The odd thing is that until comparatively recent times, these names had been dropped out of secular history. Mighty as these men had each been in his day, they were completely forgotten by posterity and for some twenty-three hundred years their names were unknown to the scholars of secular events. For this reason the learned leaders of “higher criticism” relegated these forty-seven monarchs to the columns of mythology. They were grouped among “the fables and folklore of the Old Testament” which this deluded school mistakenly taught was one of the basic weaknesses of the text. Then one after another these disputed monarchs began to rise from the dead in an archeological resurrection. In some cases a burial mound was uncovered; in others, an annalistic tablet, a boundary marker, or a great building inscribed with the monarch’s name. Now, all forty-seven of these presumably fabulous characters have been transferred from the columns of “mythology” to the accepted records of established history.
In forty-seven specific instances, as these kings rose from the dead past, they were recognized, as their names were not strange to true historians. Each was remembered from his appearance in the page of the Old Testament which had preserved his memory with accuracy. Thus, in this simple instance there are forty-seven definite and specific evidences of the complete historicity of the text.
To stress this point, the accuracy of the record, we shall cite a semi-humorous illustration. The great Greek historian, Herodotus, who is supposed to be the “Father of History,” wrote some more or less accurate observations concerning the land of Egypt. Among other things, he said that the Egyptians grew no grapes and drank no wine.
There was another ancient who preceded this historian by many centuries, who also wrote voluminously about Egypt and her customs. This was the man Moses, who being reared in the bosom of the royal family as the crown prince and heir apparent, might be presumed to know considerably more about Egyptian customs than any casual visitor. Moses stated that the Egyptians did grow grapes and that they did drink wine. In fact, he recounts that Joseph was in jail with the chief cupbearer of Pharaoh, the butler whose business was the purveying of wine to the royal table. It may be remembered that in the butler’s dream he saw himself standing by the vine, squeezing the grapes into the cup.
This brought these two authorities into sharp opposition. Since Herodotus was supposed to be the final authority on matters of antiquity, the critics fell upon this discrepancy with considerable glee. The argument might still be going on, if it were not for the discovery of an unquestionable bit of evidence among the frescoes that decorate the tombs of Egyptian antiquity. These frescoes showed the Egyptians engaged in the art of viticulture. In some of these pictures they were dressing and pruning the vines, cultivating and tending their crop. In others of the pictures they were seen to be gathering the grapes and conveying them to the press. The ingenious method of extracting the juice was clearly portrayed in these illuminating frescoes, which showed the juice being stored in stone jugs, clay pots, and skin bottles for future use. Since the ancients called any fruit juice that was used for drinking purposes by the name of wine, whether it was fresh or sweet, it is highly probable that some of this juice was drunk in an unfermented condition.
However, one of the murals depicted an Egyptian party gathered around the banquet board, making merry with the juice of the grape (See [Plate 1]). The incidental evidences show very clearly that the juice was fermented. Off in the corner, the picture depicts a noble lady who is portrayed with her slave holding a silver bowl, while she gave up the excess fluids that had evidently disagreed with the more commendable parts of the banquet! Another of these murals showed the morning light coming into such a banqueting hall, as the slaves were all carrying their masters home; with the exception of one inebriate who had slid under the table and had evidently been overlooked in the excitement!
Did the Egyptians grow grapes and drink wine?
Herodotus said “No.”
Moses said “Yes.”
The critics, to their later embarrassment, lined up solidly with Herodotus.