________________
214
THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE. the national destiny, as distinguished from individual karma, and to perceive the errors of the statesmen and politicians of the past; but it is biography which is the more valuable of the two, since with its aid we can perceive the effects of religious training on the souls of men, and determine the degree of spiritual unfoldment attained by different prophets and saints. Hence, religion incorporates only so much of history and biography as is likely to be useful to us in the study of spiritualism.
Even were we to treat the Old Testament as wholly or partially in the nature of history, the difficulties which arise are such as cannot be easily brushed aside. Its earliest parts are now shown to have been compiled not earlier than 444 B. C., and are, therefore, the work of men who were, in no sense, eye-witnesses to the events they record. Besides, the Biblical compilers never allowed the feeling of regard, or reverence, for history to prevent them from making additions of their own to the bare narratives of fact whenever they felt inclined to do so. As the Encyclopædia Britannica points out (see Art. Bible) :
“The historical books of the Old Testament form two series ; one, consisting of books from Genesis to 2 Kings (exclusive of Ruth) embracing the period from the Creation to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans in 586 B. C. ; the other comprising the books of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, beginning with Adam and ending with the second visit of Nehemiah to Jerusalem in 432 B. C. These two series differ from one another materially in scope and point of view, but in one respect they are both constructed on a similar plan; no entire book in the either series consists of a single, original work ; but older writings, or sources, have been combined by a compiler -or sometimes, in stages, by a succession of compilers-in such a
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org