204 



illSS A. M. HODGKIN ON 



are eight different words for valley in Hebrew, each having a 

 distinct technical meaning. The Exploration Society invariably 

 found that the valleys they identified corresponded to the form 

 indicated by the special Scripture word in each case."* 



Professor Macahster's excavation of the city of Gezer, 

 1902-1905, is another good illustration, in the remarkable 

 number of confirmations of the Bible found in this " Mound 

 of Surprises." The same may be said of Jericho. The objec- 

 tion has been raised that it would be impossible for an army 

 to march round a great city seven times in one day. But this 

 objection, like so many others, vanishes on the spot, for the 

 ruins of Jericho show it to be a collection of tiny dwelhngs com- 

 pactly crowded together on such a scale that you can easily 

 walk round the foundations in half an hour or less. 



The Bible is the best Guide Book to Palestine. The fact that 

 it was in such request among our British soldiers is a proof of 

 this. 



" Correctness concerning the place of an event is the first 

 and most important mark of a true narrative of real happenings 

 And there is nothing in ancient history so completely confirmed 

 and so universally accepted as the trustworthiness of the geo- 

 graphical and topographical indications of Scripture."! 



The Jew and the Arab. 



There are two living witnesses to-day to the truth of God's 

 Word — the Jew and the Arab — Isaac and Ishmael, both sons 

 of Abraham, sharing between them the fulfilment of the promise 

 that his seed should be as the dust of the earth that cannot be 

 numbered. 



Brothers, alike, yet so dissimilar, the Jew " scattered among 

 the nations," yet " not reckoned among them," " oppressed 

 and spoiled evermore." The Arab, " a wild man, his hand 

 against every man," he sojourns but for a time, and rolls up 

 his goat's-hair home, packs it on the back of his camel with all 

 his household goods, and is off with his flocks and herds to 

 fresh pasture. He has left no ruined palaces nor inscriptions 

 on the monuments; the next wind of the desert obliterates even 

 his footprints on the sand; but he himself is with us still, a 

 witness second only to the Jew to the truth of the Bible. 



The Witness of Ancient Babylonia. 

 " It would be difficult," writes Dr. Orr, " to exaggerate the 

 brilliance and importance of the marvellous discoveries in Baby- 

 lonia. The point which concerns us chiefly is the extraordinary 



* " The Witness of the Land." Rev. J. Neil, MA., in "Friends' 

 Witness," Vol. I., p. 8. 1908. 



" The Deciding Voice of the Monuments in Biblical Criticism." bv 

 M. G. Kyle, LL.D., pp. 49, 51. 



