Orientalisms in Bible Lands

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The Book through which the one great religion of the world has come to mankind is thoroughly Oriental. Every part of the Bible is saturated with the peculiar traits, modes of thought, customs, manner of speech, and imagery that characterize Eastern life. A knowledge of these is essential to a clear understanding and right interpretation of the Holy Scriptures.

Once it was common to speak of the unchanging East, as scholars and explorers were wont to do in the last generation. For centuries there was indeed a persistence of the same manners and customs, partly due to the physical characteristics of the lands of the East, and partly to the indisposition of the people for change. That day has passed.

There is no portion of the globe where such marvelous and radical changes are going on to-day as in the Orient. In Jerusalem, in Joppa, and in Damascus one sees the railway locomotive, hears the click of the telegraph, and may talk to his distant neighbor through the telephone. Soon it will be impossible for a traveler to discover simple native Oriental Life. Even now it is difficult to find a village or people in any Bible land so remote as to be free from the influences of Western life, which are sweeping through all Oriental countries. Native Oriental customs are already modified by these influences to an extent little suspected by many even of the Orientals themselves.

Another common view among the laity and learned was that the early biblical narratives described human life in a primitive stage. But we now know that Abraham was comparatively a modem man, scarcely midway between the present and the infancy of the human race.

The Book through which the one great religion of the world has come to mankind is thoroughly Oriental. Every part of the Bible is saturated with the peculiar traits, modes of thought, customs, manner of speech, and imagery that characterize Eastern life. A knowledge of these is essential to a clear understanding and right interpretation of the Holy Scriptures.Once it was common to speak of the "unchanging East," as scholars and explorers were wont to do in the last generation. For centuries there was indeed a persistence of the same manners and customs, partly due to the physical characteristics of the lands of the East, and partly to the indisposition of the people for change. That day has passed.There is no portion of the globe where such marvelous and radical changes are going on to-day as in the Orient. In Jerusalem, in Joppa, and in Damascus one sees the railway locomotive, hears the click of the telegraph, and may talk to his distant neighbor through the telephone. Soon it will be impossible for a traveler to discover simple native Oriental Life. Even now it is difficult to find a village or people in any Bible land so remote as to be free from the influences of Western life, which are sweeping through all Oriental countries. Native Oriental customs are already modified by these influences to an extent little suspected by many even of the Orientals themselves.Another common view among the "laity" and learned was that the early biblical narratives described human life in a primitive stage. But we now know that Abraham was "comparatively a modem man," scarcely midway between the present and the infancy of the human race.