^S^H !*J ■ D9 •* - ■B I H ■ ■ ■ * ■ * ■ H|| iijjjprafe|] t 81 1 if! s iiii.'i 1 ' P Iff 1 ■::.'■: J H >1 Eillflli' iiii I 31 "' 1 llliiiil w ft 5 ] HI IP . ■ ii 9S£ i' 1 - Hook PRESENT!-: I) HY liiisi iif Sif jilfiiW Mil 1 p! If 1 m JHii ill <" p,j,.l! lit 1 11 iiii ;i ; : w ITNESS OR, THE BIBLE ILLUSTRATED FROM THE MONUMENTS. BY REV. j: N. FRADENBURGH, A. M., Ph. D., Member of the American Oriental Society, the Society of Biblical Archaeology of London, etc. circcuNnNrA.Ti : CRANSTON & STOWE, NEW YORK: PHILLIPS & HUNT. 188S. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1885, by J. N. FRADENBURGH, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. Gift Judge and Mrs. I- R. Hltt June 23 19S6 ozrjcl erll JJovers ®t ^rpufl), Y^is \/0iTirr)e is o:ftecii0r)0:fely irjscpifeea. ' PREFACE- The results of recent explorations in Bible lands have belonged hitherto, not indeed exclu- sively, but largely to scholars who have made them the subject of special study. Discoveries have poured in upon Oriental students so rap- idly, and they have been so startled, amazed, delighted, and charmed in their investigations, that they have found little time to popularize the material which has been so unexpectedly placed in their hands. We may at least gather to- gether the results of these explorations, and take an inventory of our possessions. Just now, when the spirit of skepticism would reduce im- portant parts of the Old Testament to myth and fable, it is most opportune that the spade — the magic wand of the explorer — has uncovered the cities, monuments, and records of Assyria, Baby- lonia, Egypt, and other Bible lands, and that lips which had been mute for thousands of years 6 PREFACE. have been unsealed, and- have given their testi- mony upon vital .questions. We present important installments of this testimony which bear upon the story of the Bible. They are surely unprejudiced witnesses who speak to us from the dust. They throw unexpected light upon the sacred records and confirm many important passages. The evi- dence is such as to increase our confidence in the minute accuracy of Scripture writers. The main drift of this testimony will not be changed by the improvements which may be made in the translations which we have fol- lowed and the additional material which is sure to come. The student of hi story , and especially the student of the Bible and of relig- ion, will welcome these revelations and speci- mens of archaic literature. The Christian will be able to estimate the proper value to be set upon many of the statements of " advanced" criticism. The references to the most accessible sources will enable the reader to prosecute further inquiries. December, 1885. PRESENTED BV JUDGE and MS. ISAAC R. HITT, WASHINGTON, D. C. -193JL- CONTENTS. 1. PAGE. A Resurrection from the Dead, . . .13 II. " God Created the Heaven and the Earth," 27 III. Sacred Trees, IV. The God-appointed Guard, V. The Holy Day, . Great Waters, VI. VII. Works of Folly and Deeds of Shame, 45 53 63 69 91 VIII. Rebel Angels, 101 8 CONTENTS. IX. PAGE. " Even as Nimrod, the Mighty Hunter," 105 X. Ur and Haran, 117 XL Two Giant Warriors — Chedorlaomer and Abraham, 133 XII. Abraham and Joseph in Egypt, . . 145' XIII. "To Sleep, Perchance to Dream," . . 159 XIV. Famines in Egypt, 171 XV. " Work, Work, Work," 179 XVI. Choice Fragments, 205 XVIT. Black Arts in Assyria and Egypt, . .219 XVIII. " Eat, Drink, and Be Merry," ... 241 CONTENTS. 9 XIX. PAGE- Holy Songs and Earnest Prayers, . . 249 XX. •• Weighed in the Balance," . . . 265 XXI. The Exodus, 281 XXII. The Moabite Stone — The Silo am Inscrip- tion, . . 289 XXIII. Famines and Pestilences, .... 303 XXIV. Rare Old Documents, 311 XXV. Three. Egyptian Kings, 327 XXVI. Shalmaneser II, . . . . . 337 XXVII. TlGLATH-PlLESEB II, 349 XXVIII. Sargon — Ashdod, 355 10 CONTENTS. XXIX. PAGE. Sennacherib the Mighty, . . . . 363 XXX. ESAKH ADDON, 379 XXXI. The Bloody City, 391 XXXII. " Is not this Great Babylon that I have Built?" 399 XXXIII. The Golden Image, 421 XXXIV. "Weeping for Tammuz," .... 427 XXXV. "The House of Rimmon," .... 433 XXXVI. Small Scraps, 441 xxxvii: The Strange Gods of Samaria, . . . 447 XXXVIII. Paul Quotes a Heathen Poet, . . 463 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE. Arrow-head Tablets and Inscriptions, 22 The Tree of Life, 49 Front of Assyrian Palace, 56 Winged Human-headed Bull, 56 Winged Human-headed Lion, 59 Babel, 97 Tower at Babylon, 99 King Shooting a Lion on the Spring, Ill King Pouring Libation Over Forms of Dead Lions, . . . 114 Nimrod, 115 MUGHEIR, OR L T R OF THE ChALDEES, 119 Pyramid and Sphinx, 167 Egyptian Granary, 174 Ox the Nile, 182 Brick-making in Egypt, 183 An Egyptian Brick-field, 183 Inundation of the Nile at Thebes, 184 Bust of Thothmes III, 185 Colossal Figure of Rameses II, 185 Colossal Statue of Rameses at Memphis, 186 The Nile — Temple of Ipsamboul, 187 Head of Mixeptah, 203 Egyptian War-chariot, 208 12 ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE. Scribes Writing the Account of the Steward, 209 Treading the Wine-press, '. ... 211 A Pharaoh in his Chariot, 212 " With Timbrels and with Dances," 216 Amen, 258 Outer Gallery of Temple, 268 Egyptian Mummy Cases, 269 Embalmed Body in Coffin, 270 Chamber of Tomb, 271 Isis and Nephthys, 272 Judgment Scene, 274 Sarcophagus of Esmunazar, 319 Head of Sheshonk I (Shishak), 330 Head of Tirhakah, 335 Assyrian King, . . . 340 Syrian Captives Enslaved, 342 The Black Obelisk, 343 Israelites Bringing Tribute to the King, 346 Final Assault of Damascus, 353 Sennacherib on his Throne, 375 Defense of Lachish, 376 Nisroch, 381 Nebo, 383 Face of Baal at Baalbec, 387 Assur-Nasir-Pal, . . 393 Captives Led With Hooks in their Lips, 394 Impalement, 396 Trampling on the Conquered Foe, 397 Babylon, 402 Court of Assyrian Palace, 41 fr Nebuchadnezzar in his War-chariot, 418 I. % \&mpfom \xm % Jlerfc. 13 I. THE present age is pre-eminently an age of intellectual activity. Discoveries have marked its progress. The world has again and again been surprised, startled, gladdened, ex- alted by its marvelous discoveries. Nature has revealed many wonderful secrets. Men have read the records of the stars. Mighty forces have become obedient to the human will. There has been no more important revelation during this age of progress than that of the treasures of antiquity. Old cities have risen from their graves, and ancient literatures have renewed their pristine eloquence. Dead lan- guages have come to life. Sacred volumes of forgotten lore teach their lessons anew\ Hiero- glyphics have been deciphered. Strange alpha- bets have found a voice. Old Troy with her heroes, Babylon and Nineveh with their palaces, Jerusalem with her holy associations, ancient Tyre, venerable Thebes, and Memphis and Tanis, the mysterious Sphinx, the giant Pyramid, the obelisk, the temple, and the tomb — these live. 15 16 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST, The voice that comes from lands connected with Old Testament history is especially commanding. Egypt, the land of the pyramid and the sphinx, the temple and the tomb, the obelisk and the labyrinth, the hieroglyphic and the papyrus, venerable with hoary centuries, mysterious, ar- chaic, and religious ; and the lands of Mesopota- mia, where once flourished the kingdoms of Chal- dea, Assyria, and Babylonia, with their mighty cities and sacred streams — the land of Abraham, "the friend of God," the land of canals and luxu- riant verdure, w T here the palm, stately and beauti- ful, waves its graceful branches and bows its rev- erent head, the land of wealth and luxury, war and conquest, the home of the Babel Tower and of Nimrod, the mighty hunter, by whose streams the Jewish exiles hung their harps on the wil- lows and thought of far-away Zion — these ancient kingdoms are shaking off the dust of ' millen- niums and standing forth before the astonished gaze of this modern world. Their cities and palaces are rising from graves of long-forgotten centuries, and enrobing themselves in their na- tive beauty. Their tombs are opened, and the dead speak. We may talk to-day with their great kings, we may hear their priests chant their hymns and make their prayers. We may accompany A RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD. 17 the warrior in his victorious campaigns and the plowman in his humble toil. We may enter the bank and listen to monetary discussions, and the palace and behold scenes of splendor. We may read the romances with which great authors charmed the people, and books of travel which record daring adventures of brave spirits in strange lands. We may go to the home of the sick, and greet the physician in his daily rounds ; we may stand as a witness for the householder as he purchases a slave. We may note the rage of the monarch as he executes vengeance upon his enemies ; we may sit by his side as he records his last will and testament. We may watch the erection of temples and palaces, con- verse with counselors and divines, share in the excitement of the royal hunting expedition, and enter the royal libraries. If we question the winged, human-headed bulls and lions which guard the gateways to palaces and temples, they answer us; if we speak to their mightiest mon- archs, they reply. We may stand by the side of the Egyptian form embalmed and buried thou- sands of years ago, and he relates to us the his- tory of his life. Every brick of Babylon hath found a tongue ; every coffin of Egypt hath a voice ; every hill of Palestine proclaims the truth. It is a true resurrection from the dead. 2 18 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. The discovery of the Rosetta stone, now de- posited in the British Museum — a stone erected in honor of Ptolemy Epiphanes one hundred and ninety-three years before Christ, and containing a most precious inscription in three languages, one of which is happily Greek — this furnished a key to the decipherment of the Egyptian hiero- glyphic writing. Champollion, a man whose genius was only excelled by his enthusiasm and devotion to science, applied this key with pronounced success to the solution of the dark problem. Till the middle of the present century there were, besides himself, Lepsius, Seyffarth, Mr. Birch, Belzoni, Dr. Hincks, M. Emmanuel de Rouge, of France, and Brugsch, of Ger- many — the most prominent names who applied themselves with marked success to this depart- ment of Egyptian studies. We can not give a history of hieroglyphic and cuneiform decipher- ment, however interesting a study it would afford. We must not, however, neglect to honor some great names who took up and carried on the work so auspiciously begun by these early inves- tigators. There, soon followed, M. Mariette, M. Chabas, and Mr. Goodwin ; and now many more — Diimichen, Lauth, Ebers, Stern, Eisenlohr, Wied- eman, Bergman, and Reinisch, of Germany; Pleyte, of Holland; Lieblein, of Sweden; Gole- A RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD. 19 nischeff, of Russia ; Deveria, J, de Rouge, Hoi- rack, Maspero, Lefebure, Pierret, Grebaut, Ro- biou, Baillet, Rochenionteix, and P. Le Page Renouf, of France ; Naville, of Geneva ; Rossi, Szedlo and Schiaparelli, of Italy ; and Canon Cook and Professor Lushington, of England. All honor to the men who, inspired only by the love of truth, have delved in these ancient mines of forgotten lore. They have breathed upon the dry bones of Egypt, and an army has stood up be- fore their vision. The methods adopted have commended themselves to the good judgment of thoughtful scholars and earned their confidence, and have at last compelled the respect and approval even of the most skeptical. Many magnificent volumes of texts have been published. The originals, written on tombs, temple walls, obelisks, coffins, mummy wrap- pings, and papyrus rolls, are fast perishing from the robberies and destruction of Arab, European, and American vandalism. But a few fragments of the texts in existence have been published. The mass of unpublished material is truly amaz- ing, and much will probably never see the light. " Mariette-Bey has published four folio vol- umes of plates from the temple of Denderah alone, but he gives them only as a selection. To copy the whole would, he says, be the work 20 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST of years. Dr. Dumichen has published another folio volume of texts of special interest, selected from the same temple, without interfering with those published by M. Mariette. Every square foot of the walls is, in fact, covered with pic- ture or text. I had the pleasure of passing some time, two or three years ago," says M. Re- nouf, from whom we are quoting, "at Qurna, on the left bank of the Nile, near Thebes, with a great scholar, who had spent much time in copy- ing the inscriptions of a single tomb ; but, though he worked indefatigably and rapidly, he was compelled to come away leaving a great part of his intended work unaccomplished." The marvels of records so vast quite con- found the intelligence. Immense masses of ma- terials have been entirely destroyed. Inscrip- tions and manuscripts innumerable, with priceless treasures of thought, are no more. We possess only the bare wreck of Egyptian literature. "Yet, if we only look to quantity, the stock of original and trustworthy materials actually in existence, illustrative of the religion of ancient Egypt, is more extensive than the corresponding materials extant for the religions of Palestine, Greece, or Rome." (Renouf, The Religion of Ancient Egypt, pp. 24, et seq.) Most of the Egyptian documents are of a religious character, A RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD. 21 though the subjects are of a wider range. There are histories, works of travel, romance, poetry, prayers, magic texts, proverbs, religious discus- sions, and so on — and yet a religious tone per- vades all, even the subjects apparently most secu- lar. Some of the works — as the Book of the Dead — are of considerable magnitude. The recovery of the cuneiform writings of Chaldea and Assyria, their decipherment and interpretation, and the life thus given to Elam, Shinar, Ur, Nineveh, Babylon, and other countries and cities, are equally wonderful triumphs of nineteenth century scholarship. In connection with this subject we must not forget to record the names of La yard, Rawlinson, Norris, Hincks, Smith, Sayce, Talbot, Menant, Oppert, Pinches, Houghton, Guyard, Boscawen, Lenormant, Schra- der, Delitzsch, Haupt, Lyon, and Hommel. Hor- muzd Rassam, the monarch of the spade, is adding new discoveries year by year. This archaic literature is preserved on cylinders, obe- lisks, mythologic objects, and clay tablets. The tablets are of all sizes, " from an inch long to over a foot square." The characters were stamped on these tablets with a stvlus while they were yet soft. The tablets were then baked, and sometimes covered with a clay coating and again baked. In the latter case the writing was most 22 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST, perfectly preserved, for, upon the removal of the coating, a double impression of the text is revealed. The library of Assurbanipal at Nineveh has yielded many thousands of volumes or tablets. ARROW-HEAD TABLETS AND INSCRIPTIONS. George Smith, whose death was all too soon for the cause of science, has been called the modern curator of this old library as it is now preserved in the British Museum. " Historical and mythological documents, re- ligious records, legal, geographical, astronomical, and astrological treatises ; poeiical compositions, grammatical and lexical disquisitions ; lists of A RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD. 23 stones and trees, of birds and beasts ; copies of treaties, of commercial transactions, of corre- spondence, of petitions to the king, and of royal proclamations — such were the chief contents of this strange old library." (Sayce, Babylonian Literature, p. 16.) The wand of modern schol- arship has been waved over these lost and buried empires, and Shalmaneser, Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, Assurbanipal, and great Nebuchadnezzar have stood forth and related, in archaic language, their wonderful stories ; Nimrod " the mighty hunter " has again pursued the lion and the wild bull, Abraham has worshiped in "TJr of the Chaldees," and the life of thousands of years ago has been lived over again in these modern times. The interest which we possess in these mon- umental revelations is enhanced from the con- nection of Egypt and Assyria with Israel, the chosen people of God. Abraham, in whose seed all the nations of the earth are blessed, received his early education in Chaldea. He dwelt for some time in Haran. He descended into Egypt. He fought against Chedorlaomer and his allies of Mesopotamia and the East. Joseph went down into Egypt, and was honored with the highest office in the gift of the Pharaoh. He married the daughter of the priest of Heliop- 24 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. olis. His father's family removed to Egypt with all his possessions, and there the Hebrews suffered oppression until Moses led them forth to the land of promise. From the east the great and mighty monarchs of Assyria and Babylonia invaded and conquered Israel, and carried the people of Israel and Judah captive to Babylon and other Eastern cities, where for generations they were forced to submit to the rule of a people whose religion was an abomination to the faith of their fathers. Thus Israel, between these two powers, was conquered, oppressed/ enslaved, buffeted, and harried ; her people were dispersed among the nations, her holy city taken, her sacred temple defiled, and her treasury robbed. There is more than historic justice in the fact that these nations which exhausted them- selves in destroying Israel, transporting her in- habitants, and dethroning her God, after three thousand years of eilence have risen from their graves to proclaim the truthfulness and divinity of Israel's sacred books. Oriental records have added many chapters to history, and necessitated the re-writing of many more. The history of Assyria and Egypt has been written only within the last few years. Important papers on their connection A RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD. 25 with old Testament history — genuine contribu- tions to knowledge — have appeared in the trans- actions of learned societies, and in various re- views and other periodicals of high character. The labor of decipherment and translation con- tinues. Texts, grammars, and dictionaries have been published. Classes have been formed for the study of the Egyptian and Assyrian languages, and many enthusiastic laborers are active in this new and promising field. Ameri- ican students may enjoy the advantage of in- struction in these studies by competent profes- sors in their own institutions of learning. Many volumes of translations have appeared, and these old documents may be read in mod- ern dress. We glean, then, from a wide field, and pre- sent some handfuls of grain. We have confined ourselves closely to the written records, only in a few cases admitting quotations from native writers when these are of unquestioned an- tiquity and authority. We have also considered it most profitable to present the very words of the records. In one or two instances we have slightly changed the order of the words in the translations, to make the language, if possible, more endurable English. It can not be supposed that the translators 3 26 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. have, in all eases, hit upon the exact rendering or even the correct meaning of the text, yet we may rely upon their general results and be as- sured that we shall not hereafter be called upon to reverse the main conclusions to which we will be led by their studies. II " itft mnltb i\t 3f ©mat nnb i\t JSariff* tt II SANCHONIATHON was a Phoenician author who seems to have written extensively on early Phoenician history and traditions. Suidas calls him a " Tyrian philosopher ;" and he is men- tioned by Athenaeus, Porphyry, Theodoret, and Eusebius. Most of his works are lost, but some few fragments have been preserved by Eusebius and Porphyry. Philo, of Byblus, translated from Sanchoniathon into Greek, and Eusebius quotes from Philo. Grotius, Ewald, Baron Bun- sen, and others, who have given special atten- tion to the subject, consider these fragments genuine remnants of Phoenician literature, and of the very highest importance. Eusebius, of Caesarea, a native of Palestine, was born in A. D. 264. From his extracts we make the following quotations : " He supposes that the beginning of all things was a dark and condensed windy air, or a breeze of dark air, and a chaos turbid and black as Erebus ; and that these were un- bounded, and for a long series of ages desti- 29 30 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. tute of form [or limit]. But when this wind became enamored of its own first principles (the Chaos) , and an intimate union took place, that connection was called Pothos ; and it was the beginning of the creation of all things. And it (the Chaos) knew not its own production ; but, from its embrace with the wind, was generated Mot, which some called Ilus (mud), but others the putrefaction of a watery mixture. And from this sprung all the seed of the creation and the generation of the universe. And there were certain animals not having sensation, from which intelligent ahimals were produced ; and they were called Zophasemim, 'observers of heaven,' and they were formed similar to the shape of an egg. And Mot shone out with the sun and the moon and the less and the greater stars. . . . Of the wind, Kolpia and his wife, Baau, which is interpreted Night, were begotten two mortal men, iEon and Protogonus, so called ; and iEon discovered food from trees. Those begotten from these were called Genos and Genea, and inhabited Phoenicia." (Cory, Ancient Frag- ments, pp. 1-4.) Berosus was a Babylonian priest, who wrote about B. C. 330 to 260. He was held in great repute by ancient writers. Josephus, Plutarch, Eusebius, George the Syncellus, Athenaeus, GOD THE CREATOR. 31 Pliny, Seneca, Pausanius, Jerome, and many other ancient authors, mention Berosus, or give quotations from his works. If there has been any doubt heretofore as to his perfect good faith, that doubt is now thoroughly dispelled by the discovery of the monumental records. Berosus may have had access to the public documents of Babylonia. As reported by Alexander Poly- histor, he says : " In the first year there made its appearance, from a part of the Erythraean Sea, which bor- dered upon Babylonia, an animal endowed with reason, who was called Oannes. (According to the account of Apollodorus) the whole body of the animal was like that of a fish ; and had under a fish's head another head, and also feet below, similar to those of a man, subjoined to the fish's tail. His voice, too, and language was articulate and human ; and a representation of him is preserved even to this day." This strange animal taught the people letters, arts, and sciences. Under his wise instruction they founded temples, compiled laws, and gained various kinds of useful knowledge. Oannes gave the following account of creation : . " There was a time in which there was noth- ing but darkness and an abyss of waters, wherein resided most hideous beings, which were pro- 32 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. duced of a twofold principle. . . . The person who was supposed to have presided over them was a woman named Omoroca; which in the Chaldee language is Thalatth ; which in Greek is interpreted Thalassa, the sea ; but, according to the most true computation, it is equivalent to Selene, the moon. All things being in this sit- uation, Belus came and cut the woman asunder, and out of one half of her he formed the earth, and of the other half the heavens ; and at the same time he destroyed the animals in the abyss. All this (he says) was an allegorical de- scription of nature. For the whole universe consisted of moisture, and the animals being continually generated therein, the deity (Belus) above mentioned cut off his own head; upon which the other gods mixed the blood, as it gushed out, with the earth, and from thence men were formed. On this it is that men are rational and partake of divine knowledge. This Belus, whom men call Dis (or Pluto), divided the darkness, and separated the heavens from the earth, and reduced the universe to order; but the animals so recently created, not being able to bear the prevalence of light, died. Belus, upon this, seeing a vast space quite un- inhabited, though by nature very fruitful, or- dered one of the gods to take off his head ; and GOD THE CREATOR. 33 when it was taken off they were to mix the blood with the soil of the earth, and from thence to form other men and animals which should be capable of bearing the light. Belus also formed the stars and the sun and the moon, together with the five planets." (Cory, Ancient Frag- ments, pp. 57-60.) Abydenus, quoting from Berosus, says : " There was nothing but water in the beginning, and that was called the sea (Tiamat) ; Belos (Bel-Marduk) put an end to this state of things by assigning to every thing its place in the world." (Lenormant, Beginnings of History, p. 499.) A still more important extract is preserved by Damascius. His account runs as follows : " But the Babylonians, like the rest of the bar- barians, pass over in silence the one principle of the universe, and they constitute two, Tauthe and Apason, making Apason the husband of Tauthe, and denominating her the ' mother of the gods.' And from these proceeds an only- begotten son, Moymis, which, I conceive, is no other than the intelligible world proceeding from the two principles. From them, also, another progeny is derived, Dache and Dachus ; and again a third, Kissare and Assorus ; from which last three others proceed, Anus and Illinus and 34 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. Aus. And of Aus and Davke is born a son called Belus, who, they say, is the fabricator of the world — the Demiurgus." (Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 92.) These traditions, while standing by them- selves, are most difficult of interpretation. But a new group of traditions, of which the world fifty years ago had not dreamed, has been dis- covered* The two groups must be read together. The creation tablets date in their present form from the time of Assurbanipal, though doubtless depending upon documents or legends much earlier. These tablets, seven in number, in their fragmentary condition, have been trans- lated several times and by different hands. We give Lenormant's translation of the first tablet : " When above the heavens were not yet named, and, below, the earth was without a name, the limitless abyss (apsii) was their generator, and the chaotic sea (Mimima-Tiamai) , she who pro- duced the whole. Their waters flowed together in one ; no flock of animals was as yet collected, no plant had sprung up. When none of the gods had as yet been produced, when they were not designated by a name, when no fate was as yet [fixed, the great gods were then formed. Luchmu and Lachamu were produced [first, and they grew in [solitude. GOD THE CREATOR, 35 Asshur and Kisshar were produced [next Then] rolled on a long course of days [and Ann, [Bel and Ea were born] of Asshur and of [Kishar." (Lenormant, Beginnings of History p. 491.) With this account, read in the poem of the creation of Genesis the record of the work of the first day : "In the beginning, when God created the heaven and the earth, The earth being w r aste and empty, and darkness upon the face of the deep, And the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the waters, God said, Let light come forth, and light came forth. And God saw the light that it was excellent, And God divided between the light and the darkness ; And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And evening came, and morning came — one day." (Briggs, The Old Testament Student, Vol. Ill, p. 277.) We may now compare the three accounts — the historical, the monumental, and the Biblical. In the Mummu-Tiamatu, " the chaos of wat- ers " of the creation tablet, we discover the Moymis and Tauthe of Damascius, and in its second element the Thalatth or Thavatth of Be- rosus. The Assyrian and Babylonian artists represent Tiamatu as " a monster in whom all 36 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. the disorder of the primitive creation was rep- resented." This monster had " the body, the head, and the forepaws of a lion, the wings, the tail, and the hind-claws of an eagle, while the neck and upper part of the body are covered with feathers or scales." The same word is the Hebrew tehbm, " the deep," of Genesis i, 2. This " deep " is tohu, " waste," " without form." Both Genesis and the monuments make a watery chaos precede the formation of the world, and with this account both Damascius and Be- rosus agree. Lachmu and Lachamu, male and female personifications of motion and production, are Dache and Dachus, the ruach, " spirit," of Genesis. Asshur and Kishar are the Assorus and Kissare of Damascius. Anu, Bel, and Ea form the Babylonian triad of gods, and are the Anus, Illinos, and Aus of Damascius. They symbolize heaven, earth, and sea. Apason must be apsu, " the deep." The Phoenician Cosmogony gives us, as its basis, a triad, — Baau, " chaos;" Pothos, " spirit" or " desire ;" and Mdt, u slime," also termed TJla- moSy " time," and again the primordial " egg," out of which came heaven and earth. Here again we have the Babylonian triad of gods rep- resented. The wife of Hea is Davkina or Dauka, which GOD THE CREATOR. 37 has been identified with the Bohu, " void," " empty/' of Genesis i, 2, and the Phoenician Baau. " Baau is said to have been the wife of the wind, Kolpia, and we thus get a striking resem- blance to the Chaidsean Triad of the Demiurge, the sky and the earth, whose spirit broods over the abyss, and is wedded to Baau. Even the language of the Biblical account, in which Elohim 6 carves ' the heaven and the earth out of a pri- meval chaos, his spirit brooding over the deep and wasteness of the earth, shows a similar col- oring." (Sayce, Letter to The Academy, March 20, 1875 : Quoted by Lenormant, Chaldsean Magic, pp. 123, 124.) The cosmogony of Phe- recydes is Phoenician, though under the guise of Greek names, and agrees in its main features with Sanchoniathon. (Lenormant, Beginnings of History, pp. 537 et seq.) The second tablet of the creation has not been discovered, and but small and imperfect fragments of the third and fourth. The follow- ing is a translation of the fifth tablet : " Excellently he made the mansions [twelve] in number for the great gods. He assigned to them stars, and he established fixedly the stars of the Great Bear. He fixed the time of the year, and determined its limits. 38 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST For each of the twelve months he fixed three stars, from the day when the year begins until its end. He determined the mansions of the planets, to define their orbits by a fixed time, so that none of them may fall short, and none be turned aside. He fixed the abodes of Bel and fia near his own. He opened also perfectly the great gates (of heaven), making their bolts solid to right and to left ; and in his majesty he made himself steps there. He made Nannar (the moon) to shine ; he joined it to the night, and he fixed for it the seasons of its nocturnal phases, which determine the days. For the entire month without interruption he settled what should be the form of its disk. In the beginning of the month, w T hen evening begins, thy horns will serve for a sign to determine the times of the heavens. The seventh day thou wilt be in the act of filling out thy disk, but the .... will [partly] expose its dark side." The remainder of the tablet continues the description of the phases of the moon. (Lenor- mant, Beginnings of History, pp. 493-497.) For comparison we present the correspond- ing account from the Hebrew poem of the Cre- ation : " And God said, Let luminaries appear in the expanse of the heaven, To divide between the day and between the night, And be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, GOD THE CREATOR. 39 And be for luminaries in the expanse of heaven to shine upon the earth. And it became so, and God saw that it was excellent. And God made the two great luminaries ; The greater light for dominion over the day, The lesser light for dominion over the night ; And God put them in the expanse of heaven to shine upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide between the light and the darkness. And evening came, and morning came — a fourth day." (Briggs, The Old Testament Student, Vol. Ill, p. 283.) There is a short fragment of the seventh tablet : " When the gods all together had formed .... they made excellently the .... awakened. They produced the living beings [on the earth, the cattle of the fields, the wild animals of the fields, and the creeping things [of the fields." (Lenormant, Beginnings of History, p. 498.) This corresponds to the creation of the " beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind" of the sixth day of Gen- esis i, 25. The fragments of the third and fourth tab- lets are so imperfect that we are unable to present a translation ; yet enough has been re- covered to show a close resemblance with the 40 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. work of the second and third creation days. Not only in substance, but also in the very order of creation, the tablets show remarkable agreement with the Bible, while the records of native historians confirm the history of Moses, where they can be made to speak upon the same subject as that discussed by the great Hebrew lawgiver. There is a Babylonian cosmogonic legend still older than those which we have given. The tablet came from old Cutha. Like Berosus, this tablet makes the first creation that of monsters and giants — " men with the bodies of birds of the desert, human beings with the faces of ravens ;" " the terrible brood of Tihamat, the principle of chaos and night. Among them were seven kings, all brothers, the sons of King Ba- nini and Queen Milili, who ruled over a Titanic people, six thousand in number. The eldest of the brothers was called ' The Thunderbolt,' which gives us a clew to the atmospheric origin of the myth." These giants, after a mighty struggle, are defeated and destroyed by the gods. (Sayce, Babylonian Literature, p. 33.) This struggle of Bel, in his slaughter of Ti- amat, representing the creation of order out of chaos, is elaborated and developed under an epic form in the tablets : GOD THE CREATOR. 41 " He took the instrument in his right-hand, [and] he suspended [the bow] and the quiver. He shot a flash of lightning before him, and an impetuous [fury] filled his body. He made also the cimeter which was to penetrate the body of Tiamat. He held back the four winds, so that her attacks could not be produced without the south wind, the north wind, the east wind, and the west wind. His hand placed the cimeter beside the bow of his father Anu. He created the bad wind, the hostile wind, the water-spout, the hurricane, four winds, seven winds, the de- vastating wind, the ceaseless wind ; and he loos- ened the winds that he had created, seven in number, to carry ruin to the body of Tiamat by rushing after her. He raised up also, as master, the tempest, his great weapon. He mounted a solid chariot, without a rival, which leveled ev- ery thing before it. He stood erect in it, and his hands held the four pairs of reins." The battle rages, and Bel challenges Tiamat to single combat. "They flung themselves im- petuously, the one on the other, in combat, and they met in r battle. The lord drew forth his cimeter and struck her. He let loose before him the evil wind, which attacks from behind ; and Tiamat opened her mouth to swallow him, but he had caused to enter into her the 4 42 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. evil wind in such wise that she could not shut her mouth. The violence of the wind fills her stomach ; her heart sinks, and her face is dis- torted. He (Marduk) carried in front his sharp weapon ; he broke her stomach ; he cut her in the middle, and pierced her heart; he overcame her and cut short her life. He perceived her decease, and he raised himself proudly above her. When Tiamat, who w r alked before them, was conquered, he dispersed the soldiers; her cohort was scattered, and the gods, her allies, who marched by her side, trembled, feared, and turned back. They sought refuge to save their lives, and they hid themselves as fugitives, de- spoiled of courage. But [he fell] upon them and broke their arms." (Lenormant, Beginnings of History, pp. 500-507.) This may be the original of the account of Berosus. The same cosmogonic struggle is found in the Phoenician traditions of Sanchoniathon and Pherecydes. Here, then, in Semitic mythologies and cos- mogonies, there is to be discovered, together with subordinate differences, rare agreement with Genesis in the leading facts connected with the creation. The personality of the First Great Cause is concealed, and polytheism is too evi- dent, but still the general agreement is so close as to be startling. The accounts of the creation GOD THE CREATOR. 43 current among the Egyptians, Scandinavians, Hindus, and Zoroastrians furnish additional illus- trations, but we can not enter this inviting field. All these are doubtless wrecks of primitive revelations of God, modified, changed, corrupted, elaborated, adapted to foreign philosophies and mythologies, and yet, in all their wanderings, showing traces of their pristine divinity — at length, as far as is necessary for purposes of morality and religion, rescued, purified, spirit- ualized, and recorded by Moses under the direc- tion of the Holy Spirit, as we find them in Genesis. III. i«^h ¥rm + 45 III. " A ND the Lord God commanded the man, l\. saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat : but of the tree of the knowl- edge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it : for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis ii, 16, 17.) "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil : and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever : therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man ; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." (Genesis iii, 22-24.) There are no distinct and direct traditions of these trees in the monuments, yet there are rep- resentations which render it certain that such traditions existed among the Babylonians. The Assyrian bas-reliefs present us with representa- 47 48 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. tions of a sacred plant guarded by celestial genii, or adored by royal figures. That this mysterious plant was a most important religious emblem is further shown in that the symbolic image of the supreme divinity is frequently seen floating above it as a winged disc, and sometimes surmounted by a human bust. This is also a frequent symbol on the cylinders. The Sabseans or Mandaitis of Bassorah are familiar with the tree of life. The most ancient name of Babylon was Tin-tir-ki, which signifies "the place of the tree of life." " The figure of the sacred plant, which we connect with the tree of the Edenic traditions, appears as a symbol of eternal life upon the curious sarcophagi of enameled pottery belonging to the last epoch of Chaldean civiliza- tion posterior to Alexander the Great, which have been discovered at Warka, the ancient Uruk." (Lenormant, Beginnings of History, p. 85.) This emblem has various forms. " The sim- plest consists of a short pillar springing from a single pair of rams' horns, and surmounted by a capital composed of two pairs of rams' horns, separated by one, two, or three horizontal bands ; above which there is, first, a scroll resembling that which commonly surmounts the winged circle, and then a flower, very much like the ' honeysuckle ornament' of the Greeks. More SACRED TREES. 49 advanced specimens show the pillar elongated, with a capital in the middle in addition to the capital at the top, while the blossom above the upper capital, and generally the stem likewise, throw out a number of similar smaller blossoms, which are sometimes replaced by fir- cones or pomegranates. Where the tree is most elaborately portrayed, we see, besides the stem and the blossoms, a complicated network of branches, which, after interlacing with one another, form a sort of arch surrounding the tree itself, as with a frame." (Rawlin- son, Ancient Monarchies, Vol. II, p. 7.) The cone was a magical charm of great power. Ea, "the vivifier and preserver of the human race," directs : " Take the fruit of the cedar, and hold it in front of the sick per- son ; the cedar is the tree which gives the pure charm, and repels the inimical demons, who lay snares." (Lenormant, Beginnings of History, pp. 92, 93.) The connection between this symbolic tree 5 THE TREE OF LIFE. 50 WITNESSES FROM THE DEAD. and the sacred Soma plant of the Hindus, the Haoma of the Iranians, is quite possible. Prophetic trees, like the "talking oaks" of Dodona, in Greece, and the elon me'dneriim, or " oak of the diviners," near Shechem, were common among the ancients. God could make any tree the tree of knowledge. The Chaldeans had a tree which they called the "tree of light." The symbol of Assur, the supreme God, hov- ered over the tree of life. His goddess was Ki-shar, "the fruitful earth," the Semitic She- ruya, from which, perhaps, comes Asherd, wrongly translated "grove" in the Bible, "that pillar more or less richly ornamented, which formed the consecrated idol image of the terrestrial god- dess of fertility and of life in the Canaanite worship of Palestine." This, however, is con- jectural, and yet fruitful of thought. (Lenor- mant, Beginnings of History, pp. 97, 98.) More positive evidence is at hand. A cyl- inder of hard stone is preserved in the British Museum which is most interesting. Upon this cylinder is represented a tree with four and five nearly horizontal branches on either side, the two lowest branches bearing each a large bunch of fruit. A man wearing a Babylonian turban sits on one side of the tree and a woman sits on the other side. They stretch out their hands SACRED TREES. 51 as if to pluck the fruit. Behind the woman a serpent stands upreared. (Smith, The Chaldsean Account of Genesis, pp. 88, 89.) This illus- trates the story of Genesis, and admits of no other satisfactory explanation. This symbolism seems to have found its way into Greek and Roman art, and its conventional forms were probably adopted by the early Christians. Among the Chaldseo-Assyrians a great ser- pent is mentioned, and called " the enemy of the gods," and " the huge seven-headed serpent, who pounds the waves of the sea." It reminds us of the Apocalyptic serpent of St. John, Rev. xii, 9 ; xx, 2. The serpent appears as a tempter in Zoroastrianism. Great caution should be used in studying the great multitude of myths cur- rent in many lands, in which trees and serpents are prominent figures. They do not all admit of the same explanation. We believe, however, that we might with entire safety push our illus- trations much further. IV. 'f$ §ufr-J^{tumi$ %mtk 53 IV. SCHOLARS have been accustomed to seek the origin of the word " cherub " in Aryan, and especially Iranian, sources ; but since the resurrection of the literature of Chaldseo-Baby- lonian and Assyrian times this position must be abandoned. It now seems certain that the word is of pure Semitic origin. When used as a sub- stantive, it means a bull — from Karab, " to be strong." (cf. Ezek. i, 10; x, 14.) These " bulls " are the winged, human-headed bulls, crowned with the lofty" cidaris, which guarded the gateways of the Assyrian palaces and temples. Supernatural genii were supposed to dwell in these colossal stone images as pro- tecting divinities. On a prism, deposited in the foundation of one of the palaces of Nineveh, we read : " The gates of fir, with solid panels, I have bound them with bands of silver and of brass,, and I have furnished the gateways with genii, with stone colossi, which, like the beings they represent, overwhelm (with fear) the breast of the wicked, protecting the footsteps, conducting 55 FRONT OF ASSYRIAN PALACE. 56 THE GOD-APPOINTED GUARD. 57 to their accomplishment the steps of the king who made them ; to right and to left I have caused their bolts to be made." (Lenormant, Beginnings of History, pp. 122, 123.) These bulls are sometimes registered in the lists of divinities, and receive the invocations of the devout. As real living beings, they guard the gate of the infernal abode, and also the gates of the celes- tial palaces of the gods. In form the colossi guarding the gates of Assyrian palaces were bulls ; in nature the indwelling genii were called shedi, protecting divinities. They were also named Ki rubi, " cherubim/' Esarhaddon, speak- ing of his royal pal- ace, says : " Bulls and lions, carved in stone, which with their majestic mien deter wicked en- emies from approaching, the guardians of the footsteps, the saviors of the path of the king, WINGED HUMAN-HEADED BULL. 58 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. who constructed them right and left, I placed them at the gates." (Talbot, Records of the Past, Vol. Ill, p. 121.) The cherubim of the kings and prophets of Israel were certainly animals, and, indeed, quad- rupeds. (Ezek. i and x; 2 Sam. xxii, 11 ; Psa. xviii, 10.) An Assyrian cylinder in the British Museum illustrates the vision of the prophet Ezekiel, so exuberant in Assyrian imagery. It is thus described by Lenormant : " Upon the waves, designated as usual by undulating lines, floats a marvelous and animated bark, ending at poop and prow with a human bust, displaying half the body. On this bark are seen, in profile, two kirubi, or winged bulls, standing back to back, who turn their human countenance toward the spectator. These two kirubi necessarily suppose the existence of two others, hidden by them, who support the other side of the great shield which they carry upon their shoulders. On this shield is a throne, and seated thereon a bearded god, clad in a long robe, wearing a high tiara, or cidaris, on his head, holding in his hand a short scepter and a large ring, an unadorned circle. A personage of inferior size stands be- side the god, as awaiting his commands. This is evidently his angel, his malak, as they call it in Hebrew ; his shukkal, as it was expressed in THE GOD-APPOINTED GUARD. 59 Assyrian. He it is who is to fill the office of mediator, for purposes of communication between the god and the adorer who contemplates him in an attitude of devotion." (Lenormant, Begin- nings of History, pp. 127, 128.) The whole WINGED HUMAN-HEADED LION. complexity of Ezekiel's vision could not b£ rep- resented in plastic art ; but this is a fair approx- imation. The cherubim of the Ark of the Covenant, though emblems of divinity, were probably of some different form ; but the cherubim set to guard the entrance to Eden, were doubtless in form winged, human-headed lions, so familiar in 60 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. Assyrian sculpture, and winged, human-headed bulls, as the very name would indicate. Independent of the cherubim which guarded the gate was " the flaming blade of the sword which turns," as Lenormant renders the passage. This, like the wheel of Ezekiel, may have been a circular weapon revolving in a horizontal plane between the cherubim, so as to cut in pieces whoever ventured an attempt at entrance. It was entirely analogous to the disk, or tchakra, a mighty weapon in the hands of Indian heroes — a disk with a sharp edge, hollow in the center, and thrown horizontally with a rapid revolving motion. It is most interesting to find the He- brew word translated sword — lahat — under the form littu in Assyrian. This weapon is cele- brated in a most ancient fragment of lyric poetry : "In my right hand I hold my disk of fire; In my left hand I hold my disk of carnage. The sun with fifty faces, The high weapon of my divinity, I hold it. The weapon which devours entirely, Like the ogre, I hold it. That which breaks the mountains, The powerful weapon of the god Anu, I hold it. THE GOD-APPOINTED GUARD. 61 That which bends the mountains, The fish with the seven fins, I hold it. The littu (sword) of the battle, Which devastates and desolates the rebellious land, I hold it. The whirlpool of the battle, The weapon of fifty heads, I hold it. Like unto the enormous serpent, With seven heads, Unto a wave which divides itself into seven branches; Like unto the serpent which lashes the waves of the sea, Attacking the enemy in front, Devastating in the violence of battles, Dominatrix of heaven and of earth, The weapon of seven heads, I hold it. The weapon which fills the land With the terror of its vast strength. In my right hand, powerfully, The projectile of gold and of onyx, I hold it." (Lenormant, Beginnings of History, pp. 142, 143.) These may have been the symbolic forms under which the author of Genesis thought of the powers which guarded the way of the tree of life. ¥ ¥k $»?♦ 63 THE- obligation to Sabbath observance is based upon one of the deepest and most imperative wants of human nature. Both the animate and the inanimate world have their sea- sons of labor and rest. The Bible Sabbath is most sacred because it is the day sanctified by an express divine command, and because it com- memorates the Sabbath of God's rest after the work of the creation, and afterward, also, the rest of the Hebrews after their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. As the " Lord's Day " it com- memorates the resurrection of the Son of God. The number seven was held in special re- gard by the Chaldeans and the Assyrians. There were seven evil spirits, seven planetary gods, and a seven-headed serpent. Seven times seven were the number of sins which the peni- tent confessed before the gods. The mention of seven days occurs in various connections. Seven marks the stages of progress in Ishtar's entrance into Hades, and her return from the realm of shades. There are seven knots to be 6 65 66 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. tied in the magic handkerchief whose efficacy is to heal the sick, and the number seven is chanted in magic song. The mightiest weapon of the Babylonian war god was a disk, around the cir- cumference of which were seven sharp points. The great temple in Babylon rose in seven stages of seven colors, dedicated to seven gods. These are but a few of the many instances in which the number seven is used with deep sym- bolic and mystic import. There is a great astronomical work belong- ing to Babylonia and Assyria which consists of seventy tablets. It was compiled by Sargon, of Agane, in the sixteenth century before Christ, and has been translated by Professor Sayce. On one of the tablets are to be found the un- mistakable words, "The moon a rest, the sev- enth day, the fourteenth day, the twenty-first day, the tw r enty-eighth day, causes." (Trans- actions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Vol. Ill, pp. 145, 207, 213, 313.) The days on which the quarters of the moon began are called " days of Sulum," rest — a well- known word in the Bible. Professor Sayce has translated "A Baby- lonian Saints' Calendar," and finds the same days, together with the nineteenth day of the month, marked as Sabbaths. The words which THE HOLY DAY. 67 he renders " Sabbath " are Accadian, and equiva- lent to the Assyrian yum sulumi, or "day of completion (of labors)." The Accadian means, literally, dies nefastus. The prohibitions concerning the Sabbath pos- sess a strong Levitical cast. Concerning each of the sacred days there are minute prohibitory directions. Of the seventh day of Elul, the calendar reads : "A Sabbath. The prince of many nations the flesh of birds (and) cooked fruit eats not. The garments of his body he changes not. White robes he puts not on. Sacrifice he offers not. The king (in) his chariot rides not. In royal fashion he legislates not. A place of gar- rison the general (by word of) mouth appoints not. Medicine for his sickness of body he ap- plies not. To make a sacred spot it is suitable. In the night, in the presence of Merodach and Istar, the king his offering makes. Sacrifice he offers. Raising his hand, the high place of the gods he worships." (Sayce, Records of the Past, Vol. VII, pp. 160, 161.) These injunctions are repeated, with no ma- terial change for the other sacred days. These hebdomadal divisions are not continuous, but begin with the first of each month, the last two days of the month being neglected. 68 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. The word Sabbath itself is found in the As- syrian inscriptions under the form Sabattu. It means u a day of rest for the heart." Certain other sacred days are called "joy of the heart/' and seem to have been quite festive in their ob- servance. Sometimes Sabattu is equivalent to Garnaru, " to be completed/' and may refer to the completion of the labors of the week. Here, however, it is a verb, and not a substantive. The idea of the Sabbath was certainly known to the ancient Babylonians and Assyrians. These sacred days which we have discussed differ no more widely from the Biblical Sabbath than would have been expected in the midst of poly- theistic surroundings. The wonder is, that there are so many marks of its primitive purity. VI. iriaf Waters* 60 VI LEGENDS of the flood are current among many nations. We must confine our atten- tion to such as are closely related to the monu- mental records. Abydenus, who lived about B. C. 268, pre- served the following fragment from Berosus : " And, among other matters not irrelevant to the subject, he continues thus concerning the Del- uge. After Euedoreschus, some others reigned, and then Sisithrus (Xisuthrus). To him the god Kronos (t. e., Saturn) foretold that, on the fifteenth day of the month Desius, there would be a del- uge, and commanded him to deposit all the writ- ings whatever he had in the City of the Sun, in Sippara. Sisithrus (Xisuthrus), when he had complied with these commands, instantly sailed to Armenia, and was immediately inspired by God. During the prevalence of the waters, Sisithrus (Xisuthrus) sent out birds, that he might judge if the flood had subsided. But the birds, pass- ing over an unbounded sea, and not finding any place of rest, returned again to Sisithrus. This 71 72 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST he repeated ; and when upon the third trial he succeeded — for the birds then returned with their feet stained with mud — the gods translated him from among men. With respect to the ves- sel, which yet remained in Armenia, it is a cus- tom of the inhabitants to form bracelets and amulets of its wood." (Cory, Ancient Frag- ments, p. 54.) Nicolaus, of Damascus, who lived about the time of Augustus, preserves the following tra- dition : " There is above Minyas, in the land of Ar- menia, a very great mountain, which is called Baris (i. 0., a ship), to which it is said that many persons retreated at the time of the Flood, and were saved ; and that one in particular was carried thither in an ark, and was landed on its summit, and that the remains of the vessel were long preserved upon the mountain. Perhaps this was the same individual of whom Moses, the legislator of the Jews, has made mention." (Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 74.) A still more extended and interesting ac- count is that given by Alexander Polyhistor, who lived in Rome in B. C. 85: " After the death of Ardates, his son, Xisu- thrus, succeeded, and reigned eighteen sari. In^ his time happened the great Deluge, the history GREAT WATERS. 73 of which is given in this manner : The deity, Kronos, appeared to him in a vision, and gave him notice that upon the fifteenth day of the month Dsesia there would be a flood, by which mankind would be destroyed. He therefore en- joined him to commit to writing a history of the beginning, progress, and final conclusion of all things down to the present term; and to bury these accounts securely in the city of the Sun at Sippara ; and to build a vessel, and to take with him into it his friends and relations; and to convey on board every thing necessary to sustain life, and to take in also all species of animals that either fly or rove upon the earth, and trust himself to the deep. Having asked the Deity whither he was to sail, he was an- swered, ' To the gods ;' upon which he offered up a prayer for the good of mankind. And he obeyed the divine admonition, and built a vessel five stadia in length, and in breadth two. Into this he put every thing which he had got ready ; and last of all conveyed into it his wife, children, and friends. After the flood had been upon the earth and was in time abated, Xisu- thrus sent out some birds from the vessel, 'which, not finding any food nor any place to rest their feet, returned to him again. After an interval of some days, he sent them forth a second time, 74 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. and they now returned with their feet tinged with mud. He made a trial a third time with these birds, but they returned to hirn no more, from whence he formed a judgment that the surface of the earth was now above the waters. Having, therefore, made an opening in the ves- sel, and finding, upon looking out, that the vessel was driven to the side of a mountain, he immediately quitted it, being attended by his wife, his daughter, and the pilot. Xisuthrus immediately paid his adoration to the earth, and, having constructed an altar, offered sacri- fices to the gods. " These things being duly performed, both Xisuthrus and those who came out of the ves- sel with him disappeared. They who remained on the vessel, finding that the others did not return, came out, with many lamentations, and called continually on the name of Xisuthrus. They saw him no more, but could distinguish his voice in the air, and could hear him admon- ish them to pay due regard to the gods. He likewise informed them that it was upon account of his piety that he was translated to live with the gods ; that his wife and daughter, with the pilot, had obtained the same honor. To this he added that he would have them make the best of their way to Babylonia, and search for the GREAT WATERS. 75 writings at Sippara, which were to be made known to all mankind, and that the place where they then were was the land of Armenia. The remainder having heard these words, offered sac- rifices to the gods, and, taking a circuit, jour- neyed toward Babylonia. " The vessel being thus stranded in Armenia, some part of it yet remains in the Gordysean Mountains, in Armenia, and the people scrape off the bitumen, with which it had been out- wardly coated, and make use of it by way of an alexipharmic and amulet. In this manner they returned to Babylon ; and having found the writings at Sippara, they set about building cities and erecting temples, and Babylon was thus inhabited again." (Cory, Ancient Frag- ments, pp. 60-63.) That these are veritable Chaldsean tradi- tions we can not doubt. One writer shows his knowledge of Moses, but, at the same time, proves that his own version of the story came from other sources. Berosus, as the priest of Bel, would have had access to Babylonian doc- uments deposited in the temple. Among the cuneiform tablets exhumed at Nineveh, and now in the British Museum, the late George Smith discovered and translated the great national epic of Izdubar — an epic in 76 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. twelve cantos, celebrating the exploits of the hero. It may be compared with the twelve labors of Hercules, and may be distinctly solar in its character, following the sun's course through the heavens during the twelve months of the year. It may be also of historic impor- tance, and, in some of its cantos, have a basis in historic fact. Mr. Smith believes the hero to be Nimrod, and in this opinion a number of other scholars agree. The name " Izdubar " is merely provisional. Three copies of the poem belonged to the library of the palace of the king at Nineveh. These copies were made by Assurbanipal, in the seventh century before the Christian era, from an old cop^ which belonged to the sacerdotal library of one of the earlier monarchs of the city of Uruk. This latter copy may have been a thousand years old when it was used by the scribes of the king. Certain signs which had become unfamiliar were interpreted differ- ently by different scribes. " Finally, it has been ascertained," says Lenormant, " by comparing these same variations, one with the other, that the copy transcribed by order of Asshur-bani-abal was itself a copy of a still older manuscript, in which some interlinear glosses had already been added to the original text. Some copyists in- GREAT WATERS. 77 troduced these into the text ; others omitted them." (Lenormant, Beginnings of History, pp. 391, 392.) This carries back the date of the original composition to a period previous to Abraham. We will outline the contents of this epopee. The husband of Ishtar — he is called Dumzi or Dumuzi, the Tamzi or Tammuz of the Bible, "The Son of Life "—is the chief of Erech. After his death Ishtar reigns in his stead, and leads a dissolute life, becoming thereby the scan- dal of the kingdom. The kingdom is invaded and conquered by Humbaba, or Hubaba, a pow- erful Elamite, in B. C. 2280. Izdubar has a dream, in which the stars of heaven seem to fall and strike him on the back, while a terrible being, with claws like a lion, stands over him. He offers rich rewards to the wise men if they will interpret the dream, but they fail to show its interpretation. Izdubar is sorely troubled. There is living in the forest, far away from human society, with a cave for his home and wild beasts for his companions, a monster, half man and half bull, Heabani by name, possessed of great wisdom. Izdubar, with the help of Samas, the sun-god, Zaidu, the hunter, and two dissolute women, induces him to come to Erech, 78 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. and, with his help, slays Humbaba and reigns in his stead. Ishtar proposes marriage to Izdubar, and, upon being refused, stirs heavenly and infernal powers, and, though with great difficulty, visits the home of the shades. Every thing goes wrong while she is away from the earth, and the gods secure her recall. Anatu, her mother, plots against Izdubar, and smites him with a terrible disease. Heabani, his friend, is slain, and, in the midst of his great grief, he goes in search of his father, Hasisadra, son of Ubaratutu. His adventures are many. He reaches a fabulous region, peopled by mon- sters with feet resting in hell and heads tower- ing into the heavens. They possess great power, and control the sun. A scorpion-man and his wife, " burning with terribleness," guard the gate. They yield to the pleading of Izdubar, and let him pass. He reaches the sea-coast, and his further progress is barred by two women, Siduri and Sabitu. The boatman, Nes-Hea, takes him aboard, and through many adventures and perils, he reaches the land where his father dwells, and to him unfolds his mission. Hasis- adra relates the story of the Deluge. Izdubar is cured of his sickness and returns. He laments the death of Heabani, whom Mar- GREAT WATERS. 79 duk, at the command of Hea, calls from the "land without return, and causes to rise to celestial abodes, the home of the gods/' The story of the Deluge is given in the elev- enth canto of the Izdubar epic. It has been several times translated : " I will relate to thee, Izdubar, the story of my deliverance, and I will also make known to thee the oracle of the gods. The city Su- rippak, the city which, as thou knowest, lies on the bank of the Euphrates, this city was very old when their heart impelled the gods therein to cause a deluge, — the great gods, all who were there : their father, Anu ; their counselor, the warlike Bel; their throne-bearer, Adar; their guide, Ennugi." The sacred Accadian name of Surippak was Ma-uru, "the city of the ship." " The Lord of inscrutable wisdom, the god Ea, however, sat in council with them, and an- nounced their decision : ' Man of Surippak, son Ubaratutu,' said he, ' leave thy house and build a ship, and save all the living things thou canst find. They intend to destroy the seeds of life ; therefore do thou preserve alive seeds of life of every sort, and bring them up into the ship. " ' The ship w T hich thou shalt build cubits in length its measure, and . . . cu- bits the extent of its height and breadth. 80 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. Launch it also into the sea, and cover it with a roof.' As I heard this I said to Ea, my Lord : ' If I shall perform the work, Lord, which thou hast commanded, the people and the elders will mock.' Then Ea opened his mouth and spoke. He said to me, his servant : ' If they mock thee, thou shalt say to them: "I know that Bel is hostilely disposed towards me. I can not remain in this city ; in Bel's province I can not raise my hand. But I will not go down to sea, but remain by Ea, my Lord. But the heavens will rain down upon you a mighty flood of water ; men, birds, and cattle will per- ish." . . . Ea, however, ordered me to carry out his commands, and said to me, his servant : i Shut not the door of the ship before the time comes in which I shall bid thee. Then enter through the door of the ship and take into the ship thy stores of grain, all thy possessions and goods, thy family, thy servants, and thy maids, and also thy nearest relatives. The cattle of the field, the wild beasts of the field, will I send to thee that they may be guarded behind thy door.' Hasisadra opened his mouth and spake. He said to Ea, his Lord : '0, my Lord, no one has ever built such a ship." . . At this point I take up the translation of Lenormant : GREAT WATERS. 81 " On the fifth day its two sides were raised ; within its cover fourteen in all were its girders, fourteen in all it reckoned of them above. I placed its roof, and I covered it. I sailed in it on the sixth dav; I divided its stories on the sev- enth ; I divided the interior compartments on the eighth. I stopped up the leaks by which water came in ; I searched for the cracks, and I added all that was lacking. I poured upon the outside three times 3,600 measures of bitumen, and three times 3,600 measures of bitumen on the inside. Three times 3,600 men, who were porters, carried on their heads chests of provis- ions. I kept 3,600 chests for the food of my family, and the sailors divided among themselves twice 3,600 chests. For supplying food I caused oxen to be killed ; I established distributing of portions for each day. In providing for the need of drink, some casks and some wine I gathered to- gether in quantity like the waters of a river and provisions in quantity like the dust of the earth ; to arrange them in the chests I put my hnnd." We return to the guidance of Professor Haupt, whom we left where his text was very imperfect; so much so that he has not attempted a transla- tion. The rendering which w 7 e have given from Lenormant must be considered, in some parts, highly conjectural. 82 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. "All that I possessed I gathered together — all that I possessed of silver I gathered together, all that I possessed of gold I gathered together, all that I possessed of seeds of life I gathered to- gether, and all these I brought on the ship ; all my male servants and my female servants, the cattle of the field, the wild beasts of the field, also all my near kinsmen — all these I brought on board. When, at last, the sun-god brought on the ap- pointed time, then said a voice : 'At evening will the heavens rain destruction. Embark in the ship and shut thy door. The appointed time is come,' said the voice; 'at evening w 7 ill the heav- ens rain destruction.' With trembling I awaited the going down of the sun on this day, the day which was appointed for the beginning of the voyage. I feared, but I embarked in the ship, and closed my door behind me to shut up the ship. To Buzurkurgal, the helmsman, I en- trusted the mighty structure and its load. " Then arose Mu-seri-ina-namari " — a personi- fication of rain, "the water of twilight at the dawn of day" — "from the base of the heavens, a dark mass of clouds, in the midst of which the storm-god Rimmon made his thunder crash, while Nebo and S'erru rush upon one another. The throne-bearers stride over mountain and valley ; the mighty god of plagues sets free the GREAT WATERS. 83 whirlwinds, Adar causes the canals continually to overflow ; the demons of the abyss, the Anunnaki, bring up floods and make the earth shake with their might; the storm god's sea of waves mounts up to heaven; all light was changed to darkness. " Brother cares no more for brother ; men trouble themselves no more about one another. In heaven the gods are afraid of the deluge, and seek refuge. They flee up to the heaven of the god Anu. As a dog upon his bed, the gods crouch on the lattice of heaven, close together. The goddess Istar shrieks, as a woman in child-birth; the majestic goddess cries with a loud voice : ' Thus, then, is all turned to mud, which I prophesied to the gods as the impending evil. I have foretold to the gods this disaster, and have made known the war of destruction against my men. But I did not bring forth my men for this, that they might fill the sea as the young of fishes.' " Then the gods wept with her over the spir- its of the deep. Weeping, the gods sat on one spot, and pressed their lips together. Six days and seven nights, wind, flood, and storm main- tained their masterv. But at the break of the seventh day the storm ceased, and the flood sub- sided, which, like a mighty army, had fought a 84 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. battle. The sea retired, the storm and the flood ceased. " I looked over the sea, loudly lamenting that the dwellings of men had been changed into mud. The corpses floated about like trunks of trees. An air-hole I had opened, and as the light of day fell upon my countenance, I re- coiled, and sat down weeping. My tears ran over my face. " In all quarters I looked upon a fearful sea. Towards the twelve abodes of heaven, no land. The ship drove towards the region of Nizir. A mountain of the region of Nizir held the ship fast, and let it go no farther. On the first and on the second day the mountain of Nizir held the ship fast, and let it go no farther. . On the third and on the fourth day the mountain of Nizir held the ship fast, and let it go no farther. On the fifth and on the sixth day the mountain of Nizir held the ship fast, and let it go no farther. "At the dawn of the seventh day I took out a dove, and let her fly. The dove flew hither and thither ; but since there was there no rest- ing-place, she returned again to the ship. Then I took a swallow out, and let her fly. The swallow flew hither and thither ; but since there was there no resting-place, she returned again GREAT WATERS. 85 to the ship. Then I took a raven out, and let him fly. The raven flew forth ; and as he saw that the water had fallen, he again came near, wading carefully through the water ; but he returned not again. " Then I let all out towards the four winds. I offered there a sacrifice, and erected an altar on the summit of the mountain. I set up seven Adagur-vessels, and spread out under them reeds, cedar-wood, and lightning-plant. The gods breathed in the odor, the gods breathed in the sweet odor. Like flies, the gods crowded around the sacrifice. " As, thereupon, the goddess Istar came, she raised on high the great bows which Anu had made suitable for these gods. ' I w 7 ill not forget this day. I will remember it, and never more forget it. The gods may come to the altar ; only Bel shall not come to the altar, because he acted rashly, and caused the deluge, and gave my men to destruction.' As then the god Bel drew near and saw the ship, he w 7 as startled. He was filled with anger against the gods and the spirits of heaven — the Igigi. ' What soul has, then, escaped f No man shall remain alive from the destruction.' Then Adar opened his mouth, and spoke. He said to the mighty Bel : ' What other god than Ea can have contrived 86 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. this ? Ea knew of our determination, and has told him all.' " Then the god Ea opened his mouth and spoke. He said to the mighty Bel : ' Thou art the mighty prince of the gods. But why, why hast thou so rashly acted, and caused the deluge ? Let his sins fall upon the sinner, and let his evil deeds fall upon the evil-doer ; but be gracious to him, that he may not be de- stroyed : pity him, that he may remain alive. Instead of again causing a deluge, let lions come and devour men ; instead of again causing a deluge, let hyenas come and diminish men ; in- stead of again causing a deluge, let a famine arise and depopulate the land; instead of again causing a deluge, let the god of pestilence come and destroy the men. I have not informed him (Hasisadra) of the determination of the great gods. I only sent him a dream, and he under- stood the determination of the gods.' " Then Bel came to his senses, entered into the ship, seized my hand, and raised me up ; he raised up also my wife, and laid her hand in mine. Then he turned to us, placed himself be- tween us, and pronounced upon us the blessing : ' Hitherto was Samas-napistim a mortal man ; but now Samas-napistim and his wife, reconciled, are to be raised to the gods. But Samas-napis- GREAT WATERS. 87 tim shall dwell in the far-off. land at the " mouth of the streams." Then they took me and placed me in the far-off land at the ' mouth of the streams.' (Haupt, in Schrader's Die Keilin- schriften und das Alte Testament, pp. 55-79 ; Translation of Haupt by Burnham, in the Old Testament Student, Vol. Ill, 77-85 ; Lenormant, Beginnings of History, pp. 392-403, 575-588.) Placing these Chaldaean traditions, both his- toric and monumental, side by side with the Mo- saic record, it is easy to note important diver- gencies, together with many close agreements. The most important differences which force them- selves upon the attention refer to the building of the ark, the number of persons who are saved, the duration of the flood, and the final fate of Hasisadra, the Chaldsean Noah. These, except the last, in which the Chaldsean accounts seem to look toward Enoch, are of subordinate importance. The pronounced agreement through- out can not be overlooked. Sift the Chaldsean traditions of their polytheism, and this becomes more evident. Resemblances worthy of special regard are the forewarning concerning the flood, the direc- tions concerning preparations to meet it, the great destruction of life, the repentance of the gods, the sending out of the birds, the determination 88 WITNESSES FROM THE D VST. not to destroy the world again by a deluge, and the sacrifice. The sacred number seven also figures largely in the Chaldaean traditions. These resemblances, so close, at times so minute, so startling, can not be fortuitous. All the tradi- tions which we have given and the inspired rec- ord of Genesis must center in the same ultimate source. The diluvian tradition of the Aramaeans, derived from the Chaldsean, is also most interest- ing on these several points upon which it touches. Hindu traditions of the deluge are referred to by the eminent orientalist Eugene Burnouf as their home, and seem to have been superimposed upon earlier Vedic legends, vaguely hinted at in the most sacred books of Brahmanism. The Thes- salian deluge of Ducalion, though containing el- ements derived from the same ultimate source, is confused by the recollections of many engrafted local catastrophies. The indigenous traditions of Phrygia contain similar important legends. We may trace these diluvial traditions to Egypt, Scandinavia, and Wales, and with less certainty, because of local catastrophies and possibility of foreign influence, to America and Polynesia. Lenormant, at the close of his masterly re- view of the subject, concludes : '• The lengthy review of the subject in which we have been engaged leaves us in a position to GREAT WATERS. 89 affirm that the account of the deluge is a uni- versal tradition in all branches of the human family, with the sole exception of the black race. And a tradition everywhere so exact and so concordant can not possibly be referred to as an imaginary myth. No religious or cosmogonic myth possesses this character of universality. It must necessarily be the reminiscence of an actual and terrible event, which made so power- ful an impression upon the imaginations of the first parents of our species that their descend- ants could never forget it. This cataclysm took place near the primitive cradle of mankind, and previous to the separation of the families from whom the principal races were to descend; for it would be altogether contrary to probability and to the laws of sound criticism to admit that local phenomena, exactly similar in character, could have been reproduced at so many different points on the globe as w r ould enable one to ex- plain these universal traditions, or that these traditions should always have assumed an iden- tical form, combined with circumstances which need not necessarily have suggested themselves to the mind in such a connection. . . . We need not hesitate to state that the Biblical Deluge, far from being a myth, was an actual and his- toric fact, which overwhelmed at the very least 90 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST the ancestors of the three races of Aryans or Indo-Europeans, Semites or Syro-Arabians, and Chamites or Kushites — in other words, the three great civilized races of the ancient world, who constitute the really superior type of mankind before the ancestors of these three races were as yet separated, and which occurred in that Asiatic country which they inhabited con- jointly." (Lenormant, Beginnings of History, pp. 487, 488.) VII arib uf Hofi^ nub Jb$b$ af jllpattt* 91 VII A CURIOUS legend, which has been thought to refer to the Tower of Babel, has been translated by George Smith, and again by W. St. Chad Boscawen. The tablet is too imper- fect to admit of a connected translation, and we can not be even sure that the correct meaning has been reached. It appears that by the command of some king — probably Etanna — the Babylonians were caused to sin against " the father of the gods," by building some temple-tower in Babylon or its vicinity. But what they built by day the of- fended gods threw down by night. However, they persevered in this labor, and the great god, "in his anger," poured out a secret decree — "to confuse their speech set his face," and "to make hostility in their counsel." The important phrase "to confuse their speech" is almost an exact counterpart of the words of Genesis xi, 7 : "Come, we will go down and there confound their speech." The gods then destroyed the "tower by a whirlwind and storm," and "this 93 94 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. sin of the Babylonians was to last like heaven and earth." The Biblical etymology of Babel, from babbel, "to confound/' it would seem must be aban- doned. It is but a play on words, frequent in the Old Testament. Babel is probably from the Assyrian Bab-ili, "the gate of God," which the Bible, in derision, makes " the gate of confu- sion." The Assyrian Bab-ili is a translation of the old Accadian name of the town, a name of the same meaning, Ci-dimirra. Smith has se- lected from Babylonian gems three which he thinks may, in their distorted carvings, repre- sent this event. (Boscawen, Records of the Past, Vol. VII, pp. 131, 132; Smith, The Chaldsean Account of Genesis, pp. 161, et seq.) Abydenus has preserved from Berosus the following account of the Deluge : " They say that the first inhabitants of the earth, glorying in their own strength and size, and despising the gods, undertook to build a tower, whose top should reach the sky, upon that spot where Babylon now stands. But when it approached the heaven the winds assisted the gods, and overturned the work upon its contriv- ers (its ruins are said to be at Babylon), and the gods introduced a diversity of tongues among men, who, till that time, had all spoken the same WORKS OF FOLLY AND DEEDS OF SHAME. 95 language. And a war arose between Kronos (t. e., Saturn) and Titan; and the place in which they built the tower is now called Babylon, on account of the confusion of the languages; for confusion is by the Hebrews called Babel." (Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 55.) We present another extract from Alexander Polyhistor : " The Sibyl says that when all men formerly spoke the same language, some among them un- dertook to erect a large and lofty tower, in order to climb into heaven ; but God (or the gods), sending forth a whirlwind, frustrated their design, and gave to each tribe a particular language of its own, which (confusion of tongues) is the reason that the name of that city is called Babylon. After the flood Titan and Prome- theus lived, and Titan undertook a war against Kronos." (Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 75.) Histiaeus, Eupolemus, and the Sibylline Or- acles furnish brief extracts. Eupolemus makes those who built the tower giants. From the Sibylline Oracles we read : "But wben the judgments of Almighty God Were ripe for execution : when the tower Rose to the skies upon Assyria's plain, And all mankind one language only knew, A dread commission. from on high was given 96 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. To the fell whirlwinds, which, with dire alarms, Beat on the tower, and to its lowest base Shook it convulsed. And now all intercourse, By some occult and overruling power, Ceased among men. By utterance they strove, Perplexed and anxious, to disclose their mind, But their lip failed them ; and in lieu of words Produced a painful babbling sound : the place Was thence called Babel ; by the apostate crew Named from the event. Then severed, far away They sped, uncertain, into realms unknown: Thus kingdoms rose, and the glad world was filled." (Cory, Ancient Fragments, pp. 75-77.) Nebuchadnezzar, the great Babylonian builder, repaired this tower, and says : " The tower, the eternal house which I founded and built, I have completed its mag- nificence with silver, gold, other metals, stone, enameled brick, fir, and pine. " The first, which is the house of the earth's base, the most ancient monument of Babylon, I built and finished it. I have highly exalted its head with bricks covered with copper. " We say for the other — that is, this edifice, the house of the seven lights of the earth, the most ancient monument of Borsippa — a former king built it, they reckon forty-two ages ; but he did not complete its head. Since a remote time people had abandoned it, without order express- ing their words." WORKS OF FOLLY AND DEEDS OF SHAME. 97 The translation of the last clause, however attractive to the Bible student, must probably be abandoned. (The Transactions of the Victoria Institute, Vol. XVII, p. 252.) " Since that time the earthquake and the thunder had dispersed the sun-dried clay. The bricks of the casing had been split, and the earth of the interior had been scattered in heaps. Merodach, the great god, excited my mind to repair this building. I did not change the site, nor did I take away the foundation. In a for- BABEL. tunate month, in an auspicious day, I undertook to build porticoes (?) around the crude brick masses and the casings of burnt bricks. I adapted the circuits, I put the inscription of my name in the kitir of the portico. 9 98 WITNESSES FROM THE D UST. " I set my hand to finish it and to exalt its head. As it had been in former times, so I founded it, I made it. As it had been in an- cient days, so I exalted its summit." (Rule, Oriental Records, Monumental, p. 35, 36.) This tower — the Birs Nimrud of modern times — fell into decay after the fall of the Bab- ylonian empire. Xerxes broke down the upper stories, and carried away much spoil. Alexan- der the Great determined to restore the mighty structure, and employed ten thousand men for two months in clearing away the rubbish ; but the work ceased. The ruins have been carefully surveyed by Oppert, from whom our translation is taken. His most interesting description may be read with profit. Layard, Loftus, Rassam, and others also worked successfully in the same field. Borsippa was called by the Accadians " Bab- ylon the Second ;" and hence the explanation of the fact that classical writers included it in Babylon, and made the Euphrates pass through the city. This tower, " the house of the seven spheres of heaven and earth," is not the same as the great temple of Nebo, called Bit Zida, " the house of life," also built in Borsippa. The latest excavations of Mr. Rassam have revealed both structures. WORKS OF FOLLY AND DEEDS OF SHAME. 99 TOWER AT BABYLON. The following legend has been referred by Mr. Sayce to the overthrow of the cities of the plain. He suggests that Chedorlaomer may have 100 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. learned the account in his campaign. Only one- half of the tablet is perfect; and its reference, hence, is uncertain : " An overthrow from the midst of the deep there came. The fated punishment from the midst of heaven de- scended. A storm like a plummet the earth (overwhelmed.) To the four winds the destroying flood, like fire, did burn. The inhabitants of the citie(s) it had caused to be tor- mented ; their bodies it consumed. In city and country it spread death, and the flames as they rose overthrew. Freeman and slaves were equal, and the high places it filled. In heaven and earth like a thunder-storm it had rained ; a prey it made. A place of refuge the gods hastened to, and in a throng collected. Its mighty (onset) they fled from, and like a garment it concealed (mankind). They (feared), and death (overtook them). (Their) feet and hands (it embraced). ..• • • • • • •• Their body it consumed. . . . the city, its foundation it defiled. ... in breath, his mouth he filled. As for this man, a loud voice was raised ; the mighty. lightning flash descended. During the day it flashed; grievously (it fell). (Sayce, Records of the Past, Vol. XI, pp. 117, 118.) VIII. \$M jfagdfeu 101 VIII. I^HE Assyrian tablets contain a most curious and interesting account of the revolt of the rebel angels ; at least we may refer it to this with considerable reason. Jude speaks of those who "kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation." (Jude, 6.) This may refer to a revolt in heaven. This tablet shows that such a tradition was current among the inhabitants of these venerable kingdoms. Job, who certainly did not draw from Israelitish sources, says- that when God laid the foundations of the earth, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." The tablet of which we present a translation " seems to have been preceded by an account of the perfect harmony which existed in heaven previously." The first four lines are broken. They refer to a festival of praise and thanks- giving held in heaven. The account continues : " The divine Being spoke three times the commencement of a psalm. The god of holy songs, Lord of religion and worship, seated a thou- 103 104 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST sand singers and musicians, and established a choral band, who to his hymn were to respond in multitudes. ... "With a loud cry of contempt, they broke up his holy song, spoiling, confusing, confound- ing his hymn of praise. The god of the bright crown, with a wish to summon his adherents, sounded a trumpet blast which would wake the dead, which to those rebel angels prohibited re- turn, he stopped their service and sent them to the gods who were his enemies. In their room he created mankind. The first who received life dwelt along with him. May he give them strength never to neglect his word, following the serpent's voice, whom his hands had made. And may the god of divine speech expel from his five thousand that wicked thousand who, in the midst of his heavenly song, had shouted evil blasphemies ! The god Ashur, who had seen the malice of those gods who deserted their allegiance to raise a rebellion, refused to go forth with them." The nine or ten lines of the tablet which remain are too much broken to admit of a translation. (Talbot, Records of the Past, Vol. VII, pp. 123-128.) The mediaeval Church held the opinion that mankind were created to fill the void in crea- tion caused by the revolt of the angels. IX. u Jimn m Iftwrafr, % ftt0J}hf !f wW 105 IX THE archaeologist meets with many evidences of the warfare which primitive man must have long waged against savage wild beasts. His inventive genius was early exercised in constructing weapons wherew T ith to defend him- self, in these times when the race was young, against these enemies. He could not rest quite satisfied until he had demonstrated his domin- ion over every fowl of the air, beast of the field, and fish of the sea. The mighty man of these ancient days was the hero who could seize the fleet-footed antelope, slay the wild bull, and strike down the fierce lion. The man whose praises were in every mouth was th£ mighty hunter. He, above all others, was considered worthy of being made a king. Every man rec- ognized in him a leader and a ruler. Physical strength, endurance, agility, and courage were the qualities of a monarch. His hunting ex- ploits were deemed worthy of a place by the side of conquests of kingdoms and founding of cities, and were carefully recorded on monu- 107 108 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. merits or preserved in public archives, in words of most ample glorification. Tiglath-Pileser I— about B. C. 1120-1100— is said to have " demolished the wild animals" throughout his vast territories, and " extirpated all wild animals." Under the protection of his guardian deity, the Assyrian Hercules, he slew "four wild bulls, strong and fierce," and "ten large wild buffaloes." He took four buffaloes alive. On foot he slew one hundred and twenty lions, and from his chariot eight hundred more. "All the beasts of the field," says he, "and the flying birds of heaven, I made the victim of my shafts." (Rawlinson, Records of the Past, Vol. V, p. 21.) Of him some unknown scribe says : " In ships of Arvad he sailed, a grampus in the great sea he slew ; fierce and large wild bulls in the city of Araziki, which is opposite the land of the Hittites, and at the foot of Leb- anon, he killed ; the young wild bulls he cap- tured alive ; the property of them he collected ; the (adult) wild bulls with his bow he killed — the (young) wild bulls which he captured alive he brought to his city of Assur; one hundred and twenty lions, with his heart valiant in brave attack, on his open chariot, on foot, with a club he slew; lions (too) with his spear he killed. . . . NIMROD, THE MIGHTY HUNTER. 109 Wild goats, deer, spotted stags, ibexes, in herds, he took ; the property of them he collected and brought forth ; their young ones, like the youth of sheep, he counted ; leopards, tigers, jackals, two powerful bears, he slew ; wild asses and gazelles, hyenas, he killed. ... A great black crocodile, scaly beast of the river, and an- imals of the great sea, the king of Egypt caused to be brought; the men of his country he caused to feed. As to the rest of the numerous ani- mals and winged birds of heaven which, among the beasts of the field, were (also) the spoil of his hands, their names, together with animals of the land for multitude, were not written; their number with those (former) numbers was not written." (Houghton, Records of the Past, Vol. XI, pp. 9, 10.) A favorite sport of Asshur-izir-pal (B. C. 883-858) was the dangerous pursuit of the wild bull. At one time, while hunting on the left bank of the Euphrates, he slew fifty wild bulls and captured eight alive. He also killed twenty ostriches and took the same number alive. This king possessed, near Nineveh, zoological gar- dens, in which were maintained many species of strange wild animals from surrounding na- tions. His love of the chase and his interest in all forms of animal life were so great that the 110 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. report thereof extended as far as Egypt, whose king, as a proper recognition of the character and taste of a mighty hunter, sent him a most acceptable present of several kinds of strange animals. In one inscription this ancient Nimrod is related to have captured and destroyed in Syria and the upper Tigris lions, wild sheep, red deer, fallow deer, ibexes, leopards, wolves, bears, jackals, wild boars, ostriches, foxes, hy- enas, wild asses, and several other kinds of an- imals not identified. In another expedition in the Mesopotamian desert, he destroyed three hundred and sixty large lions, two hundred and fifty-seven large wild cattle, and thirty buffa- loes. He also captured alive and sent to Calah fifteen full-grown lions and fifty young lions, be- sides a multitude of leopards, wild cattle, w r ild buffaloes, ostriches, wolves, red deer, bears, cheetas, and hyenas. (Rawlinson, Ancient Mon- archies, Vol. II, pp. 90, 91.) We do not find in the early Chaldaean art any representations of hunting scenes, but they are abundant in the later Assyrian, and full of interest, presenting, as they do, a complete his- tory of this royal sport. The great king, on these expeditions, rode in his chariot, attended by his charioteer and swordsman. A groom fol- lowed, leading a spare horse. The king was NB1R0D, THE MIGHTY HUNTER. Ill armed with bow and arrows, a sword, and one or two daggers, and a spear, which stood in its rest in the back of the chariot, Two quivers of arrows, an ax in each, hung ready for his hand from the right side of the chariot. A shield, armed with teeth, was suspended behind. When a lion was roused from his lair, the king pursued him in his chariot and transfixed him with arrows. Sometimes the lion turned upon the chariot, and when he came to close quarters was met with spear and shield. The king would even descend from his chariot and attack the king of beasts in close combat with a short sword, which he plunged into his heart. In- deed, in later times, the king generally went on these noble expeditions on foot, .two attendants waiting close upon him with bow, arrows, and spears. Sometimes an attendant carried spear and shield, with which he protected the king from the enraged animal's spring. These precau- tions, however, were seldom taken. Not a little peril, it will readily be believed, attended these royal hunts. Assurbanipal, in an inscription appended to one of his sculptures, says : " I, Asshur-banipal, king of the nations, king of Assyria, in my great courage fighting on foot with a lion, terrible for his size, seized him by NIMROD, THE MIGHTY HUNTER. 113 the ear, and in the name of Asshur and Ishtar, Goddess of War, with the spear that was in my hand, I terminated his life." Dogs were held in leash to start the game. Sometimes the monarch, with a select band of attendants, was rowed along a stream in a boat, while beaters on either bank startled the lions. The king attacked those which took to the water. When slain they were suspended from the hind part of the vessel. When game was not so plenty, lions were brought from distant countries for kingly sport. At the proper time, the lion was let out of his cage. " The king, prepared for his attack, sa- luted him, as he left his cage, w r ith an arrow, and, as he advanced, with others, which some- times stretched him dead upon the plain, some- times merely disabled him, while now and then they only goaded him to fury. In this case he would spring at the royal chariot, clutch some part of it, and in his agony grind it between his teeth, or endeavor to reach the inmates of the car from behind. If the king had descended from the car to the plain, the infuriated beast might make his spring at the royal person, in which case it must have required a stout heart to stand unmoved, and aim a fresh arrow at a vital part while the creature was in mid-air, especially 10 114 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. if (as we sometimes see represented) a second lion was following close upon the first, and would have to be received within a few seconds." The representations of Assyrian art are frequently very spirited and lifelike. (Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, Vol. I, pp. 344 et seq., and 505 et seq.) Many other details of hunting are given, so that it is even possible to follow the monarch from the time he sets out to slay his noble game until he returns in triumph and pours out a thank-offering over the bodies of the dead beasts KING POURING LIBATION OVER FORMS OF DEAD LIONS. to Ninip and Nergal, the gods of the chase, who have given strength to his arm, and precision to his swift shafts. The Nimrud series of sculp- tures is most important in this connection. The bull, especially, is fully represented as right royal game. We see him pursued by char- iots, horsemen, and footmen, either separately or NIMROD, THE MIGHTY HUNTER. 115 all together ; we watch him as he prances among the reeds, sleeping, fighting the lion, charging the chariot of the As- syrian Nimrod, wound- ed by deadly weapons, falling in death-throes, dead, and lying in state awaiting religious cer- emonies. (Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, Vol. I, pp. 512, 513.) The wild ass, the stag, and the ibex were less noble game. These were not un- worthy successors of Nimrod, who hunted in the same plains so successfully that his prowess became pro- verbial, and it was said of kings and princes who were mighty in the chase that they were " even as Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord." (Gen. x, 9.) NIMROD. X. |ij nnb j|mm 117 X. U R of the Chaldees" has been recovered. Mounds of ruins on the westward side of the Euphrates mark the birth-place of Abraham. Ur gave the name of Uru-ma, Ur-ma, or Uranu- ma, " Ur-land/' to the whole region of Accad. MUGHEIR, OR UR OF THE CHALDEES. The plain extends from the Euphrates to the Tigris, the Biblical Hiddekel, and from the Per- sian Gulf to the country of Upper Mesopotamia. 119 120 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. The " ships of Ur " sailed from its port laden with grain, dates, and other fruits. Irrigated like a well-watered and well-tended garden, the land was the richest of all Asia. The wheat would produce even three hundred-fold. The stately date-palm of endless uses has been cele- brated in all ages. Spontaneously the gifts of God were produced in abundance for the use of man. This, " the cradle of Semitic civiliza- tion," was " highly civilized and densely popu- lated at a time when Egypt was still in its youthful prime." The ruins of Ur, now called Mugheir, show that it was a walled town of oval form, large and populous. In the time of Abraham it was a great commercial post and the capital of Chal- dsea. It was devoted to the worship of Sin, Hurki, or Hur, the moon-god. On its great temple the nightly watches were kept, hymns chanted, omens cast, sacrifices offered, votaries received, and justice dispensed. On the bricks of the temple the king's devotion is commemo- rated in such inscriptions as this : " Ligbagas, king of Ur, has built the temple of the god Sin." The city was most holy, and seems to have been the great cemetery of the nation — holy ground, where the forms of loved ones were laid to rest. Some of the liturgical hymns in use by this FR AXD HARAN. L21 ancient people have been recovered, and exhibit not a few beauties. Ligbagas built temples to Hurki, Nana or Ishtar, Samas, Bel, Belat, and Sar-Ili. " Poly- theism glittered in scrolls of light in the con- stellations of the firmament, It measured days and months and years and cycles, and by its au- guries of good or ill decided the least ways of house-life and the greatest collisions of nations. It has been observed that the gods were iden- tified with stars before the invention of writing in Babylonia, 'and that the most natural symbol of a deity w T as thought to be a star,' which is accordingly the 'determinative' of the names of gods in cuneiform inscriptions." (Tomkins, Times of Abraham, pp. 12, 13.) Astral-w 7 orship, so wide-spread among the old races, was already an important element in the religion of the Chaldees. The learned priest- hood observed the pole-star ; brilliant Orion ; cer- tain stars called interpreters, judges, and coun- selors;* the sun and moon; the planets, with their searching " eyes ;" Mercury, " the mes- senger of the rising sun ;" Venus, in her love and beauty ; Saturn, sinister and dark ; Jupiter, patron of Babylon ; and Mars, " he who goes forth in heavenly strength ;" and the whole heav- enly host. Beneath all this w 7 as a darker sys- 11 122 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. tern of magic and elemental worship. Ligbagas is thought to have been the founder of the Cushite religion in Chaldaea. A kind of Sabbath was known at Ur, and the moon-god was invoked as " Lord of Rest." The idea of the One Grod was not entirely lost. " When we penetrate beneath the sur- face of gross polytheism it had acquired from popular superstition, and revert to the original and higher conceptions, we shall find the whole based on the idea of the unity of the Deity, the last relic of the primitive revelation disfigured by and lost in the monstrous ideas of pantheism, confounding the creature with the Creator, and transforming the Deity into a god-world, whose manifestations are to be found in all the phe- nomena of nature." This is the judgment of Lenormant. The following hymn is addressed to the god- dess of Erech : "In Erech, the chief city, the fast has been observed; In Ulbar, the home of thy power, I have made blood run like water ; In all thy land I have (kindled) the fire, and wide it has spread. Lady ! over the wicked my strength has greatly prevailed. The mighty rebel thou bendest like to a very reed ! Not to my own will do I cling ! I boast not of myself ! Even as a flower of the waters, day and night I fade. UR AND HA RAN. 123 (Verily) I am thy servant! I bind myself to thee ! Thy (might) evermore be established ! Ever thy falchion flame !" Among the sacrifices offered to the gods of Ur, we are compelled to include human victims. Among the doctrines taught with more or less clearness in the priestly schools of Ur were, the presence of sin, the certainty of future retribu- tion, the origin of temptation and transgression, the flood, the judgment to come, and everlasting life. There are also evidences of a belief in the resurrection of the dead. Marduk, identified with Silik-mulu-khi, possesses the power of " bringing the dead back to life." Auguries, spells, incantations, imprecations, phylacteries, invocations, and many magical for- mulae were common. Abraham stored his mind with proverbs like these : ' ' Thou go'st to spoil The field o' th> foe! One comes to spoil Thy field —the foe !" " O, be it mine to eat the fruit of death, And so transform it into fruit of life !" As he walked in his fields, he sung the song of good omen : "The wheat of uprightness Unto its top of thriving growth shall press : 124 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. The secret spell We know right well ! The wheat of plenteousness Unto its top of thriving growth shall press : The secret spell We know right well !" As he worked with his cattle, he sang : "Heifer that thou art, Be yoked to the cow ; The plow's handle is strong ; The share cuts deep — Lift it up, Lift it up!" (Tomkins, Times of Abraham, p. 29 ; Sayce, Babylonian Literature, p. 69.) From this most ancient Chaldaean kingdom Babylonia and Assyria inherited much of their civilization and literature and many of their laws, arts, and sciences. The most ancient title found among the kings is that of " shepherd." Royalty was hereditary, though the lines were frequently broken by conquest or usurpation. Sometimes it would appear that the king was almost adored as a god. Some were deified after their death, and at least two while yet living. The king was also sovereign pontiff, and the priestly and other functions were hereditary. The power of the chiefs, which might easily UR AND HAZAN. 125 degenerate into a tyranny, was hedged about by several important traditional safeguards. Society retained much of its patriarchal character, and the mother was highly honored in family and social life. About a hundred business tablets have been recovered, and these show how Abraham gained his knowledge of business principles and forms, and was educated to the acquisition of wealth, so that in his later years, while a stranger in a strange land, he proved himself a most success- ful business man. His history shows him to have been prudent in his commercial dealings. The magic, which we have already men- tioned, afforded the darkest part of Abraham's education, and that from which, in all probabil- ity, his soul most revolted. One illustration will suffice. Sickness was believed to be caused by some evil spirit. The sickness of a man is thus described : " The evil curse, like a demon, fixes on a man ; A raging voice over him is fixed ; An evil voice over him is fixed. The evil curse is a great calamity. That man the evil curse slaughters like a lamb ; His god from over him departs ; His goddess stands angry at his side ; The raging voice, like a cloak, covers him and carries him away." 126 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. The evil spirit must be cast out, and for this purpose the following exorcism may be em- ployed : " (On) the sick mau. by means of sacrifice, May perfect health shine, like bronze ! May the Sun-god give this man life ! May Merodach, the eldest son of the deep, (Give him) strength, prosperity, (and) health! May the King of heaven preserve, May the King of earth preserve !" His sickness may have been caused by an enemy invoking dark powers against him. In such case he may use a counter-charm and avenge himself upon his foe ; "Like unto this herb he is destroyed, And the spell shall burn with burning flame. To its several stock it shall not return ; To the dish of the god or the king it shall not be brought ; So shall it be with the man for whom this enchantment is used. The evil invocation, the pointing of the finger, The marking, the cursing, the sinning, The sickness that is in my body, my limbs, or my teeth, Like this herb may it be rooted out, And on this day may the consuming fire consume. May the spell be driven out And return to its dwelling-place." (Tomkins, Times of Abraham, pp. 38, 39.) The land of TJr, in the days of Abraham, was already irrigated by means of canals, yet UR AND HA RAN. 127 this was more perfectly done under later kings. Many tablets refer to this important work. The banks of the streams were protected by dykes to guard against destructive floods which some- times ruined whole cities. The houses were of brick, and were plastered -and ornamented. They probably had terraced roofs, where the family could repose at night, and were furnished with subterranean chambers, to which they could retire during the extreme heat of the day in the Summer season. The graves of the departed were strongly constructed. The body was laid naturally on its left side. In the left hand was placed a copper bowl containing food for the journey to the land of the dead ; the right hand was trained above it; the seal-cylinder, so important in business and other transactions, was worn upon the wrist ; and drinking vessels were close at hand. The migration from Ur took place when Elam was pressed upon by the Aryans from the East, and in turn overcame Chaldsea on their West. Abraham's was a noble family — Ur was the capital of a great nation, "a city renowned and venerated with especial honor, the sanctuary of a splendid religion, the mart and haven of a thriving commerce, the walled fortress of a royal military system." 128 WITNESSES FROM THE DEAD. In the Eponym Canon the identical name " Abratn" is found as the name of a court officer of Esarhaddon. Other names of the same char- acter are to be found both in Chaldsea and in Egypt. In the reign of Kammuragas, very near the time of Abraham, if not really during his residence at Ur, "Abu-ha, son of Ismiel," is a witness to some contracts. The name of the father of Abu-ha is identical with that of the son of Abraham. (Tomkins, Times of Abraham, p. 46.) Sarah is the Assyrian surrat, " queen," and Milcah, the daughter of Haran, is the Assyrian niilcat, " princess." It is six hundred miles from Ur to Haran, an outpost of the Chaldsean power. The region is called Padan-Aram, or simply Padan (Genesis xlviii, 7), a name known to Agu-kak-rimi, a Cos- saean or Elamite king, who probably preceded Abraham. It was "the key of the highway from the east to the w T est." The religion was like that of Ur, and Haran remained a strong- hold of heathenism for many centuries after Christianity had secured a lodgment at Edessa. Mr. Malan, in describing the country, says : "One can quite understand that the sons of this open country, . . . the Bedaweens, love it, and can not leave it; no other soil would suit them. The air is so fresh, the horizon is so far, UR AND HARAN. 129 and man feels so free, that it seems made for those whose life is to roam at pleasure, and who owe allegiance to none but to themselves. . The village of Haran itself consists of a few conical houses, in shape like bee-hives, built of stones laid in courses, one over the other, with- out either mud or mortar; these houses let in the light at the top, and are clustered together at the foot of the ruined castle built on the mound, that makes Haran a landmark plainly visible from the whole plain around. That same day I walked at even to the well I had passed in the afternoon, coming from Oorfa ; the well of this the city of Nahor, 'at the time of the evening, the time that women 2:0 out to draw water/ There was a group of them filling, no longer their 'pitchers/ since the steps down which Rebekah went to fetch the water are now blocked up, but filling their water-skins by draw- ing water at the well's mouth. Every thing around that well bears signs of age and of the wear of time, for, as it is the only well of drinkable water, it is much resorted to. Other wells are only for watering the flocks. There we find the troughs of various height for camels, for sheep and for goats, for kids and for lambs ; there the women wear nose-rings and bracelets on their arms, some of gold or of silver, and 130 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. others of brass, or even of glass. One of these was seen in the distance bringing to water her flock of fine patriarchal sheep ; ere she reached the well, shepherds, more civil than their breth- ren of Horeb, had filled the troughs with water for her sheep. She was the Sheikh's daughter, the ' beautiful and well-favored' Ladheefeh. As the shadows of the grass and of the low shrubs around the well lengthened and grew dim, and the sun sank below the horizon, the women left in small groups ; the shepherds followed them, and I was left alone in this vast solitude. Yet not alone ; the bright evening star in the glow- ing sky to westward seemed to point to the promised land, as when Abraham took it for his guide ; the sky overhead, clear and brilliant as when he gazed on it, and the earth, the ground on which he trod, all spake a language heard nowhere else. The heavens whispered and the earth answered, ' walk by faith,' ' stagger not at the promise of God through unbelief,' but do as Abram did, 'be strong in faith, giving glory to God/ and '-by thy works make thy faith per- fect.' There is also for thee a promised land — thy home. Keep thine eye thereon, and thou, stranger and pilgrim on the earth, believe him that promised, as Abraham did ; ' seek ' as he did, 'a better country, that is an heavenly,' and UE AND HARAN. 131 it shall be counted unto thee for righteousness." (Tomkins, Times of Abraham, pp ? 55-57.) Thus these strange old cities come up from the dust of centuries and stand before us again as when the "Father of the Faithful" made them his home. XL Hum §tmti B[nrnnr$ — Sfpitarlnaram* jrttb 133 XI. " \ ND it came to pass in the days of Am- ±\. raphel, king of "Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of nations, that these made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and with Birsha, king of Go- morrah, Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar. AH these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea. Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim, and the Horites in their mount Seir, unto El-paran, which is by the wil- derness. And they returned and came to En- mishpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amor- ites, that dwelt in Hazezon-tamar." (Genesis xiv, 1-7.) In the racial records of Genesis Elam is made 135 136 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. the first-born of Shem. In the fourteenth chap- ter we find the title " King of Elam." The name does not occur again till on the day of Pentecost Elamites met with those of other races in the upper chamber in Jerusalem. Chedorlaomer, "King of Elam/' in the passage quoted above, appears as the overlord of three other kings, and these monarchs of the East avenge themselves upon the nations of the West for their rebellion. This history was a mystery to all Bible stu- dents, till within a few vears Elam has risen and shaken off the dust of millenniums, and now stands before their wondering eyes in her great- ness and power as one of the mighty empires of the Oriental world. To the east of the lower course of the Tigris lies the country which was the "Elam" of old. The name Elamu is "but a translation of the Old Accadian name of Su- siana, Numma, a word connected with the Vogul nurnan, 'high.' Mr. Loftus gives a charming account of the highland country forming a part of Elam. Susa, " the city of lilies," has been immortalized in the story of Esther, the beauti- ful Jewish maiden. Chaldaean tradition marks th6 mountains of Nizir, three hundred and fifty miles north-west of Susa, as the place where the ark rested at the subsidence of the Noachian Deluge. It was in the mountains of Elam that TWO GIANT WARRIORS. 137 Izdubar, a name famous in the great Chaldsean epic, sought out, in his palace of pines and cedars, and slew the tyrant Humbaba. Susa, the capital, occupied a plain of most luxuriant fertility. Here is the " tomb of Daniel," with which so many legends are connected. On the eastward rolls the Eulseus, the "river Ula'i" of Scripture, the eastern branch of the Choaspes, the modern Korkhah, whose waters were so pure as to form the drink of kings. Here are to be found precious relics which antedate the life of Abraham. "At the summit of the divine hierarchy were Susinka (meaning, 'the Susian'), the na- tional god of Susa, and Nakhkhunte, a gooddess who (they tell us) had in this town her image, unseen by the profane, in the depth of a sacred wood." Below these two chief divinities were six gods, one of whom was Lagamar ; and be- low these again were twelve other gods and goddesses. There were also a number of Cos- ssean gods, whose names are given by M. Le- normant. We are interested in but two of these names, Nakhkhunte and Lagamar. Assurbanipal relates in his annals that when he conquered Elam he brought back from Susa an image of the goddess Nana, which Kudur- Nakhkhunte had captured when he overran Bab- 12 138 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST.. ylonia, sixteen hundred and thirty-five years before. Assurbanipal took Susa in B. C. 645 ; hence the conquest of Babylonia by the Elamite kins: must have been in B. C. 2280. This con- firms Genesis in its statement of an earlv con- quest of Babylonia by the Elamites. In Southern Chaldsea have been found in- scriptions of an Elamite king — Kudur-Mabug — who assumes the title "Lord of Phoenicia" as well as " Lord of Elam." George Smith consid- ered this king the same as the Chedorlaomer of Genesis. The first element of the name, Kudur, is the same as Chedor, of Chedorlaomer. Kudur- Mabug had a son, Eriaku or Arioch, who was associated with his father, and had for his capi- tal Larsa, now Senkereh, between Erech and Ur, and identified with Ellasar. Now, Lagamar is an Elamite god, and the king may have borne the name as a religious title. An analogous name is Kudur-Nakhkhunte, already mentioned, and an Elamite king is known to have called himself "the servant of Lagamar." This last name is the latter element in the name of the Elamite king whose campaign is recorded in Genesis, and the identification is exceedingly probable, if not complete. Speaking of Larsa — Ellasar — Mr. Loftus says : " The whole area of the ruins is a ceme- TWO GIANT WARRIORS. 139 tery ; wherever an excavation was made, vaults and graves invariably occurred, and the innumer- able cuneiform records contained in them sub- stantiate their undoubted antiquity. So numer- ous were the clay tablets, I almost arrived at the conclusion that the fine brown dust of the mounds resulted from their decomposition." Shinar is found in the inscriptions as Sumir, and Amraphel is found as Amarpal, a name " borne by private persons on two cylinders of ancient workmanship," as discovered by M. Lenormant. The Goim, or "nations," are iden- tified with the " Guti," or " Gutium," of the inscriptions — Semitic tribes dwelling north of Babylonia, of whom one part afterward be- came the Assyrians. Tidal, the king, in the Septuagint Thargal, according to Sir Henry Rawlinson, is easily read Tur-gal, " great chief." Elam, then, is worthy of a place among the great nations of antiquity, and must be named in con- nection with Babylonia and Assyria. In follow- ing this army in its march to Canaan, its battles and victories, and final defeat by u Abram the Hebrew," and his allies, we are obliged to pick our way among most scanty records, and yet much light can be let in on this obscure subject. Collecting his forces, Chedorlaomer passed up the Euphrates, which stream he crossed prob- 140 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. ably at Carchemish, the ancient stronghold of the Hittites, and urged on his way past Aleppo, Hamath, and Emesa to Damascus, which, doubt- less, rendered him tribute. He first cut off the supports of the rebel kings by sweeping the whole highland region east of the Jordan and subduing the antique tribes which occupied this wild territory, where nature seemed yet fresh from the hand of God. First among these tribes were the Rephai'm, whose stronghold was Ashteroth Karnaim, or "Astarte with the two horns. " The goddess was represented, as on a Syrian altar, discovered by Mr. C. F. Tyrwhitt Drake, crowned with the crescent moon. In the Egyptian inscriptions she is found as the goddess of the Hittites, and Astaratu can only be identified with this city of her worship. Rephaim, in later times, is used in the Bible for " the dead," or " the ghosts or manes of the dead." Such is the meaning on the sarcophagus of Esmunazar, of which more hereafter. Southward were the Zuzim in Ham. Ham " has been identified with Hameitat, about six miles to the east of the lower part of the Dead Sea. We know nothing of the race, and but little of the Emim. The latter are mentioned in the inscriptions, as well as their twin towns, TWO GIANT WARRIORS. 141 Shaveh-Kiriathaim. The Horites were wild mountain people, dwelling in the ravines and ridges of Seir. They are named in the Egyptian inscriptions. Thus even " unto El-paran " the whole range of the mountains was harried, and all opposition put down. Then, with a military grasp of the situation which will compare favora- bly with the strokes of military genius of the world's great warriors, " they returned, and came to En-mi shpat, which is Kadesh, and smote all the country of the Amalekites." " Kadesh, of the land of Amaor," was captured by Seti I, of Egypt, and is represented in relief as a for- tified place on a hill-side. The country is culti- vated, plants grow round the banks of a pool, and cattle are driven away by herdsmen. It is the Kadesh-Barnea of Scripture. Amu was the Egyptian general name for the Semitic tribes of Asia. The Heru-sha seem to have included the Amalekites among their nomad tribes. Now the king drew near the special object of his expedition. He skirted the western bor- der of the " salt sea " up to Hazezon-tamar or En-gedi. Here he was obliged to force the pass defended by the fierce Amorites. Hazezon-tamar, "the felling of the palm-trees" — its name still lingers after nearly four thousand years in the name of the pass Hazziz (2 Chron. xx, 16), or, 142 WITNESSES FROM THE D UST. as it is pronounced to-day, Husasa, the land at the top of the pass — was one of the very oldest cities of the world. " The name of the Amorites still survives in several places in the locality. The Egyptian art- ists represent the Amorites w r ith long hair, sallow complexion, blue eyes, eye-brows and beard red, and hair black. The hair ' was bound by a fillet, sometimes ornamented with small disks. Their dress was a long, close tunic, with short sleeves, bound round the waist by a girdle with falling ends. They w r ere armed with the bow and ob- long shield, and used chariots of solid construc- tion, fit for rough ground.' Their standard was 'a shield pierced by three arrows, and sur- mounted by another arrow fastened across the top of the staff.' " After smiting the Amorites, Chedorlaomer climbed the mountain pass to a height of eight- een hundred feet, and, over hill-tops and across valleys, pressed forward until he entered the plain of the Jordan. Fourteen years before this, while Abram was yet in Haran, the chieftains of the plain had been subdued by the great king of Elam from two thousand miles away. It must have been with great alarm that they now T learn that he is again upon them. They rouse themselves — the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, TWO GIANT WARRIORS. 143 Admah, Zeboihn, and Belah or Zoar. They mar- shal their forces, and go out to meet the allied armies in the " vale of Siddim." " The name ' shed ' is ' given to the genii, or demigods, who wielded the powers of nature, represented by the winged bulls which guarded the portals, sometimes replaced by winged lions, which symbolized a similar genius. This is, in- deed, both in name and meaning, identical with the ' shedim ' (' devils ' in our version) of Deu- teronomy. (Deut. xxxii, 17 ; Psalm cvi, 37.) Shed may be identified with Set, an Egyptian deity, which was also a god of the Hyksos. It has been suggested that if we omit the points, 6 the vale of Siddim' (Gen. xiv, 3, 8, 10) may be read ' the valley of Shedim,' where the Ca- naanite gods were specially worshiped. These ' shedim ' were the idols of Canaan." (Fraden- burgh, Methodist Quarterly Review, 1883, pp. 282, 283.) The kings of the five cities suffer a terrible defeat. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah are slain ; those who can escape flee to the mount- ains. The king of Elam takes great spoil, and, having accomplished the object of his expedi- tion, begins his homeward march. Lot, Abram's nephew, was among the prisoners being carried away to death or slavery. "And there came 144 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST one who had escaped, and told Abram the He- brew." Abram was then a king, and stood at the head of a confederacy. His allies were Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. He gathers his forces, and marches out in swift pursuit of Chedorlaomer, who now, careless and at ease, rejoicing in his great victories and enjoying his rich spoils, fear- ing no enemy, leisurely takes his way home- ward. It was on the fifth night. " He divided him- self against them, he and his servants by night, and smote them." The battle was at Dan. The captives and spoils are retaken, and the enemy are pursued, even unto Hobah, " on the left- hand of Damascus " — north of Damascus, " on the left-hand" as you face the rising sun. Hobah is known in Egyptian records. The place is still shown "in the corner of the vast plain, just where the bare hills, intersected by a deep ravine, descend on the mass of verdure, which reaches up to the very foot of the rocks." Here the pursuit ceases, and Abram and his servants return, while the king, unmolested, leads his army across the Euphrates, and home. We are indebted to Rev. Henry George Tom- kins for these details. A full discussion may be found in his admirable monograph of " Studies on the Times of Abraham." XII JBttpdjptm attfc %m$ m Jt$$l 145 XII IN the hall of sacrifice of the rock-tomb of Khnumhotep, at Beni-Hassan, there are many rich paintings representing scenes in Egyptian life, which must always possess surpassing inter- est to the student of early history. Among these scenes is an illustration of the history of the descent of the sons of Jacob into Egypt. A Semitic family of Amu had left their native land when Usurtasen ruled Egypt, to seek a home in the fertile valley of the Nile. There were thirty-seven persons — men, women, and children, who stand before Khnumhotep in the sixth year of the reign of the king, Usurtasen II. When they had reached the nome of Khnum- hotep, an " overseer," Khiti by name, had been appointed to take charge of the immigrants. " The royal scribe, Noferhotep," offers to his lord a report written upon a leaf of papyrus, inform- ing him of the nationality and mission of the strangers. The scribe is followed by Khiti, the overseer. Behind him is the chief of the immi- grants, " chieftain of the land of Abesha " — 147 148 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. compare Abishai, the sister's son of David. This prince offers as a present a wild goat. Behind him are the rest of the family — bearded men, armed with spears, bows, and clubs ; women, with bright-colored dresses, their children, and the asses laden with their goods. One member of the family plays upon his lyre. The inscription explains : " This is the arrival to bring the eye- paint Masmut, which thirty-seven Amu bring to him." This paint was a black cosmetic, where- with the Egyptians dyed their eyebrows and eyelids, and was furnished by the Arabs or Shasu, who inhabited Pitshu or Midian. A sim- ilar migration was that of Abraham, and at a later period that of Jacob and his family. In the nineteenth century a report was sent to the king concerning the admission of for- eigners. The writer says : " (I will now pass) to something else which will give satisfaction to the heart of my lord ; (namely, to report to him), that we have per- mitted the races of the Shasu of the land of Aduma (Edom) to pass through the fortress Khe- tam (Etham) of King Mineptah-Hotephimaat — life, weal, and health to him ! — which is situated in the land of Sukot, near the lakes of the city of Pitom, of King Mineptah-Hotephimaat, which is situated in the land of Sukot, to nourish them- ABRAHA M AND JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 119 selves and to feed their cattle on the property of Pharaoh, who is a gracious sun for all nations." The Shasu were the Bedouins of early times, and belonged to the Semitic race of the Ainu. The Sa'ir was one of the Shasu tribes. Here we must not fail to recognize the Biblical Seirites. The Edomites, or children of Esau, inherited the name. (Brugsch, Egypt under the Pharaohs, Vol. I, pp. 177-179, 247-249.) The fear which Abram felt lest he should be despoiled of his wife and suffer death shows his intimate acquaintance with Egyptian habits. In the story of Saneha, the king of Egypt sends two armies to fetch a most beautiful woman, and to murder her husband. (Renouf, Records of the Past, Vol. II, pp. 146, 147.) In the twelfth century the wife and children of a foreigner are confiscated and become the property of the king. This instance is related in the Hieratic Papyrus of Berlin, in such terms as to show that such was a custom of the Egypt- ian Pharaoh. This occurred at a time not far from the date of the visit of Abram to Egypt. The discovery of such confirmations of Scripture is most interesting. (Speaker's Commentary, Vol. I, Part I, p. 445.) The circumstances connected with the recep- tion of Abraham and Joseph in Egypt, and the 150 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. honors they received at the hands of the reign- ing Pharaohs, have been well illustrated in the history of the immigration of the Semitic chief- tain Abesha and his train. Equally striking is the story of Saneha, preserved on one of the oldest papyri in existence. The events related belong to the time of Amenemha I and Osirta- sen I, the first two kings of the twelth dynasty. Saneha, on account of some dissatisfaction, left the court of the Pharaoh, and traveling eastward and northward, after escaping manifold dangers, reached the land of Edom and the petty king- dom of Tennu. The king of the land received him cordially, and heaped upon him many honors. The story proceeds : " He placed me over his children, he married me to his eldest daughter, he endowed me with a part of his land of the choicest which belonged to him, from one extremity to the other. . . Moreover, license was conferred upon me of going wherever I chose. He made me master of servants of the choicest of his land. There was given me bread of Mant, wine daily, of flesh a dish of fowl in a plate, besides the game of the field, which was prepared for me and was brought to me, besides that which was supplied for my dogs. . . . All men respected me. I gave water to the thirsty, I set the wanderer ABRAHAM AND JOSEPH IN EG YPT. 151 in the way. I took away the oppressor of the Sakti, putting a stop to violence; the rulers of lands, 1 caused them to come. The king of Tennu permitted me to pass many years amongst his people." After slaying a disagreeable champion he was raised to still higher honors, but in his old age he desired to return to Egypt. The king of Egypt granted his permission, the king of Tennu consented, and with rich presents Saneha again returned to the land of his early manhood. The Pharaoh proclaimed : " He shall be a counsellor among the officers, he shall be set among the chosen ones. When ye go forth to the palace, precedence shall be given to him. When he goes out of the palace, the king's children shall attend him, proceeding even unto the great gates/' Saneha says : " I was installed in the house of a prince ; there were treasures in it, there was a fountain in it, the dews of heaven watered it. From the treasury (were sent) garments of kingly attire, spices of the finest, such as the king's nobles love in every chamber. ... I was clothed with fine linen ; I was anointed with the finest oil. . . . There was given me a house . . . befitting a counsellor. There were many laborers employed to build it ; all its 152 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. timbers were new. There was brought refresh- ment from the palace three or four times a day, besides what the king's sons gave. No sooner was it finished than I built myself a tomb of stone amongst the tombs of the chief officers. His majesty chose its site. The chief painter designed it, the sculptors carved it, the chief purveyor, who was over the upper country, brought earth to it; all the decorations were made of hewn stone. When it was ready I was made superior lord of the field in which it was, near the town, as was done to the chief counselor. My image was engraved upon its portal of pure gold. His majesty caused it to be done. No other was made like unto it. I was in favor of the king until the day of his death came." (Goodwin, Records of the Past, Vol. VI, pp. 131-150.) The reception of Abraham and Joseph, and the honors shown them, were entirely consistent with the customs and feelings of the time. A papyrus in the hieratic character, now in the British Museum, was composed by the scribe Anna for Seti II, son of Meneptah II, of the nineteenth dynasty, when he was crown prince. This papyrus contains the " Tale of Two Broth- ers," and the first part of the story bears so close a resemblance to the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife that we^ would be justified in ABRAHAM AND JOSEPH IN EG YPT. 1 53 drawing the inference that the latter, as recorded in Genesis, had been worked up and incorporated in the Egyptian tale. "And he sent his younger brother, saying to him, ' Hasten and bring us seed-corn from the village.' And the young brother found the wife of his elder brother occupied in braiding her hair. And he said, ' Rise up, give me seed-corn, that I may return to the field ; for thus has my elder brother enjoined me, to return without delay.' The woman said to him, ' Go in, open the chest, that thou mayest take what thy heart desires, otherwise my locks will fall by the way.' And the youth entered into the stable, and took there- out a large vessel ; for it was his wish to carry away much seed-corn. And he loaded himself with wheat and grains of durra, and went out with it. Then she said to him, ' How great is the burden on thine arm?' He said to her, ' Two measures of durra and three measures of wheat, making together five measures, which rest on my arms.' Thus he spake to her. But she spake to the youth, and said, ' How great is thy strength ! Well have I marked thy vigor every time.' And her heart knew him. . . . And she stood up and laid hold of him, and she said to him : i Come, let us enjoy an hour's rest. The most beautiful things shall be thy portion, for I 154 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. will prepare for thee festal garments.' Then the youth became like to the panther of the south for rage, on account of the evil word which she had spoken to him ; but she was afraid beyond all measure. And he spoke to her, and said : ' Thou, woman, hast been to me like a mother, and thy husband like a father ; for he is older than I, so that he might have been my parent. Why this so great sin that thou hast spoken to me ? Say it not to me another time ; then will I not tell it this time, and no word of it shall come out of my mouth about it to any man whatsoever.' And he loaded himself with his burthen, and went out into the field. And he went to his elder brother, and they completed their day's work. " When it was now evening, the elder brother returned home to his dwelling. And his young brother followed behind his oxen, which he had laden with all the good things of the field, driv- ing them before him, to prepare them for their resting-place in the stable in the village. And, behold, the wife of his elder brother was afraid because of the word which she had spoken, and she took a jar of fat, and she was like one to whom an evil-doer had offered violence. She wished thereby to say to her husband, • Thy young brother has offered me violence.' And her ABRAHAM AND JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 155 husband returned home at evening, according to his daily custom, and entered into his house, and found his wife lying stretched out and suffering from injury. She gave him no water for his hands, according to her custom. And the lamp was not lighted, so that the house was in dark- ness. But she lay there, and vomited. And her husband spoke to her thus : ' Who has had to do with thee ? Lift thyself up !' She said to him: "No one has had to do with me except thy young brother; for when he came to take seed-corn for thee, he found me sitting alone, and said to me, Come ! let us make merry an hour and rest ! Let down thy hair ! Thus he spake to me ; but I did not listen to him, (but said,) See ! am I not thy mother, and is not thy elder brother like a father to thee ? Thus I spoke to him; but he did not hearken to my speech, and used force with me, that I might not make a report to thee. Now, if thou allowest him to live, I will kill myself.' The younger brother flees, and after many mar- vels is justified, and becomes king of Egypt. (Brugsch, Egypt Under the Pharaohs, Vol. I, pp. 309-ail.) A similar story is " The Tale of the Garden of Flowers," translated by Chabas. Another tale, found in a very fragmentary condition 156 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. among the papyri collected for the museum of Boulaq by Mariette-Bey, and nearly contempo- rary with the Exodus, makes mention of gar- ments taken away, as in the story of Joseph. (Chabas, Records of the Past, Vol. VI, pp. 151-156.) Apopi ruled as a tyrant at Avaris, and Ra- Sekenen, under-king in Thebes or No, " the city of the South," had in some way incurred his displeasure. Apopi had attempted a radical re- form in the worship. "And the king Apopi chose the god Set for his divine lord, and he did not serve any of the gods which were wor- shiped in the whole land." Among the things required of Ra-Sekenen was that he should for- get the gods of his fathers, and worship Set alone. Ra-Sekenen agreed to all, but added that " he was not able to pledge his assent [to serve] any other of the gods that were worshiped in the whole country, but Amon-Ra, the king of the gods alone." A new message, drawn up by a council, and approved by the king Apopi, was sent to the unyielding king in " the city of the South." The papyrus relates : " Many days later after these events, King Apopi sent to the governor of the city in the South country this message, . . . which his scribes had drawn up for him. And the mes- ABRAHAM AND JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 1 57 senger of King Apopi betook himself to the governor of the city in the South. And [the messenger] was brought before the governor of the city in the South country. He spoke thus, when he spoke to the messenger of King Apopi : ; Who hath sent thee hither to this city of the South ? How art thou come, in order to spy out ?' : Being told that King Apopi sent him, the king of the South permitted him to deliver his message. " And the governor of the city in the South country was for a long time troubled so that he could not answer the messenger of King Apopi." He called his councilors around him ; but they, too, were in distress. " But they were silent, all of them through great grief, and wist not what to answer him, good or bad." As the result of this correspondence, there was a great uprising of the Egyptians, which accom- plished the expulsion of the Hyksos rulers and the establishment of Egyptian independence. We only wish at present to call attention to the ad- dress of Ra-Sekenen to the messenger of Apopi : " Who hath sent thee hither to this city of the South ? How art thou come, in order to spy out ?" And to compare this with the words Jo- seph addressed to his brethren : " Whence come ye ? Ye are spies, and ye are come here to see the nakedness of the land" — the exposed con- 158 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. dition of the country. (Genesis xlii, 7, 9. Brugsch, Egypt Under the Pharaohs, Vol. I, pp. 274-278.) These are but a few of the remarkable con- firmations furnished by the monuments in illus- tration of the history of Israel in Egypt. XIII. " lu $h$$ t prdpmq to fotntn. rt 159 XIII. DREAMS, in which the mind becomes a " wizard chamber of dissolving views," have given rise to a multitude of superstitions. Primi- tive races have explained the phenomena in accordance with their peculiar religious systems. It has been thought that the soul leaves the body in sleep and wanders abroad, feasts with the gods, and, returning, remembers the things seen and heard during its absence. " With grief and blows when worn and torn, If sleep we may, we wake at morn, Refreshed in every nerve and thought, Because this marvel hath been- wrought ; The instant that asleep we fall, The soul escapes its fleshly pall, And is absorbed in heaven* from this. To lave with love, and bathe in bliss Its stiffened and flagging powers Through all the nightly slumberous hours ; And when returning morn arrives, It fresh from God's embrace revives." The gods talked with the soul in sleep, either visiting the habitation of the soul or visited by the soul in their own habitation. Hence the 14 161 162 WITNESSES FROM THE DEAD. importance attached to dreams as expressions of the divine thought and will. There are pro- phetic dreams recorded in the Bible. God spoke to men in dreams, in days of old, because a revelation given in this manner was most con- sistent with their own long-established ideas. He ever graciously accommodates himself to the intellectual, as well as spiritual, condition of the people whom he visits. Man had thought that the gods spoke to him in dreams; and the God of heaven so spoke to man. He was all that the highest ideals pictured as belonging to heathen gods ; he was infinitely more. The dreams recorded on the monuments are quite similar to those of Scripture. The examples presented will awaken lively interest when com- pared with the dreams recorded in the Bible, and will show how true the Holy Scriptures are to the spirit of the age in which they were written. When Assurbanipal, king of Assyria, was at Arbela, in the month Ab, news was brought him of the invasion of Tiumman, king of Elam, The king of Assyria prayed to Ishtar, goddess of war, to " destroy him, and crush him with a fierv bolt from heaven!" The account proceeds : " In the night-time of that night in which I had prayed to her, a certain seer lay down and had a dream. In the " TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM." 163 midst of the night Ishtar appeared to him, and he related the vision to me thus : Ishtar, who dwells in Arbela, came unto me begirt right and left with flames, holding her bow in her hand, and riding in her open chariot, as if going to the battle. And thou didst stand before her. She addressed thee as a mother would her child. She smiled upon thee, she, Ishtar, the highest of the gods, and gave thee a command. Thus : Take (this bow), she said, to go to battle with! Wherever thy camp shall stand, I will come to it. "Then thou didst say to her thus : queen of the goddesses, wherever thou goest let me go with thee ! Then she made answer to thee thus : I will protect thee, and I will march with thee at the time of the feast of Nebo. Meanwhile eat food, drink wine*, make music, and glorify my divinity, until I shall come and this vision shall be fulfilled." Then the seer adds : " Thy heart's desire shall be accomplished. Thy face shall not grow pale with fear ; thy feet shall not be arrested ; thou shalt not even scratch thy skin in the bat- tle. In her benevolence she defends thee, and she is wroth with all thy foes. Before her a fire is blown fiercely to destroy thy enemies." The prophecy was fulfilled. Assurbanipal gained a great victory, Tiumman was slain, and his head was sent to Nineveh. A bas-relief in 164 WITNESSES FROM DUST. the British Museum represents a man in a car driving at great speed, and holding in his hand the head of a warrior, with the inscription, " the head of Tiumman." Gyges, the king of Lydia, of whom an- cient story has much to say, while he was locked in the embrace of sleep and dreamed, received a revelation from the god Assur, concerning the future glory of the kingdom of Assurbanipal, and immediately recognizing the will of the god, sent a messenger to seek for him the friendship of the king of Assyria. (Smith, Records of the Past, Vol. I, p. 70 ; Vol. IX, pp. 41, 42.) Again, a certain seer " dreamed a remarkable dream," most propitious in its character, which he related to Assurbanipal to his great comfort ,and encouragement. (Smith, Records of the Past, Vol. IX, p. 50.) Ishtar, on another occa- sion, appeared to his army in a dream, and said: "I march in front of Assurbanipal, the king whom my hands made/' at which inspir- ing announcement the soldiers greatly rejoiced. (Smith, Records of the Past. Vol. I, p. 85.) In the second tablet of the Izdubar series the hero of the great epic has a dream. The stars of heaven seem to fall and, in their descent, strike him upon the back. He sees standing over him a fearful creature, whose face is terrible " TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM." 165 and whose claws are like the claws of a lion. His dream troubles hirn, and he offers to any one who will interpret the dream, honors to himself and family, many wives, and rich jewels. He applies at last to Heabani, a satyr or faun, represented in Assyrian art with the feet and tail of an ox, and with horns on his head (cf, Leviticus xvii, 7 ; 2 Chronicles xi, 15 ; Isaiah xiii, 21 ; xxxiv, 14), who is promised still greater honors if he will interpret the dream. All other interpreters would seem to have failed. Samas, the sun-god, who may have been the father of Iz- dubar, intercedes in behalf of the hero, and Hea- bani yields to the flattering promises and comes to Erech, the home of Izdubar, not, however, with- out the enticements of Zaidu, the hunter, and Samhatu and Harimtu, the courtesans, whose names, in marked appropriateness, mean "joy" and " seduction." The tablets are so imperfect that the interpretation of the dream of Izdubar, if revealed, is not given. Dreams occupy a promi- nent place in some of the other tablets. A stile discovered at Napata, among the ruins of the temple of Amen-Ra, probably of the twenty-fifth Egyptian dynasty, reads : " His majesty beheld a dream in the night — two snakes, one to his right, the other to his left, (and) when his majesty awoke he found 166 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. them no more. He said, ' (Explain) these things to me on the moment ;' and lo ! they explained it to him, saying, ' Thou wilt have the southern lands and seize the northern, and the two crowns will be put upon thy head; (for) there is given unto thee the earth in all its width and its breadth, (and there will not be) another (who can compete) with thee in power/ His majesty having risen upon the seat of Hor this (very) year, when his majesty w T ent out of the spot which he was in, even like Hor goes out of his place of state, when he went out as (a king, he found) thousands and thousands coming after him; (and) said his majesty, ' Verily it was true what I dreamt ! A boon it is for him who acts after God's heart; a plague for him who does not know it!' When his majesty went to Na- pata, there was no one who withstood his march." (Maspero, Records of the Past, Vol. IV, pp. 81, 82.) Once upon a time the son of Thotmes III had been hunting the gazelle and throwing the spear at targets for his pleasure, near Memphis. At the approach of noon, dismissing his serv- ants, that they might rest, he went to the temple of Sokar, in the necropolis, to present to the god Hormakhu and the goddess Rannu an offering of "the seeds of the flowers on the " TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM." 167 heights/' and to pray to Isis. The sphinx, be- tween whose paws was the temple, was wor- shiped by the Egyptians as " The Sun on the Horizon." Beneath its shade, wearied with the toil of the way and oppressed by the heat of the fiery rays of the meridian sun, he reclined, and sleep overtook him. " He dreamed in his PYRAMID AND SPHINX. slumber at the moment when the sun was at the zenith, and it seemed to him as though this great god spoke to him with his own mouth, just as a father speaks to his son, addressing him thus : " Behold me ! Look at me, thou my son 168 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. Thutmes. I am thy father, Hormakhu, Khepra, Ra, Turn. The kingdom shall be given to thee, . . . and thou shalt wear the white crown and the red crown on the throne of the earth-god Seb, the youngest (among the gods). The world shall be thine in its length and in its breadth, as far as the light of the eye of the lord of the universe shines. Plenty and riches shall be thine ; the best from the interior of the land and rich tributes from all nations ; long years shall be granted thee as thy term of life. My countenance is gracious towards thee, and my heart clings to thee ; [I will give thee] the best of all things. " The * sand of the district in which I have had my existence covers me up. Promise me that thou wilt do what I wish in my heart; then shall I know whether thou art my son, my helper. Go forward ; let me be united to thee." (Birch, Records of the Past, Vol. XII, pp. 43- 49 ; Brugsch, Egypt under the Pharaohs, Vol. I, pp. 465, 466.) When Thotmes IV came to the throne, obey- ing the divine behest revealed in the dream which we have related, he cleared away the vast accumulation of sand from the body of the sphinx, and erected a memorial stone before the breast of this majestic symbol of the sun-god 11 TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM." 169 Hormakhu, thus immortalizing his own piety as well as the account of his dream. The monu- ments furnish ample illustrations of the impor- tance attached to dreams both in Assyrian and in Egypt. 15 XIV. Hmmnis in Jl^pi 171 XIV. A DECREE of Canopus, in hieroglyphic and demotic, translated from the original Greek, and dated B. C. 238, Mentions a famine "in the time of the former kings." "When, moreover, there happened a year of a deficient water of Nile during this reign, and all the inhabitants of Egypt became faint-hearted at this event for fear, memory made them think of the dearth which once did occur in the time of the former kings, in consequence of the de- ficiency of the Nile to the inhabitants of Egypt in their time. His majesty and his sister and wife had cared in their hearts, which glowed for the inhabitants of the temples and the na- tives of Egypt in its entire extent, who were very much distressed and bent down. They remitted considerable taxes in order to save men's lives, and took care for importations of corn into Egypt from the Eastern Rutennu (Syria), from the land Kafatha (Phoenicia), from the island Nabinaitt (Cyprus), which lies in the midst of the great sea, and from many other 173 174 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. lands, since they expended much white gold for the purchase thereof. They transported the im- portation of provisions, to save those living in the land of Egypt, that these might know their goodness for ever, and their many virtuous turns whereby both those who are living and their posterity, and for which the gods grant EGYPTIAN GRANARY, them maintenance of their dignities and rule over Upper and Lower Egypt in reward thereof, and their reward of goods of all kinds for ever, with blessing and weal." (Birch, Records of the Past, Vol. VIII, pp. 84, 85.) An older inscription — that of Ameni-Amen- emha, of the twelfth dynasty — mentions a super- intendent of public granaries who was appointed to meet the emergency of a famine. Its clear reference is as follows : FAMINES IN EGYPT. 175 "No little child have I injured; no widow have I oppressed; no fisherman have I injured; no shepherd have I detained ; no foreman of five men have I taken from his gang for the labor. There was no poverty in my days, no starvation in my time, when there were years of famine. I plowed all the fields of Mah to its southern and northern frontiers. I gave life to its inhab- itants, making its food. No one was starved in it. I gave to the widow as to the married wo- man. I made no difference between the great and little in all that I did. When the Nile made great waters, all types, all cultivation, all things, I did not take out of the field." (Birch, Records of the Past, Vol. XII, pp. 63, 64.) Superintendents of granaries were regularly appointed, that there might be constant prepara- tion for preserving the lives of the people in case the gods sent upon the land a famine. The cause of famines was a deficiency in the over- flow of the Nile. Speaking of this divine stream, the scribe of the Great Mendes Stele, says : " If there was a deficiency in its products for a long time, sorrow prevailed amongst the people ; if there was plenty of provision, joy prevailed amongst them ; for the entire wealth of the soil 176 WITNESSES FROM THE BUST. rests on the inundation of the Nile." (Brugsch- Bey, Records of the Past, Vol. VIII, p. 99.) On the tomb of an Egyptian, Baba, by name, near El-Kab, there is an epitaph relating his good deeds, in which occurs this passage : "When a famine broke out for many years, I gave corn to the city during each successive year of the famine. " Of this the translator Brugsch says : "No doubt the last part of the inscription which we have preferred to reproduce textually, because of its capital importance, makes refer- ence to an historical event in the form of a fam- ine that prevailed during many years in Egypt. As such a calamity occurs very rarely, indeed, as history knows but of one example, the seven years' famine in the time of Joseph, the curious and important fact results that the numerous years of famine which happened in Egypt while Baba was alive, directly belong to the same event as is related in Holy Scriptures, when it speaks of the seven years' famine which took place in Egypt, and in other parts of the world also." There is but . one other mention of seven years of famine during six thousand years of Egyptian history. Mr. Stewart Poole says : "No other such famine is recorded in later THE GOD-APPOINTED GUARD. 177 Egyptian annals until that of Fatimee Khalee- feh, El-Mustanstir billah, remarkable as having lasted seven years (A. D. 1064-1071), like that of Joseph. Great famines in Egypt are ex- tremely rare, because they require a succession of very low inundations. Such failures of the river seldom happen singly, and a sequence of seven is most extraordinary." (Contemporary Review for 1879, Vol. XXXIV, pp. 751, 752.) Knowing from monumental writings that Baba and Joseph must have been at least nearly con- temporaries, and recognizing how exceedingly rare it was to suffer from a famine of many years' duration, we can hardly conclude other- wise than that the famine of many years of Baba was the famine of seven years of Joseph. There is a famine mentioned as having oc- curred as early as the reign of Uenephris, the fourth king of the first dynasty. Amenemha III, of the twelfth dynasty, under- took and accomplished a work of immense mag- nitude and importance — the construction of the extraordinary artificial lake of Moeris in the Fayoum — to control the overflow of the waters of the Nile, so as to guard against both flood and famine. Inscriptions marking the rise of the Nile, and allusions to the great work of the Fayoum, have preserved to us the proof of this 178 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST undertaking, which is so vast as to stagger ordi- nary kingly ambition. The experience or the memory of some great famine must have pro- claimed the necessity of this system of dykes, canals, locks, reservoirs, and lake, to command the obedience and service of the waters of this holy stream. XV. a urk t W[ttk f IfwL tt 179 XV. I^HOTMES III, the greatest Egyptian con- . queror, was also a great builder. The special object of his care was the great temple of Amnion, at Thebes, which he repaired, en- larged, and beautified. He erected the inclosure of the temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, and the obelisks known as " Cleopatra's Needles," which Augustus transferred to Alexandria, and which stand, at the present time, one on the Thames embankment in London, and the other in Cen- tral Park, Ne$v York. He also erected temples at Thebes, Medinet-Abou, Elephantine, Ombos, Esneh, Abydos, Coptos, Denderah, Eileithyia, Hermonthis, Memphis, Amada, Corte, Talmis, Pselcis, Semneh, and Koummeh. He "left more monuments than any other Pharaoh, excepting Rameses II." These great constructions were probably the product, at least in part, of enforced labor. The eleven thousand captives brought to Egypt from his Asiatic campaigns, as we learn from the monu- ments, were probably employed on these works. 181 182 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. For dwelling-houses, tombs, sacred inclosures ol temples, some of the smaller temples, walls of towns, and fortresses, crude sun-dried bricks were used. Among the monuments of the great " WORK, WORK, WORK 1 ' 183 BRICK-MAKING IN EGYPT. monarch is found a representation of this en- forced labor imposed upon foreign bondsmen. Some of the work- men are seen cut- ting up the clay, others kneading it, some carrying it, others bringing water, some mold- ing the bricks, and others carrying them by means of yokes placed across the shoul- ders, while still others build them up into walls. Taskmasters, armed with sticks, drive them on to greater exertion, saying, "The stick is in my hand. Be not idle." Over this representa- tion an inscription reads : " Here are to be seen the prisoners, which have been carried away as living captives in very great numbers; they work at the building with active fingers ; their overseers are in sight; they insist with vehemence (on the others laboring), obeying the orders of the great AN EGYPTIAN BRICK-FIELD. 184 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. win skilled lord (i. e., the head-architect), who pre- scribes to them the works, and gives directions « WORK, WORK, WORK" 185 to the masters ; they are rewarded with wine and all kinds of good dishes ; they per- form this service with a mind full of love for the king; they build for Thothmes Holies BUST OF THOTHMES III Ra-uien-khepr, a Holy of for the gods. May it be rewarded to him through a range of many years." (Rawlinson, Herodotus, Vol. II, p. 183; History of Ancient Egypt, Vol. II, p. 250.) Rosellini, Hen- — ffl stenberg, Kurtz , Kalish, Palmer, and colossal figure of rameses ii. others have taken this as an actual represen- tation of the Israelites themselves working under 16 186 WITNESSES FROM THE BUST. taskmasters. Most Egyptologers, however, do not agree with this interpretation of the scene, but unite in giving to the laborers, who are captives taken in war, Semitic features, though some think they are not of a decided Jewish type. The representation with the accompanying inscription exhibits in a graphic manner just the kind of COLOSSAL STATUE OF RAMESES AT MEMPHIS. service in which the Hebrews were engaged and the treatment to which they were subjected, and is, therefore, of great importance. Rameses II, the father of the Pharaoh of the Exodus, was, if possible, a greater builder. He constructed a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea, and a great wall commenced by his father Seti, extending from Pelusium to Heliopolis, a distance of ninety miles, strengthened at inter- ''WORK, WORK, WORK." 187 vals by fortresses, thought by some to be the "treasure cities/' the work of the oppressed Israelites ; he also built numerous cities, tem- ples, obelisks, and atatues, and his own tomb. Among his cities were Pa-Ramesu and Pa-tum, probably the Rameses and Pithom of Exodus. The rock temple of Ipsambul is pronounced "the most magnificent specimen of its class which the world contains." The works, espe- cially of this period, were "unsurpassed by any thing the world has seen during the thirty cen- turies of struggle and aspiration that have elapsed since the brilliant days of the great kingdom of the Pharaohs." (Rawlinson, History of Ancient Egypt, Vol. II, pp. 328, 354.) He could well pray, " What art thou, my fa- ther Ammon ? What father denies his son ? for have I done aught without thee? Have I not stept or staid looking to thee, not transgressing the decisions of thy mouth, nor passing far astray beyond thy counsels? Sovran Lord of Egypt, who makest bow down the peoples that with- stand thee, what are these Amu to thy heart? Ammon brings low them who know not God. Have I not made thee monuments very many, filled thy temple with my spoils, built thee houses for millions of years, given treasures to thy house, dedicated to thee all lands, enriched 188 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. thy sacrifices ? I have slain to thee thirty thousand bulls, with all wood of sweet scent, "WORK, WORK, WORK' 1 189 good incense coming from my hand. The mak- ing of thy court completed, I have built thee great towers of stone above thy gate, groves everlasting. I brought thee obelisks 'from Ele- phantine; 'tis I who had eternal stones carried, guiding for thee galleys on the sea, conveying to thee labors of all lands. When was it said such happened in other time? 1 ' (Lushington, Records of the Past, Vol. II, pp. 69, 70.) "It is almost impossible,'' says the learned historian, " to find in Egypt a ruin or an an- cient mound without reading his name." (Le- normant, Ancient History of the East, Vol. I, p. 243.) To provide himself laborers for his many vast works, "man-hunts were organized upon a monstrous scale," and captives were enslaved — "swart negroes from the Soudan, Ethiopians of equal blackness but of a higher type, blue-eyed, fair-haired Marmaridae, light red, beardless Khita, lithe Arabs, heavily framed Ruten with black beards and features of a Jewish cast, Kharu, Leka, Nahiri, Maxyes — carried off from their homes by the grasping conqueror." (Rawlinson, History of Egypt, Vol. II, pp. 322, 323.) Sub- ject races of foreign blood were also bent to the heavy yoke of bondage — Sharuten or Shardana, and Apuiriu or Aperu, identified by many schol- 190 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. ars with the Hebrews. The captive and subject races formed a full third of the population. Arnenemun, chief librarian of Rameses, in a letter to his pupil and friend, the poet Pentaour, reveals the condition of the agricultural people : " Have you ever conceived what sort of a life the peasant leads who cultivates the soil? Even before it is ripe, insects destroy part of the harvest. . . . Multitudes of rats are in the fields ; next come invasions of locusts ; cat- tle ravage his harvest ; sparrows alight in flocks on his sheaves. If he fails to get in his harvest, robbers come to carry it off from him ; his horse dies of fatigue in drawing the plow ; the tax collector arrives in the district, and has with him men armed with sticks, negroes with palm branches. All say, 'Give us of your corn;' and he has no m$ans of escaping their exactions. Next, the unfortunate wretch is seized, bound, and carried by force to work on the canals ; his wife is bound, his children are stripped." (Lenor- mant, Ancient History of the East, Vol. I, p. 258.) The following we take from an inscription of the period : "It is very hard to make the smooth road on which the colossus is to slide along, but how unspeakably harder to drag the huge mass like beasts of burden. The arms of the workman "WORK, WORK, WORK. 11 191 are utterly worn out. His food is a mixture of all things vile ; he can wash himself only once in a season. But that which above all is wretched is when he has to drag for a month together, over the soft, yielding soil of the gar- dens of the mansion, a huge block of ten cubits by six." This enforced labor, hard fare, and cruel op- pression must have crushed the very souls of the unfortunate and helpless people. The pic- ture which Ebers gives is no more favorable : " Under the wide-spreading sycamore," says he, u a vender of eatables, spirituous drinks, and acids for cooling the water, had set up his stall, and close to him a crowd of boatmen and driv- ers shouted and disputed as they passed the time in eager games of morra. Many sailors lay on the decks of the vessels, others on the shore ; here in the thin shade of a palm-tree, there in the full blaze of the sun, from whose burning rays they protected themselves by spreading over their faces the cotton cloths which served them for cloaks. Between the sleepers passed bondmen and slaves, brown and black, in long files, one behind the other, bend- ing under the weight of heavy burdens, which had to be conveyed to their destination at the temples for sacrifice, or to the dealers in various 192 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. wares. Builders dragged blocks of stone, which had come from the quarries of Chennu and Suan, on sledges, to the site of a new temple ; labor- ers poured water under the runners, that the heavily loaded and dried wood should not take fire. All these workingmen were driven with sticks by their overseers and sang at their la- bor ; but the voices of the leaders sounded muffled and hoarse, though when, after their frugal meal, they enjoyed an hour of repose, they might be heard loud enough. Their parched throats refused to sing in the noontide of their labor. Thick clouds of gnats followed these tormented gangs, who, with dull and spirit- broken endurance, suffered alike the stings of the insects and the blows of their driver." (Ebers, Uarda, Vol. I, p. 61.) This is a picture true to the life. But the oppressed Hebrews had other work besides building palaces and temples, obelisks and tombs — something besides digging canals and working in the brick-fields. From the ear- liest kings extensive mining operations were car- ried on east of the Nile and in the peninsula of Sinai. The turquoise, around which still clus- ter many superstitions among the Arabs, yellow gold and precious copper, besides stones from the quarries, yielded to the labors of many thou- "WORK, WORK, WORK." 193 sands of slaves, prisoners of war, and criminals, who, under hard taskmasters, toiled their lives away. Ebers, true to the revelations of mon- umental literature and art, has produced a wonderful reconstruction of old Egyptian life. Agatharcides, as quoted by Diodorus Siculus, presents a vivid picture of the condition of those who, condemned to the horrid fate, worked in the mines : " The kings of Egypt send to the gold mines condemned criminals, prisoners of war, and per- sons convicted on false accusation, or banished in the heat of passion. By this means they procure the labor necessary to obtain the great treasures these mines yield, the punishment be- ing often extended not only to the offender but to all related to him. The number of the con- victs is very great, and they are all chained by foot-irons, and have to work continually, with- out an interval for rest. Not only is there no break of work for them by day, the very night brings them none; and, withal, every chance of escape is cut off from them, for foreign soldiers, whose language they do not understand, are set over them, so that no one can move his guard by friendly words or entreaties. Where the gold- bearing soil is hardest, huge fires are kindled to loosen the ground before the miners begin to 17 194 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST dig ; but as soon as the rock is burnt enough to require less violent labor, many thousands of the unfortunates are set to break it up with quarry tools. The oversight of the whole work is under the charge of a skillful officer, who knows the difference between rich and poor stone, and directs the toilers accordingly. The strongest drive shafts into the rocks — not in a straight line, but as the glittering metal may lead — and these shafts wind and turn so that the hewers have to work with a lamp on their forehead, else they would be in total darkness. They have, moreover, constantly to change their posi- tion as the rock demands, till finally they get the pieces broken off and thrown down on the floor of the galleries. Meanwhile the overseers keep them up to this heavy task by roughness and blows. " The boys, who have not yet come to their strength, have to go into the shafts in the rocks, and painfully raise and drag out to the open day the pieces of stone broken off by the miners. From these lads men, who must be over thirty years of age, receive each a fixed quantity of this quarried metal, and have to pound it in stone troughs, with iron pestles, till it is no larger than a pea. The wives and the old men then take these fragments and pour them into ''WORK, WORK, WORK )y 195 mills, of which a number stand in a row, and these are driven by two or three persons, by a winch, till the whole is ground as fine as flour. One can not look at these wretched creatures, who not only are not able to keep themselves clean, but are too ragged even to hide their na- kedness, without lamenting their fate; for there is no care or pity for the sick, the injured, the gray-headed, or for the weakness of women. All, driven by blows, must work on till death comes to end their sufferings and their sorrows. In the bitterness of their agony, the condemned anticipate the future as even move horrible than the present, and wait eagerly for death, which is more fondly desired than life. The discovery of these mines dates from the earliest times. They must have been begun already under the old kings." In the Anastasi Papyrus we have a letter of Panbesa, describing, in poetic strain, one of the treasure cities of Egypt. Some of the words have not been*interpreted, and the meaning is obscure : " So I arrived in the city of Ramses-Miamun, and I have found it excellent ; for nothing can compare with it on the Theban land and soil. [Here is the seat] of the court. It is pleasant to live in. Its fields are full of good things, 196 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST and life passes in constant plenty and abun- dance. Its canals are rich in fish, its lakes swarm with birds, its meadows are green with vegetables, there is no end of the lentils; mel- ons with a taste like honey grow in the irrigated fields. Its barns are full of wheat and durra, and reach as high as heaven. Onions and se- same are in the inclosures, and the apple-tree blooms (?). The vine, the almond-tree, and the fig-tree grow in the gardens. Sweet is their wine for the inhabitants of Kemi. They mix it with honey. The redfish is in the lotus-canal, the Borianfish in the ponds ; many kinds of Bori- fish, besides carp and pike, in the canal of Pu- harotha ; fat fish and Khiptipennu fish are in the pools of the inundation; the Hauaz fish in the full mouth of the Nile, near the ' city of the con- queror' (Tanis). " The city canal Pshenhor produces salt ; the lake region of Pahir, natron. Their seaships enter the harbor ; plenty and abundance are per- petually in it. He rejoices who has settled there. My information is no jest. The common people as well as the higher classes say, ' Come hither. Let us celebrate to him his heavenly and his earthly feasts.' The inhabitants of the reedy lake (Thufi) arrived with lilies; those of Pshen- hor, with papyrus flowers. Fruits from the nur- "WORK, WORK, WORK: 1 197 series, flowers from the gardens, birds from the ponds, were dedicated to him. Those who dwell near the sea came with fish, and the inhabitants of their lakes honored him. The youths of the ' conqueror's city ' were perpetually clad in fes- tive attire. Fine oil was on their heads of fresh curled hair. They stood at their doors, their hands laden with branches and flowers from Pa- hathor, and with garlands from Pahir, on the day of the entry of King Ramessu-Miamun, the god of war Monthu, upon earth, in the early morn- ing of the monthly feast of Kihith (that is, on the first of Khoiak). All people were assem- bled, neighbor with neighbor, to bring forward their complaints. " Delicious was the wine for the inhabitants of the ' conqueror's city.' Their cider was like . . . , their sherbets were like almonds mixed with honey. There was beer from Kati (Galilee) in the harbor, wine in the gardens, fine oil at the lake Sagabi, garlands in the apple orchards. The sweet song of women resounded to the tunes of Memphis. So, they sat there with joyful heart, or walked about without ceas- ing. King Ramessu-Miamun, he was the god they celebrated. " (Brugsch, Egypt under the Pharaohs, Vol. II, pp. 100-102 ; Goodwin, Rec- ords of the past, Vol. VI, pp. 13-16.) 198 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST Such is the contrast, drawn from native sources, between the oppression of the people and the glory of the king and his court in his royal cities. It is an interesting fact that the Papyrus of Bek-en-amen contains a letter sent from Ranieses, inquiring concerning a certain runaway slave, and stating the steps which have been taken for his recovery. This rare letter was written in the reign of Mineptah, son of Rameses II, at about the time of the Exodus. It shows, also, that certain legal formalities were necessary 'to the recovery of lost human chattels. This legal formality increases our respect for the system of slavery as practiced in Egypt. The scribe writes concerning the subject-matter in hand as follows : " I feel that I require thy help to consult Ra and Pta. May they grant their advice to thee. Now, as I am unable to say how my boy acted when sent to thee, I will, therefore, send him to Sechempheti, to take with him a letter to thee. I wish, also, to hear what thou hast de- cided — whether thou leavest quickly, and art obliged to go away at the time my message ar- rives. As I am making legal inquiries about the Syrian of Perhetuti, send me all thou know- est about him. I heard that he had been em- "WORK, WORK, WORK:' 199 ployed as a workman, under thy direction, at Perhetuti, in the third year and the tenth day of the month Payni, with the laborers of the con- ductors of the transport boat. I sent for the chief of the police, in order to learn from him his name. He is called Naqarii, and is from Sal- raz. His mother came from Qeti, of the country of Aratu. He is the slave employed on the transport boats of this country, on the boat of the captain Kanuro. His keepers told Chaemap, the chief of the officers of the troops of the reg- iment of Pharaoh, the powerful — may he live forever ! — to take him and have him given up. I also myself went to Chaemap, the chief of the officers of the troops of the regiment of Pha- raoh — may he live forever! — but he turned a deaf ear to me, and said : Speak to the governor Merisechet, so that he cause him to be given up. I went then myself to the governor Meris- echet ; but he also turned to me a deaf ear, with his clerks, and said : It is not our business. I went then to see the chief boatman of Se- sennu, and said to him, Can the Syrian work- man of Perhetuti be given back? Take him, and let him be returned to his prophet. I will settle the matter with him before the great tri- bunal. I have also heard the new T s thou hast sent to me about the slave of Tehuti. He did 200 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. not bring it to me, having run away ; but I will have him followed. Now, as thou takest inter- est in him, it would be well to have him brought to me." (Giovanni Kminek-Szedlo, Transac- tions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, Vol. VII, pp. 421, 422.) The following account, which we take from Brugsch, contains identifications of places to suit his theory of the Exodus : " I set out," he says, " from the hall of the royal palace, on the ninth day of the month Epiphi, in the evening, after the two servants. I arrived at the fortress of Thuku (Sukoth) on the tenth of Epiphi. I was informed that the men had resolved to take their way toward the south. On the twelfth I reached Khetam (Etham). There I was informed that grooms, who had come from the neighborhood [of the ' sedge city,' had reported] that the fugitives had already passed the rampart (i. e., the Shur of the Bible, Gerrhon of the Greeks) to the north of the Migdol of King Seti Mineptah." (Brugsch, Egypt under the Pharaohs, Vol. II, p. 138.) A remarkable confirmation has just reached us from the East. Some large mounds, near Tel-el-Kebir, are known by the name of Tel-el- Maskhuta; and M. Naville, of the Egyptian Ex- "WORK, WORK, WORK" 201 ploration Fund, has excavated these venerable piles. Inscriptions have been unearthed which prove this to have been an ancient city whose religious name was Pithom — Pa-tum, "the city of the setting sun" — while its civil name was Succoth, and that its founder was Rameses II. In Greek times, this venerable city, which has but just stepped out of its grave, was called Heroopolis, or Ero. The latter word is from the Egyptian ara, "a storehouse," remind- ing us of the " treasure cities " built for the Pharaoh. (Exodus i, 11.) M. Naville has dis- covered the treasure chambers themselv^, occu- pying almost the whole area of the city. Their walls are six hundred and fifty feet square and twenty-two feet thick. They are strongly con- structed, and divided by brick partitions.. The bricks are sun-baked, and some are without straw, representing the work of the oppressed people when the order came to them, " Thus saith the Pharaoh, I will not give you straw." (Sayce, Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments, pp. * 71, 72. Naville's " Pithom " has just been issued.) In a papyrus of the nineteenth dynasty, the writer complains, " I have no one to help me in making bricks, no straw." The expression had evidently become proverbial at that time. 202 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. M. Chabas has translated another papyrus, in which twelve laborers, employed in the same district where the Israelites toiled, were pun- ished for failing to make their daily tale of bricks. (Speaker's Commentary, Vol. I, Part I, pp. 270, 271.) " Ye are idle," said Pharaoh ; and according to the funeral ritual, idleness was a sin which brought condemnation in the final judgment. " Ye have made savor to be abhorred (margin, to stink) in the eyes of Pharaoh," said the Is- raelites to Moses and Aaron. "Thou hast.made my nanje offensive, stinking, to all men," com- plains an Egyptian of rank to his historian. The expression was proverbial. Other pro- verbial sayings were, " The child grows up, and his bones are broken like the bones of an ass;" " The back of a lad is made that he may hearken to him that beats it." (Speaker's Commentary > Vol. I, Part I, p. 256 and elsewhere.) The reigning Pharaoh was recognized as the representative of the supreme, and was wor- shiped as very God. The following hymn is addressed to Pharaoh : " 'Long live the king!' This comes to inform the king To the Koyal Hall of the lover of truth, The great heaven wherein the Sun is. "WORK, WORK, WORK." 203 (Give) thy attention to me, thou Sun that risest To enlighten the earth with this (his) goodness: The solar orb of men, chasing the darkness from Egypt. Thou art, as it were, the image of thy father, the Sun, Who rises in heaven. Thy beams penetrate the cavern. HEAD OF MINEPTAH. No place is without thy goodness. Thy sayings are the law of every land. When thou reposest in thy palace, Thou hearest the words of all the lands. Thou hast millions of ears. Bright is thy eye above the stars of heaven, Able to gaze at the solar orb. If any thing be spoken by the mouth in the cavern, 204 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. It ascends into thy ears. Whatsoever is done in secret, thy eye seeth it, O, Baenra Meriamen, merciful Lord, creator of breath." This is addressed to Mineptah, generally be- lieved to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus. (Good- win, Records of the Past, Vol. VI, pp. 10.1, 102.) Rameses II assumed the character of a ver- itable god, and set up his own image to be wor- shiped as an equal of the greatest gods — Am- nion, Ptah, and Horus. His deification was most complete. The development of the doctrine of the divinity of kings, which had been of long growth, now reached its culmination. In the pride and arrogance of these blas- phemous assumptions of a divine character, now at its highest, no limit could be set to tyrannical power. When we consider what must have been, under such teaching, the Israelitish idea of a king, we are able to understand the importance of the command of God that his people choose not such a ruler. To turn to a king would be to turn away from God. Such are some glimpses which we catch of what must have been the oppression of the He- brews. Egypt unwittingly testifies to the truth- fulness of the writings of Moses. XVI fym$ llrajjmBttte* 205 XVI. THERE are many incidental confirmations, powerful because of this very character, which, admitting of no classification, may be thrown together in one group. When Abraham, as a refuge from a severe famine, went down into Egypt he found the king of the country bearing a title which, to his ears, sounded " Pha-ra-oh." It is now show r n, by most eminent Egyptologers, that "the regular title of Egyptian kings" was Peraa or Perao, " the great house." The etymology of the word singularly corresponds with the statement of Horapollo that the king was called " the great house ;" and we may compare this title with one of the titles of the Grand Sultan of Turkey, " Sublime Porte." The Pharaoh in the time of Joseph had a body guard and " captain of the guard " (Gen. xxxvii, 36), and this guard is constantly seen on the Egyptian sculptures in close attendance upon the king. When he rides in his chariot, his subjects bow 7 down on their knees before him, and they do the same before Joseph, his chief 207 208 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST EGYPTIAN WAR CHARIOT. minister. "And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and ar- rayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had ; and they cried before him, Bow the knee ; and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt." (Gen. xli, 42, 43.) These prostrations are frequently found in the sculp- tures. There is in Egyptian art the same scene of investing a favorite with a gold chain. The signet ring was also in use. Another curious confirmation is at hand. "Every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians." (Genesis xlvi, 34.) This contempt finds abundant expression on the monuments where herdsmen are uniformly represented by the artists as filthy and unkempt, and sometimes as deformed and unseemly, an offense to the eyes of the Egyptians. The liberty which popular sentiment allowed to women which sometimes degenerated into licentiousness, as shown in CHOICE FRAGMENTS. 209 the acts of the wife of Potiphar, and in the "Tale of the Two Brothers" preserved in the Papyrus d'Orbiney, already presented — this lib- erty is represented in Egyptian art. The chief baker relates his dream to Joseph, "I also was in my dream, and, behold, I had three white baskets on my head." (Genesis xl, 16.) This practice of carrying burdens on the head is repre- sented on the monu- ments. The practice of sitting at meals, un- like the CUStom Of Scribes Writing the Account of the ii i i , i Steward. the patriarchs and the Orientals, is in complete accord with the abun- dant representations of banquets found in the tombs. On the monuments we may also see stewards and granaries, the purchase and sale of slaves, and the employment of horses and chariots. Rawlinson says, in speaking of Egyptian cus- toms as revealed in Genesis : " It may be broadly stated that in this entire description there is not a single feature which is out of harmony with what we know of the Egypt of this remote period 18 210 WITNESSES FROM THE DEAD. from other sources. Nay, more, almost every point in it is confirmed either by the classical writers, by the monuments, or by both." (Raw- linson, Historical Illustrations of the Old Testa- ment, pp. 43, 44.) The chief butler, in relating his dream, says : "I took the grapes and pressed them into Pha- raoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand." (Genesis xl, 11.) The enemies of the Bible have sided with Herodotus, usually accu- rate in matters which came under his own per- sonal observation, in denying that the vine was cultivated in Egypt. This opinion must now be abandoned, since not only the cultivation of the vine, but also the art of pressing the grape, the fermentation of the juice, and the custom of drinking wine are represented on the monuments. The exact scene, also, pictured in the chief but- lerV dream is not wanting. Dr. Ebers has dis- covered on the walls of the temple of Edfu the picture of the king of Egypt with a cup in his hand. Underneath is the interesting inscrip- tion, " They press grapes into the water, and the king drinks." Going back some years, Jacob made Joseph "a coat of many colors." " In the well-known scene from the tomb of Chnoumhotep at Beni Hassan, a tomb of the twelfth dynasty, the Se- CHOICE FRAGMENTS. 211 mitic visitors who are offering presents to the governor are dressed in robes of rich coloring, apparently formed of separate small pieces or patches sewn together." (Speakers Commen- tary, Vol. I, P. I, p. 194.) A multitude of confirmations belong to the time of the Exodus. The monuments show that TREADING THE WINE-PRESS. the chariot was the most important arm in the military service, and that the king went out to battle in person. (Exodus xiv, 6-8.) There is depicted the cultivation of wheat, barley, flax, and rye, or spelt (Exodus ix, 32) ; and fish, cu- cumbers, onions, and garlic are easily recognized. (Numbers xi, 5.) The monuments represent the catching, salting, and eating of fish. We see also cattle, both in the fields and in stalls or sheds. (Exodus ix, 3, 19.) Among the extant remains are various articles of gold and sil- 212 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. ver — -vases, goblets, necklaces, armlets, brace- lets, earrings, and finger-rings. (Exodus xii, 35.) There are also furnaces, ovens, kneading- troughs, walking-sticks, and hand-mills. (Exo- dus ix, 8 ; viii, 3 ; vii, 10, 12; xi, 5.) The stor- A PHARAOH IN HIS CHARIOT. ing of water in vessels of wood and stone (Exo- dus vii, 19), and the construction of boats out of papyrus (Exodus ii, 3), are traceable, while bitumen and pitch were in use. While Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, he came to " the mountain of God, even to Horeb." The whole peninsula of Sinai, from a very early period, was regarded by CHOICE FRAGMENTS. 213 the Egyptians as specially consecrated to the gods. An inscription of the twenty-fifth year of Thotmes III, found at Sarbut el Chadem, speaks of an officer sent to bring copper from the land of the gods. The angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses "in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush." This "bush" was the senehj the thorny acacia, according to Brugsch. The Coptic is sheno. The name of this thorn is found in papyri of the nineteenth dynasty, and in inscriptions quoted by Brugsch. Seneh should probably be retained as its proper name. The miracles wrought at the word of Moses for the deliverance of Israel were of special sig- nificance. The Egyptians were acquainted with all these plagues, but now they came with special intensity and malignity. The rod of Moses was changed into a serpent, but it was no ordinary serpent. It was probably the basilisk or Uraeus, the poisonous cobra before which Moses fled. This was the symbol of royal and divine power, and is represented on the diadem of every Pha- raoh. It is always represented with its neck enormously swollen, as if •ready to attack. This miracle was a pledge of victory over the king and the gods of Egypt. (Exod. iv, 3, 4.) Again we read : " When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, saying, Shew a miracle for you ; then thou shalt 214 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent." (Exod. vii, 9.) This was another serpent, represented by another word, " Tannin," found in the Egyptian ritual as " Tanem." It was " a syno- nym of the monster serpent which represents the principle of antagonism to light and life." This gives these miracles special significance. As an encouragement to Moses and as a warn- ing to Pharaoh, the two serpents were well chosen. The Nile was worshiped under various names, and the king may have gone to the sa- cred stream to offer his devotions, when Moses met him, and " smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants," and the waters were turned to blood. The plague of the frogs followed. This was also a blow directed against Egyptian super- stitions. A goddess, with a frog's head, named Heka, was worshiped in the district of Beni Hassan as the wife of Chnum, the god of the cataract or of the inundations. Mariette gives a curious vignette, which represents Seti, the father of Rameses II, offering two vases of wine to a frog. This deity is enshrined in a small clmpel, and is described as " The Sovereign Lady of both worlds." CHOICE FRAGMENTS. 215 The third plague smites " the dust of the land." The earth was worshiped under the name Seb, and the black soil of the Nile, called Chemi, was sacred. The fourth plague struck the atmosphere. The air was personified in the deity Shu, the son of Ra, the sun god ; or, again, in Isis, queen of heaven. The " flies " were, perhaps, beetles. The beetle was the symbol of life, and of the creative and repro- ductive power. In the hieroglyphics it repre- sents the word " cheper." The sun-god bore the name " Chepera," and is represented in the form or with the head of a beetle. And so the other plagues attacked the gods of the Egyptians sym- bolized under various living and animal forms. This part of sacred history is just adapted to Egypt and to no other land. Her gods were humiliated, degraded, defeated, and slain. When the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea, and " triumphed gloriously," Moses and the children of Israel sang a song remarkable for simplicity and grandeur, and archaic in style; and in celebrating the destruction of the host of Pharaoh, he sings : " They sank into the bot- tom as a stone." (Exod. xv, 5.) "The war- riors on chariots are always represented on the monuments with heavy coats of mail. The corselets of ' chosen captains ' consisted of plates 216 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. of highly tempered bronze, with sleeves reaching nearly to the elbow, covering the whole body and the thighs nearly to the knee." (Speaker's Commentary, Vol. I, Part I, p. 311.) After this, "Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand ; and all the women went out after her with tim- 14 WITH TIMBRELS AND WITH DANCES." brels and with dances." (Exod. xv, 20.) There is a representation on the monuments of women dancing. Some bear boughs in their hands, while others play on timbrels. The position and importance assigned the Hittites according to Scripture is fully sustained by the Assyrian and Egyptian monuments. They were a mighty nation, which long main- tained a successful warfare against enemies on the east and on the west. The Hittite Empire CHOICE FRAGMENTS. 217 at one time extended from the Euphrates to the Grecian archipelago, and south to the tribes of the Shasu. Rameses II, the great king of Egypt, after a war of seventeen years, was glad to make a treaty with the Hittites on equal terms, and afterwards to seal the treaty by mar- rying the daughter of the great Hittite king. The mighty conquerors of Assyria found them a foe worthy of their respect. During the great- ness of the Hittite Empire it stood first, as far as we can know at present, in the world. They must have made considerable advancement in civilization. Their chariots were plated with silver and gold, and the list of the spoils of war brought from their country shows great wealth. They possessed a literature of which inscriptions at Carchemish, Hamath, Aleppo, and elsewhere are the only remains. The treaty with Rameses II, which has been preserved to us in an Egyp- tian translation, was their own composition, and written on a silver plate. We have given only a selection of those undesigned and sometimes minute coincidences and delicate touches whose value we can not well overestimate. 19 XVII. fatk %vk tit Jhtyiw attb ]%i|Jtt 219 XVIL MAGIC in all its forms — the worship of spir- its, divination, invocations, incantations, possessions and exorcisms, charms, magical texts, enchanted philters, magical words, and num- bers, and so on — is so frequently noticed in the Bible, and proved a snare so many times to the people of God, that it deserves fuller treatment than it can receive in these short papers. For its full discussion the reader is referred to the works of Lenormant, Sayce, Chabas, and others who have treated with commendable thorough- ness and judgment so interesting a theme. Here are brought before us the sacrifices of children unto devils, the abominations, the planetary worship, the awful mysteries, the wild supersti- tions, and the mad ravings as they " seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wiz- ards that peep and that mutter" (Isaiah viii, 19) who consult books of dark meaning, mutter charms of irresistible potency, and perform actions of strange symbolism. Remnants of this super- stitious belief linger in Palestine to-day. W. 221 222 WITNESSES FROM DUST. M. Thomson, D. D., speaks of "inhabited trees" as frequent. They are " supposed to be the abode of evil spirits ; and those bits of rag are suspended upon the branches to protect the wayfarer from their malign influence. There are many such trees in all parts of the country, and the superstitious inhabitants are afraid to sleep under them." (Thomson, The Land and the Book ; Central Palestine and Phoenicia, pp. 171, 172.) The same author returns to the subject : " We have sacred trees, and trees that are inhab- ited by jan, or evil spirits ; and we have single trees scattered over the land covered with bits of rags from the garments of passing villagers, hung up as acknowledgments, or as deprecatory offerings and charms ; and we find beautiful clumps of oak trees sacred to beings called Ja- cob's daughters. These are doubtless relics of most ancient superstitions ; and in the fact that the patriarchs and prophets lived, and prophe- sied, and were buried under such trees, we find, I imagine, the origin of those curious customs, and the prevailing belief and propitiatory efficacy." (Thomson, The Land and the Book ; Central Pal- estine and Phoenicia, p. 222.) Mr. Conder writes : " The peasantry have numerous superstitions : they believe in incanta- tions, in charms, in divination by sand and other BLACK ARTS IN ASSYRIA AND EGYPT. 223 means, and in the evil eye, their children being purposely left dirty, or even besmirched, to avoid the consequences of an envious look." He names the different kinds of spirits in which they believe, the sacred trees, and the sa- cred stones, and suggests that the Fellahin are descendants of the Phoenicians and other pre- Israelite populations. (Conder, Tent Work in Palestine, Vol. II, pp. 232, 233, 216, 217.) Such are the voices of the living monuments to which, though important, we can give but now and then a passing reference. Indeed, the land, the people, the productions, the archaeo- logical ruins, the language, and the literature combine to proclaim the truthfulness of the Bible. In the sixth tablet of the Izdubar series, Ishtar appears in the character of Hecate of the Greeks. The translations differ so widely, how- ever, that we can not be sure of our ground, and omit the account. (Talbot, Records of the Past, Vol. IX, pp. 125-128 ; cf. Smith, The Chaldsean Account of Genesis, pp. 229, 230.) In the twelfth Izdubar legend, the hero, as- sisted by a witch, raises the spirit of Heabani. by uttering lamentations and incantations over his dead body. (Boscawen, Records of the Past, Vol. IX, pp. 129, et seq.) Imprecatory charms abound in Babylonian 224 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. literature. The charm was uttered in rude rhythmic poetry, while the enchanter in sym- bolic action, followed the imprecation. An ex- ample will illustrate : "Like this thread he shall be stretched, and the sorcerer The consuming fire-god shall consume. Despite his adoration that is not; Despite the clothing of the god, the king unconquerable, May the man, (through) the enchantment, (with) eldest son (and) wife, (By) sickness, the loss of the bliss of prosperity, of joy, (and) of gladness, (By) the sickness which exists in a man's skin, a man's flesh, a man's entrails, Like this thread be stretched, and On that day the consuming fire-god consume. May the enchantment go forth, and to (its) dwelling- place betake itself." (Sayce, Eecords of the Past, Vol. Ill, p. 150.) Talismans, like the Jewish phylacteries, were powerful to avert demons : "Right and left of the threshold of the door, spread out holy texts and sentences. Place on the statues texts bound round them." " In the night-time bind round the sick man's head a sentence taken from a good book." (Tal- bot, Records of the Past, Vol. Ill, p. 142.) We present the song of the seven spirits : * ' They are seven ! they are seven ! In the depths of ocean they are seven ! In the heights of heaven they are seven ! BLACK ARTS IN ASSYRIA AND EGYPT. 225 In the ocean stream, in a Palace, they were born. Male they are not, female they are not! Wives they have not ! Children are not born to them ! Prayers they hear not ! Rule they have not! Government they know not! They are seven, and they are seven! Twice over they are seven !" (Talbot, Records of the Past, Vol. Ill, p. 143.) " Go, my son! Take a woman's linen kerchief, Bind it round thy right hand, Loose it from the left hand ! Knot it with seven knots ; do so twice. Sprinkle it with bright wine : Bind it round the head of the sick man; Bind it round his hands and feet, like manacles and fetters. Sit down on his bed : Sprinkle holy water over him. He shall hear the voice of Hea ; Davkina shall protect him ! And Marduk, eldest son of heaven, shall find him a happy habitation." (Talbot, Records of the Past, Vol. Ill, p. 141.) Thus they soothe the last moments of the dying. The following exorcisms, to dispossess man of noxious spirits, are translations made by Rev. A. H. Sayce from the Accadian originals, and are very ancient: " The noxious god, the noxious spirit of the neck, the neck-spirit of the desert, the neck- 226 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. spirit of the mountains, the neck-spirit of the sea, the neck-spirit of the morass, the noxious cherub of the city, the noxious wind which seizes the body (and) the health of the body. Spirit of heaven, remember; spirit of earth, re- member." " Wasting, want of health, the evil spirit of the ulcer, spreading quinsey of the gullet, the violent ulcer, the noxious ulcer. Spirit of heaven, remember; spirit of earth, remember." " He who makes an image (which) injures the man, an evil face, an evil eye, an evil mouth, an evil tongue, evil lips, an evil poison. Spirit of heaven, remember; spirit of earth, re- member." (Records of the Past, Vol. I, p. 135.) In the middle ages this custom was known of making a waxen figure and melting it before the fire, when the person represented by this figure would waste away. In our own imme- diate neighborhood, within the memory of some living, an image of a man was made on a fence. This image was then shot with a silver bullet, and it was thought that thereby the wizard so represented would be destroyed. Darius, in his decree concerning the building of the house of God in Jerusalem, says : " And the God that hath caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people that BLACK ARTS IN ASSYRIA AND EGYPT. 227 shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem/' (Ezra vi, 12.) This same king, when he set up his tablet, engraved on a precipitous rock at Be- histun, said : " If seeing this tablet *and these figures, thou shalt injure them, and shalt not preserve them as long as thy seed endures, then may Ormazd be thy enemy, and mayest thou be childless; and that which thou mayest do, may Ormazd curse it for thee." (Rawlinson, Rec- ords of the Past, Vol. I, p. 128.) Ashur-akh-bal invokes awful curses upon them who do not respect his tablets : " The man who shall not spare the face of these my tablets, who shall injure the written records of my name, who shall destroy these sculptures, or tear them off or hide them in the earth, or bury them in the ashes, or burn them with fire, or drown them in the waters ; or who shall remove them from their place, and shall throw them down where they will be trampled on by animals, and shall place them in the path- way of the cattle ; or who shall falsify my tab- lets which are now sculptured with good and pious words, and shall write on the face of my records any thing that is bad and impious ; or who shall change the words so as to confound their meaning, whether he be a nobleman or an 228 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. officer or any one else among my people; or who shall scrawl on the tablets that I have written, and shall say that they are not true ; or out of contempt shall turn the face of my tablets back- ward : May Asshur, the great lord, the god of Assyria, the lord of all royal crowns, curse his reign and destroy his works ! May he shake the foundations of his kingdom ! May want and famine, sickness and distress, prevail through- out his land." (Talbot, Records of the Past, Vol. VII, pp. 19, 20.) An Assyrian version of an incantation enu- merates the kinds of operations used by the Chaldsean sorcerers : " The wizard has charmed me with the charm, has charmed me with his charm ; The witch has charmed me with the charm, has charmed me with her charm ; The sorcerer has bewitched me with the spell, has be- witched me with his spell ; The sorceress has bewitched me with the spell, has be- witched me with her spell ; He who enchants images has charmed away my life by image — He has taken the enchanted philter, and has soiled my garment with it; He has torn my garment, and dragged it in the dust of my feet. May the god Fire, the hero, dispel their enchant- ments." (Lenormant, Chaldsean Magic, p. 61.) BLACK ARTS IN ASSYRIA AND EGYPT. 229 To the Babylonians every possible phenom- enon was an omen of something. All conceiv- able occurrences could be divined from antece- dent occurrences. A great multitude of tables of omens were formed, and the system of augury was most formidable. The following table of omens, furnished by the actions of dogs, is a fair sample of all : "(A blue dog enters into a palace, that palace) is burned. A yellow dog enters into the palace ; exit from that pal- ace will be baneful. A spotted dog enters into the palace; that palace its peace to the enemy gives. A dog to the palace goes, and no one kills ; that palace its peace fails. A dog to the palace goes, and on a bed lies down ; that palace none with his hand takes. A dog to the palace goes, and on a throne lies down ; that palace is burned. A dog to the palace goes, and on the royal parasol lies down ; that palace its peace to the enemy gives. A dog into a temple enters; the gods to the country grant no favor. A white dog into a temple enters ; the foundation of that temple is not stable. A black dog into a temple enters; the foundation of that temple is not stable. A blue dog into a temple enters; that temple sees plenty. A yellow dog into a temple enters; that temple sees plenty. 230 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. A spotted dog into a temple enters ; that temple do its gods love. Dogs crouch and into a temple enter ; none this (temple) with his hand takes." (Sayce, Eecords of the Past, Vol. V, pp. 169, 170.) Among the ruins near the small village of Jumjuma, Mr. Layard discovered several terra- cotta charm bowls, which may have been used when Daniel was president of the Chaldsean col- lege of wise men. On the inner surface they bear inscriptions in Hebrew letters. When such a bowl was filled with water, the writing was dissolved, and the potion was then drunk as a charm against witchcraft and magic. We pre- sent a translation: "This is a bill of divorce of the Devil to Satan, to Nerig, to Zachiah, and to Abitur of the mountains, and to the night-monsters, com- manding them to cease from Behoran in Bat- naiun, and from the country of the North, and from all who are tormented by them therein. Behold, I make the counsels of these devils of no effect, and annul the power of the ruler of the night-monsters. I conjure you all, monsters, both male and female, to go forth; I conjure you by the scepter of the powerful One, who has power over the devils, and over the night-mon- sters, to quit these habitations. Behold, I now make you cease from troubling them, and make BLACK ARTS IN ASSYRIA AND EGYPT. 231 the influence of your presence cease in Behoran of Batnaiun, and in their fields ! In the same manner as the devils write bills of divorce and give them to their wives and return not unto them again, receive ye your bill of divorce, and take this written authority, and go forth, leave quickly, flee, and depart from Behoran in Bat- naiun in the name of the living, by the seal of the powerful One, and by the signet of author- ity. Then will there flow rivers of water in that land, and there the parched ground will be watered. Amen. Amen. Amen. Selah." (New- man, Babylon and Nineveh, pp. 143, 144.) Such were some of the superstitions with which the Israelites of the dispersion came in contact. Indeed, from their earliest to their latest history, the Israelites never entirely threw off the belief in magical influences. There was a conspiracy in the harem of Rameses III, in which the highest officials and most trusted servants had a part. Fortunately the very magnitude of the conspiracy proved its overthrow. It was revealed to the king, and he summoned a court of justice, appointed judges with power to try and sentence the guilty, and ordered a speedy investigation. A remarkable document — The Judicial Papyrus of Turin — pre- serves the names of the judges, the instructions 232 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST they received from the king, and their report — which embodies the result of the trial. Fragments of the Lee and Rollin Papyrus, treating of the same subject, refer to the em- ployment of magical influences as the means to be used to destroy the king. The wife of the king, a lady named Thi, and his son Pentaur were chiefs in the conspiracy with the object of seating the latter on the throne. A translation of two of these fragments will make the matter sufficiently plain : " Thus, then, spoke Penhi, who was superin- tendent of the herds of cattle, to him : ' If I only possessed a writing which would give me power and strength !' Then he gave him a writing from the rolls of the books of Ramses III, the great god, his lord. Then there came upon him a di- vine magic, an enchantment for men. He reached (thereby ?) to the side of the women's house, and into that other great and deep place. He formed human figures of wax, with the intention of hav- ing them carried in by the hand of the land-sur- veyor Adiroma; to alienate the mind of one of the girls, and to bewitch the others. Some of the dis- courses were carried in, others w 7 ere brought out. Now, however, he was bronght to trial on ac- count of them, and there was found in them in- citation to all kinds of wickedness, and all kinds BLACK ARTS IN ASSYRIA AND EGYPT. 233 of villainy, which it was his intention to have done. It was true that he had done all this in conjunction with the other chief culprits, w T ho, like him, were without a god or a goddess. They in- flicted on him the great punishment of death, such as the holy writings pronounced against him." Another fragment says to the same point : " He had made some magical writings to ward off ill luck ; he had made some gods of wax, and some human figures to paralyze the limbs of a man; and he had put these into the hand of Bokakamon, though the sun-god Ra did not per- mit that he should accomplish this, either he, or the superintendent of the house, or the other chief culprits, because he (the god) said: 'Let them go forward with it, that they may furnish grounds for proceeding against them.' Thus had he attempted to complete the shameful deeds which he had prepared without the sun-god Ra having granted them actual success. He was brought to trial, and they found out the real facts, consisting in all kinds of crime and all sorts of villainy, which his heart had imagined to do. It was true that he had purposed to do all this in concert with all the chief culprits, who were like him. This was a grievous crime, worthy of death; and grievous wickedness for the land which he had committed. But they found out 20 234 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. the grievous crime, worthy of death, which he had committed. He died by his own hand." Rameses XII, of the twentieth dynasty, mar- ried the eldest daughter of the king of Bakha- tana, to whom he became greatly attached. In the fifteenth year, while Pharaoh was at Thebes, there came a messenger from the king of Bakha- tana, who fell down before Pharaoh and said : "I am come to thee, the great lord, on account of Bint-resh, the youngest sister of the queen Noferu-ra. She is suffering in her body. May thy majesty send a learned expert to see her." A man was selected — "a man of a clever mind, and a finger skillful in writing" — who accompa- nied the envov to Bakhatana, but "when the expert had reached the city of the land of Bak- hatana, in which Bint-resh dwelt after the man- ner of one possessed with a spirit, then he found himself unable to contend with him (the spirit)." The king again sent to Pharaoh : " Great lord and ruler! May thy majesty order that the god may be sent ;" and Khonsu, the oracular god of Thebes, was sent, the ark of the god being con- veyed on its carriage. The journey was a year and five months. "Then the god went to the place where Bint-resh dwelt. Then he caused the talisman to work upon the daughter of the king of Bakhatana. She became well on the BLACK ARTS IN ASSYRIA AND EGYPT. 235 spot. Then spake that spirit which possessed her before Khonsu, the oracular, of Thebes : ' Wel- come as a friend, thou great god, driver away of evil. Thine is the city of Bakhatana. Thy servants are its inhabitants. I am thy servant. I will return whence I came, to make thy heart satisfied about the object for which thou wast brought hither. May I request thy holiness that there may be a feast celebrated in my com- pany and in the company of the king of Bakha- tana?' Then this god assented graciously to his prophet and he said : ' Let the king of Bakhatana prepare a great sacrifice for this spirit. When that has been done, then will Khonsu, the orac- ular, unite himself with the spirit.' And the king of Bakhatama stood there, together with his people, and was very much afraid. Then he prepared a great sacrifice for Khonsu, the orac- ular, of Thebes, and for this spirit. The king of Bakhatana celebrated a feast for them. Then the glorious spirit went thence whither it pleased him, as Khonsu, the oracular, of Thebes, had commanded. And the king of Bakhatana was delighted beyond all measure, together with all the men who dwelt at Bakhatana." The king retained the god who had per- formed so wonderful a cure for three years and nine months. Then, in his dream, he saw the 236 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. god in the form of a golden sparrow-hawk take his flight heavenwards towards Egypt. When he awoke he was lame. Taking these things as a revelation- of the divine will, he returned Khonsu to Egypt. (Brugsch, Egypt Under the Pharaohs, Vol. II, pp. 164-172, 191-194.) Abundant references to magical mysteries may be found in various Egyptian works. " The Magic Papyrus " of the Harris collection now in the British Museum belongs to the nineteenth or twentieth dynasty. It is of great value as exhibiting a strange mingling of magic, religion, and mythology. In the funeral ritual there are no less than eleven chapters of formulae or " en- chantments," wherewith Egyptian magicians — called " scribes," " scribes of the second house," or " scribes of occult writings " — stopped or drove away snakes, asps, crocodiles, and other noxious creatures. Magic books belonged exclusively to the king, who called upon members of a college of priests to consult the sacred books in times of difficulty. It is quite possible that in some of these magic formulae we have the very words used by the magicians in their competition with Moses in the presence of Pharaoh. Paul pre- serves the traditional names of the two princi- pal magicians — Jannes and Jambres — Egyptian names meaning " scribe." BLACK ARTS IN ASSYRIA AND EGYPT. 237 The following formulae will be read with pe- culiar interest on this account : "Hail to you, five great gods, issuing from Sesoun, who (when) not being in heaven, not being on earth, not existing Shou, have been the morning light ! Come to me ! Try for me the river ! Shut up what is in it ! What is immersed, do not let it pass out ! Seal the mouths ! Seal the mouths ! Choke up the mouths ! Choke up the mouths ! As is sealed up the shrine for centuries ! At daybreak in the East; as is sealed the sharp edge of the blade of Anata and Astarta, the two great god- desses who conceive and do not breed ; who were sealed up by Horus, who were planned by Set ! By those who are in heaven, do perform your help !" " Come to me ! Come to me ! Image of the millions of millions of gods. Num, unique Son ! he who was conceived yesterday and bred to- day ! he whose name I know ! he who is pos- sessed of seventy-seven eyes and seventy-seven ears ! Come, and allow my voice to be heard, the voice of the great goose Kaka in the evening. 1 am Bahu, the great, I am Bahu, the great !" This formula was to be recited four times : " Hail to thee, ape of seven cubits, whose eye is of silver, whose lip is of fire, and burning (are) 238 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. all his words. Calm the deep ! Let thy safe- guard be poured forth !" This magic spell is " to shut inclosures :" "I shut the inclosures through my mother Rannou, having two legs, and of Hon. I stay in the country. Horus allows it to be pervaded. I confide in the efficacy of that excellent writ- ten book given to-day into my hand, which repels lions through fascination, disables men; which repels men through fascination, disables lions ; which muzzles the mouths of lions, hyenas, wolves, the heads of all animals having long tails, living upon flesh, drinking blood, (which) muzzles the mouth of the tiger, muzzles the mouth of the leopard, muzzles the mouth of the zapulma, muzzles the mouth of the lioness, muzzles the mouth of her who sees, muzzles the mouth of Sekhet, the good, muzzles the mouth of the great living woman, muzzles the mouth of all men who have bad faces, so as to paralyze their limbs, not to allow the action (working) of their flesh and bones, to keep them in the shade, to cause darkness, not to allow daylight for them at every moment of night. Shatabuta, Artabuhia ! Thou art the keeper, warlike, tremendous ! Safeguard !" This was " told for safeguard." (Chabas, Records of the Past, Vol. X, pp. 135-158.) BLACK ARTS IN ASSYRIA AND EGYPT. 239 Prom the " Magic Texts" a few sentences are taken : " ! fatal words keeping the heart of the Magic Book. The twentieth Thoth is the day to receive the Book of Orders. Life and death proceed from it; the Magic Book was incorpo- rated in that day. This hidden book triumphs over, enchantments, connects ligatures, prepares ties, destroys the lock. Life and death proceed from it. Come not beneath its influence. If any one falls in its power he dies (as if killed by blow T s) forthwith. Go not very far, for life and death are in it; the scribe of . . . has made it in his name for the treasury." " These are the titles of the four books : the Old Book, the Book to Destroy Men, the Great Book, the Book to be as God." (Birch, Rec- ords of the Past, Vol. VI, pp. 117, 122.) The character of the magic mixtures pre- pared by Egyptian priests may be learned from these formulae : " First Formula : In the place where one makes the image of Osiris, who dwells in the West, flowers of the sea-water, 4 jars; 4 i jars of sand or sea-weed; 2i jars of essence of cedar oil; 2£ jars of liquid shot (spirits of wine), put in a mys- tic pot of earthenware, firm in his hands; and 10 ursei serpents, shaped like the white crown 240 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. on the head. Do not consider the work un- known. One grain of incense ; 1 smoke or fu- migation; 2 jars of bitumen; 2 wax candles; 2i jars of foam of (tas). " Thou hast done all he has done ; he will make the breath return; he embalms the work; he is unknown. "Second Formula: 2 grains of incense; 2 fu- migations; 2 jars of cedar oil; 2 jars of tas; 2 jars of wine; 2 jars of liquid shot. At the place of thy heart they embalm strongly. Thou art protected (against accidents) of life ; thou art protected against a violent death ; thou art protected against fire; thou escapest in heaven, and thou art not ruined on earth; He has been saved from (death), and has not been consumed by the gods." Such are some of the magic mixtures held to be most potent charms. Many of these for- mulae have been translated; many more await the study of the Egyptologer. (Birch, Records of the Past, Vol. VI, p. 125.) XVIII. "JM, $rmL anh h iir^/' 21 241 XVIII. THE festal dirge of the ancient Egyptians is assigned to the eleventh dynasty : "All hail to the good prince! The worthy good (man) : The hody is fated (?) to pass away ; The atoms Remain, ever since the time of the ancestors. The gods who were beforetime rest in their tombs ; The mummies Of the saints likewise are enwrapped in their tombs. They who build houses and they who have no houses, see ! What becomes of them? I have heard the words of Imhotep and Hartatef. It is said in their sayings, After all, what is prosperity? Their fenced walls are dilapidated ; Their houses are as that wdiich has never existed. Xo man comes from thence Who tells of their sayings, Who tells of their affairs, Who encourages our hearts. Ye go To the place whence they return not. Strengthen thy heart to forget how thou hast enjoyed Thyself; Fulfill thy desire whilst thou livest. 243 244 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. Put oils upon thy head ; Clothe thyself with fine linen, adorned with precious metals. With the gifts of God Multiply thy good things. Yield to thy desire; Fulfill thy desire with thy good things (Whilst thou art) upon earth, According to the dictation of thy heart. The day will come to thee When one hears not the voice — When one who is at rest hears not Their voices. Lamentations deliver not him who is in the tomb. Feast in tranquillity, Seeing that there is no one who carries away his goods with him. Yea, behold! none who goes thither comes back again." (Goodwin, Kecords of the Past, Vol. IV, pp. 117, 118.) Of similar import is the Song of the Harper of the eighteenth dynasty. We present a few passages : "Make a good day, O holy father! Let odors and oils stand before thy nostril. Wreaths of lotus are on the arms and bosom of thy sister — Dwelling in thy heart, sitting beside thee. Let song and music be before thy face, And leave behind thee all evil cares! Mind thee of joy, till cometh the day of pilgrimage, When we draw near the land which loveth silence. Make a good day, O holy father ! "EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY. 11 245 Neferhotep, pure of hands ! No works of buildings in Egypt could avail ; His resting-place is all his wealth Let me return to know what remaineth of him ! Not the least moment could be added to his life, (When he went to) the realm of eternity. Those who have magazines full of bread to spend, Even they shall encounter the hour of a last end. Mind thee of the day when thou too shalt start for the land To which one goeth to return not thence. Good for thee then will have been (an honest life) ; Therefore be just, and hate transgressions ; For he who loveth justice (will be blessed). The coward and the bold, neither can fly (the grave). The friendless and proud are alike Then let thy bounty give abundantly, as is fit ; - (Love) truth, and Isis shall bless the good, (And thou shalt attain a happy) old age." (Stern, Records of the Past, Vol. VI, pp. 129, 130.) This was a hymn sung by the harper at the anniversary feast held in memory of the de- ceased Neferhotep. These funeral rites were performed in the tomb. Herodotus says : " In social meetings among the rich, when the banquet is ended, a servant carries round to the several guests a coffin in which there is a wooden image of a corpse, carved and painted to resemble nature as nearly as possi- ble, about a cubit or two cubits in length. As he shows it to each guest in turn, the servant 246 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. says, 'Gaze here, and drink and be merry; for when you die, such will you be.' : (Herodotus II, 780 The wooden image was a mummy in the usual form of Osiris, shown at the feast to remind them of their mortality ; not to produce sadness, but joy in the prospect of speedy union with the god ; and to induce them to live as strangers and pilgrims. This advice was often disregarded, and the sense of the observance perverted. (Wisdom ii, 1; Isaiah xxii, 13; Ecclesiastes ii, 24; Luke xii, 19; Horace, Carmina II, iii, 13.) "Eat not of it raw." (Exodus xii, 9.) In the twenty-sixth dynasty an edict of extermination was issued against a growing sect called Tum± pesiu Pertot Khdiu: " Do not cook; let violence kill." The following is the edict : " Let not them enter the temple of Amen of Napat, residing in Du-uab, because of that word, a sin it is to tell it (anew), which they spoke in the temple of Amen. (For) they told a word, but god granted that it had not effect, (and) they plotted a plot in their hearts to slay the man who would not partake of their sin, but god granted not that it had effect — God caused the speech of their mouth which they had spoken to that effect to become the ruin of them ; he smote them, causing the king's fire to pass (in the middle of them)." U EAT, DRINK, AND BE MERRY." 247 The unknown king further decreed : " If ever prophet or priest do an evil doing in the temples, let god smite them ; let not their feet be any more upon earth ; let not their posterity continue after them, so that the temple be not supplied with their crimes, but be free of their lie !" In Abyssinia there is a curious custom of eating brinde, or raw meat. (Maspero, Records of the Past, Vol. IV., pp. 95, 96.) XIX. mlij Jiang* jujh J&ntisi JPraipip, 249 XIX. TO the child and to the rude, race poetry is a natural language. Early races personify every object in nature ; feel life all about them ; use striking metaphors ; think in symbols ; love rhythm, parallelisms, and alliteration ; deify human speech ; sing songs and chant rude melodies ; and accompany the voice by abundant symbolic ac- tions and gesticulations. Man, in the infancy of a people, feels that he lives near nature's heart ; and from the infinitude, by which he is encom- passed, tidings from unseen and loftier worlds flit about him with their holy influences. He listens, hears these tidings, interprets their mean- ings, and his soul sings. Standing at the head of any literature, and originating early in its his- tory, is the work of some master poet, either created by himself, or gathered and fused and stamped by his genius. Confucius regretted that he could not spend a lifetime in the study of the Book of Poetry. India has its Rig-Veda, and Persia its Zend-Avesta. Mohammed vented his fiery soul in poetic strains of eloquence scarcely ' 251 252 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST, equaled in later times. Egypt and Israel each had its early poetry. The Finns have their great epic. Homer sang in an epic unsurpassed. Ice- land has preserved the Norse Edda. The Bards of Wales taught history, philosophy, science, and religion, in song. And so ancient Babylonia has its great national epic ; and the Accadian race,, which preceded the Semites on the Mesopota- mian plains, sung hymns of praise to the gods. Prayer and praise are found side by side. It is a most interesting study to enter these ancient shrines and hear the voice of prayer, and feel the throbbings of the hearts of these old worthies — children of nature feeling after God, or children of false science and false theology endeavoring to command unseen powers by magic rites. I. The following Accadian penitential psalm dates back to more than sixteen hundred years before Christ. The parallelism of ideas and clauses, imitated by both Assyrian and Israelitish poets, is noticeable even-in an English translation. The spirit is excellent. "The heart of my Lord was wroth; to his place may he return. From the man that (sinned) unknowingly to his place may\(my) god return. HOLY SONGS AND EARNEST PR A YERS. 253 From him that (sinned) unknowingly to her place may (the) goddess return. May god who knoweth (that) he knew not to his place return. May the goddess who knoweth (that) he knew not to her place return. May the heart of my god to his place return. May the heart of my goddess to her place return. May my god and my goddess (unto their place) return. May god (unto his place) return. May the goddess (unto her place return). The transgression (that I committed my god) knew it. The transgression (that I committed my goddess knew it). The holy name (of my god I profaned ?). The holy name (of my goddess I profaned?). The waters of the sea (the waters of my tears) do I drink. That which was forbidden by my god with my mouth I ate. That which was forbidden by my goddess in my igno- rance I trampled upon. O my Lord, my transgression (is) great, many (are) ray sins. O my god, my transgression (is) great, my sins (are many). O my goddess, my transgression (is) great, my sins (are many). O my god that knowest (that) I knew not, my transgress- ion (is) great, my sins (are many). O my goddess that knowest (that) I knew not, my trans- gression (is) great, my sins (are many.) The transgression (that) I committed I knew not. The sin (that) I sinned I knew not. The forbidden thing did I eat. The forbidden thing did I trample upon. My Lord in the wrath of his heart has punished me. God in the strength of his heart has overpowered me. 254 WITNESSES FROM THE BUST. The goddess upon me has laid affliction and in pain has set me. God who knew, (though) I knew not, hath pierced me. The goddess who knew, (though) I knew not, hath caused darkness. I lay on the ground and no man seized me by the hand. I wept, and my palms none took. I cried aloud ; there was none that would hear me. I am in darkness (and) trouble ; I lifted not myself up. To my god my (distress) I referred ; my prayer I ad- dressed. The feet of my goddess I embraced. To (my) god, who knew (though) I knew not, (my prayer) I addressed. To (my) goddess, who knew (though I knew not, my prayer) I addressed. • •...... How long, O my god (shall I suffer?). How long O my goddess (shall I suffer ?). How loug O my god, who knewest (though) I knew not, shall (thy) strength (oppress me?). How long O my goddess, who knewest (though) I knew, not, shall thy heart (be wroth?). Of mankind thou writest the number and there is none that knoweth. Of mankind the name (that) is fully proclaimed how can I know? Whether it be afflicted or whether it be blessed there is none that knoweth. O Lord, thy servant thou dost not restore. In the w T aters of the raging flood seize his hand. The sin (that) he has sinned to blessedness bring back. The transgression he has committed let the wind carry away. HOLY SONGS AND EARNEST PRAYERS. 255 My manifold affliction like a garment destroy. O my son, seven times seven (are my) transgressions, my transgressions are before (me). O my goddess, seven times seven (are my) transgressions. [To be repeated (ten times) ] O god who knowest (that) I knew not, seven times seven (are my) transgressions. O goddess who knowest (that) I knew not, seven times seven (are my) transgressions. My transgressions are before (me) ; may thy judgment give (me) life. May thy heart like the heart of the mother of the set- ting day to its place return. Like the mother of the setting day (and) the father of the setting day to its place (may it return). [To be repeated (five times) ]." The name of every god is to be invoked sixty-five times "for the tearful supplication of my heart." (Sayce, Records of the Past, Vol. VII, pp. 153-156.) ii. a prayer for the king. "Length of days, Long lasting years, A strong sword, A long life, Extended years of glory, Pre-eminence among kings, Grant ye to the king, my lord, Who has given such gifts To his gods! 256 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. The bounds, vast and wide, Of his empire, And of his rule, May he enlarge and may he complete ! Holding over all kings supremacy And royalty and empire, May he attain to gray hairs And old age ! And after the life of these days, In the feasts of the silver mountain, the heavenly courts, The abode of blessedness, And in the light Of the Happy Fields, May he dwell a life, Eternal, holy; In the presence Of the gods Who inhabit Assyria!" III. A PRAYER FOR THE SOUL OF THE DYING. " Like a bird, may it fly to a lofty place ! To the holy hands of its god may it ascend !" " The man who is departing in glory, May his soul shine radiant as brass ! To that man May the Sun give life ! And Marduk, eldest son of heaven, Grant him an abode of happiness!" HOLY SONGS AND EARNEST PRAYERS. 257 IV. THE DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS. "Bind the sick man to heaven, for from the earth he is being torn away ! Of the brave man who was so strong, his strength has departed. Of the righteous servant, the force does not return. In his bodily frame he lies dangerously ill. But Ishtar, who in her dwelling is grieved concerning him, Descends from her mountain, unvisited of men. To the door of the sick man she comes. The sick man listens ! Who is there? Who comes? It is Ishtar, daughter of the moon-god, Sin: It is the god (...) son of Bel : It is Marduk, son of the god (...). They approach the body of the sick man. They bring a cup (?) from the heavenly treasury; They bring a sisbu from their lofty storehouse. Into the precious cup they pour bright liquor. That righteous man, may he now rise on high ! May he shine like that cup (?) ! May he be bright as that sisbu! Like pure silver, may his garment be shining white ! Like brass, may he be radiant ! To the Sun, greatest of the gods, may he ascend ! And may the Sun, greatest of the gods, receive his soul into his holy hands!" (Talbot, Records of the Past, Vol. Ill, pp. 133, et seq.) 22 258 WITNESSES FROM TEE DUST. V. A hymn to Amen-Ra contains many fine passages. The following are selected : " Praise to Amen-Ka ! The Bull in An, chief of all gods : The good god beloved, Giving life to all animated things, To all fair cattle. Supporter of affairs above every god, In whose goodness the gods rejoice — To whom admiration is paid in the great house — Crowned in the house of flame, Whose fragrance the gods love, When he comes from Arabia: Prince of the dew, traversing foreign lands, Benignly approachiug the Holy Land. Hail to thee, Ka, Lord of truth ! Whose shrine is hidden, Lord of the gods, — Chepra, in his boat, At whose command the gods were made, — Athom, maker of men, Supporting their works, giv- ing them life, Distinguishing the color of one from another, Listening to the poor who is amen. in distress, Gentle of heart when one cries unto him. HOLY SONGS AND EARNEST PRAYERS. 259 Deliverer of the timid man from the violent ; Judging the poor, the poor and the oppressed, — Lord of wisdom, whose precepts are wise, At whose pleasure the Nile overflows, — Lord of mercy, most loving, At whose coming men live, — Opener of every eye, Proceeding from the firmament; Causer of pleasure and light, At whose goodness the gods rejoice — Their hearts revive when they see him. Hail to thee for all these things ! The One alone with many hands, Lying awake while all men lie (asleep), To seek out the good of his creatures, — Amen, sustainer of all things ; Athom Horus of the horizon — Homage to thee in all their voices, Salutation to thee for thy mercy unto us, Protestations to thee who hast created us. Hail to thee ! say all creatures, — Salutation to thee from every land, To the height of heaven, to the breadth of the earth, To the depth of the sea, The gods adore thy majesty, The spirits thou hast created exalt (thee). Rejoicing before the feet of thy begetter, They cry out, Welcome to thee! Father of the fathers of all the gods, Who raises the heavens, who fixes the earth. Maker of beings, creator of existences ; Sovereign of life, health, and strength, chief of the gods, 260 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST We worship thy spirit, who alone hast made us. We whom thou hast made (thank thee) that thou hast given us birth ; We give to thee praises on account of thy mercy to us." (Goodwin, .Records of the Past, Vol. II, p. 129, et seq.) VI. The Hymn to the Nile, composed by Enna, a well-known Egyptian author, in the time of Meneptah, son of Rameses II, of the nineteenth dynasty, and probably contemporary with Moses, shows in its form marked resemblance to the ear- liest Hebrew poetry. It surely teaches also that back of and above all Egyptian gods there is one supreme God. A few verses are presented as a specimen : ' < Hail to thee, O Nile! Thou showest thyself in this land, Coming in peace, giving life to Egypt ; O Ammon, (thou,)leadest night unto day, A. leading that rejoices the heart ! Overflowing the gardens created by Ra. Giving life to all animals ; Watering the land without ceasing; The way of heaven descending ; Lover of food, bestower of corn, Giving light to every home, O Ptah ! Lord of fishes, when the inundation returns, No fowls fall on the cultures. Maker of spelt ; creator of wheat ; Who maintaineth the temples ! HOLY SONGS AND EARNEST PRAYERS. 261 Idle hands he loathes For myriads, for all the wretched. If the gods in heaven are grieved, Then sorrow cometh on men. He maketh the whole land open to the oxen, And the great and the small are rejoicing; The response of men at his coming ! His likeness is Num ! He shineth, then the land exulteth ! All bellies are in joy ! Every creature receives nourishment ! All teeth get food. Bringer of food! Great Lord of provisions! Creator of all good things ! Lord of terrors and of choicest joys ! All are combined in him. He produce th grass for the oxen ; Providing victims for every god. The choice incense is that which he supplies. Lord in both regions, He filleth the granaries, enricheth the storehouses, He careth for the state of the poor. He causeth growth to fulfill all desires, He never wearies of it. He maketh his might a buckler. He is not graven in marble, As an image bearing the double crown. He is not beheld ; He hath neither ministrants nor offerings ; He is not adored in sanctuaries ; His abode is not known ; No shrine is found with painted figures. 262 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. There is no building that can contain him?* There is no counselor in thy heart !f Thy youth delight in thee, thy children ; Thou directest them as king. Thy law is established in the whole land, In the presence of thy servants in the North ; Every eye is satisfied with him ; He careth for the abundance of his blessings." (Cook, Records of the Past, Vol. IV, pp. 107-110.) VII. Nofer-i-Thi, queen of Khunaten, who was devoted to the worship of the one deity, Aten, the sun-disk, thus addressed the rising sun : " Thou disk of the sun, thou living God ! there is none other beside thee ! Thou givest health to the eyes through thy beams, Creator of all beings. Thou goest up on the eastern horizon of heaven to dispense life to all which thou hast created ; to man, four-footed beasts, birds, and all manner of creepings things on the earth, where they live. Thus they behold thee, and they go to sleep when thou settest. Grant to thy son, who loves thee, life in truth, to the lord of the land, Khunaten, that he may live united with thee in eternity. As for her, his wife, the queen Nofer-i-Thi, may she live for evermore and eternally by his side, well-pleasing to thee ; she *1 Kings viii, 27. t Isaiah xi, 13, 14. HOLY SONGS AND EARNEST PRAYERS. 263 admires what thou hast created day by day. He (the king) rejoices at the sight of thy bene- fits. Grant him a long existence as king of the land." VIII. Aahmes, faithful servant of Khunaten, in true devotion prays to the Sun : u Beautiful is thy setting, thou Sun's disk of life, thou lord of lords, the king of the worlds. When thou unitest thyself with the heaven at thy setting mortals rejoice before thy counte- nance, and give honor to him who has created them, and pray before him who has formed them, before the glance of thy son, who loves thee, the king Khunaten. The whole land of Egypt and all peoples repeat all thy names at thy rising, to magnify thy rising in like manner as thy set- ting. Thou, God, who art in truth the living one, standest before 'the two eyes. Thou art he which Greatest what never was, which formest every thing that is in the universe. We also have come into being through the word of thy mouth. Give me favor before the king every day; let there not be wanting to me a good burial after attaining old age in the territory of Khunaten, when I shall have finished my course of life peaceably. I am a servant of the divine benefactor (the king) ; I accompany him to all 264 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. places where he loves to stay. I am a com- panion at his feet. For he raised me to great- ness when I was yet a child, till [the day of my] honors in good fortune. The servant of the prince rejoices, and is in a festive disposition every day." (Brugsch, Egypt under the Pha- raohs, Vol. I, pp. 502, 501.) Egyptian poetry, like the Assyrian, resem- bles Hebrew poetry in several important particu- lars. The parallelism of clauses and the rhyme of sense to which attention has been several times directed, are the same in both. Many figurative expressions familiar to the Hebrew scholar, and some of them of great beauty, are to be met with in Assyrian and Egyptian. The selections given in this chapter are sufficient for fruitful comparisons. XX. U mtfytb m i\t *$nhnn. tt 23 265 XX. HHHERE are references to the idea of a judg- X me nt by weighing in Zoroastrianism and other ancient faiths. The most detailed account is from Egypt. Whether all or any of these are connected with the "balances" of Daniel v, 27, it is most difficult to decide. The figure is so appropriate that it may well have origi- nated in a number of independent religions. The judgment scene from Egypt is worthy of presentation. Among the most important of the religious works of the Egyptians, the chief place must be accorded to "The Book of the Dead," or, as the Egyptian title reads, " The Manifestation of Light." Claiming to be a revelation of Thoth, the Egyptian Hermes, it declares the will of the gods and reveals divine mysteries. From the eleventh dynasty extracts of this most sacred of books were placed in the coffins of the dead. They are to be found on the inner sides of the chests, on the inner walls of the tombs, on the linen wrap- pings of the mummies ; or, again, especially in the 267 OUTER GALLERY OF TEMPLE. " WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE." 269 later times of the Pharaohs, copies written on papyrus were deposited with the dead. The first sixteen chapters consist of the prayers and invocations to be used from the moment of death to the commencement of the embalming process. At the very moment of death the soul, separated from the body, ad- dresses the deity of Hades. He presents his EGYPTIAN MUMMY CASES. claims to favor, and asks admittance to the realm of the shades. The chorus of glorified souls, with sympathetic interest, support his prayer. Osiris answers : " Fear nothing in mak- ing thy prayer to me for the immortality of thy soul, and that I may give permission for thee to pass the threshold." The soul, strengthened and encouraged by this assurance, enters the land of the dead. He now, for the first time, sees the s 270 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. Sun in the lower hemisphere and is dazzled by its glory. He sings to the Sun a hymn of praise. The journeys of the soul in the lower regions must now begin, but first there must be granted the divine provision of knowledge as the nourish- ment needful to sustain and strengthen it in its long wanderings. The seventeenth chapter con- tains the Egyptian faith, mystical and much of it quite unintelligible. There is a large vignette with a series of most sacred symbols, obscure and mysterious, accompanied by explanations equally obscure. There are now prayers to be said whilst the body is being rolled in its wrappings, in which allusions are made to the contest of Osiris with Typhon, the demon of darkness, invoking the aid of Thoth, the conductor of souls, against the god of the shades. The body is wrapped in its cover- ings, the soul is provided with the food ofknowledge, but can not EMBALMED BODY IN COFFIN. mOVe H- Step. He prays to the gods, and they restore the use of his limbs and all his faculties as during life. The soul starts on his wanderings, and the sa- cred scarabseus is his passport. Holding this " WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE. 271 over his heart, he passes through the gloomy portal. His journey is no pleasant pastime. Fright- ful monsters — crocodiles, serpents, reptiles of many forms — surround him, they are the serv- ants of Typhon. They glare upon him, they CHAMBER OF TOMB. attack him, they seek to devour him. The mon- sters address him in most insulting speeches, and he replies in like manner. Like Homer's heroes, they lash one another with the tongue. He is aided by the gods; conquers all his ene- mies; forces his passage through the midst of 272 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. defeated monsters ; and, feeling that all the gods severally have taken possession of the different members of his body, and thus made him invin- cible in battle, he raises to them a song of tri- umph. His is no small triumph ; for, be it known, had he gone astray into the desert, he would have died of hunger and thirst. Thus far he is safe, but exhausted. He rests, recruits his strength, and satisfies his hunger. After the goddess Nu has refreshed him from the tree of life, he is prepared to continue his journey. He talks with Divine Light, who instructs him and conducts him still further on his won- drous w T ay. A se- ries of transforma- tions identify him with noblest di- vine symbols. He is successively a hawk, an angel, a lotus, the god Phthah, a heron, a crane, a human- headed bird, a swallow, a ser- pent, a crocodile. Meantime the body has been carefully preserved by embalming. The soul has heretofore trav- ISIS AND NEPHTHYS. "WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE. 273 eled as a shade. He is now reunited with his body. Passing through the dwelling of Thoth, that goddess gives him a book to read along the way. It contains important truths which he now requires to know. He reaches the banks of a subterranean stream. Beyond are the Elys- ian fields. Here is an unexpected danger. A disguised boatman, sent by Typhon, tries to al- lure him from the way. He discovers the vil- lainy of his enemy and drives away the boatman, heaping upon him deserved reproaches. The right boat is found. The boatman now exam- ines him, to see if he is qualified to make the voyage. He acquits himself well in the exami- nation. Each part of the boat has become ani- mate and found a tongue. To the twenty-three parts severally, in answer to as many questions, he gives the names and their mystical meanings. He is permitted to embark. The boatman takes him across the mystic river, and he is in the Elysian fields. Conducted by Anubis through many windings of a labyrinth, he is brought to the judgment-hall of Osiris to receive his final sentence. One hundred and eight chapters have been employed in this second part of the work. The greatest ordeal is at hand. The soul stands in the Hall of Truth. Osiris, the judge, is seated on a lofty throne. Forty-two stern 274 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. assessors are present. Anubis, " the director of the weight/' brings forth the balance. He places in one scale of the balance an image of Maat, or Righteous Law, and in the other scale a vase containing the virtues or the heart of the deceased. Thoth stands near, watching the indicator of the balance, and, pen in hand, is ready to write the result in his book. The forty-two terrible assessors begin the trial. JUDGMENT SCENE. Their heads are chiefly those of animals — the lion, the jackal, the hawk, the ram, the croco- dile, the hippopotamus. They live by catching the wicked, feeding upon their blood, and devour' ing their hearts. Each bearing a mystical name, questions him in turn. He is obliged to tell the name of each assessor and its mystical meaning. Their names reveal their character : " Eyes of Flame," " Breath of Flame," " : Cracker of Bones," "Devourer of Shades," " Swallower," "Eater of It TT~ WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE." 275 Hearts/' and so on. He must also answer, in a presence so august, questions most searching concerning his life, and to declare his innocence of certain classes of sins. To the assessors severally he proclaims his blameless life : " I have not blasphemed ; I have not deceived ; I have not stolen: I have not slain anv one treach- erously ; I have not been cruel to any one ; I have not caused disturbance; I have not been idle; I have not been drunken; I have not issued unjust orders; I have not been indiscreetly cu- rious ; I have not multiplied words in speaking ; I have struck no one ; I have caused fear to no one; I have not eaten my heart through envy; I have not reviled the face of the king nor the face of my father ; I have not made false accu- ■ sations ; I have not kept milk from the mouth of sucklings ; I have not caused abortion ; I have not ill-used my slaves ; I have not killed sacred beasts ; I have not defiled the river ; I have not polluted myself; I have not taken the clothes of the dead." Addressing the awful conclave, he boldly says : "Let me go. Ye know that I am without fault, without evil, without sin, without crime. Do not torture me. do not aught against me. I have lived on truth ; I have made it my delight 276 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. to do what men command and the gods ap- prove ; I have offered to the deities all the sac- rifices that were their due ; I have given bread to the hungry and drink to him that was athirst; I have clothed the naked with garments My mouth and my hands are pure." He also declares that he has not hindered the irrigation of the soil from the river and canals ; that he has never injured the stones for mooring ves- sels on the Nile ; that he has never altered pre- scribed prayers ; that he has never touched any of the sacred property, fished for sacred fish, nor stolen offerings from the altar. The great tri- bunal listen to his apology. The forty-two as- sessors are satisfied with his knowledge ; his heart is weighed in the balance. Osiris pro- nounces his final sentence ; his home is among the blessed. Forty chapters, mystical and obscure, de- scribe the further progress of the soul. In the "boat of the sun" he goes forth through the regions of heaven. "Afterwards the Ritual rises to a higher poetical flight, even contemplating the identification of the deceased with a symbolic figure comprising all the attributes of the deities of the Egyptian pantheon." The good soul does not at once obtain perfect bliss, but is purged of his infirmities in a fire guarded by four ape-faced " WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE." 277 genii ; is the companion of Osiris for three thou- sand years ; returns to earth ; enters his former body; rises from the dead; and lives again a human life. This process is repeated through a mystic cycle of years, when at last the soul is absorbed into the divine essence. The wicked man passes away from the judgment-seat and is purified through many transmigrations ; or, if he is incorrigible, he becomes the prey of a terrible hippopotamus-headed monster, is decapitated by Horus, or Smu, on the block of Hades, and is finally annihilated. (Lenormant, Ancient History of the East, Vol. I, pp. 308-322; Rawlinson, History of Ancient Egypt, Vol. I, pp. 140-144, 327-329.) The descent of Ishtar into Hades, revealing, as it does, Assyrian ideas concerning a future life, is of great importance. We present for comparative purposes a part of the account. "To Hades, the land whence none return, the land (of darkness), Istar, daughter of Sin (the moon), her ear (inclined); Inclined also the daughter of Sin her ear, To the house of darkness, the dwelling of the god Irkalla, To the house out of which there is no exit, To the road from which there is no return, To the house from whose entrance the light is taken, The place where dust is their nourishment and their food mud. 278 WITNESSES FROM THE D UST. Light is never seen, in darkness they dwell. Its chiefs also are like birds covered with feathers, Over the door and bolts is scattered dust. Istar, on her arrival at the gate of Hades, To the keeper of the gate, a command she addressed : Keeper of the waters, open thy gate, Open thy gate that I may enter. If thou openest not the gate that I may enter, I will strike the door, the bolts I will shatter, I will strike the threshold aud will pass through the doors; I will raise up the dead to devour the living, Above the living the dead shall exceed in numbers. The keeper opened his mouth and speaks, He says to the princess Istar : Stay, lady, thou dost not glorify her; Let me go aud thy name repeat to the queen Allat. The keeper descended, and says to Allat: This water (of life) thy sister Istar (comes to seek), The queen of the great vaults (of heaven) . . . Allat on hearing this says: Like the cutting off of the herb has (Istar) descended (into Hades), Like the lip of a deadly insect (?) she has . . . What will her heart bring me (i. e. matter to me), what will her anger (bring me)? (Istar replies:) This water with (my husband) Like food would I eat, like beer would I drink. Let me weep over the strong who have left their wives, Let me weep aver the handmaids who (have lost) the embraces of their husbands. Over the only son let me mourn, who ere his days are come is taken away. (Allat says:) Go keeper, open thy gate to her, Bewitch her also according to the ancient rules. "WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE. 1 ' 279 The keeper went and opened his gate : Enter, O lady, let the city of Cutha receive thee; Let the palace of Hades rejoice at thy presence. The first gate he caused her to enter and touched her, He threw down the great crown of her head. Why, O keeper, hast thou thrown down the great crown of ray head ? Enter, O lady, of Allat thus is the order. The second gate he caused her to enter and touched her, He threw away the ear-rings of her ears. Why, keeper, hast thou thrown away the ear-rings of my ears? Enter, O lady, of Allat thus is the order. The third gate he caused her to enter and touched her, He threw away the necklace of her neck. Why, keeper, hast thou thrown away the necklace of my neck? Enter, O lady, of Allat thus is the order. The fourth he caused her to enter and touched her, He threw away the ornaments of her breast. Why, keeper, hast thou thrown away the ornaments of my breast? Enter, O lady, of Allat thus is the order. The fifth gate he caused her to enter and touched her, He threw away the gemmed girdle of her waist. Why, keeper, hast thou thrown away the gemmed girdle of my waist? Enter, O lady, of Allat thus is the order. The sixth gate he caused her to enter and touched her, He threw away the bracelets of her hands and her feet. Why, keeper hast thou thrown away the bracelets of my hands and my feet? Enter, O lady, of Allat thus is the order. The seventh gate he caused her to enter and touched her, 280 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. He threw away the covering robe of her body. Why, keeper, hast thou thrown away the covering robe of my body. Enter, O lady, of Allat thus is the order." (Smith, The Chaldsean Account of Genesis, pp. 239-242.) Thus stripped of all covering, she enters the abode of the dead, and must meet the judgment of the god of the shades. Two small fragments from another source re- fer also to a future life and the felicities of the blest : " Wash thy hands, purify thy hands. Let the gods, thine elders, wash their hands, purify their hands. Eat sacred food from sacred plates. Drink sacred water from sacred vessels. Prepare thyself for the judgment of the king of the son of his god." • ••••••• "They have put there the sacred water. The goddess Anat, the great spouse of Anu, Will cover thee' with her sacred hands. The god Iau will transport thee into a place of delights, He will transport thee into a place of delights. He will place thee in the midst of honey and butter. He will pour into thy mouth reviving water; Thy mouth will be opened for thanksgivings." (Halevy, Records of the Past, Vol. XI, pp. 161, 162.) XXI. Wp Jbrtm$ + 24 281 XXI. KNOWING the silence of Oriental nations concerning defeats in battle and all great calamities, no one would look for any truthful account of the exode of the Israelites in con- temporary documents. But such a blow to the power of the Pharaohs could not be forgotten. Traditions lingered in Egypt down during the centuries, and were gathered up by ancient writers and preserved for modern comparisons. Chaeremon professed to have composed a his- tory of Egypt. He relates how that Amenophis had a dream in which Isis appeared to him and rebuked him because her temple had been over- thrown in war. The sacred scribe, Phritiphan- tes, told him that if he would free the country of all polluted persons, he would be freed from these terrors. He, therefore, drove two hundred and fifty unclean persons out of Egypt. Their leaders were Moyses and Josephus, whose Egyp- tian names were Tisithene and Peteseph. As might have been expected, the account is distorted, but yet possesses real value. 283 284 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. We quote from Diodorus Siculus : " There having arisen in former days a pestiferous dis- ease in Egypt, the multitude attributed the cause of the evil to the Deity; for a very great con- course of foreigners of every nation then dwelt in Egypt, who were addicted to strange rites in their worship and sacrifices; so that, in conse- quence, the due honors of the gods fell into dis- use. Whence the native inhabitants of the land inferred that, unless they removed them, there would never be an end of their distresses. They immediately, therefore, expelled these foreigners ; the most illustrious and able of whom passed over in a body (as some say) into Greece and other places, under the conduct of celebrated leaders, of whom the most renowned were Danaus and Cadmus. But a large body of the people went forth into the country which is now called Judea, situated not far distant from Egypt, being altogether desert in those times. The leader of this colony was Moses, a man very remarkable for his great wisdom and valor. When he had taken possession of the land, among other cities, he founded that which is called Jerusalem, which is now the most celebrated." From Lysimachus the following fragment has been preserved : " He says that in the reign of Bocchoris, king of Egypt, the Jewish people, THE EXODUS. 285 being infected with leprosy, scurvy, and sundry other diseases, took shelter in the temples, where they begged for food ; and that, in consequence of the vast number of persons who were seized with these complaints, there arose a famine in Egypt. Upon this Boccho- ris, king of the Egyptians, sent persons to in- quire of the Oracle of Ammon respecting this scarcity, and the god directed him to cleanse the temples of all polluted and impious men, and to cast them out into the desert, but to drown those who were affected with the leprosy and scurvy, inasmuch as their existence was displeas- ing to the Sun; then to purify the temples, upon which the land would recover its fertility. When Bocchoris had received the oracle he assembled the priests and attendants of the altars, and commanded them to gather together all the unclean persons and deliver them over to the soldiers to lead them forth into the desert; but to wrap the lepers in sheets of lead, and cast them into the sea. After they had drowned those afflicted with the leprosy and scurvy, they collected the rest and left them to perish in the desert. But they took counsel among them- selves, and when night came on they lighted up fires and torches to defend themselves, and fasted all the next night to propitiate the gods to save 286 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. them. Upon the following day a certain man, called Moyses, counseled them to persevere in following one direct w r ay till they should arrive at habitable places, and enjoined them to hold no friendly communication with men, neither to fol- low those things which men esteemed good, but such as were considered evil; and to overthrow the temples and altars of the gods as often as they should meet with them. When they had assented with these proposals they continued their journey through the desert, acting upon those rules, and, after severe hardships, they at length arrived at a habitable country, where, having inflicted every kind of injury upon the inhabitants, plundering and burning the temples, they came at length to the land which is now 7 called Judea, and founded a city and settled there. This city was named Hierosyla, from their (plundering and sacrilegious) disposition. But in after times, when they acquired strength to obliterate the reproach, they changed its name, and called the city Hierosolyma, and themselves Hierosoly mites ." Artabanus preserves other details, following the Mosaic account, and yet with a few varia- tions. The authenticity of his account is much to be suspected, and, hence, we do not produce it here. An interesting chapter is preserved THE EXODUS. 287 also by Trogus Pompeius from Justin. (Cory, Ancient Fragments, pp. 142-148 ; 78-82.) The consideration of these fragments is most instructive. We can not but note the Egyptian coloring throughout. We learn that the He- brews were an abomination in the eyes of the Egyptians, and are represented as cursed with leprosy, scurvy, and other vile diseases, so as to pollute the whole land and offend the gods. They are represented as driven out into the desert. The main facts of the Exodus are not concealed under this disguise. The traditions are such as we might expect, and possess their own weight in these discussions. A document has been translated by M. Cha- bas which may, perhaps, refer to the Exodus : " Notice ! w T hen my letter reaches you, bring the Macljai at once, who were over the foreign Safkhi who have escaped. Do not bring all the men I have named in my list. Give attention to this. Bring them to me to Takhu, and I will admit them and you." The " Takhu" was a fortress on the eastern frontier, and the letter may have been a recall of the troops who had watched the wall of defense while the Hebrews were advanc- ing in that direction. The great Harris Papyrus describes the con- dition of the country after the calamity of the 288 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. Exodus : " The population of Egypt had broken away over the borders, and among those who remained there was no commanding voice for many years. Hence Egypt fell under dynasties which ruled the towns. One killed the other in wild and fated enterprises. Other disasters suc- ceeded, in the shape of years of famine. Then Aarsu, a Syrian, rose among them as prince, and the whole land did him homage. One leagued with the other and plundered the magazine, and the very gods acted as men did." XXII. »{p jStfejtttt fttsmjtittm. 28 289 XXII. THE MOABITE STONE. "lV/fESHA, king of Moab, was a sheep-mas- 1VJL ter, and rendered unto the king of Israel an hundred thousand lambs, and an hundred thousand rams, with the wool. But it came to pass when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel/" (2 Kings iii, 4, 5.) The kings of Moab had been tributary for one hundred and forty-four years, but now the opportunity being favorable, threw off the yoke. Jehoram, son of Ahab, in alliance with the kings of Edom and Judah, went, though with some hesitation, to meet the rebel king in battle. The allied army laid siege to the chief city, Di- bon. Mesha was in despair, and upon the walls offered his eldest son as a sacrifice to the supreme divinity, Chemosh. Deliverance came not, and the king fled. The Moabites were only aroused, and the allies withdrew and returned to their own land. "It is a campaign full of character- istic incidents. The mighty sheep-master on the 291 292 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. throne of Moab, with his innumerable flocks — the arid country through which the allied forces have to pass — the sudden apparition of the prophet and the minstrel in the Israelitish army — the red light of the rising sun, reflected back from the red hills of Edom — the merciless devasta- tion of the conquered territory, apparently at the instigation of the rival Edomite chief — the deadly hatred between him and the king of Moab — the terrible siege of the royal fortress of Kir-haraseth, closing with the sacrifice of the heir to the throne, and the shudder of indigna- tion which it caused — bring before us, in a short compass, the threads of the history of these rival kingdoms, each marked by its pe- culiar traditions and local circumstances, be- yond any other single event of this period." (Stanley, History of the Jewish Church, Second Series, p. 430.) Jehoram was wounded in a battle with the Syrians, and when recovering and seated in his chariot was slain with an arrow by Jehu, the fiery usurper of his throne. This w r as forty years after the accession of Omri. Fifty-eight years after the battle of Dibon " bands of the Moab- ites" invaded the land. (2 Kings xiii, 20.) Be- fore reading the inscription, the forty-eighth chapter of Jeremiah should be read. It con- THE MOABITE STONE. 293 tains "the Judgment of Moab." We should also read the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of Isaiah. Dibon, in its extensive ruins, is "dreary and featureless." The Moabite Stone was discovered by Rev. F. Klein, of the Church Missionary Society, in August, 1868. It was found "quite within the old city walls, and near what, we presnme, was the gate-way, close to where the road has crossed it." (Tristram, The Land of Moab, p. 148.) The greed of the Arabs and, perhaps, also their superstition nearly deprived the world of this unique treasure. The Moabites, "sooner than give it up, put a fire under it and threw cold water on it, and so broke it, and then distributed the bits among the different families to place in the granaries, and act as blessings upon the corn; for they said that without the stone (or its equiv- alent in hard cash) a blight would fall upon their crops." Squeezes had been taken by M. Gan- neau and Captain Warren, and from these the text has been restored. The pieces were also gathered and purchased at great cost. The lan- guage is a dialect allied to the Hebrew. The stone was erected by Mesha about B. C. 890. Its three parts follow in sections with references to Scripture passages, which it serves to illus- trate. The translation is that of Christian D. 294 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. Grinsburg, LL. D., as published in the " Records of the Past :" "I, Mesha (2 Kings iii, 4-27), am son of Chemoshgad, king of Moab, the Dibonite (Joshua xiii, 9; Numbers xxxii, 34). My father reigned over Moab thirty years (B. C. 926-896), and 1 reigned after my father. And I erected this stone to Chemosh at Korcha, (a stone of) (sal- vation (1 Samuel vii, 12), for he saved me from all despoilers, and let me see my desire upon all my enemies. Now Om(r)i, king of Israel, he op- pressed Moab many days, for Chemosh was angry with his l(a)nd. His son succeeded him, and he also said, I will oppress Moab. In my days he said : (Let us go) and I will see my desire on him and his house; and Israel said, I shall de- stroy it forever. Now Omri took the land Me- deba (Numbers xxi, 29, 30; Joshua xiii, 9; Isaiah xv, 2), and (the enemy) occupied it (in his days and in) the days of his sons, forty years. And Chemosh (had mercy) on it in my days ; and I built Baal Meon (Numbers xxxii, 38; Ezekiel xxv, 9), and made therein a ditch, and I (built) Kirjathaim (Numbers xxxii, 37 ; Ezekiel xxv, 9; Jeremiah xlviii, 1, 23). For the men of Gad dwelled in the land (Atar)oth from of old, and the k(ing of I)srael fortified A(t)aroth (Numbers xxxii, 34), and I assaulted THE MOABITE STONE. 295 the wall and captured it, and killed all the war- riors of) the wall, for the well-pleasing of Che- mosh and Moab; and I removed from it all the spoil, and (offered) it before Chemosh in Kirjath (Jeremiah xlviii, 24, 41; Amos ii, 2); and I placed therein the men of Siran and the me(n of) Mochrath. And Chemosh said to me: Go, take Nebo (Numbers xxxii, 3) against Israel. (And I) went in the night, and I fought against it from the break of dawn till noon, and I took it, and slew in all seven thousand (men, but I did not kill) the women (and ma)idens, for (I) devoted (them) to Ashtar-Chemosh; and I took from it (the ves)sels of Jehovah and offered them before Chemosh. And the king of Israel forti- fied) Jahaz (Isaiah xv, 4; Jeremiah xlviii, 1-25 ; Numbers xxi, 23 ; Deuteronomy ii, 32 ; Joshua xiii, 18 ; Judges xi, 20 ; 1 Chronicles vi, 78; Joshua xxi, 36; Jeremiah xlviii, 21, 34), and occupied it when it made war against me ; and Chemosh drove him out before (me, and) I took from Moab two hundred men, all its poor, and placed them in Jahaz, and took it to annex it to Dibon." (Dibon means here a district which takes its name from the town.) Here is recorded his war with the king of Israel, in which he earned deliverance from the oppressor. The following, to the thirty-first line 296 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. of the inscription, celebrates the public works undertaken by Mesha : "I built Korcha, the wall of the forest, and the wall of the city, and I built the gates thereof, and I built the towers thereof, and I built the palace, and I made the prisons for the crim(inal)s with (in the) wall. And there was no cistern in the wall of Korcha, and I said to all the people, Make for yourselves every man a cistern in his house. And I dug the ditch for Korcha with the (chosen) men of (I)srael. I built Aroer (Joshua xiii, 15, 16; 2 Kings x, 33 ; 1 Chron- icles v, 8; Jeremiah xlviii, 19) and I made the road across the Arnon; I built Beth-Bamoth (Numbers xxi, 19 ; Isaiah xv, 2 ; Numbers xxii, 41; Joshua xiii, 17), for it was destroyed; I built Bezer (Deuteronomy iv, 43; Joshua xx, 8; xxi, 36; 1 Chronicles vi, 78; 1 Maccabeans v, 26, 36), for it was cu(t down) by the armed men of Dibon (Numbers xxi, 30; xxxii; Joshua xiii, 9 ; Isaiah xv, 2 ; Jeremiah xlviii, 18, 22), for all Dibon was now loyal; and I reign(ed) from Bik- ran, which I added to my land, and I bui(lt) Beth-Gamel, and Beth-Deblathaim (Jeremiah xlviii, 22), and Beth-Baal-Meon (Joshua xiii, 17), and I placed there the p(oor people of) the land." The third part of the inscription gives his THE MOABITE STONE. 297 successful war against the Edomites which he undertook at the command of Chemosh. "And as to Horonaim (Isaiah xv, 5; Jere- miah xlviii, 3, 5, 34), (the men of Edom) dwelt therein (on the descent from of old). And Che- mosh said to me : Go down, make war against Horonaim, and ta(ke it. And I assaulted it). (And I took it for) Chemosh, (restored i)t in my days. Wherefore I ma(de) . . . year . . . and I . . ." The name of Jehovah is given as "Yaveh." There was no superstition at that time which prevented the true pronunciation of the most holy name of God. The number of passages of Scripture which find their confirmation in this short inscription is most remarkable. Not all the references which might be given are noticed in connection with the translation, but a suffi- cient number to show the great importance of this rare document. The successful revolt of King Mesha, his building enterprises, and his hatred toward the Edomites are well expressed. The worship of Chemosh and Ashtar, and the mention of the complex divinity Ashtar-Chemosh, together with the bloody sacrifice of the heir to the throne, are in true Canaanitish spirit. The names Chemoshgad. Dibon, Israel, Omri, Medeba, Baal-Meon, Kirjathaim, Gad, Ataroth, Kirjath, 298 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. Nebo, Jahaz, Aroer, Arnon, Beth-Bamoth, Bezer, Beth-Diblathaim, Beth-Baal-Meon, Horonaim, and others, are full of instruction. The historical, biographical, and geographical material furnished by the inscription is accurate. Dibon appears as Dimon in Isaiah xv to connect the name with dam, "blood." Korcha, the modern Kerak, is called Kir of Moab and Kir-haresh or Kir-ha- reseth by Isaiah, and Kir-heres by Jeremiah. In the book of Kings we have the form Kir- haraseth. The deliverance of Moab may have been in the reign of Ahaziah, the successor of Ahab. Joram, the successor of Ahaziah, was driven out of Jahaz, which lay on the southern side of Arnon. But then Joram and his allies ravaged Moab, and besieged Mesha in his capital of Kor- cha. At that time Mesha sacrificed his eldest son on the walls of his stronghold. " The Moabite Stone shows us w r hat were the forms of the Phoenician letters used on the eastern side of the Jordan in the time of Ahab. The forms employed in Israel and Judah on the western side could not have differed much ; and we may, therefore, see in these venerable char- acters the precise mode of writing employed by the earlier prophets of the Old Testament. This knowledge is of great importance for the cor- THE SILO AM INSCRIPTION. 299 rection and restoration of corrupt passages, and more especially of proper names, the spelling of which has been deformed by copyists." (Sayce, Fresh Light from the Monuments, pp, 95, 96.) THE SILOAM INSCRIPTION. Hebrew inscriptions have been very rare. A few fragments from the neighborhood of the Pool of Siloam, and a few seals are all that we have possessed. These are brief and of uncertain age. Mr. Schick, a German architect, has been long settled in Jerusalem. In the Summer of 1880 one of his pupils was playing in the Pool of Siloam and fell into the water. When he rose he noticed what appeared to be letters on the rock of the southern wall of the channel. This was reported to Mr. Schick, who visited the spot and discovered an ancient inscription. He made a very imperfect copy and sent it to Europe, but it was without meaning. Professor Sayce made a good copy early in 1881, and soon afterwards Dr. Guthe secured a more complete facsimile. This pool, both the ancient and the modern, is supplied with water from the Fountain of the Virgin by means of a tunnel cut through the ridge which forms the southern part of the 300 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. Temple Hill. This tunnel, according to the meas- urements of Lieutenant Conder, is 1,708 yards in length, or but little less than a mile. It does not, however, run in a straight line, and near the center there are two culs de sac. These the in- scription explains. The work of excavation be- gan simultaneously at the two ends, but the workmen did not meet in the middle. As they came near together they heard the noise of hew- ing, each by the other party, as they were pass- ing. The small partition between them was then pierced, and the water flow T ed through. The culs de sac represent the extreme points reached by the two companies of excavators before they discovered that they were passing by one an- other. We may now read the translation of the inscription : "(Behold) the excavation! Now this is the history of the excavation. While the excava- tors were still lifting up the pick, each towards his neighbor, and while there were yet three cubits to (excavate, there was heard) the voice of one man calling to his neighbor, for there was an excess in the rock on the right hand (and on the left). And after that, on the day of excav- ating, the excavators had struck pick against pick, one against the other, the w T aters flowed from the spring to the pool for the distance of 1,200 THE SIL OAM INSCRIP T10N. 301 cubits. And (part) of a cubit was the height of the rock over the head of the excavators." Hezekiah " stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David/' and " he made a pool and a conduit, and brought water into the city." (2 Chronicles xxxii, 30; 2 Kings xx, 20.) The Fountain of the Virgin is the only natural spring near Jerusalem, and the object was to seal up this fountain, and by a tunnel conduct the waters into the city. The pool may have been still older. Isaiah speaks of "the waters of Shiloah that go softly." (Isaiah viii, 6.) This may allude to this tunnel. It has been even thought that it is as old as the reign of Solomon. (Sayce, Fresh Light from the ancient Monuments, pp. 97-105.) XXIII. %*mm mtfc f^iaa^ so* XXIII. THE Hebrews believed that when God was angry with the sins of the people he vis- ited upon them famines and pestilences as pun- ishments for their wickedness. These were vis- itations of wrath for national sins. They were removed upon repentance and humiliation. The prophet Gad, at the command of God, said unto David because of his sin: "Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that thex^e be three days pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait : let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great; and let me not fall into the hand of man. So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed ; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men. And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented *> 305 306 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. him of the evil, and said to the angel that de- stroyed the people, It is enough, stay now thine hand. . . . The Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel." (2 Samuel xxiv, 13-16, 25.) "The angel of the Lord" destroyed the army of Sennacherib. (2 Kings xix, 35.) The thought is familiar to the Bible student. Babylonian legends speak of scourges which desolated the world in olden times to lead men to repentance. The legend, in epic form, which relates the exploits of Dibbarra, the god of pest- ilences, dates back to, at least, 1600 B. C. His companions and ministers are Itak, the fire of fever personified, and "seven warrior gods." The poem has been translated by Gr. Smith, and pub- lished in his "Chaldsean Account of Genesis." To punish men for the corruption they had brought into the world, the gods Anu and Ea send Dibbarra to smite them with his scourge. This angel of pestilence has the title "the dark- ening one," and may be compared with "the pestilence that walketh in darkness" of Psalm xci, 6. There were five tablets of this epic, only the fourth of which has been preserved in com- parative completeness. The first column of the fourth tablet is presented : "... Dibbarra is crouching at his gate FAMINES AND PESTILENCES. 307 among the corpses of chiefs and slaves; Dibbarra is crouching at his gate; thou knowest his seat. Babylon their foes besieged, and their curse art thou." It was, then, some oppressive war which brought upon Babylon the scourge. The poem continues : "'To the floor thou didst trample them and thou didst make a passage, warrior Dib- barra. Thou didst leave the land, thou didst go forth against others ; the destruction of the nobles wast thou made, and thou didst descend into the palace. The people also saw thee ; their weapons were shattered. The high-priest, the avenger of Babylon, sets his heart, w T hen the ranks of the enemies to spoil he urges on his soldiers. Before the face of the people they did evil. To that city whither I shall send thee, thou a man shalt not fear, shalt not respect a man. Small and great as one man cast down, and of that evil race thou shalt not save any one. The collection of the goods of Babylon thou spoilest ; the people of the king (w T hich) is gathered together, and en- tered into the city, shaking the bow T , planting the sword (?) of the soldiers the help, the trans- gression (transgressors) against Anu and Dagon, their weapons thou plantest, their corpses like the pouring down of rain thou dost cast down in the streets of the city, and their treasures (?) thou openest and dost sweep into the river," 308 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. Dibbarra devastates Larsa, the city of the sun-god, and Uruk, and Kuti. He spares Kalu, in answer to the prayer of its protecting deity, because of the righteousness of its inhabitants. At Kuti he stops and prophesies terrible intes- tine wars which shall set "sea against sea, Su- bartu (Syria) against Subartu, Assyria against Assyria, Elam against Elam, Kosssean against Kosssean, Sutu against Sutu, Gutium against Gutium, Lullubu against Lullubu, country against country, house against house, man against man, brother against brother." The people of Akkad shall be preserved, and at length be able to repair the injury done. Itak is sent to scourge Syria. The fifth tablet ends : " Whoever the glory of my heroism shall recount, an adversary never may he have. The musician who shall sing, shall not die by the chastisement ; higher than king and prince may that man ascend. The tablet writer who studies it (and) flees from the hostile, shall be great in the land. If in the places of the people, the established place, my name they proclaim, their ears I open. In the house, the place where their goods are placed, if I, Dibarra, am angry, may the seven gods turn him aside, may the chastising sword not touch him whose face thou establishest. That song forever may they establish, and may they fix the FAMINES AND PESTILENCES. 309 part; . . . may all the world hear and glorify my heroism ; may the men of all nations see, and exalt my name." (Smith, The Chal- dean Account of Genesis, pp. 125-139 ; Lenor- mant, Beginnings of History, pp. 400, 401.) The Semitic poetic parallelisms are evident in the translation. The famine brought upon the land because of the sins of Ahab is familiar. It also has its counterpart in a tablet of six columns translated bv G. Smith. The sin for which this famine is sent may be of a social character. Bel says : "In their stomach let famine dwell, above let Rimmon drink up his rain, let him drink up below, let not the flood be carried in the canals, let it remove from the field its inundations, let the corn- god give over increase, let blackness overspread the corn, let the plowed fields bring forth thorns, let the growth of their fruit perish, let food not come forth from it, let bread not be produced, let distress also be spread over the people, may favor be shut up, and good not be given." And it was so. Rain is at last sent again in answer to the prayer of righteous Atarpi. (Smith, The Chal- dsean Account of Genesis, pp. 155-158.) Wild beasts were also instruments of punish- ment in Israel. A lion slew the prophet who failed to obey the command of the Lord (1 310 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. Kings xiii, 19-30), and bears tore the children who mocked Elisha. (2 Kings ii, 23, 24.) Sav- age beasts were among the scourges of Baby- lonia, and their ravages were predicted in the astrological tablets. The possibility of disinter- ested virtue with no earthly reward, and often in the face of repeated temporal calamities, was not often considered. The question is solved in the Book of Job in majestic style, but it is not fully grasped until Gospel times, and even then only by the few 7 . Nevertheless, had we a divine interpreter, we might learn that even in the present age calamities may be connected with moral causes and conditions. XXIV. \nn Sib J)utmn$tti$ + 311 XXIV. IT would not have been expected that Phoeni- cian inscriptions, so few in number and so brief in details, would present points in contact with the Old Testament, but so it is. Witnesses start up on every hand and proclaim the truth- fulness of the Bible records. The names of Phoenician gods found in the Bible are preserved on the monuments. The tablet of Marseilles discovered in 1845, near the ancient temple of Diana, is a rare public document which fixes the prices of various sacrificial victims. Baal is the chief god, and the ox, the steer, the kid, the. lamb, the waterfowl, and the bird are the offer- ings. An honorary portion of the ox was pre- sented to the god. This sacred portion is cut and roasted, "but the skin and the loins and the feet and the remnants of the flesh are for the master of the sacrifice/' (Kenrick, Phoenicia, pp. 175, et seq.) The passages from the Poenu- lus of Plautus have a few unimportant religious references. These are Carthaginian, and yet true to the spirit of the mother cities, Tyre and Si don. 27 313 314 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST The Marseilles document is worthy of pres- entation in this connection : "In the temple of Baal (the following tariff of offerings shall be observed), which was pre- scribed (in the time of) the judge. . . . Baal, the son of Bod-Tanit, the son of Bod-(Ashmun, and in the time of Halzi-Baal), the judge, the son of Bod-Ashmun, the son of Halzi-Baal and (their comrades) . For an ox as a full-offering, whether it be a prayer-offering or a full thank-offering, the priests (shall receive) ten shekels of silver for each beast, and if it be a full-offering the priests shall receive besides this (three hundred shekels' weight of flesh). And for a prayer-offering they shall receive (besides) the small joints (?) and the roast (?), but the skin and the haunches and the feet and the rest of the flesh shall belong to the offerer. For a bullock which has horns, but is not yet broken in and made to serve, or for a stag as a full-offering, whether it be a prayer- offering or a full thank-offering, the priests (shall receive) five shekels of silver (for each beast, and if it be a full-offering) they shall receive besides this one hundred and fifty shekels' weight of flesh ; and for a prayer-offering the small joints (?) and the roast (?) ; but the skin and the haunches and the feet (and the rest of the flesh shall belong to the offerer). For a RARE OLD DOCUMENTS. 315 sheep or a goat as a full-offering, whether it be a prayer-offering or a full thank-offering, the priests (shall receive) one shekel of silver and two zar for each beast ; and in the case of a prayer- offering they shall have (besides this the small joints [?] ) and the roast (?) ; but the skin and the haunches and the feet and the rest of the flesh shall belong to the offerer. For a lamb or a kid or a fawn as a full-offering, whether it be a prayer-offering or a full thank-offering, the priests (shall receive) three-fourths of a shekel of silver and (two) zar (for each beast ; and in the case of a prayer-offering they shall have) besides this the small joints (?) and the roast (?) ; but the skin and the haunches and the feet and the rest of the flesh shall belong to (the offerer). For a bird, whether wild or tame, as a full-offer- ing, whether it be shetseph or khazuth, the priests (shall receive) three-fourths of a shekel of silver and two zar for each bird ; and (so much flesh be- sides). For a bird, or for the offering of the first- born of an animal, or for a meal-offering, or for an offering with oil, the priests (shall receive) ten pieces of gold for each. ... In the case of every prayer-offering which is offered to the gods, the priests shall receive the small joints (?) and the roast (?) and the prayer-offering, ... for a cake and for milk and for fat, and for every 316 WITNESSES FROM THE D UST. offering which is offered without blood. . . . For every offering which is brought by a poor man in cattle or birds the priests shall receive nothing. . . . Any thing leprous or scabby or lean is forbidden, and no one as regards that which he offers (shall taste of) the blood of the dead. The tariff for each offering shall be ac- cording to that which is prescribed in this pub- lication. ... As for every offering which is not prescribed in this table, and is not made according to the regulations which (have been published in the time of . . . Baal, the son of Bod-Tanit), and of Bod-Ashmun, the son of Halzi-Baal, and of their comrades, every priest who accepts the offering which is not included in that which is prescribed in this table, shall be punished. ... As for the property of the offerer who does not discharge (his debt) for his offering (he also shall be punished). " Some of the words which are wanting in the Marseilles ritual have been supplied from a second copy found among the ruins of Carthage. It will be seen that under Greek influence the sacrifice of children, once belonging to the wor- ship of Baal, has been abandoned. Phoenician texts have been found on the island of Cyprus written in red and black ink on pieces of marble. One of these contains an account of the dis- BARE OLD DOCUMENTS. 317 bursements made by the priests of a temple on particular days, and illustrates so many Biblical allusions, that, though very imperfect, it is worthy of a place in our work. On the first face we read : " Expenses of the month Ethanim: On the new-moon of the month Ethanim, for the gods of the new-moon, two . . . For the architects who have built the temples of Ashtoreth, for each house, . . . For the guardians of the sanctuary and the overseers of the temple of Resheph, twenty . . . For the men (who tend) the cattle in the presence of the Holy Queen on this day, . . . For two boys, two . . . For two sacrifices, . . . For two bakers who have baked the cakes for the (Holy) Queen, . . . For the barbers, for their work, two . . . For the ten masons who have built the foundations and the temples of the sun- god, ... To Ebed-Ashmun, the principal scribe, who has been sent on this day, three . . . For the dogs and their young, . . ." On the other face we have : " On the new-moon of the month Peulat: For the gods of the new- moon, two . . . For the masters of the days, incense and peace offering, . . . For the images of the temple of the sun-god and the other gods, . . . For Ebed-Bast of Carthage, . . . 318 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. For the man who has brought the withered plants (?)... For the shepherds of the country, two . . . For the 'almath and the twenty- two 'alamdth, with a sacrifice, . . . For the dogs and their young, three . . ." Resheph is the sun-god, and the name still survives in Arsuf, a ruined town to the north of Jaffa. Concerning the cakes baked to Ashtoreth, " the holy queen," we may read in the prophet : "And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her without our men?'' (Jeremiah xliv, 19; cf. verses 15-18.) Con- cerning the dogs and barbers consult Deuter- onomy xxiii, 18; Leviticus xix, 27; xxi,5. The 'almath was the chief singer attached to the tem- ple service, and the "alamoth were other singers similarly employed. The "masters of the days" were the gods who presided over the months. The month Ethanim, which is the seventh month, is mentioned in connection with the building of the temple of Solomon. (1 Kings viii, 2.) (Sayce, Fresh Light from the Ancient Monu- ments, pp. 79-84.) King Esmunazar lived in the fourth century before Christ. We present the translation of the inscription on the sarcophagus, discovered RARE OLD DOCUMENTS. 319 near the ruins of Sidon in 1855, as rendered by Professor Julius Oppert: " In the month of Bui, in the fourteenth year of the royalty of King Esmunazar, king of the two Sidons, son of King Tabnit, king of the two Sidons, King Esmunazar, king of the two Sidons, said as follows : " I am carried away, the time of my non- existence has come, my spirit has disappeared like the day, from whence I am silent, since which I became mute. "And I am lying in this cof- fin, and in this tomb, in the place which I have built. " thou (reader), remember this : May no royal race and no man open my funeral couch, and may they not seek after treas- ures, for no one has hidden treasures here; nor move the coffin out of my funeral couch; nor molest me in this funeral bed by putting another tomb over it. Whatever a man may tell thee, do not listen to him, for the punishment (of the violators) shall be : Every royal race and every man who shall open the covering of this couch, or shall carry away the coffin where I repose, or who shall molest me in this couch, they shall Sarcophagus of Esmunazar. 320 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. have no funeral couch with the Rephaim, nor shall be buried in graves, nor shall there be any son or offspring to succeed to them, and the sa- cred gods shall inflict extirpation on them. " Thou, whoever (thou art, who wilt) be king (hereafter), inspire those over whom thou wilt reign, that they may exterminate the members of the royal race (like those men) who will open the covering of this couch, or who will take away this coffin, and (exterminate) also the offspring of this royal race, or of these men of the crowd. There shall be to them no root below, nor fruit above, nor living form under the sun. " For graced by the gods, I am carried away, the time of my non-existence has come, my spirit has disappeared like the day, from whence I am silent, since which I became mute. " For I, Esmunazar, king of the two Sidons, son of King Tabnit, king of the two Sidons, (who was) the grandson of King Esmunazar, king of the two Sidons ; and my mother, Amastarte, the priestess of Astarte, our mistress, the queen, the daughter of King Esmunazar, king of the two Sidons; it is we who have built the temple of the gods, and the temple of Astaroth, on the seaside Sidon, and have placed there the image of the Astaroth, as we are sanctifiers (of the gods.) And it is we who have built the temple RARE OLD DOCUMENTS. 321 of Esmun, and the sanctuary of the Purpleshells River on the mountain, and have placed there his image, as we are sanctifiers (of the gods). And it is we who have built the temples of the gods of the two Sidons, on the seaside Sidon, the temple of Baal-Sidon, and the temple of As- tarte, who bears the name of this Baal. " May in future the lords of the kings give us Dora and Japhia, the fertile corn-lands, which are in the plain of Saron, and may they annex it to the boundary of the land, that it may be- long to the two Sidons forever. thou, remem- ber this : May no royal race and no man open my covering, nor deface (the inscription of) my covering, nor molest me in this funeral bed, nor carry away the coffin where I repose. Otherwise, the sacred gods shall inflict extirpation on them and shall exterminate this royal race and this man of the crowd and their offspring forever." (Oppert, Records of the Past, Vol. IX, pp. 111-114.) Here the names of Baal, Astarte, and Asta- ro th are prominent in the Phoenician worship. The Rephaim are mentioned in the Psalms (lxxxviii, 11). The passage "I am carried away," which is repeated, Oppert considers a quotation from an ancient funeral hymn. The burden of the inscription is anxiety as to the 322 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. care of the body after death, and a true Semitic curse is pronounced upon any man who may dis- turb the ashes of the departed. Besides Sid on, other proper names are Dora, Japhia (Joppa), and Saron. The lid of the coffin on which the inscription is found "is wrouglit in the form of a mummy, with the face uncovered, and having a counte- nance and costume of a decided Egyptian type. The features are large and prominent, the fore- head is rather low, the eyes almond-shaped, but full and protruding, the nose broad and flat, the lips thick, the chin quite short, and the ears too large and conspicuous for beauty. A pleasant expression is over the countenance, and the. execution of the whole work is de- cidedly superior to any thing of the kind in this country. On each shoulder is a bird, and something depends from the chin like a beard, but it probably belongs to the headdress, which resembles that seen on Egyptian mummy cases. The lid, and consequently the figure upon it, is too wide for symmetrical beauty. It is four feet broad, and only about seven in length. The material is black sienite, intensely hard, and retains an excellent polish. The inscription is in twenty-two long lines, and the letters, though not cut deep, are in good preservation, RARE OLD DOCUMENTS. 323 and easily read/' (Thomson, The Land and the Book ; Central Palestine and Phoenicia, p. 643.) From the ancient Phoenician historiographers we meet with important confirmations. From Dius we read : " Upon the death of Abibalus, his son Hiromus (Hiram) succeeded to the kindom. He raised the eastern parts of the city, and enlarged it, and joined to it the temple of Jupiter Olympius (the Baal of Tyre), which stood before upon an island, by filling up the intermediate space ; and he adorned that temple with donations of gold ; and he went up into Libanus (Lebanon), to cut timber for the construction of the temples. And it is said that Solomon, king of Jerusalem, sent enigmas to Hiromus (Hiram), and desired others in return, with a proposal that whichsoever of the two was unable to solve them should forfeit money to the other. Hiromus (Hiram) agreed to the proposal, but was unable to solve the enigmas, and paid a large sum as a forfeit. And it is said that one Abdemonus, a Tyrian, solved the enigmas, and proposed others which Solomon was not able to unriddle, for which he repaid the fine to Hiro- mus (Hiram)." Menander writes to the same point. He says that Hiram reigned thirty-four years, and died at the age of fifty -three. He names Eth- 324 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. baal, who began to reign in B. C. 932, and ned thirty-two years. He t of As- was pi tarte, and his fierce daughter Jezebel became the wife of Ahab, king of Judah. (Cory, Ancient Fragments, pp. 27-29.) Eupolemon, another authority who draws from native sources, confirms the history of Da- vid by a distinct mention of his chief conquests. The Tyrian chronology agrees with that of the Bible, and Tyrian histories witness the construc- tion of the temple by Solomon, and date the event B. C. 1007. They also mention certain letters preserved in the Tyrian archives — letters which passed between Solomon and Hiram/ They further relate that Solomon took one of the daughters of Hiram to wife. (1 Kings xi, 1.) The exchange of riddles between Hiram and Solo- mon reminds us of the "hard questions" with which the queen of Sheba sought to "prove" Solomon (1 Kings x, 1), and the forfeits illus- trate the proceedings of Samson. (Judges xiv, 12-19.) (Rawlinson, Historical Illustrations of the Old Testament, pp. 110, 111.) We may compare from another source the following riddle, which a wise man puts to the gods : "The clothing of the god . . . What in the house is (fixed) . . • RARE OLD DOCUMENTS. 325 What in the secret place is . . . What is in the foundation of the house . . . What on the floor of the house is fixed, what . What the lower part . What by the sides of the house goes down . . . What in the ditch of the house broad ingitstsi . What roars like a bull, what brays like an ass, What flutters like a sail, what bleats like a sheep, What barks like a dog, What growls like a bear," The remainder of the riddle is too anomalous for translation. "Then Lugal-girra (Nergal) heard the wise word the son of the people asked, and all the gods he urged (to solve it) : Let your solution be produced, that I may bring back your an- swer." The passages which follow are so much broken that they fail to submit to translation. The answer to the riddle can be none other than air or wind. (Smith, The Chaldsean Account of Genesis, p. 159.) An inscription on a bronze vase discovered at Cyprus, and originally belonging to Syria, contains the the name of Hiram, "king of the Sidonians." Solomon calls Hiram's subjects Si- donians. (1 Kings v, 20.) He was called "king of Tyre," perhaps, because his residence was in that city. Ethbaal, in the Bible, is "king of the Zidonians." (1 Kings xvi, 31.) In 326 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. the bronze vase inscription there is mention of a god — Baal-Lebanon. Whether the Hiram of this inscription is the same as the contemporary of Solomon may yet admit of question. (Pales- tine Exploration Fund, Quarterly Statement, 1880, July, pp. 174-181. C. Clermont-Ganneau.) XXV. Jpi Jb 1 !?^ 11 Iffl** 327 XXV. ^HE Egyptian and Assyrian historic records A are most fragmentary, and deal with foreign nations only when celebrating kingly conquests. The proud, self-sufficient Oriental monarch never acknowledges a defeat. It is either passed over in silence or proclaimed as a victory. Self- glorification, under the name of "service" to the gods, seems to be his leading, if not his only, motive. Extravagance of language, endless repe- titions of titles, and consummate assurance are prominent everywhere. The historic portions of the Bible do not pretend to fullness of treatment. The religious histoiy of a single people, we might say of but a single family, is set before the student, while political events are made subordinate. Hence points of contact w 7 ith Gentile nations are few and incidental. This being the plan and spirit of Biblical and monumental records, we are a^ree- ably surprised (o find that they have so much in common. When the monuments shall have re- vealed all their literary secrets, much more 28 . 329 330 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. can be said upon this part of the subject than at present. The Shishak of Scripture is Shashanq I, king of Egypt and founder of the twenty-second HEAD OF SHESHONK I (SHISHAK). dynasty. He is the son of the Assyrian king, Nimrod, who met his death in Egypt, and was buried at Abydus. Jeroboam rebelled against King Solomon, and being designated by the prophet Abijah as THREE EGYPTIAN KINGS. 331 the future sovereign of the ten tribes of Israel, he fled from the face of his royal master, and came to the court of Shishak. After the death of Solomon he was recalled and elected to the throne of Israel while Rehoboam, Solomon's son, became king of Judah. It is probable that it was at the request of Jeroboam that Shishak invaded the kingdom of Judah "with twelve hundred chariots and three- score thousand horsemen ; and the people were without number that came with him out of Egypt ; the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethi- opians, and he took the fenced cities which per- tained to Judah, and came to Jerusalem. So Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house ; he took all ; he carried away also the shields of gold which Solomon had made." (2 Chronicles xii, 3, 4, 9 ; 1 Kings xi, xii, xiii.) On the wall of the great temple of Karnak, at Thebes, there is an outline of this campaign. The Egyptian king is represented holding with his left hand thirty-eight captive Asiatic chiefs whom he has seized by the hair of the head, and threatens with a club wielded with his right hand. In long rows of embattled shields are the names of one hundred and thirty-three con- 332 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. quered towns and districts. Among these are many familiar names, such as Taanach, Shunem, Adullam, Mahanaim, GKbeon, Bethhoron, Ajalon, Megiddo, Edom, and Judah-malek — " Judah- king," by which name Jerusalem may have been intended. Of the ninety names which are legi- ble, forty or forty-five may be identified with Palestinian and neighboring towns. The peoples subdued are called " the 'Am of a distant land," equivalent to the Hebrew 'Am, which signifies u people," and designates especially "the people of Israel and their tribes." There are also Fenekh or Phoenicians. Here, then, we have a remarkable confirma- tion of Scripture, in that the first Egyptian king mentioned by his own native name in the Bible has left a record of his conquests in Palestine, which we may most satisfactorily compare with the accounts of the authors of Kin^s and Chron- icles. The name of the king, the date of the conquest, and the names of captured cities cor- respond most completely. " The army with which Sheshonk invaded Palestine is more numerous than we should have anticipated, and some corruption in the numbers may be suspected. It is composed, however, exactly as the monuments would have led us to expect, almost wholly of foreign mercenaries THREE EGYPTIAN KINGS. 333 (2 Chronicles xii, 3), Libyans, Ethiopians, and others. The Egyptian armies at this time con- sisted, for the most part, of Maxyes and other Berber tribes from the north-west, and of Ethi- opians and negroes from the south. Sheshonk, who was himself of foreign descent, placed far more dependence on these foreign troops than on the native Egyptian levies." (Rawlinson, Egypt and Babylon, pp. 261. 262.) Esarhaddon, "the fierce king," had defeated the enterprising monarch Tirhakah, king of Egypt and Ethiopia, and had appointed kings and governors in the midst of Egypt. (Cf. Isaiah xix.) Tirhakah rebelled against his mas- ter, killing and plundering until he came to Memphis, where he again assumed all the in- signia of royalty. Assurbanipal, son of Esar- haddon — B. C. 665 — now on the Assyrian throne, heard of this defection of his subject and his suc- cessful revolt. Gathering his forces he marched towards Egypt, and twenty-two tributary kings kissed his feet as he passed through their terri- tories. Tirhakah collected a great army, and sent it against his mighty foe. We now let the inscriptions speak. "With invocations to Asur, Sin (the Moon- god), the great gods, my lords, I ordered the onslaught of my forces. In a fierce battle they 334 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. put them to flight, and conquered with arms the men who served him (lit. of his service). Fear and terror seized him and he turned back. He escaped from Memphis, the city of his kingdom, the place 1 of his honor, and he fled away in ships to save his life (lit. soul). He left his tent standing and withdrew himself alone and came to Ni (the ' great city,' i. e. Thebes), and gave orders to his men of battle to embark on all the ships and barks (?) that were with him, and he commanded the men set over the barks (?).... I gathered together the com- mander of the satraps of the cities beyond the river, the servants faithful before me, them and their garrisons, their ships, the kings of Egypt, the servants faithful before me, and their garrisons and their ships, in order to drive out Tarquu from Egypt and Ethiopia. I sent them against Thebes, the city of the empire of Tarquu, the king of Ethiopia. They w T ent a journey of a month and ten days. Tarquu, when he heard of the approach of my army, left Thebes, the city of his empire, and went up the river. My soldiers made a slaughter in that city. (Na- hum iii, 8.) "Nikuu (Necho), Sarludari, Paakruru, whom my father had made satraps, sinned against the commandments of Asur and the great gods, my THREE EGYPTIAN KINGS. 335 lords, and did not keep to their treaties (with him). They despised the glory of my father, and hardened their hearts to enmity; they de- vised a plan of rebellion, and sinned willfully (lit. of themselves) against their flesh, speaking thus : ' Tarquu will not go back from his designs upon Egypt; he is afraid, and do ye all watch over your safety (?)' They sent their envoys to Tar- quu, king of Ethio- pia, to make peace and friendship, ( speaking ) thus : ' Let peace be made in our league, and let us be friendly to each other. On this side (i. e. on our part) we pledge our faith ; from no other quarter shall there be a breach in our alliance, our Lord.' They tried to entice into their league the whole army of Asur, the guards of my dominion; they prepared what their re- venge desired . . . My judges heard of their designs, and derided their cunning. They inter- cepted their envoys with the letters, and per- ceived the work of their treason. They bound those kings hand and foot in fetters." HEAD OF TIRHAKAH. 336 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. Neeho is carried away a prisoner to Nineveh, but obtains his pardon of Assurbanipal and was restored to his government with presents. " Costly garments I placed upon him, orna- ments of gold; his royal image I made for him, bracelets of gold I fastened upon his limbs, a steel sword — its sheath of gold, in the glory of my name, more than I write I gave him. Char- iots, horses, and mules for his royal riding I ap- pointed him ; my generals as governors, to assist him, with him I sent. The place where the father, my begetter, in Sais to the kingdom had appointed him, to his district I restored him." (Brugsch, Egypt under the Pharaohs, Vol. II, pp. 265 et seq.) "After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho. king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates, and Jo- siah went out against him." A battle was fought in the plain of Megiddo, and Josiah was mortally wounded. (2 Chronicles xxxv, 20-24.) This wns Necho II, the grandson of the king who fought against Assurbanipal. There is but slight mention of his name on the monuments. (Brugsch, Egypt under the Pharaohs, Vol. II, p. 296.) The battle of Megiddo is not men- tioned, but Egyptian and Assyrian history makes it probable, and approximately fixes the date. XXVI. jlfjalnmnf^r IL 29 337 XXVI. SHALMANESER II (B. C. 858-823), gives a full history of his Palestinian campaign. The author of these annals seems to have been, in a literary sense at least, as measured by modern taste, a very genius of stupidity. The dullness of the records is worthy of all admiration. Our interest in these monumental writings must be frequently sustained by the absence of every literary feature which could sustain an interest. We are amazed at an exhibition of literary imbe- cility so complete, as the best w 7 hich Assyria could afford when the glorious deeds of her il- lustrious kings were to be commemorated. The historic annals stand at the climax of all dull- ness. They exceed in this respect all imitations. There are, however, various degrees of stupidity in historic writing characterizing different peri- ods in Assyrian history. We are compelled to transpose some of the words in this account to make it approximate English intelligibility. "I departed from the Euphrates and ap- proached the city of Khalman. They feared to 339 340 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. join battle and embraced my feet. I received as their tribute silver and gold. I offered sac- rifices before the air-god of the city of Khalman. I departed from Khalman and approached to ASSYRIAN KING. two cities of Irkhuleni of the country of Hamath. I took the cities of Adennu, Barga, and Argana his royal city, and caused to be brought out his spoil, his riches, and the furniture of his palaces. SHALMANESER II. 341 I set fire to his palaces, and departing from Ar~ gana approached the city of Karkara. The city of Karkara, the city of his majesty, I threw down, dug up, and burned with fire. " Twelve hundred chariots, twelve hundred magazines, and twenty thousand men of Rim- mon 'hidri (Ben-hadad — the name signifies "the son of Hadad," the supreme deity of Damascus) of Damascus ; seven hundred chariots, seven hundred magazines, and ten thousand men of Irkhuleni of Hamath ; two thousand chariots, and ten thousand men of Ahab (Akkabbu) of the country of the Israelites ; five hundred men of the Guites ; one thousand men of the country of the Egyptians ; ten chariots, and ten thousand men of the country of the Irkanatians ; two hun- dred men of Matin-Baal of the city of the Arva- dites ; two hundred men of the country of the U'sanatians ; thirty chariots and ten thousand men of Adoni-Baal of the country of the Sizani- ans; one thousand camels of Grindibri'ah of the country of the Arbayans ; two hundred men of Bah'sa, the son of Rukhubi, of the country of the Ammonites ; these twelve kings brought help to one another, and came to make war and battle against me. Through the high powers which Assur, the lord, gave, through the mighty weap- ons which Nergal (who goes before me) furnished, 342 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. I fought with them. I made a destruction of them from the city of Karkara to the city of Gilza' u. I slew with my weapons fourteen thou- sand of their troops. Like the air-god, I poured a deluge over them. With their flight I filled the surface of the waters. I laid low all their host with weapons. The area of the district failed to contain all their corpses. To give a preservation of their lives to the people, an enormous multitude of them to their fields I distributed among the men of the land. I reached the river Oron- tes, close upon its banks. In the midst of this bat- tle I took away from them their chariots, Syrian Captives Enslaved. their magazines, aild their horses trained to the yoke." (Sayce, Rec- ords of the Past, Vol. Ill, pp. 99, 100.) Shal- maneser had previously battled among " the up- per (cities) of Palestine" and by "the sea of the setting sun." (Sayce, Records of the Past, Vol. Ill, p. 89.) Here he received tributes, set up his image, and cut fir and cedar on the moun- tains of Amanus. SHALMANESER II 343 The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser contains an account of his first expedition : " In my first year I crossed the Euphrates 2 THE BLACK OBELISK. in its flood. I went to the sea of the setting sun. I rested my weapons on the sea. I took victims for my gods. I went up to Mt. Amanus and cut logs of cedar-wood and pine-wood. I 344 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. ascended to the country of Lallar. I erected an image of my royalty in the midst of it." In his sixth year we read : " I crossed the Euphrates in its upper part. I received the tribute of all of the kings of the Hittites. In those days Rimmon-idri of Damascus, Irkhulina of Hamath, and the kings of the Hittites and of the sea- coast trusted to the forces of each other, and came against me to make war and battle. By the command of Assur, the great lord, my lord, I fought with them and made a destruction of them. I took from them their chariots, their war- carriages, and their war-material, and slew with arrows twenty thousand five hundred of their fighting men." (Sayce, Records of the Past, Vol. V, pp. 30, 32.) Following the annals we again read : "In my eleventh year I crossed the Euphrates for the ninth time. I captured cities to a countless number. I went down to the cities of the Hit- tites of the land of the Hamathites. I took eighty-nine cities. Rimmon-idri of Damascus and twelve of the kings of the Hittites strength- ened themselves with one another's forces. I made a destruction of them." (Sayce, Records of the Past, Vol. V, pp. 33, 34.) The fourteenth and eighteenth campaigns were against these same enemies. SHALMANESER II 345 "In my fourteenth year the whole of the country without number I collected ; I crossed the river Euphrates with one and twenty thou- sand of my warriors. In those days Ben-hadar of Syria, Irhulini of Hamath, and the kings be- side the sea, above and below, collected their warriors without number and came to my pres- ence. I fought with them and accomplished their overthrow. I brought out their chariots and their carriages, and I took from them their weapons of war. They fled to save their lives. " We do not hear of Ben-hadad after this cam- paign. Hazael takes his place. "In the eight- eenth year, the sixteenth time, I crossed the river Euphrates. Hazael of Syria trusted to the might of his warriors and gathered his warriors in numbers. He made as a stronghold Saniru, a peak of the mountains which are in front of Lebanon. I fought with him and accomplished his overthrow. I destroyed eighteen thousand of his army with weapons, and took from him eleven hundred and twenty-one of his chariots, and four hundred and seventy of his carriages. To save his life he fled. I pursued him and besieged him in Damascus, his royal city. I cut down his plantations. I went to the mountains of Hauran. I pulled down, destroyed, and burned in the fire cities without number. I car- 346 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. ried off their spoil without number. I went to the mountains of Bah- lirasi, which are at the head of the sea. I made an image of my majesty in the midst. In those days I re- ceived the tribute of o g Tyre and Sidon, and of Jehu, son of Omri." (Rule, Oriental Rec- ords,Monumental, pp. 143-145.) His nineteenth cam- paign brought him to EJI £ the land of Amanus, l^j g where he cut logs of w cedar; and in his I 3 twenty-first campaign he went to the cities of Hazael and took four of his fortresses, and received tribute of the Tyrians, the Zidonians, and the Grebalites. (Sayce, Records of the Past, Vol. V, pp. 34, 35.) "The tribute of Yahua, SHALMANESER II 347 son of Khumri — silver, gold, bowls of gold, vessels of gold, goblets of gold, pitchers of gold, lead, scepters for the king's hand, (and) staves — I received." (Sayce, Records of the Past, Vol. V, p. 41.) The sculptures represent the chief ambassa- dor of the Israelites prostrating himself before the Assyrian king, and Israelitish ambassadors bearing their tribute. (Rawlinson, Ancient Mon- archies, Vol. I, p. 502 ; Vol. II, p. 105.) These fragments of history are entirely consistent with the history of Judea, Samaria, and Syria, as re- corded in the sacred writings. The death of Shalmaneser brought peace to Damascus and Palestine. Hazael and his suc- cessor, Ben-hadad III, ravaged Israel (2 Kings xiii, 3) ; but Jeroboam II avenged himself upon the Syrians, and the coasts of Israel were re- stored "from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain." And now Rimmon-nirari (B. C. 810-781), grandson of Shalmaneser, again reduced Da- mascus. Its king, Marih, successor of Ben-hadad III, after undergoing a siege in the capital, was glad to submit to the Assyrian, and gave him two thousand three hundred talents of silver, twenty talents of gold, three thousand talents of copper, five thousand talents of iron, embroi- 348 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. dered robes and clothes of fine linen, a couch inlaid with ivory, and an ivory parasol, besides the treasures and furniture, without number, which his palace contained. Rimmon - nirari seems also to have received tribute from Tyre and Sidon, Beth-Omri, Edom, and Palastu, which probably included the country of the Philistines and the kingdom of Judah. (Sayce, Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments, p. 125.) XXVII. 'i^n^-fhm II 349 XXVII. AFTER the death of Rimmon-nirari the crown was seized by a military adventurer, who founded a new dynasty, and assumed the title of Tiglath-Pileser II (B. C. 745-727). He was the founder of the second Assyrian Empire, and cemented the nations together, appointed satraps to govern the various provinces, and fixed an annual tribute to be paid into the imperial treasury. Two years after his accession to the throne he besieged Arpad, now Tel-Erfad, near Aleppo, which was taken after a siege of three years. Hamath was shattered, and nineteen of its dis- tricts were placed under Assyrian governors. The Jewish king, Azri-yahu or Azariah (Uzziah). an ally of Hamath. was punished and compelled to pay tribute. Two years after the fall of Aspad, Tiglath-Pileser again invaded the West, and took tribute from Rezin, of Damascus, Mena- hem of Samaria, Hirnm of Tyre, and the kings of Gebal, Carchemish. Hamath, and other places — "gold, silver, lead, iron, skins of buffaloes, horns 351 352 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. of buffaloes, vestments of wool and linen, tapes- tries of blue and purple, strong wood, wood for weapons, slave-girls, treasures of royalty, the skins of sheep, their wool of purple dye, birds of the sky, their wing-feathers of bright blue, horses, horses for the yoke of large size, oxen, sheep and droves of camels, together with their young ones." (Records of the Past, Vol. V, pp. 48, 49.) The Bible says that the tribute was given to Pul. Ptolemy gives a list of Babylonian kings with the length of their reigns from the era of Nabonassar, B. C. 747, down to the time of Alexander the Great. In this list Tiglath- Pileser, after his conquest of Babylon, is named Poros or Por. Por would be the Persian form of Pul. This may have been the king's name before he assumed his regal title. During the reign of Menahem Israel remained tributary to Assyria. After the death of Menahem his son, Pekahiah was murdered, and Pekah usurped the throne. Pekah, in alliance with Rezin of Da- mascus, attacked Judah with the intention of overthrowing the existing dynasty and placing a vassal upon the throne. Jotham died, and his successor, Ahaz, not able to stand against the powerful alliance, appealed to Tiglath-Pileser, and placed himself under his protection as a TIGLATH-PILESER II 353 tributary. The king of Assyria was glad of an excuse for another campaign against the powers of the West, and, in B. C. 734, marched into Syria. Rezin was defeated, his chariots broken, his captains captured and impaled, and he him- self, having fled to Damascus, was shut up by the enemy. The territory was devastated with fire and sword, the gardens destroyed, and the trees cut down. Leaving a force to prosecute FINAL ASSAULT OF DAMASCUS. the siege of the city the Assyrian king marched against Israel, and Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh were carried into captivity. The king took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maachah, and Janoah, and Ka- desh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and carried the inhabitants captive to Assyria. (2 Kings xv, 29.) After a mighty campaign, in which he reduced all the nations of the West, Tiglath- Pileser returned and took Samaria, put Pekah to death, and seated Hosea upon the throne. He 30 354 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. seems then to have punished Edom and the queen of the Arabs, who had joined in the Israel- itish league. Damascus fell in B. C. 732, Rezin was slain, and his subjects carried into captivity. Tiglath-Pileser, after reigning gloriously, died in B. C. 727. Shalmaneser IV succeeded to the throne, and Hosea refusing to pay the annual tribute, the new monarch invaded the West. Tyre was be- sieged, but without success, Hosea carried away captive, and Samaria blockaded for three years. During this blockade Shalmaneser died, and one of the Assyrian generals seized the crown and assumed the name of Sargon. XXVIII. ijtrcptt*— jtdjtofr 356 XXVIII. THE capture of Samaria took place in the first year of Sargon (B. C. 722), and twenty- seven thousand two hundred and eighty of its inhabitants were sent into exile and 'settled in Halah not far from Haran in Mesopotamia on the banks of the Habor or Khabour and the cities of the Medes, while some years later their places were supplied from Hamath, and Cuthah, Sepharvaim, and other cities of Babylonia. Hamath had revolted under Yahu-bihdi or Ilu-bihdi; and Arpad, Damascus, and Samaria had followed the example. Sargon captured Ilu-bihdi in the city of Aroer and flnyed him alive, and Hamath received a colony of four thousand three hundred Assyrians. Samaria was next punished. Sargon then met the combined forces of Khanum of Gaza and Sabako or So of Egypt on the field of Raphia and defeated them. Khanum was taken. Both Manetho and the Egyptian records give Shabak as the name of a king of Egypt who belonged to the twenty-fifth dynasty. The k is 357 358 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. the suffixed article. The name means "male- cat-the." The Hebrews dropped the article mak- ing Shab " male-cat." Changing # to #, a frequent change, and vocalizing b thus making u, and once more changing the diphthongal an to its equiva- lent 0, and we have JSo„ with whom an alliance was sought by Hosea. — 2 Kings xvii, 4. (Brugsch, Egypt under the Pharaohs, Vol. II, pp. 282- 284.) The Assyrian Empire had reached the very borders of the kingdom of Judah. To relate the history of its conquest by Sargon we must turn our eyes to the East. JJpon the death of Tig- lath-Pileser, Babylonia had thrown off the As- syrian yoke, and in B. C. 722 the country was occupied by Merodach-Baladan, the son of Ya- gina, the hereditary chief of the small tribe of the Kalda, settled at the mouth of the Euphrates. This new king feared an attack from Sargon, and determined to prepare himself to meet his powerful enemy. He formed an alliance with Elam in the East, and sent ambassadors on a secret mission to the West. Hezekiah, in the fourteenth year of his reign, had recovered from a severe illness (2 Kings, xx, 6), and the Babylonian king published to the world that the mission of the ambassadors was merely to congratulate the king on his mi- SARGON.— ASHDOD. 359 raculous recovery. His real object, however, could not be concealed from Sargon. He deter- mined to anticipate the movements of the con- federates and attack them before their forces could unite. He invaded Palestine. He battled against Ashdod, Edom, Moab, and Judah. This conquest of Judah by Sargon explains some hitherto un- solved mysteries in the prophets. (Isaiah x and xi.) Ashdod was razed to the ground. Its king, whom Hezekiah seems to have nominated to the throne, fled to Egypt, but was delivered up to his enemies. Sargon then turned to the East. The Elamites were defeated, and Merodach-Bal- adan, driven southward, shut himself up in his stronghold Bit- Yagina, which was taken by storm. He found no rest until Sennacherib followed him to Elam, whither he had fled, and administered a crushing defeat in B. C. 697. We return to the episode of Ashdod. Ashdod was situated about eighteen geograph- ical miles norlh-east of Gaza. It was one of the five chief cities of the Philistines, and the seat of the worship of Dagon. It stood on a hill surrounded by beautiful pasture ground, and must have been a place of great strength. Azotus is the name it bore in the works of classic writers. It is still represented by a few 360 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. remains in the little village Esdud. It was nominally assigned to the territory of Judah, and was dismantled by TJzziah. Psammetichus could not reduce it until after a siege of twenty-nine years. (Herodotus ii, 157.) It was important because of its situation on the road from Jerusalem to Egypt. "It exported to the West the produce of Arabia, brought thither from Ezion-Geber, Petra, and the Persian Gulf." Always a frontier town, it was well fitted for po- litical intrigues. Philistia was, at this time, trib- utary to Assyria, and yet Azuri, king of Ashdod, was friendly to Egypt, the enemy of Assyria. Judah and Samaria were also tributary to Assyria. Isaiah records the downfall of Ashdod. " In the year that Tartan came unto Ashdod (when Sargon, the king of Assyria sent him), and fought against Ashdod and took it." (Isaiah xx, 1.) Its garrison consisted not only of Ash- dodites, but also of Egyptians and Ethiopians. (Vs. 4, 5.) This had been the only mention of this Assyrian monarch until the discovery of the monuments presented the important events con- nected with his glorious reign. The annals of Sargon furnish an unexpected confirmation of this fact of history incidentally mentioned by Isaiah. Sargon relates: "In my ninth expedition to the land beside the great SARGON.— ASHDOD. 361 sea, I went to Philistia and Ashdod. Azuri, king of Ashdod, hardened his heart not to bring tribute, and sent enemies of Assyria to the kings round him, and did evil. I broke his do- minion over the people round him, and car- ried off. . . . From that time Ahimiti, son of . his brother, I raised before his face, and appointed him over his kingdom. I ap- pointed over him taxes and tribute to Assyria like that of the kings round him. But the evil people hardened their heart not to bring taxes and tribute, and revolted against the king, and for the good he had done they drove him away, and appointed to the kingdom over them Yavan (who was) not heir to the throne. They seated him on the throne of their lord, and prepared their cities to make war . . . they forti- fied the dominion against capture ; they faced its and excavated a ditch around it (f. e. Ashdod). They made it twenty cubits (thirty-four feet) in its depth, and brought the waters of the springs in front of the city. The people of Philistia, Judah, Edom, and Moab, dwelling beside the sea, bringing tribute and presents to Assur, my lord, were speaking trea- son. The people and their evil chiefs carried their presents unto Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, a monarch who could not save them, and be- 31 362 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. sought his alliance to fight, against me. I, Sar- gon, the noble prince, revering the oath of Assur and Merodach, guarding the honor of Assur, passed my warriors of my guard over the rivers Tigris and Euphrates in their full flood. And he, Yavan, their king, who trusted in his own might, and did not submit to my do- minion, heard of the advance of my expedition to the land of the Hittites, and the majesty of Assur, my lord, overwhelmed him, and he fled away to the border of Egypt, the shore of the river at the boundary of Meroe ... he took part under the waters ... a place re- mote, and his hiding-place was not discovered. The cities of Ashdod and Gimzo of the Ashdo- dites I besieged and captured. His gods, his wife, his sons, and his daughters, his furniture and goods, and the treasures of his palace, with the people of his country, I counted as a spoil, and I built those cities a second time. I seated within them people, the conquests of my hands, from the midst of the countries of the rising sun; and I placed them with the people of As- syria, and they performed my pleasure." (Rule, Oriental Records, Monumental, pp. 188, 189.) This conquest was about 716 B. C. (Isaiah x and xi.) How wonderful are the confirmations of the Book of God ! XXIX. .©ttradjprii Jfp Rin- ses . XXIX. SENNACHERIB (B. C. 705-681), king of Assyria, Sin~akki-irib, a name found in He- brew, Assyrian, and Grecian annals, a great character in Oriental history, in his pride and selfishness calls himself " the great king, the powerful king, the king of nations, the king of Assyria, the king of the four regions, the dili- gent ruler, the favorite of the great gods, the observer of sworn faith, the guardian of the law, the embellisher of public buildings, the noble hero, the strong warrior, the first of kings, the punisher of unbelievers, the destroyer of wicked men." (Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, Vol. II, p. 178.) His reign, like that of most Oriental mon- archs, was inaugurated with troubles at home and abroad. Having settled his domestic diffi- culties, in B. C. 703 he invaded Babvlonia. where Merodach-Baladan had revolted upon his accession to the throne, defeated the combined armies of Babylonians and Susianians in the vicinity of Kis, overran Chaldsea, and plundered 365 366 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. twenty-six large towns and four hundred and twenty villages. Re turning, he passed as a scourge over the territories of the Middle Euphra- tes, inhabited by Aramaean tribes, gathered much spoil, and carried into captivity more than two hundred thousand of the inhabitants. The next year he conquered the tribes of the Zagros. Under Hezekiah, Judea had thrown off the Assyrian yoke. The Phoenician states had also asserted their independence. Ekron had ban- ished her king, Padi, who remained loyal to Assyria, and sent him bound in chains to Jeru- salem, where he had been received by Hezekiah and kept under close ward. In B. C. 701, the mighty monarch invaded Syria. "Now, in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, did Sennacherib, king of Assyria, come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them." (2 Kings xviii, 13.) The inscriptions of Sennacherib give the details of this campaign : " On my third expedition I marched to the country of the Chatti. The fear of the glory of my supremacy threw down Luli, the king of Sidon, and he fled far away into the midst of the sea. I brought his land into subjection. Greater Sidon, Lesser Sidon, Bit-Zite, Sarepta, Machalliba, Ushu, Akzib, Akko, his fortified and SENNACHERIB THE MIGHTY. 367 walled cities, the emporia for food and drink, the garrison cities, I threw down with the power of the weapons of Assur, my lord, and they cast themselves down at my feet. I placed Tuba al upon the throne over them, and imposed upon them tax and tribute of my power as yearly and regular contributions. "Minchimmu, of the city Samsimurun, Tu- ba'al of Sidon, Abdilite of Arvad, Ummilki of Byblos, Mitinti of Ashdod, Puduil of Bit-Am- mon, Kummusunadbi of Moab, Malik (?) ram of Edom — all these kings of the western country, a far-stretching district, brought their valuable presents together with sasu to me, and kissed my feet. Zidka, however, the king of Ashkelon, who had not submitted to my yoke, together with the gods of his paternal house, himself, his wife, his sons, daughters, brothers, the family of the house of his father, I dragged away and led them down to Assyria. Sarruludari, the son of Rukibtu, their former king, I put over the inhab- itants of Ashkelon ; and I imposed upon him, as a submissive servant, the deliverance of the tribute and presents for my rule. "In the course of my expedition I besieged, captured, and plundered the places Bit-Dagan, Joppa, Bene-Barak, Azuru, the cities of Zidka, which did not at once submit themselves to me. 368 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. The rulers, the nobles, and the inhabitants of Ekron, who had put into iron chains their king, Padi, who was obedient to the laws and the oath of Assyria, and had delivered him over into the hands of Hezekiah of Judea — in a wicked man- ner the latter locked him up in a dark cell — these began to fear in their hearts. They called to- gether the kings of Egypt, the bowmen, wagons, the horses of the kings of Ethiopia, warriors without number; and these came to help them. In front of the city of Eltekh they drew them- selves up against me in battle array, calling out their weapons. With the assistance of my lord Assur I fought with them and overcame them. In the midst of the battle my hands took alive the commander of the wagons and sons of the king (or of the kings) of Egypt, together with the commander of the wagons of the king of Ethiopia. I besieged, captured, and plundered the cities of Eltekh, Timma. " I advanced against the city of Ekron. The rulers and nobles who had committed the crime I slew, and tied their dead bodies to the pillars of the city walls. I led away as captives those inhabitants of the city who had committed evil and wicked deeds. The rest of them, who had not brought upon themselves the curse and crime, concerning whom no sin was found, I SENNACHERIB THE MIGHTY. 369 pardoned. I brought away from Jerusalem Padi, their king, and placed him on the throne over them, and imposed the tribute of my supremacy upon him." This is the first stage in the great campaign. We may almost trace its progress in the prophets. He had climbed the passes of Lebanon. His chariots rolled along the streams, and his host drank up all their waters. He swept the nations like a whirlwind. Hezekiah dared not meet the enemy, and sent his submission. "And Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent to the king of Assyria, to Lachish, saying, I have offended ; return from me ; that which thou put- test on me will I bear. And the kin^ of As- syria appointed unto Hezekiah, king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house. At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah, king of Judah, had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria." (2 Kings xviii, 14-16.) The inscriptions give more of the military details of the war, while not dwelling so fully on its religious aspects. 370 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST " But Hezekiah, of Judaea, who had not sub- mitted to my yoke, forty-six of his fortified and walled cities, and innumerable smaller places of his kingdom, I besieged and took by tramping down the wall, and by storming them, by bloody battle, zu-uk of the feet, by intrigue (?), slaughter, kalbannati. Two hundred thousand one hundred and fifty inhabitants, small and great, male and female, horses, oxen, asses, camels, cattle, and domestic animals, without number, I took away from them, and accounted them booty. But the king himself I inclosed in Jerusalem, his royal city, locked in as in a cage. I threw up bulwarks against him, and whoever came out of the city gate, him I injured. "The cities which I had robbed I separated from his country, and gave them to Mitinti, king of Ashdod, to Padi, king of Ekron, and to Zil- bel, king of Gaza, and thus made his country small. To the former tax I added tribute and presents for my supremacy, and imposed them upon him. But the fear of the glory of my su- premacy cast him, Hezekiah, down ; and the Ara- bians and his friendly disposed subjects, whom he had collected for the defense of Jerusalem, his royal city, were overpowered with terror. Thirty talents of gold, eight hundred talents of silver, jewels, guhle dag-gas-si, large gugme stones, SENNACHERIB THE MIGHTY. 371 ivory boards, ivory chamber-chairs, elephant skins and teeth, Ushu and Urkarinu wood, and many other articles, a heavy imposition, as also his daughters, the women of his palace, male lab and female lub, I had taken after me to Nineveh, the city of my supremacy ; and for the purpose of delivering the tribute, and taking the oath of submission, he sent his ambassadors." (Delitzsch, Herzog's Ileal Encyclopadie, Article " Sanherib." The Independent, June 5, 1884.) Isaiah probably alludes to the desolation of Judaea — Isaiah xxiv. Again th prophet speaks and fills out the picture of the siege (Isaiah xxii), and prophesies in these words : " Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where Da- vid dwelt ! Add ye year to year ; let them kill sacrifices. Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow; and it shall be unto me as Ariel. And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee. And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust." (Isaiah xxix, 1-4.) Having received the submission of Hezekiah 372 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. Sennacherib returned to Nineveh. His second campaign in Palestine was probably two years later. The occasion was the revolt of Hezekiah and his alliance with the king of Egypt. Again the Assyrian king advanced to Lachish. He de- tached a body of troops from his army and sent them under the command of a tartan or general, and Rabshakeh, his chief cupbearer, and Rabsaris his chief eunuch, to demand the surrender of Jerusalem. Hezekiah sent three high officials outside the walls to negotiate. Rabshakeh de- livered an insulting message, and endeavored to raise a tumult in the city. Gaining nothing, the Assyrians returned to the king, who had left Lachish and gone on to Libnah. Sennacherib sent messengers with a letter to Hezekiah, in which he reminded him of the nations whom the Assyrians had subdued, showed the folly of resistance, and urged him to submit. Hezekiah spread the letter before the Lord, and Isa- iah declared, " Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Behold I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor, and shall return to his own land ; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own hand." (2 Kings xix, 6, 7.) The Assyrian had left Libnah, and had SENNACHERIB THE MIGHTY. 373 pitched his camp against the Egyptian camp at Pelusium. " And it came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred four-score and five thousand, and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed, and went und returned, and dwelt at Nineveh." (2 Kings xix, 35, 36.) Great was the deliverance. As it was fore- told in prophecy, so it is celebrated in sacred song. The army may have been destroyed by a pestilence (Isaiah xxxvii, 7), or by a storm (Isaiah xxx, 29). The monuments give us several points of connection with this narrative as related in the Bible. Rabshakeh, in the name of his master, proudly boasts : " Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed ; as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the chil- dren of Eden which were in Thelasar ? Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivah'?" " Behold thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by de- stroying them utterly ; and shalt thou be deliv- ered ?" (2 Kings xix, 12, 13, 11.) When we read the records of the conquests of Assyrian 374 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. monarchs, making all possible allowance for ex- aggeration, we are thoroughly convinced that this is no empty boast. The record of the campaigns of Sennacherib preceding his wars in Palestine presents a long list of names of conquered na- tions and captured cities, some of which repre- sented the same territory as that here reviewed by Rabshakeh. (Talbot, Records of the Past, Vol. I, pp. 25-32.) In his first expedition he carried into captivity two hundred and eight thou- sand people, and in his second "the inhabitants, small and great, . . . until none were left." Lachish, a strong Phoenician city, is not men- tioned in the annals of Sennacherib, in which he records his signal victories. There are sculp- tured slabs in the British Museum representing the siege of a great city " defended by double walls with battlements and towers, and by for- tified earthworks." Against this the besiegers raised siege towers. The defenders " thronged the battlements and towers, showering arrows, javelins, stones, and blazing torches upon the assailants," while the attacking party "poured water with large ladles upon the flaming brands which threatened to destroy the engines." Another bas-relief represents the king seated in his magnificent chair of state, while from the gateway issues a procession of captives. The king SENNACHERIB THE MIGHTY. 375 receives them and the immense spoil. Above all is the inscription : " Sennacherib, king of na- tions, king of Assyria, sitting on his throne, causes the spoils of the city of Lachish to pass before him." Here, cer- tainly, is a wonderful confirmation of the accu- racy of the history of the author of Second Kings. (Talbot, Rec- ords of the Past, Vol. I, pp. 35, 36.) The destruction of the Assyrian army, and the consequent retreat to Nineveh, are not men- tioned in the inscrip- tions. Oriental mon- archs record only their victories. A tradition of this destruction was, however, preserved in Egypt, and related to Herodotus. Speaking of the priest king Sethos, who had offended the warrior class, Herodotus says : " Afterwards, therefore, when Sennacherib, king of the Arabians and Assyrians, marched Sennacherib on his Throne 376 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. his vast army into Egypt, the warriors one and all refused to come to his aid. On this the monarch, greatly distressed, entered into the inner sanctuary, and before the image of the god bewailed the fate which impended over him. As he wept he fell asleep, and dreamt that the god came and stood at his side, bidding him be 4 ^w DEFENSE OF LACHISH. of good cheer, and go boldly forth and meet the Arabian host, which would do him no hurt, as he himself would send those who should help him. Sethos, then, relying on the dream, col- lected such of the Egyptians as were willing to follow him, who were none of them warriors, but traders, artisans, and market-people ; and with these marched to Pelusium, which com- mands the entrance into Egypt, and there pitched SENNACHERIB THE MIGHTY. 377 his camp. As the two armies lay here opposite one another, there came in the night a mulitude of field-mice, which devoured all the quivers and bow-strings of the enemy, and ate the thongs by which they managed their shields. Next morning they commenced their flight, and great multitudes fell, as they had no arms with which to defend themselves. There stands to this day, in the temple of Vulcan, a stone statue of Seth'os, with a mouse in his hand, and an inscription to this effect, 'Look on me, and learn to reverence the gods.' ' (Herodotus ii, 141.) Apollo Smintheus was represented on coins of Alexandria Troas with a mouse in his hand, and in his temple at Chryse there was a statue with a mouse under his foot. The people of Troas revered mice, "because they gnawed the bow- strings of their enemies." The mouse was a symbol of invisible destruction. The Egyptian tradition agrees with the Hebrew account that the cause of the defeat of the Assyrian army was providential and miraculous. An English poet has caught the spirit of the scene of the overthrow of Sennacherib's army so well that it is worthy of quotation : " The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold ; 32 378 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea, When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee. Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green, That host with their banners at sunset were seen : Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown, That host on the morrow lay withered and strown. For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed ; And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still! And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide, But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride : And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf, And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf. And there lay the rider distorted and pale, With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail ; And the tents were all silent, the banners alone, The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown. And the widows of Asshur are loud in their wail, And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal ; And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword, Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord !" (Byron, Hebrew Melodies ; Works, Riverside Edition, Vol. I, pp. 199, 200.) XXX. Jbttrl|itiiWtt + 379 XXX. " 00 Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed, O and went, and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was wor- shiping in the house of Nisroch, his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ar- menia. And Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his stead." (2 Kings xix, 36, 37; Isaiah xxxvii, 37, 38.) Unexpected light is let in upon this subject from the Assyrian records. Esar- haddon was not the eldest son of Sennacherib, and was not the presumptive heir to the throne. He was, however, the favorite son of his father, who made a will — the earliest will known — leaving for Esarhaddon a treas- ure, which was deposited with certain priests of Nebo, to be paid over to him after his father's 381 NISROCH. 382 WITNESSES FROM THE DUST. death. We present this rare and unique old document. "I, Sennacherib, king of multitudes, king of Assyria, have given chains of gold, stores of ivory, a cup of gold, crowns and chains besides, all the riches of which there are heaps, crystal and another precious stone and bird's stone ; one and a half manehs, two and a half cibi, accord- ing to their weight ; to Esarhaddon, my son, who was afterwards named Assur-ebil-mucin-pal, ac- cording to my wish ; the treasure of the temple of Amuk and (Nebo)-irik-erba, the harpists of Nebo." (Sayce, Records of the Past, Vol. I, p. 138.) This undisguised favoritism — by the nature of the gifts evidently looking towards royalty — undoubtedly was one chief cause of the assassi- nation. The two sons thought to take advan- tage of the absence of Esarhaddon, who com- manded the army in the northern confines of the empire. They would slay the king and seize the government, and deal with the general in the field afterwards. Only the promptness and rapidity of Esarhaddon's movements defeated their plans and compelled them to seek their own safety in flight. An inscription found at Konyunjik, though lacking some of the most interesting details because of its fractured con- ESARHADDON. 383 a vow. My liver dition, speaks of the movements of Esarhaddon upon hearing of the death of his father. Fol- lowing a broken line we read : " From my heart I made was inflamed with rage. Immediately I wrote letters (saying) that I assumed the sovereignty of my father's house. Then to Ashur, the Moon, the Sun, Bel, Nebo, Nergal, Ishtar of Nineveh, and Ishtar of Arbela I lifted up my hands. They accepted my prayer. In their gracious favor, an encouraging ora- cle they sent to me: ' Go ! fear not ! We march at thy side ! We aid thy ex- pedition !' For one or two days I did not stir from my position ; I did not move the front of my army, and I did not move my rear ; the tethering ropes of my horses, trained to the double yoke, I did not remove. I did not- strike my camp. But I made haste to provide the needful for the expe- dition. A great snow storm in the month of