Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 53:212 (Oct 1896)
Article: Israel In Egypt
Author: A. A. Berle

BSac 53:212 (Oct 1896) p. 745

Israel In Egypt

A. A. Berle

Boston, Mass.

Ever since the modern methods of biblical research have begun to influence and direct the thought of students of the Scriptures, the Egyptian question has been one of the most puzzling of all. It is true enough that there was abundant literature which professed to clear up the entire subject and solve all the difficulties; on every hand there were ready explanations offered, and more than one of these facile masters of the art of literary and historical reconciliation expressed wonder and contempt that there should be any doubts left in the minds of any on the matter of the historical relations of Israel and Egypt.

In addition to the inherent difficulties of the subject from the historical point of view, there was the added suspicion that we had no substantial foundation in the biblical narratives themselves; not that they were untrustworthy in the sense of giving information which could be denominated false, but that there were “strains” of tradition manifest, which created great confusion. Until the book of Judges was thus carefully analyzed, and the various “strains” according to geographical distribution determined, the whole history, speaking broadly, was a mass of helpless and seemingly inextricable confusion. Out of this wilderness we have now in a reasonable measure safely emerged.

Again, the question of Israel’s unity in its historical development presented confusing features. For example, while Israel was in Egypt there appears, in some cases at least, to have been no lapse in the continuity of the tradition of persons and places in Palestine. Certainly this would seem to prove that a portion of Israel was therefore not in Egypt during the captivity, and that the Exodus and entrance to Canaan partook in some degree of a reunion. This made it sometimes hard to decide what branch of the race was uppermost in the creation of the records which have come to us, and added new perplexities to an already overcharged situation.

Moreover the just claim to confidence which the Bible had, helped to make the task more difficult than it would ordinarily have been, because the investigations were carried out on biblical lines. Now with a false biblical method, and an utterly wrong point of view historically, complicated with an over-zealous haste to vindicate the Scriptures by all means,

BSac 53:212 (Oct 1896) p. 746

progress was slow and not very certain. Nor has it proceeded very fast even with a correct historical pointing and a proper spirit of inquiry. To be sure we have books like Mr. Sayce’s “Egypt of the Hebrews” which give a good deal of information, more or less clearly, but are utterly worthless so far as helpin...