“In Talmud Babli, referring to the Philistines in relation to the Dagon, it is said: ‘They let alone the Dagon and worshiped the _miftan_, for they said, His prince (genius) has abandoned the Dagon and has come to sit on the _miftan_.’ All of which proves that there lingered yet in the memory of the Talmudists the traditional recollection of _miftan_ worship.”
Oldest among civilizations of which we have any sure record is that of Babylonia. Among the foremost scholars in that realm is Dr. Hilprecht, formerly of the University of Erlangen, and now Professor of Assyriology in the University of Pennsylvania. His prominence is recognized in Europe as fully as in America. His labors, in the field and in the study, in connection with the successful Babylonian Expedition of the University of Pennsylvania, and his monumental work, still in course of publication, on the Cuneiform Texts brought to light by that expedition, have added to his reputation on both sides of the ocean, and confirmed his high standing among the best scholars of the world in his special department of knowledge.
It was while on his way to Constantinople, to examine the latest “finds” in Babylonia brought to the Imperial Museum there, with which museum Professor Hilprecht has an official connection, that he examined the proof-sheets of “The Threshold Covenant.” Of the work in its entirety he writes in generous appreciation as follows:
“Your latest book, ‘The Threshold Covenant,’ accompanied me on my trip to Constantinople. Before we had crossed the Atlantic I had studied it three times from beginning to end. I take the first opportunity, at Southampton, to send you these lines, in order to express to you my full appreciation of what you have offered to the scientific world in your magnificent work.
“If in your former book, ‘The Blood Covenant,’ you made [as was suggested by an eminent German theologian] the first successful attempt to write a theology of the blood, you have given us in your most recent work a thorough investigation on the significance and history of the primitive altar upon which blood was shed by men entering into a covenant with God or their fellow-men. Surely your two books ‘The Blood Covenant,’ and ‘The Threshold Covenant’ belong together, and should therefore be studied together. One supplements the other, and the former furnishes the key to a full understanding of the facts presented in the latter; and so again on the other side.