170 • ChAPTEr 4
but “it is not long before they return to it and accept it.”^121 the author
finds Petrie’s theory— that many fewer Israelites actually entered Pal-
estine in the biblically recounted Exodus than is generally believed— to
be compelling and anticipates that it will eventually gain wide accep-
tance. This particular view, to which the journal offers such extensive
space and attention, is interesting in that it at once challenges tradi-
tional beliefs about the Bible while still accepting (through reinterpre-
tation) the Bible’s literal claims.
to be sure, these journals also often highlighted what contributors
believed to be confirmatory evidence of traditional biblical claims.
Several examples might suffice. In 1895 al-Muqtaṭaf offered a brief
note on “the history of the torah.” the author cited an article from
the english Fortnightly Review, which contended that archeological dis-
coveries in egypt, assyria, and Canaan had proved that, “in contrast
to what biblical critics say,” the Children of Israel were literate before
they settled the Land of Canaan. apparently responding to assertions
that Moses could not have written the Bible owing to his and his peo-
ple’s illiteracy, the al-Muqtaṭaf article declares that “the attribution of
the Five Books to Moses is no more unreasonable than its attribution
to anyone else.”^122 a decade later, in 1906, al-Muqtaṭafpublished an
article on “the excavation of the antiquities of palestine.” here the au-
thor reports on the recently convened annual meeting of the palestine
exploration Fund in London and recounts the speech of its director,
r. A. Stewart Macalister, on the discoveries in the ancient city of Gezer.
the article emphasizes the implications of these excavations for an un-
derstanding of the death of the biblical figure of Samson and mentions,
inter alia, the unearthing of the fortress of Simon the Maccabee.^123 In
1912– 1913, al-Hilāl published a brief article on the origins of the phi-
listines, the people mentioned in the Bible who “resided in palestine
and against whom the Israelites fought.” recent research “conducted
by the English scientific expedition,” al-Hilāl reports, “has shown that
their origins are in the island of Crete.”^124 a 1913 piece in al-Muqtaṭaf,
also translated from an english- language journal, discusses archaeo-
logical discoveries in Jericho, Samaria, Jerusalem, and the Mount of
Olives. The author relates the Jericho findings to the story of rahab
(^121) al-Muqtaṭaf 31:7 (July 1906), 541.
(^122) al-Mutaṭaf 19:21 (November 1895), 876.
(^123) al-Muqtaṭaf 31:7 (July 1906), 614.
(^124) al-Hilāl (October 1912– July 1913), 444. there appears to be a typographical error
here, as the article actually indicates that the philistines came from the “newspaper”
(jarīda) of Crete rather than the “island” (jazīra).