Abraham then lived and flourished in Beer-Sheba, where he nourished
Faith in his Almighty God despite the idols which abounded.
There the Canaanites surrounded him, their rituals astounded him,
Their prayers and songs resounded, challenging the faith he founded,
While his people were much tempted, and their leader much confounded,
And his problems much compounded.

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Just how Abraham responded, how his people strongly bonded
To the Hebrew God, would not be known till fairly recent days.
For, the authors of the Bible were not eager to, nor liable,
To include within their Bible details of the pagan ways,
Nor to dwell upon the hellish idols worshipped in those days,
Which the Canaanites did praise.

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By a wonderful coincidence there was an increased incidence
Of writing in the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East.
In the palaces were storerooms, and in temples there were more rooms,
Full of tablets full of stories, and the teachings of the Priest.
These were buried in rich cities where the kings no longer feast,
But where scholars now may feast!

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For, despite the steady ravages of time, of war, of savages,
Many tablets made of clay, incised in cuneiform, survived;
Baked, like pottery, in fire, could not be destroyed by fire.
Looking back, one must admire those whose patience has revived
So much of the ancient world, few imagined had survived,
For the pleasure they derived.

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Of four languages exhumed there after countless years entombed there,
Unexpected, when deciphered, was the Ugaritic tongue;
A Semitic language, clearly, close to Hebrew, and yet nearly
From the age of Abraham. And the literature wrung
From the tablets was so striking, like the Hebrew poems sung
When our ancestors were young!

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How those diggers were excited! How those scholars were delighted!
How the faithful, so united in their reverence and love
For the wisdom and humanity, for the struggle against vanity,
For the war with inhumanity, the Testament speaks of!
They awaited each new insight that the scholars hinted of,
And they waited out of love!

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