92 



APPENDICES. 



ON RECENT ADVANCES IN BIBLICAL CRITICISM AND IN HIS- 

 TORICAL DISCOVERY IN RELATION TO THE CHRISTIAN 

 FAITH.* 



Thk topic prescribed for me is " The Bearing of E.2;5'ptolowy, in its most 

 Eecent Phase, on the Bible." I M'ould first say this : that to show the 

 bearing of Egyptology on the Bible is rather to prove, by innumerable small 

 coincidences, that which Ebers has so well called the Eciyptkiin of the 

 Pentateuch, than to establish any jjarticular historical point by external and 

 monumental evidence. But that function of Egyptology is a very important 

 one indeed. For instance, the life of Joseph is supported at every point in 

 the strongest probability by the parallel between the Egyptian monuments 

 and the record in the Bible. I will not, however, take up much of your 

 time in arguments this evening. I would point out that in the main, 

 roughly speaking, the Delta of the Nile is almost the Biblical Egypt. We 

 have so little in the Bible beyond the Delta, that we may say that the 

 Delta is almost the Egypt of the Bible. I will now take three points in the 

 Delta. The first is that of the Biblical Zoan, the San of the present day, 

 where the immense ruin-heaps are waiting to be explored. Here, already, 

 the results of comparatively superficial examination by Mariette are so very 

 important, in having recovered the sculptures of the " Shepherd Kings," 

 that we may expect something still more important from a thorough search 

 of the ruins. The " Field of Zoan " of the Bible is called by the same 

 expression in Egyptian records. The Field of Zoan was the scene of the 

 great wonders which God performed by the hand of Moses. I do not think 

 that Zoan is, as Brugsch supposes, the Zar of the Egyptian monuments. 

 But now we will come to that point — to the place called Zar or Zaru on the 

 Egyptian monuments, and here we come upon a very curious Biblical 

 coincidence. In the 1 3th chapter of the Book of Genesis, Avhere is described 

 Lot's choice of the Jordan plain, it says: "The plain was well watered 

 everywhere, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as 

 thou coniest unto [when thou entcrest] Zoar." But there is very strong 

 reason for believing that these words should be read not " as thou comest 

 unto Zoar,"— which is far away from the land of Egypt, — but "when thou 

 enterest Zar." [The Hebrew word cxacfly suits this.] And I want to say a 

 word about that place Zar. It was a most important military point, for it 

 was the place of starting for all the Egyptian expeditions into Syria during 

 the great reigns of the Thothmes and Barneses Pharaohs. They started from 

 " the fortress of Zar" ; and there is still to be seen at Karnak that 

 magnificent tableau which represents the triumphal return of Seti L from 

 one of these expeditions. You can see the " Fortress of Zar," and the 



* An Address delivered at the Readivrj Church Covr/ress, OetoJicr, 

 1883. By the Kev. Hknuy George Tomkins, late Vicar of Branscombe. 



llejn-iiifed, hy pernrifsioii, from the Offrial L'cjiort. 



