Can stones speak? Can rocks make their voice to be heard? The Lord said of His people on His entrance into Jerusalem, “If these should hold their peace the stones would immediately cry out.” And this is very much what those very stones are now doing; for the stones of Palestine are beginning to speak with a voice so clear and decisive that it seems a perfect marvel that any thinking man should be able to resist their evidence. Now therefore, if God permit, we will study their testimony; we will put the rocks into the witness-box, and endeavour calmly to learn from them what they teach us of the truth of God. There are three subjects on which their evidence is conclusive—the geographical accuracy, the historical truth, and the prophetic inspiration of the Scriptures. Let us examine them on all three points, and may that divine Spirit who inspired the word of His own great grace bring it home to our understandings and our hearts!

I. The Geographical Accuracy.

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.This general fact is quite sufficient to prove the general accuracy of the geography of the Book. But the general fact does not stand alone, and there are countless details which are almost more conclusive than the close agreement which we find existing between the list by Joshua and that by scientific men. Let us consider one of these details, and examine one neighbourhood in the light of modern science. The neighbourhood shall be that of Bethel and Hai. Respecting Bethel, no one, I believe entertains a doubt. It was named by Jacob “Bethel,” or the house of God. It was afterwards called “Bethaven,” or “the house of vanity,” in consequence of the idolatry of Jeroboam; and the extensive ruins now found there are called Beitin. Now Bethel does not stand alone, for it is frequently connected with Hai; so that Abraham’s second halting-place, as recorded in Gen. xii. 8, was on a mountain “having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east.” There were two ranges of hills running from north to south, with a valley between them, and on a hill standing in that valley Abraham pitched his tent, and built an altar unto the Lord. Now, as I have just said, there is not the slightest doubt about the identification of Bethel. But what are we to say of Hai? In Joshua viii. we have an accurate description of its capture, and every detail of the attack can be verified on the spot. But we cannot find the name. There is a heap, or mound, on the slope of the hill, which no doubt marks the site. But the name Hai is completely lost. The name given to the mound is Tell. Now Tell is the word for heap, so that Tell Ashtereh is the heap of Ashtaroth, and Tell Kedes the heap of Kadesh. But to this heap there is no such name attached, and the only name is Tell. “Tell” alone marks the spot. And now turn to Joshua viii. 28: “And Joshua burnt Hai, and made it an heap” (i.e. a Tell) “for ever, even a desolation unto this day.” The name given by the modern Bedouin is exactly that of the ancient record, and the testimony of the stones is in perfect agreement with the scriptural narrative.

But this is not all. I have already pointed out that the hill between Bethel and Hai was Abraham’s second halting-place; and if we turn to Gen. xiii. we shall find, in verses 3, 4, that after he had been down into Egypt he returned to that same spot, and there once more he called on the name of the Lord. It was there that he made Lot the generous offer of the choice of the land, and that “Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan.” But at first sight this seems impossible, for between Bethel and Jordan there is a lofty range of hills running from north to south, and completely obstructing the view; and so the merely superficial observer might say that the Book was wrong. But before we come to any such decision we must consult the stones. And what will they say to us? Go up the heights above Bethel on the west, and they will tell you that there is no view of the plain of Sodom there. Go up on the eastern side to the Tell that once was Hai, and there is no view there. But now go to the mountain having Bethel on the west and Hai on the east, the very spot where, according to the 13th chapter of Genesis, Abraham and Lot were standing; and there through a gap in the hills you see the very sight that tempted Lot, and you look on the plains of Sodom, as Lot looked on them not much less than 4,000 years ago.

And what makes the agreement still more wonderful is that the Book was written by one who was not an inhabitant of the country, and who had never stood on that mountain-top. It is obvious from the history that Moses was never there, and accordingly it is obvious from the Book that it was written on the eastern side of Jordan. In all the Books written in Palestine the expression “Beyond Jordan” is employed to describe the eastern side. But it is not so with the Book of Genesis. In chapter l. 10 there is the mention of the “threshing-floor of Atad,” where Joseph and his company made a mourning for Jacob, and in verse 11 this place is said to be “beyond Jordan.” But Atad was on the west side of Jordan, for it was amongst the Canaanites, and is believed by learned men to have been between the Jordan and Jericho. To Moses, therefore, approaching Canaan from the east, it was “beyond Jordan.” To any pretender writing after the occupation of the promised land it would have been “on this side Jordan.” But to Moses, who died on the eastern side, and never set his foot on the western side, it was “beyond.” He may have seen it from Pisgah, but that was all. He never set his foot there, for he never crossed the Jordan. So he never set his foot on the mount between Bethel and Ai; but he wrote with the most minute geographical accuracy. And thus we have the testimony of the stones that the Book of Genesis was not only the Book of truth, but, may we not add, that Moses was inspired by God Himself to write with such perfect truthfulness of places which he had never seen?

This one instance must suffice as an illustration of geographical accuracy, and we may hasten to consider the second point; viz.:—

To this I turn with deeper interest, because it has been denied. Voltaire, for example, describes Palestine as one of the worst countries of Asia, comparing it to Switzerland, and says it can only be esteemed fertile “when compared with the desert.” (Keith, p. 106.) There cannot be one moment’s doubt that in such statements he exceeded fact. But others have pointed to the desolate hillsides, and asked the question whether such a country could ever have supported a population as dense as that of Norfolk or Suffolk. Now let there be no mistake on this subject; for we are fully prepared most freely to admit that the hill country, as we now see it, could not possibly support a large population, and that there is a dreary, barren desolation about it which is wholly unlike the descriptions of rich fertility which abound through the Scriptures. One of these descriptions will be sufficient; viz., Deut. viii. 7–9: “For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.” Now I am not in the least afraid of saying plainly that such a description as that is not true of modern Palestine. It is not a good land flowing with milk and honey; it is not a land of vines and oil olives; it is not a land from which a large population could eat bread without scarceness. I read that there is not a vine to be seen between Eschol and Beersheba, and that there are very few olives to be found anywhere. What then are we to say? Was the historical description true, or was it not? Were the people deceived, or was God true to His Word? “Let God be true, but every man a liar.” On this point let us ask the stones, and let us take the testimony of the rocks. But in doing this we must not be content with taking a tourist’s ticket, and hurrying as fast as possible along the beaten tracks; but we must accompany our scientific men in their investigations; and if we do so, what shall we find? In the first place we shall find scattered through the country the ruins of an enormous number of villages. The Exploration Fund have actually entered on their map no less than 2,770 names. It is perfectly clear therefore that there was once a very large and densely-packed population. Then in the next place the careful observer will perceive that those hills which are now so barren were once covered with terraces so as to preserve the soil. Dr. Keith says that on one hill he counted no less than sixty-seven such terraces one above another. Then if you examine these terraces you find a countless number of cisterns and water-courses cut in the rocks, proving clearly that there was once a careful system of irrigation; and then, in conclusion, near many of the villages there is found an olive-press, apparently used by the whole village, while up amongst the terraces there are multitudes of smaller wine-presses, apparently cut in the rocks by each proprietor for his own use. In confirmation of this evidence I have been informed by one for many years a resident in Jerusalem, that the inhabitants are dependent for firewood on the roots of the vines and the olives still found on the desolate hillsides. The roots remain, though the trees are gone, and those roots unite in their testimony with the rocks amongst which they are found. The evidence therefore of the rocks is irresistible. The people are scattered through the nations, and the rain has washed down the toil from the broken terraces; but the rocks remain; and the proof is as clear as any proof can be of anything, that there was once a teeming population and a high state of cultivation, that the country was once a land of vines and oil olives, and that it was a land maintaining a prosperous, thriving, and painstaking people. Thus the rocks agree with the Book. Those barren hills themselves supply the evidence of their former fertility, and the stones cry out that the grand old Pentateuch is historically true.

III. Prophetic Inspiration.

But we have not yet done with those barren hills; for we have not yet exhausted their evidence. Some may enquire how it is that a country which was once so fertile is now become so desolate; and the answer may be given that the villages have been burned, the terraces neglected, the cisterns broken, and the water-courses choked, which is all perfectly true. But that is not enough to satisfy a real enquirer. “How was it,” the thoughtful man will ask, “that the villages were burned and the terraces neglected?” In the answer of this question the rocks can give us no assistance, and we must depend entirely on the Book; but there we find the whole mystery solved. The fact is, that the whole country bears witness to the truth of prophecy. The present state of things is exactly what God foretold in His Word. It is perfectly true that the mountains are dreary, barren, and desolate; perfectly true that it is no longer “the land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands;” but it is equally true that the change which has taken place is exactly that which God foretold in the Scriptures.

What did Moses write three thousand three hundred years ago? Turn to Leviticus xxvi. 33: “And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you; and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.”

What did Isaiah say, writing about two thousand five hundred years ago? Turn to Isaiah vi. 11: “Then said I, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate.” Turn to chap. xxiv. 3: “The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; for the Lord hath spoken this word.” Or to chap. xxxii. 12, 13: “They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city.”

What did Jeremiah say, writing about two thousand three hundred years ago? Turn to Jeremiah iv. 26, 27: “I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.” “The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the Lord shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace.” (Chap. xii. 12.)And what did Ezekiel, writing about the same time, predict of the condition of Palestine during the dispersion, and until the restoration of the people? Turn to his address to those hills of which we have been speaking, in Ezekiel xxxvi. 3, 4: “Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people: therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God; Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about.”

Here then we have the whole mystery solved, and the whole thing explained. In His sure Word of prophecy our heavenly Father told us what He would do, and the desolate hills of Palestine bear witness that He has done it. We may long to see them clothed once more with the vine and the olive, and we may profoundly pity their lawful proprietors, who look on their lawful home—once so beautiful, but now so desolate! But yet we cannot look even on that desolation without thanksgiving, for it is an evidence to all thinking men of the certain truth of God’s inspired Word. Those who refer to those desolate hills as an argument against the truth forget that the desolation to which they refer is a conclusive proof of the truth of the prophetic Word of God. Thus we are carried by this third proof far beyond either geographical accuracy or historical truth. A book may be geographically accurate, or historically true, and yet not be inspired. But no man can foretell the future. No man can look forward 3,000 years. No man, therefore, could span over all those centuries and tell us ages ago what would be the condition of Palestine in this nineteenth century. But God has done it. We thank God, therefore, for His Word, and we thank Him also for the testimony of the rocks. Nay, more, we may thank Him even for the sneers of such a man as Voltaire, for the very sneers are a proof to the students of the Scriptures that God’s prophecy is being fulfilled, and that God’s Holy Word may be trusted as divine.

But we must not leave the subject there, for we are taught a most solemn lesson as to the desolating power of a righteous God. He who has reduced those fertile hills to desolation, cannot He equally desolate the soul, and reduce the poor ruined heart to a similar condition of barren hopelessness? And will He not do it if His great salvation be neglected? I know that it is the fashion to believe that He is too merciful to punish; but for my own part I find it much more easy to believe that he is too true to declare that which he has no intention of performing. If the Word of God be true, “Verily there is a God that judgeth the earth,” and we cannot doubt that to the guilty sinner He must prove “a consuming fire.” But, thanks be to His Holy Name, if the warnings be true, so also are the promises. If the judgment be certain, so also is the salvation. If the minister of wrath be sure to fulfil the Word of judgment, so also is the blessed Saviour perfectly sure to fulfil the promises of life. If the law condemn with infallible certainty, so also does the Gospel proclaim that the claim of the law is satisfied in the great propitiation by the Son of God; so that any one, even the least and most unworthy of His people, may peacefully rest in the certainty of His never-failing Word, and abide in perfect peace, and perfect safety, in the perfect truth, and never-failing covenant of God.