REVIEW BY THE SECRETARY. 



29 



We have referred to the light which some of the discoveries 

 are calculated to throw upon Old Testament history, and 

 Professor Petrie draws attention to the familiar account of 

 Jacob's dream and the stone which he set up for a pillar as a 

 memorial of God's presence. In Gen. xxviii, 10-19, we read, 

 " And Jacob rose up early in the morning and took the stone 

 that he had put for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and 

 poured oil upon the top of it, and he called the name of that 

 place Betliel " (The House of God). The district of Serabit el 

 Khadem is replete with such Bethels — single pillars, some 

 surrounded with a circle of stones, others standing by themselves. 

 In some cases they are sculptured with hieroglyphics, in others 

 they are plain. In these memorial stones Petrie recognises 

 representatives of Jacolj's monument, as it is clear from their 

 surroundings that they had a religious object and bearing — and 

 he refers to illustrations drawn from other countries, chietiy 

 Oriental, with a Semitic system of religion. Numerous plates 

 illustrate the frequency of these Bethels in the^Sinaitic region.* 



The author thus sums up the character of the worship at 

 Serabit el Khadem, p. 192 : " We have before us a Semitic cave- 

 shrine older than the Mosaic system. We see in it a great 

 goddess, probably Ishtar, worshipped alone, and later on 

 associated with a god. Her ritual was that of burnt sacrifices 

 and incense offerings ; many ablutions were required of the 

 worshipper ; sacred conical stones were dedicated in her temple, 

 and oracular dreams were sought, and memorial stones (Bethels) 

 were erected where the devotees slept. The essential features 

 of Semitic worship are here shown in earlier use than in any 

 other instance, and we see how much of Mosaism was a 

 carrying on of older ritual ; how that movement was a 

 Monotheistic reformation of existing rites, and how the paganism 

 of the Jews was but the popular retention of more than was 

 granted in the state religion." 



It was no part of Professor Petrie's object in visiting the 

 Sinaitic peninsula to " follow the track of the Israelites," but 

 it is personally gratifying to myself that he appears in general 

 agreement with the views of Wilson, Palmer, and the members 

 of the Palestine Exploration Fund Expedition (1883-4) as stated 

 in the narrative of that Expedition.! I am unable, however, to 



* On the name Bethel see Mr. Tuck well's remarks in the discussion : 

 it seems an error to call the stone a Bethel." 



t Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine, ch. vi. p. 51. The opinion 

 of Professor Palmer, supported by Sir Charles Wilson, ought to be 

 quite conclusive on the subject. 



