Archæology and the BibleBarton, George A. (George Aaron)
Religion
Archæology and the Bible
Barton, George A. (George Aaron)
Bible -- Antiquities; Egypt -- Antiquities; Middle East -- Antiquities
Not the least service that archæology has rendered has been the
presentation of a new background against which the inspiration of the
Biblical writers stands out in striking vividness. Often one finds
traditions in Babylonia identical with those embodied in the Old
Testament, but they are so narrated that no such conception of God shines
through them as shines through the Biblical narrative. Babylonians and
Egyptians pour out their hearts in psalms with something of the same
fervor and pathos as the Hebrews, but no such vital conception of God and
his oneness gives shape to their faith and brings the longed-for strength
to the spirit. Egyptian sages developed a social conscience comparable in
many respects with that of the Hebrew prophets, but they lacked the vital
touch of religious devotion which took the conceptions of the prophets
out of the realm of individual speculation and made them the working
ethics of a whole people. Archæology thus reinforces to the modern man
with unmistakable emphasis the ancient words, “Men spake from God, being
moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).
The writer is under obligation to all his predecessors. Endeavor has been
made in the footnotes to acknowledge each individual obligation. Lest any
oversight may have occurred there, he would here express both his
indebtedness and his gratitude to all who by their various explorations
and studies have preceded him and been his teachers.
Of these, Prof. R. A. Stewart Macalister should, perhaps, be singled out
for an especial word of gratitude, for in Chapters VI-XI of Part I his
work of excavation has been quoted more frequently than any other. This
apparent partiality is due to the fact that Gezer was excavated more
completely than any other Palestinian site; that, because of its early and
long-continued occupation in ancient times, it reveals a great variety of
civilizations; and that, in _The Excavation of Gezer_, Prof. Macalister
has presented the results of his work with a completeness and a degree of
intelligibility that no other excavator in Palestine has approached. He
has made his work a model of what such a publication should be, and has
thereby made us all his debtors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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