Looking Facts in the Face. By St. George Stock, M.A.
(Con- stable and Co. 3s. 6d. net.)—Mr. Stock doubtless does his best to " look facts in the face," but he has, so to speak, a cast in his intellectual eye. He writes about the Book of Daniel, for instance. It professes to be written by a Jewish statesman in Babylon ; there is very little doubt that it really belongs in part to the late Persian, in part to the Maccabean era. What is Mr. Stock's comment? "It is evident that there has been hard lying some- where." He is transferring to-day's ways of thinking to an age that looked upon such things differently. When an Alexandrian Jew wrote Ecclesiastes, and put his thoughts into the mouth of Solomon, he was not "lying." He did his best to honour the " wise King." It is almost absurd to have to remind Mr. Stock, who is a man of realing, of such a truism. Then there is a chapter on " Toleration." The Jews, he says, were not tolerant. Why not ? Because they were theocratic, we are told. But where does Mr. Stock find tolerance at that time ? Is it common now? Are unbelievers more tolerant than believers? We are told again about Samuel hewing Agag in pieces, a very savage act truly, but not without provocation. In the commonest fairness the words, " As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women," should have been quoted. The historian suggests old causes of quarrel ; but we can well believe that this was the more powerful motive. And, after all, the Jews, with all their savagery, were more humane than any other nation of antiquity. We readily allow that the attitude of religions people often shows narrowness and bitterness ; but Mr. Stock is not without a suspicion of the same faults.
Previous page
