ORIENTAL DISCOVERIES ON OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY. 



45 



Egyptologists witli ground-plans of ancient Egyptian dwellings. 

 The roofs of the abandoned city had fallen in and so preserved 

 the foundations of the houses. The store -chambers were at the 

 back of the house ; and, as (probably for safety) there was no 

 door at the rear, the repositories, whence Joseph had to dispense 

 what was needed for each day's requirements, could only be 

 approached through the private apartments of the palace. 



The experiences of Joseph were already ancient history in 

 tlie time of Moses, and here we might have expected to meet 

 the distortions and the fictions of popular tradition. It must, 

 therefore, shake the confidence of those who have accepted 

 current theories to discover that even in a matter of this kind 

 we are still in contact with facts. But the surprising thing in 

 these discoveries is that, however far back research carries us, 

 the result is invariably the same. We now know that in ancient 

 Palestine the writing and language used in intercourse with 

 neighbouring peoples were the Babylonian. The prevailing 

 laws were also, no doubt, those of Babylonia, which had early 

 dominated Palestine in common with the rest of western Asia. 

 In any case, Abraham, the Scripture tells us, was a Babylonian. 

 The discovery of the laws of Hammurabi now enables us to 

 understand the existence of a custom in the patriarchal time 

 which does not seem to have been retained in Israel. The 

 childless Sarai gives her maid to her husband, and Hagar thus 

 becomes a second wife to Abraliam. The same practice is 

 repeated in the home of Jacob. We discover no trace of it in 

 the times after Moses ; but in the patriarchal period it is 

 regarded as lawful and seems to be a custom of the time ; for 

 in neither case does the proposal occasion surprise or awaken 

 protest. When we turn to Hammurabi's laws, we discover 

 that the practice occupies that very position in the life of 

 Babylon in this the very time of Abraham. In the marriage laws 

 reference is made to it again and again. There are two other 

 incidents in the Abrahamic history which spring out of this 

 custom, and which the Babylonian code helps us to understand. 

 We are told that, when Hagar saw that she was to become a 

 mother, " her mistress was despised in her eyes " (Gen. xvi, 4). 

 Sarai lays her trouble before Abraham, who replies : " Behold 

 thy maid is in thy hand : do to her as it pleaseth thee " 

 (verse 6). We now comprehend the significance of that reply. 

 Hammurabi's law upon the matter runs thus : " If a man has 

 married a wife, and she has given a maid-servant to her husband, 

 and (the maid-servant) "has borne children, (if) afterwards that 

 maid-servant make herself equal with her mistress, as she has 



