and which are translated as *■ stubble' in the Bible- 
 Finally, when the reeds were used up, the bricks of the 
 upper courses consist of Nile mud, with no binding substance 
 whatever." By going down into one of these cellars, a,t the 
 bottom of the wall, we can see the good bricks for which 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
-" 
 
 
 Marvellous l^isccnrries in ly'ibh- Lands. 6i 
 
 straw was provided, a few foci higher u|) we find those for 
 which the oi)])resscd Israelites had to seek reeds, or 
 "stubble." In the last courses we sec the bricks which 
 they had to make, and did make, without straw or stubble 
 of any kind, while iheir hands were bleeding and their 
 liearts were breaking. 
 
 Tlie important discovery of this place was made by the 
 eminent MgyiJtologist, M. Kdoiiard Naville, of (leneva, first 
 agent of the Egyptian Exploring' Society, which began its 
 labours in the Delta in 1883. Mr. Naville selected, as the 
 scene of his first excavations. 
 
 A CELEBRATED MOUND 
 
 in the Wady I'umilat, between Zagazig and Ismalia, a town 
 about midway of the .Suez Canal, near Tel el-K.ebir. This 
 Wady 'i'umilat is in the Gosiien of the liible, and forms a 
 Nvater course which was made to convey a portion of the 
 Nile water to the hosts who made the Suez Canal. Near 
 this were some granite statues representing Kamescs IE 
 seated in an arm-chair between the two solar gods, Ra and 
 Ttun, and some large mounds. 'I'hese mounds were exca- 
 vated in 1883 and 1884, and were found to be the ruins of 
 the city of Pithom, which was built during the time of the 
 Great Ojjpression, the ruins of which still remain as a monu- 
 ment of Israelitish toil under Pharaoh's cruel taskmasters. 
 
 The iiistory and geography of this place are settled be- 
 yond all doubt by the discovery among the ruins of a num- 
 ber of monumental inscriptions. These in.scriptions reveal 
 the fact that the town which once existed here wa built by 
 Pharaoh, Rameses II., and dedicated to Turn, the setting 
 sun, in consequence of which it received the sacred name of 
 Pi -Turn, or Pithom, which means the house of Turn. It 
 
62 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Rihle Lands. 
 
 was the Phakusa of clabsical geography. 'Ihe civil nanre 
 ot the city was Thuket, or Succoth, Uerivctl from the name 
 of the district in which it was situated. As the place was 
 not only a store-fort, hut a sanctuary, it was thus designated 
 by a twofold name of Pithoni and Succoili. This treasure- 
 city of the Kgyptians is one of the most valuable discoveries 
 made in that land, as it was the 
 
 FIRST HALTING PLACE OP EMANCIPATED 
 
 ISRAEL 
 
 
 
 ': W i 
 
 n 
 
 1« 
 
 . \ 
 
 on their departure fronn Egypt, and remains as the first 
 milestone to point out their way to Ethani and Pihahiroth, 
 from Raraeses, their starting point. (Mxod. xii. 37). Tluis 
 the discovery of Pithom has given us "a fixed point from 
 which to start. From Rameses up to this point the route 
 of the Israelites is pretty clear. It followed the canal exca- 
 vated by Rameses II., which united the Red Sea with the 
 Nile, and watered the 'I'umilat. The canal is represented 
 by the French water canal of to-day. On their march from 
 Egypt, "when Succoth was left, the Israelites still found 
 themselves within the line of fortifications which guarded 
 Egypt on the East, and was known as the Shur, or '■ Wall,' to 
 the Scmatic peoples. Two main roads led through it to 
 Palestine. One passing by Zar, in the neighbourhood, pro- 
 bably of the modern Kantarah, and after proceeding north- 
 ward to Pelusium ran along the coast of the Mediterranean 
 to Gaza and the other cities of the Philistines. It is this 
 road which is called ' the way of the land of the Philistines,' 
 (Exod. xiii. 17); but it was not the road by which the Israel- 
 ites were led," although that was near. The reason assigned 
 for not taking this route was owing to the command of the 
 
Marvellous l^iscoveries in Bible Lauds. 63 
 
 l,orcl, who said : " Lest |)eradventuic the peojjle rcpcnl 
 when they see war. and return to Egypt." 
 
 relusium was tlie Cireek name of Sin, " a fortified city on 
 the north-eastern frontier of K^^ypt, on the eastern bank of 
 the eastern 'itream of the Nile, two or three rniles from the 
 sea." It was situated amid marshes, md known as 
 
 " THE STRENGTH OI-' EGYPT," 
 
 (Ezek. XXX. 15). In conseipience of its position and strong 
 fortifications it was regarded as the key of ICgypt ; and every 
 invader first attemjjled toaipiure this place, 
 
 By reading the IJihle narrative we are led to believe that 
 the people of Israel had made their way from Succoth to 
 Kiham, in the edge of the wilderness, or Arabian desert, 
 bordering on Kgypt, known as " the desert j)lain." On 
 reaching the fortress of Zar, wkich protected the road lead- 
 ing from l'>gypt to the land of the Philistines, they were 
 cominande<l by Ciod to change the route, by turning back 
 and moving toward Sue^, for reasons already assigned. 
 And, in doing so, \\ ■ find tiiem encamiMng '• before Pi- 
 hahiroth," between Migdol and the sea. over against Baal- 
 Zephon," which was evidently a j'ort on the Arabian side 
 of the northern arm of the Red iiea, now known as the Gulf 
 of Suez, where the Phcenician sailors and merchants had a 
 sanctuary for the worship of their god Baal. 
 
 At this place, in a large plain some ten miles square, the 
 fugitives encamjjed for the night, when Pharaoh and all his 
 liost came ui)on ihcm in hot j^ursuit, Unal)le to cope with 
 tlie adversary, in terror they cry unto the Lord their (Jod to 
 save them from the hand of the cruel foe. 
 
 Although provoked by their lack of faith in Hi;- ]n-omises, 
 and by murmurings against Moses their leader, the Lord 
 
■mp 
 
 WW 
 
 mmmmmimamism 
 
 64 
 
 Marvcllo7i:s Discoveries in Bible lAiiids. 
 
 < I 
 
 1 \ 
 
 ■ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 \ 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
 iM 
 
 1 
 
 God of their fathers came tc their rescue, by directing the 
 forces of nature to interfere in their behalf, and saved them 
 from the wrath of the proud enemy, whose boastful desire 
 was : " I will pursue, J will overtake, I will divide the 
 Spoil ; ray lust shall be satisfied upon ilu-nj ; I will draw my 
 sword, my hand siiall destroy them" (Kxod. xv. 9). He 
 gave thern command to •' go forward," and " craised the sea 
 to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made 
 the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the 
 children of Israel went into the midst of the seh 'ijion dry 
 ground ; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right 
 liand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued, and 
 went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's 
 horses, and his chariots, and his horsemen." When ihe 
 Israelites had all passed over in safety, the sea returned to its 
 former channel, and overwhelmed their enemies, who "sank 
 like lead in the mighty waters." 
 
 Thus their hasty crossing of the Red Sea by a path which 
 the I,ord ojiened lor their deliverance, and the destruction 
 of their enemies by the overwhelming billosvs of the great 
 deep, completes the drama of the deliverance of Israel from 
 the " House of Bondage." And, as we follow the resctied 
 host, we tlnd Miriam leading the choir and giving back the 
 response of the triumphal procession, as it mnrches along 
 the Arabian banks of the Red Se;i, to celebrate with tim- 
 brels the o\ eithrow of I'haraoh. 
 
 In contemplation of this remarkable e\ent how appro])ri- 
 ate to the occasion is the following poetic langtiage : 
 
 «' Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea f » 
 Jehovah has lriumi)hed — His people arc free ! 
 Sing ! — for the pride of the tyrant is ?)roken : 
 His chariots, his horsemen, all splendid and brave — 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 65 
 
 "*.; 
 
 ! 
 
 Mow vain wns .lioir boastintr ; — tiie Lord hath hut spoken, 
 And chariots and horsemen are sunk in the wave ! 
 Sound the loud tinilirel o'er F-gypt's dark sea I v 
 Jehovah has triumphed — His people arc free ! 
 
 • Praise to the conqueror I praise to tlie l-ord I 
 His word was oin- arrow, His breati-i was our sword I 
 \V']io shall return to tell l\yyi)t the story 
 Of those she sent forth in the hour of her pride? 
 P'or the Lord hath looked ou: from his pillar of pf'ory, ^.^ 
 And all her brave thousands aie dashed in tlie tide. 
 Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea ! 
 Jehovah has triumphed- -His people are free I" 
 
 As the Biblical record of Israel's escape *' out of the house 
 of bondage," by a dry land passage through the Red Sea, 
 has often been scouted by sceptics as " a physical im])ossi- 
 bility," 
 
 A NATURAL PHENOMENON 
 
 has -ecently been witnessed in the same vicinit)', by reliable 
 eye 'vitnesses, which sustains the Saci.'d narrative, and 
 jjroves it to have been quite possible, 'i'he fiicts of the case 
 are these : A few years ago Major-Gercral TuUoch was 
 making governmental surveys for (Jreat i.kitian in that part 
 of Egypt through which the children of Israel passed in their 
 departure from ("roshen, and wi':^es«ed a natural occinrence 
 of the most remarkable natu,\. His othcial statement re- 
 cently ]iublished states, chat in the spring ol 1S95 he was 
 engaged in surveying the border;; of Lake Men. iJileh, now 
 a part of the Suez Canal. While thus engaged, on one occa- 
 sion, he says, a sudden and violent storm arose, the force 
 of v^fhich was so great as to carry every movable (^]ij(;ct in 
 its path before it, including the water of tl;e lake, which was 
 
 ■ti, 
 
 
II 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 66 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 entirely abducted in a few hours, leaving the vessels moored 
 in the lake stranded on dry land, until the receding water 
 had returned to its former position. 
 
 This incident is truly remarkable, and harmonizes with 
 the Sacred story of • 
 
 THE GREAT DELIVERANCE OF THE HEBREWS, 
 
 By it the sceptic is entirely disaimed of any argument he 
 may attem])t in future u.) advance in supi)ort of his idea of 
 the case, because it asserts, through living eye-witnesses 
 of the day, that it is within nature's proven pov/er that such 
 a salvation and catastrophy should occur, and gives a new 
 interest to the Bible history of the great event, wherein is 
 set forth the triumphal passage of the capti\es dry 5 hod 
 through the way of the waters, whose returning flood des- 
 troyed their oppressors. 
 
 By considering the trying circumstances in which the 
 Israelites were placed, we are enabled to see the wisdom, 
 goodness and justice of God. in directing the laws of nature, 
 which are always under His absolute control and guidance, 
 so that the groaning captives might be released from bon- 
 dage, and their cruel taskmasters made to realize that " the 
 way of the transgressor is hard." 
 
 Having long endured untold cruelties and insults by the 
 p]gyptians, which had imbittered their lives beyond endur- 
 ance, they fled at the command of the Lord to Moses, and 
 by the permission of their masters. After two days of hasty 
 travelling they encamj^ed by the borders of the Red Sea. 
 Here they are terror stricken, as they lift up their eyes and 
 behold the hosts of the Egyptians with their war chariots 
 marching after tiiem. As they see the rays of the sun 
 glimmer in haios from the whirling wheels of the royal 
 
I VI 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 6"/ 
 
 chariots, iind hear the thunder tread of that mighty army, 
 their plaintive wail ascends the skies, and He whose ear is 
 ever open to hear the cry of distress, and who is, as the 
 Psalmist puts it, " a very present help in trouble," comes to 
 their relief. " He did fly upon the wings of the wiiid ; He 
 made the clouds his chariot; At the blast of the breath of 
 his nostrils, the channels of the waters were seen ; the sea 
 saw it and fled." (Ps. xviii. lo. i 5 ; cxiv. 3). 
 
 Whilst thus dismayed and terror-stricken, Moses, in obedi- 
 ence to the Divine command, j^roclaims an advance, and 
 stretches his hand with " the rod of God" therein out toward 
 the waters. <' In an instant, from the north-east a bree/e is 
 blowing, a wind is rushing, a gale is howling, a tempest's 
 awful power is smiting the vvaters of the sea. Slowly the 
 waters yield to the air's beating fury. Soon a great mass, a 
 driven flood, is seen hurling from the shore. It returns 
 not. The storm's gigantic strength carries the huge bulk 
 farther and farther, until the awestruck watchers reali/.e that 
 the way of safety is free before them. As before, the moun- 
 tains shut them in on one side ; the enemy who would destroy 
 are close at hand, but the impassable barrier of the waters 
 has rolled from their path. Now, they hasten to the bed of 
 the sea, and speed the distu.M.e to the further shore. They 
 have passed through the sea, but its waves have not touched 
 them. Yet, what of the enemy ? Will they pursue ? Yes; 
 already the lustful foes are stirring, the horses are spanned 
 to the chariots ; the captains mount to their places ; the 
 great army hurries to follow the freedmen's flight. The 
 children of Isrr.el sh.ndder .ind grow pale. Their h'!arts 
 throb in an ecstacy of new alarms. But what is this ? The 
 wind is dead. No. Stay ! It is blowing again ; blowing 
 harder and harder yet, bui not from the north east now. It 
 
 :^3 
 
 M 
 
 14 
 
68 
 
 Marvellous Disiovcrics iu Bible Lands. 
 
 is sweeiiing from the oi)posite \\'ay--sw.'eeping witii tremen- 
 dous spee>i again, irrcsistil)le as before. Ncnv oi) the lK)ri- 
 zon the Hebrews see tiie wreathing wall of advancing waters. 
 From the safe shore the Aigitivcs watcii it with hearts swayed 
 by sntklen hope. The Egyptians see it. loo. and their pulses 
 leap in sudden horror. 'J1iey wheel and llee. Too late I 
 1'lie Sacred record is : " And the waters returned and 
 covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host o' 
 Pharaoh that came into the sea after them ; there remained 
 not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel 
 walked upon dry land in tiic midst of the sea ; and the 
 waters were a wall unto th'-ni on their right hand and on 
 their left. Thus the Lord .saved Israel that day out of the 
 hand of the Egyptians : and Israel saw the Egyptians dead 
 upon he sea shore." (Exod. xiv. 28-30). ' ' 
 
 Another marvellous discovery of great import was that of 
 
 • THE B"'AMOUS MOABITE STONE, 
 
 an illustration of which is given on the following jiage. 
 This remarkable sione is a monument which yields in im- 
 portance to none yet found. It was erected by Mesha king 
 of Moab about nine hundred years before oin- era, in record 
 of a tempotary victory over Israel, before the death of Ahab, 
 and is a remarkable evidence of the truthfulness of the Sac- 
 red narrative. It was dedicated to Chcmosh, the national 
 god of Moab, to whom the victorious revolt is ascribed. 
 
 The incidents connected with the discovery of this stone 
 are of rpecial interest, and of greater importance than those 
 in connection with the hnding of the body of Rameses. 
 The following is a record of. the whole ])roceedings : On 
 the ifith of August, t868, Kev, F, A. Klein, a CJerman 
 missionary in the service of the Church Missionary Society 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 ()■ 
 
 M 
 
 The Moabite Stout', now in tlie Misfuni of the I^ouvre, J'ari.s, The 
 text was secured from tlie paper " squeezes" taken before llje ori};inal 
 wnst broken by the Aratis, as referred to on pay;e 71. 'J'he rejjuired 
 places are the srnoothei portion of the surh;ce. 
 
 
 
 ' ^1 
 
 at Jerusalem, was on a visit to Moab ; and, when 111 iln- vic- 
 inity of one of " the high phices" of that land called l)ir)on — • 
 now known as Dhiblan— -was informed by an Arab sheikli, 
 that close to where he then was, there was a stone wiiich 
 was inscribed with ancient characters. ?vlr. Klein, on ex- 
 amining the stone found that it was a substantial slab of 
 black basalt rounded at the top, and presenting {he apfjear- 
 
^ 
 
 70 
 
 MurrelloHs Discoveyics in Bible Lands. 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 :MI 
 
 V J 
 
 ance of a gravestone. Its dimensions were, three feet ten 
 inches in height, by two feet in width and fourteen inches 
 in thickness. It was covered with thirty-four lines of inscrip- 
 tion in Phtenician letters, and was evidently one of the 
 oldest memorials of al|)habetical writing. 
 
 Mr. Klein having no idea of the value and importance 
 of the discovery he had made, instead ol copying the whole 
 of the inscri|)tion, noted down a few words only, and com- 
 piled an alphabet out of the rest. On his return to Jerusalem 
 he informed the Prussian Consulate as to the discovery he 
 had made, and it was decided at one- that an effort be made 
 to secure the stone. 
 
 A .short time afterwards Sir Charles Warren, then agent 
 of the Palestine Exploring Society, was informed of the 
 existence of the monument, but learning that the Prussian 
 Consul was negotiating for its purchase he took no action 
 about it. In the spring of the fallowing year. M. Clermont- 
 
 Ganneau, dragoman of tl)e French Consulate, on hearing 
 that the stone was still at Dibon with the inscribed face 
 exposed to tlie weather, determined to get possession of it 
 for France. And witliout delay, natives were sent to offer 
 a large sum of money for the monument, and procure 
 "s(juee/ces" of its inscription. Unfortunately the messengers 
 sent for this purpose quarrelled in presence of tlie Arabs, 
 and it wns with difficultv that Selim-el-Oari, M. Clermont- 
 Ganncau's agent, was able to obtain a half-dried squeeze for 
 the French Consulate. Were it not for this squeeze, which 
 is now preserved in the IvOuvre, we would have an imiterfect 
 knowledge of the contents of the text. 
 
 The sum offered for the stone by M. Clermont-Ganneau 
 was three hundred and seventy-tive pounds sterling, whereas 
 eighty pounds had previously been promised by the Prussian 
 
 .\ 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 1 
 
 ■: 
 
 authorities, and agreed to by tlie Arabs alter long and tedi- 
 ous bargaining. The largeness of the French sum, and the 
 rival bidding of the two European Consulates to obtain the 
 stone, naturally aroused in the minds of the Moabite Arabs 
 and Turkish officials an exaggerated idea of its mercantile 
 value, (/rasping "^his idea, ihe Governor of Nablus de- 
 manded to retain the splendid prize for himself. The Arabs 
 indignant at being compelled to thus give up the stone for 
 nothing, lighted a fire under it, and, when heated, they 
 poured cold water over it, shivering it into fragments. "The 
 pieces were distributed among different families, and placed 
 in their granaries, in order to act as charnvj in protecting 
 the corn against blight." A considerable num!>er of the 
 fragments have since been recovered, and purchased by the 
 French government for thirty-two thousand francs, and 
 placed in the Louvre Museum at Paris, and a reconstruction 
 of the stone has been the result. l>ut without the "stiueeze" 
 which was taken before the destruction of the stone it would 
 have been impossible to fit many of the fragments together, 
 so that it is our only authority in the absence of the missing 
 portions of the monument. 
 
 *' The work of restoration and interpretation was ably 
 performed by M. Clermont-Ganneau, by way of amends for 
 the over-hasty zeal which brought about the destruction of 
 the monument. The latest and best edition of the te:<t, 
 however, is that which was published in 1886 by the two 
 German Professors, Smend and Socin, after weeks of study 
 of the * squeeze' preserveu in the Louvre." 
 
 ■ft 
 
 A. 
 
 ■ ■■^ 
 
 -^■). 
 
 The following is the translation of this text given by Dr. 
 Neubauer : 
 
 mliMi 
 
1^ 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Riblc Lands, 
 
 " I Mesha. son of Clieniosh-Melocli king of Moah, the Di- 
 bonitc. My father reigned over Moab thirty years and I reig- 
 ne<l afier niv father. I made this monument to Chemosh at 
 
 Korkhah. A monument of sal- 
 vation, for he saved me from all invaders, and let me see my 
 
 desire upon all my enemies. (.)mri 
 [was"] kin;.; of Israel, and he o|)|)ressed Moab many days, for 
 
 C'hemosli was an;.^ry with his 
 land, flif son followed him, and he also said; I will oppress 
 
 Moab. !n my days Che[mosh] said : 
 I will see my desire on him and his house. And Israel surely 
 
 perished for ever. ( )mri took the innd of 
 Medeba and [Israel] dwelt in it during his days and half the 
 
 days of his son, altogether forty years. But there dwelt 
 
 in it 
 Chemosh in my days. I built Baal-Meon and made therein 
 
 the ditches ; I built 
 Kirjathaim. The men of Gad dwelt in the land of Ataroth 
 
 from of old, and the King of Israel built there 
 Ataroth ; and I made war against the town and seized it. 
 
 And I slew all the [i)eoijle of] 
 tlie town, for the j^leasure of Chemosh and Moab ; I captured 
 
 from thence the Arel of Dodah and tore 
 him before Chemosh in Kerioth. And 1 placed therein the 
 
 men of Sh{a)r(o)n, and the men 
 of M{e)kh(e)rth. And Chermosh said tome: Go, seize Nebo 
 
 ujion Israel ; 
 I went in the night and fought against it from the break of 
 
 dawn till noon ; and I took 
 it, nnd slew all, 7000 men, [boys?], women, [girls?], 
 and female slaves, for to Ashtar-Chemosh I devoted them. 
 
 And I t'.)ok from it the Arels of Zahveh and tore them 
 
 before ('hcmosh. And the Rmg of Israel built 
 jahaz, and dwelt in it, while he waged war against me ; 
 
 Chermosh drove him out before me. And 
 I took from Moab 200 men, all chiefs, and transported them 
 
 to Jahaz, which I took 
 to add to it Dibon. I built Korkhah, the w.all of the forests 
 
 and the wall 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 73 
 
 of the citadel ; T built its gates and I built its towers. And 
 I built the house of Moloch, and I made sluices of the water- 
 ditches in tlie. middle 
 town. And there was no cistern in the initMleofthe 
 
 town o* Korkhah, and i said to all the peoi)le : Make 
 
 for 
 yourselves every man a ci.stern in his house. And I dug the 
 
 canals for Korkhah by means of the prisoners 
 of Israel. I built Aroer, and I made the road in [ the province 
 
 of] the Arnon. [And] 
 1 built Beth-Bamoth, for it was destroyed. I built Bezer, 
 
 for in ruins 
 [it was. And all the chiefs] of Dibon were 50, for all Dibon 
 
 is subject ; and \ ])UTced 
 one hundred ! chiefs] in the towns "diich T added to the land. 
 
 I built 
 Beth-Medebi and B^didiblathaii and Beth-baal-meon 
 
 and transpofied thereto the [sheplierds } , . . 
 and the pastors] of the flocks of the land. And at Horonaim 
 
 dwelt there . . . 
 . . . AndChemosh said to me ; Go down, make war ui)on 
 
 Floronaim. I went down [ ind made war] 
 . . . And Chemosh dwelt in it during my days, i went up 
 
 from thence ..." 
 
 
 Tlie tablet contained a few more lines which could not 
 be deciphered owing to the imperfection af the lattcv i>or" 
 tion of the " squeeze" or paper im]*ressioa taken while the 
 stone was intact. 
 
 The reader will be able to learn from this inscription that 
 the Moabite Stone was evidently a monument erected to 
 Ohemosh. the 
 
 NATIONAL GOD OF THE MOABITES, 
 
 by King Mesha, in order to preserve the record of some 
 victory gained over the kingdom of Israel by the children of 
 
74 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands, 
 
 Moab, during the latter days of Ahab's reign, previous \o 
 their final revolt after his death, in which case the Moabites 
 were completely routed by the allied forces of Israel, Judah 
 and Edom. In the Scripture record, given in the third 
 chapter of second Kinirs, we karn that these armies marched 
 against Moab by a circuitous path through the Edoniiie 
 deseit, wliere they almost perished for lack of water, but 
 were saved by the prophet Kliaha, who caused ditches to be 
 dug, which became tilled with water during the night. We 
 are also told that this water was the means ot the defeat of 
 the Moabites at that time, who mistook the water for the 
 blood of their enemies, owing to the crimson rays of the 
 morning sun beaming upon it, and fancied that the three 
 allies had killed each other during the night, and hurried 
 tumultuously to the camp of the invaders with the trium- 
 phant shout of ** Moab to the spoil ! " 
 
 Instead of obtaining " the spoil," however, they were here 
 received by a united and powerful army, who smote them 
 " hip and thigh" with a great slaughter, pursuing them into 
 their own country, destroying their cities, stopping their 
 wells, felling their trees, and covering their best land with 
 stones. In his straits the King of Moab was forced to take 
 refuge behind the fortress, where he was beseiged ; and, in 
 his frenzy, '• he took his eldest son, that should have reigned 
 in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the 
 wall," to his idoi. god, doubtless in hope of obtaining its 
 assistance. But assistance from such a source was impossi- 
 ble, as Cheinosh — "the abomination of Moab" — was a fanci- 
 ful deity, which neither could hear nor speak nor walk. 
 
 The decipherment of the inscription of this sla j undoubt- 
 edly casts a ray of light on tlie Bible story, prompting the 
 Scripture student to a careful inquiry and investigation of 
 
1 
 
 I 
 
 Ma}-^i>tllous Dtscovi'ties in Bible Lands. 75 
 
 the whole matter. It will be seen that while there is a gen- 
 eral agreement I>etween the Sacred record and the stone 
 inscription, there are also disagreements, which, by careful 
 study, become more apparent than re*l. On reading the 
 inscription we naturally suppose that " Omri" must be a 
 mistake in the name, as, according to Scripture narrative, 
 with which we are familiar, it was David and not Omri who 
 conquered the people of Moab, and Solomon, his son, 
 doubtless held them under tribute, as he did the other 
 nations which his father had subdued. There is no evi- 
 dence, however, to show that the Moabitos were "oppressed" 
 under the reign of cither David or Solomon ; and, although 
 the Bible is silent on the subject, it is evident that after the 
 death of Solomon Moab revolted from the yoke of Reho- 
 boam, and was again subdued by an Israelitish kmg, and 
 became 
 
 TRIBUTARY TO THE iCINGDOM OF ISRAEL. 
 
 Had this not been so, King Mesha would not have ren- 
 dered unto the king of Israel, as a yearly tribute, " an hun- 
 dred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams with 
 the wool," neither could Moab have •' rebelled against the 
 king of Israel after the death of Ahab," as. recorded in the 
 third chapter of the second Book of Kings. 
 
 As to the statement of the Moabite Stone inscription, that 
 Omri " oppress;-d Moab many days," his son continuing the 
 same line of oppressive policy, and that " Omri took the 
 land of Medeba and Israel dwelt in it forty years," the mat- 
 ter is made clear when we consider that the reign o< Omri 
 and his son Ahab extended over a period of 34 years, and 
 that Ahab's son Ahaziah had reigned two ye ,rs, and was 
 succeeded by his brother Jehoram, before the kt-,gof Moab's 
 
 I 
 
76 Marie I Urns Discoveries in Bible [.a mis. 
 
 ! '; 
 
 I'll 
 
 final rcbfllion. By considering these facts, aiui also that 
 Omri was tlie tliiel" captain of the host of Israel |jr(;l)ably for 
 many years, under the dynasty of Baasha, previous to the 
 establishment of his own dynasty, we will be able to see the 
 harmony that exists between the Bible narrative and the 
 record of the Moabite Stone. If there is any di/ruuliy in 
 solving the apparent problen) referred to, the matter will 
 become clear when we consider that the Moabitcs were pro- 
 bably subdued by king Baasha, under the generalship (if 
 Omri, in which case the latter would naturally be accredited 
 with the victory, in the same sense as that of Waterloo is 
 credited to Wellington. But, besides all this, King Mcshn, 
 when inscribing the Moabite Stone, was unduubtedl;, speak- 
 ing of something which had actually happened in his own 
 day, and not an oppression of nearly 200 years ])revious, 
 which must have been the case, if we admit that the state- 
 ment means the subjection of Moab by David, whose death 
 occurred 163 years before that of Ahab. As the record 
 stands there is no real contradiction between the statement 
 of King Mesha and that of Bible history. On the contrary 
 there is imdoubted harmony. And further, the Moabite 
 Stone inscription evidently records an important event in 
 the history of Israel, on which the Scripture record is silent. 
 Whilst Moab has thus contributed to the .su])port of Bible 
 narrative the land of Palestine has lately developed 
 
 WONDERFUL REVELATIONS 
 
 in attestation to the same Divine record. It is now reported 
 upon good authority that out of 622 places west of the Jordan, 
 mentioned in Scripture. 434 have been located beyond doubt, 
 and that new discoveries are almost daily l:>eing made. One 
 who is deeply interested in these remarkable discoveries of 
 
Marvilious Discvverics in JHhtc Lmuis, 
 
 n 
 
 the Holy Land records: " Who can say what revelations 
 arc in store lor us in tiu^ next few years? As Tel after Tel 
 is explored, and library after library comes to view, we may 
 expect to recover not only the history of ancient I^destinc 
 in the centuries immediately preceding its conquest by the 
 Israelites, but the earlier legends and traditions of the 
 country as well. To dig ui) the sources (jf the book of 
 Genesis is a wcrthicr and niore profitable occupation than 
 to spin theories about its origin and coniiiilation." The 
 ^arne authority also says ; " It is to excavations in Palestine 
 thvit the archjcology of the Book of Judges must look for 
 light and illustration, atitl these excavations have as yet 
 but scarcely begun. Apart from the shafts sunk in the teeth 
 of I'urkish opposition and mechanical ditticuhies at the foot 
 of the temple walls of Jerusalem, the excavations conducted 
 by Professor Petrie, for I-*alesiine Exploration Society in 1890, 
 and aherw^ards continued by Mr. Bliss, was the first system- 
 atic attempt that has been made to wrest from the soil of 
 Palestine the secrets which it has guarded so long. Their 
 explorations at Tel ellfesy, in Suutliern Palestine, have re- 
 sulted not only ni the 
 
 DISCOVERY OP THE LONG-LOST SITE OP 
 
 IjACHISH, 
 
 .!3 
 
 ■V 
 
 but also in the discovery that the remains of the Amorito 
 cities, overthrown by the invading Israelites, still exist in 
 the Holy Land." We have also " in Mr, Petrie's excava- 
 tions an viloquent picture in the condition of Southern 
 Palestine in the ages of the Judges," His researches a. 
 Lachish have founded the science of Palestinian archeology, 
 and fixed the ('hronological sequence of the various, kinds 
 of pottery whose fragments h;:'ve been found in the successive 
 

 I ■ 
 
 jS Marvellons Disco7/cnes in Bible Lands. 
 
 strata of the Tel forming the ruins of Lachish, as well as 
 the respective ages of the ' toolings ' observed upon the 
 hewn stones of the ruined buildingf^ Tlie broken shreds 
 which cover the site of a city of ancient Canaan now tell us 
 the period to which they belong as certainly as they do \n 
 Egypt or C»reece. and from a glance at the inode in wliich 
 a stone has Imh^u worked, we can learn whether it was brought 
 from the quarry in the tiines of the kings of Jvdah, or in the 
 latter epoch of Greek and Roma', dominion." 
 
 As the old Anmorite city of Lachish^so celebrated in Bible 
 story and prophecy, ts said to have been next in importance 
 to that of Jerusalem, the finding of its site and ruins, by 
 Dr. Flindf rs Petrie and Mr. F, J. Bliss, may juijtly be con- 
 sidered one of the niost valuable archaeological discove»"ies 
 made as yet in Bible I^nds. The nan>e of this old city 
 means '^* impregnable," and the place was doubtless one of 
 th,>se stronghold cities in Canaan which the discouraged 
 s](ies declared "were great and walled up to heaven," It 
 v,as evidently of greater strength when Israel enter'id Canaan 
 than any of the other walled cities of the South, as it re- 
 quned Joshua longe." time to capture it thai^ any of the 
 others i^ thf>t region (Joshua x. 31, 32). After having been 
 strength med by Rehoboam it was undoubtedly of superior 
 fortificatiovi, as it is presumalUy endent that Sennacherib, 
 king of Assyria, "and all his power with him," were unable 
 to conquer it. The vast army of this monarch we are told 
 came up against " the fenced cities of Judah " and '* en- 
 camped against I^chish," but no authentic record hao as 
 yet reveakii to us ihat they were ever able to captu": it. 
 Indeed it is rather ir?plied in the eighth verse of the nine- 
 teenth chapter of second Kings, that Sennache.ib had 
 abandoned the siege cf Lachish, and gone against Libnah, 
 
 '("/! ;; 
 
MarvcUoits Discm^eries in Bible L audi 
 
 79 
 
 *' a neighbouring city, when " the angel of the Lord went 
 out, and smote in the aimp of the Assyrians an hundred 
 four-score and five thou- i-nd," This is one of the most 
 astonishing events recorded in hi.story, and is immortalized 
 by Byron in the foUowing poem , 
 
 "The Assyrian came down like a ^ olf on the fold, 
 And his cohorts w^rt gleaming wi,h j.nirple and gold, 
 And the sheen of their spears wa . like stars on the sea, 
 >Vhen the blue waves roil raightly on deep GaHlee, 
 Like the leaves of the fores', when summer is green, 
 I'hat host with their banners at sunset were seen; ^ 
 Like the leaves ot the foiesi when autumn hath blown, 
 That host on the norrow lay witi\ered atid strown. 
 For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, 
 And breathed in tfie face of the foe as he passed : 
 And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, 
 And '.heir hearts but once heaved, and for ever were still. 
 And there lay the steed with his nostrils all wide, 
 But through them there rolled not the breath of his pride ; 
 And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf, 
 And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf. 
 And there lay the rider, distorted and pale, 
 With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail ; 
 And the tents were all -lilent, the banners alone, 
 The lances unhfted, the trumjiCts unblown. 
 And the widows of Asshur are loud in their wail, 
 And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal ; 
 And the might of the Gentile unsinote by the sword, 
 Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord." 
 
 But what makes this remarkable event still more wonder- 
 ful Is the fact that a base relief vvhich adorned the walls of 
 Sennacherib's palace at , neveh, discovered by Luyard, and 
 now in the British Museum, represents , ■ 
 
^o Marvclions Discoveries hi Bibie Lamis\ 
 
 THE SIEGE OF I^AOHISH, 
 
 with the Assyrian monarch seated upon an arm chair before 
 Ihe capturtd city, anif a long line r>!' suppliant prisoner- 
 passing betbre hini. A slab inscTiptioo connected with this^ 
 sculptured representation of the seige states : '• Sennacherib r 
 the mighty king, ki)"ig of the country of Assyria, sitting on 
 the throne ot judgntent. before the city of Lachish ;. I give 
 permi'ssion for its slaughter." A fac-simile of thi'S picture is 
 given on tiie opposite [age. . 
 
 As it is doubtfp' 'hether tlie [froud A>syri;in mona.rch 
 wnis abk- to Ccqrture cbe royal city ol Ixichi^rii,. it is- probable 
 that the sculptured scene of its ca[)ture v\as executed by 
 Sennacherib before leaving home, Jo celebrate an*ant!cii)aie(.l 
 victory which he v\^is not allowed to win. 
 
 'llie humiliation connected with the destru,ction of his; 
 jr.n Tcn>i: army leaves no roonii to doul?t that his well laid 
 plans for the jverlhrowofjudah were never executed. The 
 Scriptare rrarralive assures us that after ihc ioss of his liost 
 'Mie returned wtil- shame of face to his own land, and when 
 he was come into the hotise of hi'-/ god" his sohis " s-lew him 
 there wth the swo'-d" ' ■ ; 
 
 This destruction of the Assyrf.in host w.->i^ one of the 
 grandest and mnnt stirring events in Hebrew history, audi 
 was worthy to stand side by side with the memorable over- 
 throw of Pliaraoh eight hundred years before. It was nobly 
 fitted to give support to faith and courage in futine trials- 
 that might arise against the peo]>lo of Judah, if they slujuld 
 only place leliance on the artn of Cipod. 
 
 By looking at the circumstances connected v\tih ihe in- 
 vasion of Judah by Sennacherib at this time, the justice of 
 the Almighty in the miraculous destruction o' ins liost wili 
 be seen. 
 
MIV^fiH 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 8i 
 
 : 
 
 Repiesenlation of Sennaciieiih's anticipated victory at Laohish, 
 tlif king btins; seated upon a lofty liinnie, and receiving the submis- 
 sion of the inliabitanis aiul spoil of the ciiy. 
 
82 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands, 
 
 
 Before attacking Jerusalem, as he had intended, Sennach- 
 erib deemed it better to capture the fenced cities of 
 Judah ; and having taken many of these, so disheartened 
 Hezekiah that he agreed to pay him tribute. After making 
 a treaty of peace with the king of Judan, it appears that he 
 went to Egypt, leaving one of his generals to besiege Ashdod 
 or Azotus, a stronghold of the Philistines, Returning to 
 Palestine, Sennacherib broke his agreement, and attacked 
 the stronghold fenced cities of Judah that he had previously 
 failed to capture. lie was encamped against Lachish when 
 he sent his general, Rab-shakeh, with a threatening and 
 blasphemous message to Jerusalem, summoning Hezekiah 
 to SL. render the city. Under such trying circumstances we 
 find Hezekiah's faith and courage sustained by prayer to 
 God, that He would interpose on behalf of his people, who 
 were unable of themselves to go against the [)owcrf"l host 
 of Assyria. In answer to this prayer of Hezekiah the host 
 of Sennacherib was undoubtedly destroyed, as already 
 stated. 
 
 When or by whom this renowned city of Lachish was 
 fmally destroyed remains among the mysteries of the past. 
 The excavations of the place, however, are of the most 
 promising nature, and in due time the entire history of the 
 ancient city shall, no doubt, be brought to light. 
 
 THE LOCATION OF LACHISH 
 
 is sixteen miles to the east of Gaza, and is called by the 
 Arabs ' Um Irakis." The place has apparenUy long been 
 deserted and is utterly desolate. It is situated in a plain 
 which stretches away northward to the horizon. The foun- 
 dation of the city is a natural eminence rismg about forty 
 feet above the plain, on the summit of which a mound of 
 
nmopBia 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 83 
 
 ruins about two hundred feet each way rises sixty feet higher. 
 This hill of ruinfe undoubtedly marks the citadel of the strong 
 city, and forms a consj>icuous landmark in the landscape. 
 These ruins are the renuuns of successive buildmgs which 
 were constr-ucted at various times, one upon the ruins of the 
 other. This fort of nn'ns stands on the north-east corner of 
 an enclosure about a quarter of a nule in width. 
 
 The site of the city was well chosen in ancient times. 
 Close to it rises the only good spring of water in the whole 
 district, which, when swollen by the rains of winter, becomes 
 a ragmg torrent, known by the natives of the country as 
 " the Hesy." The stream flows past the eastern side of the 
 mound, which it has eaten away, and so exposed a large 
 section of it to view. The admirable site of this city, and 
 the spring of water which flowed beside it, made it, next to 
 Jerusalem, the most important fortress of judah. Professor 
 Sayce in speaking of this place says ; " Here we can trace 
 the citifs which have risen in siucessive ages 07ie upon the 
 ruins of the other. The earliest of these cities wa« the 
 primitive Lachish, and when in after times a lower city ex- 
 tended itself around the foot of the hill, it was still upon the 
 old site that the citadel was planted, and that the inhabitants 
 thronged together in tinie of danger. To the last the iovver 
 city remained litUe more than a .suburb; the public buildings 
 of the town and the residences of its chief inhabitants were 
 erected on the fortitied mound." '. . ? 
 
 Accordmg to Mr. iVtiie's report, the clo.se of the history 
 of the place was m the tifth century B. C. The evidence of 
 this stateiTient is based on the discover}' of portions of black 
 and red Greek poUery among the ruins " in the top foot or 
 TWO of the mound on the east side and the north-west ; the 
 most dateable of these is a part of a small vase, made about 
 
,m^' 
 
 84 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 450 B. C; and none of the other fragments indic.ile a later 
 age than this." Prof. Petrie goes on to say : <♦ If then the 
 top of the mound is of 450 B. C, liow far before that are 
 we to date the bottom of the sixty feet of ruins beneath us ? 
 unfortunately no Kgyptian objects were found which would 
 give us a hxed point ; and the only help we can get in 
 estimating what must have been a long period is in the 
 Phoenician pottery. Not much of this occurs in the mound; 
 but as many vases were found associated together in burials 
 outside of the town, we know all thec.ontem|)orary varieties, 
 and can help our dating by each of them. The date of this 
 Pha-nician pottery may lie roughly said to range from 800 
 10 1400 B. C." 
 
 Under the o].)erations of Mr. Bliss the foundations of the 
 original town have been discovered, and consists of huge 
 walls, " built of crude brick, and are as much as twenty eight 
 feet eight inches in thickness. The bricks which are about 
 twenty-two inches by twelve, are laid in alternate courses of 
 headers and stretchers. There are indications that at one 
 time the wall was partly broken down and had subsequently 
 to be repaired." 
 
 After removing the various layers of the ancient ruin, 
 Mr. liliss reached the stratum which marks the age of the 
 
 PRIMITIVE FOUNDEFtS OP THE CITY. 
 
 In the spring of 1892 he discovered the ruins of the gov- 
 ernor's {^alace of thiU ancient period. He also found the 
 Babylonian seal-cylinders, as well as the imitations of them, 
 the manufacture of which are known to belong to the period 
 wlich extends from 3000 to i 500 years B. C. An authority 
 referring to these cylinders states : '< Their western imita- 
 tions arc idetitical in style with similar cylinders which liave 
 
iHlllipilH 
 
 Mar%>eUoiis Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 85 
 
 been found in the prehistoric tombs of Cyprus and Phcenicia, 
 and so fix tiie date of the latter." 
 
 Mr. BhsH has also here discovered Egyptian beads and 
 scarabs of the Eiglueenth dynasty, among which is a bead 
 inscribed with the name and title of Teie, who was the royal 
 wife of Anienophis IJI., and mother of Amenophis IV., or 
 Khu-R-Aten. Besides this bead, when closing the excavations 
 for the season of 1892, at this place, he discovered a Cunei- 
 form tablet of similar shape and character to those recovered 
 at Tel-el-Amarna. The handwriting of this tablet "resembles 
 that of the letters which were sent to the Egyptian kings 
 from Southern Palestine, and the text turns out to be a des- 
 patch addressed to an Egtptian officer, and mentioning the 
 very person who, as we are informed by the contemi>orary 
 king of Jerusalem, as well as by a letter from him, was 
 
 
 
 THE EQYPTIAN GOVERNOR OF LAOHISH. 
 
 Zimrida, or Zimridi, was the representative of the Pharaoh 
 Khu-n-Aten in that city, and the name of Zimrida twice oc- 
 curs in the despatch," 
 
 The following is Professor Sayce's translation of this 
 tablet despatch from the governor of Lachisii to Pharaoh's 
 officer in Egypt : 
 
 " [To] the officer Bal . . .\ I . . abi prostrate inyself 
 at thy feet. Verily thou knowest that Baya and Zimrida 
 have brought the spoil (?) of the city, and Dan-Hadad says 
 to Zimrida my father : The city of Varami (perhaps Jar- 
 muth) has sent to me [and has] given me 3 pieces of . , . 
 wood, and 3 slings, and 3 falchions since I am perfect (?) 
 over the country of the king, and it has acted against me ; 
 but unto my death do I remain. As regards thy . . . which 
 
86 
 
 Marvellous Discoviries hi Bible Lands. 
 
 I have brought (?) from the enemy I . . . , and I have sent 
 Bel (?) — banilu, and . . . rabi-ihi-yuma , . . has despatched 
 his brother to this country to [strengthen it]." 
 
 Commenting on this tablet epistle. Professor Sayce says: 
 " the discovery of this document is one of the most remark- 
 able ever made in archaeological research. Cuniform tablets 
 are found in the mounds of an ancient city in Upper Egypt 
 which prove to he letters from the governors of Palestine in 
 the fifthteenth century before our era, and among them is a 
 letter from the governor of Lachish. Harlly have these 
 letters been published and examined before the excavation 
 of a distant mound in Palestine, which the archuiological 
 insight of Dr. Petrie had identified with the site of Lachish, 
 brings to light a cuniform tablet of the same age and nature, 
 on which the name of the same governor is mentioned more 
 than once. It is 
 
 A VERITABLE AROH^OLOGHOAL ROMANCE. 
 
 The discovery leads to consequences of the highest interest 
 and importance. Not only does, it verify Prof. Petrie's 
 identification of Tell el-Hesy with Lachish as well as his 
 chronological arrangement of the pottery and strata of the 
 mound ; it proves also that both Lachish and elsewhere, 
 where the ruins of the old Amorite cities still cover the soil, 
 we may expect to find libraries of archive-chambers still 
 stored with inscribed tablets of unperishable clay." 
 
 The letter in tablet inscriptions addressed by Zimridi or 
 Zimrida of Lachish which has been disinterred at Tel el- 
 Amarn a runs thus : * ' To the king my lord, my gods, my sun- 
 god, the sun-god who is from heaven, thus (writes) Zimridi, 
 the governor of the city of Lachish. Thy servant, the dust 
 
 I 
 
1 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in lUhle Lands. 8/ 
 
 of ihy feet, at the feet of the king my lord, ihe .sun-god fronj 
 hea en. bows hirnseh seven times seven. I have very cliH- 
 gently listened to the words of the messenger whom the king 
 my lord has sent to me, and now I have despatched a 
 (mission) according to his mes.sage " 
 
 This letter is of great value, giving, .as it does, .an idea of 
 the absolute power of the Pharaohs over their subjects, and 
 their absurd claim lo supreme adoration, as Deity Him- 
 self. 
 
 As to the various strata of ruins which compose the 
 mound at Lachish, we are informed thai " the most prom- 
 inent stage in the history of the town is pointed out by the 
 WMdespread beds of ashes and the underlying stratum of 
 stream-bed stones nhich lie above t.lie ruins of the first and 
 earliest city." The excavators have no doubt that these 
 ashes were spread by the wind. ' 
 
 Above these ash deposits •' alternate layers of black char- 
 coal dust and white lune ash streak the face of the mound 
 for a depth of about five feet, and the lines are always un- 
 broken and continuous, often a streak not over half an inch 
 thick being traceable for ten or twenty feet, and gradually 
 thinning out at the ends." As no deposit l)y hands could 
 effect this, it is believed that the .stuff must have been wind- 
 borne and dropped by the breeze without intv.'rference. It 
 is also believed that tire sources of these ashes were doubt- 
 less the burning of plants for alkali, as is now done by the 
 Bedouin, and that at the time when the alkali burners re- 
 sorted here, and when their a.shes blew about and settled 
 undisturbed over a great part of the hill, the city must have 
 been deserted by its former inhabitants. 
 
-nw 
 
 rnmmn 
 
 88 
 
 Marirllaus Discoveries in Bible Lafids, 
 
 ONE LAYER OF THE RUINS 
 
 i i 
 
 is cliictly made up of rounded stones from the adjacent 
 stream, .showing a time when no regular brickwork was used, 
 but when huts were roughly piled up of the nearest material ; 
 a barbaric period followed by a desolation. So far as can 
 be ascertained from the evidence adduced, this ]ieriod of 
 barbarism and desolation corresponds with the time of the 
 Judges, a period, according to some authorities, of over 400 
 years, extending from the death of Joshua to the accession 
 of Saul. 
 
 It is impossible to give an exact chronology of this period, 
 because the story of the Judges is not written in the chrono- 
 logical method. But we have some general outlines by 
 which a fair estimate can be made. " During the time of 
 the Judges the government was largely that of a lepublic, 
 of which God himself was the real head. The high priest 
 was God's prime minister, the priests and the Levites were 
 to decide ordinary cases and to instruct the nation ; and 
 the judges were raised up to l)e military commanders in 
 times of special need." 
 
 By careful reading of the book of Judges we are led to 
 infer that 
 
 THE PERIOD OP THE JUD(3I-ES 
 
 !;. ' ■; 
 
 was a terribly barbaric age ; its fragmentary records speak 
 of savage retaliation, and the fierce struggles of disorganized 
 tribes. It is recorded that "in those times there was no 
 place to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but 
 great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the coun- 
 tries. And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of 
 city (2 Chrou. xv. 5, 6 ). We are also informed that •' the 
 
n 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in BibU Lamh. 
 
 89 
 
 liighways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked tlirougli 
 by-ways. The inhabitants of the villages ceased," and that 
 as there was no king in Israel, "every man did that which 
 was right in his own eyes " (Judges v. 6, 7 ; xvii. 6). And 
 it can easily be gathered from the sequel that few among 
 the people did "that which was right." Consequently, as 
 ptinishmcnt for their evil doings, the .Sujireme Ruler of 
 nations, who cannot do otherwise, and be (rod, than punish 
 the transgressor of His Divine i,aw, raised up enemies in 
 every quarter as executioners ot His justice, who invaded 
 the land and le(t many of their choice <nties in ruins. How- 
 ever, amid all the turmoil and battle-array of those days, it 
 is also recorded that there were intervals of peace and 
 prosperity, whiih. on the whole, were much longer th;i,n the 
 times of war and oppression. Although the general im- 
 pression given by the Sacred narrative is, that there was no 
 peace to him tliat wont out or came in during all those 
 years ; yet, it would \x. a mistake to suppose that there was 
 nothing during all the centures covered by the Book of 
 Judges but an unbroken series of apostasies and judgments. 
 In the darkest hours of that period, we have reason to be- 
 lieve there were some of the people that fe;<red (Jod, and 
 for their sakes His execution of justice was mixed with 
 mercy ; hence the intervals of peace and security related in 
 His Word. 
 
 ^ 
 
 Notwithstanding those seasons of peacefulness, however, 
 there is no record to intimate that any of the cities of 
 Canaan destroyed by Joshua, or invading enemies after his 
 death, were repaired until after the monarchy under the 
 kings was established. Ju Uie Scri|)ture record we have 
 
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 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
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 Corporation 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, NY MS80 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 
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90 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Hihlc Lands. 
 
 
 A &REAT BREAK IN THE HISTORY OP 
 PALESTINE, 
 
 betwt'en the desiniction of the Aiuoritc ♦•ivilization and the 
 establishment of th > Jewish civili/ation under the kings ; and 
 the stratum c>\ rude material in the ruins of Lachish, cor- 
 res[)onds to that period. In fact it is considered by wise 
 men, who have carefully investigated the matter, that there 
 was no other peiiod in the national h)slory of Israel when 
 the large mound of ruins, forming the remains of Lachish, 
 could have accunuiiated. 
 
 immediately above the stratum of the ruins of the old 
 Amorite city " the excavator has found the remains of a 
 n^w Lachish with strong fortifications and public buildings 
 of stone. Among the stones are slabs on which pilasters 
 of curious form have 1 en cut in relief. In j)lace of a <a|)i- 
 tal each pilaster is finished with a rolule which has the form 
 of a ram's horn," Among the remains of this new city it is 
 apparent on every hand that the fortifications and buildings 
 were from time to time ruined by an enemy, or fcH into de- 
 cay of their own accord, and that ui)on their foundations 
 fresh walls and buildings were " constructed out of the old 
 stones. In one place tiiere is a ' glacis-slope:' some thirty 
 feet in breadth, formed of blocks of stone, bedded in the 
 earth, and faced with white plaster. The slabs on which 
 tlie i>ilastcrs are carved, and which Mr. Petrie would refer 
 to the reign of Solomon, have Ikjcii smoothed wiili Hint 
 scrapers." Thus the Jewish lachish had its " ups and 
 downs" until after the final cajjlivity of Judah, when it evi- 
 dently sank into decay and ruins, and remained s^» until 
 now resurrected after its long night of oblivion to conlirni 
 the record of Bible story. 
 
 
 1 i 
 
Manelhms DiMo^'eries in IHhle Lands, 91 
 
 " While Mr. Peirie and Mr. Bli^s have ihus been working 
 at Lachish, the natives have been working in the neighljor- 
 liood of ('»a/:a, at a spot the exact situation of which is un- 
 known. J3ut wherever it is, it is a site which goes back to 
 the (lays of 
 
 THE EGYPTIAN SUPREMACY IN CANAAN, 
 
 Some of tlie objects whicii liave been found there have 
 been purchased by Mr. bliss, and prove to belong to the 
 age of the Kighteenth Egyptian dynasty. Among them are 
 alabaster vases bearing the name of Ainenophis III. and his 
 wife Teie. Another object bears an inscription which s'aows 
 that it beloni;e<l to a temple of the g0(]dess Mul, and that 
 this temple had been erected by Anienophis U., the grand- 
 father of Amenoi>his 1(1. As objects of Egyptian manufac- 
 ture have thus been lying undisturbed on the site since an 
 earlier period than that of the reign of K.hu-n-Aten, we may 
 anticipate that here also a library of cuneiform tablets similar 
 to those at Tel ei-Amarna will he found." As to these tablets 
 the illustration on page 9.^ will show the reader what ihey 
 are. We know that in Babylonia and in Kgyjit the in- 
 terior of a temple was the favourite place in which to store 
 the contents of a library, and it is therefore by no means 
 iniprobabki that the modern fellahin lave lighted on the site 
 of the ancient library of (iaza, and that astounding revela- 
 tions will be made in due time. The exploration of West- 
 ern Palestine is, doubtless, almost exhausted on the surfa4;e, 
 but there is evidently a great future for it underground." 
 A noted authority referring to this subject says : " We have 
 run most of the (piestions to earth ; it only remains to dig 
 thciu u])." As to 
 
 . 
 
 Hyy. 
 
wmrtim 
 
 f! 
 
 92 JMarvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands, 
 
 THB PHILISTINE GOD DAaON, 
 
 it has been discovereri that instead of l)eing representee* as 
 " the fish god," composed nf half iDan and h;ilf fish, as shown 
 in picrtnre books, he should Ix; set forth as a " ploughman" 
 in re})re?ientation of *• an agricultural <k'ity who w^atched 
 over the growth .\nd ripening of the crops." 
 
 That Dagon was " the god of corn is shown by a Phce- 
 nician cylindvical seal of crystal now in the Ar.hmolear» 
 Museum at Oxford," on which i'* inscribed in Phoenician 
 letters the name of " Baal-Dagon," while an ear of corn is 
 engraved near it. 
 
 This discovery explains vrhy the " tive golden mice" were 
 sent as a tres-i^ass ofTering to the God of Israel, by the Phil- 
 istines, on their return of the ark to Beth -she nu;!sh, as recorded 
 in the sixth chapter of first Samuel. The plain of Philistia 
 was one of the most productive sections of the Holy Land, 
 and the Philistines were an agricultural people. Jehovah, 
 the God of Israel, was looked ui)on by them as essentially 
 •' the Ix)rd of hosts," " a man of war," '' and as such he was 
 the antagonist of the agricultural god of the Philistine cities. 
 fie had proved his su[)eric,r power by overthrowing the 
 image of their god, )ust as in external nature the corn which 
 was under that god's protection was destroyed by the mice. 
 It was accordingly natural to conclude thivt the mice were 
 the instruments and symbols ol the (lod of Israel, and that 
 the surest way of appeasing his wrath was to present him 
 with them in a costly form." 
 
 By reading the Scripture narrative it is diflkull to grasp 
 the idea that Dagon was a god who protected their fish, as 
 there is no intimation given that they were exer engaged in 
 any kind oi marine occupation. But, when the iuviges of 
 
 I 
 
Mai'^i'cllous Disiovcrics in Bible l.attds. 93 
 
 Plate I. 01 thk Tkl-el-Amarna Tahlkts, 
 discovered in i888, as referred to '\n page 39. 
 
 the "mice that mar the land" are mentioned, we infer at 
 once that Dagoii must have been a god who guarded the 
 corn which the mice destroyed, and hence the meaning of 
 the passage becomes dear. Any person who has had ex- 
 perience of the destruction caused by a profusion of mice 
 among unthrashed grain will have no trouble to understand 
 why the rhilistines were so anxious to return the ark with 
 the tresspass offering of the golden mice, in hopes that the 
 
94 
 
 Marvellous Discm'crics in Bible Lands. 
 
 ravages of ihe little crcatuics which infested their corn stacks 
 might cease their ravages. 
 
 THE FAMOUS SILO AM INSCRIPTION, 
 
 accidently discovered a few years ago, is also another re- 
 markable revelation in supjjort of the accuracy of Bible his- 
 tory, and has led to a series of other similar discoveries of 
 the greatest interest and value. In 2rid Kings xx. 20, it is 
 stated that He/ekiah " made a pool and a conduit, and 
 brought water into the city" of Jerusalem ; and in 2 Chronicles 
 xxxii. 30, we read that " This same He/ekinh also stopped 
 lh( uj)j)er water course of Gihon, and brouj^ht it 'Straight 
 down to the west side of the City of David." lioth of these 
 statements are now fully established, apart from the Scrip- 
 ture narrative. 
 
 The Pool of Siloam, which lies in a recess at the south- 
 eastern termination of Zion, is fed bv a subterraneous chan- 
 nel, which was evidently hewn at some period of lime 
 through the solid rock which forms the lower .spur of the 
 ridge of Ophel, to the Fountain ^^f Gihon. whose waters 
 <* rose outside the walls on the sloping clitTwhich overlooks 
 the valley of the Kidron. The distance between these 
 two points, in a straight Ime, is about i 200 feet, but the 
 length of the tunnel through which the water Hows from 
 the Fountain to the Pool, owing to it:; many windmgs, 
 is T708 feet by actual measurement. 
 
 Although this undergroimd water course was known to 
 exist, yet its real existence and connections were ma-k' ab- 
 soluttl) certain through the indefatigable exertions of Dr. 
 Edward Robinson, of New York, the great pioneer of Pales- 
 tine FAploration Society, accompanied by Dr. Smith, an 
 American Missionary at Beirout, who had the hardihood 
 
■F 
 
 Hi 
 
 Hm 
 
 Man'elloHs Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 95 
 
 • 
 
 to creep through the whole length of the tunnel, and that of 
 of Captain Warren, of the same Society, who accom- 
 plished the same feat when excavating at Jerusalem. 
 Having thus discovered the tunnel and its connections, the 
 real date and circumstances of its construction have been 
 determined beyond all doubt by the discovery of an inscrip- 
 tion engraved on the rocky wall of one of the sides, about 
 sixteen feet from its mouth at Siloam. The discovery of the 
 inscription was made accidently in this way in 1 880 : " In 
 the summer of that year some native pupils of Mr. Schick, 
 a German architect long settled in Jerusalem, were wading 
 in the Pool of Siloam, and the part of the tunnel which opens 
 into it, when one of them slipped and fell in the water ; on 
 rising to the surface he noticed what appeared to be letters 
 cut in the reck, and accordingly informed Mr. Schick of 
 what he had observed, Mr. Schick visited the spot, and 
 at once saw that an ancient inscription had been found, 
 and had a copy of the engraving made and sent to Europe 
 for decipherment at the earliest date possible. But owing 
 to the fact that the inscription on the rock had been carved 
 below the ordinary level of the water which flowed through 
 the subterranean passage, the characters had thus become 
 filled with a deposit of lime, so that it was impossible to cor- 
 rectly distinguish the letters." 
 
 The first mtelligible copy of this inscription was made, 
 howevci, by Professor Sayce in Feb. 1881, who tells the 
 story thereof as follows : " In the winter after the di.scovery 
 I arrived at Jerusalem, and one of ray first visits was to the 
 newly found inscription. To make a copy of it, however, 
 proved to be a more troublesome task than I had antici- 
 pated. Not only was it difficult to determine the forms of 
 the letters, owing to the lime depo.sits, which had equally 
 
96 
 
 Marvellous Discoi'eries in Bible Lands. 
 
 filled every crack and crevice in the rock, it was necessary 
 to sit for hours in the mud and water of the channel deciph- 
 ering them as best one could by the dim light of a candle. 
 It was not until three afternoons had been spent in this 
 fashion that I had the satisfaction of obtaining a text, the 
 greater part of which could be read, and which proved to 
 be a record of the construction of the conduit written in 
 pure Biblical Hebrew." 
 
 The inscription consists of six lines, all of which are per- 
 fect with the exception of a few letters which have been 
 destroyed by the wearing away of the stone. 7'he following 
 is a correct translation as taken by Professor Sayce : 
 
 " [Behold] the excavation ! Now this is the history of 
 the excavation. While the excavators were lifting up the 
 pick, each towards his neighbour, and while there were yet 
 three cubits to [excavate, there was heard] the voice of one 
 man calling to his neighbour, for there was an excess in the 
 rock on the right hand [and on the left]. And after that on 
 the day of excavating the excavators had struck pick against 
 pick, one against the other, the waters flowed from the 
 Sjjring to the Pool for a distance of 1 200 cubits. And a 
 hundred cubits was the height of the rock over the head of 
 the excavators." 
 
 The translator of this inscription also states that there is 
 no date or name engraved on the rock bearing this inscrip- 
 tion, but unmistakable indications in the style go back to 
 the eighth century before our era, which would bring 
 us to the reign of Hezekiah, and this tunnel was, no doubt, 
 the work of that king. He also adds : "As the word 
 Gihon means ' a spring,' it can refer only to the single spring 
 of water possessed by Jerusalem. It would seem, therefore* 
 that what He/ekiah did was to ' stop ' the spring, and in- 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands, 
 
 97 
 
 troduce water into the city by means of a tunnel whi' h ed 
 to a pool in the western side ot the ' City of David.' And 
 now at the end of two thousand seven hundred years after 
 its construction this tunnel remains as a silent witness to the 
 Scripture record that Hezekiah, king of Judah ' made a i)()ol 
 and a conduit, and brought water into the city.' " t 
 
 As it is evident by the inscription that the work of ex- 
 cavating this tunnel was begun at both ends at the same 
 time " the engineering skill exhibited in its construction was 
 of no mean order. When we consider the length of the 
 tunnel, its winding course, and the depth below the surface 
 of the ground at which it had been cut through the solid 
 rock, it becomes pretty clear that the engineers who super- 
 intend the work must have had scientific instruments of 
 some kind to guide them." Although the tunnel winds 
 considerably, doubdess for the sake of following the softer 
 lines of the rock, the workmen so nearly met in the middle 
 that the sound of their tools must have been heard by each 
 party as they were about to jjass one another at the centre 
 of the aqueduct where the "rib" was evidently broken 
 through by a distance of about two feet only, in order to 
 make the connection. 
 
 The following report of Captain Warren's dilticult tour 
 through this 
 
 POOL OF SILOAM TUNNEL 
 
 will give the reader an idea of what it really is. Captain 
 Warren and his assistants enter.d the rock-cut passage 
 leading from the V^irgin's Fountain to the Pool of Siloam 
 from the Siloam end, where the height is sixteen feet, sloping 
 down to four feet, and the width two feet. He reports thus : 
 
 ■ i 
 
98 
 
 Marvelions Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 " The bottom is a soft silt, with a calcarous crust at ih ". 
 top, strong enough to bear the human weight, excejit in a 
 few places, where it lets one in with a tlojj. r*ur measure- 
 ments of height were taken from the top of this crust, as it 
 now forms the bottom of the atjueduct, the mud-silt is from 
 fifteen inches to eighteen inches deep. We were now 
 crawling on all-fours, and thought we were getting on very 
 pleasently, the water being only four inches deep, and we 
 were not wet higher than our hips. Presently bits of cab- 
 bage-stalks came floating by, and we suddenly awoke to the 
 fact that the waters were rising. The Virgin's Foun is a 
 sort of scullery to the Silwan village, the refuse thrown ihere 
 being carried off down the passage each lime the water 
 rises. The rising of the waters had not been anticipated, 
 as they had risen only two hours previous to our entrance. 
 
 At eight-hundred and fifty ieet the height of the channel 
 was reduced to one foot ten inches, and here our troubles 
 began. The water was running with great violence, one 
 foot in height, and we, crawling full length, were up to our 
 necks in it. 1 was particularly embarrased': One hand 
 necessarily wet and dirty ; the other holding a pencil, com- 
 pass, and field-book ; the candle for the most part in my 
 mouth. Another nfty feet brought us to a place where we 
 had regularly to run the gauntlet of the waters. The pass- 
 age being only one foot four inches high, we had just four 
 inches breathing-space, and had .some difficulty in twisting 
 our necks round properly. When observing, my mouth was 
 under water. At nine hundred feet we came upon two false 
 cuttings, one on each side of the aqueduct. They go in for 
 about two feet each. I could not discover any appearance 
 of their being passages ; if they are, and are stopped up for 
 any distance, it will be next to impossible to clear them out 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 )9 
 
 in such a place. Just here I involuntarily swallowed a \^ox- 
 tion of my lead-pencil, nearly choking for a minute or two. 
 We were now going in a zig zai: direction towards the 
 north-west, and the height increased to four feet six inches, 
 which gave us a little breathing-space, but at ten hundred 
 and fifty feet we were reduced to two feet six inches, and at 
 eleven tiundred feet we were again crawling with a height 
 of only one foot ten inches. VVe should probably have 
 suffered more from cold than we did, had not our risable 
 faculties been excited by the sight of our fellah in front 
 l)lunging and puffing through the water like a young grampus. 
 At eleven hundred and fifty feet the passage again averaged 
 in height two feet to two feet six inches, at fourteen hundred 
 we heard the sound of water dripping as described by Cap- 
 tain Wilson, the Rev. Dr. Barclay, and others. I carefully 
 looked backwards and forwards, and at last found a fault in 
 the rock, where the water was gurgling, but whether rushing 
 in or out I could not ascertain. At fourteen hundred and 
 fifty feet we commenced turning to the east, and the passage 
 attained a height of six feet ; at sixteen hundred and fifty- 
 eight feet we came upon our old friend, the pas.sage leading to 
 the Ophal shaft, and, after a further fifty feet, to the Virgin's 
 Fount. Our candles were just becoming exhausted, and the 
 last three angles I could not take very exactly. There were 
 fifty-seven stations of the compass. When we came out it 
 was dark, and we had to stand shivering for some minutes 
 before our clothes were brought to us. We were nearly 
 four hours in the water. I find a difference of forty-two 
 
 feet between my measurements and those of Dr. Robinson ; 
 but if he took the length of the Virgin's Fount into account 
 
 we shall very nearly agree. 
 
 '• The discovery of a shaft down to the water of the Vir- 
 
 ^i 
 
 
ICX) Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 gin's Fount threw considerable light upon the object of the 
 rock-cut canuls about Jerusalem, as proving them, as had 
 been conjectured by some, to have been for conducting away 
 the refuse of blood from the 'rcmi)le." 
 
 Such is the graphic description of this remarkable sub- 
 terranean water-course given by Captain Warren, and " is 
 a fair example of the manner in which he and his associates 
 carried on their explorations in under and around Jerusa- 
 lem — always with great fatigue, and often not unaccompanied 
 by danger." 
 
 ANOTHER TUNNEL OP SMALLER DIMENSIONS 
 
 and straight course, some distiince beneath this one of 
 Hezekiah's, has also been discovered, and corresjionds to 
 that referred to by Isaiah (viii. 6) in which " the waters of 
 Shiloah go softly." 
 
 As the prophecy of Isaiah was delivered while Ahaz, the 
 father of Hezekiah, was still reigning, thislower tunnel must 
 have been formed at an earlier date than the other, and 
 that the water was already flowing softly through it when 
 the other was built. In the Scripture narrative it is dis- 
 tinctly stated tha:: it was '• the upper water-course" or spring 
 of Gihon, known also as the Virgin's Spring, which was 
 " stopped" by Hezekiah, so that the upper source infers 
 that there must have been a lower one then in existence. 
 *' It is a remarkable proof of the historical accuracy of Scrip- 
 ture that explorers within the last few years have found what 
 they believed to be the very plug — a plug of stone — with 
 which Hezekiah shut ofT the waters so that they might be 
 of no advantrge to Sennacherib during the siege of the 
 city." 
 
 The object with which this upper tunnel of Siloam was 
 
MaYiillous Discoveries in Bible L,inds. lOi 
 
 luade is obvious. The Virgin's Spring is the only spring ol 
 fresh water in the ininicdiato ncighbourhoDd of Jerusalem, 
 and in time of siege it was important that while the enemy 
 sljould be deprived of access to it, its waters should be made 
 available for those who were within the city," 
 
 But, as this spring rose outside the walls, on the sloping 
 clifF which overlooks that part of the Kidron, known as the 
 valley of Gihon, to the west of the city, in ordei .it its 
 overflowing water should be brought into Jeri.salem. v was 
 necessary that a long [..issage be excavated in ihr rock «uch 
 as has already been referred to. The spring it .^If was evi- 
 dently cov . ! with masonry so that it could be '• sealed up" 
 in cise of war ; and, ihat it was actually so sealed ut the 
 time of Sennacherib's invasion of Judah we are assure^, by 
 the record in 2 Chronicles xxxii. 3, ^. Here it is stated 
 that at that lime He/.ekiah " took coui sel with his princes 
 and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which 
 were without the city, and tl^-y did help him. S*"* 
 there was gathered much peoj)le together, who shopped 
 all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst 
 of the land, saying, Why should the king of Assyria come 
 and find much water." As to 
 
 THE WATER SUPPLY OP JERUSALEM, 
 
 it is evident that the spring •' Gihon" su])plied water to the 
 residents of that portion of Jerusalem known as Zion,orthe 
 City of David, at least ; but that the water required for the 
 Temple service, and the people in times of emergency, wt.s 
 brought by an underground channel from the highlands to 
 the south of Bethlehem, in the hill country of Judea. 
 
 The late Dr. Thomp.son, author of " The Land and the 
 Book," in describing the " Pools of Solomon" in that region 
 
I 
 
 -m.. l: 
 
 
 !02 Jifar^'ellous DiscoViries in lUblc Lands, 
 
 states, that the aqueduct leading from these pools to the 
 Holy City •' passes along the eastern end of the hill of 
 Bethlehem, and thence by numerous windings, to get round 
 the heads of the ravines, it is conducted to Jerusalem. Near 
 that city it is carried along the wes' side of the valley of 
 Gihon to the north-western end of the lower pool of Gihon, 
 where it crosses to the east side, and, winding round the 
 southern declivity of Zion, tinally entered the south-eastern 
 corner of the Temple area, where the water was employed 
 in the various services of the sanctuary."' 
 
 This statement is sujjported by the actual facts of the case 
 as they are known to exist to-day. *' The temple site at 
 Jerusalem was an enormous plateau of rock neai ly a quarter 
 of a miie sciuare, and originally rising about one hundred 
 and fifty feet above the valley on the east. This rock is 
 discovered to be honey-combed with vast cisterns, the largest 
 holding three million gallons, and thirty-five thus far exam- 
 ined having a coml)ined capacity of ten million gallons, 
 sufficient to supply two hundred thousand people with 
 drinking water for a year," 
 
 THE POOLS OF SOLOMON, 
 
 from which this water sujjply for the 'i'emple war, ol)tained, 
 are located in a narrow valley between Bethlehem and 
 Hebron, about eight miles north of the latter place. Their 
 dimensions given by Dr. Robinson arc — for the first, that 
 most to the east, 582 feet by 207 and 50 deep, the .second 
 423 by 250 and 39 deep, the third 380 by 236 and 25 deep. 
 Jiut they are all narrower at the upper end \ the fust being 
 148, the second 160. the third 229 feet broad there. These 
 pools are formed in the native rock. The sides are walls 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 103 
 
 built up with large regularly-S([uared stones, and the style 
 of the masonary bespeaks great anticjuity. The bottom and 
 sides have been carefully coated with cement. They are 
 su])pled with water from the surrounding ravines and moun- 
 tains, tlieir chief source of supply being a copious spring 
 about forty rods to the north-west, from whence the water 
 is conveyed by an artifical channel many feet below the 
 surface. This spring is said to be Solomon's Sealed Foun- 
 tain referred to in Song iv. 12. It is also, doubtless, one 
 of those fountains which were without the city, and the 
 aqueduct, from the pools to Jerusalem, was no doubt "the 
 brook that ran through the midst of the land," which Heze- 
 kiali stopped in order to cut off the water from Sennacherib. 
 Assuming this to be so, the Sacr?d record of that event 
 becomes clear as noon-day, and support.s the Scripture nar- 
 rative to the letter. 
 
 Another remarkable incident which casts light on an 
 obscure portion of Bible history was the discovers of 
 
 THE ROYAL QUARRIES AT JERUSALEM 
 
 by Cnptain Warren in 1852. In that year an entrance was 
 discovered a short distance to the east of the Damast;us gate 
 on the north side of the city. Opening by a passage leading 
 to vast subterranncan ciuarries. At first there is presented 
 to the visitor the appearance of a natural cave only, but 
 ere long the steej* descent leads to huge corridors which 
 must have been excavated by the hand of man. 
 
 In exploring these underground excavations, by the aid 
 of a lighted taper, you are confounded at the depth and 
 extent of the numerous vaults, which run in all directions, 
 forming a labyrinth of extensive chambers, cut in the solid 
 rock, and extending under one side of the city from Kezetha 
 
 ■'f 
 
 • -■i:m 
 
 
104 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 M 
 
 to iMotint Moriah. As you travel through cavern after 
 cavern of these subterranean vaults, to the old city wall 
 in the south-east v,orner vchi feel inspired with a deep 
 sense of awe and solemnity. The sombre walls, jagged 
 roof, quaint archways, rubbish mounds, prost: wte blocks, 
 sharp precipices, rock-cut steps leading to dismal amphi- 
 theatres, and above all, the weird ap])earancc of fantastic 
 shadows cast by the brigh> rays of the taper you hold in 
 your hand, form a spectacle never to be forgotten. 
 
 The whole surroundings of the place indicate that it was 
 once a hive of activity. On every hand you see chisellings 
 and other mason's marks on the surface stones which pro- 
 fusely strew the floor. The work of quarrymg stone in this 
 place was a])parently effected by the use ol a jiick-axe with 
 a broad chisel-shaped end. The marks of the cutting 
 instruments are as plain and well defined as if the workmen 
 had just ceased from tl\eir labour. On the walls of the 
 chambers are also visible the stains of the smoke of the 
 lamps which were evidently placed in niches cut in the 
 rock to give light to the workers. 
 
 The stone seems to be of a soft nature that should be 
 easily worked in its crude state, but which might become 
 hardened by exposure, like that of Malta and Paris. Its 
 colour is nearly white. 
 
 The roof of these excavations is supported by massive 
 rock pillars and side ribs which were left standing in the 
 various sections. In the extreme end of the last chamber 
 are blocks of stone but half quarried, and still attached by 
 one side to the solid rock. In one place there is a huge stone 
 partly cut down, but left unfinished. The heaps of chippings 
 which lie about show that the stones were dressed and pre- 
 )tared in the vaults for some special woxk, and the idea that 
 
 
AIan>cllous Disccn^eries in Bible Lands. 105 
 
 they were used in the Temple building, is supported by the 
 Scripture record, which states : " And the house, when it 
 was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was 
 brought thither, so that there was neither hammer nor axe 
 nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in build- 
 ing (i Kings vi. 7). In the 
 
 PREPARATION OF THE STONE FOR THE 
 
 TEMPLE 
 
 at Jerusalem, being thus hiddenly quarried and dressed in 
 the places far below the erea on which the temple stood* 
 there is a signal illustration of the fact, that believers who 
 are " lively stones " in the " spiritual house " beyond the 
 skies, of which the building of Solomon was a type, must be 
 prepared by the operation of the Divine Spirit in the quarry 
 of this world, for taking their place in that eternal abode. 
 
 Although it is generally believed, and the evidence from 
 the Bible is strongly presumptive, that the stones used in the 
 building of " Solomon's I'emple " were brought from Mount 
 Lebanon, yet the sacred historian fails to say so ; and the 
 probabilities are that many of them were cut from the 
 quarries beneath the Holy City, which have already been 
 described. One thing in favour of this likelihood is the fact 
 that the mouth of the passage leading to the quarry is but a 
 little below the level of the platform on which the Temple 
 stood, making the transportation of the immense blocks of 
 stone a comparatively easy task. The stone here is also 
 said to be of the same nature as much of that of the Lebanon 
 range, which is a further support of the probability that 
 many of the stones used in the Temple building came from 
 these underground quarries. Be this as it may, however, 
 as the Bible says nothing to the contrary, it is ditiicult to 
 
""•^^ 
 
 io6 Marvcllons Discoi'erzes in Bible Lands. 
 
 believe that the " great stones " such as have been discov- 
 ered in the lower walls of the old Temple, soine of whieh are 
 said to exceed one hundred tons in weight, were transported 
 from Mount Lebanon. 
 
 That the cedar and fir-trees tinT^>er used in the Temple 
 building came fronnt I^banon, there is no ground for doubt, 
 as we are told that Hiram sent it do\vn from Tyre to Joppa 
 in floats, from whence it was taken up to Jerusalem by 
 some means not revealed to us. 
 
 Taking the whole matter into consideration, the writer's 
 conviction is that many portions of the Temple walls were 
 constructed of substantial wrought stones obtained in the 
 vicinity of Jerusalem. It is not to be denied, however, that 
 the outer walls of the Temple, erected by Solomon, were of 
 marble blocks. A received authority referring to this mat- 
 ter, states : " Alone and isolated in its grandeur stood the 
 Temple Mount. Terrace upon terrace its courts rose, till, 
 high above the city, within the enclosure of marble cloisters, 
 cedar-roofed and richly ornamented, the Temple itself stood 
 out a mass of snowy marble and of gold, glittering in the 
 sunlight against the half-encircling green background of 
 Olivet." This statement is not out of harmony with the 
 Bible record which states, that David, before his death, had 
 prepared marble, gold, timber, precious stones and much 
 other valuable material for the construction of the Temple, 
 which he left in charge pf Solomon with the advice that he 
 might add thereto. It is also stated, in the same connection 
 with this, that David had " set masons to hew wrought 
 stones to build the house of god." This latter statement of 
 the Sacred record leaves no iDom to doubt that there were 
 many other wrought stones used in the Temple besides those 
 of marble j and it is more than probable, that in the near 
 
Mavvclloiis Discm'crics in Bible Lands. 107 
 
 future, some inscription will be unearthed, similar to that of 
 the Siioam Tunnel, Ijearing testimony that the stones which 
 king David set masons to carve for the Tcmi)le were cut 
 from the great quarries !)eneath the Holy City. Meantime, 
 we must await the issue of further research before definite 
 conclusions can be drawn. 
 
 Among all the discoveries hitherto made in Bible lands, 
 the ruins of Tyre, Nineveh and Babylon excepted, none are 
 more calculated to bear witness to the truthfulness of God's 
 Word than the saddening desolation manifest in the vicinity 
 of tlie Holy City, and many other portions of the " Promised 
 Land ' The Sacred record assures us that " Jerusalem shall 
 be trodden down of the (lentiles, until the times of the 
 Gentiles be fulfilled," also, that " a fruitful land shall be 
 turned into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell 
 therein." These predictions of " Ciod, that cannot lie," are 
 <;vidently being fulfilled. Jerusalem has indeed been long 
 trodden down by the Mohammedan powei, and the site of 
 its <' holy and beautiful house," which once graced the sum- 
 mit of Moriah, has long since been desecrated l)y the erection 
 of the Mosque of Omar, which is one of the chief centres 
 of the Mohametan impostor. The tombs of David, Solomon 
 and other renowned kings of Israel and Judah, have been 
 rified and desecrated. Mount Zion, beautiful lor situation» 
 the joy of the whole eanh, with the city of the <;reat king 
 on its north ;jide, is now plowed as a field, in fulfilment o* 
 the prediction uttered by Micah, the Morasthite, in the days 
 of HeKckiah: "Thus saith the Lord of hoses, Zion shall 
 be plowed hke a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, 
 and the mountain of the house as the high places of the 
 forest" (Jer. xxvi, 18). 
 
 ■idii 
 
I08 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 THE WAILING PLACE OF THE JEWS, 
 
 near the ruins oi their National Temple, is an undying' tes- 
 timony to the assurance given in the Sacred volume, that 
 (lod shall yet have mercy upon Zion, and that there is a set 
 time appointed to favour her, which shall assuredly come as 
 promised. '• When the Lord shall l»uild up Zion, he shall 
 appear in his glory. He will regard the prayer of the des- 
 titute, who takes pleasure in her stones and favours the dust 
 thereof." Mthough these promises are undoubtedly of 
 spiritual meaning to the Christian, yet their literal meaning 
 in the ex' ericnce of God's ancient people cannot he 
 doubted. 
 
 As this place of wailing is a sorrowful spot, of special in- 
 terest to the Christian traveller on his visit to the Holy City, 
 we will, for a few moments, visit it. 
 
 It is Friday afternoon, and after winding our way through 
 narrow streets and lanes we reach an ancient wall of 56 feet 
 in height and 150 feet in length, and constructed of 24 
 layers of stones, each of which range from 12 to i6 feet in 
 length. 
 
 On entering the narrow court-yard surrounded by this 
 wall, we find the place filled with men, women and children 
 of the Hebrew family, mourning with all the intensity of 
 their nature, for the desolation that has come upon Zion 
 and the city of their fathers' sepulchres. As this scene is 
 beheld, the " I^amentations of Jeremiah" become a positive 
 reality before our eyes, and we can understand the meaning 
 of the prophet as never before. Here old men and women, 
 whose grief is beyond control, spread out their withered 
 hands on the rough stones of the wall, and, with tears 
 streaming down their cheeks, passionately embrace the stones 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 109 
 
 worn smooth by the pressure of the lips of countless pil- 
 grima, and cry out in bitterness of spirit as they think of the 
 glories which have long since departed, and the shame and 
 dishonour which has befallen their once honoured and peace- 
 ful nation. The scene is a weird and heartrending one, 
 never to be forgotten, as the leading patriarcli or rabbi 
 chants the service, with the great book, ol the bw open be- 
 fore him, waiMng out his agony, and the people, with tears 
 streaming down their (aces, uttering the responses behind 
 the stern gray walls that overlook the scene, and seem to 
 bar the happiness and progress of the Jewish nation forever. 
 The following is the litany that has been used every week 
 for many generations on such an o<:casion as this : 
 
 Leader, Response. 
 
 *' For the place that lies desolate," *^ We sit in solitude and mourn." 
 *« For the place that is destroyed," " PVf sit in solitude and mour-n." 
 *• For the walls that are overthrown," " IVe sit in solitude and mourn." 
 *' For our great men who lie dead,'' ^^ We sit in solitude and mourn." 
 "For the priests who have stumbled," " IVe sit in solitude and mourn," 
 •• For our kings who have despised 
 
 him , * ' " IVe sit in solitude and mourn. " 
 
 When this last response is repeated, the mourning and 
 beating of the wall ceases, the tears are dried, and the ser- 
 vice of wailing is changed to that of hope breaking upon the 
 vision, and the service assumes the form of prayer, thus ; 
 
 Leader. Response. 
 
 ** Haste, haste. Redeemer of Zion." "Speak to the heart of Jerusa- 
 lem." 
 " May beauty and majesty surround "Ah, turn thyself, merciful to 
 
 Ziom." Jerusalem." 
 
 *' May the kingdom soon return to "Comfortthose that mouru over 
 
 Zion." Jerusalem." 
 
■ V 
 
 1 10 Marvelhhs Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 *• May peace ami joy abide with " And the branch >f 7'^s5tf 
 Zion." spring up at Jertisalem.'* 
 
 This exercise being one of the jnost saddening, callous 
 must the soul be that could view it without inspiring a sigh 
 or dropping a tear of sympathy for the outcasts of Israel, 
 who meet here from week to week to lament the desolation 
 of Zion, and implore its restoration, which must come through 
 that Saviour whom their fathers crucified on Calvary,praying 
 that his blood might be on them and on' their children. Hav- 
 ing thus said in their hearts to God, " Depart from us," (rod 
 said to them, " Depart from me." 'J'he divorce being com- 
 pletCj till a reconciliation shall take place, its sad fruits 
 must remain. That a restoratiotr shall be the case is 
 certain. When " the fullness of the Gentiles shall l»e come 
 in," their restoration, tliiough an acceptance of the Re- 
 deemer, shall be as " life from thedead." (Rom.xi. 15, 25). 
 
 That a bright future is in store Tor the natural seed of 
 Abraham thore is no doubt. Thf promises of God are sure 
 and steadfast as the Paternal Throne, and must be fully 
 verified. If the threatenings of the Almighty; as to the 
 punishment of this people for their rebellion against Him 
 in the breach of the covenant entered, into with God at 
 Horeb, by their ancestors, have beein executed, have we not 
 good reason to believe that the promises of God as to their 
 restoration to His favour shall also be fulfilled? As this 
 covenant was moral in its nature and of national extent, it 
 was^ therefore, absahdely binding upon the future posterity 
 of Israel. Of the perpetuity of this covenant we have an 
 assurance in the address of Moses to the- people over forty 
 years after their fathers had entered into it. He states : 
 *' The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb, 
 The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 1 1 1 
 
 
 us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day." (Deut. v. 
 3, 3). The conditions of this covenant on Israel's part are 
 recorded thus; "And Moses came and called for the 
 elders of the [x-ople, and laid before their faces all these 
 words .vhich the Lord commanded hun. And iill the peo- 
 ple ans\wred together, and said, All that the Lord hath 
 spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the 
 people unto the Lord," (Exod, xix, 7, <S). Hence, the 
 ratilicaiion of this national contract between God and Israel, 
 the obligations of which became at once perpetually binding 
 upon posterity, and could not possibly be abrogated 
 by any act of legislation, or otherwise, that the people of 
 Israel might adopt. It bound the Jewish nation to the 
 faithful observance of the Divine law delivered at Sinai, 
 And, as surely as " The National Covenant of Scotland, 
 and the Solemn League and Covenant of the three 
 kingdoms" entered into by the people of those lands over 
 two hundred years ago, and placed on the Statute Book of 
 the realm, as British law, until the objects contemplated in 
 them should be accomplished, are still binding upon the 
 nation of Great Britain, notwithstanding the Act Recissory 
 of Charles 11. , so surely are the Jewish people yet bound 
 by their covenant with God at Sinai. And, who can doubt 
 that this people who. although • scattered and peeled," have 
 still retained so many of their national characteristics, and 
 resisted the encroachment of everv enemy that could be 
 marshalled against them, have a strength and tenacity of 
 purpose, which will be used by Providence in working out 
 in the future, through them. His great designs. Mean and 
 squalid as is their wailing- place at Jerusalem, no one can 
 return from a visit there without being saddened by their 
 consecrated grief, itnd impressed with tlie possibilities of 
 
" 
 
 1 12 Marvellous Discoveries ifi Bible Lands. 
 
 such a people when regenerated and redeemed by the Sav 
 iour whom ihey have long rejected. By the prophesies of 
 Jeremiah we arc informed that an acknowledgment of their 
 backsliding and a public renovation of their covenant with 
 God, shall take place at the time of their acceptance by 
 God; "In those days, and at that time, saith the Lord, 
 the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of 
 Judah together, going and weeping : they shall go, and seek 
 the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with 
 their faces thitherward, saying. Come, and let us join our- 
 selves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall nor be 
 forgotten." (Jer. 1. 4, 5). 
 
 THE RUIN OP ANCIENT BABYLON, 
 
 an illustration of which is given on the following page, is 
 another faithful witness to the authenticity of Sacred his- 
 tory. Around few places mentioned in the Bible does there 
 gather such an awsome and weird interest as around the 
 remains of this renowned city, which was founded by Nim- 
 rod, the son of Cusii, grandson of Ham, and great grandson 
 of Noah, and which Nebuchadnezzar enlarged and beauti- 
 fied beyond conception, as the great capital of tne Chaldean 
 monarchy. : • 
 
 As a knowledge of the cfreer of this empire is necessary 
 to the Bible reader, in order to a correct understanding of 
 much of the Old Testament narrative, before viewing the 
 ruins of its capital, we will briefly review its remarkable 
 history: 
 
 AlK)ut one hundred years after the Flood, when men had 
 begun to multiply, and perceive that the natural rosult of 
 the mcrease of mankind wouM be the dispersion and alien- 
 ation of those who had hitherto formed but onecommunitv. 
 
 I 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 1 13 
 
 
 
 
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 cc 
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 114 Marvi'lious Discoveries in Bilk Lands. 
 
 they determined to erect a lofty tower and city, which should 
 serve as a rallying point iind centre of union for their families, 
 and also form the metropolis of an imiversal moiiarchy, that 
 would perpetuate their name and fame to all time. 
 
 As to the leader of this cunningly rxmceived enterprise, 
 which would doubtless have been a success for a time, had 
 the Lord not interferrcd with their plans, by confounding 
 their language, so that they could not understand one 
 another's speech, we may justly infer, from the connectmg 
 narrative, that Nimrod was the person. IJe that as it may, 
 however, we are informed that the beginning of this great 
 personage's kingdom was at this place, which, on account 
 of the confusion of tongues, was called "Label." After- 
 wards we learn that it took the name Babylon, and became 
 the capital of Babylonia, and in course of time it became 
 the renowned metropolis of the Eastern World, the grand 
 centre of commerce, art, and wisdom. 
 
 On the fall of Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, we are in- 
 formed that Babylon, which had for centuries declined 
 before the rising jjower of Assyria, became the Asiatic 
 power, and head of the countries over which Assyria had 
 control. It gained its highest pinnacle of splendour and 
 amb 'on during 
 
 THE REIGN OF NEBUOHADNEZZAB, 
 
 the dread monarch in whose hands were the issues of life 
 and death, and who, according to his own declaration, 
 ruled over "all peoples, nations and languages that dwelt 
 in all the earth" at that time ; and whose boastful reverie, 
 while pacing upon the roof of his royal palace, the outlook 
 irom which, doubtless, commanded a view of the whole city, 
 was : '• Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the 
 
 \ 
 
Marvellous Diacovtrics in Bible Lauds. 1 15 
 
 r 
 
 !: 
 
 r 
 
 — — ■*' 
 
 house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for 
 the honour of my majesty ? " For this expression of haughti- 
 nesss God, who had given him jiower and dominion for the 
 l)ur[iose of punishing the people Judah, for their idolatry 
 and wickedness, took away his reason, so that he became 
 insane, and was one of fhe most detestable creatures on 
 •earth. His heart was changed from man's to that of a 
 beast. He was driven from n^en, and his dwelling was with 
 the wild asse- nnd he did eat grass as oxen, till his hairs 
 had grown 1. i eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' 
 claws. After being thus humbled, God restored him his 
 reason and enabled him to realize that he wn only a weak 
 mortal like other men, and that the raost high God rules in 
 the kingdom of men, and a|)points over it whomsoever he 
 will. On restoration to his reason and his kingdom his 
 recorded declaration is thi.i : " Now F, Nebuchadnezzar, 
 praise and extol and honour the king of heaven, all whose 
 works are truth, and his ways judgment, and those that 
 walk in pride he is able to abase." In the life of this great 
 monarch, what a lesson is taught to rulers to '• Be wise now 
 therefore, O ye kings ; be instructed, ye judges of the earth; 
 serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with treml)ling ; kiss 
 the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when 
 his wrath is kindled but a little.' (Psa. ii 10-12). VVe 
 here learn that kings and governments are moral persons, 
 and must rule in accordance with the requirements of the 
 Law of God, which he hath revealed to us in his Word, or 
 bear the punishment threatened for disobedience. 
 
 After the death of this Nebuchadnezzar his son, (or grand- 
 son) Belshazzar, made an im[)ious feast to a thousand of his 
 lords, and while he, and his princes, his wives and his con- 
 •cubines, were drinking wine from the golden vessels which 
 
1 i6 Marvillous Discoveries in Bible Lands, 
 
 I 
 
 Nebuchadnezziir had taken out of the Temple at Jerusalem, 
 "and jiraising the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of 
 iron, of wood, and of stone," there came the fingers of a 
 mysterious hand and wrote on the wall of the banquet 
 chamber Belshazzar's inevitable doom, which was imme- 
 diately executed. " In that night was Belshazzar the king 
 of the Chaldeans slain, and Darius the Median, look the 
 kingdom." (Dan. v. 1-5, 50, 31). 
 
 According to accepted authority, thi> Darius was the 
 Cyaxares of profane history, and uncle to the Persian i»rince 
 known us Cyrus the Great, who had subdued Media and 
 established the great Medo-Pcrsian empire. As Cyrus 
 is accredited as being the real conqueror of Babylon it is 
 evident that Darius, being a near relative. — his supposed 
 uncle and father-in-law — acting as general of the Medo- 
 Persian arm) on that occasion, and after die taking of 
 Babylon, reigned under Cyrus for a time. More light on 
 this matter will doubtless be found when the ruins of Baby- 
 lon have been fully explored. Meantime we may rest assured 
 
 that the Sacred record we I'ave of this king shall be fully sus- 
 tained bv the future archa^.ological research. 
 
 At the time of Belshazzar's death the Babylonian empire 
 had risen in granduer, power, and extent of dominion, sur- 
 passing anything in the then known world. Nebucl ladnezzar 
 had converted his capital, Babylon, into 
 
 1 
 
 THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CITY OP ANTIQUITY. 
 
 It was so magnificent that no description could do justice to 
 it. Herdotus, who visited it about 450 B.C., within a century 
 after the departure of the Hebrew captives, while its walls 
 and buildings were, still perfect describes it as forming a 
 s<|uare of fourteen miles on each side. The entire city was 
 
: 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. r 17 
 
 surrounded by a deep moat or trench. On the Inside of 
 this ditch were double walls, the outer of which — accord- 
 ing to the measurement of Herodotus — was ^y, V^ feet high 
 and 85 feet thick. On each side of the city these walls 
 were pierced by 25 gates of brass, with their great posts, 
 sills and lintels of bron/e, and their bars of iron. These 
 giganti<: gates, numbering 100 in all, permitted entrances to 
 the city from north, south, east, and west. In order to 
 strengthen the walls 250 towers were erected at sections 
 sup)poscd to be the weakest paits. 
 
 The city was divided by spacious streets crossing eacli 
 other at right aiigles, those which led to the Euphrates river, 
 which flowed throvigh the city, being closed with brazen gates, 
 through which access to the wharves was gained. The 
 wharves lined the river along its whole course inside the 
 cit}'. The stream was crossed by a bridge, at each extreme 
 end of which was a royal palace ; that at the eastern side 
 of the river binng larger and more magnificent than the 
 other. This palace was nearly seven miles in circuit, in- 
 closed by three lofty walls with prodigious towers. The 
 second wall was 300 feet high, the inside one was still higher, 
 and of coloured brick, representing figures and hunting- 
 scenes. The smaller palace on the western side of the river 
 was also surrounded by a lofty '.vail ^Vj miles m circimv 
 fereuce, and was similarly embellished. These palaces were 
 united by a tunnel i)assing across under the river, besides 
 their connection by the l)ridges. In various sections of the 
 city there were 
 
 THE RENOWNED HANGING GARDENS. 
 
 rising in terraces, far above every surrounding object until 
 their top seemed to touch the clouds. These gardens were 
 
 ■MHHl 
 
 L 
 
Il8 Marvellous D is cov fries in Bible Lands. 
 
 
 i. 
 t. 
 
 constructed at ilie base of huge mounds of masonary on 
 which the soil was placed. At an elevation of 300 feet 
 above the level of the streets, fuH grown trees were trans- 
 planted thereon. On the summit of each of these attractive 
 structures was a reservoir, with engine power to draw water 
 from tlie river, by which the garden was watered in time 
 of drought. Along the terraces shrubs ,ind fiowers of the 
 most fragrant odours bloomed profusely. From the trees 
 that crowned the summit came the music of singing birds. 
 The whole was delightful to look upon, and could not fail 
 to till the beholder with wonder and <ielight. 
 Among the renowned structures of Babylon was 
 
 THE TEMPLE OF BELITS, .. 
 
 which rose from a base of 600 feet each way, and extended 
 ujiward about 1000 feet. This temple was of pyramidial 
 form, eight square compartments, or stages, being placed 
 one upon another. A winding ascent, passing round all the 
 stories, led to the platform on the top, on which was a 
 shrine where the god Belus was believed to dwell. 
 
 From this brief summary of the extent and splendour of 
 this mighty city, it is clear that Babylon, vast and powerful, 
 defended by the strongest bulwarks, and garrisoned by a 
 jiumerous population, located in one of the most fertile plains 
 in the world, and standing in the very liighway of the world's 
 commerce, might fairly have been expected to last out 
 through all ages, or, if it lost its enipire, at least to have re- 
 tained its existence. Is it not reasonable to inquire, " Why 
 should not Babylon, as well as Damascus, Hebron, Joppa, 
 Jerusalem,, be still the abode of men? " 
 
 In reply to this inquiry it may well be said that "from 
 the beginning a dark cloud lowered over Babylon ; and in 
 
■i 
 
 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 1 19 
 
 her history a striking lesson is read to the world. She be- 
 came very great, the full-blown development of confident 
 vanity, the exami>le of what arrogant ambition might grow 
 to, the embodiment of scornful strength, the image of care- 
 less security ; the worldly spirit being paramount in her ac- 
 knowledging even in the heavens no superior. But the 
 judgment of God was travelling on. In her hour of pride 
 inspired prophets foretold her ruin. And the present utter 
 desolation of this mistress of kingdoms continues to deliver 
 the impressive warning that God will bringdown the haughti- 
 ness of man, and that those that exalt themselves against 
 him shall be abased." He may u.se them, as he did Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, in the punishment of the Jews, as his instru- 
 ments for a time ; but their day f)f retribution shall come. 
 We should read the story of Babylon in vain if we did not 
 carry along with us this principle, and see how it knits to- 
 gether the narrative, and vindicates itself in the ultimate 
 catastrophe — " Babylon the great is fivllen, is fallen, and 
 shall rise no more at all for ever ! " 
 
 As to the founding of the great city of Babylon, it is evi- 
 dent, from the Sacred record, that its foundation walls were 
 laid with all the blandishments of selfishness and arrogancy, 
 
 THE TOWER OP BABEL 
 
 was not designed to protect its promoters against another 
 deluge, such as that w hich swept away the world of the un- 
 godly a century before, nor was it to be the va.st temple of 
 some idol. Their whole desire was to glorify themselves 
 by the construction of a gigantic monurient and city that 
 would last through all the ages and make for themselves "a 
 name." This, and the grasping of earthly dominion, was 
 their sole aml.ition. God, who had saved their fathers by 
 
I20 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 
 
 his Providential care, from the great flood, was not in all 
 their thoughts. 1-ct us look for a moment at the circum- 
 stances of the case : They had journeyed from that 
 Armenian region near Ararat which has justly been con- 
 sidered the cradle of the human race, and were in the 
 plain of Shinar. This plain of Shinar was formed by the 
 alluvial deposits of the Euphrates and the Tigris, and 
 extended some four hundred miles in width, and was 
 considered one of the richest and most fertile plains in 
 the world. No more suitable place could be found so 
 favourable to their plan. Bricks they could make of the 
 pure clay they found there : and asphalt or bitumen was 
 abundant for cementing their materials together. Being 
 all of one speech and intonation, they could plan and work 
 harmoniously together. With this object in view they be- 
 gan to build their tower, and city that was to cluster around 
 it, to perpetuale their ramc adown the centuries of time. 
 Doubtless their structure had assumed large dimensions, 
 when '' the T^ord came down to see the city and the tower, 
 which the children of men builded," and upset their whole 
 designs, by confounding their language and scattering them 
 abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth. Owing 
 to this they left off to complete the city. (Gen. xi. 1-9. 
 Thus, then, the pride of those builders was chastised, and 
 ihe name settled upon their unfmished work was " Babel." 
 
 Tt is evident, hovvever, that Nimrod, being "a mighty one 
 in the earth" in those days, determined that the beginning 
 of his kingdom should be Babel. And, after adding " Erech, 
 and Accad, and Calneh" to it, as suburbs or neighbouring 
 cities in the land of Shinar, in order to grasp more territory 
 he passed over to Assyria and founded Nineveh as the capi- 
 tal of that kingdom, which in time became the rival of the 
 
Mar^'c'llons Discoveries in Bihlc Lands. \2\ 
 
 T:$a^ylonian inotroix)lis, both in extensiot) and magnificence. 
 'The people of tl>cs« cities were crinel, Iwii^hty, sensual and 
 overbe^ui^igs, l^Ah cities huiviiig l)eeTi fouixletl V)y tii-e san>c 
 despotic niorvj.iKjh, cradled, as it were, in the same •*' man- 
 ger," and the inhat>itants of each pla'ce (nanife.>4iiig the same 
 nefarious characteristics, when their cuji of ini<]uUy was full, 
 they were swept fro«i the e«arth by the execution of the in- 
 alnitc justice of God, after rcjK'Ated warnings hj.d lailed te 
 effect a refora?. 
 
 The great city of llaliykin, at the "time of 
 
 BELSHAZZAR'S INFAMOUS PEAST, 
 
 Nvas in its glory. Bnt its day of grace being past, its doom 
 sealed, and fhe Xkcac having dawned for tJic wnancipatifMi 
 of Judah's Ga:j;uv-es — wlx) banged their haq:)s upon the wil- 
 Jows by lh<^ streams of Babel, and sat down and wept as 
 they thought u^kxi Zion, which heir cruel c<i|Jtors l>ad laid 
 in ruins — its tdestruction was in-'vi^ablc. 
 
 The utter <.icvastaition <A Jiabylcn couhi iK>t be otherwise 
 than effected and God's Word l)e true. Its fate in all the 
 details had l>een declared iii the most public and emphatic 
 manner by the Hebrew pro{)Jiets, while the city was in the 
 enjoyment of life and prosix:rity, as wilJ be seen hy a com- 
 iJarison of these declarations with the actual facts of historv, 
 Isaiaii, who lived " in the days of Uj'ziah, Jorham, Ahaz, 
 and Hezekiaii, kings of Judah," (Isa. i. i.), a huridred years 
 at least befot>e tJie ?vIedo- Persian invasion of JUhylon, \)\o 
 phesied thus cx^ncernii^^^ it ; 
 
 " Tlic burden of BiUivloK, whfch Isaiah the sou of Amos 
 did see. Behold, the day of the Lord comeilh, both 
 with wrath and ficnce anger, to lay the Land desolate ; and he 
 
 ■ma 
 
 L 
 
122 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands, 
 
 rhall dcftUoy the sinners thereof out of it. Behold, I will 
 stir up thf Medes against them, which shall not regard ;iil • 
 ver ; and as for gold, they shsril no! delight in iit. Their 
 bows also shall dash the young men to pieces > and they 
 shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb ; their eyen shall 
 not spare ebildren, And I'abylon, the glory of kingdoms., 
 the beauty of the Chaidee's excellency, shall \>ii as when 
 God overthrew Sodom and (iomorrah. It ^hall never be 
 inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation tc» 
 generation ;. neithei" &h»ll the. Arabian pitch his tent there ; 
 neither shall the shepherds n'uke their folds there \ but the 
 wild beasts of the desert shall lie there and their houses 
 shall be fall of doleful creatures ; and owls shall dwell there^ 
 and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild l>easts of the 
 islands shall cry in their desolate hooses, and dragons irv 
 their pleasant places; and her time is near to come, and 
 her days shall not be prolojig.ed. Thus saith the Lord tc» 
 his anointed, to Cyrus, whose r> ^>t hand I have Iwlden to 
 subdue nations before him ;. and I will Vm%t the loins of 
 kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates, and the 
 gates shall n(f^t be shut." ^Isa. Tiiii. i. 9, 17-22 ;, xlv. 1)^ 
 This last reference is to the " two-leaved gates" of Babylon^ 
 which ^'eve left open by some means not revealed to us^ 
 during the night of Bslshaz/.ar's great revelry, when I)ariu& 
 entered the city. 
 
 JEREMIAH'S PBEDIOTIONS REGARDING 
 BABYLON^ 
 
 . y-.\ -z also written in the days of Ntbuchadnez/a'-, be- 
 
 .: • • '^ ".':■' ivuetion of the doomed city, read thus • -'It shall 
 
 cuinc i-> j^mSs, when .seventy years are accomplished, that \ 
 
 will punish the king ©f Baljylon. and that natio >, saith the 
 
MarvcHojis Discoveries in Bible Lands. 123 
 
 Lord, for ilicir iniquity, and the land of t!ie Chaldeans, and 
 will make it perpetual desolations. Prepare against her the 
 nations \»*ih the kings of the Medes, the Captains thereof, 
 and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion. 
 And the iand shall tremble and sorrow ; for every purpose 
 of the Lord sha!" be performed against Babylon to make the 
 land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant. (.)ne 
 post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet 
 another, to show the king of r.nbylon that his city is taken 
 :it one end. vVnd Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling 
 place for dragons, an astonishment and an hissing, without 
 an inhabitant. Yea the wall of Babylon shall fall. Baby- 
 lon hath caused tiie slain of all the country. I will do judg- 
 ment upon the graven iinages. Though Ikibylon should 
 mount up to heaven, and tho\igh she should fortify the 
 height of h;r strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto 
 her, saith the Lord ; for the Lord God of re<:ompenses shall 
 surely requite. And I will make drunken her princes, and 
 her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty 
 men ; and they shall .sleep a perpetual sleep, and not awake, 
 saith the King, who.se name is the Lord of hosts. Lhus 
 saith the Lord of hosts : The broad walls of Babylon shall 
 be utterly broken, and her high gales shall be burnt witii 
 fire, and the people shall labcmr in vain, and the folk in the 
 fire, and they shall be weary." (Jer. \\v. iz;]\. 28,31, 
 
 .37. 44, 49. 5^' 55> 54, 5<'^ 57> S^)- 
 
 All this ruin u:ll upon liabylon, as it had l>een foretold 
 by Isaiah and j'^remiah. After its capture by the Medo- 
 Persians it steadily declined. Cttising to be the seat of 
 government it took rank among the tributary towns. In order 
 that its strength might be weakened in view of possible in- 
 surrection its walls were lowered. According to historical 
 
124 Marveilims Discoveries in Btbk Lands. 
 
 record the object of its rulers, with the exception of Cyrns 
 and Alexander, seem to have been to render it incapable of 
 successful resistance. Ader the eomjuest by Greece, Alex- 
 ander's ambitious purpose was to restore il to its ancienK 
 grandeur, and to make it 
 
 THE CAPITAL OP A UNIVERSAL EMPIRE, 
 after he had toncjiiered the world. But alas, for human 
 ambition when left to its own misguidance I 'I'he mighty 
 *' lie-goat,'' or "king of Grecia," seen two hundred 
 year* before in Daniel's vision, who was to trample in the 
 dust " the ram" of the Medo-Persian PLmpiie, with its " hun- 
 dred and twenty-seven provinces, extending from India to 
 Ethiopa," was under control of Jehovali, who is Supreme 
 Governor anwng the natioins > and having subjugated Persia 
 his work was done, and he died at Babylon, in the horrors 
 of intemperance, at the age of thirty-three, and his great 
 empire was shattered to pieces, so that his plans for the 
 gaining of universal dominion were all defeated. 
 
 .\fter the death of Alexander a variety of causes, too 
 numerous to mention here, contributed to the downfall of 
 Babylon, '* Ravaged and spoiled for ages, and oppressed 
 in turn by the Persians, the Greek, the Parthian, the Roman, 
 the Saracen and the Turk, the golden city has long since 
 ceased to exist, and nothing remains of it to-day but vast 
 and imsightly heaps of ruins," the outlines cf which will be 
 seen by glancing at the picture of its site on page 113. So 
 completely was its magnificence swept oft l>y the besom of 
 destruction that the very site of it was for long a perplexing 
 mystery. But modern investigations have now solved the 
 mystery by the undoubted d; ':overy of what once was Baby- 
 lon, and satisfactorily show us how the threatened doom 
 was executed. 
 
 
Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 125 
 
 % 
 
 Viewing these ruins as they appear to-day, and consider- 
 ing what the place once was, well might the (juestion be 
 asked, '* Is there any spot on earth which has undergone a 
 more complete transformation ?" " 'I'he records of the hu- 
 man race do not present a contrast more striking than that 
 between the primeval magnificence of Babylon and its long 
 desolation. Its luins have been carefully and scrupulously 
 examined by men of unimpeached veracity, and the result 
 of every research is a more striking demonstration of the 
 literal accom|>lishment of every prediction of God's prophets. 
 Could any prophecies respecting a single place have been 
 more precise, or wonderful, or numerous, or true, or more 
 grandly accomplisiied throughout many generations? And 
 when we look at what Babylon was, and what it is, ans] per- 
 ceive the minute reali/aiion of them all, may not nations 
 learn, rnay not tyrants tremble, and may not sceptics think ?" 
 
 The site of Babylon is now indeed a desolate scene. I'he 
 whole region is a wild, arid and dismal desert, untrodden by 
 the foot of man. " It is spurned alike by the heel of the 
 Ottoman, the Israelite, and the son of Lshmael." No in- 
 ducement could persuade the roaming Arab to ])itch his tent 
 amid its ruins for a night, believing them to be the abodes 
 of evil spirits : The king of the forest ranges over it at his 
 pleasure. Hyenas, jackalls and other ferocious beasts and 
 noxious creatures find it a resort adapted to their nature. 
 And, above all, the screech-owl's nightly moan amid its 
 shattered ruins proclaims, in language not to be mistaken, 
 that " The Lord is the true God, he is the living (iod, and 
 an everlasting King ; at his wrath the earth shall tremble, 
 and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation." 
 (Jer. X. 10). In addition to this, how appropriate are the 
 words of Isaiah (xl. 8) ; "The grass withereth, the flower 
 
 I 
 
/% 
 
 126 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lauds. 
 
 fadcth, but the Word of our God shall stand for ever !" 
 The deserved judgments of God, which have been poured 
 out upon Babylon, have also been inflicted upon 
 
 HER GREAT OOMPEBR. NINEVEH, 
 the grand Metropolis of the Assyrian Empire, which said in 
 her heart, " I am and there is none besides me," has long 
 since sunk "unto the nether parts of the earth," as recorded 
 amonf, the visions of f'/ekiel (xxxi. lo 17), (which the 
 reader can refer to at jjleasure), save a few of its strong- 
 hold " funeral j)iles," which remain in various sections of a 
 wide pasturage, as silent witnesses to the Bible record that 
 '< Nineveh was an exceeding great city," in which there was 
 " much cattle," besides its vast hum.in population. 
 
 As to the site of this city, it stood upon the easiern side 
 of the river Tigris, some 400 miles north of Babylon, and is 
 given by some authorities us equal in extent to that of Baby- 
 lon. Its form was of a rectangular parallelogram. It was en 
 compassed by walls of 100 feet high, and so broad that three 
 chariots could drive abreast upon their top. These walls 
 were strengthened by 150c towers, each of 200 feet in 
 height. 
 
 Of the early history of Nine"eh coniparatively little is 
 known by secular historical records ; but it is evident that 
 its rise to greatness was steadily increasing from the time of 
 its founding by Ninirod until it had reached the zenith of its 
 power under A.ssur-bani-pal, After the rival kingdoms of 
 Israel and Judah had been established, its sovereigns are 
 set forth in Sacred history as the leaders of mighty armies, 
 and controlling widely extended erntories. Among its 
 chief rulers were Shalmeneser, Taglath-Pileser, Asshur-bil- 
 kela, Sargon, Sennacherib and Assur-bani-pal. 
 
 This great power was evidently permitted to increase 
 
 • ' 
 
 i 
 
 i ■: 
 
• / 
 
 Marvellous Discoveries in Bible Lands. 127 
 
 wiglitily by the overruling Providcncf of God for the pur- 
 post of uprooting the kingdom of Israel for the idolatry of 
 its people. Soon after the removal of Israel by this power, 
 the work for which it was intended to execute having been 
 accomplished, an overwhelming and irreparable ruin over- 
 took this wicked, treacherous, cruel, idolatrous and arrogant 
 city. The work of ruin was begun by the capture of tho 
 city by tlie Babylonians and the Medes, who sacked it and 
 gave it up to pillage, sword and fire. The destruction was 
 comj)lete. the walls were razed to the foundations, and car- 
 ried away to build cities elsewhere. After this a cloud of 
 da.kness closed over the fortunes of Nineveh, and the site 
 of the renowned city became a matter of doubt as to where 
 the location was, until an accidentfil discovery made by Dr, 
 Layard, and M. Eotta, French Consul at Mosul, in 1845, 
 by the unearthing of an enormous idol figure and some 
 sculptured slabs of gypsum, which led to luriher explorations; 
 and in a short time the discovery of numerous inscribed 
 tablets, similar to that illustrated on page rr;, and many 
 ancient Assyrian sculptures, and other marvellous disinter- 
 ment of the long-lost memorials of the renowned city, came to 
 light, so that ^hi site of the '-great city Nineveh" was no 
 longer a matter of doubt. Dr. Layard stales in reference to 
 the discoveries made by himself and M. Botta at Nineveh ; 
 " It is more than curious ; it is the wise Providence of Him 
 who unc;>vereth secret things that, in our busy, speculative, 
 superficial age, when men are questioning the truths of his 
 revelation, and, wist in their own conceit, denying his moral 
 government of the worlds he has framed, the earth should, 
 as it were, give forth a voice, reveal the buried ]jalaces of 
 ancient days, and proclaim thereby a fre.sh attestation to the 
 truths of Sacred Writ." 
 
128 Marvellous Discin't'ries iti JUble Lauds, 
 
 THE STRONG CITY OF TYRE, 
 with its impregnable battlements of rtnown, has long since 
 disappeared forever, us foretold it should by the prophet 
 Ezekicl, two hundred years before its destruction: •* Thus 
 saith the Lord God. Ik-hold, 1 am against thee, O Tyrus, 
 and will cause many nations to come up aguinst thee, as the 
 sea causeth his vva\es to come up. And they shall destroy 
 the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers : ] will 
 also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of 
 a rock. It sliall be a place tor the spreading of nets in the 
 midst of the sea. I'hey shtill lay thy stones, and thy tim- 
 ber, and thy dust in the midst of the water. 1 will make 
 thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more : though thou be 
 sought for, yet shalt thou never be found agaiu, Mth the 
 Lord God." Ezek. xxvi. 3, .4, 12, 14, 21). 
 
 These predictions have all been literally fulfilled. Not a 
 vestige of the "Queen City" is visible but a few huge sea-beaten 
 fragments of the old wall, and jiiles of granite and marble 
 columns scattered along the shores of the peninsula, wnich 
 are now|usedby fishermen as rocks on which to dry their nets. 
 
 An attempt has been made to erect a modern Tyre in the 
 vicinity of the old one, but it has proved a miserable failure. 
 As Tyre now is, and has long been, she is God's witness 
 that His Word is true, and shall endure forever. Were that 
 which is now called " Modern Tyre" *• powerful and popul- 
 ous she would be the infidel's boast. This, however, she 
 cannot be. 'I\re will never rise from her dust to falsify the 
 voice of prophecy. The very veracity of Jei^^vah stands 
 pledged, or seems to be, to keep it so.'" 
 
 We might refer to the discovery of the it-mains of Caper- 
 naum, Jericho, vSamaria, and other cities of Palestine, which 
 have come to nought, in accordance with Divine prediction; 
 but what need of further witnesses than those set forth in the 
 foregoing pages, to substantiate the genuineness of Sacred 
 Story ? And, if a perusal of these pages will lead to a more 
 diligent search and study of the Holy Scriptures, and 
 strengthen the faith of the weak believer, and remove the 
 doubt of the sceptic, the writer shall be amply repaid for 
 the many hours he hi^s laboured in their preparation. 
 
1