COMPENDIUM OF WORLD HISTORY
VOLUME 2
A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Ambassador College Graduate School of Education In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy
by Herman L. Hoeh
© 1963 1966, 1969 Edition
CHAPTER XVIII
SINCE THE FIRST MAN
Never has there been an age like this one. An avalanche of scientific information is pouring down upon specialist and layman alike.
No one is able to keep up with the torrent of new knowledge.
But is man the wiser for all this new knowledge?
Are the latest conclusions of geology, of archaeology, or history any nearer the truth? Or are we being crushed by the sheer weight of new ignorance -- new superstitions, this time garbed in the respectable clothes of Scientific Knowledge?
SCIENTIFIC CONFUSION
It would seem this ought to be the wisest, most knowledgeable generation that has ever lived. But it is not!
And there is a reason.
Never in the history of the world have so many been speculating so much. Speculation, hypothesizing, intellectual guessing have become the lifeblood of the sciences -- especially the social sciences. The result is an age typified by a chaos of ideas.
Professor Mendenhall labels the present confused state of human knowledge thus: it 'may with perhaps less courtesy but more accuracy be called chaos' ('Biblical History in Transition').
The reason? Only those facts which fit an hypothesis are concerned! The purpose of hypothesis is not eternal truth -- only intellectual curiosity to see whether the hypothesis be so!
Is it any wonder that the scholarly world is in confusion? That the genuine history of man has been rejected and forgotten? That Scripture is labeled 'unscientific' and 'myth'?
This second volume of the 'Compendium' is devoted to that forgotten history of man.
WHY HYPOTHESES?
Can the facts of geology, of archaeology, of human history and the Bible be reconciled? Not if the method of study now in vogue in the educational world is used! Crowning the heap of discarded theories with another hypothesis will not resolve the problems.
Yet a solution is possible. The facts of geology, of archaeology, of human history and the Bible are reconcilable. It is the hypotheses and theories of Science and Theology that are not! No one, caught up in the vicious cycle of intellectual guessing, finds it easy to divorce facts from hypotheses.
But once one is willing to do that, the gnawing questions of science and history find answers.
Why haven't men been willing to face facts, and forget hypothesizing? The answer is simple. Facts do not automatically organize themselves into clear and unmistakable answers.
There is always the need of some kind of yardstick, some standard, to guide man in organizing the myriads of facts lying mutely before him. A geological stratum by itself does not answer when? or why? A potsherd by itself does not reveal who? or when? Even a written record by itself often fails to convey motive, proof of accuracy, or history of transmission.
Scholars and scientists must of necessity resort to some external framework or yardstick by which the recovered facts may be judged. Only two choices are available -- hypothesis or Divine Revelation.
The educated world has chosen the former. It has, without proof, rejected the latter. Hypotheses appeal to human vanity, to intellectual curiosity, to the desire to hear of something new. Divine Revelation requires acknowledgement of a Higher Power, the subjection of human reason to the revealed Mind of the Creator. But human reason revels in its own superiority. By nature it opposes and exalts itself against Higher Authority.
No wonder educators take for granted that the facts of geology, of archaeology, or human history contradict the Bible.
Not until human beings are willing to acknowledge God, to acknowledge His Authority, His Revelation, will they ever come to a satisfactory -- and satisfying -- explanation of Man and the Universe.
Not until human reason is conquered will the scholarly world enjoy the privilege of understanding the meaning of geology, of archaeology, of history and the Bible.
UNCOVERING THE FACTS
Scientific and historical journals are filled with 'learned' conflicts and controversies. These conflicts are not due to a lack of factual material. There are often 'too many' facts.
Controversies in philosophy, in science, in education are the direct result of hypothesizing. Theories and hypotheses by their very nature breed controversy. What is needed is a true view of the factual material already available. Present material is more than sufficient to solve every one of the primary questions regarding Man, his origin in time, and the record of his experiences.
Why don't today's educators know the answers to these problems?
Because they have discarded the key that would unlock the answers. That key is God's revelation of essential knowledge for man -- the Bible.
But men don't want God telling them anything authoritatively. They therefore refuse even to test whether the Bible is authoritative.
It's time we examined the facts of science. Examined, in brief outline, the beginnings of human society -- the relationship of geology and archaeology to human history and the Bible. It is possible, if we divorce theory from the facts, to discover the answers to every one of the following basic questions:
Do the facts of geology confirm the Bible? Was the earth inhabited before the creation of man -- before creation week recorded in Genesis 1?
Where in geologic strata, does Creation Week of Genesis 1 occur?
Is the geographical description of the Garden of Eden and of the great river that went out of it toward the east (Gen. 2:10) confirmed by geology?
What happened to the earth as a result of the sin of Cain?
Why did his descendants wander over the earth, hunting instead of farming?
What is the relationship between pre-Flood Man and fossil Man?
What does archaeology reveal about the first sixteen centuries of human existence? Where do the so-called 'Ice Ages' fit in Bible history? Why did so many forms of animal and human life disappear at the close of the geologic period labeled 'Pleistocene' by scientists?
Is this the Biblical Flood?
Every one of these questions has an answer. The answers are so plain even a child can understand them -- if unprejudiced. The factual material has already been recorded for us by generations of historians, scientists and archaeologists. Yet they don't understand what they have discovered. They view everything from the evolutionary standpoint. It has simply never occurred to them that what they uncovered confirmed the Bible, and not evolution!
HOW GEOLOGISTS THINK
Most people do not know how a geologist reaches his conclusions. A geologist, of course, is one who makes a study of earth history. He investigates the rock structure of the surface of the earth. Let's accompany a geologist on one of his field trips.
A geologist working in the field discovers strata of sandstone, or limestone, or silt. Perhaps in them are fossils. He wants to know when the strata were deposited. How does he decide? The answer is: HE DOESN'T!
Being a very careful man -- a scientific man -- he will go to a paleontologist for the answer. And who is a paleontologist? He is a scientist who makes a special study of fossils. It is his function to explain to the geologist the apparent age of the fossils.
And how does the paleontologist know the apparent age of the fossils? From geology? No! How can he learn it from geology when even the geologist does not know the age of fossil strata until he goes to the paleontologist who studies the fossils!! Then how does the paleontologist discover how old fossils are?
Simple! He turns to the evolution theory!
Life, the paleontologist tells the geologist, developed from the very simplest cell into the varied complex creatures that inhabit the earth today. 'But what is the age of the fossils?' asks the geologist.
'Let me explain that,' replies the paleontologist. 'Evolution is a very slow process. It may take millions of years for one species of life to slowly develop into another totally different species. The age of your strata are determined by how long we think it took that particular species of fossils to develop. of course, we paleontologists don't all agree on these details. You might get a different answer from another paleontologist! After all, even though we all believe evolution is a fact, we do not know exactly how it occurs -- or even the exact order in which various species of life evolved.'
And that, in simple language, is what happens!
The age of the fossils is guessed at by the paleontologist. The source of his knowledge (or misknowledge) is not geology, but the evolution theory. He takes it for granted. He assumes the theory is a fact -- or reasons as if it were a fact. The geologist then deduces the age of the strata from the assumed age of the fossils.
DISCARDING THE FACTS
All too often the geologist discovers that, according to the assumed age of the fossils, 'younger strata' are below 'older strata' -- in the wrong order -- reversed! 'Oh, that's all right,' the paleontologist will conclude. 'just consider that the strata were laid in the right order and that later a fracture in the earth's crust occurred which placed them in the wrong order.'
'But there was no fracture or fault line in the deposits. The strata were laid down exactly as I found them.'
'Don't let that concern you,' the paleontologist might tell the geologist. 'You are at liberty to insert fracture or fault lines where there were none, and to remove them where you plainly saw them. After all, the evolution theory explains what happened even if you did not find the evidence!'
That is THE WAY evolutionary science is practiced.
This illustration was in fact presented in a public lecture in one of the most famous institutions of higher learning in Southern California.
The geologist giving the lecture added this word of advice: 'It is better not to go to different paleontologists. Otherwise there will be no consistency in the dating of fossils. It is much better to consult the same paleontologist, for then, at least, one will be CONSISTENT IN HIS ERROR!'
It is this kind of foolish scientific thinking -- if it can be called thinking -- that masquerades as intellectual. This is the kind of thinking that has been used to ridicule and reject the authority of Scripture.
This is the trunk of the evolutionary tree. Once it is chopped down all the twiggy side arguments fall with it!
Evolution is based on deceptive, circular reasoning. It is an unproofd and unprovable hypothesis. It is made to seem rational by a fantastic use of hundreds of millions -- even billions -- of years. But no evolving fossil -- bridging the gaps from one Genesis kind to another -- has ever been found. No half-evolved living species, has ever been seen by man. God-ordained varieties of each kind -- yes! But no evolution from one Genesis kind to another!
It is time we opened our eyes to the falsehoods in modern education.
Naturally, geologists have found many important and true facts.
Once we divorce the facts from the theories and hypotheses, true earth history becomes plain. Now take a look at the facts as they are found.
See how they fit the Bible account.
THE FACTS OF GEOLOGY
First, look at the recent astounding discoveries of geology. They are of such magnitude as to revolutionize the whole field of scientific studies. They tell an incredible story. Geologists, like all scientists, are noted for the care which they take in exact observations and measurements -- though in theorizing they know no bounds to their wildest speculations.
After decades of careful firsthand observation, geologists came to recognize a definite, worldwide break in the geological strata. They didn't understand its meaning. They never looked into the Bible to see if an answer were there.
The strata below the break revealed a world entirely different from the one we see around us today. Nowhere in the lower strata does one find fossil Man, or remains warm-blooded creatures so characteristic of our world. Missing, too, are the angiosperms -- plants having their seeds enclosed in an ovary.
Evolutionary geologists immediately jumped to the conclusion that this was a 'proof' of evolution. They couldn't have been more mistaken.
Above the break, the strata reveal forms of life vividly described in Genesis 1. There are human remains, many varieties of mammals, birds and flowering trees. Why the sudden appearance of new kinds of life?
What is the meaning of this break in the geological horizon? Is it mentioned in the Bible?
Most scientists and historians never looked to see. The theologians never stopped to investigate. But the facts are plain for all to see. There has been no past evolution of living matter.
CONFIRMATION OF GENESIS ONE
Genesis 1 has been woefully misunderstood. 'Creation Week' is not the record of the original creation of matter, but an account of re-creation!
The first chapter of Genesis contains two distinct accounts.
The first two verses are a brief account of the creation of matter and physical energy -- of a beautiful earth fit for habitation -- 'in the beginning.' The second account is about the work of re-creation following a frightful catastrophe which befell the first world. That catastrophe is briefly summarized in verse 2 of Genesis 1. These verses, according to the original inspired Hebrew text, read: 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth had become without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.'
God created the world fit for habitation. It was not created a waste. Isaiah 45:18 reveals: '... God himself that formed the earth ... he created it not in vain (the original Hebrew is the same as in Genesis 1:2 -- meaning 'not a waste'), he formed it to be inhabited.'
The first or pre-Adamic creation was turned into a chaotic wreck.
Virtually all life perished. (Psalm 104: 28-29.) The whole face of the earth was covered with water.
The Biblical record of Genesis 1:2 is confirmed by the enigmatic break which scientists have found in the geological strata. The strata below the break are the remains of the pre-Adamic world!
WHAT INTERNATIONAL GEOPHYSICAL YEAR REVEALED
For scores of years geologists assumed the ocean floors were the quiet resting places of thousands of feet of mud and slime. Then came the shocking truth. Those thousands of feet of mud were not there. The geologists could hardly believe their eyes.
An immense catastrophe had befallen the earth.
Everywhere men sent down into the oceans their coring devices they discovered the ocean depths had suffered a tremendous volcanic upheaval.
To heighten the shock of the discovery, scientists found the catastrophe had struck the ocean depths at the same moment in geological history that it had struck the land masses. On land it had been recognized as a worldwide break in the geological strata. To this upheaval geologists assign the label 'Cretaceous' -- meaning 'chalky' -- because of the nature of the chalky deposits in England where the strata were first studied.
Geologists thought they would find strata in the sea below the so-called 'Cretaceous' deposits -- just as they find them on the continents. They didn't. Reported Ericson and Wollin: '... no sediment older than Upper Cretaceous time has been found in the ocean basins because there is none there to find' ('The Deep and the Past', p. 266).
None to find? of course! On the ocean floors the world before man has been buried under tremendous volcanic eruptions.
The authors continue:
'The paleontological and geophysical evidence tells in clear enough language that some sort of drastic reorganization of the floors of the oceans must have taken place toward the end of the Lower Cretaceous Period .... We can be sure (that is usually a sure sign that scholars, historians, and scientists are guessing) that this volcanic transformation did not take place within the span of a few years; if it had, all marine life would have come to a sudden end as a gargantuan bouillabaisse of boiled fish. To avoid catastrophe of this sort, we need only be more liberal with time; we have plenty of it at our disposal ....
'Whence came the energy and why should its effect have been concentrated at the beginning of the Upper Cretaceous?' (Pages 267-268.)
Read that astounding quote again!
The facts are plain! There was a singular catastrophe which virtually ended all life between what geologists call the 'Lower' and 'Upper Cretaceous' -- that is, the dividing line between the world before Adam and the world since the creation of man.
Geologists throw around time as though it were a mere toy! By giving themselves time enough they hope to alleviate the necessity of accepting the truth of Genesis 1:2.
THE WORLD OF ADAM
To continue picking up the highlights of geology which confirm the Biblical record --
The second chapter of Genesis, verses 8 to 15, preserves a remarkable account of the geography of the land of Eden where Man first dwelt. Many Scripture passages indicate it was the land of Palestine, with the Garden lying eastward in the vicinity of Jerusalem. Josephus, the Jewish historian, confirms this picture in 'Antiquities of the Jews,' I, i, 3.
In Eden sprang forth a vast stream of water that flowed eastward through the Garden. It divided into four parts, three of which flowed toward the north and east -- the other southward.
Where, in geological history, would one find this geographical description of the river system of Palestine and the environs of Jerusalem?
In the strata that geologists label 'Upper Cretaceous'! In Palestine it is the next geological event which follows the geological break previously referred to. Jewish geologists, unaware of what they have discovered, have even presented a simple sketch of this astounding evidence. On page 35 of E. A. Speiser's 'At the Dawn of Civilization' is a geologic map of Palestine in the so-called 'Upper Cretaceous.'
Immediately to the east of Jerusalem may be seen in outline the area through which the waters from the Garden flowed. The present Jordan Valley and Dead Sea were not then formed.
With these geological points established in brief, it is not difficult to place the subsequent geological and archaeological deposits in their Biblical background.
The first few centuries of human life on earth are consequently
parallel with the 'Upper Cretaceous' and 'Tertiary' deposits of geological science. These deposits are of course dated by evolutionary scientists as millions of years old. Time, to them, means nothing.
Geologists have no means of dating accurately these deposits. They assume their extreme antiquity because they first assumed the evolutionary hypothesis to be a fact!
The Evolutionary hypothesis is not a fact. It has never been proofn and by its very nature can never be proofn. Once evolution is recognized for what it is -- a mere figment of human imagination -- the whole geological timetable collapses!
THE SIN OF CAIN AND GEOLOGY
Cain is an important figure in theology. He is equally important to history and geology. Geology? Indeed! As a result of the sin of Cain the entire history of human society -- and the earth's surface -- changed. Notice the Biblical record: 'And now art thou cursed from the earth ... when thou tillest the ground' -- Cain, says Josephus, sought to gain his livelihood by farming methods which depleted the soil -- 'It shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive (or wanderer) and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth' (Gen. 4:11-12).
God put a stop to Cain's way -- the way of getting. If Cain and his heirs had been allowed to continue their agricultural pursuits, soils all over the world would long ago have been rendered unfit for cultivation. Human life might well have been snuffed out by mass starvation.
The geological record tells us what God did to save the soil from utter depletion. Mountain chains arose where there were none before.
Seas dried up. The balmy semi-tropical climate of the world rapidly shifted into torrid and frigid zones. Wherever Cain wandered his agricultural pursuits came to naught. When it should have rained, the weather turned dry. Just as he was about to reap the ripening crop, a storm blew in. Nothing turned out right. Cain was forced to turn to hunting and gathering the sparse wild fruits and berries. He and the generations who followed him eked out a wretched living. All this is recorded in geology and archaeology.
In the so-called 'Tertiary' geological deposits, which follow the 'Upper Cretaceous,' immense surface changes are recorded. The climate began to turn cooler. Desert regions developed in the wake of mountain building. Pluvial and arid periods fluctuated.
'Tertiary' deposits are overlain by what geologists call 'Quarternary' or 'Pleistocene' deposits. The climate in the northern hemisphere became even colder. Vast snowfalls engulfed the regions now labeled Canada and Europe on our maps. The Arctic zone expanded.
Fluctuations in sea level occurred. All along the continental shore lines the changing beach levels left their mark. Many may still be seen today. Geologists mislabel this pre-Flood period 'Ice Ages.'
This period witnessed the spread of human habitation around the world. Giants appeared according to Genesis. Fossil remains of giant human beings of this period have been found by geologists. This is the time of so-called 'Paleolithic Man,' or 'Neanderthal Man' and the 'Mousterian Culture,' of the mammoth and reindeer hunters of the 'Upper Paleolithic.' Their culture exactly fits the curse that befell Cain.
Cain and his descendants became wanderers and vagabonds over the face of their earth. They were reduced to hunting and gathering because the soil would not yield normal crops. These ancient changes in the weather are a type of the changes of the weather now beginning to hit the earth in this twentieth century!
With an increase in human population over the centuries, Cain saw a way around his punishment. He reasoned that if he could monopolize the salt trade, he could become rich. Every human being needs salt to live. He headed for the region of the Dead Sea. There he built an important city and surrounded it with walls. Josephus describes it in detail. The Bible refers to it as the city of Enoch, which Cain built and named in honor of his son (Gen. 4:17). Archaeologists have found it -- the first walled city built before the Flood. On its site was later built the post-Flood city of Jericho. The British archaeologist Miss Kenyon has devoted much time and patience to the excavation of this important discovery (see her book Digging Up Jericho).
At Jericho and all over the eastern Mediterranean lands rapid changes in culture developed. Population increased. Many village sites dot the countryside. Intermarriage of races was a consequence of the family of Cain settling among the family of Seth in the Middle East.
Numerous fossil skeletons attest to this fact mentioned in Gen. 6:1-2.
The complete story of culture changes before the Flood may be easily pieced together from Emmanuel Anati's 'Palestine Before the Hebrews,' F. C. Hibben's 'Prehistoric Man in Europe' and Speiser's afore-quoted book. 'The Bible and the Ancient Near East' provides the proper sequence of cultures in its fourth chapter, 'The Archaeology of Palestine,' by G. E. Wright. These and other studies make it clear that the Flood occurred at the end of the geological epoch called the 'Pleistocene.' The 'Recent' which follows geologically is the post-Flood world. This event is also marked in geological records by the sudden disappearance of many forms of animal life -- especially the mammoths.
EARLY POST-FLOOD WORLD
In archaeological parlance the pre-Flood world in the Middle East drew to a close with the 'Natufian,' the 'Tahunian,' pre-pottery and pottery Neolithic and related cultures.
As this dissertation is being written, important new discoveries in Anatolia and Southeast Europe are adding to our knowledge of so-called 'Neolithic' culture just prior to the Flood. Already archaeologists are aware that their designation 'Neolithic' is a misnomer. It was not a complex of cultures based on polished stone without metals. Everywhere copper artifacts are, turning up in the Middle East -- in Persia, in Greece and along the Danube, in Anatolia and the fringes of Mesopotamian plains. Scripture makes plain that the knowledge and use of copper alloys and iron characterized the closing stages of the pre-Flood world (see Genesis 4:22).
These so-called Early Neolithic cultures are mistakenly dated (by radio-carbon) to the last half of the sixth millennium and to the fifth. Radio-carbon dates that are earlier than the 4300's ± 300 B.C. generally belong to Pre-Flood societies. Those sites and artifacts dated by archaeologists to the 4300's ± 300 and later appear in every known instance to be of the post-Flood world. This indicates that radio-carbon dates for the time of the Flood are about 2000 ± 300 years off!
The immediate post-Flood world is, in Mesopotamia and Palestine, labeled by archeologists as a transitional 'Neolithic-Chalcolithic' culture stage. It is rather a senseless term! The term is meant to imply a general but limited use of metal. In short order Palestinian society developed into a so-called 'Early Chaleolithic' period.
Wherever these two cultural phases appear in the Middle East, there is evidence of a break with the past. The world population suddenly appears to have shrunk to almost nothing. Migrations are on miniature scale. Areas of human habitation are limited, compared with the evidences of tremendous population in the Early Neolithic which ended in the Flood.
Of the pre-Flood world we have this startling quote from Anati in 'Palestine Before the Hebrews': '... the density of population must have been then one of the greatest in Palestine. Frequently the distance from one settled spot to another is no more than a thousand feet' (p. 231).
Post-Flood Palestine was, by contrast, sparsely settled. Human habitation, springing out of Syria and Mesopotamia, was limited in the Early Chalcolithic to sites along the coast, in the mountains and along the Jordan plain. An increase in population is noted in the succeeding cultural phase -- the Ghassulian of archaeological parlance. This is the period in which Abraham appeared in Palestine. Abraham generally made southern Palestine, headquarters. Its chief town was Beersheba. It is not surprising that during this period Beersheba was the cultural center of Palestine, rather than the more populous north. It was at Beersheba that the remains of the earliest known domesticated horse was found by archaeologists ('Palestine before the Hebrews', p. 241).
Abraham's descendants ever since have been famous breeders of horses.
The lush Jordan Valley became desolate during the Ghassulian. When Tell el-Ghassul was excavated by the Pontifical Institute immense quantities of ash were found. It was immediately recognized as the time of the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah. Later, archaeologists -- confronted with this plain evidence of Scripture -- rejected the identification and placed the Ghassulian culture 1500 years too early!
And with that the evidence of geology and archaeology missing from Volume I is completed. Geology, archaeology, history and the Bible stand reconciled.
