THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6817, 22 September 1883, Page 3

THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY.

. ;, ' AN ALLEGED DISCOVERY. " [FROM OUK LONDON CORRESPONDENT- J London, August 9. TfiERE has just been deposited in the British Museum a curiosity •which threatens to eclipse the interest aroused by the famocs Moabite stone, and which 13 already strangely exoitiDg the whole v/orld of letters aud Biblical archseologi3ts in particular. It consists of fifteen sheepskins, purporting to be manuscripts of the Book o£ Deuteronomy written at least sitteen centurie3 earlier than any others extant. This would place their authorship as far back as tha ninth century 8.C., so that these curious fragments not Unnatnrally arouse strong suspicions pt forgery. They have been brought to Europe by Mr. Shapira,. a bookseller in Jerusalem, and a. dealer in- antiquities. He it was who acquired the Moabite pottery which created: so much interest a few year.i ago, bat vfrhiEli archaeological scudeuts have since pronounced to be clever forgeries. He appears to have acquired possession of the sheepskin manuscripts in a highly suspicions maccer, an Arab agent, "who would steal his own mother-in-law for a. few piastres," haviog obtained thejn for him from certain Arabs near DibaPj the neighbourhood where the Moabite stone was discovered. However, if they were acquired for a few piastres, Mr. shapira fefuses to part with them, under a million sterling. The fifteen Sheepskin alies are black wilh age. Tha folds, ol which :isre are forty, are from six to sevun inches Jong, and about three and a half inchee wide, eaqh containing about ten lines, written otily on one side. Dr. G.in3burg, a celebrated Semitic stadeat, is now deciphering ice . fragments and examining their genuineness. He has already discovered that they exhibit two distinct handwritings, though the same . Atabaie character is employed.. Ko writing ie perceptib'e until the leather has been mo'Stened with spirits of wine, when iie ietters become momentarily visible nc-der the oily surface of the skia. The test differs considerably from the accepted version of Deuteronomy. For iastance, the version of the Decalogue given by ths sheepskins is as follows : —"I am God, Thy God, which liberated thee from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Ye shall h-vve no other gods. Ye shall not make to ycureelves any graven image, nor any likeaesa that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters nader the earth. Ye shall not bow down to them j nor serve the.ia : I am God, your God. Sanctify ... in six days I have made the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein, and rested on the seventh day, therefore rest thou also, tboa and thy cattle and all that thou hast: lam God, thy God. Honour thy father and thy mother. . . . 1 am God, thy God. Thou- shalt cot kill the person of thy brother ; I am God, thy God. Thou shalt not commit adultery with the wife of thy neighbour: I am God, thy God. Than shalt not steal the property of thy brother: I am God, thy God. Tfcoa . shalt not. swear by My name falsely, for J visit the iniquities of the fathers upori the children unto the third and fourth generation of those -who take My name in vavn : lam God, thy God. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy brother : lam God, thy God. Thou shalt not covet the wife, . . . or his man-servant, or his maidservant, or anything that: is hie : I am God, , thy God. Thou Bhalt not hate thy brother in thy heart: I am. God, thy God. Theae ten words (or commandments) God spake." It. will probably be discovered sooner or later that a. vait deal of ingenuity and misdirected scholarship have been employed in the hope of making money out of the Seen interest; felt by millions,, even in this sceptical age, in all matters affecting the Sacred Text. The reputed discovery of Noah's Ark on. the top pf Mount. Afarat has been reluctantly abandoned, but some few , enthusiasts: are still hopeful that the French company which is dredging the Red Sea in the hope of fishing up some of Pharaoh's chariot wheels or ancient Egyptian jeSvelleryj will yet score a success.