We must remember that a large portion of the Old Testament consists in the history of that chosen line which connected the Lord Jesus Christ with Abraham, and that the country which we generally call “Palestine” was given to that family as their home. It was in that country that Abraham sojourned, and that his family lived for the 1,400 years between the Exodus and the Advent. It is obvious therefore that the history of that family during all those centuries must abound in allusions to the different places in that country, and as the history enters very much into social life, we must naturally expect very frequent allusions to the places in which the people lived.
It is important for us also to remember that the history was not one book written by one author at one time, but that much of it was evidently contemporary history; so that there were different books written by different authors at different times, beginning with Moses 3,300 years ago, and ending, as some suppose, with Ezra, or Nehemiah, about 2,300 years ago.
Now the question is, “Do the various allusions to places which lie scattered up and down the history agree or disagree with what we know of those places from observation on the spot?” Through the patient labours of some eminently scientific men working for the Palestine Exploration Fund, we know a vast deal more of the country than has ever been known since the dispersion of the people. We have before us the result of a most careful scientific survey, from which we may learn in perfect confidence the evidence of the rocks. What we have to do therefore is to lay side by side the evidence of the rocks and the evidence of the Books—to compare the two carefully, and to ascertain whether or not the “witnesses” agree. The ancient rule was, that “out of the mouth of two witnesses shall every word be established.” Here then there are two witnesses—the rocks and the Books—do they or do they not agree?
Let us begin with the Book of Joshua, a book recording the original invasion of the country, and the distribution of the land among the tribes. In the ten chapters, beginning with the 13th, we have a full account of that distribution, and a clear definition of the boundaries of eleven tribes, with a list of forty-eight cities assigned to the sons of Levi. This list and these boundaries have been most carefully examined by the officers of the Palestine Exploration Fund, and the remarkable result is that they can trace almost every place mentioned in Joshua; and what is more remarkable still, “there is scarcely a village which does not retain for its desolate heap or its modern hovels the Arabic equivalent for the name written down by Joshua 3,300 years ago.” In many cases there is nothing more than a cluster of a few wretched Arab huts, or a heap of shapeless ruins; but so complete has been the identification that there is no doubt left respecting Joshua’s boundaries; and if the Jews were to return to-morrow, and in returning were to observe the distinction of the tribes, those officers could at once point out to them their several homes, and show them exactly what portion of the country was originally assigned to them by lot.