Because Gen. 1 throughout used the name of God (Elohim), and Gen. 2, employs the names, the LORD God (Jehovah Elohim), Jean Astruc (1753), a profligate French physician, started the theory that Genesis was composed by two authors. He did not grasp the plain fact that Gen. 1 gives us the story of the creation of the world, and, following a state of chaos into which the original creation had fallen, its reconstruction. Therefore the name of God (Elohim) was suitable. But when we come to Gen. 2, the narrative is centered on the creation of man and woman. It is not the story of creation in detail. Nothing is said of the six days of reconstruction. Verse 5 tells us of God's provision for the food of man; verse 6 how fertility was sustained by the watering of the earth with a mist; verse 7 gives us the creation of man; verses 8 to 15, the arrangement for his habitation; verses 21 to 25 the creation of Eve, the helpmeet for Adam. Now Jehovah is the name God takes in relation to His creatures. It is His covenant name. How fitting that the name Jehovah should be added to that of Elohim.
What would reasonable men think if a history of the great Napoleon were written, and because in one chapter it spoke of Napoleon, and in another chapter of Napoleon Buonaparte, it was argued that the book was necessarily written by two authors. Yet on such trivial grounds the methods of Modernism were launched.
The German Higher Critic, Wellhausen, went still further when he announced that no less than twenty-two different authors were responsible for the Books of Moses. The fact that his authors were all anonymous deepens suspicion. Would twenty-two brilliant authors collaborate in the composition of a book, and leave no trace of their identity behind? We are not credulous enough to believe such a thing possible.
The late Canon Cheyne was a well-known English Higher Critic, who followed in the steps of Wellhausen, and even surpassed him in his wild guesses. Bishop Welldon, commenting on his methods, writes: -" At the hands of such a critic as the late Dr. Cheyne it [Higher Criticism] aspires to fix the dates not only of particular books, but even of particular chapters and even verses in the same book. Dr. Cheyne's method of treating the Psalter and the Prophetical books falls little short of insanity " {Modernism, p. 4).
For many years the Higher Critics have pursued their evil way. Many of them are entrenched as Professors in the Universities and Theological Colleges, poisoning the minds of the young men, who are preparing for the ministry, who in their turn will pass on their evil teaching to their congregations with very fearful results.
Many earnest Christians have seen through their methods, and detected the sophistry of their "assured results." Up to quite recently there has been no striking present-day example to prove the reliability or otherwise of their methods.
That example has now arrived. We can only see the hand of God in the matter. We will give it very briefly.
A literary lady in Canada, Miss Florence Deeks, wrote the story of the part women have played in history, under the title of The Web, and lodged her manuscript in the keeping of the Canadian branch of the well-known publishing house of Macmillan in Toronto.
A few months later appeared The Outline of History by Mr. H. G. Wells, published also by Macmillan, but from their London office.
When Miss Deeks read the Outline of History, she was struck by the fact that Mr. Wells had introduced ideas and incidents, which also appeared in her book, and that many of the phrases were common to both. She came to the conclusion that Mr. Wells must have had access to her manuscript and was guilty of gross plagiarism.
Seeing that there was no proof that Mr. Wells had seen the manuscript of The Web, a means of convincing a court of law that plagiarism had really happened must be discovered. Why not try the methods employed by the Higher Critics? Why not get an expert of wide experience on these lines?
So Miss Deeks took her case to the Rev. W. A. Irwin, M.A., B.D., Ph.D., at that time an associate professor of Ancient and Old Testament Languages and Literature at Toronto University, afterward Professor of Old Testament Languages and Literature at Chicago University. The Professor in accepting the task said: -" I consented in considerable measure because this is the sort of task with which my study of ancient literature repeatedly confronts me, and I was interested to test out in modern works the methods commonly applied to those of the ancient world."
So he diligently pursued his task, and at length formulated his "assured results" in much detail, proving, as he claimed, that Mr. Wells had access to Miss Deeks' manuscript, that he had made free use of it, and had been guilty of considerable plagiarism.
Miss Deeks then brought action against Mr. H. G. Wells and the Macmillan publishers in a Canadian court, claiming $500,000, or about £100,000 damages.
This court dismissed the case. Miss Deeks, not satisfied, carried her case to a Court of Appeal, but with the same result. Miss Deeks then carried the case to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, London, the highest legal tribunal in the British Empire. Again and finally the case was given in favor of Mr. H. G. Wells and the Macmillan publishers.
At these trials it was sworn on oath that Miss Deeks’ manuscript had never been in the hands of Mr. H. G. Wells, that it had remained in secure custody in the safe of the Macmillan Company in Toronto, that no copy of the manuscript in part or whole had been made, that in short no leakage of information had taken place, and that Mr. H. G. Wells did not even know of the existence of the manuscript. The verdict of the House of Lords was unanimous in dismissing the case.
What must have been the feelings of the Rev. W. A. Irwin, M.A., B.D., Ph.D., when he heard one of the Canadian judges, The Hon. Mr. Justice Riddell, a well-known legal luminary, famous throughout Canada and the United States, describing his "assured results" with such epithets as the following, "Fantastic Hypotheses," " Solemn Nonsense," " Comparisons without significance," י " Arguments and conclusions alike puerile."
Professor Irwin was in a splendid position to arrive at "assured results" when he had before him both documents in question, and both of recent dates; whereas the critics deal with very ancient documents, generally written in dead languages. If Professor Irwin failed so lamentably in the case of what was comparatively easy, what chance have the "assured results" relating to the Ancient Scriptures of being anything else than "solemn nonsense" and "fantastic hypotheses"?
A smashing blow has been dealt against the Higher Critical methods in dealing with the Holy Scriptures. The hand of God is behind the blow, we believe.
One very ancient " assured result" that was stoutly upheld by many learned men, and was considered by many unanswerable in my young days, was that it was impossible for Moses to be the Author of the Books that bear his name, since writing was quite unknown at that time. Thank God, the spade of the archaeologist has turned up more than soil.
Sir Charles Marston, F.S.A., writes: -" Month by month archaeologists continue to uncover secrets that were hidden several thousand years ago in the soil of Bible lands—of Palestine and Syria, of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Some of these discoveries throw light upon the earlier books of the Bible. A recent find has revealed the alphabetical script in use in Palestine immediately after the time of Moses" {The Bible is True, preface p. v.).
Note this is alphabetical script, but writing in another form was in vogue at a still earlier period. We read: -" We now know that the art of writing in cuneiform on clay tablets was in general use long before the days of Abraham " {The Bible is True, p. 22).
Moses came upon the scene more than two centuries after Abraham's death, and if writing was in vogue before Abraham's day, it was not difficult for Moses to have written the books attributed to him.
There are ten patriarchs mentioned in Gen. 5, which Modernists have treated as legendary and mythical and unworthy of serious attention. But the archaeologist's spade, as we have said, has turned up more than soil. A recently discovered clay prism, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, gives long lists of kings and the dates when they reigned. It commences with a list of eight kings, who were prior to the flood. These correspond with the names of the patriarchs mentioned in Gen. 5.
The Modernist will disbelieve the Bible, until some clay prism turns up, written by heathen hands, and this is believed, even if the Word of God is not. It is awkward for the critics when the " assured results " are discovered to be false. They are then quietly dropped and fresh charges against the Bible are brought forth. If the Bible were reduced to such straits, it would soon be laughed out of court.
We can assuredly make the statement that whenever science and the Bible have been at variance, and fresh light on the subject has enabled a right judgment to be arrived at, the Bible has ALWAYS been right. Similarly when it has been a matter of ancient history, stated in the Bible and refused by the Higher Critics, and the spade of the archaeologist has brought up something that throws light on the subject, it has always been the Higher Critics who are wrong, and the Bible has ALWAYS been right. No book in the world can stand such a test as the Bible. With perfect calmness the Christian can await the labors of the explorers in Bible lands, confident that their discoveries will only confirm what they have believed in the Word of God.
A case in point is interesting. The Rev. James Neil was chaplain to the first bishop of Jerusalem, and was in that city in the early days of the Palestine Exploration Society. Operations were begun under the leadership of Lieutenant Conder. Charles Terry Drake, a descendant of the famous Admiral of that name, was interpreter. He was not a believer, indeed was skeptical in his views. Again and again he would say to Mr. Neil, " It is wonderful: here we are testing the Bible as it has never been tested before. Often we think we find it wrong, but as sure as we stay about three weeks in a place, in EVERY case we find the Bible minutely accurate."
For three years Drake continued at his post and then died, but not before he was convinced of the truth of the Bible, and lost all his skeptical notions. He left a clear testimony to his faith in the Savior, and his confidence in the Word of God.
It is well known that the late Lord Allenby in his Palestine Campaign, culminating in the historic capture of Jerusalem, found the topography of Palestine and the records of the wars in the books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings very helpful in the conduct of the campaign.
The late Professor Sayce, who once was a Higher Critic, but was obliged to reconsider his position in the light of archaeological testimony, wrote: -
"The Babylonia of the age of Abraham was a more highly educated country than the England of George III.... From one end of the civilized and ancient world to the other, men and women were reading and writing and corresponding with one another; schools abounded, and great libraries were formed in an age which the ‘critic' only a few years ago dogmatically declared was almost illiterate" (Monument Facts and Higher Critical Fancies).
When I was young I used to wonder how it was possible for the priests and armed men to perambulate the walls of Jericho seven times in one day. I read about the king of Jericho, and imagined he would rule over a large and imposing place. Professor John Garstang, whom I had the pleasure of meeting in Jerusalem, thoroughly explored the site of Jericho within recent years. He found that the area of the city was only seven acres, and its circumference measured six hundred and fifty yards. Seven times that distance only makes a little over two and a half miles. It was with great interest I saw the excavations myself, and was able to check on the spot this statement. Professor Garstang found that his labors only confirmed the Bible narrative. He gave it as his opinion, resulting from his investigations in 1931, that the walls of Jericho fell through an earthquake. The miracle was that the earthquake was divinely timed to coincide with the shout of the Israelites at the command of God. We have no difficulty in believing in miracles, for surely the world and ourselves are outstanding miracles. Our earth suspended in space with its three motions, the diurnal, the orbital, and traveling no scientist can tell where, is a stupendous miracle that the cleverest scientist cannot explain. Our hearts beating night and day, summer and winter, sleeping and waking without cessation for one single minute sixty, seventy, eighty years is a miracle. How does it start? How does it cease? It is amazing. No man-made machine can rival this achievement.
You will remember how Joshua gave instructions that Jericho should be destroyed by fire, and nothing to be saved but silver, gold, vessels of brass and iron, which were to come into the treasury of the Lord. Three thousand years later Professor Garstang found scorched remains of foodstuffs—wheat, barley, lentils, dates, onions, olives, and pieces of dough, etc., but no metal. The writer possessed a phial containing dust and charred wheat from the ruins of Jericho. For three thousand years the secret was buried. The excavator comes along, and the Bible narrative is confirmed again and again.
Time was when Modernists scoffed at the idea of the flood recorded in Gen. 7 and 8. The excavators come along. Professor Langdon worked at Kish, near Babylon. Sir Leonard Woolley excavated at Ur of the Chaldees, the place from whence Abraham came. They both at the same time came upon deposits which could only have been the result of a mighty flood. Dr. Langdon stated in The Times 18th March, 1929, that the thick alluvial stratum he had discovered in his opinion afforded " conclusive testimony that the Genesis story of the Deluge is historical." He said in The Times, 4th January, 1929:
"When we [viz., Sir Leonard Woolley and himself] made these discoveries we were loth to believe that we had obtained confirmation of the Deluge of Genesis, but there is no doubt about it now."
We hope many other things will be brought to light by the spade of the archaeologist. It can only prove the Bible to be true in every particular. When men are loth to believe, but find the evidence too strong to refuse, it is powerful evidence indeed.
I was very interested recently in an article by Dr. Shelley. He stated that the amount of the earth's surface covered by water is seventy per cent of the whole, and the amount covered by land was therefore thirty per cent of the whole. The average height of land above sea level is 2,300 feet. The average depth of ocean is no less than the astounding figure of 13,000 feet. There is more than fifteen-and-a-half times more water than earth. If the solid surface of the globe was smoothed out the water would cover the earth to a depth of 9,000 feet.
Something catastrophic in the history of the world has happened when arctic regions yield fossil remains of a tropical growth, as is the case in Hudson Bay territory; and in Northern Siberia where thousands of bodies of elephants have been found embedded in ice, elephants that evidently belonged to tropical countries. The only conclusion we can come to is that some mighty change was made in the structure of our globe. Can it be that almighty power altered the axis of the world, for if this were the case it would explain the flood? How little we know after all!