50 Transactions of the Canadian Institute. [Vol. IX. 



not yet evident, and it would seem that it was the mistranslation of the 

 word Aramaean as deceiver that led to the confusion of Bethuel with 

 Bethel. A suggestion bearing upon this point is furnished by the fact 

 that the word Luz also occurs in the Book of Judges as the name of a city 

 in the land of the Hittites, the story of whose foundation is, briefly, as 

 follows. On the partition of the land of Canaan among the twelve tribes, 

 the city of Bethel or Luz fell to the lot of the children of Joseph. On 

 entering into possession of their province the Josephites sent a party to 

 reconnoiter Bethel, and having captured a man from the city they made 

 him reveal, as the price of his life, the secret entrance into the place. 

 According to the Bereschit Raba the city was completely hidden from 

 view and was approached through a cave, whose entrance was concealed 

 by an almond tree, growing in front of it. In the tree was a hole, through 

 which access to the cave might be obtained. With a knowledge of this 

 secret entrance the children of Joseph took the city, "they smote the city 

 with the edge of the sword ; but they let go the man and all his family. 

 And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called 

 the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day." (Judges 

 Chap. I, vv. 25, 26). 



Here again we have the idea of deceit in the betrayal of the secret 

 entrance. But more interesting, perhaps, is the legend concerning the 

 Luz of the land of the Hittites that is recorded in the Sotah (p. 46, fol. 2). 

 "This is the Luz against which Sennacherib went, but he could not destroy 

 it; Nebuchadnezzar, but he could not raze it. Even the Angel of Death 

 has no power to enter it, but the old men in it when their minds become 

 weakened go outside the wall to die." Here we have the idea of indes- 

 tructibility and immortality associated with the word luz in such a way 

 as to be highly suggestive of the legend contained in the Bereschit Raba. 



With these various associations of ideas in mind it would seem that 

 we are in a position to attempt a reconstruction of the steps in the growth 

 of the belief concerning the os luz and its properties, somewhat as follows. 

 The words contained in Psalm XXXIV, v. 20 form the foundation for the 

 legend, that is to say, they required the predication of an indestructible 

 bone in the human body. With this idea the legend concerning the city 

 of Luz in the land of the Hittites became associated, the idea of indes- 

 tructibility being prominent in that legend. But it also contains the 

 idea of immortality, and this would naturally call up the idea of the 

 Resurrection, that doctrine being of such cardinal importance in Hebrew 

 theology. And so we obtain the complete framework for the legend of 

 the Bereschit Raba, even to the name given the bone. Finally the con- 

 fusion of Luz of the Hittites with Luz of the Canaanites, the replacement 



