The Promised Land?

Steve Berry, another Yank, has penned a novel with a premise every bit as startling. According to The Alexandria Link, the Old Testament as we know it is not the Old Testament written in the long forgotten Old Hebrew. Centuries passed before the Old Testament was published in latter-day Hebrew, with extensive revisions. The major one was that the Holy Land God promised Abraham wasn't in Palestine, but in western Arabia.

The author, through several important characters in The Alexandria Link, argues that apart from the latter Hebrew Old Testament, there is no historical proof that the significant events therein ever happened: not the parting of the Red Sea; not the David and Goliath encounter; not the greatness under Solomon, et al. Archaeological digs (forbidden in Saudi Arabia) unearthed not a trace of any of this.

Berry quotes authors who assert that there are areas in western Arabia that approach descriptions in the Old Testament that Canaan doesn't. Doubtless this will be scoffed at by Talmudic scholars in Jerusalem. They in turn will demand historical proof. The issue is a vital one. If Israel isn't the Promised Land, why are the Zionists fighting so hard for it? Then again, if the Promised Land is near Mecca, won't the Arab world turn on the Saudis?

Mixing fact and fiction, lawyer and well-traveled Berry raises the possibility that the Library of Alexandria, the storehouse of learning of the ancient world, razed by the Muslims, wasn't entirely destroyed. More than a few of its half-million manuscripts were rescued from the conflagration and moved to a place known only to Guardians. Among them could be at least one copy of the Old Testament in Old Hebrew, which might yet be translated.

Apprehensive as to what it might say, the Israelis don't want the hiding place found. As their allies, neither do the Americans. Nor the Saudis. But the Islamist jihadists would pay any amount for it; and there are unscrupulous Westerners after it, with the intention of selling the location to the highest bidder. How the various sides go about it is the main plot of this story. The minor plot is of a conspiracy in high places to kill the Israeli-friendly US President, so that his successor will tilt toward the oil-rich Arabs.

There are shootouts, kidnappings, bombs going off, so many that at times we're not sure who's doing what. My favourite line is: ''I'm not a murderer, just an assassin.''

Reading The Alexandria Link, this reviewer wonders who wrote the 10 Commandments.

premise an idea used to support another theory ascend to move up or to a higher position sire to become the father of a child derision when someone or something is laughed at and considered ridiculous or of no value bonanza a situation from which large profits are made obscure not known to many people Yank American startling surprising and sometimes worrying revisions changes of something archaeological the study of ancient cultures by looking for and examining their buildings, tools, and other objects unearthed found something in the ground

trace proof that someone or something was in a place assert to say that something is certainly true doubtless used to mean that you are certain that something will happen or is true scoffed laughed and spoke about a person or idea in a way which shows that you think they are stupid or ridiculous Talmudic scholars people who study, especially at a university, the collection of ancient Jewish laws and tradition for religious and social matters vital necessary for the success or continued existence of something; extremely important the Promised Land in the Bible, the land of Canaan, promised by God to Abraham and his race Zionists the people of a political movement which had as its original aim the creation of a country for Jewish people, and which now works to help the development of Israel

razed completely destroyed a city, building, etc conflagration a large destructive fire apprehensive feeling anxious about something that you are going to do jihadists people who fight a holy war against people who are a threat to the Islamic religion or who oppose its teachings unscrupulous behaving in a way that is dishonest or unfair in order to get what you want bidder a person who offers money for something conspiracy when people secretly plan together to do something bad or illegal tilt to be more favorable for a particular situation to happen or a particular decision to be made when other situations or decisions are possible the Ten Commandments in the Bible, the rules given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai