342 



PROF. H. EDOUABD XAVILI/E, D.C.L., LL.D., OX 



I see running through all the tablets from the first to the 

 last. 



The six first bring us down to the death of Terah, just 

 before Abram is called out of his country. Abram is the man 

 chosen by God ; not only have we here his pedigree, but a 

 summary of all the events which preceded this choice, as far 

 back as the creation of the world. 



Moses has not been a witness of these events, as he was for 

 those of Exodus and the journey in the wilderness, and the 

 question is : How could Moses have the knowledge of those 

 facts, and how did he write the>e records \ Here, whatever 

 opinion is put forward cannot be anything but a conjecture, 

 and this seems to be the most probable. 



Abram came out of Mesopotamia, the country of tablets. 

 The thousands of them winch have been preserved give an idea 

 how numerous they must have been. They deal with all 

 kinds of subjects ; but the religious tablets are in great number, 

 and one may easily fancy that some of them were the religious 

 books of families or tribes. The reason which induces Abram 

 to leave his country is a religious one ; this is implied by these 

 words : " The Lord said unto Abram : Get thee out of thy 

 country." It is a command of God. Why and in what measure 

 his religious ideas differed from those of his surrounding 

 countrymen, whether he was disliked, or perhaps persecuted 

 by them for that reason, we do not know. But the departure 

 of his tribe reminds us of what has been seen in modern as well 

 as in ancient times : a tribe migrating into a distant land, to be 

 able to worship in peace according to its faith. Such a tribe, 

 if it has religious books, will take them on its journey. I 

 believe Abram did the same. He took his tablets, which were 

 his pedigree as far back as the creation of the world. It is 

 well known how great an importance Orientals give to pedigrees : 

 they are the beginnings of history. In the early past there was 

 no other record of the events than those which concerned a 

 man or a family. Besides, tablets were easy to carry on 

 a journey : they were made of a tough and lasting material ; 

 they could travel a long way. and were not so easily damaged 

 as papyrus or skin. The considerable number of them which 

 have been preserved shows how well adapted they were for a 

 document intended to last for generations. 



I quite agree that I cannot give any positive proof of the 

 idea that the first tablets of Genesis, which Moses had at his 

 disposal, were brought by Abram when he left his country for 

 Canaan ; but this conjecture seems to me in accordance with 



