| Show 1 1 f 0 r rt t t s bible critics sile silenced need x in face of evidence the crucial question about the pot shards inscribed with hebrew writing discovery of which Is announced from the site of ancient to in palestine Is that of date hebrew scholarship at the university at jerusalem undoubtedly Is adequate to deal with the problem from the standpoint of language and script as are the experts of doctor Starlie Star keys ys expedition to deal with it as held field archaeologists archeologists something must be allowed perhaps for enthusiasm engendered by a truly remarkable discovery and time must be granted for would be critics of the ancient dates amsl assigned ned to examine the evidence for themselves and express approval or marshal their contrary arguments if it be true that the documents found date from to 1000 B C the discovery Is difficult to overestimate in its importance to biblical studies like so many happenings of recent arche archaeological archeological years it gives the biblical text test that has come down to us added stature as a historical document most bloat of the previous discoveries which have done this were babylonian it has been a generation cener atlon since the originals of the bible stories of the creation and of the flood were found on cuneiform tablets but it Is a few years since the flood was identified both at ur tir and kish as an unquestionable historical event yen though it may not have sub berged quite so much of the world is As literal interpreters of the cible lal eal text test sometimes imagine the story of creation emerges as a Su merlan account of how mesopotamia was reclaimed from the sea and the rivers most recent of all the confirmations are the discoveries at ur which reinforce previous knowledge of Su merlan customs and law to show almost perfect verl s t in th the e bible 3 i b i e a stories t or 1 es 0 of f ude abraham A h a avea E en the tl ie dream d r e n m of 0 f jacobs J a cob s ladder doctor woolley suggests suggests may have been a memory of white robed Su merlan priests marching up and down the great ladder like stairs of the ziggurat at babylon original of the tower of babel considered quite aside from its devotional and religious characteristics and purely as a historical document the bible has experienced within two generations one complete swing of the pendulum of expert opinion from slavishly liters literal acceptance cep tance of every word and punctuation mark opinion of bible scholars swung far to the opposite dextre extreme me of doubting every historical event recorded even the exodus or the existence of abraham now the balance Is becoming truer proof satisfactory to the most rigid logician now Is available tor for many of the bible episodes more appears with every thorough bit of excavation that Is done the dream of the first excavators excava tors of bible lands that they would add light and solidity to the stories in the book they loved gradually Is coming true new york herald tribune |
