The summary of the matter presents a complete victory for the orthodox school. First, as to the extent of their empire, the Egyptian and Israelite inscriptions give three hundred geographical names in connection with the domain and rule of the Hittites. These cover almost every section of the ancient civilized world. These same inscriptions also present a long list of the allies and the dependencies which paid tribute to the Hittite kings. Lists of the satraps who reigned as vassals to the Hittites have also been recovered.

Secondly, the Hittite inscriptions themselves have now yielded their secrets to the earnest student. The earliest note of Hittite writings comes from a traveler, who in 1812 discovered some incised stones and engraved mounds which were covered with unknown hieroglyphics. These finds were made at Hamath, a small city in Syria. In the light of the archeological interest of our generation it seems incredible that these inscriptions were then ignored completely for threescore years. Then Dr. William Wright, a Protestant missionary in Damascus, was enabled, by the authority he wielded through his friendship with high government officials, to procure these stones and to remove them. Some of these relics had been built into the houses of Hamath and were part of the walls of occupied domiciles. One at least was so heavy that it took eight hours for four oxen to move it one mile. The romance and adventure of his indomitable pursuit of these stones is covered in Dr. Wright’s own memoirs and writings.

At this time, Dr. A. H. Sayce, one of the greatest archeologists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, began the tedious task of deciphering these hieroglyphics. With no aid, such as the Egyptologists received from the Rosetta Stone, Dr. Sayce started out on a cold trail. His ultimate victory constitutes one of the greatest triumphs of pure reason in the long record of human endeavor. To show something of the difficulty that Dr. Sayce faced, we have portrayed on [page 194] one of these Hittite inscriptions written in the hieroglyphics of their time. We have also shown in [plate 21] the key that was worked out by Dr. Sayce. Dr. William Wright, working independently, arrived at practically the same conclusions.

When these records were publicized as Hittite inscriptions a storm of protest came from the critics of the Scripture, who utterly rejected the findings of both Sayce and Wright. They attempted to minimize any historical value that might be derived from the translation of these inscriptions. Having built their case against the integrity of the Bible so strongly upon the error presumed to be found in the Hittite references, they could not give up their demonstration without a struggle.

At this time there came to light a reference to a silver disk that had previously been offered to the British Museum. This consisted of a convex silver plate. It had every resemblance to the ordinary boss which is found on the top of the handle of a dagger when such instruments are decorated. This boss, or plate, had in its center a picture of a warrior standing upright. He was dressed in the typical garb of a Hittite soldier. Around this warrior were two rows of hieroglyphics, one on either side. These hieroglyphics were enclosed in a circle. Outside the circle was an inscription in the cuneiform script. When this boss was offered to the British Museum, they kept it a while for study and rejected it on the grounds that it was probably spurious. Fortunately, however, they had made an electrotype copy of this article.

When the conclusions of Sayce and Wright were rejected by the critics, Dr. Sayce heard of this exhibit. Thinking that it might be a way to the Hittite inscriptions, he prosecuted his search for the original. It had disappeared, but he fortunately recovered the copy that was in the British Museum. This copy then became paramount evidence. At a glance, Dr. Sayce identified the hieroglyphics as being Hittite in origin. Using the key that he had worked out for the translation of the hieroglyphics, he translated the boss to be the possession of one Tarkondemos. Having read this in the Hittite hieroglyphics, he then translated the cuneiform text and found the two to be identical.

This vindication of the accuracy of this earlier work won the confidence of the scholarly world in the Hittite inscriptions. This was the deciding voice. The Hittites became historical to the modern scholar from the records of Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. They become real to us from their own inscriptions.

Nowhere in all the records of human research and endeavour is it possible to find a greater and more complete assembling of the vindication of the integrity of the Word of God. Even though the hand of the Almighty must shake the very foundations of ancient history, He has sworn that His Word shall be maintained. Thus He has called from the limbo of forgotten races an entire nation in an archeological resurrection, that they, though dead, may tell their tale of the credibility of the Word of God.

CHAPTER VIII
The Resurrection of Edom

From the staggering mass of archeological material and evidence which is at the disposal of the twentieth century scholar, it is very difficult to choose the most perfect illustrations of our theme. If the case of the Hittites offers a complete refutation of the critical theories concerning the origin and veracity of the Old Testament, the resurrection of Edom is no less dramatic and valuable.