This question was asked as soon as the contents of the
inscriptions became known. The answers have varied greatly. On the
one hand, it has been claimed that the Old Testament records are
confirmed in every detail; on the other, those have not been wanting
who claimed that the inscriptions discredit the Old Testament. Here,
as in other investigations, the true conclusion can be reached only
after a careful examination of all {143} the facts in the case. In the
study of the question there are several considerations and cautions
which must not be lost sight of if we would reach a true estimate.
Some of these cautions are suggested by the nature of the inscriptions.

In the first place, it must be remembered that most of the
archaeological material has come from lands outside of Palestine, and
that the testimony is that of people not friendly to the Hebrews. We
may expect, therefore, that at times personal bias may have colored the
portrayal and caused the Hebrews to appear in a less favorable light
than the facts would warrant, or that the events in which the Hebrews
took part were described in a manner to make them favor the interests
of the writers.

Again, not every period of Hebrew history is illuminated by the
inscriptions. True, the earliest monuments found in Egypt and
Babylonia antedate the birth of Jesus perhaps more than four thousand
years; but it is not until the time of Ahab, king of Israel, that the
important historical material begins. The references to Israel
preceding the time of the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser III, c. B.C. 850,
are few and more or less obscure. There is the monument of Shishak in
the tenth century; but some are inclined to believe that the list of
the cities alleged to have been conquered by Shishak was simply taken
over by him from {144} an earlier document, and that, therefore, it is
of little or no historical value. Israel is mentioned in the
inscription of Merneptah, but, as has been seen, the significance of
the brief reference is obscure; there is nothing concerning the stay in
Egypt, nothing concerning the patriarchs, and nothing concerning the
earlier period that can in any way be connected with the historical
records of the Old Testament.

Furthermore, to get at the true value of the evidence from the
monuments we must distinguish between facts and inferences from the
facts. This distinction, obvious as it seems, has not always been
maintained even by eminent archaeol