176 KEV. ANDEEW CEAIG EOBINSON^ M.A., ON THE BEAEING OF 



So wrote the prophet Nahum about Nineveh. And most 

 assuredly the Assyrian inscriptions show that Nineveh was a 

 veritable lion's den — so fierce — so cruel — so ruthless — were her 

 people. 



Conclusion. 



But time and space forbid adducing any further instances. 

 From those discussed the writer hopes that he has made it 

 clear that the bearing of recent oriental discoveries on Old 

 Testament History is antagonistic to the critical theories, while 

 they support the historical accuracy of the text. 



Discussion. 



Rev. G. F. Whidborne. — Mr. Chairman, I think we must be 

 very grateful for such a striking and valuable paper. One or two 

 points I might speak of. 



The writer mentions Ur of the Chaldees as being proof — against 

 the Critics — that Abraham is an historical person. I think that 

 argument can be carried a little further still. Let us assume, with 

 the Critics, that J. did not originate till the ninth century and P. 

 not till Ezekiel's time, and that, before that, the account of 

 Abraham only came from oral tradition, as Dr. Driver says. 

 (Genesis, p. xvi). In those times Babylon seems at first hardly to 

 have been known to the Israelites, and then it developed into a 

 hostile nation, and finally into a cruel conqueror. Let us recollect 

 the pride and exclusiveness of the Israelites, increasing through the 

 monarchies. It is evidently absurd to imagine that a mere oral 

 tradition would have preserved the then distasteful fact that the 

 great national hero and progenitor was of Ba])ylonish origin, or 

 that a compiler of documents would have incorporated it in his 

 compilation. The only reasonable explanation, on critical lines, of 

 the mention of Ur of the Chaldees as the native country of the 

 great national progenitor, must be that it was contained in an 

 authoritative written history Ijefore Israel was a settled nation. In 

 fact, it witnesses not only that Abraham was an historical person but 

 that the account of him in Genesis was ancient written history. 



