. Bible and Spade. By Professor John P. Peters. (T.
and T. Clark. 8s. net.)—In this series of lectures, delivered in the Bross foundation at Lake Forest College, a well-known American Assyriologist shows how recent research in Palestine, Egypt and Mesopotamia has thrown new light on the Bible, and especi- ally on the Old Testament. He contests the fashionable theory that the Semites all came out of Arabia ; he maintains, on the contrary, that the original home of some of the Semitic peoples was in the north, perhaps in Armenia. He writes well on the rela- tions between the earlyHebrews and the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires, with special reference to Isaiah, Jeremiah and the Book of Daniel. His chapter on the Psalms is of great interest. We may note, for instance, his suggestion that Psalm lxxxiv. is a processional hymn interspersed with rubrics for the guidance of the worshippers as they marched round Jerusalem from the western hill past the pool of Siloam to the eastern hill and into the Temple. It is a very plausible theory, based on an exact knowledge of the local topography, and it certainly makes the Psalm more intelligible. Professor Peters writes for laymen and will, we think, convince them that archaeological research in the Near and Middle East deserves encouragement.
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