THE BIBLE AND THE SPADE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18942, 13 February 1925, Page 7

THE BIBLE AND THE SPADE.

Sir, —Hitherto the articles contributed to your Saturday's Supplement by Miss Moria Gordon have been to ms a source of pleasure unalloyed; except, by the fact that, having now for many yeara been unable to read myself, I have had to trespass on the time and consideration, of others for the enjoyment thus experienced. Miss Gordon's" last article, however, appears to me not only to invite, but to challenge, comment She begins by triumphantly declaring; "That tha Bible is coming more and more into its own b an undisputed fact." What Miss Gordon really means by "coming into its own," she leaves one to imply, 01* imagine, but, presumably, she is convinced that the spade of the archeologist, when it has done its perfect# work, will have justified and rehabilitated the old doctrines of plenary inspiration, and the absolute inerrancy of the utterances of the Bible on every matter mentioned in its pages. That is a large order —a very large order, and I warn her in the most kindly yet the most solemn manner, that such an anticipation is not likely to be realised. A little further on in her article she says:, "There is such concrete evidence of the truth of the Bible as will make the most confirmed atheist regard its historical elements at least as ft vital page in the world's story." Well, I am not an atheist, confirmed or otherwise, hub merely an agnostic doomed for a cer* tain -time to walk the earth, wandering reluctantly amid the encircling gloom in the hitherto fruitless endeavour to obtain a glimpse of some kindly light which will lead me on to some permanent and peaceful abode of sweetness and light. I have, however, in the course of a fairly long life, mst and known many atheists, nearly all of whom I have found to be conspicuously ..honest, manly, candid and courageous, and. all of whom readily admitted that many portions of the Bible are historically reliable, and it is not probable that the spade of the archeologist will warrant anyone in going anv further than that. In fact, this is the position which a rapidly-increasing number of the duly qualified, officially-appointed and gener-ally-accepted exponents of the varied forms of religion based upon the Bible have been compelled by tha archeblogist's spade to adopt. Just 30 years ago the Rev. A. H. Sayce, one of the world's foremost Assvriologists, in a work published by the Society for the Promotion of Christian _ Knowledge, while pointing out many instances in which the work of the spade corroborated the statements of the unknowa writers of the Bible, showed it also required us to reject, among other things# the story of Melchizedefe, the mysterious king of "Salem, who was without beginning of days or ending of years; thai little incident in which Mrs. Poiiphar took a leading part, that story having its origin in a novelette written for the entertainment of the Egyptian Court; the book of Esther, which is declared to be founded on a Persian romance; th» book of Daniel, which is declared to hj« unhistorical; the book of Jonah, whica originates from a Babylonian myth. Canon Johns, another prominent archeologist, in his "Oldest. Code of Laws in the World," has pointed out that thora is such * a remarkable resemblance between some portions of Hama Rabi's code and portions of the Mosaic law a3 to vividly suggest that the writer of the Pentateuch had Hama Rabi's code before him when he prepared the Ten Commandments and the Levitical law and ritual. It is the spade which has been answerable for this also. As to the utterance of our local clergy, the work of the spade has produced marked results. One Sunday morning I hear.* the preacher in one of our largest churches declare that the Mosaic account of Creation was not to -be taken sen* ouslv, as it was only a poem, in which the 'unknown writer had done his be*t with the limited knowledge at his command. In another church the minister, while claiming Jonah as the first foreign missionary unmercifully ridiculed the great fish story, and in a th ' rd , u the congregation was informed that the Old Testament was historically rale scientifically erroneous and morally defective. Much to the same effect is a statement made by the Rev. Dr. Moffatt, in the preface to his modernised version of the Bible, only just published. Miss Gordon, in her reference to Schhemann s spade work on the site of Troy, is rather unfortunate. Prior to Schhemann s discoveries, the story contained in Uie Iliad was regarded &s fabulous. JNbw "the most confirmed atheist'* has, a* Mr. Massey would put it, "no hesitation' in believing that the siege of Troy actually took place, under the direction of •Wiiiemnon, King of men, but he does not believe, nor do I, nor, I should imagine, does Miss Gordon believe, that the Gods of Olympus had much to do with the : ' business. It is • true that Olympus is now deserted, but it is also true that Sinai is silent—as improbably ever has been—and the glowing she chinah is no longer visible or vocal. Wiluam Coombs*.