Dear Editor,
Thank you for publishing my article ‘Original Consistency’ in the March en. I need to ask you to publish a correction to this, please, as outlined below.
I have been in correspondence with our esteemed brother and archaeologist, Professor Alan Millard. He shares my purpose in writing the article, but spotted an error that I had not appreciated. In the section on the Creation account as rendered in non-biblical sources, I referred to the ‘Creation Hymn’ in the Ebla tablets. I was aware, of course, that several of the early claims by the first translator of the manifold tablets found there have been disputed and rejected by subsequent scholars. I had not realised that the so-called Creation Hymn had proved to be completely wrong and had nothing to do with Creation! I would ask your readers to disregard this specific item.
This does underline the problem which affects many archaeological finds which ‘resurrect’ ancient languages. Frequently, the initial renderings become amended in the light of increasing knowledge. So we need to recognise that, while the changes in content may not be as dramatic as that at Ebla, the specific wordings should be treated with caution. To those of us who are laymen in this field, it is often difficult to pick up on the most recent scholarship in the precise detail we would like. So, I would emphasise that there are these sources which relate to the biblical accounts in the way I mentioned, but we should always be alert to the fact that specific details may change with increasing research. We thank God for brothers like Professor Millard whose writings we can trust.
Yours sincerely,
