17
Tabernacle in the Wilderness
w r i t te n , w e I ievc in th e se vE rious sou rce s , con s id e red es e w ho le , i f n o t En in d e p en d e n t o r d i re c t te s tim o n y t o th e TEbernEcle’s ex is ten ce , ce r ta in ly som e th in g thE t p o in ts cleErly in thE t d irec tion . O r , in o th e r w o rd s , inEsmuch es th e se o ld w r i t in g s , con tE in ing th e vE rious no tic e s End d e s c r ip tio n s w h ich w e hEve m en tion ed , e x is te d EWEy bEck so n e s r to O ld T e s - t sm e n t tim es , th e se m u s t h s v e b een EcquE inted w i th th e b e s t tr a d i t io n s o f th e i r d s y regE rd ing w h s t is tEUght in thE t p a r t o f o u r B ib le ; End, th e re fo r e , th e y m u s t hEve k n ow n m o r e Ebout th e t r u t h o f th in g s es connec ted w i th th e TEbernEcle End i ts reEl ex is ten ce th a n Eny s u th o r i t i e s e x i s t in g in th e s e k t e t im e s o f o u r s po ssib ly cou ld . O r , Et e 11 even ts , th e y k n ew m o r e Ebout th o se m E tters thEn s n y o f th e m e re g u es s w o rk specu lE tions o f m o d e rn h ig h e r c r it ic s po ss ib ly e s n , o r Ere in e co n d i tio n to know .* 2. But there is another kind of evidence, of this externEl nEture. which is more direct End independent, End therefore more significEnt with regErd to the TEbernEcle s existence. ThEt evidence is what mEy be cslled the archaeological con tribution to our Ergument. PErt of it will be given later ;t but here we will simply call attention, first, to the fact that in all the region of Mt. Sinai there are to be seen at least some evidences of the possible presence there, even as is recorded *The value of this evidence is of course only that which belongs to tradition; still it should be remembered that this tradition is a writ ten one, dating away back to near the times of the Old Testament. Moreover, it could be shown that this same kind of written tradition reaches back through the later books of the Old Testament, at least m a negative way, even to the time of Ezra; who surely ought to know whether, as the critics say, the story of the Tabernacle as a fact of history was invented in his own day and generation. But inasmuch as Ezra does not tell us anything about that matter, it stands to reason, that as has since been reported by this long line of tradition, mo s t o f i t being of a positive nature, no such invention ever took place, but.«1®* this story is simply a narrative of actual fact. At all events, as said in the text it is far more likely that this old and long-continued tradition is correct in what it asserts, than is any of the denials of the higher critics. tSee pp. 41-43.
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