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THE KING’S BUSINESS Egyptian Archaeology in Relation to the Bible A LL things are related to the Bible. Of the train of a comet, the brain of an ape; of the actuality of an em By J. H. SAMMIS than mines of precious metals, ai costly gems, so securely and hope- lessly beyond the reach of man tnat their interpretation seems a
pire, or the locality of an hamlet; of the capacity of a water-pot, or the soundings of a sea; of the malignancy of a moon beam, or the efficacy of a fig poultice; of the junction of atoms, or the conjunc tion of planets ; of a spot on the sun, or a stroke in a theta; of a stone from a quarry, or a cylinder from a desert; of a mound in a delta, or a cave in a cliff; of the measure of a fish’s maw, or the motion of a coney’s jaw; the main ques tion is, what are its relations to the Bible? Anthropology, biology, chronology, ge ology, philology, physiology, archaeology, all science is related to the Bible; and when rightly interpreted corroborative of its claims and teachings. Archaeology is intimately related. And of its several departments that of Oriental archaeology most intimately. Of this the Egyptian is perhaps the most interesting and im portant. The climate of Egypt more favorable than even that of the delta of the Tigris and Euphrates, has preserved to us in richer profusion and greater per fection the monuments of antiquity. Her metically sealed in drifts of the desert, or treasured in mountainous masses reared by forces of nature or the art of man, a world of wonders slumbered un molested through centuries unnumbered. The Pharoah and the fairy-land, thus lay, embalmed by the physicians of Egypt and’ the Providence of God, waiting the re moval of their wrappings by the hand of the modern antiquary. Amid grim and gloomy solitudes, dead cities and cities of the dead, the memory monumental of a misty past, lay waiting the accident that should restore them, and their rec- • ords, to the consciousness of the world. A world that once was, it stood in the sand and out of the sand; darkness was upon the face of the deep; the genius Investigation brooded on the face of chaos and there was light; and again the sons of God shout for joy. More inaccessible than sandy wastes; more impenetrable than rocky strong holds; weird and grotesque inscriptions of a long lost language locked a vast treasure of knowledge, more valuable
greater miracle than their preservation. But God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, blest seeming acci dents, shrewd guesses, diligent study and toilsome labors with abounding success. The world of Abraham, Joseph, Moses and the prophets has been recreated; them history and teachings illustrated a, .“ lun^in^ted; and the sacred record gloriously vindicated. The marvelous civilization of the valley of the Nile had already reached its zenith and would ' b®g.™ lts decline, when the “father of the faithful” found refuge there. Per- haps this very Abraham, the “father of a multitude,’’ with his own eyes admired the sculptured representation of his pre decessor, Ab Sha, the “father of sand,” at the court of the great king. By the ' aid of the monuments the career of Jo seph may be traced from the Ishmaelitic caravan, to the house of Potophar, throughout the discharge of his duties, as that great man’s steward; his associa tion and temptation with the faithless wife; his imprisonment at the White. Castle of Memphis, and intercourse with the troubled dreamers. We may follow him from jail to the barber’s, the tailor’s, and the court. We may duplicate his sudden elevation. to a seat beside the throne; the years of famine and the provi dent garnering and distribution of the corn of Egypt, and note the revolution in the economy of land tenure from his day. The surroundings, the schools, the studies, the fellow-students, their tricks and quips, the foster-brother, and the palatial home of Moses are all there. They illustrate ithe nature and incidents of the plagues. The bondage with its bitter •toils and hardships are all pic tured in minute detail. Even the strawed and strawless bricks of Pithom may be seen and handled. The monuments deepen the impres sions and convictions produced by the sacred writings in a multitude of par ticulars. Their theology, also, derives man from a creative act of Deity. Their chronology is within the limits of the Biblical. They deny the claim that they
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