24 GREAT PYRAMID, GEOMETRY, ASTRONOMY and one of the oldest, is known as the Great Pyramid. It is thought to have been built by King Cheops more than 3000 years before Christ, and it is by far the largest and most massive building in the world. Its base covers thirteen acres, and it rises 481 feet from the plain. More than two million huge stone blocks went to make it,-more stone than has gone into any other building in the world. Some single blocks weigh over fifty tons; but the edges of the blocks that form the faces are so polished, and so nicely fitted, that the joints can hardly be detected; while the interior chambers, and long, sloping passages between them, are built with such skill that, notwithstanding the immense weight against them, there has been no perceptible settling of the walls in the lapse of five thousand years. Literature and the Hieroglyphs.-The Egyptians wrote religious books, poems, histories, travels, novels, orations, treatises upon morals, scientific works, geographies, cook-books, catalogues, and collections of fairy stories, ... Science. The Nile has been called the father of Egyptian science. The frequent need of surveying the land after an inundation had to do with the skill of the early Egyptians in geometry. The need of fixing in advance the exact time of the inundation directed attention to the true "year," and so to astronomy. Great progress was made in both these studies. We moderns, who learn glibly from books and diagrams the results of this early labor, can hardly understand how difficult was the task of these first scientific observers. WILLIS MASON WEST, Sometime Professor of History and Head of the Department in the University of Minnesota, The Ancient World From the Earliest Times to 800 A. D. Revised Edition, pp. 13, 26, 30, 31, 32, 34, 36. 11. Could a history of the Israelites have been written in the time of Moses? BIBLE EVIDENCE. Exodus 24:4-And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord,... Matthew 8:1-4-When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him. And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them. SECULAR EVIDENCE. In 1887 some Arabs discovered a wonderful collection of tablets at Tel el-Amarna, an obscure settlement on the east bank of the Nile, about two hundred miles above Cairo and about as far below Thebes. These tablets were of clay, which had been written over with cuneiform inscriptions, such as are found in Babylonia, and then burnt, so as to be indestructible. When at length the inscriptions were deciphered, it appeared that they were a collection of official letters, which had been sent shortly before 1300 B. C. to the last kings of the eighteenth dynasty. There were in all about three hundred letters,... REASON WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE 25 The discovery of these Tel el-Amarna letters came like a flash of lightning upon the scholarly world. In this case the overturning of a few spadefuls of earth let in a flood of light upon the darkest portion of ancient history, and in every way confirmed the Bible story. As an official letter-writer, Rib-addi has had few equals, and he wrote on material which the more it was burned the longer it lasted. Those who think that a history of Israel could not have been written in Moses' time, and that, if written, it could not have been preserved, are reasoning without due knowledge of the facts. Considering the habits of the time, it would have been well nigh a miracle if Moses and his band of associates coming out of Egypt had not left upon imperishable clay tablets a record of the striking events through which they passed. PROF. GEORGE FREDERICK WRIGHT, D.D., LL.D., Oberlin College, The Fundamentals, Vol. I, pp. 303, 306, 307. This is very important. Whole libraries have been rendered worthless by the new facts brought to light concerning the civilization of these epochs. These were periods in Egypt of great literary activity, while the wealth and "culture" of the people are yet an amazement to those who walk through the ancient cities and view the splendid temples and palaces still remaining unequaled among the architectural wonders of the world. The art found at Tell el Amarna was, in some respects, equal to that which arose in Greece more than seven centuries later. The throne room of an ancient Pharaoh, dug up at Memphis a year or two ago, was comparable, both in size and grandeur of construction, to the palaces now in Windsor and Potsdam.... Books, letters, legal documents, treaties, and in fact almost every kind of literature known to us were being published, many of them in magfiicent editions, especially the religious texts, in the days of Abraham and Moses quite as freely as in the days of David or Ezra. At least six different languages were being studied and used by scholars and diplomats at the very era when, according to the Hebrew memory, Moses was being instructed in "all the wisdom of Egypt." CAMDEN M. COBERN, D.D., Litt.D., Professor of English Bible and Philoso- 12. Did the prophecy that the Israelites would be slaves come true? BIBLE EVIDENCE. Genesis 15:13-And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not their's, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; Exodus 1:8,13.-Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: SECULAR EVIDENCE. Egypt is divided into the Upper and the Lower sections... The Gizeh Pyramids are on the western border of the Nile valley, seven miles southwest of Cairo.... To the ethnologist and the anti 26 PHARAOH OF THE OPPRESSION quarian, the celebrated Gizeh Museum, situated in a luxuriant garden on the road to the pyramids, is one of the most inviting spots on earth. The large building consists of forty galleries stored with sculptures, tablets, and implements of the most ancient times in endless array. They tell a mute but vivid story of the arts and customs of those times. One room is called the royal gallery, in which are arranged the mummies of the Pharaohs who reigned over Egypt for more than two thousand years. As they lie in their glass cases, they tell the visitor an eloquent story without words, of earthly glory, which vanishes like the flowers of the field that blossom for a moment, and are then gone forever. The most interesting one to me was that of Rameses II, the oppressor of Israel. His lips, teeth, and entire countenance are still preserved, and one can almost hear his words of defiance and cruelty. With what strange sensations does one gaze into the features of a man who acted a prominent part in sacred history previous to the exode! G. C. TENNEY, Journeys by Land and Sea, pp. 282, 287, 288, 290. The possession at Gizeh Museum of the mummy of the Pharaoh of the oppression, Rameses II, and a tablet of the time of Meneptah II, bearing the name "Israel," add great vividness to the bondage of Israel in Egypt. IRA M. PRICE, Ph.D., The Monuments and the Old Testament, p. 293. But the museum at Bulak is not an ordinary museum by any means. But most interesting of all in this marvelous room are the coffins and the mummies of Sethi I and his son Rameses II, ... ... We know, indeed, that Rameses II reigned for sixty-seven years, and that he must have been nearly one hundred years old when he died. REV. FRANCIS E. CLARK, D.D., President of the United Society of Christian Endeavor, Our Journey Around the World, pp. 403, 404, 406, 414. 13. Did the enslaved Israelites build for Pharaoh, King of Egypt, Pithom and Raamses? BIBLE EVIDENCE. Exodus 1:11-Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. SECULAR EVIDENCE. In the mound of Tel-el-Maskhuta, near Tel-el-Kebir, M. Navile, acting for the Egyptian Exploration Fund in 1880, found the ruins of Pithom, "the treasure city" (Exod. 1:11), which also was called Succoth (Exod. 12.37), and was, therefore, the first station on the route of the Exodus. Here were strong treasure houses, with massive walls of sun-baked bricks, some with and some without straw (Exod. 5.7). The bricks are stamped with the cartouche of Rameses II., whom we must now identify with the Pharaoh of the oppression. W. ST. CHAD BOSCAWEN. BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW 27 But most interesting of all, in 1883, there were uncovered, a short distance east of Bubastis, the remains of vast vaults, which had evidently served as rceptacles for storing grain preparatory to supplying military and other expeditions setting out for Palestine and the far East. Unwittingly, the engineers of the railroad had named the station Rameses. But from the inscriptions that were found it is seen that its original name was Pithom, and its founder was none other than Rameses II., and it proves to be the very place where it is said in the Bible that the children of Israel "built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and Raamses" (Ex. 1:11), when the Egyptians "made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar and in brick." PROF. GEORGE FREDERICK WRIGHT, D.D., LL.D., Oberlin College, The Fundamentals, Vol. I, p. 299. 14. Did the Israelites in bondage have to make bricks without straw? BIBLE EVIDENCE. Exodus 5:10-13-And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spake to the people,saying, Thus saith Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. Go ye, get you straw where ye can find it: yet not ought of your work shall be diminished. So the people were scattered abroad througout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw. And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw. SECULAR EVIDENCE. On the frontier of Egypt the Land of Goshen has been thoroughly explored and the cities of Raamses and Pithom have been discovered, these being the cities which, according to the Bible, the Israelites built while in bondage (Ex. 1:11). In the corners of the walls of the latter city Villiers Stuart found "bricks without straw," and the present writer found later the same thing in entire walls, these walls being contiguous to others in which straw was used and close to sections of walls where only stubble was used (cf. Ex. 5:1-19). CAMDEN M. COBERN, D.D., Litt.D., in The Biblical Review, W. W. White, It was in conection with the building of these cities that the oppression of the children of Israel reached its climax, when they were compelled (after the straw with which the brick were held together failed) to gather for themselves stubble which should serve the purpose of straw, and finally, when even the stubble failed, to make brick without straw (Ex. 5). Now, as these store pits at Pithom were uncovered by Mr. Petrie, they were found (unlike anything else in Egypt) to be built with mortar. Moreover, the lower layers were built of brick which contained straw, while the middle layers were made of brick in which stubble, instead of straw, had been used in their formation, and the upper layers were of brick made without straw. A more perfect circumstantial confirmation of the Bible account could not be imagined. Every point in the confirmation consists of unexpected discoveries. The use of mortar is elsewhere unknown in Ancient Egypt, as is the peculiar succession in the quality of the brick used in the construction of the walls. Thus have all Egyptian explorations shown that the writer of the Pentateuch had such a familiarity with the country, the civilization, and the history of Egypt as could have been obtained only by intimate, personal experience. The leaf which is here given is in its right place. It could not have been inserted except by a participant in the events, or by direct Divine revelation. PROF. GEORGE FREDERICK WRIGHT, D.D., LL.D., The Fundamentals, Vol. I, pp. 299, 300. 15. Was the prophecy that the Israelites would be freed from Egyptian slavery fulfilled? BIBLE EVIDENCE. Genesis 15:13, 14-And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not their's, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. Exodus 12:40-42-Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations. SECULAR EVIDENCE. Passover,... Why instituted-This feast was instituted by God to commemmorate the deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage and the sparing of their first-born when the destroying angel smote the first-born of the Egyptians. The deliverance from Egypt was regarded as the starting-point of the Hebrew nation. WILLIAM SMITH, LL.D., Bible Dictionary, Revised and Edited by F. N. and M. A. Peloubet, p. 484. The bodies of the Pharaoh of the Oppression and the Pharaoh of the Exodus have both been recovered, as well as large fragments of the official records of these reigns. It is thrilling to read the many inscriptions which mention Mer-en-Ptah, the traditional Pharaoh from whom the Israelites escaped. . . . It is in Merenptah's Hymn of Victory that the reference to the Israelites is found, a reference which stands alone and without parallel in the ancient records. CAMDEN M. COBERN, D.D., Litt.D., in The Biblical Review, pp. 14, 15, January, 1918. There are moments in the life both of men and of nations, both of the world and of the Church, when vast blessings are gained, vast dangers averted, through our own exertions-by the sword of the conqueror, by the genius of the statesman, by the holiness of the saint. Such, in Jewish history, was the conquest of Palestine by Joshua, the deliverances wrought by Gideon, by Samson, and by David. Such, in |