Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/119

81 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

81

pie, points likewise to the essential importance of the " finds " brought from Mesopotamia.

Many items of considerable value to Biblical Archeology are discovered in the community of religious requirements and customs between Israel and her overland Eastern neighbors. The aggressiveness of Eastern political influence and power toward the West, in the later periods of Israel's history, earned with it other forces that largely affected the social and commercial fabric of the Palestinian kingdoms. Consequently, there is no land outside of Palestine whose ancient history and antiquities have a more noteworthy significance for Biblical Archeology than the great

Mesopotamian

region.

The imperishable character

of the remains of an-

found in the sands and tombs of Egypt, the proximity of that land to Palestine, and the association of that people and that land with Israel's cient life

history make the territory in question a fascinating The influence of Egypt's field to the archeologist. civilization upon the literature and life of the Jews is especially marked during the patriarchal, the bondage, and the wilderness periods. At intervals

during the later stages of history

—Egypt

—for example, in

exercised no small influence over the life of the Israelites. While many points are still in dispute, some genuine increments of value from Egyptian monumental sources may be even Isaiah's

day

now discovered. The most fruitful

sources of information germane

to the subject are of course the literatures of the

Old

New

Testaments. As has been noted above, due regard must be had from the beginning to the assured re-

and Literary Sources,

The Old sults of Biblical criticism. Testament material must be so used as to gain therefrom full advantage of the best-established results It must be rememof the scholarship of to-day. bered, however, that a systematic archeology for each period of history can not yet be presented; merely the origin and growth of rites and customs through the entire stretch of time are all that have been traced. Uncertainty as to the dates of some of the books of the Bible aggravates the difficulties of

New

Testament material,

less indefinite as to

time, furnishes valuable data regarding the Jews of the first century, particularly those in Palestine. Certain rites and ceremonies prevalent among the sects of that age are relevant and instructive mateEven the circumstances that led up to the rial. death of Jesus are full of interest for the student

The experiences undergone by Paul of archeology. and other apostles in the establishment of the Christian Church often illuminate this subject. The writings

of Josephus, compiled, as they were,

from many and uncertain sources, possess, nevertheless, because of their immense sweep through time, a multitude of apposite data. for his

own

Josephus' partiality

people, and his desire to magnify their

importance throughout their history, have to be guarded against but he provides much material for the portrayal of the life of the ancient Jews. The inter-Biblical apocryphal books, such as I and

II Maccabees, III of Jeremiah, etc.

,

II.—

portance in a systematic study of Biblical Archeology. Philo of Alexandria, though strongly influenced by Greek thought, was a serviceable chronicler of many things Jewish. This mass of literature yields much of genuine value to the archeologist of Sacred Scripture.

The early centuries of the Christian era have left several pertinent documents. The great mass of rabbinical literature (the two Talmuds and the Midrashic collections) is full of facts, statements, and hints concerning the life of the Jewish people. These are often of significant, illustrative importance in the elucidation of Old Testament conditions. The compilations of Manetho, Berosus, and Philo of Byblus yield facts that add materially to some phases of Biblical Archeology. The habits, customs, and religious characteristics of the Jews, as described in early Christian and Greek writings, are also of Arabic literature and antiquities reveal the value. common Semitic character of ancient times, and consequently some elements of Jewish life. The unchangeable and permanent elements of the Oriental Semitic personality are surprisingly illustrative of the ancient Jewish character of the Bible.

and

habits, customs,

and IV Esdras, Judith, the Letter abound in hints and items of im-

The

rites of the inhabitants of the

East, and their mode of existence as a whole, are a living commentary on many passages of Scripture, the thought and significance of which are wholly foreign to a modern Occidental.' Such portions of the Semitic world as are least modified by the aggressions of civilization, like those in the interior of Arabia, seem to maintain in their pristine purity the The closer traits of two or three millenniums ago. one gets to the primitive Semitic man, the nearer in many cases is the approach to a true understanding of his life as it appears in Holy Writ. Out of the material already indicated, Biblical Archeology claims for itself four general divisions, under which it may best be treated; they are (1) the land and people of Palestine (2) domestic or individual antiquities; (3) public or civil antiquities;

sacred or religious antiquities. The character of any land is an essential element in the determination of the charac-

and

I.

(4)

Palestine



teristics of its inhabitants.

the archeologist.

The

Archeology

The mountains and plains,

the valleys and ravines, and the inspiring scenery of adjacent regions made Palestine a land of pleasing variety and of ever-refreshing beauty. Her wide range of climate, her immense list of fauna and flora, satisfied every reasonable demand of her restHer comparative isolation, her natural less people. defensive strength, and her relation to the great civilizations of the East and the West, especially during Israel's national history, emphasize her importance to the people that dwelt within her borders. Palestine was already the home of ancient peoples the Patriarchs first trod upon her soil. The

when

down to live in close proximity So close were to several different minor peoples. their relations that intermarriages reThe Land suited, and an intermingling of every tribes of Israel settled

and

Its

People.

element of domestic, public, and religious

life.

The nation

of Israel, built

such a foundation as this, was a strange conglomeration of diverse elements. Clashes with her minor neighbors, and commercial

upon