Monumental Sources

Monumental Sources.

The revelations from the mounds of Babylonia and Assyria, made within the last half-century, vitally touch the people of Israel. The close relationship existing between the social, political, and religious systems of that ancient West and East has now been clearly ascertained. The close racial kinship existing between Israel and the great powers centered on the Tigris and the Euphrates gives special significance to the antiquities exhumed from those eastern plains. The fact that Israel's ancestors migrated from Eastern centers, carrying with them the characteristics of their early home-land and people,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, carried 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 ancient life 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 history make the territory in question a fascinating field to the archeologist. The influence of Egypt's 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—for example, in Isaiah's day—Egypt 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 now discovered.

Judaic, Archeology and Biblical

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