The Fundamentals - 1910: Vol.2

CHAPTER II. THE RECENT TESTIMONY OF ARCHAEOLOGY TO THE SCRIPTURES. BY M. G. KYLE, D. D., LL. D., EGYPTOLOGIST. PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY, XENIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. CONSULTING EDITOR OF THE RECORDS OF THE PAST, WASH­ INGTON, D. C. fc (The numbers in parentheses throughout this article refer to the notes at the end of the article.) INTRODUCTION. “Recent” is a dangerously capacious word to intrust to an archaeologist. Anything this side of the Day of Pentecost is “recent” in biblical archaeology. For this review, however, anything since 1904 is accepted to be, in a general way, the meaning of the word “recent.” “Recent testimony of archaeology” may be either the testi­ mony of recent discoveries or recent testimony of former dis­ coveries. A new interpretation, if it be established to be a true interpretation, is a discovery. For to uncover is not al­ ways to discover; indeed, the real value of a discovery is not its emergence, but its significance, and the discovery of its real significance is the real discovery. The most important testimony to the Scriptures of this five- year archaeological period admits of some classification: I. THE HISTORICAL SETTING OF THE PATRIARCHAL RE­ CEPTION IN EGYPT. The reception in Egypt accorded to Abraham and to Jacob and his sons(1) and the elevation of Joseph there(2) per- 29

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