Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

myth."
zers."
5. The Destruction of Shiloh.
The Bible indicates that Shiloh was destroyed
by the Philistines in the days of the last Judge, Sam
uel. This would be dated somewhere about 1050 B.C.
since Saul became King about 1020 B.C. The story
is given in 1 Samuel 4, and tells of the capture of the
ark, and the defeat of Israel. In recent years Shiloh
has been excavated. There is clear evidence that it
was destroyed by fire about 1050 B.C. The excavator
remarks :
"Through the excavations thus far undertaken,
we have on important points been able to reconcile
archaeological facts with the accounts of the Old
Testament with surprising accuracy. We have caught
a glimpse of a town, Shiloh, which in any case exist
ed between 1200 and 1050 B.C., and of its destruction
through fire (by the Philistines) about 1050 B.C.;
and thus we see the reason why the ark of the cove
nant did not later return to Shiloh ; the town did not
exist any longer. The victory at Ebenezer could not
call the destroyed town to life."
When we take these items into consideration, it
becomes clear that it is quite wrong for anyone to
make up his mind in advance about the worth of
ancient records. Archaeological work is moving on
apace, and is flooding the past with light. Biblical
records, when viewed against modern discovery, are
found to give us a surprisingly intimate picture of
life in those eras and places which they cover. It is
a risky thing for anyone to say of the story of Sam
son, "It is only a Our discussion here shows
that there are several important elements in the
story which are quite clearly in correspondence with
the facts. It is of value to Christian people to know
some of these, and to use them in discussion with
some of the glib critics of our faith.
The Bible Times
ASTRONOMY AND ARCHAEOLOGY
Philip R. Foxwell
Young's concordance has an excellent article on
archaeology found in the back of this large volume.
The author is William Foxwell Albright who has
just been quoted in the story of Samson. It is be
lieved Bible students would be greatly profited by a
perusal of this article.
How ancient dates are calculated is of special in
terest and Albright mentions the place of astronomy.
Writing on Assyrian chronology he affirms: "With
the aid of astronomical documents and references to
celestial phenomena in the other literature, we can
now fix the dates with a possible error of not more
than ten years back to the 15th century B.C. He fur
ther points out that for another thousand years we
can fix dates with some degree of accuracy. Assyria,
Babylonia and some other countries who play a part
in Bible history recorded the reigns of the kings.
Astronomy only needs to supply us with a few an
cient dates to make possible the definite dating of
much more. It is believed that Hammurabi reigned
from 2067-2025 B.C. By a stroke of good fortune the
king who reigned some years later kept a record of
the movements of Venus. These records compared
with astronomical data enable us to date Ammizaduga,
and king lists show how many years he followed
Hammurabi. Eclipses also have greatly helped. An
eclipse in the year 763 B.C. enables us, on the testi
mony of Albright, "to fix the exact chronology of the
Assyrian campaigns in the west in the time of the
262
Divided Monarchy." Archaeology, using astronomy
is showing more and more that dead men do tell tales.
The Bible Times
EDUCATIONAL PRINCIPLES ARE
WORLD ISSUES
The recent disturbances in Belgium indicate
that the educational issues so familiar to the Ameri
world issues. The stories of the
can public are really
riots were quite adequately
carried in print and
pictures by the public press in many communities.
The Roman Catholic journal America put it this
way editorally :
"As in countless other countries, including our
own, the school question is crucial for Catholics in
several Western European countries at the present
hour. Up to a fortnight ago, however, feelings have
not taken the extreme form that Brussels witnessed
on March 28. On that date the Belgian capital was
the scene of a mass Catholic protest against the
Government's proposed educational reform law. De
spite the mayor's ban and despite deliberate curtail
ment of transportation, an estimated 60,000 demon
strators thronged into the city. The protests were
the culmination of a four-weeks' series organized by
the Catholic Committee for Freedom and Democracy.
The Brussels climax was led by the President of the
Christian Social party and by the head of the Con
federation of Christian Trade Unions. Though punc
tuated by arrests and relatively minor violence, the
demonstration was termed a success by its organi
Later in the same editorial it is recognized that,
"Their own particular way of protesting by mass
demonstrations may seem strange and perhaps rep
rehensible to many
Americans."
Some Background. In Belguim, Roman Catholics
had been in political control for decades up until last
year. During that time Catholic schools were expand
ed systematically, but State schools were not given
an equal chance, with the result that about 934,000
of Belgium's 1,600,000 school children are in Roman
Catholic schools. In the words of one leader in the
present government, "The coffers of the State were
at the disposal of the religious schools without end
and often without control."
When the new government announced plans last
November to cut state subsidies for church schools
in 1955, the Minister of education, Leo Collard, said
the move was being made to "safeguard the econom
ic and social possibilities of the future." He criticized
the Christian Social (Catholic) Party, predecessor of
the present government, for allegedly having
raised
subsidies to too high a level. "Catholic schooling has
become a fact in Belgium," he said. "It is my belief
that both forms of education (Catholic and State)
can live side by side. But all is a question of measure
of limit."
Despite vigorous protests, which included a oneday
strike on November 24 by Catholic schools, with
Catholic teachers in State schools joining the walk
out, and demonstrations staged in eight cities by
Christian Social Party members, the Belgian Parlia
ment voted on December 22 to reduce subsidies for
the payment of salaries to teachers in religious
schools.
Several other bills are pending which would re
organize the country's educational set-up. Some
COVENANTER WITNESS