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Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d.</i></p> + +<p class='c003'>THE EGYPT OF THE HEBREWS AND HERODOTOS</p> +<p class='c004'><span class='sc'>Contents.</span>—The Patriarchal Age—The Age of Moses—The +Exodus—-The Hebrew Settlement in Canaan—The Age of the +Israelitish Monarchies—The Age of the Ptolemies—Herodotos in +Egypt—In the Steps of Herodotos—Memphis and the Fayyûm—Appendices—Index.</p> + +<p class='c005'>‘Professor Sayce has written a charming work, which every lover of +Egypt will fly to. He makes the old Egypt live again with all the vitality +of accurate research and of sympathetic explanation; he has produced one +of the most readable, useful, and instructive books we have ever read.’—<b>Church +Bells.</b></p> + +<p class='c006'>‘Professor Sayce has a story of singular fascination to tell. Every +person interested intelligently in Holy Scripture should make it a matter of +duty to read this book.’—<b>Yorkshire Post.</b></p> + +<p class='c006'>‘Truly a valuable addition to existing works on Egypt.’—<b>Western +Morning News.</b></p> + +<p class='c006'>‘On the whole, we know of no more useful handbook to Egyptian history, +summing up in a popular form in a short compass the results of +Egyptian research down to the present time.’—<b>Church Times.</b></p> +<p class='c004'>LONDON: RIVINGTONS</p> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> +<div class='nf-center c007'> + <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_iii'>iii</span><span class='xxlarge'><b>THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE HEBREWS</b></span></div> + <div class='c000'><span class='xlarge'><b>BY</b></span></div> + <div class='c000'><span class='xxlarge'><b>The <abbr title='Reverend'>Rev.</abbr> <abbr class='spell'>A. H.</abbr> SAYCE</b></span></div> + <div class='c000'><span class='xlarge'><b>PROFESSOR OF ASSYRIOLOGY AT OXFORD</b></span></div> + <div><span class='xlarge'><b>AUTHOR OF ‘EGYPT OF THE HEBREWS AND HERODOTOS’</b></span></div> + <div class='c008'>RIVINGTONS</div> + <div><i>KING STREET, COVENT GARDEN</i></div> + <div>LONDON</div> + <div>1897</div> + <div class='c000'><i>All rights reserved</i></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_v'>v</span> + <h2 class='c009'>PREFACE</h2> +</div> +<p class='c004'>There are many histories of Israel, but this is +the first attempt to write one from a purely +archæological point of view. During the last +few years discovery after discovery has come +crowding upon us from the ancient East, revolutionising +all our past conceptions of early +Oriental history, and opening out a new and unexpected +world of culture and civilisation. For +the Oriental archæologist Hebrew history has +ceased to stand alone; it has taken its place +in that great stream of human life and action +which the excavator and decipherer are revealing +to us, and it can at last be studied like the +history of Greece or Rome. The age of the +Patriarchs is being brought close to us; our +museums are filled with written documents +which are centuries older than Abraham; and +we are beginning to understand the politics which +<span class='pageno' id='Page_vi'>vi</span>underlie the story of the Pentateuch and the +causes of the events which are narrated in it.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Over against the facts of archæology stand +the subjective assumptions of a certain school, +which, now that they have ceased to be predominant +in the higher latitudes of scholarship, +are finding their way into the popular literature +of the country. Between the results of Oriental +archæology and those which are the logical end +of the so-called ‘higher criticism’ no reconciliation +is possible, and the latter must therefore be +cleared out of the way before the archæologist +can begin his work. Hence some of the pages +that follow are necessarily controversial, and it +has been needful to show why the linguistic +method of the ‘literary analysis’ is essentially +unscientific and fallacious when applied to history, +and must be replaced by the method of historical +comparison.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Even while my book has been passing through +the press, a new fact has come to light which +supplements and enforces the conclusion I have +drawn in the second chapter from a comparison +of the account of the Deluge in the book of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_vii'>vii</span>Genesis with that which has been recovered from +the cuneiform inscriptions. At the recent meeting +of the Oriental Congress in Paris, Dr. Scheil +stated that among the tablets lately brought +from Sippara to the museum at Constantinople +is one which contains the same text of the story +of the Flood as that which was discovered by +George Smith. But whereas the text found by +George Smith was written for the library of +Nineveh in the seventh century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr>, the newly-discovered +text was inscribed in the reign of +Ammi-zadok, the fourth successor of Khammurabi +or Amraphel, in the Abrahamic age. And +even then the text was already old. Here and +there the word <i>khibi</i>, ‘lacuna,’ was inserted, indicating +that the original from which it had +been copied was already illegible in places. +Since this text agrees, not with the ‘Elohist’ +or the ‘Yahvist’ separately, but with the supposed +combination of the two documents in the +book of Genesis, it is difficult to see, as the +discoverer remarked, how the ‘literary analysis’ +of the Pentateuch can be any longer maintained. +At all events, the discovery shows the minute +<span class='pageno' id='Page_viii'>viii</span>care and accuracy with which the literature of +the past was copied and handed down. Edition +after edition had been published of the story +of the Deluge, and yet the text of the Abrahamic +age and that of the seventh century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> agree +even to the spelling of words.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is the ‘higher critics’ themselves, and not +the ancient writers whom they criticise, that are +careless or contemptuous in their use of evidence. +In the preface to my <i>Higher Criticism and the +Verdict of the Monuments</i> I have referred to a +flagrant example of their attempt to explain +away unwelcome testimony. Here it was the +inscription on an early Israelitish weight, which +was first pronounced to be a forgery, then to +have been misread, and finally to have been +engraved by different persons at different times! +The weight is now in the Ashmolean Museum +in Oxford, to which it was presented by Dr. +Chaplin, and the critics have conveniently forgotten +the dogmatic assertions that were made +about it. They have, in fact, been busy elsewhere. +Cuneiform tablets have been found +relating to Chedorlaomer and the other kings of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_ix'>ix</span>the East mentioned in the fourteenth chapter +of Genesis, while in the Tel el-Amarna correspondence +the King of Jerusalem declares that +he had been raised to the throne by the ‘arm’ +of his god, and was therefore, like Melchizedek, +a priest-king. But Chedorlaomer and Melchizedek +had long ago been banished to mythland, +and criticism could not admit that archæological +discovery had restored them to actual history. +Writers, accordingly, in complacent ignorance of +the cuneiform texts, told the Assyriologists that +their translations and interpretations were alike +erroneous, that they had misread the names of +Chedorlaomer and his allies, and that the ‘arm +of the Mighty King,’ in the letters of Ebed-Tob, +meant the Pharaoh of Egypt. Unfortunately, +the infallibility of the ‘critical’ consciousness can +be better tested in the case of Assyriology than +in that of the old Hebrew records, and the +Assyriologist may therefore be pardoned if he +finds in such displays of ignorance merely a +proof of the worthlessness of the ‘critical’ +method. A method which leads its advocates +to deny the facts stated by experts when these +<span class='pageno' id='Page_x'>x</span>run counter to their own prepossessions cannot +be of much value. At all events, it is a method +with which the archæologist and the historian +can have nothing to do.</p> + +<p class='c003'>This, indeed, is tacitly admitted in a modern +German work on Hebrew history, which is more +than once referred to in the following pages. +Dr. Kittel’s <i>History of the Hebrews</i> is partly +filled with an imposing ‘analysis’ of the documents +which constitute the historical books of +the Old Testament, and we might therefore +expect that the history to which it forms an +introduction would be influenced throughout by +the results of the literary disintegration. But +nothing of the sort is the case. So far as Dr. +Kittel’s treatment of the history is concerned, +the ‘analysis’ might never have been made; all +that it does is to prove his acquaintance with +modern ‘critical’ literature. The history is +judged on its own merits without any reference +to the age or character of the ‘sources’ upon +which it is supposed to rest. The instinct +of the historian has been too strong for the +author to resist, and the results of the linguistic +<span class='pageno' id='Page_xi'>xi</span>analysis have accordingly been quietly set +aside.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But history also has its canons of evidence, +and criticism, in the true sense of the word, is +not confined to the philologists. There is no infallible +history any more than there is infallible +philology; and if we are to understand the history +of the Hebrews aright, we must deal with it as +we should with the history of any other ancient +people. The Old Testament writers were +human; and in so far as they were historians, +their conceptions and manner of writing history +were the same as those of their Oriental contemporaries. +They were not European historians +of the nineteenth century, and to treat them as +such would be not only to pursue a radically +false method, but to falsify the history they have +recorded. No human history is, or can be, +inerrant, and to claim inerrancy for the history +of Israel is to introduce into Christianity the +Hindu doctrine of the inerrancy of the Veda. +For the historian, at any rate, the questions +involved in a theological treatment of the Old +Testament do not exist.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xii'>xii</span>The present writer, accordingly, must be +understood to speak throughout simply as an +archæologist and historian. Theologically he +accepts unreservedly whatever doctrine has been +laid down by the Church as an article of the +faith. But among these doctrines he fails to find +any which forbids a free and impartial handling +of Old Testament history.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Perhaps it is necessary to apologise for the +multitude of unfamiliar proper names which make +the first chapter of this book somewhat difficult +reading. But they represent the archæological +discoveries of the last few years in their bearing +upon the history of the Patriarchs, and an +attempt has been made to lighten the burden of +remembering them by repeating the newly-discovered +facts, at all events in outline, wherever +it has been needful to allude to them. +Those, however, who find the burden too heavy +and wearisome may pass on to the second chapter.</p> + +<p class='c003'><abbr class='spell'>A. H.</abbr> SAYCE,</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='sc'>23 Chepstow Villas, W.</span></p> + +<p class='c003'><i>September 25, 1897.</i></p> +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_xiii'>xiii</span> + <h2 class='c010'>CONTENTS</h2> +</div> +<p class='c004'><a href='#chap1'>CHAPTER <abbr title='one'>I</abbr></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>THE HEBREW PATRIARCHS</p> + +<p class='c003'>Who were the Hebrews?—Origin of the Name—Ur and its +Kings—Amraphel or Khammu-rabi—Canaanites in Babylonia—Harran—The +Amorites—Abram in Canaan and Egypt—The +Campaign of Chedorlaomer—Melchizedek—Sodom and +Gomorrha—Circumcision—Name of Abraham—Hebrew and +Aramaic—Moab and Ammon—Amorite Kingdoms—Dedan—Sacrifice +of the Firstborn—Mount Moriah—Purchase of the +Field of Machpelah—The Hittites—Babylonian Law—Isaac +as a Bedâwi Shêkh—Esau and the Edomites—Jacob—Settles +at Shechem—His Sons—The Israelitish Tribes—Joseph—The +Hyksos in Egypt—Egyptian Character of Joseph’s History—Goshen—Deaths +of Jacob and Joseph ... <abbr title='pages'>Pp.</abbr> <a href='#Page_1'>1</a>-99</p> +<p class='c004'><a href='#chap2'>CHAPTER <abbr title='two'>II</abbr></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>THE COMPOSITION OF THE PENTATEUCH</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Literary Analysis and its Conclusions—Based on a Theory +and an Assumption—Weakness of the Philological Evidence—Disregard +of the Scientific Method of Comparison—Imperfection +of our Knowledge of Hebrew—Archæeology unfavourable +to the Higher Criticism—Analysis of Historical Sources—Tel +el-Amarna Tablets—Antiquity of Writing in the East—The +Mosaic Age highly Literary—Scribes mentioned in the +Song of Deborah—The Story of the Deluge brought from +Babylonia to Canaan before the time of Moses—The Narratives +of the Pentateuch confirmed by Archæeology—Compiled +from early Written Documents—Revised and re-edited from +time to time—Three Strata of Legislation—Accuracy in the +Text—Tendencies—Chronology ... <abbr title='pages'>Pp.</abbr> <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>-151</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xiv'>xiv</span><a href='#chap3'>CHAPTER <abbr title='three'>III</abbr></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>THE EXODUS OUT OF EGYPT</p> + +<p class='c003'>Goshen—The Pharaohs of the Oppression and Exodus—The +Heretic King at Tel el-Amarna—Causes of the Exodus—The +Stela of Meneptah—Moses—Flight to Midian—The Ten +Plagues—The Exodus—Egyptian Version of it—Origin of the +Passover—Geography of the Exodus—Position of Sinai—Promulgation +of the Law—Babylonian Analogies—The Tabernacle—The +Levitical Law—The Feasts—Number of the +Israelites—Kadesh-barnea—Failure to conquer Canaan—The +High-priest and the Levites—Edom—Conquests on the East +of the Jordan—Balaam—Destruction of the Midianites—Cities +of Refuge and of the Levites—The Deuteronomic Law—Death +of Moses ... <abbr title='pages'>Pp.</abbr> <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>-245</p> +<p class='c004'><a href='#chap4'>CHAPTER <abbr title='four'>IV</abbr></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN</p> + +<p class='c003'>Joshua not the Conqueror of Canaan—The Conquest gradual—The +Passage of the Jordan—Jericho, Ai, and the Gibeonites—Battle +of Makkedah—Lachish and Hazor—The Kenizzites at +Hebron and Kirjath-Sepher—Shechem—Death of Joshua ... <abbr title='pages'>Pp.</abbr> <a href='#Page_246'>246</a>-271</p> +<p class='c004'><a href='#chap5'>CHAPTER <abbr title='five'>V</abbr></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>THE AGE OF THE JUDGES</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Condition of Israel—The Destruction of the Benjamites—Story +of Micah and the Conquest of Dan—Chushan-rishathaim +and Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>—Office of Judge—Eglon of Moab—The Philistines—Deborah +and Barak—Sisera and the Hittites—The +Song of Deborah—Gideon—Kingdom of Abimelech—Jephthah—Sacrifice +of his Daughter—Defeat and Slaughter of the +Ephraimites—Samson—Historical Character of the Book of +Judges ... <abbr title='pages'>Pp.</abbr> <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>-331</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_xv'>xv</span><a href='#chap6'>CHAPTER <abbr title='six'>VI</abbr></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MONARCHY</p> + +<p class='c003'>Influence of Shiloh—Samuel and the Philistines—Duplicate +Narratives in the Books of Samuel—Prophet and Seer—Dervish +Monasteries—Capture of the Ark and Destruction of +Shiloh—Saul made King—Quarrels with Samuel—Delivers +Israel from the Philistines—Attacks the Amalekites—David—Two +Accounts of his Rise to Power—Jealousy of Saul—David’s +Flight—Massacre of the Priests at Nob—Wanderings of +David—He sells his Services to the King of Gath—Duties +of a Mercenary—Battle of Gilboa and David’s Position—He +is made King of Judah—War with Esh-Baal—Intrigues with +Abner—Murder of Esh-Baal—David revolts from the Philistines +and becomes King of Israel—Capture of Jerusalem, +which is made the Capital—Results of this—Conquest of the +Philistines, of Moab, Ammon, Zobah, and Edom—The +Israelitish Empire—Murder of Uriah and Birth of Solomon—Influence +of Nathan—Polygamy and its Effects in the Family +of David—Revolt of Absalom—Of Sheba—Folly and Ingratitude +of David—Saul’s Descendants sacrificed because of a +Drought—The Plague and the Purchase of the Site of the +Temple—David’s Officers and last Instructions—His Character—Chronology—Solomon +puts Joab and Others to Death—His +Religious Policy—Queen of Sheba—Trade and Buildings—Hiram +of Tyre—Palace and Temple Built—Tadmor—Zoological +and Botanical Gardens—Discontent in Israel—Impoverishment +of the Country—Jeroboam—Tastes and +Character of Solomon ... <abbr title='pages'>Pp.</abbr> <a href='#Page_332'>332</a>-480</p> +<h3 class='c011'>ABBREVIATIONS</h3> +<p class='c004'><abbr class='spell'>W. A. I.</abbr> = <i>Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia.</i> Published by the Trustees +of the British Museum.</p> + +<p class='c003'><abbr class='spell'>Z.D.M.G.</abbr> = <span lang="de"><i>Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft.</i></span></p> + +<p class='c003'><abbr class='spell'>W.</abbr> & <abbr class='spell'>A.</abbr> = Winckler and Abel’s edition of the Tel el-Amarna Tablets at +Berlin and Cairo in <span lang="de"><i>Mitthetlungen aus den orientalischen +Sammlungen</i></span>, <abbr class='spell'>i.</abbr> <abbr class='spell'>ii</abbr>. <abbr class='spell'>iii.</abbr></p> +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span> + <h2 id='chap1' class='c010'>CHAPTER <abbr title='one'>I</abbr> <br> THE HEBREW PATRIARCHS</h2> +</div> +<p class='c012'>Who were the Hebrews?—Origin of the Name—Ur and its Kings—Amraphel or +Khammu-rabi—Canaanites in Babylonia—Harran—The Amorites—Abram in Canaan +and Egypt—The Campaign of Chedor-laomer—Melchizedek—Sodom and Gomorrha—Circumcision—Name +of Abraham—Hebrew and Aramaic—Moab and Ammon—Amorite +Kingdoms—Dedan—Sacrifice of the firstborn—Mount Moriah—Purchase +of the Field of Machpelah—The Hittites—Babylonian Law—Isaac as a Bedâwi Shêkh—Esau +and the Edomites—Jacob—Settles at Shechem—His Sons—The Israelitish +Tribes—Joseph—The Hyksos in Egypt—Egyptian Character of Joseph’s History—Goshen—Deaths +of Jacob and Joseph.</p> +<p class='c004'>The historian of the Hebrews is met at the very outset by a +strange difficulty. Who were the Hebrews whose history +he proposes to write? We speak of a Hebrew people, of a +Hebrew literature, and of a Hebrew language; and by the one +we mean the people who called themselves Israelites or Jews, +by the other the literary records of this Israelitish nation, and +by the third a language which the Israelites shared with the +older population of Canaan. It is from the Old Testament +that we derive the term ‘Hebrew,’ and the use of the term +is by no means clear.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Abram is called ‘the Hebrew’ before he became Abraham +the father of Isaac and the Israelites. The confederate of the +Amorite chieftains of Mamre, the conqueror of the Babylonian +invaders of Canaan, is a ‘Hebrew’; when he comes before us +as a simple Bedâwi shêkh he is a Hebrew no longer. When +Joseph is sold into Egypt it is as a ‘Hebrew’ slave; and he +tells the Pharaoh that he had been ‘stolen’ out of ‘the land +of the Hebrews.’ The oppressed people in the age of the +Exodus are known as ‘Hebrews’ to their Egyptian taskmasters. +Moses was one of ‘the Hebrews’ children’; and he declares to +the Egyptian monarch that Yahveh of Israel was ‘the God of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span>the Hebrews.’ It would seem, therefore, as if it were the +name by which the people of Canaan, and more especially +the Israelites, were known to the Egyptians.</p> + +<p class='c003'>And yet there is no certain trace of it on the Egyptian +monuments. In the Egyptian texts the south of Palestine is +called Khar, perhaps the land of the ‘Horites’; the coast-land +is termed Zahi, ‘the dry’; and the whole country is indifferently +known as that of the Upper Lotan or Syrians, and of the +Fenkhu or Phœnicians. When we come down to the age of +the nineteenth dynasty we find the name of Canaan already +established in Egyptian literature. Seti <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr> destroyed the Shasu +or Bedâwin from the frontiers of Egypt to ‘the land of +Canaan’; and in a papyrus of the same age we hear of Kan’amu +or ‘Canaanite slaves’ from the land of Khar. Of any name +that resembles that of the Hebrews there is not a trace.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is equally impossible to discover it in the cuneiform +records of Babylonia and Assyria. The Babylonians, from +time immemorial, called Palestine ‘the land of the Amorites,’ +doubtless because the Amorites were the dominant people +there in those early ages when Babylonian armies first made +their way to the distant West. The Assyrians called it ‘the +land of the Hittites’ for the same reason, while in the letters +from the Asiatic correspondents of the Pharaoh found at Tel +el-Amarna, and dating from the century before the Exodus, it +is termed Kinakhna or Canaan. How then comes Joseph to +describe it as ‘the land of the Hebrews,’ and himself as a +‘Hebrew’ slave?</p> + +<p class='c003'>More than one attempt has been made to identify the +mysterious name with names met with in hieroglyphic and +cuneiform texts. The Egyptian monuments refer to a class +of foreigners called ’Apuriu, who were employed in the time +of the nineteenth and twentieth dynasties to convey the blocks +of stone needed for the great buildings of Egypt from the +quarries of the eastern desert. We are told how they dragged +the great altar of the Sun-god to Memphis for Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>; and +how, at a much later date, Ramses <abbr title='the fourth'><span class='fss'>IV.</span></abbr> was still employing eight +<span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>hundred men of the same race to transport his stone from the +quarries of Hammamât. Chabas and some other Egyptologists +have seen in these ’Apuriu the Hebrews of Scripture, and +have further identified them with the ’Aperu mentioned on +the back of a papyrus, where it is said that one of them acted +as a sort of aide-de-camp to the great conqueror of the +eighteenth dynasty, Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr></p> + +<p class='c003'>But there are serious objections to these identifications.<a id='r1'></a><a href='#f1' class='c013'><sup>[1]</sup></a> +There are reasons for believing that the ’Aperu and the +’Apuriu do not represent the same name; and no satisfactory +explanation has hitherto been forthcoming as to why we should +meet with Hebrews of the Israelitish race still serving as +public slaves in Egypt so long after the Exodus as the reigns +of Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> and Ramses <abbr title='the fourth'><span class='fss'>IV.</span></abbr> Moreover, in one text it is +stated that the ’Apuriu belonged ‘to the ’Anuti barbarians,’ +who inhabited the desert between Egypt and the Red Sea. +It is true that some of the Semitic kinsfolk of the Israelites +led a nomad life here in the old times, as they still do to-day; +nevertheless, ‘the ’Anuti barbarians’ were for the most part +of African origin, and the eastern desert of Egypt is not quite +the place where we should expect to find the nearest kindred +of a Canaanitish people. At present, at all events, the +identification of Hebrews and ’Apuriu must be held to be +non-proven.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Since the discovery of the cuneiform tablets of Tel el-Amarna +another attempt has been made to find the name of +the Hebrews outside the pages of the Old Testament. Ebed-Tob, +the vassal-king of Jerusalem, in his letters to Khu-n-Aten, +the ‘heretic’ Pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty, speaks of +certain enemies whom he terms Khabiri. They were threatening +the authority of the Egyptian monarch, and had already +captured several of the cities under Ebed-Tob’s jurisdiction. +The Egyptian governors in the south of Palestine had been +slain, and the territory of Jerusalem was no longer able to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>defend itself. If the Pharaoh could send no troops at once, +all would be lost. The Khabiri, under their leader Elimelech, +were already established in the country, and in concert with +the Sutê or Bedâwin were wresting it out of the hands of +Egypt.<a id='r2'></a><a href='#f2' class='c013'><sup>[2]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Some scholars, with more haste than discretion, have pronounced +the Khabiri of the cuneiform tablets to be the +Hebrews of the Old Testament. If that were the case, +Hebrew and Israelite could no longer be considered to be +synonymous terms. In the age of the Khabiri the Israelites +of Scripture were still in Egypt, where the cities of Ramses +and Pithom were not as yet built, and their leader to the +conquest of Canaan was Joshua, and not Elimelech. When +in subsequent centuries Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> and Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> invaded +and occupied Palestine, they found no traces there of the +children of Israel. They have left us lists of the places they +captured; we look in vain among them for the name of Israel +or of an Israelitish tribe. We look equally in vain in the Book +of Judges for any allusion to Egyptian conquests.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Khabiri, then, are not the Hebrews of Scripture, nor +does the word throw any light on the term ‘Hebrew’ itself. +Khabiri is really a descriptive title, meaning ‘Confederates’; +it was a word borrowed by Babylonian from the language of +Canaan, but is met with in old Babylonian and Assyrian +hymns.<a id='r3'></a><a href='#f3' class='c013'><sup>[3]</sup></a> It may be that Hebron, the city of ‘the Confederacy,’ +derived its name from these ‘Confederated’ bands; +at all events, the name of Hebron is nowhere mentioned by +Ebed-Tob or his brother governors, and it first appears in the +Egyptian records in the time of Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> under the form +of Khibur.<a id='r4'></a><a href='#f4' class='c013'><sup>[4]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>The Tel el-Amarna tablets, accordingly, give us no help in +regard to the name of the Hebrews, nor do any other cuneiform +inscriptions with which we are acquainted. Babylonian +records do indeed speak of a people called the Khabirâ, but +they inhabited the mountains of Elam, on the eastern side of +Babylonia, and between them and the Hebrews of Scripture +no connection is possible.<a id='r5'></a><a href='#f5' class='c013'><sup>[5]</sup></a> In an old Babylonian list of +foreign countries we read of a country of Khubur, which was +situated in northern Mesopotamia in the neighbourhood of +Harran; but Khubur is more probably related to the river +Khabur than to the kinsfolk of Terah and Laban.<a id='r6'></a><a href='#f6' class='c013'><sup>[6]</sup></a> Moreover, +a part of the mountains of the Amanus, overlooking the +Gulf of Antioch, from whence logs of pine were brought to +the cities of Chaldæa, was also known as Khabur.<a id='r7'></a><a href='#f7' class='c013'><sup>[7]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Archæological discovery, therefore, has as yet given us no +help. We must still depend upon the Old Testament alone +for an answer to our question, Who were the Hebrews? And, +unfortunately, the evidence of the Old Testament is by no +means clear. We have seen that on one side by the Hebrews +are meant the Israelites, and that from time to time the +Israelitish descendants of Abraham are characterised by that +name. But on the other side there are passages in which a +distinction seems to be made between them. Though Joseph +is a Hebrew slave, it is because he has been stolen out of ‘the +land of the Hebrews.’ Canaan, accordingly, even before its +<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>conquest by the Israelites, was inhabited by a Hebrew people. +So, too, in the early days of the reign of Saul, the Israelites and +the Hebrews appear to be still separate. While ‘the men of +Israel’ hide themselves in caves and thickets, ‘the Hebrews’ +cross over the Jordan to the lands of Gad and Gilead (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> +<abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 6, 7). Similarly we are told that in Saul’s first battle with +the Philistines ‘the Hebrews’ that were with the enemy +deserted to ‘the Israelites’ that were with Saul (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> +<abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 21).</p> + +<p class='c003'>Perhaps, however, all that is intended in these passages is +to emphasise the fact that among the Philistines, as among +the Egyptians, the children of Israel were known as ‘Hebrews.’ +The difficulty is that such a name is not found in the monumental +records of Egypt. When Shishak describes his +campaign against Judah and Israel, it is not the Hebrews, +but the Fenkhu and the ’Amu whom he tells us he has +conquered.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In fact, the Egyptian equivalent of Hebrew is ’Amu. What +Joseph calls ‘the land of the Hebrews’ would have been +termed ‘the land of the ’Amu’ by an Egyptian scribe. Joseph +himself would have been an ’Amu slave. ’Amu signified an +Asiatic in a restricted sense. It denoted the Asiatics of Syria +and of the desert between Palestine and Egypt. It included +also the nomad tribes of Edom and the Sinaitic Peninsula. +It was thus larger in its meaning than the Biblical ‘Hebrew’; +but, at the same time, it conveyed just the same ideas, and was +used in much the same way. The Hyksos conquerors of +Egypt were termed ’Amu, and a famous Syrian oculist in the +days of the eighteenth dynasty is described as an ’Amu of +Gebal. The name is probably derived from the Canaanitish +and Hebrew word which signifies ‘a people.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>The name ‘Hebrew’ comes from a root which means ‘to +pass’ or ‘cross over.’ It has been variously explained as ‘a +pilgrim,’ ‘a dweller on the other side,’ ‘a crosser of the river.’ +But the second explanation is that which best harmonises with +philological probabilities. We find other derivatives from the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>same root. Among them is Abarim, the name of that mountain-range +of Moab on ‘the other side’ of the Jordan, from +whence Moses beheld the Promised Land (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-seven'>xxvii.</abbr> 12), +as well as Ebronah, near the Gulf of Aqaba, one of the resting-places +of the children of Israel (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 34). Hebrew +genealogists indeed seem to have connected the name with +that of the patriarch Eber. But this is in accordance with that +spirit of Semitic idiom which throws geography and ethnology +into a genealogical form. It is probable that the name of the +patriarch is merely the Babylonian <i>ebar</i>, ‘a priest,’ which is +met with in Babylonian contracts of the age of Abraham.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Professor Hommel, however, supplementing a suggestion of +Dr. Glaser, has recently drawn attention to certain facts which +throw light on the early use of the name ‘Hebrew,’ even if +they do not remove all the difficulties connected with it.<a id='r8'></a><a href='#f8' class='c013'><sup>[8]</sup></a> A +Minæan inscription from the south of Arabia, in which the +name of ’Ammi-zadoq occurs, couples together the countries +of Misr or Egypt, of Aashur, the Ashshurim of <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-five'>xxv.</abbr> 3, +and of ’Ibr Naharân, ‘the land beyond the river.’ In another +Minæan inscription of the same age, the name of ’Ibr +Naharân is replaced by that of Gaza. It is clear, therefore, +that in ’Ibr Naharân we must see the south of Palestine. But +the Minæan texts are not alone in their use of the term. A +broken Assyrian tablet from the library of Nineveh<a id='r9'></a><a href='#f9' class='c013'><sup>[9]</sup></a> also refers +to Ebir-nâri, ‘the land beyond the river,’ in Canaan, and +associates it with Beth-el, Tyre, and Jeshimon. Professor +Hommel is probably right in assigning the inscription to the +reign of Assur-bel-Kala, the son of Tiglath-pileser <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr> (<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> +1080). At all events, the name seems to be of Babylonian +origin, like most of the geographical expressions adopted by +the Assyrians, and it is consequently very possible that Ebir-nâri +primarily signified the country on the western bank of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>Euphrates, where Ur was situated, and that it was subsequently +extended to the country west of the Jordan when Syria became +a province of the Babylonian empire.<a id='r10'></a><a href='#f10' class='c013'><sup>[10]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>However this may be, the question with which we started +remains unanswered. We are still unable to define with +exactness who the Hebrews were. The origin and first use +of the name are still a matter of doubt. We must be content +with the fact that it came to be applied—if not exclusively, at +all events predominantly—to the people of Israel in their +dealings with their foreign neighbours. It may be that this +special application of it was first fixed by the Philistines. In +any case it was a name which was accepted by the Israelites +themselves, and gradually became synonymous with all that +was specifically Israelitish. Even the old ‘language of +Canaan,’ as it is still called by Isaiah (<abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 18), became ‘the +Hebrew language’ of modern lexicographers. For us of to-day +the history of the Hebrew people means the history of the +descendants of Israel. It is with ‘Abram the Hebrew’ that +the history begins. Future ages looked back upon him as the +ancestor of the Hebrew race, ‘the rock’ from whence it was +‘hewn.’ He had come from the far East, from ‘Ur of the +Casdim’ or Babylonians. His younger brother Haran had +died ‘in the land of his nativity’; with his elder brother +Nahor and himself, his father Terah had migrated westward, +to Harran in Mesopotamia. There Terah had died, and there +Abram had received the call which led him to journey still +further onwards into the land of Canaan.</p> + +<p class='c003'>He was already married. Already in Babylonia he had +made Sarai his wife, who is also said to have been his step-sister; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>while the wife, Milcah, whom his brother Nahor had +taken to himself, was his niece. A time came when both +Abram and Sarai took new names in token of the covenant +they had made with God. Abram became Abraham, and +Sarai became Sarah.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Upon these beginnings of Hebrew history light has been +thrown by the decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions. +The site of ‘Ur of the Chaldees’ has been found. Geographers +are no longer dependent on Arab legends or vague coincidencies +with classical names. Ur was one of the most ancient +and prosperous of Babylonian cities. The very name meant +‘the city’; it was, in fact, the capital of a district, and its kings +at one time had claimed sway over the rest of Chaldæa. +Alone among the great cities of Babylonia, it stood on the +western bank of the Euphrates in close contact with the +nomad tribes of Semitic Arabia. More than any other of the +Babylonian towns it was thus able to influence and be influenced +by the Semites of the west; it was an outpost of +Babylonian culture, and its position made it a centre of +trade.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Its mounds of ruin are now known as Muqayyar or Mugheir. +Highest among them towers the mound which covers +the remains of the great temple of the moon-god. For it was +to Sin, the moon-god, that the city had been dedicated from +time immemorial, and in whose honour its temple had been +built. There was only one other temple of Sin that was equally +famous, and this was the temple which stood at Harran in +Mesopotamia, and which, like that at Ur, had been erected +and endowed by Babylonian kings.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was not only with the Semites of Northern Arabia that +Ur carried on its trade. It lay not very far from the mouth +of the Euphrates, which in early days flowed into the Persian +Gulf nearly a hundred miles to the north of the present coast. +We hear in the cuneiform tablets of ‘the ships of Ur,’ and +these ships must have been used in the trade that was carried +on by water. The products of Southern Arabia could thus +<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>be brought to the Chaldean city; perhaps also there was +intercourse even with Egypt.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The kings of Ur grew in power, and a dynasty arose at +last which gained ascendency over the other states of Babylonia. +We are beginning to learn something about these +kings and the society over which they ruled. During the last +few years excavations have been carried on by the Americans, +by the French, and even by the Turkish Government, which +have brought to light thousands of early cuneiform records, +some of which are dated in their reigns. A large proportion +of these records are contracts which throw an unexpected +light on the commerce and law, the manners and customs and +social life of the inhabitants of Babylonia at the time.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Among the last kings of the dynasty of Ur were Inê-Sin +and Pûr-Sin, whose names, it will be observed, are compounded +with that of the patron-god of the state. Inê-Sin not only +invaded Elam, but the distant west as well. His daughters +married the High-Priests both of Ansan in Elam and of +Markhasi, now Mer’ash, in Syria.<a id='r11'></a><a href='#f11' class='c013'><sup>[11]</sup></a> But it was not the first +time that Babylonian armies had marched to the west. +Centuries before (about <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 3800) another Babylonian king, +Sargon of Accad, had made campaign after campaign against +the land of the Amorites, as Syria and Palestine were called, +had set up images of himself on the shores of the Mediterranean, +and had united all Western Asia into a single empire, +while his son and successor had marched southward into the +Sinaitic Peninsula.<a id='r12'></a><a href='#f12' class='c013'><sup>[12]</sup></a> A predecessor of Inê-Sin himself, Gimil-Sin +by name, had overrun the land of Zabsali, which Professor +<span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>Hommel is probably right in identifying with Subsalla, from +whence an earlier Babylonian prince obtained stone for his +buildings, and which, we are told, was in the mountains of +the Amorites. The stone, in fact, was the limestone of the +Lebanon.<a id='r13'></a><a href='#f13' class='c013'><sup>[13]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Inê-Sin married his daughter to the High-Priest of Zabsali, +but his successor Pûr-Sin <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> appears to have been one of the last +of the dynasty. Babylonia fell under Elamite domination, and +a line of kings arose at Babylon whose names show that they +came from Southern Arabia. The first of them was Khammu-rabi, +whose reign lasted for fifty-five years. He proved himself +one of the most able and vigorous of Babylonian monarchs. +Before he died he had driven the Elamites out of the country, +and united it into a single monarchy, with Babylon for its +capital.</p> + +<p class='c003'>When Khammu-rabi first mounted the throne, he was a +vassal of the king of Elam. In Southern Babylonia, not far +from Ur, though on the opposite side of the river, was a rival +kingdom, that of Larsa, whose king, Eri-Aku or Arioch, was +the son of an Elamite prince. His father Kudur-Mabug is +called ‘the Father of the land of the Amorites,’ implying not +only that Canaan was subject at the time to Elamite rule, but +also that Kudur-Mabug held some official position there. In +one of his inscriptions Eri-Aku entitles himself ‘the shepherd +of Ur,’ and tells us that he had captured ‘the ancient city of +Erech.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>In Eri-Aku or Arioch, Assyriologists have long since seen +the Arioch of the book of Genesis, the contemporary of +Abram; and their belief has been raised to certainty by the +recent discovery by Mr. Pinches of certain fragmentary cuneiform +tablets in which allusion is made not only to Khammu-rabi, +but also to the kings who were his contemporaries. +These are Arioch, Kudur-Laghghamar or Chedor-laomer, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>Tudghula or Tid’al. Khammu-rabi, accordingly, must be +identified with Amraphel, who is stated in the Old Testament +to have been king of Shinar or Babylonia, and we can approximately +fix the period when the family of Terah migrated from +Ur of the Chaldees. It was about 2300 <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> if the chronology +of the native Babylonian historians is correct.<a id='r14'></a><a href='#f14' class='c013'><sup>[14]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>There was at this time constant intercourse between Babylonia +and the West. The father of Eri-Aku, as we have seen, +bore the title of ‘Father of the land of the Amorites,’ and +Khammu-rabi himself claimed sovereignty over the same part +of the world. So, too, did his great-grandson Ammi-satana +(or Ammi-dhitana), who in one of his inscriptions adds the +title of ‘king of the land of the Amorites’ to that of ‘king of +Babylon.’ Indeed, the kings of the dynasty to which Khammu-rabi +belonged bear names which are almost as much +<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>Canaanitish or Hebrew as they are South Arabic in form. +The Babylonians had some difficulty in spelling them, and in +the contract-tablets, consequently, the same name is written +in different ways. Thus we learn from a philological tablet +in which the names are translated into Semitic Babylonian +that Khammu and Ammi are but variant attempts to represent +the same word—that of a god whose name appears in those +of South Arabian princes as well as Israelites of the Old +Testament, and from whom the Beni-Ammi or Ammonites +derived their name.<a id='r15'></a><a href='#f15' class='c013'><sup>[15]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The founder of the dynasty had been Sumu-abi (or Samu-abi), +‘Shem is my father,’ and his son had been Sumu-la-il, +‘Is not Shem a god?’ The monarchs who ruled at Babylon, +therefore, when Abram was born claimed the same ancestor +as did Abram’s family, and worshipped him as a god. The +father of Ammi-satana was Abesukh, the Abishua’ of the +Bible; and his son was Ammi-zaduq, where <i>zaduq</i>, ‘righteous,’ +is a word well known to the languages of Southern Arabia +and Canaan, but not to that of Babylonia. The kings who +succeeded to the inheritance of the old Babylonian monarchs +of Ur were thus allied in language and race to the Hebrew +patriarch.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But this is not all. We find in the contracts which were +drawn up in the reigns of the kings of Ur and the successors +of Sumu-abi not only names like Sabâ, ‘the Sabæan,’ which +carry us to the spice-bearing lands of Southern Arabia,<a id='r16'></a><a href='#f16' class='c013'><sup>[16]</sup></a> but +names also which are specifically Canaanitish, or as we should +usually term it, Hebrew, in form. Thus Mr. Pinches has +discovered in them Ya’qub-il and Yasup-il, of which the +Biblical Jacob and Joseph are abbreviations, and elsewhere +we meet with Abdiel and Lama-il, the Lemuel of the Old +Testament. Even the name of Abram (Abi-ramu) himself +<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>occurs among the witnesses to a deed which is dated in the +reign of Khammu-rabi’s grandfather, and its Canaanitish +character is put beyond question by the fact that he is called +the father of ‘the Amorite.’<a id='r17'></a><a href='#f17' class='c013'><sup>[17]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>From other documents we learn that there were Amoritish or +Canaanite settlements in Babylonia where the foreigner was +allowed to acquire land and carry on trade with the natives. +One of these was just outside the walls of Sippara in Northern +Babylonia, and a good many references to it have already been +detected. Thus in the reign of Ammi-zaduq a case of disputed +title was brought before four of the royal judges which related to +certain feddans or ‘acres’ of land ‘in the district of the Amorites,’ +‘at the entrance to the city of Sippara’;<a id='r18'></a><a href='#f18' class='c013'><sup>[18]</sup></a> and a contract +dated in the reign of Khammu-rabi’s father further describes +the district as just outside the principal gate of the city. It +included arable and garden land, pasturage and woods, as well +as houses, and was thus like the land of Goshen, which was similarly +handed over to the Israelites to settle in. An Egyptian +inscription of the time of the eighteenth dynasty also speaks of +a similar district close to Memphis, which had been given to +the Hittites by the Pharaohs.<a id='r19'></a><a href='#f19' class='c013'><sup>[19]</sup></a> The strangers had their own +judges. We learn, for instance, from a lawsuit which was +decided in the time of Khammu-rabi that a Canaanite, Nahid-Amurri +<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>(‘the exalted of the Amorite god’), who was defendant +in a case of disputed property, was first taken, along with the +plaintiff, before the judges of Nin-Marki, ‘the lady of the +Amorite land,’ and then before another set of judges and +the assembled people of the city. It is clear from this that +the judges who were deputed to look after the interests of +the settlers from the West also acted when one of the parties +was a native of Babylonia.<a id='r20'></a><a href='#f20' class='c013'><sup>[20]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The migration of Terah and his family thus ceases to be an +isolated and unexplained fact. In the age to which it belonged +Canaan and Babylonia were in close connection one +with the other. Babylonian kings claimed rule over Canaan, +and Canaanitish merchants were established in Babylonia. +The language of Canaan was heard in the Babylonian cities, +and even the rulers of the land were of foreign blood. Between +Babylonia and Canaan there was a highway which had +been trodden for generations, and along which soldiers and +civil officials, merchants and messengers, passed frequently to +and fro.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Midway, on a tributary of the river Belikh, was the city of +Harran, so called from a Sumerian word which signified ‘a +high-road.’ Its name pointed to a Babylonian foundation, +as did also its temple dedicated to the Babylonian moon-god. +The temple, in fact, counted among its founders and restorers +a long line of Babylonian and Assyrian kings, and almost the +last act of the Babylonian Empire was the restoration of the +ancient shrine. Merodach, the god of Babylon, came in a +dream to the last of the Babylonian monarchs, and bade him +raise once more from its ruins the sanctuary of his brother-god. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>And Nabonidos tells us how he performed the task laid upon +him, how he disinterred the memorial-stones of the older +Assyrian kings, and how ‘by the art of the god Laban, the +lord of foundations and brickwork, with silver and gold and +precious stones, with spices and cedarwood,’ he built again +Ê-Khulkhul, ‘the temple of rejoicing.’ The moon-god, Sin, +who was adored within it, was known throughout the Aramaic +lands of Northern Syria as Baal-Kharran, ‘the Lord of Harran.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>But there was another city of the moon-god besides Harran. +This was Ur in Babylonia. In Babylonian literature it is +commonly known as the city of Sin. Between Ur and Harran +there must have been some close connection, and it may be +that Harran owed its foundation to the kings of Ur. At all +events, there was good reason why an emigrant from Ur should +establish his abode in Harran. Both cities were under the +same divine patron, and that meant, in the ancient world, that +both lived the same religious and civil life. Harran obeyed +the rule of the Babylonian kings; its very name showed that +it was of Babylonian origin, and its culture was that of Babylonia. +Law and religion, manners and customs, all were alike +in Harran and Ur. The migration from the one city to the +other did not differ from a change of dwelling from London +to Edinburgh.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The country in which Harran was built formed part of the +vast tract between the Tigris and Euphrates, which was known +to the Babylonians in early days as Suru or Suri, a name which +perhaps survived in that of the city Suru, the Suriyeh of modern +geography. In Semitic times it was called Subari or Suwari +by the Assyrians, sometimes also Subartu. Suru thus corresponded +with our Mesopotamia, though it seems to have +included a part of Northern Syria as well. But to the district +in which Harran stood the Babylonians gave a more special +name. It was Padan or Padin, ‘the cultivated plain,’ of which +it is said in a cuneiform tablet that it lies ‘in front of the +mountains of the Aramæans,’<a id='r21'></a><a href='#f21' class='c013'><sup>[21]</sup></a> while an early Babylonian +<span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>sovereign entitles himself king of Padan as well as of Northern +Babylonia.<a id='r22'></a><a href='#f22' class='c013'><sup>[22]</sup></a> The name bore witness to the fertility of the +country to which it was applied. The Babylonian lexicographers +make <i>padan</i> a synonym of words signifying ‘field’ +and ‘garden’; it was, in fact, originally the piece of ground +which a yoke of oxen could plough in a given period of time. +Hence it came to mean an ‘acre,’ a sense which still survives +in the Arabic <i>feddân</i>. The Babylonian leases and sales of +land which were drawn up in the Abrahamic age repeatedly +describe the ‘feddans’ or ‘acres’ of which the property consists. +The fertile plain of Mesopotamia, accordingly, was not +a plain merely; it was also ‘the field’ or ‘acre’ of Aram +where the Semites of the Aramæan stock ploughed and harvested +their corn.<a id='r23'></a><a href='#f23' class='c013'><sup>[23]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>In Egyptian its name was Naharina. The name had +been borrowed from the Aramæans, who called their country +the land of Naharain, ‘the two rivers.’ In Canaan, as we +know from the cuneiform tablets of Tel el-Amarna, it bore +the Canaanitish form of Naharaim, Nahrima, the final nasal +of the Aramaic dialects becoming <i>m</i>. Aram-Naharaim was +thus the Egyptian and Canaanitish title of the country which +the Babylonian spoke of as Padan Arman, ‘Padan of the +Aramæans.’ Both names go back to the age before the +Israelitish Exodus out of Egypt; the one belongs to Egypt +and Palestine, the other to Babylonia.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Before the age of the Exodus, however, the Aramæan population +of Mesopotamia became the subjects of a people who +seem to have come from the north. Mitanni, on the eastern +bank of the Euphrates, not far from the modern Birejik, +became the capital of a kingdom which extended over +Naharaim on the one side, and to the neighbourhood of the +Orontes on the other. The race which founded the kingdom +<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>spoke a language unlike any other with which we are acquainted; +it was, however, agglutinative, and exhibits certain +general resemblances to some of the languages of the Caucasus. +From the sixteenth century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> onwards, Mitanni and Naharaim +are synonymous terms, even though, at times, the Egyptian +scribes still observed the old distinction between them; even +though also, it may be, Naharaim had a larger meaning than +Mitanni. But the kings of Mitanni were vigorous and powerful. +In the age of the Tel el-Amarna correspondence we find +them intriguing with the Hittites and Babylonians in the +Egyptian province of Canaan, and Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> of the twentieth +Egyptian dynasty still counts the people of Mitanni among his +enemies. At an earlier date the royal families of Egypt and +Mitanni had intermarried with one another, and the marriages +had introduced new ideas and a revolutionary policy into the +ancient monarchy of the Nile. When the kingdom of Mitanni +had been founded we do not know. There is no trace of it +in the earlier records of Babylonia, and we may safely say +that it arose long after the era of Khammu-rabi and Abram.<a id='r24'></a><a href='#f24' class='c013'><sup>[24]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Terah, we are told, died in Harran, and there Nahor, his +second son, remained to dwell. Terah and Nahor are names +which we look for in vain elsewhere in the Old Testament or +in the inscriptions of Babylonia. And yet light has been +thrown upon them by the cuneiform texts. Tablets have +been found in Cappadocia, written in archaic cuneiform +characters and in a dialect of Assyrian, which are at least as +old as the the of the Tel el-Amarna letters; according to some +scholars, they are coeval with the dynasty of Khammu-rabi. +In one of these tablets we find the word, or name, <i>Nakhur</i>; +what its signification may be, we cannot, unfortunately, tell; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>all we can be sure of is that it was known to the Semitic +inhabitants of eastern Cappadocia, not far from the Aramæan +border.<a id='r25'></a><a href='#f25' class='c013'><sup>[25]</sup></a> The name of Terah points in the same direction, +Tarkhu was a god whose name enters into the composition +of Cappadocian and North-Syrian princes; he was worshipped +by the Hittites, and so belongs to the same region as that in +which we have found the name of Nahor.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But neither Tarkhu nor Nakhur is Aramaic in the usual +sense of the term. Both seem to belong to that mixed dialect +which has been revealed to us by German excavation at +Sinjerli, north of the Gulf of Antioch, and about which +scholars have disputed whether to call it Hebraised Aramaic +or Aramaised Hebrew. At any rate, it is a dialect which, +though Aramaic in origin, has been profoundly influenced by +‘the language of Canaan.’ It bears witness to the existence +of a Hebrew-speaking population in that part of the world. +It would be rash to affirm that this population already existed +there in patriarchal days, though words which seem to be of +Hebrew origin are met with in the Cappadocian tablets. But +we now know that Northern Syria was once the meeting-place +of the northern Semitic languages; that here they mingled +with one another and with other languages which were not +Semitic in type, and that here alone, outside the pages of the +Old Testament, are the names of Terah and Nahor to be +found.<a id='r26'></a><a href='#f26' class='c013'><sup>[26]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Nahor remained in Harran, but Abram moved on still +further to the West. The road was well known to his contemporaries, +and probably followed the later line of march +which led past Carchemish, now Jerablûs, Aleppo, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>Hamath. From Hamath southward the land was in the +possession of the Amorites. Their chief seat was immediately +to the north of the Palestine of later days, but they had +already occupied large portions of the territory to the south +of them as far as the Dead Sea and the limits of the cultivated +land. They had been for many centuries the dominant people +of the West. Already in the time of Sargon of Akkad they +had given their name among the Babylonians to Central +Syria and Canaan. The name, indeed, goes back to the pre-Semitic +days of Babylonian history. What the Semites called +the land of the Amurrâ or Amorites, the Sumerians had termed +Martu. And the two names, Amurrâ and Martu, continued +to designate Syria and Palestine almost to the latest epoch of +Babylonian political life.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The monuments of Egypt have shown us what these +Amorites were like. They belonged to the blond race, like +the Libyans of Northern Africa. At Abu-Simbel their skins +are painted yellow—the Egyptian equivalent of white—their +eyes blue, and the beard and eyebrows red. At Medînet Habu +the skin, as Professor Flinders Petrie expresses it, is ‘rather +pinker than flesh-colour,’ while in a tomb of the eighteenth +dynasty at Thebes it is painted white, the eyes and hair being +a light red-brown. At Karnak the names of the places +captured by Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> in Palestine are surmounted by +the figures of Amorites whose skin is alternately red and +yellow, the red denoting sunburn, the yellow what we term +white. In features the Amorites belonged to the Indo-European +type. The nose was straight and regular, the +forehead high, the lips thin, and the cheek-bones somewhat +prominent, while they wore whiskers and a pointed beard. So +far as we can judge from the representations of the Egyptian +artists, they belonged to a dolichocephalic or long-headed +race.<a id='r27'></a><a href='#f27' class='c013'><sup>[27]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>That they were tall in stature we know from the Old +<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>Testament. By the side of them the Hebrew spies described +themselves as grasshoppers. The cities they built were strong +and ‘walled up to heaven’; the thick walls of one of them have +been disinterred on the site of Lachish by Professor Petrie and +Mr. Bliss. But though the Babylonians continued to include +Canaan in the general term, ‘land of the Amorites,’ and spoke +of the Canaanite himself as an ‘Amorite,’ they nevertheless +came to know that there was a distinction between them. The +Babylonian king, Burna-buryas, whose letters to the Egyptian +Pharaoh have been found at Tel el-Amarna, distinguishes +Kinakhkhi or Canaan from the land of the Amorites, which had +come to be confined to the country immediately to the north +of Palestine. From the seventeenth century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> downwards, +Amorite and Canaanite cease to be synonymous terms. It is +only in certain parts of the Pentateuch that the old Babylonian +use of the name ‘Amorite’ still survives.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was a use that never prevailed among the Assyrians. +When Assyria became a kingdom, and its rulers first led their +armies to the West, the Amorites were no longer the dominant +power. Their place had been taken by the Hittites. And it +is the Khattâ or Hittites, therefore, who in the Assyrian +inscriptions, as distinguished from those of Babylonia, are the +representatives of Western Syria. On the Black Obelisk of +Shalmaneser <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, now in the British Museum, even Ahab of +Israel and Ba’asha of Ammon are included among the ‘kings +of the country of the Hittites.’ But of this Assyrian use of +the term Hittite there are slight, if any, traces in the Old +Testament.<a id='r28'></a><a href='#f28' class='c013'><sup>[28]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Abram, the Hebrew, first pitched his tent near the future +Shechem, under ‘the terebinth of Moreh.’ Moreh is the +Sumerian Martu, ‘the Amorite,’ in Hebrew letters; and the +fact gives point to the statement which follows immediately, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>that ‘the Canaanite’—and not the Amorite—‘was then in +the land’ (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 6). ‘The mountain of Shechem’ is mentioned +in an Egyptian papyrus which describes the travels of +an Egyptian officer in Palestine, in the fourteenth century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr>,<a id='r29'></a><a href='#f29' class='c013'><sup>[29]</sup></a> +but the book of Genesis represents the city as founded only in +the lifetime of Jacob (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-four'>xxxiv.</abbr> 6). Hence we are told +that it was to ‘the place’ or ‘site’ of Shechem that Abram +made his way, not to the town itself. And after the foundation +of the town its Canaanite inhabitants are still called Amorites, +in accordance with ancient Babylonian custom (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='forty-eight'>xlviii.</abbr> +22).</p> + +<p class='c003'>We next find the Hebrew patriarch in Egypt. There was +famine in Canaan, and Egypt was already the granary of the +eastern world. In the Tel el-Amarna tablets we hear of +Egyptian corn being sent to the starving population of Syria; +and Meneptah, the son of the Pharaoh of the Exodus, tells us +that he had loaded ships with wheat for the Hittites when +they were suffering from a famine. The want of rain which +destroyed the crops of Canaan did not affect Egypt, where the +fertility of the soil depends upon the irrigating waters of the +Nile.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Egypt at the time must have been under the sway of the +Hyksos kings. They were Asiatic invaders who had overrun +the country from north to south, and established themselves +on the throne of the Pharaohs. In three successive dynasties +did they govern the land, and the descendants of the native +monarchs sank into <i>hiqu</i> or vassal ‘princes’ of Thebes. At +first, it is said, they laid Egypt waste, destroying the temples and +massacring the people. But the influence of Egyptian culture +soon led them captive. The Hyksos court became Egyptianised; +the Hyksos king assumed the titles and state of the ancient +sovereigns; Sutekh, the Hyksos god, was identified with Ra, +the Sun-god of On, and the official language itself remained +Egyptian. A treatise on mathematics, one of the few scientific +<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>works that have survived the shipwreck of Egyptian literature, +was written under the patronage of the Hyksos king, +Apophis <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr><a id='r30'></a><a href='#f30' class='c013'><sup>[30]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Nevertheless, with all this outward varnish of Egyptian +culture, the Hyksos rule continued to be foreign. Even the +names of the kings were not Egyptian, and up to the last the +supreme object of their worship was a foreign deity. According +to the Sallier Papyrus, the war of independence was occasioned +by the demand of Apophis <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> that Sutekh, and not Amon, +should be acknowledged as the god of Thebes, and a scarab +found at Kom Ombos in 1896 bears upon it, in confirmation +of the story, the name of Sutekh-Apopi.<a id='r31'></a><a href='#f31' class='c013'><sup>[31]</sup></a> Moreover, the +Hyksos capital was not in any of the old centres of Egyptian +government. Zoan, it is true, now Sân, in the north-eastern +part of the Delta, was nominally their official residence; but +they preferred to dwell in the fortress of Avaris, on the extreme +eastern edge of Egypt, and within hail of their Asiatic kinsmen. +It was from Avaris that Apophis had sent his insolent message +to the terrified Prince of Thebes.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Hebrew visitor to Egypt, therefore, was among friends +and not strangers. Moreover, he had only to cross the +frontier to find himself in the presence of the Pharaoh’s +court. Whether at Zoan or at Avaris, it was alike close at +hand to the traveller from Asia.</p> + +<p class='c003'>After leaving Egypt, Abram established himself at Hebron. +It would seem that the name of Hebron, ‘the Confederacy,’ +was not yet in existence, as it was to the ‘terebinth’ of Mamre, +and not of Hebron, that Abram ‘removed his tent.’ Indeed, +it is more than doubtful whether Mamre and Hebron occupied +precisely the same site. It may be that Mamre was the older +fortress of the Amorites, whose place was taken in after times +by the town which gathered round the adjoining sanctuary of +Hebron.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>In any case, its population was Amorite, though probably +we should understand ‘Amorite’ here in its Babylonian sense. +‘Abram the Hebrew,’ it is declared, ‘dwelt under the terebinth +of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of +Aner; and these were confederate with Abram.’ In other +words, the Hebrew settler in Canaan had formed an alliance +with the native chiefs.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Then came an event upon which the cuneiform records of +Babylonia are beginning to cast light. Chedor-laomer, king +of Elam, and the vassal kings Amraphel of Shinar, Arioch of +Ellasar, and Tid’al of ‘nations,’ marched against the five +Canaanitish princes of the Vale of Siddim at the northern +end of the Dead Sea, bent upon obtaining possession of the +naphtha springs that abounded there, and the produce of +which had already made its way to Babylonia. No resistance +was made to the invader; it is clear, in fact, that the invasion +was no new thing, and that the rest of Canaan was already +subject to the lords of the East. For ‘twelve years’ the five +Canaanitish kings ‘served Chedor-laomer, and in the thirteenth +year they rebelled.’ Once more, therefore, the forces of +Elam and Babylonia moved westward. The revolt, it would +appear, had spread to other parts of the ‘land of the Amorites,’ +and the invading army marched southward along the eastern +side of the Jordan. First, the Rephaim were overthrown at +Ashteroth-Karnaim, in ‘the field of Bashan,’ as it was termed +in the days of the Tel el-Amarna tablets; then followed the +turn of the Zuzim in the future land of Ammon, and of the +Emim in what was to be the land of Moab; and after smiting +the Horites of Mount Seir, the invaders penetrated into the +wilderness of Paran, fell upon the desert sanctuary of Kadesh, +now called ’Ain el-Qadîs, and returned northward along the +western shore of the Dead Sea. They had thus partially +followed in the footsteps of an earlier Chaldæan king, Naram-Sin, +who centuries before had made his way to the Sinaitic +Peninsula, and there gained possession of the coveted copper-mines.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span>The native princes in the Vale of Siddim were no match for +the foe. A battle was fought which ended disastrously for +the Canaanitish troops. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah +were slain, their men were driven into the naphtha-pits of +which the plain was full, or else fled to the mountains. Their +cities fell into the hands of the conquerors, who carried away +both captives and spoil.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But Abram heard that among the captives was his ‘brother’ +Lot. Thereupon he started in pursuit of the Chaldæan army, +with his three hundred and eighteen armed followers and the +forces of his Amorite allies. The victorious army was overtaken +near Damascus, and its rear surprised in a night attack. The +captives and spoil were recovered, and brought back in triumph to +the south of Canaan. Here at the ‘King’s Dale,’ just outside the +walls of Jerusalem, the new king of Sodom went to welcome +him; and Melchizedek, the priest-king of Jerusalem, blessed +the conqueror in the name of ‘the Most High God.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>The history of the campaign of Chedor-laomer reads like an +extract from the Babylonian chronicles. It is dated in the +reign of the king of Shinar or Babylon, as it would have been +had it been written by a Babylonian scribe, although the +Babylonian king was but the vassal and tributary of the +sovereign of Elam. Even the spelling of the names indicates +that they are taken from a cuneiform document. ‘Ham’ for +Ammon, and ‘Zuzim’ for Zamzummim, can be explained only +by the peculiarities of the cuneiform system of writing.<a id='r32'></a><a href='#f32' class='c013'><sup>[32]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The whole story, however, has been thrown into a Canaanitish +form. The king of Northern Babylonia, whose capital was +Babylon, has become a king of Shinar, that being the name +given in the West to the northern half of Chaldæa.<a id='r33'></a><a href='#f33' class='c013'><sup>[33]</sup></a> Larsa, the +capital of Eri-Aku or Arioch, has been transformed into Ellasar, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>perhaps through the influence of the Babylonian <i>al</i>, city.’ +Lastly, Tid’al, the Tudghula of the cuneiform texts, is entitled +the ‘king of nations.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>The fragmentary tablets discovered by Mr. Pinches, in which +we hear of Khammu-rabi, king of Babylon, of Eri-Aku or +Arioch, and his son Bad-makh-dingirene, and of Kudur-Laghghamar, +the Chedor-laomer of Genesis, refer to Tudghula +or Tid’al as ‘the son of Gazza[ni].’ Unfortunately, the +words which follow, and which gave a description of the prince, +have been lost through a fracture of the clay tablet. But there +is another tablet from which we may supply the deficiency. +On the one hand we are told that Tudghula burned the +sanctuaries of Babylonia and allowed the waters of the Euphrates +to roll over the ruins of the great temples of Babylon; on the +other hand we read: ‘Who is this Kudur-Laghghamar who +has wrought evil? He has assembled the Umman Manda, has +devastated the land of Bel, and [has marched] at their side.’ +Elsewhere Kudur-Laghghamar is called the king of Elam.<a id='r34'></a><a href='#f34' class='c013'><sup>[34]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The Umman Manda were the barbarous tribes in the mountains +which adjoined the northern part of Elam and formed +the eastern boundary of Babylonia. The term means the +‘Nomad,’ or ‘Barbarous Peoples,’ and is thus the Babylonian +equivalent of the Hebrew Goyyim, ‘Nations.’<a id='r35'></a><a href='#f35' class='c013'><sup>[35]</sup></a> What the +‘Gentiles,’ or Goyyim, were to the Hebrews, or the ‘Barbarians’ +to the Greeks, the Umman Manda were to the +civilised population of Chaldæa. The fact that the king of +Elam summons them to his help when he invades Babylonia +<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>implies that they acknowledged his suzerainty. It would +seem, therefore, that the ‘Nations’ over which Tid’al is said +to have ruled were the Kurdish tribes to the east of the +Babylonian frontier.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Khammu-rabi eventually succeeded in overthrowing the king +of Elam, in crushing his rival Eri-Aku and his Elamite allies, and +in making himself master of an independent Babylonia, which +was henceforth a united kingdom, with its centre and sovereign +city at Babylon. Recent excavations have brought +letters of his to light which were written to his faithful vassal +Sin-idinnam, Sin-idinnam had been the king of Larsa whom +Eri-Aku and his Elamite troops had driven from the city of +his fathers, and he had found refuge and protection in the +court of Khammu-rabi at Babylon. When the great war finally +broke out, which ended in leaving Khammu-rabi sole monarch +of Babylonia, Sin-idinnam rendered him active service, and +after the conclusion of the struggle he was reinstated in his +ancestral princedom. Khammu-rabi loaded him with other +honours as well; and one of the letters which have been +recovered refers to certain statues which were presented to +him as a reward for his ‘valour on the day of Kudur-Laghghamar’s +defeat.’ This was an Oriental anticipation of +the statues which the Greek cities of a later age bestowed +upon those they would honour.<a id='r36'></a><a href='#f36' class='c013'><sup>[36]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>It has been suggested that the reverse sustained by Kudur-Laghghamar +in Palestine at the hands of the ‘Amorites,’ under +the leadership of ‘Abram the Hebrew,’ may have given the +king of Babylon his opportunity for successfully revolting from +his liege lord. If so, the Hebrew patriarch would have influenced +the destinies of the country he had forsaken. What is +more certain is that his victory gave him a commanding position +in the country of his adoption. Syrian legend in after +days made him a king in Damascus;<a id='r37'></a><a href='#f37' class='c013'><sup>[37]</sup></a> and when he buys the +rock-tomb of Machpelah, the owners of the land tell him that +he is no ‘stranger and sojourner’ among them, but ‘a mighty +prince,’ ‘a prince of Elohim.’ From henceforth the ‘Hebrew’ +occupies a recognised place in ‘the land of the Amorites.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>The figure of Melchizedek, king of Salem, loomed large +upon the imagination of later ages out of the mists that +enveloped the history of Canaanitish Jerusalem. But the +romance is now making way for sober history. The letters +on clay tablets in the Babylonian language and writing, found +at Tel el-Amarna in Upper Egypt, have come to our help. +Several of them were sent to the Pharaoh from Ebed-Tob, king +of Jerusalem, and they show that Jerusalem was already the +dominant state of Southern Palestine. Its strong position +made it a fortress of importance, and it was the capital of a +territory which stretched away towards the desert of the South. +Its name was already Jerusalem or Uru-Salim, ‘the city of +Salim,’ the God of Peace, and the hieroglyphic texts of Egypt +accordingly speak of it simply as Shalama or Salem, omitting +the needless Uru, ‘city.’<a id='r38'></a><a href='#f38' class='c013'><sup>[38]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>Ebed-Tob reiterates that he was not, like the other governors +of Canaan, under Egyptian rule. They had been appointed to +their offices by the Pharaoh, or had inherited them by descent +from the older royal lines of the country whom the Egyptian +Government had allowed to remain. He, on the contrary, was +the friend and ally of the Egyptian king. His kingly dignity +had not been derived from either father or mother, but from +the ‘Mighty King,’ from the god, that is to say, whose temple +stood on ‘the mountain of Jerusalem.’ He was, therefore, a +priest-king, without father or mother, so far as his royal office +was concerned.<a id='r39'></a><a href='#f39' class='c013'><sup>[39]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>That the king of Salem, the priest of the God of Peace, +should have come forth from his city and its temple to +welcome the conqueror when he returned in peace, was both +natural and fitting. It was equally natural and fitting that +he should bless the Hebrew in the name of the ‘Most +High God’—the patron deity of Jerusalem, whom Ebed-Tob +identifies with the Babylonian Ninip—and that Abram +should in return have given him tithes of the spoil. +From time immemorial, the <i>esrâ</i> or tithe had been exacted +in Babylonia for the temples and their priests, and had +been paid alike by prince and peasant. It passed to the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>West along with the other elements and institutions of +Babylonian culture.<a id='r40'></a><a href='#f40' class='c013'><sup>[40]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The destruction of the cities of the Vale of Siddim, which +is represented as occurring not long after the retreat of the +king of Elam, made a profound impression on the Western +world. References are made to the catastrophe up to the +latest days of Hebrew literature; and the mist caused by the +evaporation of the salt on the surface of the Dead Sea was +popularly supposed to be the smoke which hung eternally over +the ruins of the doomed cities of the plain. The storm which +burst from the heavens set fire to the naphtha springs that +oozed through the soil, and houses and men alike were +enveloped in a sheet of fire. Similar catastrophes have +happened in our own time at Baku on the Caspian, where the +petroleum, accidentally ignited, has blazed for days in columns +of fire.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Ingenious Germans have connected with the destruction of +Sodom and its sister cities a passage in the Latin writer +Justin (<abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 3. 2, 3), in which it is said that the Phœnicians +were driven to the Canaanitish coast by an earthquake which +took place in their original home near ‘the Assyrian lake.’ +Instead of ‘Assyrian,’ some manuscripts read ‘Syrian,’ and the +lake has accordingly been imagined to be the Dead Sea, and +the earthquake to be the rain of fire which destroyed the +cities of the plain.<a id='r41'></a><a href='#f41' class='c013'><sup>[41]</sup></a> But there is no other instance in which +the Dead Sea is called ‘the Syrian lake,’ supposing this to be +the true reading, nor is there any trace of an earthquake in the +catastrophe described in Genesis. Moreover, the unanimous +voice of classical antiquity declared that the Phœnicians had +come from the Persian Gulf, not from the valley of the Jordan, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>and their seafaring propensities were explained by the fact +that they once lived in the islands of the Erythræan Sea. +Whatever the ‘Assyrian lake’ may have been, it was not the +‘Salt Sea’ of the Old Testament.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Israelites traced back to Abram the rite of circumcision +which they practised. The rite, however, was not confined to +Israel. So far as Western Asia is concerned, it seems to have +been of African origin. It is to be found among most of the +races and tribes of Africa, and in Egypt the institution was +of immemorial antiquity. According to Herodotos (<abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 36), +the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, and the Kolkhians alone +observed it ‘from the beginning,’ the Phœnicians and Syrians +of Palestine having learned it from the Egyptians, and the +Cappadocians from the people of Kolkhis. But the knowledge +of the world possessed by Herodotos was limited, +and his anthropology is not profound. The practice is met +with in various parts of the world; it owes its origin to considerations +of chastity, its maintenance to sanitary reasons. It +is true that Africa was peculiarly its home, and that it seems +to have been common to the aboriginal tribes of that continent, +but it is also true that it was known to aboriginal tribes in +other parts of the globe among whom—so far as our evidence +can tell us—the practice originated independently.<a id='r42'></a><a href='#f42' class='c013'><sup>[42]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Whether it was originally a Semitic as well as an African +rite, we do not at present know. We have as yet no certain +evidence that it was practised among the Babylonians. +Indeed, the fact that Abraham was not circumcised until +after his arrival in Canaan would imply that it was not. +Even in Canaan itself there were tribes, apart from the Philistine +immigrants, to whom it was unknown, as we learn from +the story of Hamor and Shechem (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-four'>xxxiv.</abbr> 14, <abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr>). And +though the inhabitants of Northern Arabia were circumcised +<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>in their thirteenth year, as we are told by Josephus, it is +doubtful whether the same custom prevailed in the southern +half of the peninsula. So far as Midian was concerned, we +have express testimony (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 24-26, <abbr class='spell'>cf.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 19) that the +rite was regarded as peculiar to the stranger from Egypt.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It seems probable, therefore, that Herodotos was right in +declaring that circumcision had been introduced into Palestine +by the Egyptians. Intercourse between Canaan and the Delta +went back to the early days of Egyptian history, and it would +not be surprising if Egyptian influences had found their way +into Canaan at the same time. Canaanitish slaves were carried +into the valley of the Nile, and doubtless Egyptian slaves +were at times kidnapped into Canaan.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The circumcision of Abraham and his household may, +consequently, have been in accordance with a custom which +had already grown up among the Amoritish population +around him. But whether this were the case or not, the rite +received a new meaning and assumed a new form. It became +the sign and seal of a religious covenant. Those who had +been circumcised were thereby devoted to the God of Abraham +and his descendants. Henceforth there was not only a +division between the circumcised and the uncircumcised, there +was also a division between those who had received the circumcision +of Abraham and those who had not. It is noticeable +that the narrative expressly includes among those who were +thus outwardly dedicated to the God of Israel not only the +ancestor of the Ishmaelite tribes of Northern Arabia, but also +the foreign slaves who belonged to the household of the +patriarch. They had left the home of their fathers, and his +God accordingly had become theirs. The fact is paralleled +by the law relating to another seal of the covenant between +Israel and its God; the Sabbath had to be kept not only by +the Israelite, but also by the ‘stranger’ within his gates.</p> + +<p class='c003'>A change of name accompanied the rite which the patriarch +performed. The Babylonian Abram became the Palestinian +Abraham. To the native of the old Oriental world the name +<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>was not merely the representation of a thing; it was, in a +measure, the thing itself. Even Greek philosophy failed at +first to distinguish between an object and its expression in +speech. A thing was known only through its name, and in +the name were to be found its qualities and its essence. A +name which brought with it unlucky associations was itself the +bringer of ill-luck, but the ill-luck would turn to good if once +the name were changed. The belief has lingered on into our +own times, and the change of the Cape of Storms into the +Cape of Good Hope is an illustration of its influence. The +name meant personality as well as a thing. The man himself +was changed when his name was changed. Hence it was that +the Canaanites or Karians, who settled in Egypt, and there +became Egyptian citizens, at once assumed Egyptian names. +They had left Canaan and Karia behind them, with the gods +and the habits of their ancestors, and had adopted the religion +and manners of another country. They had, as it were, stripped +themselves of their old personality, and had clothed themselves +with a new one. It was thus a new personality that was +assumed by the Babylonian Abram when he became the +Abraham of Western Asia. It cut him off, as it were, from +the land of his birth, and gave him a new birth in the country +of his adoption. The merchant-prince of Babylonia, who had +overthrown the rearguard of the host of Chedor-laomer, and +whose maid had borne to him the ancestor of the Ishmaelites, +thus passed into the forefather and founder of the Israelitish +race.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The etymology and meaning of the new name are unknown. +It would seem that they had been forgotten even at the time +when the book of Genesis was written. At all events, the +explanation of the name given there (<abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr> 5) is one of those +plays upon words of which the Biblical writers, like Orientals +generally, are so fond. ‘Ab-(ra)ham,’ it is said, is Ab-ham(ôn), +‘the father of a multitude,’ in total disregard of the second +syllable of the name. It may be, however, that there was +still a tradition that in <span lang="hbo"><i>raham</i></span> we have a word which had a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>similar signification to that of <span lang="hbo"><i>hamôn</i></span>, ‘a multitude,’ though +the attempts that have been made to discover any word of the +kind in the Semitic languages have hitherto been unsuccessful. +We must be content with the fact that Ab-ram, ‘the exalted +father,’ was transformed into the Israelitish Ab-raham.<a id='r43'></a><a href='#f43' class='c013'><sup>[43]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The change of name was followed by the birth of Isaac and +the expulsion of Ishmael from his father’s house. Closely +allied in blood as the Ishmaelites of north-western Arabia +were to the house of Israel, it was only in part that they shared +in the covenant made with their common father. Circumcision +indeed they also possessed, but to Israel alone was granted +the Law. To Israel alone did God reveal Himself under His +name of Yahveh.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The inscriptions of a later age, which have been found in +the Ishmaelite territory, show that the language then spoken +by the Ishmaelitish tribes was Aramaic rather than what we +call Arabic.<a id='r44'></a><a href='#f44' class='c013'><sup>[44]</sup></a> From the borders of Babylonia to the Sinaitic +Peninsula, and as far north as the mountain-ranges of the +Taurus, Aramaic dialects were used. How far the difference +in language meant that the populations who spoke these +Aramaic dialects differed also in blood from the other members +of the Semitic family, we do not know, but it is probable that +the difference in blood was not great. The Semitic family +seems to have been as homogeneous in race as it was in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>speech, and the differences in speech were comparatively +slight. In fact, the Semitic languages do not differ more from +one another than the languages of modern Europe which +claim descent from Latin, and it is probable that the speaker +of an Aramaic dialect would not have had very great difficulty +in making himself intelligible to the speakers of what we term +Hebrew.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Hebrew was, as Isaiah tells us (<abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 18), ‘the language of +Canaan.’ The fact became clear to European scholars as soon +as the Phœnician inscriptions were deciphered. Between the +Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Phœnician of the +older inhabitants of Canaan the differences are less than those +between one English dialect and another. Chief among them +is the absence in Phœnician of the Hebrew article and <span lang="la"><i>waw +conversivum</i></span>. But the idiom to which grammarians have given +the latter name seems to have been an independent creation +of Hebrew itself, and even in Hebrew it disappeared in the +later stage of the language. The article is found in the so-called +Lihyanian inscriptions of Northern Arabia,<a id='r45'></a><a href='#f45' class='c013'><sup>[45]</sup></a> and we may +regard it as one of the indications that the Israelites had been +Bedâwin before they entered Palestine and made their way +from the desert into the Promised Land.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Tel el-Amarna tablets have carried the history of +Canaanitish or Hebrew beyond the age of the Exodus. In +some of the letters written from Palestine the writers have +added the Canaanitish equivalents of certain Assyrian words +and phrases. They show that from the pre-Mosaic epoch +down to the period of the Exile the language changed but +little; the words and phrases that have thus been preserved +being substantially the same as those which we find in the +pages of the Old Testament.<a id='r46'></a><a href='#f46' class='c013'><sup>[46]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>The northern boundary between Canaanitish and Aramaic +dialects was among the mountains of Gilead. This is made +clear by the narrative of the covenant between Laban and +Jacob. At Mizpah, the ‘Watch-tower,’ which guarded the +approaches to the south, a cairn was raised, called Yegar-sahadutha +in the language of Laban, Galeed in that of Jacob +(<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-one'>xxxi.</abbr> 47, 48). The two names alike signified the ‘heap +of witnesses,’ but while the first was Aramaic, the second was +Canaanitish. The fact that the names survived into later +history shows that the line of demarcation between the two +Semitic languages which they represent continued to remain +in the same place.<a id='r47'></a><a href='#f47' class='c013'><sup>[47]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Jacob, despite his long residence in Aram and his relationship +to an Aramæan family, is nevertheless Canaanite in his +language. It is a sign and proof how completely the ancestors +of the Israelites had identified themselves with the country +which their descendants were afterwards to possess. The +Canaanitish history of Israel begins long before the days of +Moses or Joshua; it already dates from the day when the +Babylonian Abram became the Abraham of Canaan, and when +the field of Machpelah was sold to him by the children of +Heth.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is true that Jacob—or it may be, Terah—is once called +in the Old Testament (<abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-six'>xxvi.</abbr> 5) ‘a wandering Aramæan.’ +But he was so only in a secondary sense. It was not as an +Aramæan, but as a wanderer out of Aramaic lands, that the +title is given him. Israel was closely connected with Aram +and Harran, but it was a relationship only.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Discoveries recently made in Northern Syria by the German +explorer, Dr. von Luschan, have thrown some light on the +matter. At Sinjerli, twenty-five miles north-east of the Gulf +of Antioch, and nearly midway between Yarpuz and Aintab, +he has excavated the ruins of the capital of the ancient +kingdom of Samâla, and found monuments which make +<span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>mention of the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser.<a id='r48'></a><a href='#f48' class='c013'><sup>[48]</sup></a> Most of them, +in fact, were erected by a prince who acknowledged the +supremacy of the Assyrian monarch, and whose father’s name +is met with in the annals of the latter sovereign. The inscriptions +on them are in an Aramaic dialect; but the dialect is so +largely mixed with Hebrew words and idioms as to have made +scholars doubt at first whether it was not an Aramaised form +of Hebrew rather than an Hebraised form of Aramaic. In +any case, it is plain that the dialect was in close contact with +a population which spoke ‘the language of Canaan.’ Far +away to the north, therefore, in the heart of an Aramaic +country, there must have been speakers of Hebrew or Canaanite. +Nor is this all. Two or three miles from the ruins of Samâla +are the ruins of another ancient town, the modern name of +which is Girshin. Here, too, the German excavators have +found an inscription of the same age as those of Samâla, and +we may gather from it that Girshin stands on the site of a city +which was the capital of the land of ‘Ya’di.’ In the Tel el-Amarna +tablets, written in the century before the Exodus, +Yaudâ are mentioned as living in the same part of the world.<a id='r49'></a><a href='#f49' class='c013'><sup>[49]</sup></a> +Now Yaudâ is also the Assyrian mode of spelling the name of +the Jews, and it would accordingly seem that a tribe which +bore a name similar to that of Judah existed in Northern Syria +as far back as the Patriarchal age.<a id='r50'></a><a href='#f50' class='c013'><sup>[50]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>All this is in singular harmony with the Scriptural narrative +which tells us that a part of Terah’s family lingered at Harran, +and that the wives of both Isaac and Jacob came from their +Aramæan kindred in the north. There were Hebrews in +Northern Syria as well as in Canaan, and Scripture and +archæology are alike in agreement in testifying to the fact.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Even in Babylonia it may be that Abraham had been +educated in ‘the language of Canaan.’ There were colonies +of Amorite (or, as we should say, Canaanitish) merchants in +Chaldæa who had special districts and privileges assigned to +them by the Babylonian kings. Reference is not unfrequently +made to them in the contracts of the Abrahamic age. The +proper names, which sometimes make their appearance in +deeds of sale or lease, or in legal suits in which the foreign +merchants were involved, are Canaanitish and not Babylonian. +Thus we find names like Ishmael and Abdiel, Jacob-el +(Ya’qub-il), and Joseph-el (Yasup-il), and we even read of +‘the Amorite the son of Abi-ramu’ or Abram, who appears as +a witness to a deed dated in the reign of the grandfather of +Amraphel.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Israel thus stood in close relation to almost all the chief +linguistic divisions of the Semitic world. Its first forefather +had been born in the land where Babylonian—or Assyrian, as +we usually term it—was spoken, and its contact with Aramaic +had been early and intimate. Its desert wanderings had led +it into a region into which the Bedâwin tribes of Central +Arabia could make their way, and the Hebrew article seems +to be a relic of its intercourse with them and the Arabic they +spoke. But with all this contact with other Semitic tongues, +Israel nevertheless remained true to that of the land of its +destiny: the language of the Old Testament is the language +which was spoken in Canaan before the days of Moses, the +language of the inscriptions of Phœnicia and Carthage, the +language of Hannibal as well as of Joshua.</p> + +<p class='c003'>If Israel was connected by language with Canaan, it was +connected by blood as well as by language with Moab, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>Ammon, and Edom. In fact, Edom and Israel were brothers. +While the relationship with Moab and Ammon was comparatively +distant, the relationship with Edom was peculiarly close. +The fact was never forgotten, and in the later days of Jewish +history the unbrotherly conduct of Edom caused a bitterness +of feeling towards it on the part of the Jews such as no other +Gentiles were able to excite.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Moab and Ammon were the children of Lot, and had possessed +themselves of the mountain and fertile plains on the +east side of the Dead Sea and southern course of the Jordan +long before Israel had entered into its inheritance, or even +Edom had carved out a possession for itself with the sword. +They were accused of being of incestuous origin, and it was +related how the ancestors of each had been born in hiding +and in the wild solitude of a cave. Moab was the eldest, +Ben-Ammi, ‘the Ammonite,’ being the younger of the two.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The name of Moab (or Muab) is engraved among the +conquests of the Egyptian Pharaoh, Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, on the base +of one of the statues which stand before the northern entrance +of the temple of Luxor. Ammi, whose ‘son’ the ancestor of +the Ammonites was called, was the supreme God of Ammon, +standing to the Ammonites in the same relation that Chemosh +stood to Moab, or Yahveh to Israel. Ammon, indeed, is but +another form of Ammi. The god was widely worshipped, as +we may learn from the proper names into which his own name +enters. Thus the Old Testament knows of Ammiel, ‘Ammi +is god’; of Ammi-shaddai, ‘Ammi is the Almighty’; and of +Ammi-nadab, ‘Ammi is noble.’ Ammi-nadab was king of +Ammon in the time of the Assyrian king Assur-bani-pal; the +early Minæan inscriptions of Southern Arabia contain names +like Ammi-zadoq and Ammi-zadiqa, ‘Ammi is righteous,’ as +well as Ammi-karib and Ammi-anshi; while among the kings +of the south Arabian dynasty which ruled over Babylonia in +the age of Abraham we find Ammi-zadoq, or Ammu-zadoq and +Ammi-dhitana; and the Kadmonite chieftain east of the Jordan, +with whom the Egyptian fugitive Sinuhit found a home in the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>time of the twelfth dynasty, bore the name of Ammi-anshi.<a id='r51'></a><a href='#f51' class='c013'><sup>[51]</sup></a> +Balaam the seer, moreover, was summoned by the king of +Moab from his city of Pethor, at the junction of the Euphrates +and the Sajur, in ‘the land of the children of Ammo,’—for +such is the correct translation of the Hebrew text. It may +not be an accident that one who thus belonged to the ‘Beni-Ammo,’ +or ‘Ammonites’ of the north, should have been +called to the country which bordered on that of the Beni-Ammi, +or Ammonites of the south.<a id='r52'></a><a href='#f52' class='c013'><sup>[52]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>A few miles to the north of Pethor was Carchemish, now +Jerablûs, which was destined to become one of the most +important strongholds of the Hittite tribes. The Semites +explained the name as ‘the fortified wall of Chemosh’;<a id='r53'></a><a href='#f53' class='c013'><sup>[53]</sup></a> and +whether this etymology were true or not, at all events it +indicates a belief that the worship of Chemosh extended +<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>as far northward into Aram as did the worship of Ammi. +Chemosh was the national god of Moab. Like Yahveh of +Israel and Assur in Assyria, he had neither wife nor children; +and on the Moabite Stone even the Babylonian goddess +Ashtar, whose cult had been carried to the West, is identified +with him. She ceases to have any independent existence or +sex of her own, and is absorbed into the one supreme deity +of Moabite faith. It is probable that Ammi also was similarly +conceived of as standing alone in jealous isolation, supreme +over all other gods, and having no consort with whom to +share his power.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Moab and Ammon were alike intruders in the lands which +subsequently bore their names. The older inhabitants of +Moab were known as the Emim, ‘a people great and many +and tall, as the Anakim, which also were accounted giants.’ +Ammon too had been ‘accounted a land of giants: giants +dwelt therein in old time, and the Ammonites call them +Zamzummim.’ The word rendered ‘giants’ in the Authorised +Version is Rephaim; and it is very possible that a trace of it +survives in the name On-Repha, ‘On of the giant,’ the Raphon +or Raphana of classical geography, which is coupled by the +Egyptian conqueror Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> with Astartu or Ashteroth-Karnaim.<a id='r54'></a><a href='#f54' class='c013'><sup>[54]</sup></a> +When Chedor-laomer made his campaign in +Canaan the Rephaim were still living at Ashteroth-Karnaim, +and the ‘Zuzim’ or Zamzummim in ‘Ham.’ The name of +the latter seems to occur in the inscriptions of the kings of Ur, +who reigned some centuries before the birth of Abraham; +they mention hostile expeditions against the land of Zavzala or +the Zuzim; and a Babylonian high-priest who owned allegiance +to one of them brought blocks of limestone for his temples +and palace from the same district, which he tells us was +situated ‘in the mountains of the Amorites.’<a id='r55'></a><a href='#f55' class='c013'><sup>[55]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>Whether or not the Emim and Zamzummim were Amorite +tribes, we cannot tell. The physical characteristics ascribed to +them in the Old Testament would, however, seem to indicate +that such was the case. Moreover, the Amorites had at one +time been the dominant population, not only in Palestine +itself, but also in the country east of the Jordan as well as in +the Syrian districts to the north. When the Babylonians first +became acquainted with Western Asia in the fifth or fourth +millennium before the Christian era, the inhabitants of Syria +were mainly of the Amorite race. Syria, accordingly, and +more especially that part of it which is known to us as +Palestine, was called in the old agglutinative language of +Chaldæa ‘the land of Martu’ or ‘the Amorite,’ a word which +has survived in the book of Genesis under the form of +Moreh.<a id='r56'></a><a href='#f56' class='c013'><sup>[56]</sup></a> When the older language of Chaldæa made way for +Semitic Babylonian, <i>Martu</i> became <i>Amurru</i>, and Hadad, the +supreme Baal or sun-god of Canaan, became known as +‘Amurru,’ ‘the Amorite.’ By the Egyptians the Amorites +were termed Amur; and, as has been already stated,<a id='r57'></a><a href='#f57' class='c013'><sup>[57]</sup></a> the +Egyptian artists have shown us that they were a fair-skinned +people, with blue eyes and reddish hair; that they were also +tall and handsome, and wore short and pointed beards. In +fact, they resembled in features the Libyans of Northern Africa, +whose modern descendants—the Kabyles of Algeria—offer such +a striking likeness to the golden-haired Kelt. The Amorite +type may still be seen in its purity among the Arabs of the El-Arîsh +desert, who inhabit the district between the frontiers of +Palestine and Egypt: many of the latter, as we see them to-day, +might well have sat for the portraits of the Amorites depicted +on the walls of the old Egyptian temples and tombs. It would +seem that the Amorite race, fair and tall and energetic, once +extended along the northern coast of Africa into Asia itself, +where they occupied the larger part of Southern Syria. There +they have left behind them cromlechs and dolmens which +remind us of those of our own islands. Indeed, if the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>Amorite were the eastern branch of the Libyan race, it is +probable that he could claim kindred with the so-called red +Kelt of Britain. The physiological characteristics of the +Libyan and fair-haired Kelt are similar; and many anthropologists +assume the existence of a Libyo-Keltic or ‘Eurafrican’ +family, which has spread northward through Spain and the +western side of France into the British Isles.<a id='r58'></a><a href='#f58' class='c013'><sup>[58]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The Emim and Zamzummim, accordingly, whom the descendants +of Lot partly expelled, partly absorbed, may have +been of Amorite origin, and connected in race with a portion of +the population of our own country. At all events, when the +Israelites entered Canaan, the Amorites were already settled +on the eastern side of the Jordan. At that time the land was +divided between the Amalekites or Bedâwin of the desert to +the south, the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites ‘in the mountains,’ +and the Canaanites on the coast of the Mediterranean +and in the valley of the Jordan (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 29). As might +have been expected in the case of a fair-skinned people, the +Amorites needed the bracing air of the mountains in order to +hold their own against the other populations of the country; +in the hot plains their vigour was in danger of being lost.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Egyptian rule, which the Pharaohs of the eighteenth +and nineteenth dynasties had maintained eastward of the +Jordan, passed away with the fall of the Egyptian empire, +and its place was taken by the Amorite kingdoms of Sihon +and Og. Sihon had overthrown the Moabites in battle, and +had wrested their territory from them as far south as the +Arnon (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 26). They had been driven out of their +cities into the barren mountains which overlooked the Dead +Sea. A fragment of the Amorite Song of Triumph which +recorded the conquest has been preserved to us. ‘Come unto +Heshbon,’ it said, ‘let the city of Sihon be built and fortified. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>For a fire has gone forth from Heshbon, a flame from the city +of Sihon; it hath consumed Ar of Moab, and the Baalim of +the high places of Arnon. Woe to thee, Moab! thou art +undone, O people of Chemosh: [Chemosh] hath given his +sons that escaped [the battle], and his daughters, into captivity +unto Sihon king of the Amorites’ (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 27-29).</p> + +<p class='c003'>The southern half of Ammon also, as far north as the Jabbok, +was in Amorite hands. Here, however, the Ammonites had +strongly fortified their ‘border’ (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 24), so that neither +Sihon himself, nor his Israelitish conquerors, succeeded in +passing it. But Rabbah, ‘the city of waters,’ the future +capital of Ammon, must have been held by the Amorites, and +the two intrusive populations of Ammon and Moab were +separated from one another by the Amorite conquest.</p> + +<p class='c003'>If the older inhabitants of the country were Amorite by +race, the kingdom of Sihon will have represented an Amorite +reaction against the descendants of Lot. But we must +remember that the Babylonians had given the name of +‘Amorite’ to all the populations of Palestine and the adjoining +districts, whether they were Amorites in blood or not. +The old Babylonian usage is followed in several passages of +the Pentateuch, and points to their origin in those pre-Mosaic +days when Babylonian influence was still dominant in Western +Asia. Thus in <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 16, God declares to Abraham that +‘the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full,’ and Jacob +reminded his sons (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='forty-eight'>xlviii.</abbr> 22) that he had wrested +Shechem ‘out of the hand of the Amorite’ with his sword +and bow. Perhaps the emphatic statement that ‘the +Canaanite was then in the land,’ which we read in <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> +<abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 6, is due to the previous mention of the terebinth of +Moreh’ or Martu, Martu being the primitive Babylonian +equivalent of the later ‘Amorite.’ The terebinth, indeed, +was in the country of the Amorites, but the country was +already inhabited by Canaanitish tribes.<a id='r59'></a><a href='#f59' class='c013'><sup>[59]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>We cannot, then, be certain that the aboriginal peoples of +Moab and Ammon were actually of the Amorite race. They +were, it is true, included by the Babylonians under the +common name of ‘Amorites,’ but this was because all the +rest of the population of Southern Syria was known under +the same title. The fact, however, that the Hebrew writers +have described them as tall, like the Anakim, and that popular +tradition should have spoken of them as Rephaim or giants, is +in favour of their having been really of Amorite descent. In +this case we may see in them the easternmost representatives +of the blond race, and the builders of the cromlechs with +which the hillsides of Moab are covered.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Southward of Moab came other tribes which, like the +Ishmaelites, were said to have sprung directly from Abraham +himself. These were the Midianites and the merchant tribes +of Sheba and Dedan, who possessed stations on the great +desert road that led from the spice-bearing regions of Southern +Arabia to the borders of Canaan. They claimed to be the +descendants of Keturah, or ‘Incence,’ the second wife of the +Hebrew patriarch, after Sarah’s death. Another genealogy +(<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 7) placed Sheba and Dedan in the extreme south +of the Arabian peninsula, among the children of Cush. Both +genealogies, however, are correct. Sheba was the kingdom +of the Sabæans, whose centre was in Southern Arabia, but +whose power and commerce extended far to the north. Their +trading settlements and garrisons were to be found in the +immediate neighbourhood of Midian, at Tema, the modern +Teimah, and elsewhere.<a id='r60'></a><a href='#f60' class='c013'><sup>[60]</sup></a> If Professor Hommel is right in +identifying Dedan with Tidanum, one of the names by which +Palestine was known in early days to the natives of Babylonia, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>it would seem that the Dedanites also had become a leading +people on the frontiers of Canaan. At all events, it is clear +that Abraham was claimed as an ancestor by the tribes of +Western Arabia from its northern to its southern extremity, by +the descendants of Keturah on the western coast and caravan-road, +as well as by the Ishmaelites further to the east. They +represented the trading and more cultured population of the +peninsula as opposed to the wild Amalekites or Bedâwin +hordes, who had their home among the mountains of Seir and +the desert south of Palestine. The connection between Midian +and Israel, which found expression in a common ancestry, was +reasserted in later days when the great legislator of Israel fled +to Midian and married the daughter of its high-priest.</p> + +<p class='c003'>How nearly that connection had been lost through the +death of the forefather of the Israelitish people was recorded +in the story of the sacrifice of Isaac. A voice came to +Abraham, which he believed to be divine, bidding him offer +‘for a burnt-offering’ the son of his old age, the heir of the +covenant which had been made with him. It was a form of +sacrifice only too well known in Canaan. In time of pestilence +or trouble the parent was called upon to sacrifice to Baal that +which was dearest and nearest to him, his firstborn or his +only son. The gods themselves had set the example. Once +when a plague had fallen upon the land, El had clothed Yeud, +his only son, in royal purple, and on one of the high-places of +Palestine had offered him up to the offended deities.<a id='r61'></a><a href='#f61' class='c013'><sup>[61]</sup></a> The +<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>doctrine of vicarious sacrifice was deeply enrooted in the +minds of the Canaanitish people. But it needed to be a +sacrifice which cost the offerer almost as much as his own life. +The fruit of his own body could alone wipe away the sin of +his soul. And the sacrifice had to be by fire. Only through +that purifying element could the stains of sin and impurity +be obliterated, and the offering made acceptable to +heaven.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The practice, horrible as it seems to us, was nevertheless +founded on a truth. The victim, if he were to be accepted, +must be the most precious that the offerer could present. The +gods did not require that which cost him nothing. It needed +to be the most costly that could be given; it needed to be +also, in the words of the prophet, the fruit of the sinner’s own +body. Nothing else would suffice: the gods demanded the +firstborn son, still more the only son. In no other way could +Baal be satisfied that the sinner had repented of his guilt or +had made to him an offering which was of equal value to his +own life.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The firstborn of all animals, of beasts as well as of men, +was owed to the gods. The belief was not confined to the +Canaanites. We find traces of it in Babylonian literature, and +all the denunciations of the prophets before the Exile failed to +eradicate it from the mind of the Jew. Up to the closing days +of the Jewish monarchy, the valley of the sons of Hinnom was +defiled with the smoke of the sacrifices wherein, as it is +euphemistically said, the kings and people of Jerusalem made +their children to pass through the fire. The belief, indeed, +was consecrated by the Mosaic law itself. Human sacrifice, +it is true, was forbidden, but the firstborn, nevertheless, had +to be redeemed (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-four'>xxxiv.</abbr> 20). Like the firstfruits and the +firstborn of beasts, Yahveh had declared that the firstborn of +the sons of Israel also belonged to Him (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-two'>xxii.</abbr> 29). He +could claim them, and it was of His own freewill that He +waived the claim. And along with this assertion of His claim +to the firstborn went the doctrine of vicarious punishment. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>It was not the firstborn only in whose case a substitution was +allowed: once a year the sins of the whole people were laid +upon the head of the scapegoat, which was then driven like +an evil spirit into the wilderness. The idea of vicarious +punishment, which lies at the foundation of historical +Christianity, had already found expression in the Mosaic +law.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The sacrifice of the firstborn was thus part of a larger +conception behind which there lay a profound truth. The +sins of the father were visited upon the child in more senses +than one; the child, in fact, could become an expiation for +them, and divert to himself the anger of the gods. Experience +had shown how often the son must suffer for the deeds of the +parent, and the inference was drawn that if that suffering were +voluntarily offered to heaven by the parent, he would receive +all the benefits that flowed from it. Moreover, the gods had +a right to the firstborn, if they chose to exercise it; and in +offering the firstborn, accordingly, man was only giving back +to them what was strictly their own.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The heathenism of the Mosaic age went no further. Israel +was the first to learn that the law of the substitution of the +firstborn for the sins of the father was subordinate to a higher +and more general law—that of vicarious punishment. As the +firstborn of men could be substituted for the parent, so, too, +could a lower animal, or the price of a lower animal, be substituted +for the firstborn of men. It was not the sacrifice +which the God of Israel demanded, but the spirit of sacrifice; +not the blood of bulls and goats, or even men, but obedience +and readiness to give up all that was dearest and best at the +command of God.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The story of the sacrifice of Isaac was a practical illustration +of the lesson. Abraham was called upon to slay with his +own hand his only child, the son through whom he had +believed that he would become the ancestor of a mighty +nation. He was summoned to lead him to one of those high-places +of Canaan where the deity seemed nearer to the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>worshipper than in the plain below, and there, like the +Phœnician god El, to offer him up to his God. We are told +how he set forth from Beer-sheba, on the borders of the desert, +and on the third day reached the sacred mountain on whose +summit the Canaanitish rite was to be celebrated. It was in +‘the land of Moriah,’ according to the reading of the Hebrew +text, a name which the chronicler (2 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 1) transfers to +the temple-mount at Jerusalem. But the Septuagint changes +the name in the books of Chronicles into that of ‘the mountain +of Amoria’ or the Amorites; while in Genesis the Greek +translators must have read Moreh, since the Hebrew word is +rendered by ‘Highlands.’ Moreh is the Babylonian Martu, +the land of the Amorites, so that we need not be surprised at +finding the Syriac version boldly substituting ‘Amorites’ for +the Masoretic ‘Moriah.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>In any case, the belief that the scene of Abraham’s sacrifice +was the spot whereon the Jewish temple afterwards stood went +back to an early date. When the book of Genesis assumed +its present form it had already become fixed in the Jewish +mind. This is clear from the proverb quoted to explain the +name of Yahveh-yireh. ‘To this day,’ we are told, it was +said: ‘In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.’ For the +Jew there was but one ‘mount of the Lord,’ that mountain +whereon Yahveh revealed Himself above the cherubim of the +ark. It was ‘the hill of God,’ wherein He desired to dwell +(<abbr title='Psalms'>Ps.</abbr> <abbr title='sixty-eight'>lxviii.</abbr> 15), the seat of the sanctuary of Yahveh the God +of Israel. When the Samaritans set up on Gerizim their rival +temple to that of Jerusalem, it was necessary that the scene +of the sacrifice of the Hebrew patriarch should be transferred +to the new site. It was a proof how firm was the conviction +that the temple-mount had been consecrated to the sacrifice +of the firstborn by the great ancestor of the Israelitish family. +The spot whereon the victims of the Jewish ritual were offered +up was the very spot to which Abraham had been led by God +that he might offer there the terrible sacrifice of his only son. +Its name had been given to it by Abraham, and this name +<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>found its explanation in a saying that was current at Jerusalem +about the temple-mount.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The actual meaning of the name is not certain, nor indeed +is the original signification of the proverb itself. Already in +the time of the Septuagint translation the meaning of the +latter was doubtful, and the Greek translators have made the +divine name the subject of the verb, reading, ‘In the mountain +the Lord was seen.’ But the fact that the Chronicler calls the +temple-mount Moriah shows that such a rendering was not +accepted in Jerusalem.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It may be that the name ‘mount of the Lord’ goes back, +at all events in substance, to patriarchal times. Among the +places in Southern Palestine conquered by the Egyptian +Pharaoh, Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>, of the eighteenth dynasty, and recorded +on the temple walls of Karnak, is Har-el, ‘the mountain +of God.’<a id='r62'></a><a href='#f62' class='c013'><sup>[62]</sup></a> The names found in immediate connection with +Har-el indicate that its site is to be sought in the neighbourhood +of Jerusalem; and as the name of Jerusalem itself does +not occur in the Pharaoh’s list of his conquests, it is probable +that we are to see in it the future capital of Judah. As we +now know from the Tel el-Amarna tablets, Jerusalem was an +important city of Canaan long before the Mosaic age; it was, +moreover, the centre of a district which had been conquered +by the Egyptians, and its ruler was a vassal of the Egyptian +monarch. It is therefore difficult to account for the omission +of any reference to it in the catalogue of the conquests of the +Pharaoh except upon the supposition that it is really mentioned +among them, though under another name.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The distance that separates Jerusalem from Beer-sheba +would correspond with the three days’ journey of Abraham +to the destined place of sacrifice. It was on the third day +that Abraham lifted up his eyes ‘and saw the place afar off.’ +The main, in fact, the only, argument of any weight that has +been urged against the identification is the fact that the place +of sacrifice seems to have been a desert spot. No spectators +<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>are mentioned as present, and close to it was a thicket in +which a ram was caught by the horns. How can such solitude, +it is asked, be reconciled with the existence of a city in +the same spot? How can the deserted high-place whereon +the patriarch raised the altar of sacrifice for his son be +identical with the fortress-city of which Melchizedek was +king?</p> + +<p class='c003'>At first sight the difficulty seems overwhelming. But we +must remember that nothing is said in the narrative about +the place being desert and remote from men, nor even that +it was not within the walls of a city. And we must further +remember that the temple of Solomon itself was built on what +had been the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Before +the age of Solomon, therefore, the place must have been open +and free from buildings; it must, too, have been a level platform +of rock on the summit of the hill where the winds could +freely play and scatter the chaff when the grain was threshed. +Such open spaces are not infrequent in Oriental cities, and the +visitor sometimes finds himself suddenly emerging out of +close and crowded lanes into a growth of rank brushwood and +weeds.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is true that in the books of Samuel, where we are told +how the threshing-floor of the Jebusite came to be chosen as +the site of the temple, no allusion is made to Abraham’s +sacrifice. Another reason is assigned for the choice of the +spot. But Oriental modes of writing history are not the same +as ours, and the so-called argument from silence is worthless +when applied to them. Archæological discovery has shown, +time after time, that facts and references are passed over in +silence by the writers of ancient Oriental history, not because +the writers did not know them, but because their conception +of history was different from ours.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Mount Moriah, then, may well have been the scene of that +temptation of Abraham when, in accordance with the fierce +ritual of Syria, he believed himself called upon to offer up in +sacrifice his only son. At all events, the belief that it was so +<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>can be traced back to an early date among the Jews. The +very fact that the Samaritans transported the place of sacrifice +to Mount Gerizim proves that it had already been associated +with the site of the temple, and the transference of the site +was necessary in support of the claim that the true centre of +Hebrew worship was at Samaria and not in Jerusalem.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Light has been cast on the substitution of a ram for the +human victim by an acute observation of <abbr class='spell'>M.</abbr> Clermont-Ganneau.<a id='r63'></a><a href='#f63' class='c013'><sup>[63]</sup></a> +We know that human sacrifice occupied a prominent +place in the ritual of Phœnicia and Carthage; and yet +in the so-called sacrificial tariffs which have been discovered at +Carthage and Marseilles, and in which the price is stated of +each of the offerings demanded by the gods, there is absolute +silence in regard to it. The place of the human victim is +taken by the <i>ayîl</i>, the ‘ram’ of the book of Genesis.<a id='r64'></a><a href='#f64' class='c013'><sup>[64]</sup></a> The +tariffs of Carthage and Marseilles belong to that later period +of Phœnician religion, when contact with the Greeks had +introduced Western ideas of the value of human life, and a +truer conception of what the gods required. The merchants +of Carthage had learned that Baal would be satisfied with a +victim less costly than man, and would accept instead of him +the blood of rams.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The lesson which the Carthaginians learned from contact +with the Greeks had been taught the ancestors of the +Hebrews by the Lord. The Law and the Prophets alike +protested against the old belief, hard as it was to eradicate +it from the Semitic mind. The sacrifice of Jephthah’s +daughter stands alone, even in the troublous period of the +Judges; the sacrifice of his eldest son by the king of Moab +(2 Kings <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 27), though it stayed the Israelitish attack, was the +act of one who did not acknowledge Yahveh of Israel as his +God; and the Jewish children who were burnt in the fire to +Moloch were offered by renegades from the national faith. +Israelitish law and history bear upon them the traces of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>old Semitic custom, but they are traces only. The story of +Abraham’s sacrifice is an antitype of the future history of the +religion of Israel. The firstborn, indeed, belonged to Yahveh, +if He chose to claim them; but, unlike the gods of the +heathen, He did not claim them when they were the firstborn +of man.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Once again we have a picture of Abraham; but this time it +is not as the shêkh who conforms to the beliefs and practices +of Canaan, but as a foreign prince who acquires land in the +country of his adoption. Sarah is dead, and Abraham accordingly +buys a field at Machpelah in the close neighbourhood of +Hebron. The field included a portion of the limestone cliff +which overlooked the city, and was pierced then, as now, by +numerous cavities, partly natural, partly excavated by the hand +of man. They were the burying-places of the inhabitants of +the town, the chambered tombs in which the dead were laid +to rest. That Abraham should choose Hebron as the future +home and resting-place of his family was perhaps natural. It +was here that he had lived when he first came, as an immigrant, +into ‘the land of the Amorites’; it was here that he had +been confederate with its Amorite chieftains, and had led his +forces against the invading host of the king of Elam. Moreover, +Hebron was one of the old centres of Canaan. It had +been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 22), +perhaps in the age when the Hyksos kings first conquered +Egypt and rebuilt Zoan, making it the capital of their new +kingdom. The sanctuary of Hebron rivalled that of Jerusalem +in sanctity and fame, at all events in the years immediately +succeeding the Israelitish conquest, and it was at Hebron that +David first established his power and his son Absalom matured +his rebellion.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In the age of Abraham the city had not yet received its later +name of Hebron, the ‘Confederacy.’ It was still known as +Kirjath-Arba, and the district in which it stood was that of +Mamre. Amorites and Hittites dwelt there side by side. Arba, +we are told, was ‘a great man among the Amorite Anakim’ +<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>(<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 15), but it was from ‘the sons of Heth’ that the +field of Machpelah was bought.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Critics have raised the question who these Hittites of +Southern Palestine may have been. It has been asserted that +they are the invention of a later Hebrew writer, and that the +Hittites of Northern Syria were never settled in the south of +Canaan. On the other hand, the veracity of the Hebrew record +has been admitted, but the identity of ‘the sons of Heth’ +with the great Hittite tribes of the north has been denied.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The critics, however, have no grounds for their scepticism. +The book of Genesis does not stand alone in testifying to +the existence of Hittites in Southern Palestine. The prophet +Ezekiel does the same. He too tells us that the origin of +Jerusalem was partly Amorite, partly Hittite. Indeed, +throughout the Pentateuch it is assumed that Hittites and +Amorites were mingled together in the mountainous parts of +the country. ‘The Hittites and the Jebusites and the +Amorites,’ it is said in the book of Numbers (<abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 29), ‘dwell +in the mountains,’ and the same combination of names in the +same order is found in the geographical table of Genesis (<abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> +15, 16). Between these Hittites and the Hittites of the north +no distinction is made in the Old Testament. ‘The land of +the Hittites,’ mentioned in <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 26, into which the Canaanite +betrayer of Beth-el made his way, was in the north, like the +Hittite kingdoms whose princes are referred to in 2 Kings +<abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 6.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Thanks to archæological discovery, we now know a good +deal about these Hittites of Northern Syria. Their name is +found on the monuments of Egypt, of Assyria, and of Armenia, +and they are mentioned in Babylonian tablets which go back +to the age of Abraham. Cappadocia was their earliest home; +from hence they descended on the possessions of the Aramæans +and established their power as far south as the Lake of +Homs. The cuneiform inscriptions of Armenia in the ninth +century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> describe them as on the Upper Euphrates in the +neighbourhood of Malatiyeh, and the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser +<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span><abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr> (<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1100) tells us that Carchemish was one of +their capitals. In the Tel el-Amarna tablets we hear of their +growing power on the northern frontier of the Egyptian empire, +of their intrigues with the Amorites and the people of Canaan, +and of their steady advance to the south. Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, the +Pharaoh of the Oppression, after twenty years of warfare, was +glad to conclude peace on equal terms with ‘the great king +of the Hittites.’ The Hittite capital was already so near the +northern border of Palestine as Kadesh on the Orontes ‘in +the land of the Amorites.’ Here the Hittite monarch gathered +together his vassals and allies from Syria and Asia Minor; +even the distant Lycians and Dardanians came at his call.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Egyptian artists have left us portraits of the Hittite +race. Their features and dress were alike peculiar, and both +reappear without change on certain monuments which have +been found in Asia Minor and Syria, thus fixing the character +of the latter beyond dispute. The monuments are covered +with a still undeciphered system of hieroglyphic writing, and +among the hieroglyphs are numerous human heads with the +strange profile of the Hittite face. The nose and upper jaw +protrude, the forehead is high and receding, the cheeks smooth, +while we learn from the paintings of Egypt that the skin was +yellow and the hair and the eyes were black. The hair was +gathered together in a kind of ‘pig-tail,’ and the feet were +shod with the shoes of mountaineers, the toes of which rose +upwards into a point.<a id='r65'></a><a href='#f65' class='c013'><sup>[65]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Why should not a body of Hittites have settled in Southern +Palestine, and there have been, as it were, interlocked with +the older Amorite inhabitants, as they were according to the +testimony of the Egyptian inscriptions at Kadesh on the Lake +of Homs? Indeed, there is indirect evidence that such was +really the case.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>, who conquered Syria for the eighteenth +Egyptian dynasty, tells us that he received tribute from the +king of ‘the greater Hittite land.’ There was then a lesser +<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>Hittite land; and as the ‘greater Hittite land’ was in the +north, it is reasonable to look for the lesser land in the south. +Half a century later, at a time when the Tel el-Amarna correspondence +was being carried on, the Hittites were actively +interfering in the internal politics of Canaan; and in one of +the bas-reliefs of Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> at Karnak the vanquished population +of Ashkelon—in the near neighbourhood of Hebron—is +represented with the peculiar Hittite type of face.<a id='r66'></a><a href='#f66' class='c013'><sup>[66]</sup></a> At a +still earlier date, when the Assyrians first became acquainted +with Western Asia, the dominant people there were the +Hittites. In the Assyrian inscriptions, accordingly, the whole +of Syria, including Palestine, came to be known as ‘the land +of the Hittites.’ Shalmaneser <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> even speaks of Ahab of +Israel and Baasha of Ammon as ‘Hittite’ kings.<a id='r67'></a><a href='#f67' class='c013'><sup>[67]</sup></a> ‘The +land of the Hittites’ in the Assyrian texts thus corresponds +with the ‘land of the Amorites’ in the texts of Babylonia. +Just as Canaan was ‘the land of the Amorites’ to the Babylonian +of the age of Abraham, so too it was ‘the land of the +Hittites’ to the Assyrian of the age of Moses. Before Assyria +had become acquainted with the shores of the Mediterranean, +the Hittites had taken the place of the Amorites and become +the leading power in the West.</p> + +<p class='c003'>There is, therefore, nothing antecedently improbable in the +existence in Southern Palestine of Hittites of the genuine +northern stock. But the name may also be due to the +Assyrian use of it at the time when the narrative in the book +of Genesis was written. The use of the term ‘Amorite’ in +several passages of the Pentateuch is certainly of Babylonian +origin, and takes us back to the age when all the natives of +Palestine were alike included in it; it may be that the +‘Hittites’ of Hebron and Jerusalem owe their title to a +similar adoption of a foreign term. If so, the Amorites and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>Hittites were equally one people; but whereas the name of +‘Amorite’ comes from Babylonia and indicates an earlier date +for the sources of the narrative in which it occurs, the name +of ‘Hittite’ points to Assyria and the Assyrian epoch of +Asiatic history.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Against this is the Babylonian colouring of the story of +Abraham’s dealings with the children of Heth. During the +last few years thousands of contract-tablets have been discovered +in Babylonia which belong to the age of Abraham or +to a still earlier period. And these tablets show that in the +account of the purchase of the field of Machpelah we have a +faithful picture of such transactions as they were conducted at +the time in the cities of Babylonia. It reads, in fact, like one +of the cuneiform documents which have been unearthed from +Babylonian soil. It is conformed to the law and procedure +of Babylonia as they were in the patriarchal age. At a later +date the law and procedure were altered, and a narrative in +which they are embodied must therefore go back to a pre-Mosaic +antiquity. It must belong to the Babylonian and not +to the Assyrian epoch.</p> + +<p class='c003'>That the law and custom of Babylonia should have prevailed +in Canaan is no longer surprising. The same contract-tablets +which have revealed to us the commercial and social life of +primitive Chaldæa have also shown us that colonies of +‘Amorite’ or Canaanitish merchants were settled in Babylonia, +where they enjoyed numerous rights and privileges, and +could acquire land and other property. There were special +districts called ‘Amorite’ allotted to them, one of which was +just outside the walls of the city of Sippara. They had judges +of their own, and where disputes arose between themselves +and the native Babylonians the case was tried before both the +‘Amorite’ and the native courts. These foreign settlers could +act as witnesses in trials that concerned only Babylonians, and +could even rise to high offices of state. It must be remembered, +however, that the Babylonian kings claimed to be kings +also of ‘the land of the Amorites,’ and that consequently the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>natives of Canaan were as much subjects of the rulers of +Chaldæa as the Babylonians themselves.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Through the Canaanitish colonies in Babylonia a knowledge +of Babylonian law was necessarily communicated to +the commercial world of the West. Moreover, Babylonian +rule brought with it Babylonian culture and law as well. +The ‘Amorites’ when the Babylonians first met with them +were doubtless in a semi-barbarous condition, and their subsequent +culture, as we now know, was wholly Babylonian. +A very important part of this culture, at all events in +the eyes of the trading world, was the law of Babylonia, +more especially in its relation to contracts. That the purchase +of the field of Machpelah should have been conducted +with all the formalities to which Abraham had been +accustomed in his Chaldæan home, is consequently what +archæological discovery has informed us ought to have been +the case.</p> + +<p class='c003'>A simple form of contract for the sale and purchase of +landed property in Babylonia is to be found in one that was +drawn up in the reign of Eri-Aku or Arioch. It is written in +Sumerian, the old legal language of Chaldæa, as Latin was the +legal language of Europe in the Middle Ages, and runs as +follows:—‘One and five-sixths <i>sar</i><a id='r68'></a><a href='#f68' class='c013'><sup>[68]</sup></a> of a terrace with a house +upon it, bounded on three sides by the house of Abil-Sin, and +on the fourth side by the street, has been purchased by Sin-uzilli +the son of Tsili-Istar from Sin-illatsu the son of Nannar-arabit: +2-½ shekels of silver he has weighed as its full price. In +days to come Sin-illatsu shall never make any claim in regard to +the house or dispute the title. The (contracting parties) have +sworn by the names of Sin, Samas, and king Eri-Aku. Witnessed +by Abu-ilisu the son of Tsili-Istar, Abil-Sin the son of +Uruki-bansum, Nur-Amurri the son of Abi-idinnam, Ibku-Urra, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>son of Nabi-ilisu, and Sin-semê his brother. The seals +of the witnesses (are attached).’<a id='r69'></a><a href='#f69' class='c013'><sup>[69]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Still more insight into the character and procedure of Babylonian +commercial law is given by the record of a case +of disputed property which came before the judges in the +reign of Khammu-rabi or Amraphel. The following is a +translation of it:—‘Concerning the garden of Sin-magir which +Naid-Amurri bought for silver, but to which Ilu-bani laid +claim on the ground that he had bred horses there. They +went before the judges, and the judges took them to the gate +of the goddess Nin-Martu (the mistress of the land of the +Amorites), and to the judges of the gate of Nin-Martu Ilu-bani +thus declared in the gate of Nin-Martu: I am indeed the +son of Sin-magir; he adopted me as his son; the sealed +documents (recording the fact) he never destroyed. Thus he +declared, and under (king) Eri-Aku they adjudged the garden +and house to Ilu-bani. Then came Sin-mubalidh and claimed +the garden of Ilu-bani; so they went before the judges, and +the judges (said): To us and the elders they have been taken, +and must stand in the gate of the gods Merodach, Sussa, Sin, +Khusa, and Nin-Martu the daughter of Merodach ... and +the elders who have already appeared in the case of Naid-Amurri +have heard Ilu-bani declare in the gate of Nin-Martu +that “I am indeed the son (of Sin-magir)”; accordingly, they +adjudged the garden and house to Ilu-bani. Sin-mubalidh +cannot come again and make a claim. Oaths have been sworn +by the names of Sin, Samas, Merodach, and king Khammu-rabi. +Witnessed by Sin-imguranni the noble, Elilka-Sin, Abil-irzitim, +Ubarrum, Zanbil-arad-Sin, Akhiya, Bel-dugul (?), +Samas-bani the son of Abid-rakhas, Zanik-pisu, Izkur-Ea +the major-domo, and Bau-ila. The seals of the witnesses +(are attached). The 4th day of the month Tammuz, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>the year when Khammu-rabi the king offered prayers to +Tasmit.’<a id='r70'></a><a href='#f70' class='c013'><sup>[70]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>It is needless to quote other documents of a similar nature, +unless it be to add that when a field or garden is sold, the +palms and other trees planted in it are carefully specified. +So they were also in the case of the field of Machpelah. Here, +too, the transaction took place before the ‘elders’ of the city, +at ‘the gate’ through which the people entered, and it was +duly witnessed by ‘the children of Heth.’<a id='r71'></a><a href='#f71' class='c013'><sup>[71]</sup></a> The fact that ‘a +stranger and a sojourner’ could thus acquire landed property +and hand it down to his descendants was in strict accordance +with Babylonian law. As the Canaanite in Babylonia could +buy land and leave it to his children, so too the Babylonian +in Canaan could do the same. Even the technical words +used in recording the deed of sale are of Babylonian origin. +The shekel is the Babylonian <i>siqlu</i>, and the Babylonian was +the first who spoke of ‘weighing silver’ in the sense of ‘paying +money.’<a id='r72'></a><a href='#f72' class='c013'><sup>[72]</sup></a> The statement that the shekels were ‘current +with the merchant’ takes us back to those Babylonian ‘merchants’ +who played so great a part in the early Babylonian +world. It was for them that Dungi, king of Ur, long before +the birth of Abraham, had fixed the monetary standard which +remained in use down to the later days of the Chaldæan monarchy. +He had determined by law the weight and value of the +maneh, of which the sixtieth part was a shekel, and only those +manehs and shekels which conformed to it could be accepted +by the Babylonian trader. The words of Genesis are a curious +indication of the period of society to which they must belong.<a id='r73'></a><a href='#f73' class='c013'><sup>[73]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>There was evolution in Babylonian law as in the law of all other +countries; and though the early contracts remained a model +for those of a later epoch, their style and form underwent +change. The Assyrian and later Babylonian contracts resemble +them, it is true, in their main outlines; but they have become +more complicated, and the older phraseology is altered in +many respects. The ‘elders’ no longer appear as witnesses; +it is no longer needful to try cases of disputed title at the +various gates of the city; and it is questionable whether +foreigners could claim the same rights in regard to possessions +in land that they did in the days of Amraphel and +Arioch. The sale of the field of Machpelah belongs essentially +to the early Babylonian and not to the Assyrian period.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is only fragments of the life of Abraham that are brought +before us in the pages of Genesis. They are like a series of +pictures which have been saved from the shipwreck of the past. +And the pictures are not always painted in the same colours. +At one time the patriarch appears as ‘a mighty prince,’ as a +rich and cultured Chaldæan immigrant, with armed bands of +warriors under him with whom he can venture to attack even +the army of the king of Elam. He is the confederate of the +Amorite chieftains, the prince whom the Hittites of Hebron +hear with respect. But at another time the colours on the +canvas seem quite different. When the angels warn the +patriarch of the approaching overthrow of the cities of the +plain, they find him in the tent of a Bedâwi, leading the simple +life of an uncultured nomad, and preparing the food of his +guests with his own hands. Between this Bedâwi shêkh and +the companion of the king of Gerar or the Pharaoh of Egypt +the contrast is indeed great.</p> + +<p class='c003'>To the Western mind, however, the contrast is greater than +it would be to the Oriental. The traveller in the East is well +acquainted with wealthy Bedâwin shêkhs who live in the +desert in barbaric simplicity, but, nevertheless, have their +houses at Cairo or Damascus, where they indulge in all the +luxury and splendour of Oriental life. Moreover, the narratives +<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>which have been combined in the book of Genesis do not +all come from the same source. Some of them have been +taken from written historical documents which breathe the +atmosphere of the cultured city, of the educated scribe, and +the luxurious court. Others, derived it may be from oral +tradition, are filled with the spirit of the wanderer in the +desert, and set before us the simple life and rude fare of the +dweller in tents. The history of the patriarchs is, in fact, like +Joseph’s coat of many colours. It is a series of pictures +rather than a homogeneous whole. The materials of which it +is composed differ widely in both character and origin. Some +of them can be shown to have been contemporaneous with +the events they record; some again to have been like the +tales of their old heroes recounted by the nomad Arabs in the +days before Islam as they sat at night round their camp-fires. +The details and spirit of the story have necessarily caught the +colour of the medium through which they have passed. The +life of Abraham, doubtless, presented the contrasts still presented +by that of a rich Bedâwi shêkh; at one time spent in the +wild freedom and privations of the desert; at another amid +the luxuries and culture of the town; but the contrasts have +been heightened by the difference in the sources through +which they have been handed down. Naturally, while the +scribe would record only those phases of Abraham’s history +which brought him into contact with the great world of kings +and princes, of war and trade, the nomad reciter of ancient +stories would dwell rather on such parts of it as he and his +hearers could understand. For them Abraham would become +a desert-wanderer like themselves.</p> + +<p class='c003'>This difference in the sources of the narrative explains why +it is that the figure of Abraham so largely overshadows that of +his son Isaac. Isaac seems almost swallowed up in that +darkness of antiquity through which the figure of his father +looms so largely. Apart from his dispute with Abimelech +of Gerar, which reads like a repetition of the dispute between +Abimelech and Abraham, there is little told of the life of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>Isaac which is not connected with his more famous father or +son. Between Abraham and Jacob, the great ancestors of +Israel, Isaac seems to intervene as merely a connecting link.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But the life of Isaac was that of a Bedâwi shêkh. The +other side of his father’s life and character was lost. The +forefather of Israel had ceased to be a Chaldæan, and had +become simply a dweller in the desert, like the fugitive slaves +from Egypt in after days. Even Hebron was left, and the +life of Isaac was mainly passed on the northern edge of that +desert in which his descendants were in later times to receive +the Law. If he approached Canaan, it was only to Beer-sheba +and Gerar on the southern skirts of Canaanitish territory, +where the Bedâwin and their flocks still claimed to be masters. +But his chief residence was further south, in the very heart of +the wilderness.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Isaac was thus essentially a Bedâwi, a fit type of the phase +of life through which the Israelites were destined to pass +before their conquest of the Promised Land. With the +politics and trade of the civilised world, accordingly, he never +came into contact. There was nothing in his existence for +the historian to chronicle; nothing which could bring his name +into the written history of the time. If his memory were to +be preserved at all, it could be only through the unwritten +traditions of the desert, through the tales told of him among +the desert tribes.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Once indeed, it is said, he had relations with a king. The +king was one of those Canaanitish princelets with whose +names the Tel el-Amarna tablets are filled. The dominions +of Abimelech of Gerar were of small extent, and must have +been barren in the extreme. The site of Gerar lies two hours +south of Gaza,<a id='r74'></a><a href='#f74' class='c013'><sup>[74]</sup></a> and the territory of its king extended eastward +as far as Beer-sheba. It was essentially a desert territory: +<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>during the greater part of the year the whole country is bare +and sterile; only after rain does the wilderness break forth +suddenly into green herbage.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In the story of Isaac’s dispute with Abimelech the writer of +Genesis calls him ‘king of the Philistines,’ and speaks of his +subjects as ‘Philistines.’ This, however, is an accommodation +to the geography of a later day. In the age of the patriarchs +the south-eastern corner of Palestine has not as yet been +occupied by the Philistine immigrants. We have learned from +the Egyptian monuments that they were pirates from the +islands and coasts of the Greek Seas who did not seize upon +the frontier cities of Southern Canaan until the time of the +Pharaoh Meneptah, the son of Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> Up to then, for +more than three centuries, the frontier cities had been garrisoned +by Egyptian troops, and included in the Egyptian empire. It +was not till the period of the Exodus that the district passed +into Philistine hands, and the old road into Egypt by the sea-coast +became known as ‘the way of the Philistines.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>In speaking of the ‘Philistines,’ therefore, the writer of the +book of Genesis is speaking proleptically. And in reading +the narrative of Isaac’s dealings with Abimelech by the side of +that of Abraham’s dealings with the same king, it is difficult +to resist the conclusion that we have before us two versions of +the same event. Doubtless, history repeats itself; disputes +about the possession of wells in a desert-land can frequently +recur, and it is possible that two kings of the same name may have +followed one another on the throne of Gerar. But what does +not seem very possible is that each of these kings should have +had a ‘chief captain of his host’ called by the strange non-Semitic +name of Phichol (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 22; <abbr title='twenty-six'>xxvi.</abbr> 26); that each +of them should have taken the wife of the patriarch, believing +her to be his sister; or that Beer-sheba should twice have +received the same name from the oaths sworn over it.</p> + +<p class='c003'>When we compare the two versions together, it is not +difficult to see which of them is the more original. It is in +the second that Abimelech is called ‘king of the Philistines’; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>in the first he is correctly entitled ‘king of Gerar.’ Abraham +was justified in calling Sarah his sister; there was no ground +and no reason for Isaac doing the same in the case of his +own wife. Moreover, Beer-sheba had already received its name +from Abraham, who had planted there an <i>êshel</i> or tamarisk, +and ‘called on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>The wife of Isaac was brought from Harran, from the +members of Abraham’s race who had settled in Northern +Syria, and there become an Aramæan family. She was the +daughter of Bethuel, ‘the house of God,’ a proper name which +is found in the Tel el-Amarna letters, where it also belongs to +a native of Northern Syria.<a id='r75'></a><a href='#f75' class='c013'><sup>[75]</sup></a> Bethuel is the older form of +Bethel, that anointed stone which, according to Semitic belief, +was the special residence of divinity. There was something +peculiarly appropriate in such a name at Harran, where the +great temple of the Moon-god, the ‘Baal of Harran,’ was +itself a Beth-el on a large scale.</p> + +<p class='c003'>That Isaac should have lived all his life long in the southern +desert, and that his name should have been associated with +none of the ancient sanctuaries of Canaan, Beer-sheba alone +excepted, is perhaps curious when we bear in mind a passage +in the prophecies of Amos (<abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 9), where it is with Northern +Israel and not with Judah that the name of the patriarch is +connected. Isaac, however, was as much the forefather of the +Israelites of Samaria as he was of those of Jerusalem; and the +use of his name by the prophet shows only that he was no +mere Jewish hero, but was regarded as an ancestor of the +whole Israelitish nation. For the whole of Israel, Isaac was +no less historical than Abraham or Jacob.</p> + +<p class='c003'>That Isaac’s dwelling-place should have been in the desert +of the south agrees well with the fact that he was the father of +Edom as well as of Israel. He thus lived on the borderland +<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>of the two peoples who afterwards boasted of their descent +from him.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Esau, from whom the Edomites traced their origin, was the +elder of his two twin sons. The name has been connected +with that of the Phœnician deity Usous, but Usous is really +the eponymous god of the city of Usu, in the neighbourhood +of Tyre. Esau took possession of the mountains of Seir. +Here he partly absorbed, partly destroyed the older races, the +Amalekites or Bedâwin whose descendants still prowl among +the wadis of Edom, and the Horites whom a somewhat doubtful +etymology would turn into Troglodytes or dwellers in caves. +Edom itself, the ‘Red’ land, took its name from the red hue +of its cliffs. It was a name which went back to a remote +antiquity, for among the Egyptians also the desert-country +which stretched away eastward into Edom was known as +Desher, ‘the Red.’ The punning etymology in Genesis +(<abbr title='twenty-five'>xxv.</abbr> 30) preserves a recollection of the true origin of the +name.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The territories of Esau extended southward to the head of +the Gulf of Aqaba. Here were the towns of Elath and Eziongeber, +through which the merchandise of the Indian Ocean +was conveyed northward, enriching the merchants and princes +of Edom in its passage through their land. To the north +Edom was in touch with the peoples of Canaan. The wives +of Esau, we are told, were ‘of the daughters of Canaan’ +(<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-six'>xxxvi.</abbr> 2); one of them at least was Hittite, and another, +according to one account (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-six'>xxvi.</abbr> 34), bore the name of +the ‘Jewess.’ But other wives were taken from the tribes of +Arabia. Bashemath was the daughter of Ishmael and sister +of a Nabathean chief, while Aholibamah was the daughter of +a Horite who belonged to the primeval race of Seir.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Like the Ishmaelites, like the Israelites themselves, it was +long before the Edomites submitted to the rule of a king. +At first they were divided into tribes, each of them under a +shêkh. In Israel the shêkhs were entitled ‘judges,’ a title +borrowed from the Canaanite population; in Edom they bore +<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>the name of <i>alûphim</i>, which the Authorised Version renders by +‘dukes.’<a id='r76'></a><a href='#f76' class='c013'><sup>[76]</sup></a> The old name still survived down to the time of +the Exodus, as we may gather from its use in the Song +of Moses (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 15). But when the wanderings in the +wilderness were almost over, and Israel was preparing to +invade Palestine, the ‘dukes’ of Edom had already been +superseded by kings. It was a ‘king of Edom’ to whom +Moses sent messengers from Kadesh praying for a ‘passage +through his border,’ and it was a king of Edom who refused +the request. But the ancient spirit of independence still +lingered; and, as we may gather from the extract from the +Edomite chronicles preserved in <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-six'>xxxvi.</abbr>, the monarchy +was elective. The son never succeeded the father on the +throne, the royal dignity passed from one division of the +kingdom to the other, and each city in turn became the +capital.<a id='r77'></a><a href='#f77' class='c013'><sup>[77]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Though Esau was the elder, the birthright passed to the +younger brother. Israelitish tradition knew of more than one +occurrence which accounted for this. It was told how Esau +had sold his birthright for a mess of pottage; it was also told +how it had been stolen from him by the craft of his brother +Jacob. Naturally, the first tradition was more favoured in +Israel, the second in Edom, and the union of the two in the +book of Genesis is a proof of the diligence with which +the writer of it has gathered together all that was known +of the past of his people as well as the impartiality with which +he has used his materials. Perhaps both stories owed their +preservation to the play upon words which was connected +with them. The ‘red’ pottage served to explain the name of +Edom, the craft of the younger son the name of Jacob.<a id='r78'></a><a href='#f78' class='c013'><sup>[78]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>Upon the real origin of the latter name, however, recent +discovery has thrown light. It is the third person singular of +a verb, and is formed like numerous names of the same class +in Arabic and Assyrian. But the third person singular of a +verb implies a nominative, and the nominative was originally +a divine name or title. In familiar use the nominative came +to be dropped, and the shortened form of the name to be +alone employed. The older form of the name Jacob has +now been recovered from the monuments of Babylonia and +Egypt. Among the Canaanites who appear as witnesses to +Babylonian contracts of the age of Khammu-rabi, Mr. Pinches +has found a Jacob-el and a Joseph-el, ‘God will recompense,’ +‘God will add.’<a id='r79'></a><a href='#f79' class='c013'><sup>[79]</sup></a> The same names, though written a little +differently,<a id='r80'></a><a href='#f80' class='c013'><sup>[80]</sup></a> are met with in contracts earlier than the time +of Moses, which have been discovered near Kaisariyeh, in +Cappadocia, and are inscribed on clay tablets in cuneiform +characters and in a Babylonian dialect. We can thus trace +them from the primitive home of Abraham to the neighbourhood +of that Aramæan district of Northern Mesopotamia in +which his father settled.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But this is not all. Among the places in Palestine +conquered by Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> of the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty, +and recorded on the walls of his temple at Karnak, we find +a Jacob-el and a Joseph-el. In Canaan, therefore, the +names were already current; it may even be that in the +town of Jacob-el we have a reminiscence of the patriarch, +in Joseph-el a connection with the ancestor of the ‘House +of Joseph.’ At all events, the name of Joseph-el follows +<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>immediately after that of the ‘Har’ or ‘Mountain’ of +Ephraim, while that of Jacob-el is placed in the neighbourhood +of Hebron.<a id='r81'></a><a href='#f81' class='c013'><sup>[81]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The name of Jacob-el can be carried still further back +than the age of Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>, further back probably than +the age of the patriarch himself. There are Egyptian +scarabs which bear the name of a Pharaoh called Jacob-el. +The first part of the name is written just as it would be +in Hebrew, and the Pharaoh is given all the titles of a +legitimate Egyptian king. On one he is ‘the good God,’ +on another ‘the son of the Sun,’ and ‘the giver of life.’ +The scarabs belong to the period of the Hyksos, and in +the Pharaoh Jacob-el we must accordingly see one of those +Hyksos conquerors from Asia who ruled over Egypt for so +many centuries. There was thus a Jacob in Egypt before +the patriarch migrated there, and he belonged to that +Hyksos race under whom Joseph rose to the highest honours +of the state.<a id='r82'></a><a href='#f82' class='c013'><sup>[82]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The shortened form of the name is also found in the +Babylonian texts; and it is probable that Egibi, the founder +of the great banking and trading firm which carried on +business in Babylonia down to the time of the Persian kings, +had a name which is identical with it. At any rate the older +forms of both ‘Jacob’ and ‘Joseph’ show that ‘Isaac’ too +must be an abbreviation from an earlier ‘Isaac-el’ (<i>Yitskhaq-êl</i>). +‘God smileth’ would have been the primitive signification of +the word.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The craft of Jacob was the cause of his flight to his mother’s +family in Padan-Aram. He thus became that ‘wandering +Aramæan’ of whom we read in Deuteronomy (<abbr title='twenty-six'>xxvi.</abbr> 5). On +his way he rested at the great Beth-el of Central Palestine, +and there in a vision beheld the angels of God ascending and +descending the steps of limestone that were piled one upon +<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>the other to the gates of heaven.<a id='r83'></a><a href='#f83' class='c013'><sup>[83]</sup></a> There, too, he poured oil +upon the sacred stone and consecrated it to the deity, and +future generations revered it as a veritable Beth-el or ‘House +of God.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>The name, in fact, we are told, was given to it by Jacob +himself. ‘If I come again to my father’s house in peace,’ he +said, ‘then shall Yahveh be my God: and this stone, which I +have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house; and of all that +Thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto Thee.’ +The vow was in accordance with a Canaanitish custom which +had originally come from Babylonia. From time immemorial +the Babylonian temples had been supported by the tenth or +tithe, which was levied on both king and people: it was not +thought that the gods were asking too much when they +demanded the tenth of the income which had been given to +man by themselves. Among the Babylonian contract-tablets +there are several which relate to the payment of the tithe as +well as to the gifts that were made to a Bit-ili or Beth-el.<a id='r84'></a><a href='#f84' class='c013'><sup>[84]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Jacob’s vow was performed, at least in part, when once +more he returned to Canaan. Then again ‘God appeared to +him’ and changed the patriarch’s name. Then again, too, ‘he +set up a pillar of stone; and he poured a drink-offering +thereon, and he poured oil thereon. And Jacob called the +name of the place where God spake with him Beth-el.’ This +second account of the naming of the place doubtless comes +from a different source from that which recorded Jacob’s +dream, and is the account which was known to Hosea, the +prophet of the northern kingdom. Modern critics have alleged +that it is inconsistent with the first, and that consequently +neither the one nor the other is historical. The compiler of +the book of Genesis, however, thought otherwise; he has +<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>made no attempt to smooth over what the European scholar +declares to be inconsistencies, and which therefore cannot +have seemed inconsistencies to him. The Oriental mode of +writing history, it must once more be remarked, is not the +same as ours; and as it is with the ancient East that we are +now concerned, it would be wiser to follow the judgment of +the writer of Genesis than that of his European critics.</p> + +<p class='c003'>At Harran Jacob served his cousin Laban ‘for a wife, and +for a wife he kept sheep.’ Such contracts of voluntary service +are to be found in the Babylonian tablets of the age of +Khammu-rabi and his predecessors. It was not at all unusual +for a slave to be hired out to another master for a definite +period of time; it sometimes happened that the master himself +hired out his own services in a similar way.<a id='r85'></a><a href='#f85' class='c013'><sup>[85]</sup></a> In Babylonia +the work was partly pastoral, partly agricultural; the semi-Bedâwi +Jacob was a herdsman only. His cousin Laban bore +a name which was also that of an Assyrian deity; and it may +not be a mere coincidence that when Nabonidos, the last king +of Babylonia, restored the great temple of the moon-god at +Harran, he tells us that he began the task ‘by the art of the +god Laban, the god of foundations and brickwork.’<a id='r86'></a><a href='#f86' class='c013'><sup>[86]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The two daughters of Laban bore names which had a +familiar sound to the ear of a herdsman. Rachel means +‘ewe’; Leah is the Assyrian <i>li’tu</i>, ‘a cow.’ It is needless to +recount the well-known story of the wooing of the younger +daughter, and of the efforts made by Laban to retain Jacob in +his service and marry both the sisters to him. Craft was met +by craft; but in the end the ancestor of Israel proved more +than a match for the wily Syrian. His cattle and riches +multiplied like the children who were born to him, and a time +came when the sons of Laban began to view with envy the +poor relative who was robbing them of their patrimony. So +<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>Jacob fled, before harm had come to him, carrying with him +his wives and children and all the wealth he had accumulated. +Laban pursued and succeeded in overtaking the heavily-weighted +caravan at the very spot where the frontiers of Aram +and Canaan met together. There the cairn of stones was +raised in which later generations saw a memorial of the pact +that had been sworn between Jacob and his father-in-law. +Henceforth the tie with Aram was broken: the wives of Jacob +forgot the home of their father and looked to Canaan instead +of Aram as the native land of their race. Over the cairn of +Gilead the forefathers of Israel forswore for ever their +Aramæan ties.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But Rachel had carried with her her father’s teraphim, those +household gods on whose cult the welfare of the family seemed +to depend. What they were like we may gather from the +teraphim of David, which Michal placed on the couch of her +husband, and so deceived the messengers of Saul (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> +13-16). They must have had the shape of a man, and, at all +events in the case of those of David, must have also been +about a man’s size. Like the ephod and the Urim and +Thummim, they were consulted as oracles (<abbr title='Zechariah'>Zech.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 2), and +their use lingered among the Jews as late as the period of the +Captivity. When Hosea depicts the coming desolation of +Israel, he describes it as a time when ‘the children of Israel +shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, +and without a sacrifice, and without a sacred pillar, and without +an ephod and teraphim’ (<abbr title='Hosea'>Hos.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 4).</p> + +<p class='c003'>The final break between Jacob and the Aramæan portion of +Terah’s family was marked by a change of name. From +henceforth Jacob was to be distinctively the father of the +children of Israel. He and his descendants were severed from +the rest of their kinsmen whether in Padan-Aram, in Edom, or +in the lands beyond the Jordan. Abraham had been the ‘father +of many nations’; Jacob was to be the father of but one—of +that chosen people to whom the character and worship of +Yahveh were revealed.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>We read of him in Hosea (<abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 3, 4), ‘By his strength he +had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and +prevailed.’ What the Authorised Version translates ‘had +power’ is <span lang="hbo"><i>sârâh</i></span> and <span lang="hbo"><i>yâsar</i></span> in Hebrew. The story of the +mysterious struggle is told in full in the book of Genesis. +The long caravan of Jacob had arrived at length at Mahanaim, +‘the two camps’ by the stream of the Jabbok, and from thence +he sent messengers to his brother, who had already established +his power in the mountains of Seir. In after days the name +of the place was connected with the strange occurrence that +there befel the patriarch. He was visited by the angels of +God, nay, by God Himself. In the visions of the night he +wrestled with one whom, when morning dawned, he believed +to have been his God. He had seen God, as it were, face to +face, and a popular etymology saw in the fact an explanation +of the name of Peniel. When Hosea wrote his prophecies, +the belief was too well established that man cannot ‘see God’s +face and live,’ and the angel of God accordingly takes the +place of God Himself. But when the narrative in Genesis +was composed, a more primitive conception of the Divine +nature still prevailed, and no reluctance was felt in stating +exactly what the patriarch himself had believed. It was God +with whom he had struggled, and from whom he had extorted +a blessing, and a memory of the conflict and victory was preserved +in the name of Israel, which Jacob henceforth bore.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The etymology, however, is really only one of those plays +upon words of which the Biblical writers, like Oriental writers +generally, are so fond. It has no scientific value, and never +was intended to have any. Israel is, like Edom, not the name +of an individual, but of the people of whom the individual was +the ancestor. The name is formed like that of Jacob-el, and +the abbreviated Jeshurun is used instead of it in the Song of +Moses.<a id='r87'></a><a href='#f87' class='c013'><sup>[87]</sup></a> If the latter is correct, the root will not be <span lang="hbo"><i>sârâh</i></span>, +‘he fought,’ or <span lang="hbo"><i>yâsar</i></span>, ‘he is king,’ but <span lang="hbo"><i>yâshar</i></span>, ‘to be upright,’ +‘to direct’; and Israel will signify ‘God has directed.’ Israel, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>in fact, will be the ‘righteous’ people who have been called +to walk in the ways of the Lord.</p> + +<p class='c003'>While Jacob was keeping the sheep of his Aramæan father-in-law, +Esau was making a name for himself among the +mountains of the Horites. Half robber, half huntsman, he +had gathered about him a band of followers, and with their +help had founded—if not a kingdom—at all events a nation +to the south of Moab. It is true that the ‘red’ land he had +occupied was rocky and barren, but the high-road of commerce +from the spice-bearing regions of Southern Arabia passed +through it, and the plunder or tribute of the merchants who +travelled along it brought wealth to him and his well-armed +Bedâwin. What David did in later days, when he made himself +the head of a band of outlaws, and with their assistance +eventually raised himself to the throne of Judah, had already +been accomplished by Esau among the barbarians of Seir.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The message of Jacob led him northward by the desert road +which ran to the east of Moab and Ammon. It is clear from +the story that Jacob knew little about his brother’s power. +When news was brought that he was coming with a troop of +four hundred men, Jacob’s heart sank within him, and his +only thought was how to save himself and at least a portion +of his wealth from the powerful robber-chief. The event +proved that his precautions were needless. Esau behaved +with a magnanimity which it must have been hard for a +Hebrew writer to describe, and pressed his brother to accompany +him to Seir. Jacob feared to accept the invitation, +and equally feared to refuse it. With characteristic caution +and craft, he promised to come, but urged that the cattle and +children that were with him made it necessary to follow slowly +in Esau’s track. So the Edomite chieftain departed, and +Jacob took good care to turn westward across the Jordan into +the land of Canaan. There, among the cities and fields of +the civilised ‘Amorite,’ he felt himself secure from the pursuit +of the desert tribes.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Was it fear of Esau which kept him in Central Palestine +<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>and prevented him so long from venturing near that southern +part of the country where his father and grandfather had +mainly dwelt? At all events, while Abraham had bought +land at Hebron, the land purchased by Jacob was near +Shechem. Moreover, it was the ‘parcel of a field where he +had spread his tent,’ not a burying-place for his family. It +would seem, therefore, that it was intended for a permanent +residence; here the patriarch determined to settle and to +exchange the free life of the pastoral nomad for that of a +villager of Canaan.<a id='r88'></a><a href='#f88' class='c013'><sup>[88]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The field was bought from Hamor the father of Shechem, +the founder of the city which was destined to become the seat +of the first monarchy in Israel, and on it was raised the first +altar consecrated to the God of Israel. <span lang="hbo">El-elohê-Israel</span>, ‘El is +the God of Israel,’ the altar was termed, a declaration that the El +whom the Canaanites worshipped was the God of Israel as well. +But though the field was bought for one hundred ‘pieces of +money’—an expression, be it noted, which is not Babylonian—we +<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>are assured also that Jacob had gained land at Shechem +by the right of conquest. In blessing Joseph he declared to +him that to the tribe of his favourite son there was given ‘a +Shechem above’ his ‘brethren which’ he had taken ‘out of +the hand of the Amorite with’ his ‘sword and bow’ (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> +<abbr title='forty-eight'>xlviii.</abbr> 22); and the story of the ravishment of Dinah recounts +how the sons of the patriarch massacred the men of the city, +how they enslaved their women and carried away their goods. +The terrible tale of vengeance was never forgotten; it is +alluded to in the Blessing of Jacob (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='forty-nine'>xlix.</abbr> 5-7), and the +disappearance of Simeon and Levi as separate tribes was +looked upon as a punishment for the deed. It would seem +that after the Israelitish conquest of Canaan the population +of Shechem remained half Canaanite, half Israelite,<a id='r89'></a><a href='#f89' class='c013'><sup>[89]</sup></a> and the +Canaanitish population would naturally remember with horror +and indignation the crime of the sons of Jacob. That the +deed should have been attributed to the ancestors of two of +the southern tribes instead of to those of Issachar or some +other tribe of the north is evidence in favour of its truthfulness.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The sons of Jacob were twelve in number, like the twelve +sons of Ishmael, and corresponded with the twelve tribes of +Israel which were called after their names. And yet the +correspondence required a little forcing. It is questionable +whether, at any one time, there ever were exactly twelve +Israelitish tribes. In the Song of Deborah Judah does not +appear at all, Ephraim taking its place and, along with +Benjamin, extending as far south as the desert of the Amalekites, +while Machir is substituted for Manasseh and Gad. +Levi never possessed a territory of its own; had it done so, +the tribes would have been thirteen in number and not twelve. +At the same time, it had just as much right to be considered +a separate tribe as Dan, whose cities were in the north as well +<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>as in the south, where, however, they were absorbed by Judah; +more right perhaps than Simeon, which hardly existed except +in name. The territory of Reuben lay outside the boundaries +of Palestine, and was merely the desert-wadis and grazing-grounds +of the kingdom of Moab; the country can be said to +have belonged to the tribe only in the sense that the wadis +east of the Delta belong to the Bedâwin, whom the Egyptian +government at present allows to live in them. Manasseh, +lastly, was divided into two halves, in order to bring the +number of tribes up to the requisite figure.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is clear that the scheme is an artificial one. Israel, after +its conquest of Canaan, could indeed be divided into twelve +separate parts, but such a division was theoretical only. There +were no twelve territories corresponding to the parts, while the +parts themselves could be reckoned as thirteen, eleven, or ten, +just as easily as twelve.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The conclusion to be drawn from this is obvious. History +credited Jacob with twelve sons, and it was consequently +necessary to bring the number of Israelitish tribes into harmony +with the fact. Modern criticism has amused itself with reversing +the history, and assuming that the twelve sons of the +patriarch owed their origin to the twelve tribes. It has +accordingly drawn inferences from the fact that some of the +sons of Jacob are said to have been the offspring of concubines, +and not of his two legitimate wives, and that Joseph and +Benjamin were the youngest of all. But such inferences fall +with the assumption that in the twelve sons we have merely +the eponymous heroes of the twelve tribes. It is a cheap +way of making history, and, after all, what we know of the +tribes does not fit in with the theory. There is nothing in the +history of Dan and Naphtali, or Gad and Asher, which would +have caused them to be regarded of bastard descent, if that +bastard descent had not been a fact; indeed, in the Song of +Deborah, which is almost universally allowed to go back to +the early age of the Judges, Naphtali and Zebulun are placed +on exactly the same footing. The distinction between the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>sons of Leah and those of Rachel does not answer to the real +cleavage between the tribes of the south and those of the +north of Palestine: Benjamin, after the age of Saul, followed +Judah and Simeon, while the sons of Joseph were joined +with Zebulun and Issachar. Moreover, had the sons of Jacob +been mere reflections of the tribes, it would be difficult to +account for the existence of Joseph, or to understand why +Machir takes the place of Manasseh and Gad in the Song +of Deborah.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The critical theory is the result of introducing Greek modes +of thought into Semitic history. The Greek tribe, it is true, +traced its origin to an eponymous ancestor, but that ancestor +was a god or a hero, and not a man. Among the Semites, +however, as the history of Arabia may still teach us, the conception +of the tribe was something wholly different. The +tribe was an enlarged family which called itself by the name +of its first head. It began with the individual, and to the last +styled itself his children. The Greek tribe, on the contrary, +began with the clan, and its theoretical ancestor, accordingly, +was merely the divine personage whose common cult kept it +together. In the Semitic tribe there could be no cult of its +ancestor, for the ancestor was but an ordinary man, who +worshipped the same form of Baal and used the same rites as +his descendants after him.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Nevertheless, there may be an element of truth in the +‘critical’ assumption. The names of the ancestors of some +of the Israelitish tribes may have been the reflex of the later +names of the tribes themselves. It does not follow that the +name by which one of the sons of Jacob became known to +later generations was actually the name which he bore himself. +Had Jacob been uniformly called Israel by the Hebrew writers, +we should never have known his original name. And it is +possible that the name of Asher is really a reflex of this kind. +The <i>Travels of the Mohar</i>, written in Egypt in the reign of +Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> before the Israelitish conquest of Canaan, speak +of ‘the mountain of User’ as being in the very locality in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>which the tribe of Asher was afterwards settled. And in the +case of one tribe at least there is evidence that its name must +have been reflected back upon that of its progenitor.</p> + +<p class='c003'>This is the tribe of Benjamin. In the book of Genesis +(<abbr title='thirty-five'>xxxv.</abbr> 18) Benjamin is represented as having received two +different names at his birth. The statement excites our +suspicion, for such a double naming is inconsistent with +Hebrew practice, and our suspicion is confirmed when we find +that both names have a geographical meaning. Benjamin is +‘the son of the South’ or ‘Southerner’; Ben-Oni, as he is also +said to have been called, is ‘the son of On,’ or ‘the Onite.’ +On, or Beth-On, it will be remembered, was an ancient name +of Beth-el, the great sanctuary and centre of the tribe of +Benjamin, while ‘the Southerner’ was an appropriate title for +the lesser brother tribe which lay to the south of the dominant +Ephraim. It is of Ephraim that Deborah says, in her Song +of Triumph, ‘Behind thee is Benjamin among thy peoples’ +(<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 14).</p> + +<p class='c003'>The etymology suggested in Genesis for the name of Ben-Oni +is a sample of those plays upon words in which Oriental +writers have always delighted, and of which the Hebrew +Scriptures contain so many illustrations. They all spring +from the old confusion between the name and the thing, which +substituted the name for the thing, and believed that if the +name could be explained, the thing would be explained also. +Hence the slight transformations in the form of names which +allowed them to be assimilated to familiar words, or their +identification with words which obviously gave an incorrect +sense. Hence, too, the choice of etymologies which was +offered to the reader: where the real origin of the name was +unknown or uncertain, it was possible to explain it in more than +one way. Isaiah (<abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 9) changes the name of the Moabite city +of Dibon into Dimon in order to connect it with the Hebrew +<span lang="hbo"><i>dâm</i></span>, ‘blood,’ and the writer of Genesis gives two contradictory +derivations of the name of Joseph (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty'>xxx.</abbr> 23, 24). The +latter fact is of itself a sufficient proof of the true value of these +<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>etymologies, or rather, popular plays upon words, and the sayings +in which they are embodied can still be matched by the +traveller in the East. Similar embodiments of popular etymologising +are still repeated to explain the place-names of Egypt.<a id='r90'></a><a href='#f90' class='c013'><sup>[90]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The origin of some of the names of the sons of Jacob is as +obscure to us as it was to the writer of Genesis. We do not +know, for instance, the meaning and derivation of the name of +Reuben. Equally doubtful is the real etymology of the name +of Issachar.<a id='r91'></a><a href='#f91' class='c013'><sup>[91]</sup></a> The name of Simeon is already found among +the places in Canaan conquered by the Egyptian Pharaoh +Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> before the age of Moses, and in Judah we +have a name which seems to be the same as that of a tribe in +Northern Syria.<a id='r92'></a><a href='#f92' class='c013'><sup>[92]</sup></a> Levi, like Naphtali, is a gentilic noun, and +must be connected with the <i>lau’â(n)</i>, or ‘priest’ of Southern +Arabia.<a id='r93'></a><a href='#f93' class='c013'><sup>[93]</sup></a> Gad was the god of good fortune, Dan ‘the judge,’ +<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>the title of certain Babylonian deities, and Dinah is the feminine +corresponding to Dan.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Jacob, ever timorous, fled from Hivite vengeance after +the destruction of Shechem, forsaking the property he had +acquired there by purchase and the sword. He made his +way southward to Beth-el, and there rested on the edge of the +great mountain block of Central Palestine. Hard by was the +city of Luz, soon to be eclipsed by the growing fame of the +high-place on the height above it. Here, at Beth-el, an altar +was erected by the patriarch to the God of the locality who +had once appeared to him in a dream. It was the prototype +of the altar that was hereafter to arise there when Beth-el had +become a chief sanctuary of the house of Israel. Whether the +altar stood on the high-place on the summit of the mountain, +where the Beth-el or column of stone had been consecrated by +Jacob, we do not know; there are indications in the prophets, +however, that the high-place and the temple were separate from +one another. Indeed, from the words of Genesis, it would +seem that the altar and future temple were on the lower slope +of the hill, close to the old Canaanitish town. Here, at any +rate, on the road to the city, was that Allon-bachuth, that ‘Terebinth +of Tears,’ which is referred to by Hosea (<abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 4), and is +connected in the book of Genesis with the death of Deborah, +the nurse of Rachel. In later days another Deborah dwelt +under the shadow of a palm-tree on the same road (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 6), +and modern critical ingenuity has accordingly discovered that +the terebinth and the palm were one and the same tree.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Beth-el, however, was still too near the Hivites of Shechem, +and Jacob continued his journey to the south. The death of +Isaac called him to Hebron, where, for the last time, he met +his brother Esau, who came to take part in his father’s burial. +But his own residence was at Beth-lehem, ‘the Temple of the +god Lakhmu,’ called Ephrath in those early days.<a id='r94'></a><a href='#f94' class='c013'><sup>[94]</sup></a> Here +<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>Rachel died, and here accordingly was raised the tombstone +which marked her grave down to the day when the book of +Genesis assumed its present form.<a id='r95'></a><a href='#f95' class='c013'><sup>[95]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>It was ‘beyond the tower of Edar,’ the tower of ‘the Flock,’ +that Jacob, we are told, ‘spread his tent.’ The tower of the +Flock guarded the city-fortress of Jerusalem (<abbr title='Micah'>Mic.</abbr> <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 8), and +it was therefore between Jerusalem and Beth-lehem that the +patriarch made his home. But his flocks were scattered +northwards as far as Shechem, grazing on the mountain slopes +under the charge of his sons. Jacob remained like a Bedâwi +of to-day living among the settled inhabitants of the country, +and yet keeping apart from them and sending his flocks far +and wide wherever there was fresh grass and free pasturage.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was while he thus lived that the disgraceful events +occurred connected with the marriage of Judah and the +Canaanitish Tamar, which throw an evil light on the manners +and morals of the patriarch’s family. The whole episode +stands in marked contrast to the ordinary character of the +history, and its insertion is evidence of the impartiality of the +writer. It is clear that he has put together all that reached +him from the past history of his people, omitting nothing, +modifying nothing. All sides of the past are brought before +us, the darker as well as the lighter, and no attempt is made +to spare or condone the forefathers of Israel. It has indeed +been asked by an over-sensitive criticism how the recital of +such abominations can be consistent with the sanctity claimed +for the Mosaic writings. But the question has troubled the +minds only of the critics themselves; and not more than three +centuries ago the compilers of the Anglican lectionary saw no +harm in ordering the chapter to be read publicly to men and +maidens in church.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The episode was inserted in the midst of the story of Joseph, +one of the most pathetic and touching ever told. We need +not repeat its details, or describe how Joseph, the spoilt +<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>darling of his father, dreamed dreams which aroused the +alarm and jealousy of his brothers, how he was sold by them +into Egypt, how there he became the vizier of the Pharaoh, +and how eventually Jacob and his family were brought into +the land of Goshen, there to enjoy the good things of the +valley of the Nile. But the story brings us back again to the +great stream of ancient Oriental history; once more the history +of Israel touches the history of the world, and ceases to be +a series of idyllic pictures, such as the memory of shepherds +and Bedâwin might alone preserve.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The story of Joseph forms a complete whole, distinguished +by certain features that mark it off from the rest of the book +of Genesis. It contains peculiar words, some of them of +Egyptian origin,<a id='r96'></a><a href='#f96' class='c013'><sup>[96]</sup></a> and it shows a very minute acquaintance with +Egyptian life in the Hyksos age. There are even words and +phrases which seem to have been translated into Hebrew from +some other language, and the meaning of which has not been +fully understood: thus it is said that the cupbearer of Pharaoh +‘pressed the grapes’ into his master’s goblet instead of pouring +the wine; and the word employed to denote an Egyptian official, +and translated ‘officer’ in the Authorised Version, properly +signifies ‘eunuch.’ Can the story have been translated from +an Egyptian papyrus? The question is suggested by the fact +that one of the most characteristic portions of it has actually +been embodied in an ancient Egyptian tale. This is the so-called +<i>Tale of the Two Brothers</i>, written by the scribe Enna for +Seti <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> of the nineteenth dynasty while he was crown-prince, +and therefore in the age of the Exodus. Here we have the +episode of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife told in Egyptian form. +The fellah Bata takes the place of Joseph; his sister-in-law +plays the part of Potiphar’s wife.<a id='r97'></a><a href='#f97' class='c013'><sup>[97]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>This part of the story was therefore known among the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>literary classes of Egypt in the days when Moses was learned +in all their wisdom. And if it has been preserved among the +few fragments that have been saved from the wreck of ancient +Egyptian literature, may we not conclude that had the whole +of that literature come down to us, other portions of the story +of Joseph would have been preserved in it as well? There is +a gentleness in the character of Joseph which reminds us +forcibly of Egyptian manners, and offers a sharp contrast to +the rough ways and readiness to shed blood which distinguished +the Hebrew Semite.</p> + +<p class='c003'>At all events, the story must have been written by one who +was well acquainted with the age of the Hyksos. It is true +that an attempt has recently been made, on the strength of +certain proper names, to show that it is not the Egypt of the +Hyksos that is described, but the Egypt of Shishak and his +successors. The names of Potipherah or Potiphar and +Asenath are said to have been unknown before that date. A +couple of proper names, however, is an insecure foundation +on which to build a theory, more especially when the +argument rests upon the imperfections of our own knowledge. +That no names corresponding in formation to +Potipherah and Asenath should as yet have been met with +earlier than the time of Shishak is no proof that they did not +exist. A single example of each is sufficient to prove the +contrary. And, as a matter of fact, such examples actually +occur. A stela of the reign of Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> records the +name of Pe-tu-Baal, ‘the Gift of Baal,’ as that of the sixth +ancestor of the Egyptian whose name it records;<a id='r98'></a><a href='#f98' class='c013'><sup>[98]</sup></a> while the +Tel el-Amarna tablets contain the name of Subanda, the +Smendes of Greek writers, which is an exact parallel in form +to Asenath.<a id='r99'></a><a href='#f99' class='c013'><sup>[99]</sup></a> Pe-tu-Baal must have lived at the close of the +Hyksos period, and the Semitic deity with whose name his +own is compounded indicates that it has been formed under +<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>Semitic influence. It was, in fact, as we learn from the +Phœnician inscriptions, an imitation of a Canaanitish name.<a id='r100'></a><a href='#f100' class='c013'><sup>[100]</sup></a> +The Hyksos had come from Asia, and had imposed their yoke +upon Egypt, where they ruled for more than five hundred years. +Though they held all Egypt under their sway, they had established +their capital at Zoan, now called Sân, far to the north +on the eastern frontier of the Delta. Here they were near +their kinsfolk in Canaan, and could readily summon fresh +troops from Asia in case of Egyptian revolt.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The court of the Hyksos Pharaohs, however, soon became +Egyptianised. They adopted the arts and science, the +manners and customs, of their more cultured subjects, and +one of the few scientific works of ancient Egypt that have +come down to us—the famous <i>Mathematical Papyrus</i>—was +written for a Hyksos king. It was only in physiognomy and +religion that the Hyksos conqueror continued to be distinguished +from the native Egyptian.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Besides Zoan, Heliopolis, or ‘On of the North,’ was a chief +centre of Hyksos power. It was the oldest and most celebrated +sanctuary of Egypt, where ancient schools of learning +were established, and from whence the religious system had +been disseminated which made the Sun-god the supreme +ruler of the universe. The Hyksos had no difficulty in +identifying the Sun-god of On with their own supreme deity +Sutekh, who was a form of the Canaanitish Baal. On, consequently, +once the chief seat of the orthodox faith of Egypt, +became the centre of foreign heresy. The Sallier Papyrus, +which describes the origin of the war that resulted in the +expulsion of the Hyksos, specially tells us that ‘the Impure of +(On), the city of Ra, were subject to Ra-Apopi,’ the Hyksos +Pharaoh, and the Egyptians changed into Ra, the Egyptian +Sun-god, the name of Sutekh, which a scarab of Apopi shows +was really prefixed to that Pharaoh’s name.<a id='r101'></a><a href='#f101' class='c013'><sup>[101]</sup></a> The great +<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>temple of the Sun-god of On, accordingly, before which +Usertesen of the twelfth dynasty had planted the obelisks, +one of which remains to this day, was transformed into a +temple of the foreign god; and though its high-priest still +continued to bear his ancient title, and perform the ceremonies +of the past, it was Sutekh and not the native divinity whom he +served. Potipherah—in Egyptian, Pa-tu-pa-Ra—was a literal +translation of the Canaanitish Mattan-Baal, ‘the gift of Baal,’ +and implied of itself the foreign cult.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Potiphar is an abbreviation of Potipherah, and reminds +us of similar abbreviations met with in the letters of the +Canaanitish correspondents of the Pharaoh in the Tel el-Amarna +collection. It is an abbreviation which points to +long familiarity with the name on the part of the Hebrew +people. The titles, however, given to Potiphar are obscure. +The second seems to signify ‘captain of the bodyguard,’ but +the first—<span lang="hbo"><i>saris</i></span> in Hebrew—means an ‘eunuch.’ Ebers, it is +true, has pointed out that eunuchs in the East have not only +held high positions of state, but have married wives as well;<a id='r102'></a><a href='#f102' class='c013'><sup>[102]</sup></a> +this, however, has been in Turkey, not in ancient Egypt. +Perhaps the word is the Babylonian <i>saris</i>, ‘an officer’; at all +events, the Rab-sarîs of 2 Kings <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 17 is the Assyrian Rab-sarisi, +or ‘chief officer.’ That Babylonian words should have +made their way into Egypt in the age of the Hyksos is by no +means strange. We have learned from the Tel el-Amarna +tablets that Babylonian was for centuries the literary language +of Western Asia, and was studied and written even on the +banks of the Nile, while the monuments of Babylonia itself +have shown that Babylonian culture had made its way to the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>frontiers of Egypt at a very remote age. The history of +Joseph contains at least one word which bears testimony to +its influence. When Joseph was made ‘governor over all the +land of Egypt,’ the heralds who ran before his chariot to +announce the fact shouted the word ‘abrêk!’ For this word +no explanation can be found either in Hebrew or in Egyptian. +But the language of the Babylonian inscriptions has unexpectedly +come to our aid. In Chaldæa <i>abarakku</i> was the title +of one of the highest officers of State, and <i>abriqqu</i>, borrowed +from the earlier Sumerian <i>abrik</i>, signified ‘a seer.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>We have said that the history of Joseph is marvellously true +in all its details to what archæology has informed us were the +facts of Egyptian life. Thus the prison in which ‘the king’s +prisoners’ were confined is called by the strange name of ‘the +round house.’ Such, at least, would seem to be the literal +meaning of the Hebrew phrase, the second element of which +signifies ‘roundness.’ The word is written <span lang="hbo"><i>sohar</i></span>, though +there is evidence of another reading, <span lang="hbo"><i>sokhar</i></span>. <span lang="hbo"><i>Sohar</i></span> or <span lang="hbo"><i>sokhar</i></span>, +however, is really an Egyptian word. The royal prison at +Thebes, where the State prisoners were kept under guard, was: +called <i>suhan</i>, in which we have the same interchange of final +<i>r</i> and <i>n</i> that is still a characteristic of Egyptian Arabic.<a id='r103'></a><a href='#f103' class='c013'><sup>[103]</sup></a> The +term <i>bêth has-sohar</i>, ‘the house of the Sohar,’ is found nowhere +else in the Old Testament: it is, in fact, one of the peculiarities +which distinguish the story of Joseph, and at the same +time testify to the acquaintance of its writer with the details +of Egyptian life.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The titles of the royal cupbearer and the chief of the bakers +have been found in the lists of Egyptian officials; the +Pharaoh’s kitchen was organised on an elaborate scale;<a id='r104'></a><a href='#f104' class='c013'><sup>[104]</sup></a> and +the Egyptians were famed for their skill in confectionery and +in making various kinds of bread.<a id='r105'></a><a href='#f105' class='c013'><sup>[105]</sup></a> On the monuments we +may see depicted the cupbearer offering the goblet of wine, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span>and the baker carrying on his head the baskets filled with +round ‘white loaves.’ The ‘birthday of the Pharaoh’ was a +general festival, on which, as the decrees of Rosetta and +Canopus have taught us, the sovereign proclaimed an amnesty +and released such prisoners as were thought deserving of +pardon.<a id='r106'></a><a href='#f106' class='c013'><sup>[106]</sup></a> The dreams that Pharaoh dreamed are in full +accordance with Egyptian mythology and symbolism. The +seven kine fitly represent the Nile, which from time immemorial +had been likened to a milch-cow. The cow-headed +goddess Hathor or Isis watched over the fertility of the +country, and the fertilising water of the river was called the +milk that flowed from her breasts. The number seven +denotes the ‘seven great Hathors,’ the seven forms under +which the goddess was adored. The dreams themselves fall +in with the Egyptian belief of the age. Throughout Egyptian +history they have been a power not only in religion, but in +politics as well. It was in consequence of a dream that +Thothmes <abbr title='the fourth'><span class='fss'>IV.</span></abbr> cleared away the sand from before the paws +of the Sphinx, and a thousand years later Nut-Amon of +Ethiopia was summoned by a dream to invade Egypt. The +dreams usually needed an interpreter to explain them, such as +is mentioned in a Greek inscription from the Serapeum at +Memphis. Books, however, had been compiled in which the +signification of dreams was reduced to a science; and as in +modern Egypt, so yet more in the past, men spent their +lives in pondering over the signification of the dreams of the +night.<a id='r107'></a><a href='#f107' class='c013'><sup>[107]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Even the statement that the east wind had blasted the +ears of corn (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='forty-one'>xli.</abbr> 6) betrays an acquaintance with the +peculiarities of the Egyptian climate. Those who have sailed +up the Nile know that the wind feared alike by the peasant +<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>and the sailor is that which blows from the south-east; while +the crops of spring are matured by the northern breeze, they are +parched and destroyed by the evil wind from the south-east.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The golden collar placed around the neck of the royal +favourite is equally characteristic of Egyptian customs, at all +events in the age of the Hyksos and the eighteenth dynasty. +‘Captain’ Ahmes, whose tomb is at El-Kab, and who took a +prominent part in the final struggle which drove the Hyksos +strangers out of the Delta, describes the rewards bestowed +upon him by the Pharaoh for his deeds of valour, and chief +among the rewards are the chains of gold. Before Joseph +was allowed to enter the presence of the monarch, he was not +only clad in new raiment, but shorn as well. This, too, was +in accordance with Egyptian custom. None could appear +before Pharaoh unless they had been freshly shaven, and in +the eyes of the Egyptian not the least part of the ‘impurity’ +of the Asiatic Semite was his habit of growing a beard.<a id='r108'></a><a href='#f108' class='c013'><sup>[108]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The change of name, moreover, which marked Joseph’s +elevation was again characteristic of Egypt. The monuments +have told us of other cases in which an Asiatic from Canaan, +or a Karian from Asia Minor, became an Egyptian official, +and in so doing was required to adopt an Egyptian name.<a id='r109'></a><a href='#f109' class='c013'><sup>[109]</sup></a> +That the name of Zaphnath-paaneah is of Egyptian origin has +long been recognised, and that it contains the Egyptian +<i>pa-ânkh</i>, ‘life’ or ‘the living one,’ is clear. It is only over its +first elements that discussion is possible.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is hardly necessary to notice further points which prove how +intimately the writer of the history of Joseph was acquainted +with Egyptian life and manners, language and soil. The +Egyptians, he notes, could not eat together with the Hebrews, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>for that would have been ‘an abomination’ to them. It +would, indeed, have defiled them ceremonially, and have caused +them to participate in the impurity of those whom they termed +‘the unclean.’ So, too, we read, ‘every shepherd is an abomination +to the Egyptians,’ not indeed, as has been imagined, +because Egypt had been conquered by the ‘Shepherd’ kings, +but because the flocks of the Delta were tended partly by +Bedâwin, partly by half-caste Egyptians, whose unclean habits +and unshorn faces were the butt of the literary world. The +‘marshmen,’ as they were contemptuously called, were looked +upon as pariahs.<a id='r110'></a><a href='#f110' class='c013'><sup>[110]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>While, however, the narrative is thus thoroughly Egyptian +in character, the Egypt it brings before us is the Egypt of the +age of the Hyksos. Chariots and horses have already been +introduced. It has been supposed that the horse came with +the Hyksos; at all events, there is no trace of it before the +conquest of the country by the Asiatic stranger. The Pharaoh, +moreover, holds his court in the Delta, not far from the +Canaanitish border and the land of Goshen; and the waggons +which carried Jacob and his family travelled easily from +Beth-lehem to the Egyptian capital. Zoan consequently +must still have been the residence of the Pharaoh; and +Thebes, in Upper Egypt, had not as yet taken its place.</p> + +<p class='c003'>There is one fact, furthermore, which stands out prominently +in the history of Joseph, and points unmistakably to the +Hyksos age. We are told that it was his policy which reduced +the people of Egypt to the condition of serfs. Pressed by +famine, they were compelled by him to sell their lands for +corn, and to receive it again as tenants of the Pharaoh, with +the obligation of paying him a fifth part of the produce. The +priests, or rather, the temples, were alone allowed to retain +their old possessions; henceforward the land of Egypt was +shared between them and the king. In the language of +modern Egypt, it became either Government property or <i>waqf</i>.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Now, this fact corresponds with a change in the tenure of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>land which the monuments have informed us must have taken +place under the dominion of the Hyksos dynasties. When +Egypt was conquered by the Asiatics, it was divided among a +number of feudal families who were landowners on a large +scale, and at times the rivals of the sovereign himself. By +the side of this higher aristocracy there was also a lower one, +answering in some measure to the yeomen farmers of the +northern counties, but equally owners of land. When, however, +the Hyksos were finally driven out, a new Egypt comes +into view. The feudal aristocracy has disappeared—or almost +disappeared—along with the other landowners of the country, +and the only proprietors of land that are left are the Pharaoh +and the priests, to whom in after times the military caste was +added. Only in Southern Egypt, where the struggle against +the foreigner first began, do we find instances of private ownership +of land, and this, too, only in the earlier years of the +eighteenth dynasty. Before long the Pharaoh had absorbed +into his own hands all the land that had not been given to +the gods; the old nobility had disappeared, and their place +been taken by an army of officials who derived all their wealth +and power from the king. The Pharaoh, the priests, and the +bureaucracy henceforth are the rulers of Egypt.</p> + +<p class='c003'>This momentous change must have had a cause, but we +look in vain for such a cause in the Egyptian monuments. It +has been suggested that the War of Independence may have +brought it about by increasing the power of the king as leader +in the struggle.<a id='r111'></a><a href='#f111' class='c013'><sup>[111]</sup></a> But this would not explain his absorption of +the land; and even if all the older families had perished in the +war, which is not very probable, the lesser landowners would +have remained. Moreover, the generals of the king would +in this case have claimed similar spoils to those of their leader. +What their commander had seized would have been seized +also by the officers under him.</p> + +<p class='c003'>However great may be our reluctance to accept the explanation +offered by the story of Joseph, certain it is that it is the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>only adequate explanation forthcoming. And there is one +strong argument in its favour. Under Ahmes, the conqueror +of the Hyksos and the founder of the eighteenth dynasty, +there are still instances of land being held by private individuals. +But this was at El-Kab, in Upper Egypt, where the +Hyksos rule had long been nominal rather than real, and +where it had not been obeyed at all for three generations +previously.<a id='r112'></a><a href='#f112' class='c013'><sup>[112]</sup></a> As soon as the eighteenth dynasty kings were +established firmly on the throne of the Hyksos Pharaohs in +the north as well as in their ancestral homes in Southern +Egypt, even these instances of individual ownership in land +came to an end. It was only where the Hyksos supremacy +had been weak that they had lingered on. When once the +Prince of Thebes had become in all respects the successor of +the foreign Pharaohs who had reigned at Zoan, they cease +altogether.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The account of Joseph’s procedure is true to facts in +another point also. From the time of the eighteenth dynasty +onwards we hear repeatedly of the public <i>larits</i> or granaries +which were under State control.<a id='r113'></a><a href='#f113' class='c013'><sup>[113]</sup></a> The peasantry were required +to contribute to them yearly in a fixed proportion, and the +corn stored up in them was only sold to the people in case of +need. It was out of these granaries, furthermore, that many +of the Government officials were paid in kind, as well as the +workmen employed by the State. The office of ‘superintendent +of the granaries’ was therefore a very important one: +once each year he presented to the king an ‘account of the +harvests of the south and the north’; and if the account was +exceptionally good, if the inundation had been abundant and +the harvest better than ‘for thirty years,’ his grateful sovereign +<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>would throw chains of gold around his neck.<a id='r114'></a><a href='#f114' class='c013'><sup>[114]</sup></a> The origin of +these royal granaries and of the office of their superintendent +which thus characterise the ‘new empire’ of Egypt is explained +by the history of Joseph.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Before the days when the conquests of the eighteenth +dynasty had created an Egyptian empire in Asia, and brought +foreign supplies of food to Egypt, the rise of the Nile was a +matter of vital interest. The very existence of the people +depended upon it. Too high a Nile meant scarcity, too low +a Nile famine. It was only when the river rose to its normal +level and overflowed the fields at the stated time that the +heart of the agriculturist was gladdened, and he knew that the +gods had given him a year of plenty.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The seven years’ famine of Joseph’s age is not the only +seven years’ famine which Egypt has had to endure. El-Makrîzî, +the Arabic historian of Egypt, describes one which +lasted for seven years, from <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>A.D.</span></abbr> 1064 to 1071, and, like that +of Joseph, was caused by a deficient Nile. A stela discovered +by Mr. Wilbour on the island of Sehêl, in the middle of the +First Cataract, and engraved in the time of the Ptolemies, +similarly records a famine that was wasting the country because +‘the Nile-flood had not come for seven years.’<a id='r115'></a><a href='#f115' class='c013'><sup>[115]</sup></a> And it is +possible that a memorial of the famine of Joseph has been +discovered by Brugsch in one of the tombs of El-Kab. Here +the dead man, a certain Baba, is made to say, ‘When a +famine arose, lasting many years, I issued out corn to the +city.’ Baba must have lived in the latter part of the Hyksos +domination, so that the date of his inscription would agree +with that of Joseph.<a id='r116'></a><a href='#f116' class='c013'><sup>[116]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>Whether the power of Joseph and his master would still +have extended as far south as El-Kab in the age of Baba, we +do not know. But we do know that a famine which prevailed +in Lower Egypt in consequence of a low Nile would have +equally prevailed in the Thebaid. It would not, however, +have prevailed in Canaan. In Canaan the ground is watered, +not by the Nile, but by the rains of heaven, and in Canaan, +therefore, it was only a want of rain that could have caused a +scarcity of food.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Famines, indeed, did occur in Palestine from time to time, +and we hear of Egyptian kings sending corn to that country +to supply its needs.<a id='r117'></a><a href='#f117' class='c013'><sup>[117]</sup></a> As Egypt was the granary of Italy in +the days of the Roman Empire, so too it had been the granary +of Western Asia in an earlier age. A dry season in Canaan +brought famine in its train; and if that dry season coincided +with a deficient Nile in Egypt, there was no other land to +which its inhabitants could look for food. It is quite possible +that one of these famines in Canaan may have happened at +the very time when the Nile refused to irrigate the fields of +Egypt. When, however, we read that ‘the famine was over +all the face of the earth,’ and that ‘all countries came into +Egypt to Joseph to buy corn because the famine was sore in +all lands,’ it is evident that the narrative has been written from +an Egyptian point of view. The Egyptians might have supposed +that when a low Nile produced a scarcity of food all other +countries would equally suffer—such, indeed, was the case +with Ethiopia—but a supposition of the kind is inconceivable +in the mind of a Canaanite. An inhabitant of Palestine knew +that the crops of his country were dependent on the rain, not +on the waters of the Nile; it was only the Egyptian who +modelled the rest of the world after that part of it which was +known to him.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>Here, then, we have a clear indication that the story of +Joseph must have been written in Egypt, and further probability +is added to the theory that it has been translated into +Hebrew from an Egyptian original. But more than this. Is +it likely that the Hebrew translator, if he had been acquainted +with the climate of Canaan, would have left the words of the +story just as we find them? Can we imagine that the language +he employed about the extent of the famine would have been +so definite, so comprehensive, so Egyptian in character? Like +the Egyptian words embodied in the narrative, it points to a +writer or translator who lived in Egypt, and not in Canaan.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Who was the Pharaoh under whom Joseph became the first +minister of the State? Chronology shows that he must have +been one of the kings of the last Hyksos dynasty. George +the Syncellus makes him Aphophis, Apopi Ra-aa-kenen, or +Apopi <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> of the monuments, and the date would suit very +well.<a id='r118'></a><a href='#f118' class='c013'><sup>[118]</sup></a> Apopi <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> was the last powerful Hyksos sovereign. +His authority was still obeyed in Upper Egypt, but it was in +his reign that the War of Independence broke out. According +to the story in the Sallier Papyrus, it was caused by his message +to the <i>hiq</i> or vassal prince of Thebes, requiring him to renounce +the worship of Amon of Thebes and acknowledge Sutekh, the +Hyksos Baal, as his supreme god.<a id='r119'></a><a href='#f119' class='c013'><sup>[119]</sup></a> The war lasted for four +generations, and ended in the expulsion of the foreigner.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But long before this took place the family of Israel was +settled in the land of Goshen, on the outskirts of Northern +Egypt. The geographical position of Goshen has been rediscovered +by Dr. Naville. It corresponded with the modern +Wadi Tumilât, through which the traveller by the railway now +passes on his way from Ismailîyeh to Zagazig. It took its +name from Qosem or Qos, the Pha-kussa of Greek geography, +and the capital of the Arabian nome, the site of which is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>marked by the mounds of Saft el-Hennah.<a id='r120'></a><a href='#f120' class='c013'><sup>[120]</sup></a> The very name +of the ‘Arabian nome’ indicates that its occupants belonged +to Arabia rather than to Egypt. It was, in fact, a district +handed over to the Bedâwin by the Pharaohs, as it still is +to-day. Meneptah, the son of Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, says in his great +inscription at Karnak that ‘the country around Pa-Bailos +(now Belbeis, near Zagazig) was not cultivated, but left as +pasture for cattle, because of the strangers. It was abandoned +since the time of the ancestors.’<a id='r121'></a><a href='#f121' class='c013'><sup>[121]</sup></a> Abandoned, that is to say, +by the Egyptians themselves. But the Semitic nomad pitched +his tent and fed his flocks there, partly because it was on the +road to his own country and countrymen, partly because it was +fitted for grazing and not for agriculture. Here, too, he was +not in immediate contact with the Egyptian fellah, though the +court of the Hyksos Pharaoh at Zoan was nigh at hand.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Joseph’s brethren were made overseers of the royal cattle, +an official post of which we also hear in the native Egyptian +texts. After a while, Jacob died, full of years, and his body +was embalmed in the Egyptian fashion. The actual process +of embalming occupied forty days, the whole period during +which ‘the Egyptians mourned for him,’ being threescore and +ten. The statement is in accordance with other testimony as +to the length of time needed to embalm a mummy. Herodotos +(<abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 86) states that the corpse was kept in natron during seventy +days, ‘to which period they are strictly confined.’ According to +Diodoros,<a id='r122'></a><a href='#f122' class='c013'><sup>[122]</sup></a> ‘oil of cedar and other things were applied to the +whole body for upwards of thirty days,’ the full period during +which the mourning for the dead and the preparation of his +mummy lasted being seventy-two days. Between the age of +Joseph and that of Diodoros it would seem that little change +had taken place in this part, at any rate, of the Egyptian +treatment of their dead. When, however, the Hebrew text +<span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>states that the corpse was embalmed by ‘the physicians, the +slaves’ of Joseph; the word ‘physicians’ must be understood +in a restricted sense. Pliny,<a id='r123'></a><a href='#f123' class='c013'><sup>[123]</sup></a> it is true, avers that during the +process of embalming physicians were employed to examine +the body of the dead man and determine of what disease he +had died. But the <i>paraskhistæ</i>, who made the needful incision, +were regarded with the utmost abhorrence; they were +the pariahs of society, who lived in a community apart. It +was the embalmers who were the associates of the priests, and +whose persons, in the words of Diodoros, were looked upon as +‘sacred.’ Nor is it easy to see who could have been the +physicians who were the ‘slaves’ of the Hebrew vizier. The +physician in Egypt was usually a free man, who followed a +profession which brought with it honour and respect. The +doctor belonged to the learned classes, and, like the scribe, +had no mean opinion of his worth and dignity. But such +physicians were employed in healing the sick, not in embalming +the dead, and must have stood in a very different position +from that of Joseph’s ‘slaves.’ More light is still wanted on +the subject from monumental sources; in spite of the papyri +which describe the ceremonies attendant on the various +acts of the embalmment, we are still ignorant of its practical +details.</p> + +<p class='c003'>When at last the days of mourning were past, Joseph spoke, +we are told, to ‘the house of Pharaoh.’ The expression is +purely Egyptian, and refers to the signification of the word +‘Pharaoh’ itself. Pharaoh, the Egyptian Per-âa, is the ‘Great +House’; ‘the son of the Sun-god’ was too highly exalted to +be spoken of as a man, and it was therefore to ‘the Great +House’ that his subjects addressed themselves. Modern +Europe is familiar with a similar phrase; when we allude to +the ‘Sublime Porte’ we mean the Turkish Sultan, who once +administered justice from the ‘High Gate’ of his palace.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Jacob was buried in the cave of Machpelah. A long procession +of soldiers and mourners, partly in chariots, partly on +<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>foot, accompanied the mummy on its way out of Egypt. Such +a procession was no unusual thing. The wealthy Egyptian +desired to be buried near the tomb of Osiris at Abydos, and +it was therefore not unfrequently the custom to convey his +mummy in solemn procession to that sacred spot, and then to +carry it back once more to its own final resting-place. The +procession which accompanied the body of the patriarch must +have followed the high-road which led through the Shur, or +line of fortification on the eastern border of the desert, and +brought the traveller with little difficulty to Southern Palestine. +The reference in the narrative to the threshing-floor of Atad, +on the eastern side of the Jordan, is an interpolation, which +embodies merely a local etymology. The chariot-road from +Egypt to Palestine naturally never ran near the Jordan; and +the threshing-floor of Atad would have been far out of the +way. But popular imagination had seen in the name of Abel-Mizraim, +where the threshing-floor was situated, a ‘mourning +of Egypt,’ and had accordingly connected it with the great +mourning that was made for Jacob. As a matter of fact, however, +Abel-Mizraim really signifies ‘the meadow of Egypt,’ +<i>abel</i>, ‘a meadow,’ being a not uncommon element in the +geographical names of ancient Canaan.<a id='r124'></a><a href='#f124' class='c013'><sup>[124]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Two sons had been born to Joseph by his Egyptian wife, +whom the Israelites knew by their Hebrew names. They had +been born before the death of his father, and had thus received +his blessing. Joseph himself lived ‘an hundred and ten years.’ +This was the limit of life the Egyptian desired for himself and +his friends, and in the inscriptions the boon of a life of ‘an +hundred and ten years’ is from time to time asked for from +the gods. It is the term of existence a court poet promises to +Seti <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> ‘on earth,’ and Ptah-hotep, the author of ‘the oldest +book in the world,’ who flourished in the days of the fifth +<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>dynasty, assures us that, thanks to his pursuit of wisdom he +had already attained the age.<a id='r125'></a><a href='#f125' class='c013'><sup>[125]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Joseph was embalmed, but his mummy was not carried to +Hebron for burial, like that of his father. If Apopi <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> had +been the Pharaoh who had transformed him from a Hebrew +slave into the highest of Egyptian officials, the War of Independence +must have broken out long before his death. The +Hyksos dynasty was hastening to its decay. Its strength had +departed from it, and the Pharaohs of Zoan, who had lost all +power in Upper Egypt, would still more have lost all power in +Asia. Their soldiers were needed for other purposes than +that of escorting the coffin of the dead vizier across the desert +of El-Arish. Moreover, Joseph was an Egyptian official, and +by his marriage into the family of the high priest of Heliopolis +had become as much of an Egyptian as his Hyksos master. +We are told that he made the Israelites swear to carry his +corpse with them should they ever return to Palestine; the +triumph of the Theban princes was growing more assured, and +Joseph knew well that the vengeance of the victorious party +would be wreaked upon the dead as well as upon the living. +The history of Egypt had already shown that the tomb and +the mummy were the first to suffer.</p> + +<p class='c003'>A change of sepulchre was no unheard-of thing. King Ai +of the eighteenth dynasty had two, if not three, tombs made +for himself, and the mummy could be transported from one +place of burial to another. All knew where it was interred; +year by year offerings were made to the spirit of the dead, and +in many cases the estate of the deceased was taxed to support +a line of priests who should perform the stated services at the +tomb. As long as the sepulchre of Joseph was in the neighbourhood +of his people it would have been easy to protect his +mummy from violence, and to carry the coffin out of Egypt +when the needful time should come.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span> + <h2 id='chap2' class='c009'>CHAPTER <abbr title='two'>II</abbr> <br> THE COMPOSITION OF THE PENTATEUCH</h2> +</div> +<p class='c012'>The Literary Analysis and its Conclusions—Based on a Theory and an Assumption—Weakness +of the Philological Evidence—Disregard of the Scientific Method of Comparison—Imperfection +of our Knowledge of Hebrew—Archæology unfavourable to +the Higher Criticism—Analysis of Historical Sources—Tel el-Amarna Tablets—Antiquity +of Writing in the East—The Mosaic Age highly Literary—Scribes mentioned +in the Song of Deborah—The Story of the Deluge brought from Babylonia to +Canaan before the time of Moses—The Narratives of the Pentateuch confirmed by +Archæology—Compiled from early Written Documents—Revised and re-edited from +time to time—Three Strata of Legislation—Accuracy in the Text—Tendencies—Chronology.</p> +<p class='c004'>The book of Genesis ends with the death of Joseph. When +the five books of the Pentateuch were divided from one +another we do not know. The division is older than the +Septuagint translation, older too than the time when the Law +of Moses was accepted by the Samaritans as divinely authoritative. +As far back as we can trace the external history of the +Pentateuch, it has consisted of five books divided from one +another as they still are in our present Bibles.</p> + +<p class='c003'>An influential school of modern critics has come to conclusions +which are difficult to reconcile with this external +testimony. Instead of the Pentateuch it offers us a Hexateuch, +the Book of Joshua being added to those of Moses, +and of the origin and growth of this Hexateuch it professes +to be able to give a minute and mathematically exact +account. Very little, if any of it, we are told, goes back to +the period of Moses, the larger part of the work having +been composed or compiled in the age of the Exile. It +is true, the theories of criticism have changed from time to +time; what was formerly held, for instance, to be the oldest +portion of the Hexateuch being now regarded as the latest; +but each generation of critics has been equally confident that +its own literary analysis was mathematically correct. At present +the hypothetical scheme most in favour is as follows.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The earliest part of the Hexateuch, at all events in its +<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>existing form, is a document distinguished by the use of the +name Yahveh, and sometimes therefore termed Yahvistic or +Jehovistic, but more usually designated by the symbol <abbr class='spell'>J</abbr>. +The Yahvist is supposed to have been a Jew who made use of +older materials, and lived in the ninth century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> His work +begins with ‘the second’ account of the Creation, in the middle +of the fourth verse of the second chapter of Genesis, and the +last trace of it is to be found in the story of the death and +burial of Moses at the end of Deuteronomy. His style is said +to be naïve and lively, and his conceptions of the Deity grossly +anthropomorphic.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Next in order to the Yahvist comes the Second Elohist +(symbolised by the letter <abbr class='spell'>E</abbr>), whose title is derived from the +period, not very far distant, in the history of criticism, when +what is now known as the Priestly Code was assigned to a First +Elohist. The Elohist is characterised by the use of the word +Elohim, ‘God,’ rather than Yahveh, and the critics have +discovered in him a native of the northern kingdom. To him +belong the ‘Ten Words’ which represent the original form of +the Ten Commandments, as well as the history of Joseph. +He is said to have written with a certain theological tendency, +to which is due his predilection for introducing dreams and +angels into his narrative. His date is ascribed to the eighth +century <abbr class='spell'>B.C.</abbr>, and the combination of his narrative with that of +the Yahvist (<abbr class='spell'>J.E.</abbr>) produced a composite work to which the +name of Prophetic or Pre-Deuteronomic Redaction has been +applied. The Redactor endeavoured to reconcile the contradictions +between the two narratives by various harmonistic +expedients; his success was not great, and the nineteenth +century critic accordingly believes himself able not only to +separate the two original documents, but to point out the +additions of the Redactor as well.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Contemporaneous with this work of redaction was the +appearance of a new book, the so-called Book of the Covenant. +This was of small dimensions; at any rate, all that remains of it is +contained in a few chapters of Exodus (<abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> 24-<abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> 33, <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 3-8). +<span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>It was added, however, to the Prophetic Redaction, and the +Mosaic Law for the first time was introduced to the world.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But now appeared a book which was of momentous consequences +for both the history and the religion of Judah. +This was the book of Deuteronomy, or rather the middle +portion of the book of Deuteronomy (<abbr title='chapters'>chaps.</abbr> <abbr title='twelve'>xii</abbr>-<abbr title='twenty-six'>xxvi.</abbr>), the rest +of the book being a subsequent addition. This abbreviated +Deuteronomy, it is assumed, is ‘the book of the Law’ which +Hilkiah the high priest declared he had ‘found in the house +of the Lord’ in the reign of Josiah, and it is further assumed +that the word ‘found’ is intended to cover a ‘pious fraud.’ The +Egyptian inscriptions mention books of early date which had +been similarly ‘found’ in the temples, and some of these +books really seem to have been forgeries of a later date.<a id='r126'></a><a href='#f126' class='c013'><sup>[126]</sup></a> +Modern criticism has determined that Hilkiah and his friends +imitated the example of the Egyptian priests in the case of +Deuteronomy. At all events, the results were instantaneous +and revolutionary. The king and his court believed that they +had before them the actual commands of their God to the +great lawgiver of Israel, and the Jewish religion underwent +accordingly a radical reform. Nor did the effect of the +supposed discovery end here. Like the forged Decretals in +mediæval Europe, the book of Deuteronomy had a continuous +and wide-reaching influence upon Jewish thought. Its +teaching was matured during the Exile, and out of it grew that +form of Jewish religion of which Christianity was the heir. +The book of Deuteronomy (symbolised by <abbr class='spell'>D</abbr>) in the first as +well as in the second or enlarged edition belongs to the latter +part of the seventh century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> But the Hexateuch was still far +from complete. During the Exile a book of the Law, now +contained in <abbr title='Leviticus'>Lev.</abbr> <abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr>-<abbr title='twenty-six'>xxvi.</abbr>, was written and promulgated, the +author, it appears, having been incited to his work by Ezekiel’s +ideal of a theocratic state. This book of the Law was followed +by a far more ambitious production, the ‘Priestly Code’ +<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>(generally known as <abbr class='spell'>P</abbr>, and not unfrequently called the +‘Grundschrift’ by German writers). The Priestly Code +embodies what earlier critics knew as the work of the First +Elohist; it not only in the name of Moses shapes the ritual +and religion of Israel to the advantage of the priests, but it +attempts to trace the history of the revelation which resulted +in that religion back to the Creation itself. The name of +Elohim is again a distinguishing feature in the narrative, which +is described by the ‘critics’ as formal and pedantic, as +affectedly archaistic, and as disfigured by a strong theological +tendency. Wellhausen and Stade assure us that it transforms +the patriarchs into pious Jews of the Exile. And yet it was +just this narrative, which we are now told bears so plainly on +its face the marks of its late age and sacerdotal character, +that hardly twenty years ago was declared by the critics +themselves to be the oldest portion of the Hexateuch!</p> + +<p class='c003'>By this time the Hexateuch was nearly ready to become +the Pentateuch, which should be read by Ezra before the +Jewish community as ‘the law of God’ (<abbr title='Nehemiah'>Nem.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 8), and +be accepted by the hostile Samaritans as alone authoritative +among the sacred books of Israel. All that was needed +further was to combine the existing books into a whole, +smoothing over the inconsistencies between them and supplying +links of connection. The ‘final Redactor’ who accomplished +this task lived shortly after the Exile, and has been +identified with Ezra by some of the critics. Whoever he was, +he was naturally more in harmony with the spirit and ideas of +the Priestly Code than he was with those of the Prophetic +Redaction, or even of Deuteronomy; indeed, it is hard to +understand why he should have troubled himself about the +Prophetic Redaction at all. Between the Jewish religion of +the days of Asa or Jehoshaphat and that of the period after +the Exile a great gulf was fixed.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is clear that if the modern literary analysis of the +Pentateuch is justified, it is useless to look to the five books +of Moses for authentic history. There is nothing in them +<span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span>which can be ascribed with certainty to the age of Moses, +nothing which goes back even to the age of the Judges. +Between the Exodus out of Egypt and the composition of the +earliest portion of the so-called Mosaic Law there would have +been a dark and illiterate interval of several centuries. Not +even tradition could be trusted to span them. For the Mosaic +age, and still more for the age before the Exodus, all that we +read in the Old Testament would be historically valueless.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Such criticism, therefore, as accepts the results of ‘the +literary analysis’ of the Hexateuch acts consistently in stamping +as mythical the whole period of Hebrew history which +precedes the settlement of the Israelitish tribes in Canaan. +Doubt is thrown even on their residence in Egypt and subsequent +escape from ‘the house of bondage.’ Moses himself +becomes a mere figure of mythland, a hero of popular +imagination whose sepulchre was unknown because it had +never been occupied. In order to discredit the earlier records +of the Israelitish people, there is no need of indicating contradictions—real +or otherwise—in the details of the narratives +contained in them, of enlarging upon their chronological +difficulties, or of pointing to the supernatural elements they +involve; the late dates assigned to the medley of documents +which have been discovered in the Hexateuch are sufficient of +themselves to settle the question.<a id='r127'></a><a href='#f127' class='c013'><sup>[127]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The dates are largely, if not altogether, dependent on the +assumption that Hebrew literature is not older than the age of +David. A few poems like the Song of Deborah may have +been handed down orally from an earlier period, but readers +and writers, it is assumed, there were none. The use of writing +for literary purposes was coeval with the rise of the monarchy. +The oldest inscription in the letters of the Phœnician alphabet +yet discovered is only of the ninth century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr>, and the alphabet +would have been employed for monumental purposes long +before it was applied to the manufacture of books. As Wolf’s +<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>theory of the origin and late date of the Homeric Poems +avowedly rested on the belief that the literary use of writing in +Greece was of late date, so too the theory of the analysts of the +Hexateuch rests tacitly on the belief that the Israelites of the +age of Moses and the Judges were wholly illiterate. Moses did +not write the Pentateuch because he could not have done so.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The huge edifice of modern Pentateuchal criticism is thus +based on a theory and an assumption. The theory is that of +‘the literary analysis’ of the Hexateuch, the assumption that +a knowledge of writing in Israel was of comparatively late date. +The theory, however, is philological, not historical. The +analysis is philological rather than literary, and depends +entirely on the occurrence and use of certain words and +phrases. Lists have been drawn up of the words and phrases +held to be peculiar to the different writers between whom the +Hexateuch is divided, and the portion of the Hexateuch to be +assigned to each is determined accordingly. That it is sometimes +necessary to cut a verse in two, somewhat to the injury of +the sense, matters but little; the necessities of the theory require +the sacrifice, and the analyst looks no further. Great things grow +out of little, and the mathematical minuteness with which the +Hexateuch is apportioned among its numerous authors, and the +long lists of words and idioms by which the apportionment is +supported, all have their origin in Astruc’s separation of the book +of Genesis into two documents, in one of which the name of +Yahveh is used, while in the other it is replaced by Elohim.<a id='r128'></a><a href='#f128' class='c013'><sup>[128]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>The historian, however, is inclined to look with suspicion +upon historical results which rest upon purely philological +evidence. It is not so very long ago since the comparative +philologists believed they had restored the early history of the +Aryan race. With the help of the dictionary and grammar +they had painted an idyllic picture of the life and culture of +the primitive Aryan family and traced the migrations of its +offshoots from their primeval Asiatic home. But anthropology +has rudely dissipated all these reconstructions of primitive +history, and has not spared even the Aryan family or the +Asiatic home itself. The history that was based on philology +has been banished to fairyland. It may be that the historical +results based on the complicated and ingenious system of +Hexateuchal criticism will hereafter share the same fate.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In fact, there is one characteristic of them which cannot but +excite suspicion. A passage which runs counter to the theory +of the critic is at once pronounced an interpolation, due to the +clumsy hand of some later ‘Redactor.’ Thus ‘the tabernacle +of the congregation’ is declared to have been an invention of +the Priestly Code; and therefore a verse in the First Book +of Samuel (<abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 22), which happens to refer to it, is arbitrarily +expunged from the text. Similarly passages in the historical +books which imply an acquaintance on the part of Solomon +and his successors with the laws and institutions of the Priestly +Code are asserted to be late additions, and assigned to the +very circle of writers to which the composition of the Code is +credited. Indeed, if we are to believe the analysts, a considerable +part of the professedly historical literature of the Old +Testament was written or ‘redacted’ chiefly with the purpose +of bolstering up the ideas and inventions either of the +Deuteronomist or of the later Code. This is a cheap and easy +way of rewriting ancient history, but it is neither scientific nor in +accordance with the historical method, however consonant it +may be with the methods of the philologist.</p> + +<p class='c003'>When, however, we come to examine the philological +evidence upon which we are asked to accept this new reading +<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>of ancient Hebrew history, we find that it is wofully defective. +We are asked to believe that a European scholar of the nineteenth +century can analyse with mathematical precision a work +composed centuries ago in the East for Eastern readers in a +language that is long since dead, can dissolve it verse by verse, +and even word by word, into its several elements, and fix the +approximate date and relation of each. The accomplishment of +such a feat is an impossibility, and to attempt it is to sin as +much against common sense as against the laws of science. +Science teaches us that we can attain to truth only by the help +of comparison; we can know things scientifically only in so +far as they can be compared and measured one with another. +Where there is no comparison there can be no scientific result. +Even the logicians of the Middle Ages taught that no conclusion +can be drawn from what they termed a single instance. +It is just this, however, that the Hexateuchal critics have +essayed to do. The Pentateuch and its history have been +compared with nothing except themselves, and the results have +been derived not from the method of comparison, but from +the so-called ‘tact’ and arbitrary judgment of the individual +scholar. Certain postulates have been assumed, the consequences +of which have been gradually evolved, one after +another, while the coherence and credibility of the general +hypothesis has been supported by the invention of further +subordinate hypotheses as the need for them arose. The +‘critical’ theory of the origin and character of the Hexateuch +closely resembles the Ptolemaic theory of the universe; +like the latter, it is highly complicated and elaborate, coherent +in itself, and perfect on paper, but unfortunately baseless in +reality.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Its very complication condemns it. It is too ingenious to +be true. Had the Hexateuch been pieced together as we are +told it was, it would have required a special revelation to discover +the fact. We may lay it down as a general rule in +science that the more simple a theory is, the more likely it is +to be correct. It is the complicated theories, which demand +<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>all kinds of subsidiary qualifications and assistant hypotheses, +that are put aside by the progress of science. The wit of man +may be great, but it needs a mass of material before even a +simple theory can be established with any pretence to scientific +value.</p> + +<p class='c003'>There is yet another reason why the new theory of the +origin of the Mosaic Law stands self-condemned. It deals with +the writers and readers of the ancient East as if they were +modern German professors and their literary audience. The +author of the Priestly Code is supposed to go to work with +scissors and paste, and with a particular object in view, like a +rather wooden and unimaginative compiler of to-day. And so +closely did the minds and methods of the authors of the +Hexateuch resemble those of their modern European critics, +that in spite of their efforts to conceal the piecemeal nature of +their work, as well as of the fact that it actually deceived their +countrymen to whom it was addressed, to the European +scholar of to-day it all lies open and revealed. When, however, +we turn to other products of Oriental thought, whether +ancient or modern, we do not find that this is the way in +which the authors of them have written history, or what +purports to be history, neither do we find their readers to be +at all like those for whom the Hexateuch is supposed to have +been compiled. The point of view of an Oriental is still +essentially different from that of a European, at all events so +far as history and literature are concerned; and the attempt to +transform the ancient Israelitish historians into somewhat +inferior German compilers proves only a strange want of +familiarity with Eastern modes of thought.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But it is not only science, it is common sense as well, which +is violated by the endeavour to foist philological speculations +into the treatment of historical questions. Hebrew is a dead +language; it is moreover a language which is but imperfectly +known. Our knowledge of it is derived entirely from that +fragment of its literature which is preserved in the Old Testament, +and the errors of copyists and the corruptions of the text +<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>make a good deal even of this obscure and doubtful. There +are numerous words, the traditional rendering of which is +questionable; there are numerous others in the case of which +it is certainly wrong; and there is passage after passage in +which the translations of scholars vary from one another, +sometimes even to contradiction. Of both grammar and +lexicon it may be said that we see them through a glass +darkly. Not unfrequently the reading of the Septuagint—the +earliest manuscript of which is six hundred years older than +the earliest manuscript of the Hebrew text—differs entirely +from the reading of the Hebrew; and there is a marked tendency +among the Hexateuchal analysts to prefer it, though the +recently-discovered Hebrew text of the book of Ecclesiasticus +seems to show that the preference is not altogether justified.</p> + +<p class='c003'>How, then, can a modern Western scholar analyse with even +approximate exactitude an ancient Hebrew work, and on the +strength of the language and style dissolve it once more into +its component atoms? How can he determine the relation of +these atoms one to the other, or presume to fix the dates to +which they severally belong? The task would be impossible +even in the case of a modern English book, although English +is a spoken language with which we are all supposed to be +thoroughly acquainted, while its vast literature is familiar to us +all. And yet even where we know that a work is composite, it +passes the power of man to separate it into its elements and +define the limits of each. No one, for instance, would dream +of attempting such a task in the case of the novels of Besant +and Rice; and the endeavour to distinguish in certain plays of +Shakespeare what belongs to the poet himself and what to +Fletcher has met with the oblivion it deserved. Is it likely +that a problem which cannot be solved in the case of an +English book can be solved where its difficulties are increased +a thousandfold? The minuteness and apparent precision of +Hexateuchal criticism are simply due, like that of the +Ptolemaic theory, to the artificial character of the basis on +which it rests. It is, in fact, a philological mirage; it attempts +<span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>the impossible, and in place of the scientific method of comparison, +it gives us as a starting-point the assumptions and +arbitrary principles of a one-sided critic.<a id='r129'></a><a href='#f129' class='c013'><sup>[129]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Where philology has failed, archæology has come to our help. +The needful comparison of the Old Testament record with +something else than itself has been afforded by the discoveries +which have been made of recent years in Egypt and +Babylonia and other parts of the ancient East. At last we are +able to call in the aid of the scientific method, and test the age +and character, the authenticity and trustworthiness of the Old +Testament history, by monuments about whose historical +authority there can be no question. And the result of the test +has, on the whole, been in favour of tradition, and against the +doctrines of the newer critical school. It has vindicated the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span>antiquity and credibility of the narratives of the Pentateuch; it +has proved that the Mosaic age was a highly literary one, and +that consequently the marvel would be, not that Moses should +have written, but that he should not have done so; and it has +undermined the foundation on which the documentary hypothesis +of the origin of the Hexateuch has been built. We are +still indeed only at the beginning of discoveries; those made +during the past year or two have for the student of Genesis +been exceptionally important; but enough has now been +gained to assure us that the historian may safely disregard the +philological theory of Hexateuchal criticism, and treat the books +of the Pentateuch from a wholly different point of view. They +are a historical record, and it is for the historian and archæologist, +and not for the grammarian, to determine their value and age.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>The investigation of the literary sources of history has been +a peculiarly German pastime. Doubtless such an investigation +has been necessary. But it is exposed to the danger of +trying to make bricks without straw. More often than not the +materials are wanting for arriving at conclusions of solid +scientific value. The results announced in such cases are due +partly to the critic’s own prepossessions and postulates, partly +to the imperfection of the evidence. It is easy to doubt, still +easier to deny, especially where the evidence is defective, and +the criticism of the literary sources of a narrative has sometimes +meant an unwarrantable and unintelligent scepticism. To +reverse traditional judgments, to reject external testimony, and +to discover half-a-dozen authors where antiquity knew of but +one, may be a proof of the critic’s ingenuity, but it does not +always demonstrate his appreciation of evidence.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Criticism of the literary sources of our historical knowledge +is indeed necessary, and a recognition of the fact has much to +do with the advance which has been made during the present +century in the study of the past. But it must not be forgotten +that such criticism has its weak side. Internal evidence alone +is always unsatisfactory; it offers too much scope for the play +of the critic’s imagination and the impression of his own +idiosyncrasies upon the records of history. It resembles too +much the procedure of the spider who spins his web out of +himself. It is wanting in that element of comparison without +which scientific truth is unattainable. To determine the age +and trustworthiness of our literary authorities is doubtless of +extreme importance to the historian, but unfortunately the +materials for doing so are too often absent, and the fancies +and assumptions of the critic are put in their place.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The trustworthiness of an author, like the reality of the facts +he narrates, can be adequately tested in only one way. We +must be able to compare his accounts of past events with +other contemporaneous records of them. Sometimes these +records consist of pottery or other products of human industry +which anthropology is able to interpret; often they are the far +<span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>more important inscriptions which were written or engraved by +the actors in the events themselves. In other words, it is to +archæology that we must look for a verification or the reverse of +the ancient history that has been handed down to us as well as +of the credibility of its narrators. The written monuments of +the ancient East which belong to the same age as the patriarchs +or Moses can alone assure us whether we are to trust the +narrative of the Pentateuch or to see in it a confused medley of +legends the late date of which makes belief in them impossible.</p> + +<p class='c003'>As has been said above, Oriental archæology has already +disclosed sufficient to show us to which of these two alternatives +we must lean. On the one hand, much of the history +contained in the book of Genesis has been shown, directly or +indirectly, to be authentic; on the other hand, the new-fangled +theory of the composition of the Hexateuch has been +decisively ruled out of court. Let us take the second point +first.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In 1887 a large collection of clay tablets inscribed with +cuneiform characters was found by the Egyptian fellahin +among the ruins of the ancient city now known as Tel el-Amarna, +on the eastern bank of the Nile, about midway +between Minieh and Siût. The city had enjoyed but a brief +existence. Towards the close of the eighteenth dynasty, the +Pharaoh, Amenophis <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>, had died, leaving the throne to his son, +Amenophis <abbr title='the fourth'><span class='fss'>IV.</span></abbr>, a mere lad, who was still under the influence of +his mother Teie. Teie was of Asiatic extraction, and fanatically +devoted to an Asiatic form of faith. This devotion was shared +by her son, and soon began to bear fruit. Amon of Thebes had +to make way for a new deity, who was worshipped under the +visible form of the solar disk, and the old religion of Egypt of +which the Pharaoh was the official head was utterly proscribed. +It was not long before the Pharaoh and the powerful hierarchy +of Thebes were at open war; the very name of Amon was +erased from the monuments where it occurred, and the king +changed his own name to that of Khu-n-Aten, ‘the glory of +the Solar Disk.’ But in the end, Khu-n-Aten had to quit the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>capital of his fathers and establish himself with his adherents +and courtiers in a new city further north. This city, Khut-Aten, +as. it was called, is now represented by the mounds of +Tel el-Amarna.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Here the Pharaoh was surrounded by his followers, a large +proportion of whom were Asiatics, chiefly from Canaan. The +court of Egypt, as well as its religion, became Asiatised. The +revolution in religion was also accompanied by a revolution +in art. The old hieratic canon of Egyptian art was cast aside, +and an excessive realism was aimed at, sometimes even to the +verge of caricature. In the centre of the new city a temple +was raised to the new divinity of Egypt, and hard by the +temple rose the palace of the king. Its ornamentation was +surpassingly gorgeous. Its walls and columns were inlaid with +precious stones, with coloured glass and gold; even its floors +were painted with scenes from nature which are of the highest +artistic excellence, and statues were erected, some of which +remind us of the best work of classical Greece.<a id='r130'></a><a href='#f130' class='c013'><sup>[130]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>But the glory of Khut-Aten was short-lived. The latter +years of the reign of its founder were clouded with religious +and civil dissension. Religious persecution at home had been +followed by trouble and revolt abroad in the Asiatic provinces +of the Empire. When Khu-n-Aten died, his enemies were +already pressing around him, and the perils that threatened +him in Egypt obliged him to return no answer to the despairing +appeals for help that came to him from his governors in +Palestine. Hardly had the mummy of the king been deposited +in the superb tomb that he had carved out of a mountain +amid the desolation and solitude of a distant gorge, when the +spoiler was at hand. The royal sarcophagus never reached +the niche in which it was intended to be placed; the enemies +of the ‘Heretic King’ hacked to pieces its granite sides as it +lay upon the floor of the inner chamber, and scattered to the +winds the remains of its occupant. The destruction of Khut-Aten +<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>soon followed; one or two princes of the family of +Khu-n-Aten did indeed struggle for a brief while to maintain +themselves upon his throne, but before long Amon triumphed +over the Solar Disk. The great temple of Aten was razed to +the ground, and its stones carried away to serve as materials +for the sanctuaries of the victorious god of Thebes. The +palace of Khu-n-Aten was destroyed, the religion he had +essayed to force upon his subjects was forgotten, and the +Asiatic officials who had filled his court were driven into exile. +The city he had built was deserted, never to be inhabited +again.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The clay tablets found by the fellahin were discovered on +the site of the Foreign Office of the ‘Heretic King,’ the bricks +of which were each stamped with the words ‘The Record Office +of Aten-Ra.’<a id='r131'></a><a href='#f131' class='c013'><sup>[131]</sup></a> It adjoined the palace, and we learn from a +clay seal found among its ruins by Professor Petrie that it was +under the control of a Babylonian. This, however, was not +extraordinary, since the foreign correspondence of the Pharaoh +was carried on in the Babylonian language and the Babylonian +system of writing. In fact, the Tel el-Amarna tablets have +shown that the Western Asia conquered by the Egyptian kings +of the eighteenth dynasty was wholly under the domination +of Babylonian culture. All over the civilised Oriental world, +from the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates to those of the +Nile, the common medium of literary and diplomatic intercourse +was the language and script of Chaldæa. Not only the +writing material, but all that was written upon it, was borrowed +from Babylonia. So powerful was this Babylonian influence, +that the Egyptians themselves were compelled to submit to it. +In place of their own singular and less cumbrous hieratic or +cursive script, they had to communicate with their Asiatic +subjects and allies in the cuneiform characters and the Babylonian +tongue. Indeed, there is evidence that the memoranda +made by the official scribes of the Pharaoh’s court, at all +<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>events in Palestine, were compiled in the same foreign speech +and syllabary.<a id='r132'></a><a href='#f132' class='c013'><sup>[132]</sup></a> That the Babylonian language and script +were studied in Egypt itself we know from the evidence of the +Tel el-Amarna tablets. Among them have been found fragments +of dictionaries as well as Babylonian mythological tales. +In one of the latter certain of the words and phrases are +separated from one another in order to assist the learner.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The use of the Babylonian language and system of writing +in Western Asia must have been of considerable antiquity. +This is proved by the fact that the characters had gradually +assumed peculiar forms in the different countries in which +they were employed, so that by merely glancing at the form +of the writing we can tell whether a tablet was written in +Palestine or in Northern Syria, in Cappadocia or Mesopotamia. +The knowledge of them, moreover, was not confined to the +few. On the contrary, education must have been widely +spread; the Tel el-Amarna correspondence was carried on, +not only by professional scribes, but also by officials, by +soldiers, and by merchants. Even women appear among +the writers, and take part in the politics of the day. The +letters, too, are sometimes written about the most trivial +matters, and not unfrequently enter into the most unimportant +details.</p> + +<p class='c003'>They were sent from all parts of the known civilised world. +The kings of Babylonia and Assyria, of Mesopotamia and +Cappadocia, the Egyptian governors of Syria and Canaan, +even the chiefs of the Bedâwin tribes on the Egyptian frontier, +who were subsidised by the Pharaoh’s government like the +Afghan chiefs of to-day, all alike contributed to the correspondence. +Letters, in fact, must have been constantly passing +to and fro along the high-roads which intersected Western +Asia. From one end of it to the other the population was in +perpetual literary intercourse, proving that the Oriental world +in the century before the Exodus was as highly educated and +literary as was Europe in the age of the Renaissance. Nor +<span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>was all this literary activity and intercourse a new thing. +Several of the letters had been sent to Amenophis <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>, the +father of the ‘Heretic King,’ and had been removed by the +latter from the archives of Thebes when he transferred his +residence to his new capital. And the literary intercourse +which was carried on in the time of Amenophis <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> was merely +a continuation of that which had been carried on for centuries +previously. The culture of Babylonia, like that of Egypt, +was essentially literary, and this culture had been spread +over Western Asia from a remote date. The letters of +Khammu-rabi or Amraphel to his vassal, the king of Larsa, +have just been recovered, and among the multitudinous +contract-tablets of the same epoch are specimens of commercial +correspondence.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We have, however, only to consider for a moment what was +meant by learning the language and script of Babylonia in +order to realise what a highly-organised system of education +must have prevailed throughout the whole civilised world of +the day. Not only had the Babylonian language to be acquired, +but some knowledge also of the older agglutinative language +of Chaldæa was also needed in order to understand the system +of writing. It was as if the schoolboy of to-day had to add +a knowledge of Greek to a knowledge of French. And the +system of writing itself involved years of hard and patient +study. It consisted of a syllabary containing hundreds of +characters, each of which had not only several different +phonetic values, but several different ideographic significations +as well. Nor was this all. A group of characters might be +used ideographically to express a word the pronunciation of +which had nothing to do with the sounds of the individual +characters of which it was composed. The number of ideographs +which had to be learned was thus increased fivefold. +And, unlike the hieroglyphs of Egypt, the forms of these +ideographs gave no assistance to the memory. They had long +since lost all resemblance to the pictures out of which they +had originally been developed, and consisted simply of various +<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>combinations of wedges or lines. It was difficult enough for +the Babylonian or Assyrian to learn the syllabary; for a +foreigner the task was almost herculean.</p> + +<p class='c003'>That it should have been undertaken implies the existence +of libraries and schools. One of the distinguishing features +of Babylonian culture were the libraries which existed in the +great towns, and wherever Babylonian culture was carried this +feature of it must have gone too. Hence in the libraries of +Western Asia clay books inscribed with cuneiform characters +must have been stored up, while beside them must have been +the schools, where the pupils bent over their exercises and the +teachers instructed them in the language and script of the +foreigner. The world into which Moses was born was a world +as literary as our own.</p> + +<p class='c003'>If Western Asia were the home of a long-established literary +culture, Egypt was even more so. From time immemorial +the land of the Pharaohs had been a land of writers and +readers. At a very early period the hieroglyphic system of +writing had been modified into a cursive hand, the so-called +hieratic; and as far back as the days of the third and fifth +dynasties famous books had been written, and the author of +one of them, Ptah-hotep, already deplores the degeneracy and +literary decay of his own time. The traveller up the Nile, who +examines the cliffs that line the river, cannot but be struck by +the multitudinous names that are scratched upon them. He +is at times inclined to believe that every Egyptian in ancient +times knew how to write, and had little else to do than to +scribble a record of himself on the rocks. The impression +is the same that we derive from the small objects which are +disinterred in such thousands from the sites of the old cities. +Wherever it is possible, an inscription has been put upon +them, which, it seems taken for granted, could be read by +all. Even the walls of the temples and tombs were covered +with written texts; wherever the Egyptian turned, or whatever +might be the object he used, it was difficult for him to avoid +the sight of the written word. Whoever was born in the land +<span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span>of Egypt was perforce familiarised with the art of writing from +the very days of his infancy.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Evidence is accumulating that the same literary culture +which thus prevailed in Egypt and Western Asia had extended +also to the peninsula of Arabia. Dr. Glaser and Professor +Hommel, two of the foremost authorities on the subject, +believe that some of the inscriptions of Southern Arabia go +back to the age of the eighteenth and nineteenth Egyptian +dynasties; and if they are right, as they seem to be, in +holding that the kingdom of Ma’n or the Minæans preceded +that of Saba or Sheba, the antiquity of writing in Arabia +must be great.<a id='r133'></a><a href='#f133' class='c013'><sup>[133]</sup></a> The fact that the Babylonian dynasty to +which Amraphel belonged was of South Arabian origin supports +the belief in the existence of Arabian culture at an +early period, as do also the latest researches into the source +of the so-called Phœnician alphabet. We now know that +in the Mosaic age it was the cuneiform syllabary, and not +the Phœnician alphabet, that was used in Canaan, while +the oldest inscription in Phœnician letters yet found is later +than the reign of Solomon. On the other hand, the South +Arabian form of the alphabet contains letters which denote +sounds once possessed by all the Semitic languages, but +lost by the language of Canaan; and though some of these +letters may be derived from other letters of the alphabet, there +are some which have an independent origin. The caravan-road +along which the spices of the South were carried to +Syria and Egypt passed through the territory of Edom; +inscriptions of the kings of Ma’n have already been discovered +near Teima, not far from the frontiers of Midian; and it may +be that we shall yet find records among the ranges of Mount +Seir which will form a link between the early texts of Southern +Arabia and the oldest text that has come from Phœnician +soil.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Exodus from Egypt, then, took place during a highly +<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>literary period, and the people who took part in it passed +from a country where the art of writing literally stared them in +the face to another country which had been the centre of the +Tel el-Amarna correspondence and the home of Babylonian +literary culture for unnumbered centuries. Is it conceivable +that their leader and reputed lawgiver should not have been +able to write, that he should not have been educated ‘in the +wisdom of Egypt,’ or that the upper classes of his nation +should not have been able to read? Let it be granted that +the Israelites were but a Bedâwin tribe which had been reduced +by the Pharaohs to the condition of public slaves; +still, they necessarily had leaders and overseers among them, +who, according to the State regulations of Egypt, were responsible +to the Government for the rest of their countrymen, and +some at least of these leaders and overseers would have been +educated men. Moses could have written the Pentateuch, +even if he did not do so.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Moreover, the clay tablets on which the past history of +Canaan could be read were preserved in the libraries and +archive-chambers of the Canaanitish cities down to the time +when the latter were destroyed. If any doubt had existed on +the subject after the revelations of the Tel el-Amarna tablets, +it has been set at rest by the discovery of a similar tablet on +the site of Lachish. In some cases the cities were not +destroyed, so far as we know, until the period when it is +allowed that the Israelites had ceased to be illiterate. Gezer, +for example, which plays a leading part in the Tel el-Amarna +correspondence, does not seem to have fallen into the hands +of an enemy until it was captured by the Egyptian Pharaoh +and handed over to his son-in-law Solomon. As long as a +knowledge of the cuneiform script continued, the early records +of Canaan were thus accessible to the historian, many of +them being contemporaneous with the events to which they +referred.</p> + +<p class='c003'>A single archæological discovery has thus destroyed the +base of operations from which a one-sided criticism of Old +<span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>Testament history had started. The really strong point in +favour of it was the assumption that the Mosaic age was +illiterate. Just as Wolf founded his criticism and analysis of +the Homeric Hymns on the belief that the use of writing for +literary purposes was of late date in Greece, so the belief that +the Israelites of the time of Moses could not read or write +was the ultimate foundation on which the modern theory of +the composition of the Hexateuch has been based. Whether +avowed or not, it was the true starting-point of critical scepticism, +the one solid foundation on which it seemed to rest. +The destruction of the foundation endangers the structure +which has been built upon it.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In fact, it wholly alters the position of the modern critical +theory. The <i>onus probandi</i> no longer lies on the shoulders +of the defenders of traditional views. Instead of being called +upon to prove that Moses could have written a book, it is +they who have to call on the disciples of the modern theory +to show reason why he should not have done so. And it is +always difficult to prove a negative.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It may be said that the positive arguments of the modern +hypothesis remain as they were. That is possible, but their background +is gone. And how conscious the Hexateuchal analysts +were of the importance of this background, before the discovery +of the Tel el-Amarna tablets, may be seen from their desperate +efforts to rid themselves of the counter evidence afforded by +the Song of Deborah. ‘Out of Machir,’ it is there said +(<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 14), ‘came down lawgivers, and out of Zebulun +they that handle the stylus of the scribe.’ In defiance of +philology, the latter words were translated ‘the baton of the +marshal’! But <span lang="hbo"><i>sopher</i></span> is ‘scribe’ here, as elsewhere in +Hebrew; and his <i>shebhet</i>, or ‘stylus,’ is often depicted on the +Egyptian monuments. In the Blessing of Jacob, which is +allowed to be of early date, like the Song of Deborah, the +<i>shebhet</i> is associated with the <i>m’khoqêq</i> or ‘lawgiver’ (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> +<abbr title='forty-nine'>xlix.</abbr> 10). The word <i>m’khoqêq</i>, however, meant literally an +‘engraver,’ one who did not write his laws on papyrus or +<span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>parchment, as the scribe would have done, but caused them +to be engraved on stone, or metal, or clay.<a id='r134'></a><a href='#f134' class='c013'><sup>[134]</sup></a> In either case +they were written down; and written documents are thus +implied not only in the expression ‘the stylus of the scribe,’ +but in the word ‘lawgiver’ as well. The Song of Deborah, +by general consent, belongs to the oldest period of the Hebrew +settlement in Palestine; it belongs also to an age of anarchy +and national depression; and, nevertheless, it is already acquainted +with Israelitish lawgivers and scribes, with engravers +of the laws and handlers of the pen. It is little wonder that +its evidence was explained away in accordance with a method +which is neither scientific nor historical.</p> + +<p class='c003'>As historians, we are bound to admit the antiquity of writing +in Israel. The scribe goes back to the Mosaic age, like the +lawgiver, and in this respect, therefore, the Israelites formed +no exception to the nations among whom they lived. They +were no islet of illiterate barbarism in the midst of a great +sea of literary culture and activity, nor were they obstinately +asleep while all about them were writing and reading.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But even the analysis of the Hexateuchal critics fails to +stand the test of archæological discovery. Nowhere does +there seem to be clearer evidence of the documentary hypothesis +than in the story of the Deluge. Here the combination +of a Yahvistic and an Elohistic narrative seems to force itself +upon the attention of the reader, and the advocates of the +disintegration theory have triumphantly pointed to the internal +contradictions and inconsistencies of the story in support of +their views. If anywhere, here, at any rate, the external +testimony of archæeology ought to be given on the side of +modern criticism.</p> + +<p class='c003'>And yet it is not. It so happens that among the fragments +of ancient Babylonian epic and legend which have come down +to us is a long poem in twelve books, composed in the age of +Abraham, or earlier, by a certain Sin-liqi-unnini, and recounting +<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>the adventures of the Chaldæan hero Gilgames. It is based +on older materials, and is, in fact, the last note and final +summing-up of Chaldæan epic song. Older poems have been +incorporated into it, and the epic itself has been artificially +moulded upon an astronomical plan. Its twelve books, in +each of which a new adventure of its hero is recorded, correspond +with the twelve signs of the zodiac, and the months of +the year that were named after them. The eleventh month +was presided over by Aquarius, and was the month of ‘the +Curse of Rain’; into the eleventh book of the poem, accordingly, +there has been introduced the episode of the Deluge.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The story of the Deluge had been the subject of many +poems. Fragments of some of them we possess, and the +details of the story were not always the same. But the version +preserved in the epic of Gilgames became what we may term +the standard one; the very fact that it was embodied in the +most famous of the epics made it widely known. When it +was discovered by Mr. George Smith in 1872, its striking +resemblance to the story of the Flood in Genesis was at once +apparent to every one. In details as well as in general outline +the two accounts agreed; even in the moral cause assigned to +the Deluge—the sin of man—the Babylonian story alone among +traditions of a Deluge was at one with the Biblical narrative.</p> + +<p class='c003'>A comparison of the Chaldæan and Biblical accounts leads +to the following results. The resemblances between them +extend equally to the Elohistic and the Yahvistic portions of +the Hebrew narrative. Like the Elohist, the epic ascribes the +Deluge to the sins of mankind, and the preservation of +Xisuthros, the Chaldæan Noah, and his family to the piety of +the hero; all living things, moreover, are involved in the +calamity, except such as are preserved in the ark; its approach +is revealed to Xisuthros by the god Ea, who instructs him +how to build ‘the ship’; Ea also, like Elohim, prescribes the +dimensions of the ark, which is divided into rooms and stories, +and pitched within and without; ‘the seed of life of all +kinds’ is taken into it, together with the family of Xisuthros; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>the waters of the Flood are said to cover ‘all the high mountains,’ +and to destroy all living creatures except those that +were in the ark; this latter, too, had a window; and when the +Deluge had subsided and Xisuthros had offered a sacrifice on +the peak of the mountain, Bel blessed him and declared that +he would never again destroy the world by a flood while Istar +‘lifted up’ the rainbow, which an old Babylonian hymn calls +‘the bow of the Deluge.’<a id='r135'></a><a href='#f135' class='c013'><sup>[135]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Like the Yahvist, on the other hand, the Babylonian poet +sees in the Flood a punishment for sin, and makes it destroy +all living things except those that were in the ark. He also +states that Xisuthros sent forth three birds, one after the +other, in order to discover whether the waters were subsiding, +two of them being a dove and a raven, and that while the +dove turned back to the ark, the raven flew away. After +the descent from the ark, moreover, Xisuthros, we are told, +built an altar and offered sacrifice on the summit of the +mountain whereon it had rested, and there ‘the gods smelled +the sweet savour’ of the offering. In certain cases the epic +even explains what is doubtful or obscure in the Hebrew text. +Thus it shows that in the account of the sending forth of the +birds one of the birds has been omitted; and that consequently, +in order to complete the number of times the birds were +despatched from the ark, the dove is sent forth twice, while +the raven, instead of being the last to leave the ark, has been +made the first to do so. In the Babylonian story the order is +natural. First, the dove flies forth, then the swallow or ‘bird +of destiny,’ and lastly the raven who feeds on the corpses that +float upon the water, and accordingly does not return. But +the ‘bird of destiny’ carried with it heathen and mythological +associations. It has therefore been omitted by the Biblical +writer, the result being to throw the narrative into confusion.<a id='r136'></a><a href='#f136' class='c013'><sup>[136]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>The Babylonian origin of the Flood, again, alone explains +the statement that it was partly caused by ‘the fountains of +the great deep’ being broken up. The ‘great deep,’ called +Tiamat in Babylonian mythology, had been placed under +guard at the Creation, according to Chaldæan belief, and so +prevented from gushing forth and destroying mankind. The +whole conception takes us back to the alluvial plain of +Babylonia, liable at any time to be inundated by the waters +of the Persian Gulf, and is wholly inapplicable to a mountainous +country like Palestine, where rain only could have +produced a flood.<a id='r137'></a><a href='#f137' class='c013'><sup>[137]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>There are even indications that in the Biblical narrative +the mythological ideas and polytheistic phraseology of the +Babylonian story have been intentionally contradicted or suppressed. +Thus, not only is the whole colouring of the narrative +sternly monotheistic, but God Himself is made to reveal the +approach of the Deluge to Noah, in contrast with the Babylonian +version, according to which the god Ea announced the +coming catastrophe to the Chaldæan Noah without the knowledge +of the supreme god Bel. And when the Flood was +past, Bel was enraged that any should have escaped living +from it, and the other deities had to intercede before he could +be pacified. So, too, whereas the Babylonian poet tells us +that the Chaldæan Noah closed the door of his ship, in the +book of Genesis it is Yahveh Himself who does so. In the +view of the Biblical writer, nothing was to be allowed to lessen +the omnipotence of the God of Israel.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It will be noticed that the coincidences between the Babylonian +and Hebrew narratives are quite as much in details as +in general outlines, and these coincidences cover the Hebrew +narrative as a whole. It is not with the Elohist or with the +Yahvist alone that the Babylonian poet agrees, but with +the supposed combination of their two documents as we now +find it in the book of Genesis. If the documentary hypothesis +were right, there would be only two ways of accounting for +<span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span>this fact. Either the Babylonian poet had before him the +present ‘redacted’ text of Genesis, or else the Elohist and +Yahvist must have copied the Babylonian story upon the +mutual understanding that the one should insert what the +other omitted. There is no third alternative.</p> + +<p class='c003'>As the Babylonian epic was composed in the age of +Khammu-rabi or Amraphel, neither of the two alternatives is +likely to be accepted by the advocates of the Hexateuchal +theory, and the whole theory, consequently, must be ruled +out of court. It breaks down in the first test case to which +the results of archæological discovery can be applied, a case, +moreover, in which its plausibility is unusually great. Henceforth +the historian who pursues a scientific method may safely +disregard the whole fabric of Hexateuchal criticism.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The story of the Deluge itself suggests what may be put in +place of it. With all its likeness to the Babylonian story, the +Biblical narrative has nevertheless undergone a change. It +has been clothed not only in a Hebrew, but also in a Palestinian +dress. The ship of the Chaldæan Noah has become an ark, +as was natural in a country where there were no great rivers or +Persian Gulf; the period of the rainfall has been transferred +from Sebet or January and February, when the winter rains +fall in Babylonia, to ‘the second month’ of the Hebrew civil +year, our October and November, the time of the autumn or +‘former rains’ in Canaan, while the subsidence of the waters +is made to begin in the middle of ‘the seventh month,’ when +the ‘latter rains’ of the Canaanitish spring are over; and the +dove is said to have brought back in its mouth a leaf of the +olive, a tree characteristic of the soil of Palestine. Though +the Biblical narrative has been borrowed from Babylonia, it +has been modified and coloured in the West. Even the hero +of the Babylonian poem has become the Noah or Naham of +Canaan.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We have learned from the Tel el-Amarna tablets how this +could have come about. There was one period, and, so far +as we know, one period only, in the history of Western Asia, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>when the literature of Babylonia was taught and studied there, +and when the literary ideas and stories of Chaldæa were made +familiar to the people of Canaan. This was the period of +Babylonian influence which ended with the Mosaic age. +With the Hittite conquests of the fourteenth century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr>, and +the Israelitish invasion of Canaan, it all came to an end. The +Babylonian story of the Deluge, adapted to Palestine as we +find it in the Pentateuch, must belong to a pre-Mosaic epoch. +And it is difficult to believe that the identity of the details in +the Babylonian and Biblical versions could have remained so +perfect, or that the Biblical writer could have exhibited such +deliberate intention of controverting the polytheistic features +of the original, if he had not still possessed a knowledge of the +cuneiform script. It is difficult to believe that he belonged to +an age when the Phœnician alphabet had taken the place of +the syllabary of Babylonia, and the older literature of Canaan +had become a sealed book.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But if so, a new light is shed on the sources of the historical +narratives contained in the Pentateuch. Some of them at +least have come down from the period when the literary +culture of Babylonia was still dominant on the shores of the +Mediterranean. So far from being popular traditions and +myths first committed to writing after the disruption of +Solomon’s kingdom, and amalgamated into their present form +by a series of ‘redactors,’ they will have been derived from +the pre-Mosaic literature of Palestine. Such of them as are +Babylonian in origin will have made their way westwards like +the Chaldæan legends found among the tablets of Tel el-Amarna, +while others will be contemporaneous records of the +events they describe. We must expect to discover in the +Pentateuch not only Israelitish records, but Babylonian, +Canaanitish, Egyptian, even Edomite records as well.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The progress of archæological research has already in part +fulfilled this expectation. ‘Ur of the Chaldees’ has been found +at Muqayyar, and the contracts of early Babylonia have shown +that Amorites—or, as we should call them, Canaanites—were +<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>settled there, and have even brought to light such distinctively +Hebrew names as Jacob-el, Joseph-el, and Ishmael.<a id='r138'></a><a href='#f138' class='c013'><sup>[138]</sup></a> Even +the name of Abram, Abi-ramu, appears as the father of an +‘Amorite’ witness to a contract in the third generation before +Amraphel. And Amraphel himself, along with his contemporaries, +Chedor-laomer or Kudur-Laghghamar of Elam, +Arioch of Larsa, and Tid’al or Tudghula, has been restored to +the history to which he and his associates had been denied a +claim. The ‘nations’ over whom Tid’al ruled have been +explained, and the accuracy of the political situation described +in the fourteenth chapter of Genesis has been fully vindicated. +Jerusalem, instead of being a name first given to the future +capital of Judah after its capture by David, is proved to have +been its earliest title; and the priest-king Melchizedek finds a +parallel in his later successor, the priest-king Ebed-Tob, who, +in the Tel el-Amarna letters, declares that he had received +his royal dignity, not from his father or his mother, but through +the arm of ‘the mighty king.’ If we turn to Egypt, the archæological +evidence is the same. The history of Joseph displays +an intimate acquaintance on the part of its writer with Egyptian +life and manners in the era of the Hyksos, and offers the only +explanation yet forthcoming of the revolution that took place in +the tenure of land during the Hyksos domination. As we have +seen, there are features in the story which suggest that it has +been translated from a hieratic papyrus. As for the Exodus, we +shall see presently that its geography is that of the nineteenth +dynasty, and of no other period in the history of Egypt.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Thus, then, directly or indirectly, much of the history contained +in the Pentateuch has been shown by archæology to be +authentic. And it must be remembered that Oriental archæology +is still in its infancy. Few only of the sites of ancient civilisation +have as yet been excavated, and there are thousands of +cuneiform texts in the Museums of Europe and America which +have not as yet been deciphered. It was only in 1887 that +the Tel el-Amarna tablets, which have had such momentous +<span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>consequences for Biblical criticism, were found, and the disclosures +made by the early contracts of Babylonia, even the +name of Chedor-laomer itself, are of still more recent discovery. +It is therefore remarkable that so much is already in our hands +which confirms the antiquity and historical genuineness of the +Pentateuchal narratives; and it raises the presumption that +with the advance of our knowledge will come further confirmations +of the Biblical story. At any rate, the historian’s path is +clear; the Pentateuch has been tested by the comparative +method of science, and has stood the test. It contains +history, and must be dealt with accordingly like other historical +works. The philological theory with its hair-splitting distinctions, +its Priestly Code and ‘redactors,’ must be put aside, +along with all the historical consequences which it involves.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But it does not follow that because the philological theory +is untenable, all inquiries into the character and sources of the +Pentateuch are waste of time. The philological theory has +failed because it has attempted to build up a vast superstructure +on very imperfect and questionable materials; because, in +short, it has attempted to attain historical results without the +use of the historical method. But no one can study the +Pentateuch in the light of other ancient works of a similar +kind without perceiving that it is a compilation, and that its +author—or authors—has made use of a large variety of older +materials. Modern Oriental history has been written in the +same manner; a book, for instance, like the Egyptian history +of El-Maqrîzî, though the production of a single mind, nevertheless +embodies older materials which have been collected +from every side. The Egyptian Book of the Dead, or the +Chaldæan Epic of Gilgames, bears the same testimony. The +growth of the Book of the Dead, the ritual which was needed +by the souls of the Egyptian dead in their passage to the +next world, can actually be traced.<a id='r139'></a><a href='#f139' class='c013'><sup>[139]</sup></a> It included and combined +<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>the doctrines of more than one school of early Egyptian +theological thought, and in later days was extensively interpolated +and modernised. Not only were glosses, once intended +to explain the obscurities of the archaic phraseology, +incorporated into the text, but even whole chapters were added +to the work. The Epic of Gilgames similarly embodies other +poems or portions of poems, of which the Episode of the +Deluge is an example. Yet no Assyriologist would dispute +for a moment that from beginning to end it is the work of one +author.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Archæology has already shown us that we are right in +believing that the Pentateuch also has been compiled out of +earlier materials. The story of the campaign of Chedor-laomer +must have been derived from a cuneiform tablet; the story of +Joseph seems to have been taken from a hieratic papyrus. +The account of the Deluge has made its way from Babylonia +to Canaan in the days when the culture of Chaldæa extended +to the Mediterranean. We thus have narratives which +presuppose an acquaintance not only with Babylon and Egypt, +but also with Babylonian and Egyptian documents.</p> + +<p class='c003'>So, too, the list of Edomite kings contained in the thirty-sixth +chapter of Genesis must have been extracted from the +official annals of Edom. It is a proof that such annals existed, +that the Edomites, like the rest of their neighbours, were +acquainted with the art of writing, and that their official +records were accessible to a Hebrew scribe.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We cannot doubt the authenticity of the list, even though +the ancient territory of Edom has not yet been explored, and +no Edomite inscriptions consequently have as yet been found +to verify it. The list, therefore, does not yet stand in the +same fortunate position as the account of Chedor-laomer and +his allies, which has been verified by archæological discovery. +Here even the names of the foreign kings have been preserved +in the Hebrew text with marvellously little corruption. The +whole account must have come from a cuneiform document +coeval with the event it narrates. That is to say, we can here +<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>trace one of the Pentateuchal narratives not only to a written +source, but to a written source which is at the same time a +contemporaneous record.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We may conclude, then, that the Pentateuch has been compiled +from older documents—some Babylonian, some Egyptian, +some Edomite; others, as we may gather from the nature of +their contents, Canaanite and Aramæan—and that many of +these documents belong to the periods to which they refer. +This, however, is not all. In certain cases we can approximately +fix the latest date at which they could have been employed +and combined in the form in which we now find them. +Thus in the geographical chart of Genesis (<abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 6), Canaan is +made the brother of Cush and Mizraim. This takes us back +to the time when Canaan was a province of the Egyptian +empire; when that empire came to an end the description +ceased to be possible. After the epoch of the nineteenth +dynasty and the Hebrew Exodus, Canaan and Egypt were cut +off from one another geographically and politically, and +Canaan could never again have been called in Semitic idiom the +brother of Mizraim. It became instead the brother of Aram +and Assur.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Here, therefore, the limit of age prescribed by archæology +forbids us to pass beyond the Mosaic epoch. Moses, in short, +is the compiler to whom the archæological evidence indicates +that the tenth chapter of Genesis goes back in its original +shape. But by the side of this evidence there is other evidence +also which tells a different tale. Gomer, or the Kimmerians, +as well as Madai, are named among the sons of Japhet, and +the Assyrian monuments assure us that neither the one nor +the other came within the geographical horizon of Western +Asia before the ninth century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> It was in the ninth century +<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> that the Assyrian kings first became acquainted with the +Medes, while the Gimirrâ or Kimmerians did not descend +upon Asia from their seats on the Sea of Azof until about <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> +680. The same reasoning which gives us the Mosaic age as +that of the geographical chart of Genesis in its primitive shape +<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>gives us the seventh century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> or later for the date of another +portion of the same chapter.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The list of the kings of Edom, again, is introduced by +the remark that ‘these are the kings that reigned in the land +of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of +Israel.’ It was not inserted in the book of Genesis, therefore, +until after the age of Saul, a conclusion which is supported by +the fact that the first king named seems to be Balaam, the son +of Beor, who was a contemporary of Moses. If, accordingly, +the Pentateuch was originally compiled in the Mosaic age, it +must have undergone the fate of the Egyptian Book of the +Dead, and been enlarged by subsequent additions. Insertions +and interpolations must have found their way into it as new +editions of it were made.</p> + +<p class='c003'>That such was the case there is indirect testimony. On the +one hand the text of the prophetical books was treated in a +similar manner, additions and modifications being made in it +from time to time by the prophet or his successors in order +to adapt it to new political or religious circumstances. Isaiah, +for instance, has copied a prophecy directed by one of his +predecessors against Moab; and after breaking it off in the +middle of a sentence, has adapted it to the needs and circumstances +of his own time. On the other hand, a long-established +Jewish tradition, which has found its way into the Second +Book of Esdras (<abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 21-26), makes Ezra rewrite or edit the +books of Moses. There is no reason to question the substantial +truth of the tradition; Ezra was the restorer of the old +paths, and the Pentateuch may well have taken its present +shape from him. If so, we need not be surprised if we find +here and there in it echoes of the Babylonish captivity.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Side by side with materials derived from written sources, the +book of Genesis contains narratives which, at all events in the +first instance, must have resembled the traditions and poems +orally recited in Arab lands, and commemorating the heroes +and forefathers of the tribe. Thus there are two Abrahams; +the one an Abraham who has been born in one of the centres +<span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>of Babylonian civilisation, who is the ally of Amorite chieftains, +whose armed followers overthrow the rearguard of the +Elamite army, and whom the Hittites of Hebron address as +‘a mighty prince’; the other is an Abraham of the Bedâwin +camp-fire, a nomad whose habits are those of the rude independence +of the desert, whose wife kneads the bread while he +himself kills the calf with which his guests are entertained. +It is true that in actual Oriental life the simplicity of the desert +and the wealth and culture of the town may be found combined +in the same person; that in modern Egypt Arab shêkhs +may still be met with who thus live like wild Bedâwin during +one part of the year, and as rich and civilised townsmen +during another part of it; while in the last century a considerable +portion of Upper Egypt was governed by Bedâwin emirs, +who realised in their own persons that curious duality of life +and manners which to us Westerns appears so strange. But +it is also true that the spirit and tone of the narratives in +Genesis differ along with the character ascribed in them to the +patriarch: we find in them not only the difference between the +guest of the Egyptian Pharaoh and the entertainer of the angels, +but also a difference in the point of view. The one speaks to +us of literary culture, the other of the simple circle of wandering +shepherds to whose limited experience the story-teller has +to appeal. The story may be founded on fact; it may be +substantially true; but it has been coloured by the surroundings +in which it has grown up, and archæological proof of its +historical character can never be forthcoming. At most, it +can be shown to be true to the time and place in which its +scene is laid, and so contains nothing which is inconsistent +with known facts.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Such, then, are the main results of the application of the +archæological test to the books of the Pentateuch. The +philological theory, with its minute and mathematically exact +analysis, is brushed aside; it is as little in harmony with +archæology as it is with common sense. The Pentateuch +substantially belongs to the Mosaic age, and may therefore be +<span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>accepted as, in the bulk, the work of Moses himself. But it +is a composite work, embodying materials of various kinds. +Some of these are written documents, descriptive of contemporaneous +events, or recording the cosmological beliefs of +ancient Babylonia; others have been derived from the +unwritten traditions of nomad tribes. The work has passed +through many editions; it is full of interpolations, lengthy and +otherwise; and it has probably received its final shape at the +hands of Ezra. But in order to discover the interpolations, +or to determine the written documents that have been used, +we must have recourse to the historical method and the facts +of archæology. Apart from these we cannot advance a step +in safety. The archæological evidence, however, is already +sufficient for the presumption that, where it fails us, the text is +nevertheless ancient, and the narrative historical—a presumption, +it will be noticed, the exact contrary of that in which +the Hexateuchal theory has landed its disciples.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But, these same disciples will urge, what becomes of those +three strata of legislation which we have so successfully disentangled +one from the other in the Hexateuch, and have shown +to belong to three separate and mutually exclusive periods of +Israelitish history? Has not literary criticism proved that no +reconciliation is possible between the enactments and point of +view of the Book of the Covenant on the one side, and those of +the Deuteronomist on the other, or between the legislation of +the Deuteronomist and that of the Priestly Code? The altar of +earth or rough-hewn stones, which may be built on any high +place, makes way for the altar of the temple at Jerusalem, and +this again for the ideal altar of the tabernacle in the wilderness. +One sanctuary takes the place of many; the priesthood is +confined first to the tribe of Levi, and then more especially to +the sons of Aaron; while the simple feasts of harvest rejoicing, +which were celebrated by early Israel in common with its +neighbours, are replaced by sacrifices for sin and solemn +festivals like the Day of Atonement.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is strange that these inconsistencies were left to European +<span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>scholars of the nineteenth century to discover, and that neither +the contemporaries of Ezra, who allowed themselves to be +bound to the yoke of a law which they believed to be divine, +nor the Samaritan rivals of the Jews, should have ever perceived +them. The fact seems to the historian to throw some doubt +on their real existence, and he can leave them to the tender +mercies of Dr. Baxter, who has met the literary critics on their +own ground, and seriously damaged their house of cards.<a id='r140'></a><a href='#f140' class='c013'><sup>[140]</sup></a> +The historian can have nothing to do with a theory which not +only requires the whole of the historical books of the Old +Testament to be rewritten in accordance with it, but also +declares at once every passage which tells against it to be a +gloss and interpolation. History, like science, is not built on +subjective judgments.</p> + +<p class='c003'>At the same time, there is an element of truth in the work +of the ‘literary analysis.’ Years of labour on the part of able +and learned scholars cannot be absolutely without result, even +though the labourers may have been led astray by the will-o’-the-wisp +of a false theory and have followed a wrong line of +research. The minute examination to which they have subjected +the text has revealed much that had never before been +suspected; and they have made it clear that the historical +books of the Old Testament are compilations, not free, moreover, +from later interpolations, even though we cannot share +the confidence with which they separate and distinguish the +different elements. They have made it impossible ever to +return to the old conception of the Hebrew Scriptures and the +old method of treating Hebrew history. Where they have +been successful has been on the negative rather than on the +reconstructive side. For reconstruction, the scientific instrument +of comparison was wanted, and this the literary analysts +did not possess.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Old Testament books themselves make no secret of +the fact that they are compilations. The books of the Kings +<span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>name the sources from which a large part of them has been +drawn, and the books of Samuel (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 18) quote David’s +‘Song of the Bow’ from the book of Jasher. The same work +is referred to in the book of Joshua (<abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 13), and in Numbers +(<abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 14) we have an extract from the lost Book of the Wars +of the Lord. Old poems are introduced into the text, like the +Song of Deborah or the Blessing of Jacob; even an Amorite +song of triumph is cited in Numbers <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 27-30. The so-called +‘Book of the Covenant’ of the literary critics takes its name +from a real ‘book of the covenant’ in which the first legislation +promulgated at Sinai was written down by Moses, according +to <abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 4, 7, and read by him ‘in the audience of +the people;’ while the Song of Deborah expressly states that +the forces of Zebulun, which took part in the war against +Sisera, were accompanied by scribes, like the armies of Egypt +or Assyria.</p> + +<p class='c003'>That Moses could not have written the account of his own +death was discovered even by the Jewish rabbis; and references +to the ‘Book of the Covenant’ and the ‘Book of the +Wars of the Lord’ prove that the Pentateuch in its present +form has not come down to us from the Mosaic age. The +materials may be Mosaic; it may thus be substantially the +work of the great Hebrew lawgiver, but the actual work itself +is of later date.</p> + +<p class='c003'>How far may we trust the accuracy of the traditional Hebrew +text? Modern criticism has been inclined to pronounce the +text corrupt, not unfrequently because the critic himself cannot +understand it, and to deal pretty freely in conjectural emendations. +The Greek text of the Septuagint is invoked against +it, and undue weight is often given to its variant readings +or omissions, as, for instance, in the case of the history of +Saul. Doubtless the Septuagint text is of great value; it goes +back to a period centuries older than the oldest Hebrew <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>MS.</span></abbr> +that has survived to us; but it was made by Jews of Alexandria, +whose knowledge of the sacred language of their +nation was not always complete or exact. The recent +<span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>discovery of the original Hebrew text of Ecclesiasticus has +gone far to shake our confidence in the readings of the +Septuagint, as a comparison of it with the Greek translation +made only two generations later has shown that passages are +omitted in the latter, through simple carelessness, or perhaps +inability to understand them. The discovery has also not +been in favour of the emendations of literary and philological +criticism, not one of the many attempts made to restore the lost +Hebrew original having turned out to be correct.<a id='r141'></a><a href='#f141' class='c013'><sup>[141]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>On the other hand, a comparison of the Hebrew Scriptures +with the clay books of Assyria is on the side of accuracy in the +text. The scribes employed in the libraries of Assyria, and +presumably, therefore, in the older libraries of Babylonia, were +scrupulously exact in their copies of earlier texts. Where the +tablet which they copied was injured and defective, it was +stated to be so, and the scribe made no attempt to fill up by +conjecture, however obvious, what was missing in the document +before him. He even was careful to note whether the +fracture was recent or not. Where, again, he was not certain +about the Assyrian equivalent of a Babylonian character of +unusual form, he gave alternative representatives of it, or else +reproduced the questionable character itself. Perhaps the +most striking example of the textual honesty of the Assyrian and +Babylonian scribes is, however, to be found in a compilation +known as the <i>Babylonian Chronicle</i>—a chronological abstract +in which the history of Babylonia is given from a strictly +Babylonian point of view. Here the author candidly confesses +that he does ‘not know’ the year when the decisive battle of +Khalulê took place, which laid Babylon at the feet of Sennacherib; +his materials for settling the matter failed him, and, +unlike the modern Hexateuchal critics, he abstained from +conjecture. We are more fortunate than he was; for, as we +possess the annals of Sennacherib, in which the Assyrian king +<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>gives a highly-coloured account of the battle, we are able to +determine its date.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In the later days of the Jewish monarchy there was a library +at Jerusalem similar to those of Assyria and Babylonia, and +we hear of the scribes belonging to it in the days of Hezekiah +re-editing the Proverbs of Solomon (Prov. <abbr title='twenty-five'>xxv.</abbr> 1). There are +indications that they were as careful and honest in their work +as the scribes of Assyria whose example they probably followed. +Thus the names of Chedor-laomer and his allies are preserved +with singular correctness, as well as the forms of two +geographical names which seem to imply translation from a +cuneiform original.<a id='r142'></a><a href='#f142' class='c013'><sup>[142]</sup></a> So, again, the Aramaic inscriptions of a +contemporary of Tiglath-pileser <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> found at Sinjerli, north of +the Gulf of Antioch, show that in one case at least the spelling +which we find in the books of Kings has remained unchanged +since the eighth century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> As in the books of Kings, so at +Sinjerli, the Assyrian name Tukulti-Pal-Esarra is incorrectly +written Tiglath-pileser, with <abbr class='spell'><i>g</i></abbr> instead of <abbr class='spell'><i>k</i></abbr>, and even the +country over which he ruled is in both cases written <i>plene</i> +(with the symbol of the vowel <abbr class='spell'><i>u</i></abbr>). On the other hand, it cannot +be denied that there are many clear and unmistakable corruptions +of the text. In the fourteenth chapter of Genesis itself +the name of the city Larsa has been transformed into Ellasar;<a id='r143'></a><a href='#f143' class='c013'><sup>[143]</sup></a> +elsewhere glosses have been received into the text, while there +are whole passages which are either ungrammatical or unmeaning +as they now stand. Ancient authors, whether Hebrew or +otherwise, did not write nonsense; and if the natural rendering +of a passage does not make sense, we may feel quite sure that +it is corrupt.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The historian of the Hebrews, then, is bound to treat his +authorities as the Greek historian would treat Herodotos or +Thucydides or any other writer on behalf of whose character +and age there is a long line of external testimony. The results +<span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span>of the ‘literary analysis’ may be left to the philologist, as well +as the conjectures and theories that have been substituted by +scholars of the nineteenth century for early Israelitish history. +They have vanished like bubbles wherever they have been +tested by the archæological evidence, which, on the other +hand, has vindicated the substantial truthfulness of those Old +Testament statements which had been scornfully thrown aside.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Where it is possible, the Biblical narratives must be compared +with the discoveries of archæological research; where +this cannot be done, they must be examined from the historical +and not from the philological or literary point of view. We +are bound to assume their general credibility and faithfulness, +except where this can be historically disproved, and to +remember that while on the one hand inconsistencies in detail +do not affect the general historical trustworthiness of a document, +the agreement of such details with the facts of +archæology or geography—more especially when they are of +the kind termed ‘undesigned coincidences’—is a powerful +argument in its favour. Above all, we must beware of that +favourite weapon of literary criticism, the argument from +silence, which is really merely an argument from the imperfection +of our own knowledge, and which a single instance to the +contrary will overthrow. The literary criticism of the Old +Testament is full of examples of the argument that have been +demolished by the advance of Oriental archæology.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Let this accordingly be the rule of the historian: to believe +all things, to hope all things, but at the same time to test and +try all things. And the test must be scientific, not what we +assume to be probable or natural, but external testimony in +the shape of archæological or geographical facts. The history +of the past is not what ought to have happened according to +the ideas of the critic, but what actually did happen.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Such a manner of treating our authorities does not, of +course, exclude our recognition of what the literary critics call +their several ‘tendencies.’ No history, worthy of the name, +can be written without a ‘tendency’ of some sort on the part +<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>of the writer, even though it be not consciously felt. We must +have some kind of general theory within the lines of which our +facts may be grouped; and however much we may strive to be +impartial, our conception of the facts themselves, and our mode +of presenting them, will be coloured by our beliefs and education. +The historian cannot help writing with an object in +view; the necessities of the subject require it.</p> + +<p class='c003'>That the historical books of the Old Testament should have +been written with a ‘tendency’ is therefore natural. And +literary criticism has successfully pointed out in the case of +one of these books what the ‘tendency’ was. If we compare +the books of Chronicles with those of Samuel and Kings, the +contrast between them strikes the eye at once. The interest +of the Chronicler is centred in the history of the Jewish temple +and ritual, of its priests and Levites, and the manifold requirements +of the Law. His history of Israel accordingly becomes +a history of Israelitish ritual; all else is put aside or treated in +the briefest fashion. The incidents of David’s reign narrated +in the books of Samuel are subordinated to elaborate accounts +of his arrangements for the services in the tabernacle or +temple; the history of the northern kingdom of Israel, which +lay outside that of the temple at Jerusalem, is passed over in +silence; and the Passover held in Hezekiah’s reign, about +which not a word is said in the books of Kings, is dwelt upon +to the exclusion of almost everything else. Nor, had we only +the Chronicler in our hands, should we know that the pious +Hezekiah had entered into an alliance with the Babylonian +king and boastfully displayed to his ambassadors the treasures +of the Jewish kingdom, thereby bringing upon himself the +rebuke of the prophet Isaiah. All that the Chronicler has to +say on the matter is that ‘in the business of the ambassadors +of the prince of Babylon, who sent to inquire of the wonder +that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he +might know all that was in his heart’; and even here a +theological turn is given to the occurrence by the motive +assigned for the embassy. As a matter of fact, we know from +<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>the cuneiform inscriptions that the real object of Merodach-baladan +was to form a league with the princes of the West +against their common Assyrian enemy, to which, as the books +of Kings inform us, was naturally added a polite inquiry after +Hezekiah’s health.</p> + +<p class='c003'>‘Tendencies’ there are, therefore, in the historical writings +of the Old Testament; they would not be human productions +if there were not. The authors have had one great object in +view, that of showing from the past history of the people that +sin brings punishment with it, while a blessing follows upon +righteous action. They believed in the Divine government of +the world, and wrote with that belief clearly before them. +They believed also that Israel was the chosen nation in whose +history that Divine government had been made manifest to +mankind, and that the God of Israel was the one true +omnipotent God. In this belief in a theodicy they were +theologians, like most other Oriental writers. But their +theological point of view did not prevent them from being +historians as well. It did not interfere with their honestly +recording the course of events as it had been handed down to +them, or reproducing their authorities without intentional +change. Doubtless they may have made mistakes at times, +their judgment may not always have been strictly critical or +correct, and want of sufficient materials may now and then +have led them into error. But when we find that no attempt +is made to palliate or conceal the sins and shortcomings of +their most cherished national heroes, that even the reverses +of the nation are chronicled equally with its successes, and +that the early period of its history is confessed to have been +one of anarchy and crime, and not the golden age of which +popular (and even historical) imagination loves to dream, we +are justified in according to them, in spite of their theological +‘tendencies,’ a considerable measure of confidence.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It will have been noticed that chronology—the skeleton, as +it were, on which the flesh of history is laid—has been alluded +to in the previous chapter only in the vaguest possible manner. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>‘The age of Abraham,’ ‘the age of the Exodus,’ ‘the Mosaic +age,’ are the phrases that have been used in referring to Old +Testament events. Israelitish chronology in the true sense of +the word does not begin till the reign of David, and even then +we have to deal with probabilities rather than with facts. Like +Egyptian history, which has to be measured by dynasties +instead of dates before the rise of the eighteenth dynasty, the +early history of the Hebrews has no chronological record. +Before we can attach dates to the events of the patriarchal +period or the Exodus, it is necessary to find synchronisms +between them and the dated history of other peoples.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is a commonplace of Biblical students that numbers are +peculiarly liable to corruption, and that consequently little +dependence can be placed on the numbers given in the text of +the Old Testament. But the conclusion does not follow from +the premiss. The later dates of Israelitish history are for the +most part reliable, and it would be strange if the causes of +corruption were fatal only to the dates of an earlier period. +Moreover, the numbers fit into a self-consistent system, the +several fractions of which agree with the whole summation. +Such a self-consistent system would perhaps demand acceptance +were it not that there are three such systems, rivals one of +the other, and mutually incompatible. One is that of the +Massoretic Hebrew text, which makes the period from the +Creation to the call of Abraham exactly 2000 solar years (or, +2056 lunar years), 1600 of which extend from the Creation to +the Deluge, and the remaining 400 from the Deluge to the +call of Abraham. A second is that of the Septuagint, according +to which the period from the Creation to the Flood is 2200 +solar years (or, 2262 lunar years), 1600 of these elapsing between +the Creation and the birth of Noah, and 600 from that +event to the Flood, while 1200 are counted from the Flood to +the call of the patriarch. The third is that of the Samaritan +text which divides the period into two halves of 1200 years +each; the first 1200 comprising the time from the Creation +to the birth of the sons of Noah, and the second 1200 the rest +of the period.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>It is obvious that all these systems are like the similar +chronological systems of the Egyptians, the Babylonians, or +the Hindus, mere artificial schemes of an astronomical +character, and differing from the latter only in their more +modest computation of time. For historical purposes they are +worthless, and indicate merely that materials for a chronology +were entirely wanting. The ages assigned to the patriarchs +before the Flood, for example, stand on a level with the reigns +of the ten antediluvian kings of Chaldæa which are extended +over 120 sari, or 432,000 years. The post-diluvian patriarchs are +in no better position; indeed, one of them, Arphaxad, is a +geographical title, and the Septuagint interpolates after him a +certain Kainan, of whom neither the Hebrew nor the +Samaritan text knows anything.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Even after the call of Abraham, Hebrew chronology is +equally uncertain. The length of life assigned to Abraham, +Isaac, and Jacob is surprising, though not quite impossible, but +the dates connected with it do not always agree together. +How, for example, can Abraham have had six children after +the death of Sarah (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-five'>xxv.</abbr> 1, 2), when the birth of Isaac +nearly forty years before had been regarded as extraordinary +on account of the patriarch’s age? Or, again, to quote the +words of Professor Driver<a id='r144'></a><a href='#f144' class='c013'><sup>[144]</sup></a>: ‘Do we all realise that according +to the chronology of the Book of Genesis (<abbr title='twenty-five'>xxv.</abbr> 26, <abbr title='twenty-six'>xxvi.</abbr> 34, +<abbr title='thirty-five'>xxxv.</abbr> 28) [Isaac] must have been lying upon his deathbed +for <i>eighty years</i>? Yet we can only diminish this period by +extending proportionately the interval between Esau’s marrying +his Hittite wives (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-six'>xxvi.</abbr> 34), and Rebekah’s suggestion to +Isaac to send Jacob away, lest he should follow his brother’s +example (<abbr title='twenty-seven'>xxvii.</abbr> 46), which from the nature of the case will not +admit of any but a slight extension. Keil, however, does so +extend it, reducing the period of Isaac’s final illness to forty-three +years, and is conscious of no incongruity in supposing +that Rebekah, <i>thirty-seven</i> years after Esau has taken his +Hittite wives, should express her fear that Jacob, then aged +seventy-seven, will do the same!’</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>The length of the period during which the Israelites were in +Egypt has been the subject of endless controversy. The Old +Testament statements in regard to it are clear enough. +Abraham is told (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 13) that his descendants shall +‘serve’ the Egyptians and be ‘afflicted’ by them for 400 +years. As a generation was counted at thirty years, this +implies that the whole period spent in Egypt was 430 years, +though the statement is not quite exact, since Joseph lived +more than thirty years after the settlement of his brethren in +the land of Goshen, and their servitude and affliction did not +begin till after his death. In Exodus (<abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 40) we are informed +explicitly that ‘the sojourning of the children of Israel, who +dwelt in Egypt, was 430 years.’ Four hundred and thirty +years, therefore, must have been the length of time during +which Israel was officially regarded as having lived in Goshen.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But it is difficult to reconcile it with another statement in +<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 16, where it is said that ‘in the fourth generation’ +the children of Israel should return to Canaan. As the words +were spoken to Abraham, the fourth generation would be that +of Joseph himself. Since this seems out of the question, they +are usually interpreted to refer to Moses and Aaron, who are +placed in the fourth generation from Levi. Moses and Aaron, +however, did not ‘come again’ to Palestine, and the genealogy +of the daughters of Zelophehad (<abbr title='Numbers'>Num.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-seven'>xxvii.</abbr> 1) makes the +generation that did so the seventh from Joseph. Time, in +fact, cannot be reckoned by generations; we do not know +how many links in the chain may have been dropped, ‘son’ +in Semitic idiom being frequently equivalent to ‘descendant,’ +while the names are often merely geographical, like Gilead and +Machir in the genealogy of Zelophehad, and therefore have no +chronological value. It was, however, the mention of ‘the fourth. +generation’ which produced the rabbinical gloss, alluded +to by <abbr title='Saint'>S.</abbr> Paul (<abbr title='Galatians'>Gal.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 17), according to which the four +hundred and thirty years of <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 13 did not mean the time +during which the Israelites were ‘afflicted’ in Egypt, but—in +spite of the definite assertion to the contrary—a period which +<span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>included the lives of the patriarchs as well as the government +of Joseph.</p> + +<p class='c003'>If the statements in regard to the period of the Israelitish +settlement in Egypt are contradictory, the statements in regard +to the lapse of time from the conquest of Canaan to the +building of Solomon’s temple are still more so. In 1 Kings +<abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 1 we read that the foundations of the temple were laid in +the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, and four hundred and eighty +years after the Exodus from Egypt. If we add together the +numbers given in the book of Judges, they amount to four +hundred and ten years, thus leaving only seventy years for the +wanderings in the desert, the judgeships of Eli and Samuel, +the reigns of Saul and David, and the first four years of +Solomon! The endeavours that have been made to get over +the difficulty have all been fruitless. Wellhausen and others, +for instance, have conjectured that the four hundred and eighty +years are intended to represent twelve generations, each being +reckoned at forty years, and the seventy years assigned to the +five ‘lesser judges’ being overlooked. But the conjecture is +destitute of support, and is contrary to such notices as we have +of the number of generations which covered the period of the +judges. Moreover, the five lesser judges do not constitute a +group by themselves.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The period of four hundred and eighty years cannot be +reconciled with the genealogies any better than with the +apparent chronology of the book of Judges. Between Nahshon, +who was a contemporary of Moses, and Solomon, only five +generations are given (Ruth <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 20-22); and between Phinehas +and Zadok, whom Solomon removed from the priesthood, +there were only seven generations of priests (1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 4-8). +Doubtless some of the links in the ancestry of David have +been dropped, but that can hardly be the case as regards the +priests. Seven generations would give, at the most, not more +than two hundred and ten years.</p> + +<p class='c003'>That the number four hundred and eighty, however, has +really been based on the number forty seems probable. Forty +<span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>years in Hebrew idiom merely signified an indeterminate and +unknown period of time, and the Moabite Stone shows that +the same idiom existed also in the Moabite language.<a id='r145'></a><a href='#f145' class='c013'><sup>[145]</sup></a> Thus +Absalom is said, in 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 7, to have asked permission to +leave Jerusalem ‘after forty years,’ although the length of time +was really little more than two years (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 28 <abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr>), and +Jewish tradition has supplied the lost record of the length of +Saul’s reign with a date of forty years. The period of forty +years, which meets us again and again in the book of Judges, +is simply the equivalent of an unknown length of time; it +denotes the want of materials, and the consequent ignorance +of the writer. Twenty, the half of forty, is equally an expression +of ignorance; and the only dates available for chronology +are those which represent a definite space of time, like the +eight years of Chushan-rishathaim’s oppression of Israel, or +the six years of Jephthah’s judgeship.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We can learn nothing, accordingly, from the books of the +Old Testament about the chronology of Israel down to the +time of David. For David’s reign we have the seven years of +his rule at Hebron, followed by the thirty-three years of his +sway over the whole of Israel. For the reign of Solomon we +have again the indeterminate ‘forty years’; but since Rezon +of Damascus, like Hadad of Edom, was ‘an adversary to +Israel all the days of Solomon,’ it is probable that the reign +did not actually last more than thirty years at the most. Even +the chronology of the divided kingdom after the death of +Solomon, in spite of the synchronisms the compiler of the +books of Kings has endeavoured to establish between the +kings of Judah and those of Israel, has been the despair of +historians, and scheme after scheme has been proposed in +order to make it self-consistent. The Assyrian monuments, +however, have now come to our help, and shown that between +<span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>the time of Ahab and that of Hezekiah it is forty years in +excess.</p> + +<p class='c003'>For Hebrew chronology, therefore, we must look outside +the Bible itself. At certain points Hebrew history comes into +touch with the monumental records of Egypt, Babylonia, and +Assyria; and if we are to date the events it records, it must be +by their aid. Egypt can assist us only after the rise of the +eighteenth dynasty; before that period it is as much without +a chronology as the Israelites themselves. But the case is +different as regards Babylonia and Assyria. In Babylonia +time was dated by the reigns of the kings and the events of +the several years of each reign. The extensive commercial +relations of the country, and the contracts that were constantly +being drawn up, made accurate dating a matter of necessity. +The Assyrians were even more exact than the Babylonians; +they were distinguished among Oriental nations by their strong +historical sense, and at an early epoch had devised an accurate +system of chronology. The years were reckoned by a succession +of officers called <i>limmi</i>, each of whom held office for a +year and gave his name to it, the king himself, during the +earlier period of Assyrian history, taking the office in the first +year of his reign. Lists of the <i>limmi</i> were kept, and a reference +to them would show at once the exact age of a document +dated by the name of a particular <i>limmu</i>. None of the lists +hitherto discovered are, unfortunately, older than the tenth +century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr>; but, thanks to those that have been found, from +<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 909 to 666 we have a continuous and accurate register of +time.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Abraham was the contemporary of Chedor-laomer and Amraphel, +and the position of Amraphel among the Babylonian kings +has been given us by the native annalists. He was the sixth +king of the first dynasty of Babylon, and reigned fifty-five +years. Unfortunately, the only copy we possess at present of +the native Babylonian list of dynasties is broken, and owing +to the fracture of the tablet, a doubt hangs over his precise +date. The most probable restoration of the text would make +<span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span>it about <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 2300.<a id='r146'></a><a href='#f146' class='c013'><sup>[146]</sup></a> Between this and the Exodus there would +be an interval of more than a thousand years.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Dr. Mahler has attempted to fix astronomically the dates of +the two leading Pharaohs of the eighteenth and nineteenth +dynasties, Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> and Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, and his dates have +been accepted by Brugsch and other Egyptologists. If his +calculations are correct, Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> will have reigned from +the <abbr title='twentieth'>20th</abbr> of March <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1503 to the <abbr title='fourteenth'>14th</abbr> of February <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1449;<a id='r147'></a><a href='#f147' class='c013'><sup>[147]</sup></a> +and Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, the Pharaoh of the oppression, from <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1348 +to 1281. The eighteenth dynasty, accordingly, would have +commenced about <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1600, and the Exodus would have +taken place subsequently to <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1280.</p> + +<p class='c003'>If Apophis <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> was the Hyksos king under whom Joseph +governed Egypt, he would have lived four generations before +Ahmes, the founder of the eighteenth dynasty.<a id='r148'></a><a href='#f148' class='c013'><sup>[148]</sup></a> The ‘four +hundred years,’ therefore, during which Israel was evil-entreated +in Egypt (Acts <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 6) will correspond with the era of four +hundred years mentioned on a stela discovered by Mariette at +San, the ancient Zoan.<a id='r149'></a><a href='#f149' class='c013'><sup>[149]</sup></a> The stela commemorates a visit paid +to Zoan in the reign of Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> by Seti, the governor of +the frontier, on the fourth day of the month Mesori, and ‘the +four hundredth year of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt, +Set-âa-pehti, the son of the Sun, who loved him, also named +Set-Nubti, beloved of Harmakhis.’ Since Set or Sutekh was +the Hyksos god, and Zoan the Hyksos capital, it is clear that +we have here a Hyksos era, the four hundredth anniversary of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>which fell in the reign of Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> It seems probable that +it marked the accession of the third and last Hyksos dynasty. +According to Manetho, as reported by Africanus, this lasted for +one hundred and fifty-one years, which would take us to about +<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1720, and the same date is obtained if we calculate the four +hundred years of the stela of Sân, back from the thirtieth year +of Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> One generation more—the thirty additional +years given in <abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 40—will bring us to the period of the +Exodus, which, as we shall see hereafter, must have taken place +under Meneptah, the son and successor of Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr></p> + +<p class='c003'>The precise connection between the Hyksos and Hebrew +eras must be left to the future to discover. At present, the +only reference found to the first is that on the stela of Sân. +Some connection, however, there must be between them, like +the connection between Zoan and Hebron indicated in <abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> +<abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 22, where it is said that ‘Hebron was built seven years +before Zoan in Egypt.’ The Hyksos were invaders from Asia, +and between them and the Hebrews there may have been a +closer relationship than we now suspect.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Two approximate dates have accordingly been found for early +Hebrew history. One results from the synchronism between +Abraham and Amraphel, and may be set down as about 2300 +<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr>; the other is the synchronism with Egyptian history, which +gives us about <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1720 for the settlement of the Hebrew tribes +in Goshen. We must now see what light can be thrown by +the Egyptian monuments on the date of the Exodus.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Various reasons had led an increasing majority of Egyptologists +to regard Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, the most prominent figure in the +nineteenth dynasty, if not in the whole history of the Pharaohs, +as the Pharaoh of the Oppression, and the question was finally +settled by Dr. Naville’s excavations at Tel el-Maskhûta on +behalf of the Egypt Exploration Fund.<a id='r150'></a><a href='#f150' class='c013'><sup>[150]</sup></a> Tel el-Maskhûta +proved to be the site of Pi-Tum, the Biblical Pithom, and to +have had the civil name of Thuku or Thukut from the nome +of the district in which it was situated. Brugsch had already +<span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>pointed out that Thukut is the Succoth of the Old Testament, +the Egyptian <abbr class='spell'><i>th</i></abbr> corresponding to the Hebrew <abbr class='spell'><i>’s</i></abbr>, and Succoth +was the first stage in the flight of the Israelites after their +departure from Raamses (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 37). Pi-Tum was the +sacred name of the city, which was dedicated to Tum, the +setting Sun.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The monuments found on the spot showed that the founder +of the city was Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>; and since the Pharaoh of the +Oppression was also the builder of Pithom (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 11), +those who attach any credit to the historical character of the +Biblical statement must necessarily see in him the great +Pharaoh of the nineteenth dynasty. The conclusion is further +supported by the name of ‘Raamses,’ or Ramses, the second +of the two cities which it is said the Hebrews were employed +in building. Ramses <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr>, the founder of the nineteenth dynasty, +and the grandfather of Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, was the first king of Egypt +who bore that name; and the shortness of his reign, which +does not seem to have exceeded two years, as well as the +disturbed condition of the country, would have prevented him +from undertaking any architectural works. Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, however, +was essentially a building Pharaoh; he covered Egypt +from one end to the other with his constructions; he founded +cities, erected or restored monuments, and not unfrequently +usurped them. There was more than one city or temple of +Ramses which owed its existence to his architectural zeal and +was called after his name. As the date of the third Ramses +of the twentieth dynasty is too late to fit in with any theory +of the Exodus, there remains only Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> for ‘the treasure-city’ +mentioned in Exodus. Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> restored Zoan, and +made it a seat of residence; this will explain why, in <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> +<abbr title='forty-seven'>xlvii.</abbr> 11, Goshen is proleptically said to have been situated in +‘the land of Rameses.’ Brugsch has made it probable that +‘the city of Ramses’ referred to in an Egyptian papyrus was +Zoan itself.<a id='r151'></a><a href='#f151' class='c013'><sup>[151]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>If Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> was the Pharaoh of the Oppression, the +Pharaoh of the Exodus will have been one of his immediate +successors. The choice lies between Meneptah <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, who succeeded +him, his grandson, the feeble Seti <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, and the usurper +Si-Ptah, with whom the dynasty came to an inglorious end. +The Egyptian legend of the Exodus given by Manetho places +it in the reign of Meneptah; and a stela discovered at Thebes +in 1896 by Professor Petrie makes any other dating difficult. +Here the ‘Israelites’ are spoken of as having been brought +low, ‘so that no seed should be left to them’; and since their +name alone is without the determinative of locality which is +added to the names of all the other conquered populations +associated with them, we may conclude that they had already +been lost in the desert, and, so far at any rate as was known +to the Egyptian scribe, had no fixed local habitation.<a id='r152'></a><a href='#f152' class='c013'><sup>[152]</sup></a> As +this was in the fifth year of Meneptah’s reign, <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1276, +according to Dr. Mahler’s chronology, the Exodus from Egypt +may be approximately assigned to <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1277. The period of +oppression, according to the calculation in <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 13, would +consequently have commenced in <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1677, or nearly a +hundred years before the expulsion of the Hyksos.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It must be remembered, however, that the date is more +precise in appearance than in reality. It depends partly on +the accuracy of Dr. Mahler’s calculations, which is disputed +by Professors Eisenlohr and Maspero, partly on our regarding +the round number 400 as representing an exact period of +time. If we knew in what year of Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>’s long reign of +sixty-seven years the stela of Sân was inscribed, we should be +better able to check the reckoning. As it is, we have to be +grateful for what we have already learned from the excavated +monuments of the past, and to look forward with confidence +to more light and certainty in the future.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span> + <h2 id='chap3' class='c009'>CHAPTER <abbr title='three'>III</abbr> <br> THE EXODUS OUT OF EGYPT</h2> +</div> +<p class='c012'>Goshen—The Pharaohs of the Oppression and Exodus—The Heretic King at Tel el-Amarna—Causes +of the Exodus—The Stela of Meneptah—Moses—Flight to Midian—The +Ten Plagues—The Exodus—Egyptian Version of it—Origin of the Passover—Geography +of the Exodus—Position of Sinai—-Promulgation of the Law—Babylonian +Analogies—The Tabernacle—The Levitical Law—The Feasts—Number of the +Israelites—Kadesh-barnea—Failure to conquer Canaan—The High-priest and the +Levites—Edom—Conquests on the East of the Jordan—Balaam—Destruction of the +Midianites—Cities of Refuge and of the Levites—The Deuteronomic Law—Death +of Moses.</p> +<p class='c004'>‘There arose up a new king over Egypt which knew not +Joseph.’ Commentators on the passage have often imagined +that this event followed almost immediately upon the death +of Joseph and his generation. So, too, it was supposed before +the decipherment of the Assyrian inscriptions that the murder +of Sennacherib took place immediately after his return from +Palestine. In both cases the student had been misled by the +brevity of the Hebrew narrative, and that foreshortening of +the past which causes events to be grouped together even +though they may have been separated by an interval of many +years. In the present instance, however, the Biblical writer +has done his best to indicate that the interval was a long one. +Before the rise of ‘the new king which knew not Joseph,’ the +children of Israel had had time to ‘increase abundantly,’ to +‘multiply’ so that ‘the land was filled with them.’ The family +of Jacob had become a tribe, or rather a collection of tribes. +They had become dangerous to their rulers; the Pharaoh is +even made to say that they were ‘more and mightier than’ the +Egyptians themselves. In case of invasion, they might assist +the enemy and expose Egypt to another Asiatic conquest.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Hence came the determination to transform them into public +serfs, and even to destroy the males altogether. The free +Bedâwin-like settlers in Goshen, who had kept apart from +their Egyptian neighbours, and had been unwilling to perform +even agricultural work, were made the slaves of the State. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>They were taken from their herds and sheep, from their independent +life on the outskirts of the Delta, and compelled to +toil under the lash of the Egyptian taskmaster and build for +the Pharaoh his ‘treasure-cities’ of Pithom and Raamses.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Egypt is the most conservative of countries, and the children +of Israel still have their representatives in it. The Bedâwin +still feed their flocks and enjoy an independent existence on +the outskirts of the cultivated land, and in that very district +of Goshen where the descendants of Jacob once dwelt. +Even when they adopt a settled agriculturist life, like the +villagers of Gizeh, they still claim immunity from the +burdens of their fellahin neighbours on the ground of their +Bedâwin descent. They are exempt from the conscription and +the <i>corvée</i>, the modern equivalents of the forced brickmaking +of the Mosaic age. The attempt to interfere with these +privileges has actually led to an exodus in our own time.<a id='r153'></a><a href='#f153' class='c013'><sup>[153]</sup></a> +The Wadi Tumilât, the Goshen of old days, was colonised +with Arabs from the Nejd and Babylonia by Mohammed Ali, +who wished to employ them in the culture of the silkworm. +Here they lived with their flocks and cattle, protected by the +Government, and exempt from taxation, from military service, +and the <i>corvée</i>. Mohammed Ali died, however, and an +attempt was then made to force them into the army, and lay +upon them the ordinary burdens of taxation. Thereupon, in +a single night, the whole population silently departed with all +their possessions, leaving behind them nothing but the hearths +of their forsaken homes. They made their way back to their +kinsfolk eastward of Egypt, and the Wadi remained deserted +until <abbr class='spell'>M.</abbr> de Lesseps carried through it the Freshwater Canal.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We owe to Dr. Naville the recovery of Goshen. In 1884 +he excavated at Saft el-Henna an ancient mound close to the +line of railway between Zagazig and Tel el-Kebîr. The +monuments he found there showed that the mound represents +the ancient Qosem or Qos, called Pha-kussa by the +Greek geographers, which was the capital of the Arabian nome. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>The Septuagint, with its Gesem instead of Goshen, implies +that the site of Goshen was still remembered in Alexandrine +times.<a id='r154'></a><a href='#f154' class='c013'><sup>[154]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The Arabian nome took its name not only from its proximity +to Arabia, but also from the fact that its inhabitants were +mainly of the Arab race. But the name did not come into +existence until after the age of the nineteenth dynasty. When +Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> was Pharaoh, the whole region from the neighbourhood +of Cairo to the Suez Canal was included in the nome of +On or Heliopolis. It was only at a subsequent date that the +nomes of Arabia and of Bubastis were carved out of that +of On.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Previously to this, Qosem was the name of a district as +well as of its chief city. It comprised not only the fertile +fields immediately surrounding Saft el-Henna, and stretching +from the mounds of Bubastis, close to Zagazig, on the west to +Tel el-Kebîr on the east, but also the Wadi Tumilât, through +which the railway now runs eastward as far as Ismailiya. +Belbeis, south of Zagazig, was also included within its limits. +At the eastern extremity of the Wadi was Pithom, now marked +by the ruins of Tel el-Maskhûta.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Meneptah <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, the Pharaoh of the Exodus, thus refers at +Karnak to the arable land about Pi-Bailos, the modern +Belbeis. ‘The country around it,’ he says, ‘is not cultivated, +but left as pasture for cattle because of the foreigners. It has +been abandoned (to them) since ancient times.’ They had +settled with their herds in the neighbouring-valley of Tumilât, +and the richer land which adjoined the valley was also assigned +to them. Here they were in the nome of Heliopolis, the +daughter of whose high-priest was married by Joseph, as well +as in the near neighbourhood of Bubastis, where Dr. Naville +has found Hyksos remains.</p> + +<p class='c003'>When the great inscription of Meneptah <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> was engraved +on the walls of Karnak the Exodus would have already taken +<span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>place. The ‘foreigners,’ therefore, to whom he alludes must +have been the Israelites, who had now deserted the spot. +The district accordingly would once more have needed +inhabitants, and the Pharaoh had the power of handing it +over to the first Bedâwin tribe who begged for pasturage in +the Delta. He had not long to wait. Among the papyri in +the British Museum there is a letter dated in the eighth year +of Meneptah’s reign, and addressed to the king. In this the +scribe writes as follows:—‘Another matter for the consideration +of my master’s heart. We have allowed the tribes of the +Shasu from the land of Edom to pass the fortress of Meneptah +in the land of Thukut (Succoth), (and go) to the lakes of +Pithom of Meneptah in the land of Thukut, in order to feed +themselves, and to feed their herds on the great estate of +Pharaoh, the beneficent sun of all countries. In the year 8.’<a id='r155'></a><a href='#f155' class='c013'><sup>[155]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The Wâdi Tumilât was accordingly regarded as crown-land, +as indeed it is to-day, and it was handed over to the Edomites +by officers of the Pharaoh, just as it had been to the Israelites +several centuries before. But now the Israelites had fled +from it, and disappeared into the wilderness, and it was +necessary to fill their place.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Biblical writer distinguishes the Pharaoh of the Oppression +from the Pharaoh of the Exodus (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 23). It was +after the death of the great royal builder of Egypt that the +Hebrews were delivered from their bondage. The Pharaoh +of the Oppression and not the Pharaoh of the Exodus was +‘the new king which knew not Joseph.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>The full meaning of the phrase has been explained to us by +the tablets of Tel el-Amarna. They have made it clear that +towards the end of the eighteenth dynasty the Egyptian court +became semi-Asiatic. The Pharaohs married Asiatic wives; +and eventually Amenophis <abbr title='the fourth'><span class='fss'>IV.</span></abbr>, under the influence of his +mother Teie, publicly abandoned the religion of which he +was the official head, and avowed himself a convert to an +<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>Asiatic form of faith. Amon, the god of Thebes, was dethroned +by a new deity, Aten-Ra, ‘the Solar Disk.’ The +Solar Disk, however, was but the visible manifestation of the +one Supreme God, who was diffused throughout nature, and +corresponded in many respects with the Semitic Baal. The +Egyptians accordingly identified him with Ra, the ancient +Sun-god of Heliopolis, who in earlier times had similarly been +identified with the Hyksos Baal.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Amenophis, the cast of whose face taken immediately after +death displays the features and expression of a philosopher +and enthusiast,<a id='r156'></a><a href='#f156' class='c013'><sup>[156]</sup></a> endeavoured to force the new faith upon his +unwilling subjects. The very name of Amon was proscribed +and was erased wherever it occurred, the followers of the old +religion of Egypt were persecuted, and the Pharaoh changed +his own name to that of Khu-n-Aten, ‘the radiance of the +Solar Disk.’ A violent struggle ensued with the powerful +hierarchy of Thebes. Khu-n-Aten was finally compelled to +leave the capital of his fathers, and build himself a new city +further north, where its site is now marked by the mounds of +Tel el-Amarna. He carried with him the State-archives, consisting +mainly of foreign correspondence in the Babylonian +language and cuneiform script, and these were deposited in +one of the public buildings adjoining the palace, every brick +of which was stamped with the words, ‘Aten-Ra! the Record-Office.’<a id='r157'></a><a href='#f157' class='c013'><sup>[157]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The palace itself was a marvel of art. Its walls and +columns were encrusted with precious stones, with gold and +with bronze, and it was adorned with painting and statuary, +some of which reminds us of Greek art in its best period. +Even the floors were frescoed with pictures of birds and +animals, of flowers and trees. The new religion was accompanied +by a new form of art, which cast aside the traditions +of Egypt, and looked rather to Asiatic models. It strove +after a realism which was sometimes exaggerated, and was +<span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span>always in strange contrast to the conventionalism of Egyptian +art. Hard by the gardens of the palace rose the temple of +Aten-Ra in the centre of the city. Like the palace, it was +gorgeous with ornament. But it contained no image of the +deity to whom it was consecrated. His symbol, the Disk, +was alone permitted to appear. The pantheistic monotheism +of the Pharaoh thus anticipated the puritanism of the Israelitish +Law.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We learn from the inscriptions that Khu-n-Aten was not +contented with making himself the high-priest of the new +faith. Daily in the morning he gave instruction in it, +expounding its mysteries to those who would listen to him. +Acceptance of its doctrines was naturally a passport to the +offices of State. Many of these had long been held by +Asiatics, more especially by Syrians and Canaanites, and +under Khu-n-Aten these foreign immigrants more and more +usurped the highest functions of the Government. The native +Egyptians saw themselves excluded from the posts which had +brought them not only dignity, but wealth. Naturally, therefore, +the bitter feelings engendered by the war waged against +the old religion of Egypt were increased by this promotion of +the stranger to the offices of State which they had regarded as +their own. The Canaan they had conquered had revenged +itself by conquering their king. Not only religion, but self-interest +also, urged the native Egyptian to put an end to the +reforming schemes of the Pharaoh, and to religious animosity +was added race hatred as well.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The storm broke shortly before Khu-n-Aten’s death. His +mummy indeed was laid in the magnificent grave he had +excavated in the recesses of a desolate mountain-valley, but the +granite sarcophagus in which it was deposited was never placed +in the niche prepared for it, but was hacked to pieces by his +enemies as it lay in the columned hall of the tomb, while the +body within it was torn to shreds. Nor was his mother Teie +ever laid by his side. Even the bodies of his dead daughters +were maltreated and despoiled.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>Khu-n-Aten was followed by one or two short-lived Pharaohs +in the city he had built. Then the end came. The city was +destroyed, the stones of its temple were transported elsewhere +to furnish materials for the sanctuaries of the victorious Amon, +and such of the adherents of the new faith as could not escape +from the country either apostatised or were slain. A new king +arose who represented the national party and the worship of +the national god, and the Semitic strangers who had governed +Egypt as European strangers govern it to-day disappeared for +a time from the land. Their kinsfolk who remained, like the +Israelites in Goshen, were reduced to the condition of public +slaves.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Here, then, is the explanation of the rise of that ‘new king +which knew not Joseph.’ We must see in him, not the +founder of the eighteenth dynasty who expelled the Hyksos, +but Ramses <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr>, the founder of the nineteenth dynasty, with +whom all danger of Asiatic domination in Egypt came finally +to an end. The nineteenth dynasty represented the national +reaction against the Asiatic faith of Khu-n-Aten and the +government of the country by Asiatic officials. It meant +Egypt as against Asia. And the policy of the new rulers of +Egypt was not long in declaring itself. Ramses <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr> indeed +reigned too short a time to do more than establish his +family firmly on the throne; but his son and successor, Seti +Meneptah <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr>, once more overran Syria and made Palestine an +Egyptian province; while Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, who followed him, took +measures to prevent such of the Asiatics as were still in +Egypt from ever again becoming formidable to the native +population.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The causes that led to the enslavement of the Israelites and +to the Exodus out of Egypt were the same as those which in +our own day led to the rebellion of Arabi. Religious and race +hatreds were mingled together, and the ‘national party’ which +grudged to the foreigner his share in the spoils of government +aimed at destroying both him and his religion. Ramses <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr>, +however, was more fortunate than Arabi. No foreign power +<span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>came to the help of the Syrian settlers on the Nile, and the +leader of the Egyptian patriots became the favourite of the +Theban priesthood and the sovereign of Egypt. From this +time forward we hear no more of the use of the Babylonian +language and script in the public correspondence of the +Egyptians.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The oppression of the Israelites, then, is a natural and +necessary part of the political history of the nineteenth +dynasty. It fits in with the policy which the dynasty was +placed on the throne to carry out. And an inscription discovered +by Professor Flinders Petrie in 1896 supplements the +story in an unexpected way. It was engraved by order of +Meneptah <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, the son and successor of Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, on a large +slab of granite, and placed in a temple he built at Thebes, +on the western bank of the Nile. Its twenty-eight lines +contain a song of triumph over the defeat of the Libyans and +their allies from the Greek seas which took place in the fifth +year of the king’s reign. Towards the end the poet sums up +all the glorious deeds of the Pharaoh. ‘The chiefs,’ he says, +‘are overthrown and speak only of peace. None of the +Barbarians (literally, the Nine Bows) lifts up his head. +Wasted (?) is the land of the Libyans; the land of the Hittites +is tranquillised; captive is the land of Canaan and utterly +miserable; carried away is the land of Ashkelon; overpowered is +the land of Gezer; the land of Innuam (in Central Syria) is +brought to nought. The Israelites are spoiled so that they +have no seed, the land of Khar (Southern Palestine) is become +like the widows of Egypt.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>Here the Israelites alone are described as without local +habitation. They alone had no ‘land’ in which they dwelt, +and which was called after their name. It would seem, therefore, +that when the song was composed they had already fled +from Egypt and been lost in the unknown recesses of the +eastern desert. But the poet knew that they were of Canaanitish +origin; that they were, in fact, the kinsmen of the Horites +of Southern Palestine. Their misfortunes, consequently, were +<span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>equally the misfortunes of ‘Khar,’ whose women had been +made as widows since the male seed of Israel had been cut +off.<a id='r158'></a><a href='#f158' class='c013'><sup>[158]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>After the fashion of court-poets, the author of the hymn of +victory is not careful about ascribing to his royal master such +successes as he could himself really claim. He has skilfully +combined the victories of Meneptah with those of his father, +and given him the credit of conquests which he had not made. +The Hittites had been ‘tranquillised’ by Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, not by +Meneptah, and Canaan had been the conquest of Ramses and +his father Seti. We may accordingly conclude that in the +case of the Israelites also Meneptah is made to claim what +does not properly belong to him. According to the book of +Exodus, it was the Pharaoh of the Oppression rather than the +Pharaoh of the Exodus who ordered that ‘every son’ should +be ‘cast into the river,’ and only the daughters saved alive.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The agreement, however, between the Biblical narrative and +the expression used on the stela of Meneptah is very remarkable. +It is almost as if the writer of Exodus had had the inscription +before him. In both it is the male seed which we +are told was destroyed: the women were left as widows, for all +‘the men children’ were cut off. The victory over the +Israelites, of which the poet boasts, was a victory obtained by +slaying, like Herod, all the children who were males.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Nevertheless, ‘the people multiplied.’ It was impossible to +carry out literally the order of the Pharaoh, and there must +have been many children who were saved from death. Among +these was Moses, the future legislator of his race. The story +of his preservation is familiar to every one. We are told how +his mother made ‘an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with +slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and laid it in +the flags by the river’s brink.’ Then the daughter of the +Pharaoh came to bathe, and taking compassion on the child, +brought him up as her own son.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>A similar story had been told centuries before of Sargon of +Akkad, the great Babylonian conqueror and lawgiver. He, +too, it was said, had been placed by his mother ‘in an ark of +reeds, the mouth whereof she closed with pitch,’ and then +launched it on the waters of the Euphrates. The child was +carried to Akki the irrigator, who adopted him as his son, and +brought him up until the day came when, through the help of +the goddess Istar, the true origin and birth of the hero were +made known, and he became one of the mightiest of the +Babylonian kings.</p> + +<p class='c003'>A like destiny seemed in store for Moses. He was introduced +into the family of the Pharaoh, and took his place at +court among the royal princes. A punning etymology makes +the princess who adopted him speak Hebrew and give him +the name of Mosheh or Moses, from the Hebrew <span lang="hbo"><i>mâshah</i></span>, ‘to +draw out.’ Mosheh, however, is really the Egyptian <i>messu</i>, +‘son,’ a very appropriate name for an adopted child. The +name was not uncommon in Egypt; and in the time of +Meneptah, the contemporary of Moses, it was actually borne +by a ‘Prince of Kush,’ that is to say, the Egyptian governor +of Ethiopia.<a id='r159'></a><a href='#f159' class='c013'><sup>[159]</sup></a> The coincidence doubtless was the origin of +that Jewish tradition of the successful campaign of Moses in +Ethiopia as general of the Egyptian army, which is recorded in +full by Josephus.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Conjecture, both ancient and modern, has played freely +round the person of Pharaoh’s daughter. Modern writers have +pointed to the fact that the favourite daughter of Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> +bore the Canaanitish name of Bint-Anat, and had been born of a +Syrian mother. That she should have adopted a Hebrew child +would have been nothing strange. Her own sympathies would +naturally have been on the side of her Semitic ancestry. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>Moses himself belonged to the tribe of Levi, and future +generations remembered that his father was Amram and his +mother Jochebed. He had a brother Aaron, three years +older than himself, and a sister Miriam. The names of all +three were never forgotten in Israel.<a id='r160'></a><a href='#f160' class='c013'><sup>[160]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Nor did Moses, when he came to man’s estate, forget his +own people. One day, when he was of that unknown age +which the Hebrew writers expressed by the term of forty +years, he saw one of his Israelitish brethren ill-treated by the +Egyptian taskmaster; and with the unrestrained licence of a +young Oriental prince, he forthwith remedied the injustice by +slaying the Egyptian with his own hand. The act was soon +known and discussed among the Hebrew slaves; and when he +endeavoured to reconcile two of them who were quarrelling +with each other, he was told that though he might be ‘a +prince’ in the eyes of the Egyptians, he had no authority over +the Hebrew tribes. The suspicions of the Pharaoh had +already been aroused against him, and he now fled from +Egypt in fear of his life. An Egyptian papyrus, written in the +time of the twelfth dynasty, tells the story of a similar +fugitive from the Pharaoh’s wrath. This was Sinuhit, who +seems to have been accused of conspiring against the government, +and who fled, accordingly, like Moses, alone and on +foot. He made his way to the eastern boundary of Egypt; +and there, when fainting from thirst, was rescued by the Bedâwin +of the desert, and finally reached in safety the land of the +Kadmonites among the mountains of Seir. The shêkh +received him kindly, and Sinuhit in course of time married the +daughter of the Bedâwi chieftain, and became one of the +princes of the tribe. Children were born to him, and he +possessed herds and flocks in abundance. But his heart still +<span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>yearned for his native land; and when in his old age a new +Pharaoh sent messengers to say that his political offences were +forgiven, and that he might return to Egypt, Sinuhit left his +Arab wife and children and went back once more to his own +country.<a id='r161'></a><a href='#f161' class='c013'><sup>[161]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Like Sinuhit, Moses also fled to the eastern desert, beyond +the reach of the Egyptian power. He did not feel himself +safe till he found himself in Midian. The Sinaitic Peninsula—Mafkat, +as it was called—was an Egyptian province, and +the mines of malachite and copper on its western side +were garrisoned by Egyptian troops. The ‘salt’ desert of +Melukhkha, moreover, which lay between Egypt and Palestine, +was equally under Egyptian control; and, as we learn from the +Tel el-Amarna tablets, supplied contingents to the Pharaoh’s +army.<a id='r162'></a><a href='#f162' class='c013'><sup>[162]</sup></a> But in Midian Moses was safe from pursuit; and the +‘priest of Midian,’ like the shêkh of Kedem with whom +Sinuhit had to do, gave him a kindly welcome, and married +him to Zipporah, one of his daughters.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Government by a priest was a peculiarly Semitic institution. +Assur, the primitive capital of Assyria, had been governed by +high-priests before it had been governed by kings, and so too +had Saba or Sheba in the south of Arabia. There, as we learn +from inscriptions, the Makârib, or High-priests, had preceded +the kings.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Tradition has handed down more than one name for the +high-priest of Midian. In one part of the narrative in Exodus +he is called Reuel, in another part Jethro. Jethro is a distinctively +north Arabian name, for which there is monumental +evidence, and it is probably more correct than Reuel.<a id='r163'></a><a href='#f163' class='c013'><sup>[163]</sup></a> Whatever +may have been his name, however, Moses remained with +him for some time; but instead of being treated like a prince, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>as Sinuhit had been among the Kadmonites, he was set to +keep the flocks of his father-in-law.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was while thus shepherding the flocks of Jethro that +Moses came one day to Horeb, ‘the mountain of God,’ which +rose into the sky at the back of the desert. Here he beheld a +<span lang="hbo"><i>seneh</i></span> or ‘thorn-bush,’ lighted up with fire, which nevertheless +did not consume it.<a id='r164'></a><a href='#f164' class='c013'><sup>[164]</sup></a> Approaching nearer, he heard a voice +which he believed was that of God Himself, and which told +him that the mountain whereon he stood was holy ground. +Moses was then ordered to return to Egypt, and there in the +name of the God of Israel to command Pharaoh to let His +people go. Wonders and signs were to be performed before +consent would be wrung from the obdurate heart of the +Egyptian king, and ten sore plagues were to be sent upon the +inhabitants of the Delta who had joined with the Pharaoh in +his oppression of the Israelites. At the same time, God +revealed Himself under a new name, which was henceforth to +be that of the national God of Israel. On the slopes of Horeb +the name of Yahveh was first made known to man.<a id='r165'></a><a href='#f165' class='c013'><sup>[165]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span>Moses was met by Aaron ‘in the Mount of God,’ and the two +brothers returned to Egypt together, determined to deliver +Israel from its bondage, and to lead it to that sacred mountain +whereon the name of its national God had been revealed. +Unlike Sinuhit, Moses took with him his Midianitish wife and +the children she had borne him. At this point in the narrative +there has been inserted the fragment of a story which +harmonises but ill with it, or with the general spirit of Old +Testament history. The anthropomorphising legend that +‘the Lord’ met Moses and would have killed him had not +Zipporah appeased the wrathful Deity by circumcising her son, +belongs to the folklore of a people still in a state of crude +barbarism, and is part of a story which enforced the necessity +of circumcision among the Hebrew worshippers of Yahveh. +An over-minute criticism might find a contradiction between +the statement that Zipporah had but one son to circumcise, +and the fact that it was the ‘sons’ of Moses who accompanied +him to Egypt (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 20). Such verbal criticism, however, +is needless; it is sufficient for the historian that the story is a +mere fragment, almost unintelligible as it stands, and in complete +disaccord with the historical setting in which it is placed.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Moses and Aaron made their way to the court of the Pharaoh, +and there requested that the Israelites might be allowed to +journey three days into the desert, and hold a feast to their +God. The gods of the Asiatic nomads on the outskirts of +the Delta were gods of the wilderness, whom the Egyptians +identified with Set, the enemy of Horus, the deity of the +cultivated land.<a id='r166'></a><a href='#f166' class='c013'><sup>[166]</sup></a> The Pharaoh refused the request. Once +lost in the desert, the royal slaves would be lost for ever, and +would never turn back to the line of fortifications which +guarded the eastern frontier of Egypt, and, at the same time, +prevented the escape of those who dwelt within them. The +God of the Hebrews was no god whom the Pharaoh—himself +the offspring and incarnation of the Sun-god—could recognise; +they were the servants of the Egyptian king, and of none else.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>The embassy of the representatives of Israel was followed +by severer measures of repression. It indicated a rising spirit +of rebellion, a desire to return to the old free life of the desert, +and to be quit for ever of Egyptian burdens. Strikes were not +unknown among the free workmen of Thebes; but a strike +among the royal slaves was a more serious matter, and seemed +to prove that the Bedâwi spirit of independence and insubordination +was still active among the settlers in Goshen.<a id='r167'></a><a href='#f167' class='c013'><sup>[167]</sup></a> The +Israelites were still employed in building cities and fortresses, +and they were now bidden to find for themselves the <span lang="hbo"><i>tibn</i></span> or +chopped straw, which they mixed with the clay of the bricks, +and, at the same time, to deliver the same number of bricks +as before. The <span lang="hbo"><i>tibn</i></span> was employed, as it still is, for binding +the clay more closely together, but it is not essential, and +many of the ancient bricks of Egypt, more especially those +used in Upper Egypt, are made without it. In the Delta, +however, with its damper climate, the <span lang="hbo"><i>tibn</i></span> was more necessary, +and the Egyptian taskmasters, accordingly, required it, or else +some substitute for it.<a id='r168'></a><a href='#f168' class='c013'><sup>[168]</sup></a> The condition of the Israelites thus +became intolerable; they were scattered over the land, seeking +for ‘stubble instead of straw,’ and beaten mercilessly in +traditional Egyptian fashion if the full tale of bricks was not +delivered. The ‘stubble’ corresponded with the dry stalks +of the durra, which are still sometimes used for a similar +purpose, and was obtained from the beds of dry reeds which +lined the marshes in the Eastern Delta.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Once more Moses and Aaron appeared before the Pharaoh, +this time prepared to enforce their petition by signs and +wonders. That they should have had such ready access to +the sovereign may seem strange to the Western mind. But it +is in full accordance with the traditions of the Egyptian court, +which have been maintained down to the reign of the late +<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>Khedive. The ruler of the country was accessible to all who +had a complaint to make before him, or a petition to offer. +<i>Bakshish</i> might be needful before the charmed circle of +officials by which he was surrounded could be broken through; +but once it was broken, he was bound to give audience to +whosoever came to him. Moses and Aaron, moreover, were +the delegates and representatives of their people, and as such +had a right to be heard. The system they represented is still +in full force in modern Egypt. Each class of the community, +each religion, each trade, each nationality, has its recognised +representative or ‘shêkh,’ who stands between it and the +government, and acts on its behalf in all political and legal +matters. He is as much its representative as an ambassador +or consul is the representative of the nation which has +accredited him, and the rights and privileges which belong to +an ambassador belong also to the ‘shêkh.’ The Pharaoh +could not exclude Moses and Aaron from his presence, even +though the people they represented were public slaves.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Hebrew wonder-workers were confronted by the +magicians of Egypt. Amon-Ra could not yield without a +struggle to the God of the ‘impure’ stranger. The miracles +performed by the representatives of the Israelitish people were +not beyond the powers of his servants, and the magical +powers of the Egyptian priests had been famous from the +beginning of time. The Egyptian had an intense belief in +magic—a belief which still survives in the modern Egypt of +to-day. Books had been compiled which reduced this magic +to a science, and enabled those who would learn its formulæ +and methods to reverse the order of nature and work whatsoever +wonder they desired.<a id='r169'></a><a href='#f169' class='c013'><sup>[169]</sup></a> To transform a rod into a serpent, +or a serpent into a rod, was a comparatively easy feat, and one +which the jugglers of Cairo can still perform. Equally easy +was it to turn the water of the river into blood, or even to +multiply the frogs on the wet land. It was only when the +plague of lice touched themselves that the power of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>magicians failed, and that they confessed themselves overcome +by a stronger deity than those they owned. Their magic +could not remove the plague which had fallen upon them; +their own garments were defiled in spite of their charms and +amulets, and they had become more unclean than the +‘unclean’ foreigner himself.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The account of the ten plagues of Egypt betrays an intimate +acquaintance with the characteristics and peculiarities of the +valley of the Nile. They are all plagues which still recur +there; some of them indeed may be said never to have left +the country. Still, each year, the water of the river becomes +like blood at the time of the inundation. When the Nile +first begins to rise, towards the end of June, the red marl +brought from the mountains of Abyssinia stains it to a dark +colour, which glistens like blood in the light of the setting +sun.<a id='r170'></a><a href='#f170' class='c013'><sup>[170]</sup></a> Each year, too, the inundation brings with it myriads +of frogs, which swarm along the banks of the river and canals, +and fill the night air with continuous croakings. The lice, +again, are an ever-present plague among the poorer natives, +while every spring the flies still swarm in the houses and open +air, and irritate the visitor to Egypt almost beyond endurance. +Flies and lice, frogs and blood-red water, are all as much a part +of modern Egypt as they were of the Egypt of the Mosaic age. +Natives and strangers alike suffered from them, and that the +plague of flies did not reach to Goshen must have seemed to +the Egyptians a miracle of miracles.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Those who have had experience of the flies of Egypt can +sympathise with the Pharaoh when he hastily summoned the +leaders of Israel and bade them offer sacrifice to the God who +<span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>had thus shown himself a veritable ‘Lord of Flies.’ The +plague which followed—the murrain upon the cattle<a id='r171'></a><a href='#f171' class='c013'><sup>[171]</sup></a>—is of +rarer occurrence, though from time to time it still decimates +the cattle and horses of Egypt. A strict quarantine upon +animals, however, is now enforced at the Asiatic frontier, and +some years, therefore, have elapsed since the last outbreak +of the cattle-plague. But the plague of boils and blains is +still endemic, and residents in the country seldom wholly +escape it. The plague of the thunder and hail is also not +unfrequent; as recently as the spring of 1895 a violent +storm of the kind swept along the valley of the Nile and +destroyed three thousand acres of cultivated land. The +locusts, too, now and again, are carried by the south-east +wind from the shores of the Red Sea to devour the rising +crops, while the darkness that might be felt was but a +heightened form of the darkness occasioned by the <i>khamasin</i> +winds and sand-storms of the spring. Even the death of the +firstborn has its parallel in the epidemic of cholera. In the +space of a single year (1895-1896) the Egypt of our own days +has experienced most of the plagues of which we read in the +book of Exodus. Blood-red water, frogs and lice, flies and +boils, hailstorms and darkness, the scourge of cholera, have +all visited the land.</p> + +<p class='c003'>There was nothing, consequently, in the plagues themselves +that was either supernatural or contra-natural. They were +all characteristic of Egypt, and of Egypt alone. They were +signs and wonders, not because they introduced new and +unknown forces into the life of the Egyptians, but because +the diseases and plagues already known to the country were +intensified in action and crowded into a short space of time. +The magicians beheld in them ‘the finger’ of the God of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>Hebrews, since they came and went at the command of the +Hebrew leader, and all the magic of Egypt was powerless +before them. Amon-Ra had found a mightier than himself; +and the books of Thoth contained no spells or mystical +incantations which could avail against the scourges that +afflicted priest and layman alike. The reluctant Pharaoh +could no longer resist the cries of his people. Egypt was +perishing, and his own son had died of the plague. It +was better that his cities should remain unfinished than that +there should be none to fill them when they were built. +In the plagues that had descended on them, his subjects saw +the hand of the wrathful Hebrew Deity, eager for the sacrifices +which His people had been prevented from offering to Him +in the desert, and the sceptical Pharaoh himself at last became +a convert to their belief. In fear lest a worse evil might befall +him, he gave the order that the Israelites should be allowed to +pass the fortresses that separated Goshen from the wilderness +beyond, and the royal slaves were free to depart.</p> + +<p class='c003'>For how long a time Egypt had thus been stricken by +plague after plague is hard to determine. The impression +left by the narrative is that they followed quickly one upon +the other, and that consequently the period was of no great +length. It is true that the Nile turns ‘red’ in July, and that +the wheat ripens in the spring; but, on the other hand, the +locusts, we are told, eat ‘all that the hail had left.’ At any +rate, it is clear that the Hebrew writer intended us to believe +that less than a year elapsed between the first visit of the +Israelitish representatives to the Pharaoh and the flight into +the wilderness. All was over before the end of March—‘the +first month’ of the Hebrew year.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Egyptian monuments have given us a different version +of the causes which obliged Meneptah to consent to the +exodus of his Asiatic serfs. In the light of the stela discovered +by Professor Petrie at Thebes, we can now understand the +mutilated inscription in which the Pharaoh records on the +walls of Karnak his victory over the barbarians in the fifth +<span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>year of his reign. Lower Egypt and its civilisation were never +nearer to destruction. The Libyans of Northern Africa had +combined with the populations of the Greek Seas, and the +barbarians had overrun the Delta, destroying its cities, +massacring its population, and carrying away its spoil. While +Maraiu, the Libyan king, devastated the eastern banks of the +Nile, his northern allies—the Sardinians and Achæans, the +Lycians and Siculians—landed on the coasts of the Delta, and +marched southward until they joined him.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It would seem that they found allies in Egypt itself. +Meneptah tells us that he endeavoured to save what was left +of his dominions by throwing up fortifications in front of +Memphis and Heliopolis, ‘the city of Tum.’ For Egypt was +threatened not only on the west and on the north. Eastward +also, in the land of Goshen, there were enemies, pastoral +nomads from Asia, who had been allowed to live there for +many generations. Their ‘tents,’ the Pharaoh declares, had +been pitched ‘in front of the city of Pi-Bailos,’ the modern +Belbeis, at the western extremity of the region in which the +Israelites were settled. ‘The kings of Lower Egypt’ found +themselves shut up and isolated in their fortified cities, ‘cut +off from everything by the foe, with no mercenaries whom they +could oppose to them.’<a id='r172'></a><a href='#f172' class='c013'><sup>[172]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>But Meneptah had been ‘crowned to preserve the life’ of +his subjects. In the month of Epiphi, our July, the great battle +<span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>was fought which annihilated the hordes of the invaders and +saved the inhabitants of Egypt. Six thousand three hundred +and sixty-five Libyan slain were counted on the field of battle, +and 2370 of the northern barbarians, while 9376 prisoners +fell into the hands of the conqueror. It was little wonder that +the Egyptian poets composed pæans in honour of the victory, +or that one of these hymns of triumph should have been +engraved on a stela of the temple which Meneptah raised at +Thebes to Amon-Ra.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is in this latter hymn, as has been already said, that the +name of the ‘Israelites’ has been found. They are included +among the enemies over whom the Pharaoh had triumphed; +but, unlike his other enemies, they possessed no land which +they could call their own. They had no fixed habitation, +there was no locality which was called after their name. But +the Egyptian poet knew that they had come originally from +Southern Palestine; the destruction of their male ‘seed’ had +widowed the women of ‘Khar.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was the pressure of the Libyan invasion, therefore, which +had placed Meneptah at the mercy of his Israelitish slaves. +With the Libyans and their allies in the east and north, and a +hostile population in the land of Goshen, he had been forced +to fortify Memphis and Heliopolis, and to yield to those +demands for freedom which he was not strong enough to +resist. To the ten plagues of which we have the record in +the book of Exodus there was added the more terrible plague +of the Libyan invasion. In his inscription Meneptah speaks +not only of the barbarian enemy who harassed the frontier and +devastated the seaports, but also of the ‘rebels’ who were +destroying the country from within, and in these rebels whose +tents were pitched ‘in front of Pi-Bailos’ we must see the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_173'>173</span>Israelites of the Old Testament. Crushed and unwarlike +though they may have been, they were nevertheless a source +of danger, and, like Mohammed Ali in the presence of the +Bedâwin, the Pharaoh found it necessary to agree to their +demands.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Meneptah’s victory was gained in the middle of the summer. +It was in the spring that the Exodus of the Israelites had +taken place. Along with the descendants of Jacob had gone +‘a mixed multitude,’ fragments, it may be, of that wave of +Libyan invasion which was rolling over the Delta. At any +rate, it was not the Israelites only who had made their way +towards Asia. There were other royal slaves also, like the +‘Apuriu who were employed in drawing the stone that was +quarried on the eastern bank of the Nile. The resemblance +between their name and that of the Hebrews may have led to +a confusion between the brickmakers of Pharaoh and the +transporters of his stone.</p> + +<p class='c003'>There was an Egyptian legend of the Israelitish Exodus +which was embodied in the history of Manetho, from whom +it has been quoted by Josephus.<a id='r173'></a><a href='#f173' class='c013'><sup>[173]</sup></a> The Pharaoh Amenôphis, +it was said, desired to see the gods, as his predecessor Oros +(or Khu-n-Aten) had done. On the advice of the seer, +Amenôphis the son of Paapis, he accordingly cleared the land +of the leprous and ‘impure,’ separating them from the rest of +the Egyptians, to the number of eighty thousand, and condemning +them to work, like the ’Apuriu of the monuments, in +the quarries on the eastern side of the Nile. But among them +were some priests who were under the special protection of +the gods. When the seer heard of the sacrilege that had +been committed against their persons, he prophesied that the +impure people would find allies, and with their help rule over +Egypt for thirteen years. Not daring to tell the king of his +prophecy, he committed it to writing, and then destroyed +himself. After a while the workers in the quarries begged +the Pharaoh to send them to Avaris, the old fortress of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_174'>174</span>Hyksos, which lay on the Asiatic frontier of Egypt, empty and +uninhabited. The request was granted; but no sooner were +they settled in their new abode than they rose in rebellion, +and chose as their leader Osarsiph, a priest of On. He gave +them new laws, forbidding them, among other things, to revere +the sacred animals, and set them to rebuild the walls of Avaris. +He also sent to the Hyksos at Jerusalem asking them for their +help. A force of two hundred thousand men was accordingly +despatched to Avaris, and this was followed by the invasion +of Egypt. Amenôphis fled to Ethiopia, with the bull Apis +and other holy animals, after ordering the images of the gods +to be concealed. His son Sethos, who was also called +Ramesses, after his grandfather Ramesses the Great, and who +was at the time only five years of age, was placed in charge of a +friend. Amenôphis remained in Ethiopia for thirteen years, +while Osarsiph, who had assumed the name of Moses, and his +Hyksos allies committed innumerable atrocities. Temples +and towns were destroyed, and the priests and sacred animals +were killed. But at last the fated term of years was over; +Amenôphis returned at the head of an army, and the enemy +was utterly overthrown and pursued to the borders of Syria.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In this legend truth and fiction have been mingled together. +The foreigner, and more especially the Asiatic foreigner, was +stigmatised as ‘impure’ by the Egyptians, and in the leprous +people who were confined in the quarries of the eastern desert +we must, therefore, see simply a stranger race. Osarsiph +derives his name from Joseph, the latter name being regarded +(as in Psalm <abbr title='eighty-one'>lxxxi.</abbr> 6) as a compound of Yo or Yahveh, which +is identified with the Egyptian Osiris. Amenôphis,<a id='r174'></a><a href='#f174' class='c013'><sup>[174]</sup></a> the son +of Paapis, is Amenôphis (or rather, Amenôthes), the son of +Hapi who erected the colossal statues of ‘Memnon’ and its +companion at Thebes during the reign of Amenôphis <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_175'>175</span>the Pharaoh Amenôphis, the son of Ramesses, and father of +Sethos, is Meneptah, the son of Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, and father of +Seti <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr></p> + +<p class='c003'>The return of Amenôphis from Ethiopia was derived from a +sort of Messianic prophecy found already in a papyrus of the +age of Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> Here we read that ‘a king will come +from the South, Ameni the truth-declaring by name. He will +be the son of a woman of Nubia, and will be born in.... +He will assume the crown of Upper Egypt, and will lift up the +red crown of Lower Egypt. He will unite the double crown.... +The people of the age of the son of man will rejoice and +establish his name for all eternity. They will be far from +evil, and the wicked will humble their mouths for fear of +him. The Asiatics will fall before his blows, and the Libyans +before his flame. The wicked will wait on his judgments, the +rebels on his power. The royal serpent on his brow will +pacify the revolted. A wall shall be built, even that of +the prince, so that the Asiatics may no more enter into +Egypt.’<a id='r175'></a><a href='#f175' class='c013'><sup>[175]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>With this prince of ancient prophecy who should save +Egypt from its Asiatic and Libyan foes, it was easy for popular +tradition to identify the Meneptah who had annihilated both +Libyans and Asiatics, and to combine his name with that of +Ameni into the compound Amenôphis. At any rate, the +Egyptian legend bears witness to the fact that Meneptah was +the Pharaoh of the Exodus, and that the flight of the Israelites +was connected with the Libyan invasion of the valley of the +Nile.<a id='r176'></a><a href='#f176' class='c013'><sup>[176]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_176'>176</span>The Israelites themselves connected the flight with the institution +of the feast of the Passover. But the feast of the Passover +seems to have been a combination of two older festivals. One of +these was commemorated by eating for seven days unleavened +bread; the other by the sacrifice of a lamb, the blood of which +was smeared on the doorposts and lintel of the house, the +lamb itself being roasted and eaten at midnight with bitter +herbs. The feast of unleavened bread followed immediately +upon the feast of the Passover, which lasted from the tenth to +the fourteenth day of the first month of the Hebrew sacred +year.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Dr. Clay Trumbull has shown that the Passover was but an +adaptation of the old rite which he terms the ‘Threshold +Covenant.’<a id='r177'></a><a href='#f177' class='c013'><sup>[177]</sup></a> It was a rite which went back to the earliest +age of mankind, and of which we find traces in many parts of +the world. Even in the Egypt of to-day the building of a +new house or boat is not complete without the slaughter of a +sheep, the blood of which is allowed to fall on the threshold +of the house or the deck and side of a vessel. The blood was +the mark of the sacrifice by which the master of the house +entered into covenant with the stranger, or even with his god. +Where it appeared the avenging deity passed by, mindful of +the covenant, and remembering that the house contained a +friend and not an enemy. The threshold became an altar, +and those who passed over it were made members of the +family, and shared with them their rights and their religion. +When once the bride had crossed the threshold of her new +home, she left behind her all her old ties and relations, and +became a member of a new family.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_177'>177</span>To quote the words of Dr. Clay Trumbull, ‘Long before’ +the night of the Exodus, ‘a covenant welcome was given to a +guest who was to become as one of the family, or to a bride or +bridegroom in marriage, by the outpouring of blood on the +threshold of the door, and by staining the doorway itself with +the blood of the covenant. And now,’ on the eve of the +flight from Goshen, ‘Jehovah announced that He was to visit +Egypt on a designated night, and that those who would +welcome Him should prepare a threshold covenant, or a +passover sacrifice, as a proof of that welcome; for where no +such welcome was made ready for Him by the family, He must +count the threshold as His enemy.’<a id='r178'></a><a href='#f178' class='c013'><sup>[178]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The belief that sacrifice alone could secure the house from +the wrath of Heaven has been spread widely over the world. +Numberless traces of it are to be found in the folklore of +Europe. Popular legend knows of bridges and castles which +refused to stand until the human victim had been buried +beneath their foundations, and even <abbr title='Saint'>S.</abbr> Columba was held to +have been unable to build his cathedral at Iona until his +companion Oran had been immured alive beneath its foundation-stones. +We learn from the Old Testament that the +belief was strong among the Israelites also. When Hiel of +Beth-el rebuilt the ruined Jericho, we are told that ‘he laid the +foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the +gates thereof in his youngest son Segub’ (1 Kings <abbr title='sixteen'>xvi.</abbr> 34). +The Deity had a right to the firstborn; and if this right were +not recognised by the sacrifice either of the firstborn himself +or of a substitute, there could be no covenant between the +family and its gods. A new building implied a new local +habitation for the family and the gods it worshipped; and +where there was no covenant between them, the gods would +come as foes and not as friends.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Passover feast was therefore nothing new. The rite +connected with it and the ideas associated with the rite must +have long been familiar to the Israelites. What was new was +<span class='pageno' id='Page_178'>178</span>the adaptation of the rite to the new covenant that Yahveh +was about to enter into with His people. It became ‘the +Lord’s Passover,’ commemorating the deliverance from Egypt +when Yahveh smote the Egyptian firstborn, but ‘passed over +the houses of the children of Israel.’ Like the old springtide +feast of unleavened bread, it was given a new signification, +and made a memorial of the first event in the national life of +Israel. A similar significance was given to a change that was +made in the calendar. The Hebrew year had begun in the +autumn with the month of September; but side by side with +this West-Semitic calendar there had also been in use in +Palestine another calendar, that of Babylonia, according to +which the year began with Nisan or March. It was this +Babylonian calendar which was now introduced for ritual +purposes. While the civil year still began in the autumn, it +was ordained that the sacred year should begin in the spring. +The sacred year was determined by the annual festivals, and +the first of the festivals was henceforth to be the Passover. +The beginning of the new year was henceforth fixed by the +Passover moon.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was at midnight that the angel of death passed over the +land of Egypt. The plague spared neither rich nor poor. +The firstborn of Pharaoh died like the firstborn of the captive +in prison. Vain attempts have been made to discover which +among the sons of Meneptah this may have been. But +Meneptah lived many years after the overthrow of the Libyans, +and consequently after the Exodus of the Israelites, and it may +not have been till late in his reign that his successor, Seti <abbr title='the second'>II.</abbr>, +became crown-prince. More than one elder brother may have +died meanwhile. Moreover, none but the son of a princess of +the royal solar race could sit on the throne of the Pharaohs. +The reigning king might have elder sons born to him by +foreign princesses, but his successor could not be chosen from +among them. He only who could trace his descent to the +Sun-god, who was, in short, a direct descendant of the Pharaohs, +had any right to the throne.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_179'>179</span>Amid the terrors of the plague, and under cover of the +darkness, the Israelites and their companions, the ‘mixed +multitude,’ departed from the land of Goshen. They took +with them their flocks and herds; they took also such precious +plunder as they could easily carry away from the houses of +their terrified masters. They ‘borrowed,’ according to the +euphemistic expression of the chronicler, ‘jewels of silver and +jewels of gold, and raiment,’ ‘and they spoiled the Egyptians.’ +It was little wonder that the Pharaoh subsequently determined +to pursue the retreating hordes.</p> + +<p class='c003'>They first made their way from ‘Rameses to Succoth.’ +Succoth is the Thukut of the Egyptian texts, the district in +which Pithom was situated, and which extended from the land +of Goshen to the line of fortifications that enclosed Egypt on +the East. It is mentioned in the letter sent to Meneptah +three years after the Israelitish Exodus, which we have already +had occasion to quote.<a id='r179'></a><a href='#f179' class='c013'><sup>[179]</sup></a> The flight of the Israelites had left +the district uninhabited, and it was not very long before it was +again handed over to some of their Edomite kinsmen, who +wanted pasture for their herds.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The site of the town of Rameses is still uncertain. It is +called Pi-Ramses, ‘the House of Ramses,’ in the hieroglyphic +texts, and, like Zoan, it lay near the canal of Pa-shet-Hor. A +long description is given of it by the scribe Paebpasa, who +was stationed at Zaru, on the eastern frontier of Egypt, during +the early part of Meneptah’s reign. He tells us (according to +Brugsch’s translation)<a id='r180'></a><a href='#f180' class='c013'><sup>[180]</sup></a> how he had ‘arrived at the city of +Ramses and found it excellent, for nothing can compare with +it on the Theban land and soil.... Its canals are rich in +fish, its lakes swarm with birds, its meadows are green with +vegetables, there is no end of the lentils; melons with a taste +like honey grow in the irrigated fields. Its barns are full +of wheat and durra, and reach as high as heaven.... +The canal, Pa-shet-Hor, produces salt, the lake-region of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_180'>180</span>Pa-Hirnatron. Their sea-ships enter the harbour, plenty and +abundance is abundant in it.’ And then the scribe goes on to +describe the annual festivities of its inhabitants in honour of +their founder Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr></p> + +<p class='c003'>In Thukut or Succoth were fortresses which protected the +Delta from Asiatic incursions, and at the same time prevented +those who were in Egypt from escaping out of it without the +permission of the Government. One of them was called ‘the +Khetem,’ or ‘Fortress, of Thukut’; another the Khetem of +Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> Both seem to be mentioned in a report sent to +Meneptah’s successor, Seti <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> Here we read: ‘I set out +from the hall of the royal palace (in Zoan) on the 9th day +of the month Epiphi, in the evening, after the two (fugitive) +slaves. I arrived at the Khetem of Thukut on the <abbr title='tenth'>10th</abbr> of +Epiphi. I was informed that the men had resolved to take +their way towards the south. On the <abbr title='twelfth'>12th</abbr> I reached the +Khetem. There I was informed that grooms who had come +from the neighbourhood [had reported] that the fugitives had +already passed the Wall to the north of the Migdol of king +Seti Meneptah.’<a id='r181'></a><a href='#f181' class='c013'><sup>[181]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The runaway slaves must have taken the same road as that +which had been taken by the Israelites before them. The +Israelites had avoided the nearest and more usual road to +Palestine, which ran along the edge of the Mediterranean and +passed through Gaza. The Philistines were already threatening +the southern coast of Canaan, and Gaza was garrisoned +by Egyptian troops. The undisciplined and unwarlike multitude +which followed Moses would have been cut to pieces +had they ventured to force their way through them, or else +would have returned to Egypt. They turned therefore southward +towards the desert and ‘the way of the wilderness of the +Yâm Sûph.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>From Succoth, we are told, they marched to Etham ‘in the +edge of the wilderness.’ Brugsch was the first to see that in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_181'>181</span>Etham we have a Hebrew transcription of the Egyptian +Khetem. The only question is, which of the many Khetemu +or ‘Fortresses’ which protected the Asiatic frontier of Egypt +this particular Etham may have been. We hear of ‘the +Khetem of Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, which is in the district of Zaru,’ at +the very point where one of the roads to Asia passed through +the great line of fortification, and the report quoted above +tells us of another Khetem, that of Thukut. It was, however, +the second Khetem mentioned in the report which is referred +to in the Old Testament narrative. This second Khetem lay +between Succoth and the lines of fortification, and might +therefore be described as ‘in the edge of the wilderness,’ which +began on the eastern side of the Shur or fortified wall. It +was, in fact, the fortress which guarded one of the roads out of +Egypt at the point where it intersected the lines. To the +south of it came the Migdol or Tower of King Meneptah.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is possible that this may be the Migdol which is stated +in the book of Exodus to have been near the next camping-place +of the Israelites. From the fortress of Etham they had +turned to the ‘sea,’ and had there pitched their tents ‘before +Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon.’ +In Baal-zephon, ‘Baal of the North,’ we have the +name of a Phœnician temple, which is alluded to in an +Egyptian papyrus;<a id='r182'></a><a href='#f182' class='c013'><sup>[182]</sup></a> and in place of Pi-hahiroth, the Septuagint +and Coptic versions read ‘the farmstead,’ reminding us of the +<i>ahu</i> or ‘estate’ of Pharaoh in the district of Thukut, on which +the Edomite herdsmen were afterwards allowed to settle.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But what is ‘the sea,’ by the side of which the Israelites +encamped? Its identification has been the subject of much +controversy—a fact, however, which ceases to astonish us +when we find that the Hebrew writers themselves were uncertain +about it. While in the narrative of the Exodus ‘the +sea’ crossed by the Israelites is carefully distinguished from +the ‘Yâm Sûph’ or ‘Reedy Sea,’ at which they subsequently +arrived, there are other passages in the Old Testament, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_182'>182</span>more especially of a poetical nature, in which the two seas +are confounded together. Two irreconcileable systems of +geography are thus presented to us which have hitherto made +the geography of the Exodus an insoluble problem.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In the narrative, however, all is clear and exact. The +children of Israel, it was determined, instead of following the +northern road to Palestine, should march along that which led +to ‘the wilderness of the Yâm Sûph.’ But between them and +this wilderness lay the Egyptian wall of fortification, which +extended from the marshes in the north to the Gulf of Suez, +or its prolongation, in the south. It was only when they had +turned the southern end of the wall by crossing ‘the sea’ +that they entered ‘the wilderness of the wall,’ where they +wandered for three days without finding water (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 22). +Later they came to the palm-grove of Elim, and then after +that to the Yâm Sûph (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 10).</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Yâm Sûph was well known to Hebrew geography, and +corresponded with the modern Gulf of Aqaba. It was upon +the Yâm Sûph, at Elath and Ezion-geber, ‘in the land of +Edom,’ that Solomon built his ships (1 Kings <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 26); and after +the capture of Arad, in the extreme south of Canaan, the +Israelites marched ‘from mount Hor by the way of Yâm Sûph, +in order to compass the land of Edom’ (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 4). Elim +is but another form of Elath, the ruins of which lie close to +Aqaba, while the town of Sûph lay ‘over against’ the wilderness +in the plains of Moab (<abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 1). The Yâm Sûph, in +fact, so erroneously rendered ‘the Red Sea’ in the Authorised +Version, was the Gulf of Aqaba. The sister Gulf of Suez +was called by the Hebrews ‘the Egyptian Sea’ (Isa. xi. 15), a +very appropriate name, since it was enclosed on either side +by Egyptian territory. From the days of the third dynasty to +those of the Ptolemies, Mafkat, the Sinaitic peninsula, was +included among the provinces of Egypt.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In the list of the Israelitish stations given in <abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> +a careful distinction is made between the Yâm Sûph (<abbr title='verse'>ver.</abbr> 10) +and ‘the sea,’ through the midst of which the fugitives from +<span class='pageno' id='Page_183'>183</span>Pharaoh passed safely into the wilderness. This ‘sea’ washed +the southern extremity of the Shur or ‘Wall’ of fortification, +the line of which was approximately that of the Suez Canal. +If Dr. Naville is right, in the days of the Exodus it would have +extended much further to the north than is at present the +case; the Bitter Lakes, in fact, marking its northern boundary. +But there are serious difficulties in the way of this hypothesis. +The canal which, in the time of Seti <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr>, already united the +Pelusiac arm of the Nile with the Gulf of Suez, ran southward +as far as the modern town of Suez, where its mouth can still +be traced. Only five miles north of Suez, moreover, the +fragments of a stela can still be seen, on which Darius commemorated +his reopening of the old canal of the Pharaohs. +Had the gulf really extended so far north as Ismailîya and +the Bitter Lakes, this southern prolongation of the canal would +be hard to understand.</p> + +<p class='c003'>However this may be, the poets and later writers of the +Old Testament came to forget what was meant by ‘the sea.’ +It was confounded with the Yâm Sûph, and the scene of the +Exodus was accordingly transferred from the Gulf of Suez to +the Gulf of Aqaba. Dr. Winckler has recently endeavoured +to show that besides Muzri or Egypt, the Assyrian inscriptions +know of another Muzri or ‘borderland’ in the north-west of +Arabia. If so, this second Muzri or Egypt might help to +explain the confusion between the two seas.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is in the song of triumph over the destruction of the +Egyptians that the confusion first makes its appearance. Here +(<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 4) ‘the sea’ and ‘the Yâm Sûph’ are used as equivalents, +and the contents of the song are summed up at the end +in the statement that ‘Moses brought Israel from the Yâm +Sûph.’ But elsewhere in the Pentateuch the geography is +accurate, and it is not until we come to the speeches in the +book of Joshua that the two seas are once more confused +together.<a id='r183'></a><a href='#f183' class='c013'><sup>[183]</sup></a> The same geographical error is repeated in two +of the later Psalms, as well as in a passage of the book of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_184'>184</span>Nehemiah.<a id='r184'></a><a href='#f184' class='c013'><sup>[184]</sup></a> The older Hebrew geography had by this time +been forgotten; with the loss of Edom and its seaports an +exact knowledge of the two arms of the Red Sea had faded +from the memories of the Jews. But in the historical narrative +of the Pentateuch all is still distinct and clear.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Hardly had the Israelites left Goshen before the Pharaoh +repented of his permission for their departure. The retreating +multitude, encumbered with women and children, with flocks +and herds, and with the booty that had been carried off from +the Egyptians, was still encamped within the lines of fortification, +near the southernmost Migdol or ‘Tower,’ and on the +shores of ‘the sea.’ Southward was a waterless desert; behind +were the hostile forces of Egypt. The situation seemed hopeless; +‘the wilderness,’ as the Pharaoh said, had ‘shut them +in,’ and there seemed no escape from the Egyptian troops +which had now been sent in pursuit of them.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But Israel was saved, as it were, by miracle. All night long +the sky was black with clouds, while a strong east wind drove +the shallow waters of ‘the sea’ before it towards the western +bank. The fugitives marched in haste through its dried-up +bed, and before morning dawned they had reached the eastern +shore. The Egyptian forces pursued, but it was too late. +The wheels of the chariots sank into the soft sand, and before +they could advance far the wind dropped and the waters +returned upon them. The chariots and host of Pharaoh were +overwhelmed by the flowing tide.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Classical history knew of similar events. Diodoros (<abbr title='sixteen'>xvi.</abbr> 46) +tells us that when Artaxerxes of Persia led his forces against +Egypt, part of his army perished, swallowed up in the ‘gulfs’ +of the Sirbonian Lake on the Mediterranean Sea. Alexander’s +troops, moreover, narrowly escaped being swallowed up by +the waters of the Pamphylian Gulf, through which they +passed during the winter, and their escape was magnified by +later writers into a miracle.<a id='r185'></a><a href='#f185' class='c013'><sup>[185]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_185'>185</span>The Pharaoh was not himself among the six hundred chariots +which had pursued the flying Israelites into ‘the sea.’<a id='r186'></a><a href='#f186' class='c013'><sup>[186]</sup></a> As in +the great battle against the Libyans, Meneptah, while taking +the field in person, nevertheless took care to avoid actual +danger and to delegate his authority to others when there was +a prospect of fighting. He lived several years after the Libyan +victory, and therefore after the Israelitish Exodus; and though +his tomb in the Bibân el-Molûk at Thebes was never finished, +he was buried in it at a ripe old age. A dirge,<a id='r187'></a><a href='#f187' class='c013'><sup>[187]</sup></a> probably +composed at the time of his death, speaks of the king as +dying at an advanced period of life.</p> + +<p class='c003'>With the waters of ‘the sea’ between themselves and Egypt, +the Israelites felt that they were at last free men. The fortified +wall of Egypt was behind them; they were already in the +desert-home of their Asiatic kinsmen, free to move whithersoever +they desired. But there was one road which they +<span class='pageno' id='Page_186'>186</span>could not take. If the fear of ‘seeing war’ had kept them +back from the northern road to Palestine, it would still more +keep them from the road which led into the Egyptian province +of Mafkat. Here on the western side of the Sinaitic peninsula +were the mines of copper and malachite worked by +Egyptian convicts, and strongly garrisoned by Egyptian troops. +To venture near them would have been to court again the +danger from which the fugitives had just escaped.<a id='r188'></a><a href='#f188' class='c013'><sup>[188]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The road was well known. For centuries it had been +trodden by Egyptian troops and miners, by civil officials and +the convicts of whom they had charge. There was no +difficulty, therefore, in avoiding it, and in plunging instead +into the desert which led to their kinsfolk in Edom and that +land of Canaan which was their ultimate goal.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Old errors die hard, and the belief that the Sinaitic peninsula +was the scene of the wanderings of the Israelites still +prevails among students of the Old Testament. It originated +in the wish of the early Christian anchorites in the Sinaitic +peninsula to find the localities of the Pentateuch in their own +neighbourhood, and has been fostered by the geographical +confusion between ‘the sea’ crossed by the Israelites and the +Yâm Sûph. But the belief is not only irreconcileable with +the facts of Egyptian history, it is also irreconcileable with the +narrative of the Pentateuch itself. It transports the Amalekites +or Bedâwin of the desert south of Judah to the western side +of the Sinaitic peninsula, and performs the same feat for the +wilderness of Paran.<a id='r189'></a><a href='#f189' class='c013'><sup>[189]</sup></a> It makes Jethro, the high-priest of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_187'>187</span>Midian, cross the Gulf of Aqaba and make his way through +barren gorges and hostile tribes in order to visit his son-in-law, +and sets at defiance the express testimony of Hebrew +literature that Mount Sinai was among the mountains of Seir.<a id='r190'></a><a href='#f190' class='c013'><sup>[190]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The wilderness into which the Israelites emerged is called +indifferently that of Shur and Etham. Shur was the Semitic +equivalent of the Egyptian Anbu or ‘Wall’ of fortification, +while Etham took its name from one of the Khetemu or +‘Fortresses’ which guarded the approach to the valley of the +Nile. It was a wilderness which stretched away to the shores +of the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Hebrew tribes accordingly +marched along it. They took, we are told, ‘the way of the +wilderness of the Yâm Sûph,’ following the Haj road, which is +still traversed by the pilgrims from Egypt to Mecca. But the +caravan moved slowly, and for three days they could find no +water. Had they turned southward into the Sinaitic peninsula, +a few hours would have brought them to the Wells of +Moses—now a place of picnic for the visitors to Suez,—while +the road to the Egyptian mines was provided with cisterns +and wells. But to have done so would have been merely to +exchange Egypt for one of its strongly-garrisoned provinces.</p> + +<p class='c003'>How long the wanderers were in crossing the desert we do +not know; nor do we know where Marah was, whose ‘bitter’ +waters refreshed them after three days of scarcity. But at +last they reached the oasis of Elim, which the itinerary in the +book of Numbers (<abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 10) couples with the Yâm Sûph. +Elim, in fact, is but a variant form of Elath,<a id='r191'></a><a href='#f191' class='c013'><sup>[191]</sup></a> and Elath is the +Aila of classical geography, of which Aqaba is the modern +<span class='pageno' id='Page_188'>188</span>successor. When the Israelites left Elim a whole month had +elapsed since their departure from Egypt (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='sixteen'>xvi.</abbr> 1).</p> + +<p class='c003'>Between Elim or the Yâm Sûph<a id='r192'></a><a href='#f192' class='c013'><sup>[192]</sup></a> and Mount Sinai lay the +Wilderness of Sin. Sinai and Sin alike derived their names +from Sin, the moon-god of Babylonia, whose worship had +long since been brought by Babylonian conquest to the West. +More than two thousand years before the Exodus the Babylonian +conqueror, Naram-Sin, ‘the beloved of Sin,’ had carried +his arms as far as the Sinaitic peninsula, and the inscriptions of +Southern Arabia show that there also the Babylonian deity +was adored.<a id='r193'></a><a href='#f193' class='c013'><sup>[193]</sup></a> It would seem probable that a temple dedicated +to his service stood on the slopes of Mount Sinai.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Numerous attempts have been made to identify the mountain +which the Israelites regarded as the scene of the first +pronouncement of their Law. Most of these attempts are +based on the belief that it is to be sought in the Sinaitic +peninsula. The rival claims of Jebel el-’Ejmeh, Jebel Umm +’Alawî, Jebel Zebîr-Katarîna, Jebel Serbâl, and Jebel Mûsa +have all been eagerly discussed. Jebel Mûsa alone can claim +the support of tradition, though this does not go back further +than the third or fourth century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>A.D.</span></abbr>, when the Christian +hermits first settled in its neighbourhood. The Sinai of +<abbr title='Saint'>S.</abbr> Paul and Josephus was still in the Arabia of Roman +geography, the kingdom of which Petra was the capital.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In the geography of the Old Testament, however, Mount +Sinai was in Edom. This is expressly stated in the Song of +Deborah, one of the oldest products of Hebrew literature. +Here we read (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 4, 5), ‘Lord, when Thou wentest out +of Seir, when Thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the +earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also +dropped water. The mountains melted from before the Lord, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_189'>189</span>even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel.’ Similar +testimony is borne by the blessing of Moses (<abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 2), +‘The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; +He shined forth from the Mount of Paran,’ an expression +which appears in another form in Habakkuk (<abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 3), ‘God +came from Teman, and the Holy One from the Mount of +Paran.’ Teman denoted Southern Edom, and Paran was the +desert which adjoined Edom on the west and Judah on the +south, and in whose midst was the sanctuary of Kadesh-barnea.<a id='r194'></a><a href='#f194' class='c013'><sup>[194]</sup></a> +In the Blessing of Moses the parallelism of Hebrew +poetry requires that Sinai and Seir should be equivalent +terms.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We must, then, look to the frontiers of Edom and the +desert of Paran for the real Sinai of Hebrew history. But it +is useless to seek for a more exact localisation until the +mountains of Seir and the old kingdom of Edom have been +explored. Then, if ever, the Sinai of the Pentateuch may be +discovered. It would seem that it formed part of a range +that was known as ‘Horeb,’ the ‘desert’ mountains, and as +late as the age of Elijah it was still reverenced as ‘the Mount +of God’ (1 Kings <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 8).<a id='r195'></a><a href='#f195' class='c013'><sup>[195]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Before the Israelites actually reached the sacred mountain, +they had to make more than one encampment in ‘the Wilderness +of Sin.’ The itinerary in the book of Numbers gives +the names of three—Dophkah, Alush, and Rephidim—the +narrative mentions only the last. Rephidim, the ‘Encampments,’ +was the scene of the first conflict the Israelites were +called upon to face. Here they were attacked by the Amalekites, +the Bedâwin tribes who still consider the desert as +their own, and whose hand is against all that pass through it. +The attack was repulsed, but not without loss, and the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_190'>190</span>remembrance of it never faded from the minds of the Hebrew +people. There was henceforth to be war between Amalek +and Israel ‘from generation to generation,’ until the Bedâwin +marauders of the desert should be destroyed. The Song of +Deborah (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 14) tells us how the struggle was continued +after the settlement in Canaan, and the first Israelitish king +did his utmost to root out these pests of the Hebrew borderland. +Saul smote them, it is said, from Havilah to Shur +(1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 7), from the ‘sandy’ desert of Arabia Petræa to +the great Wall of Egypt. And the Hebrew writer expressly +adds that these were the same Amalekites as those who had +lain in wait for Israel ‘in the way when he came up from +Egypt.’ There were no Amalekites in the Sinaitic peninsula; +the desert in which they ranged was that which adjoined +Edom, and was known to the ancient Babylonians as the +‘land of Melukhkha.’ Hence it was that Edomites and +Amalekites were mingled together, and that Amalek was +counted by the genealogists a grandson of Esau.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The battle at Rephidim was followed by the visit of the +father-in-law of Moses, Jethro, ‘the priest of Midian.’ The +visit was natural, for the real Sinai lay on the frontier of +Midian. It was while Moses was feeding the flock of Jethro +that he had first come to it and received his commission from +Yahveh. Here, therefore, at ‘the Mount of God,’ he was +within hail of his old home.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Jethro’s visit marked the first step in the organisation of +Israel. Under his guidance and counsel judges of various +grades were appointed before whom minor cases could be +brought, and each of whom was invested with a certain +amount of power. The functions of the ‘judge’ were administrative +and executive as well as legal; what was meant +by the term we may learn from the book of Judges as well as +from the Shophetim or judges who at one time took the +place of the kings at Tyre. They corresponded closely with +the higher officials in the Turkish provinces, who possess an +undefined and in some respects absolute authority, subject +<span class='pageno' id='Page_191'>191</span>only to the official who is immediately above them. The +‘judges’ established by Moses on Jethro’s advice derived +their titles from the numerical extent of their jurisdiction. +They were judges ‘of thousands,’ ‘of hundreds,’ ‘of fifties,’ +and ‘of tens.’ The community was divided into ideal units, +of larger and smaller size, the basis of the arrangement being +the decimal system. The whole arrangement may have been +of Midianite origin; at all events, in the Assyrian texts we +hear also of a ‘captain of fifty’ and a ‘captain of ten.’<a id='r196'></a><a href='#f196' class='c013'><sup>[196]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Moses remained the supreme ‘judge’ and lawgiver of his +people. To him alone all ‘great matters’ were referred, and +from him came all the laws and ordinances, the rules and +regulations which they were called upon to obey. The leader +who had brought them safely out of ‘the house of bondage’ +now became their recognised head and legislator. Moses +‘was king in Jeshurun,’ exercising all the authority in Israel +which in later times belonged to the king.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Hardly was the political organisation of the new community +completed before the Israelitish tribes reached the venerated +sanctuary of Sinai, and encamped before ‘the Mount of God.’ +The first object of their journey was accomplished, and the +promise of Yahveh was fulfilled that they should ‘serve God’ +on the mountain where He had appeared to their leader. +Here at Sinai the earlier portion of the Mosaic legislation +was promulgated. It was subsequently supplemented by the +legislation at Kadesh-Barnea, that second resting-place of the +tribes, where by the side of En-Mishpat, ‘the Spring of +Judgment,’ they prepared themselves in the security of the +heart of the desert for the future invasion of Canaan.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was amid the terrors of a thunderstorm that Yahveh +declared His laws to the people of Israel. While darkness +<span class='pageno' id='Page_192'>192</span>rested on the summit of the mountain, broken only by the +flashes of the lightning and the voice of the thunder, ‘the +Ten Words’ were delivered to man. In their forefront stood +that stern, uncompromising declaration of monotheism which +henceforth marked the religion of Israel. They began with +the commandment that Israel should have ‘no other gods +before’ the Lord. Yahveh had brought them forth from +Egypt, and Yahveh only must they therefore serve. The commands +which followed were partly general, partly applicable +to the Israelites alone. The prohibition to make ‘the likeness +of any thing in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in +the water under the earth,’ defined the character of the God +before whom no other was to be worshipped. He had no +form or attributes which could be represented by art; it was +the gods of the Gentiles only of whom images or pictures +could be made. Egypt had been a land of idols, and in +leaving Egypt Yahveh required that the idols also should be +left behind. In the simple life of the desert there was no place +for art: here man was alone with his Creator, who revealed +Himself in the light of the burning bush or the thunderings +of the storm, not under the forms of the creatures He had +made. The second commandment was part of the teaching +which the wanderings in the desert were intended to enforce; +and if Israel was to remain a ‘peculiar people,’ dedicated to +the service of Yahveh, and secure from absorption into the +nations that surrounded it, it was necessary that it should be +fenced about with a law of puritanical strictness, which forbade +the introduction of art under any shape. Art in the world of +the Exodus was too closely interwoven with the religions of +Egypt and Canaan and Babylonia to be other than a forbidden +thing. The subsequent history of Israel proved how wise +and needful had been the prohibition. The art which adorned +the temple and palace of Solomon was followed by the +erection of altars to the divinities of the heathen, and even +in the wilderness the golden calf was worshipped in sight of +Sinai itself.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_193'>193</span>The third and fourth commandments were, like the second, +Israelitish rather than general in character. The third forbade +taking in vain the name of Yahveh; the name of the national +God of Israel which had been so specially revealed was too +sacred to be lightly spoken of. The ‘name’ of Yahveh, in +fact, was equivalent to Yahveh Himself, and to deal lightly with +the name was to deal lightly with One of whose essence it was. +The obligation to keep the Sabbath was part of the culture +which Western Asia had received from Babylonia. Among +the Babylonians the Sabbath had been observed from early +times, and the institution seems to have gone back to a pre-Semitic +period. At all events, it was denoted in Sumerian by a +term which a cuneiform tablet explains as ‘a day of rest for the +heart,’ and its Assyrian name of Sabattu or ‘Sabbath’ was even +derived by the native etymologists from the two Sumerian words +<i>sa</i>, ‘a heart,’ and <i>bat</i>, ‘to rest.’<a id='r197'></a><a href='#f197' class='c013'><sup>[197]</sup></a> In Babylonia and Assyria, as +in Israel, the Sabbath was observed every seventh day, perhaps +in accordance with the astronomical system which dedicated +the seven days of the week to the seven planets of Babylonian +science. These seven-day weeks, however, were based on the +lunar months of the Babylonian year, the Sabbath or rest-day +being on the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th of each month. There +was, moreover, another Sabbath on the 19th of the month, that +being the end of the seventh week from the first day of the +preceding month. On these Sabbath days work of all kinds +was forbidden to be performed. The king, it was laid down, +‘must not eat flesh that has been cooked over the coals or in +the smoke, must not change the garments of his body, must +not wear white clothing, must not offer sacrifices, must not ride +in a chariot, must not issue royal decrees.’ Even the diviner +was not allowed to ‘mutter incantations in a secret place.’ +Nor was it permitted to take medicine.</p> + +<p class='c003'>With the other elements of Babylonian culture the institution +<span class='pageno' id='Page_194'>194</span>of the Sabbath had made its way to the West. But at Sinai +it was given a new and special application. Not only was +it to be observed each seventh day of the week, irrespective of +the beginning of the month, it became also a sign and mark +of the covenant between Israel and its national God. In the +book of Exodus, it is true, the reason given for keeping it is +that Yahveh had rested on the seventh day from His work of +creation—a reason which will hardly be accepted by the +geologist—but in Deuteronomy (<abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 15) it is more fittingly +brought into direct connection with the deliverance from +Egypt: ‘Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of +Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence +through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore +the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath +day.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>The sanction of the fifth commandment is also one which +applied to Israel alone: children were enjoined to honour +their parents that their days might be long in the land which +Yahveh had promised to give them. But the last five commandments +are of general application, and accordingly no +reason is given for keeping them derived from the accidents of +Hebrew history. They apply to all mankind, at all times and +in all parts of the world. Murder, adultery, theft, false witness, +and covetousness are all crimes forbidden everywhere by the +legal or moral code. But it is strange that lying and deceit +are not included among them; in this respect the so-called +negative confession, which the soul of the dead Egyptian was +called upon to make in the next world, was more complete.<a id='r198'></a><a href='#f198' class='c013'><sup>[198]</sup></a> +The lie, however, which does not involve false witness is apt +to be condoned among the nations of the East.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The ten commandments were followed by a series of other +laws, many of which were probably re-enactments of laws or +regulations already in force. The law of retaliation, for +<span class='pageno' id='Page_195'>195</span>instance (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 23-25), is as old as human society; so also +is the law that murder should be punished by death (<abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 12). +The law which punished the master for the murder of a slave +if he died on the spot, but allowed him to go scot-free if the +slave lingered for a day or two (<abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 20, 21), had its parallel in +ancient Babylonia, and the death-penalty exacted from the ox +which had gored a man (<abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 28-32) is a survival from the days +when dumb animals and even inanimate objects were regarded +as responsible for the injuries they had caused.<a id='r199'></a><a href='#f199' class='c013'><sup>[199]</sup></a> The regulations +in regard to ‘a field or vineyard,’ or ‘the standing corn’ +of a field (<abbr title='twenty-two'>xxii.</abbr> 5, 6), belonged to the land of Goshen or to +Canaan, not to the life in the wilderness, and the dedication +of the firstborn to God (<abbr title='twenty-two'>xxii.</abbr> 29, 30) was one of the most +ancient articles of Semitic faith.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Equally applicable to Egypt or Canaan only are the +injunctions to let the land lie fallow every seventh year (<abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> +11), and to celebrate the three great feasts of the year +(<abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> 14-19). They were all feasts of the agriculturist rather +than of the pastoral nomad. The year was ushered in with +the spring festival of unleavened bread; then in the summer +came the feast of harvest, and finally in the autumn—‘the +end’ of the old civil year—the feast of the ingathering of the +fruits.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Such were some of the laws promulgated under the shadow +of the sacred mountain, when Israel first encamped before +Mount Sinai. They concluded with an exhortation to march +against Canaan. Yahveh declared that He would send His +Angel before His people to guide them in their way, like the +<i>sukkalli</i> or ‘angels’ of the Babylonian gods. Yahveh would +fight for them, and they should drive out the older inhabitants +of the land and take their place. They were in no wise to +mingle with them or worship their gods; like the idolaters +<span class='pageno' id='Page_196'>196</span>themselves, the idols they adored were to be destroyed. ‘From +the Yâm Sûph to the sea of the Philistines and from the desert +to the river’ were to be the bounds of their new home, a +promise which was fulfilled in the kingdom of David.<a id='r200'></a><a href='#f200' class='c013'><sup>[200]</sup></a> That, +too, extended to ‘the river’ Euphrates, and included the land +of Edom with its two ports on the Yâm Sûph. ‘The sea of +the Philistines’ is a new name for the Mediterranean, and +bears testimony to the maritime fame those pirates from the +north had already acquired.<a id='r201'></a><a href='#f201' class='c013'><sup>[201]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The laws thus promulgated at Sinai became the first code +of Israel. They rested on the covenant that had been made +between Yahveh and His people, of which the first clause was +that they should worship none other gods but Him. The +book in which they were written by Moses was accordingly +called the Book of the Covenant, and its words were read +aloud to the assembled multitude (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 7). The audience, +it must be remembered, included not the Israelites only, but +the ‘mixed multitude’ as well (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 4).</p> + +<p class='c003'>Once more Moses ascended the sacred mountain, to learn +the ‘pattern’ of the tabernacle in which Yahveh was henceforth +to be worshipped. It was to be a tent, moving along with the +people, and containing all the objects of Israelitish veneration. +Chief among these was the ark of the Covenant, surmounted +by the mercy-seat and its two cherubim, between which +Yahveh sat enthroned when He revealed Himself to His +worshippers. Babylonia also had its arks, its mercy-seats, and +its cherubim, and Nebuchadrezzar speaks of ‘the seat of the +oracles’ in the great temple of Babylon ‘whereon at the +festival of Zagmuku, the beginning of the year, on the 8th and +11th days, Bel, the god, seats himself, while the gods of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_197'>197</span>heaven and earth reverently regard him, standing before him +with bowed heads.’<a id='r202'></a><a href='#f202' class='c013'><sup>[202]</sup></a> The cherubim, indeed, were of Babylonian +origin, and their presence in the tabernacle seems +somewhat inconsistent with the prohibition to make a carven +image. But the Israelites were the heirs of the ancient culture +of Western Asia, and the tabernacle and its furniture embodied +familiar forms of architecture and older religious conceptions.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In Egypt, too, the gods had their shrines, though these were +usually boats which on the days of festival floated over the +sacred lakes. Arks, however, were not unknown, and, as in +Babylonia, contained the images of the gods. Sometimes, +however, in Babylonia and Assyria, the ark, like that of Israel, +had no image within it: the stone coffer, for instance, found +by Mr. Hormuzd Rassam in the inner sanctuary of the little +temple of Balawât contained two tables of alabaster on which +the annals of king Assur-nazir-pal were engraved. The native +workmen who discovered them naturally saw in them the two +tables of stone which had been similarly placed by Moses in +the ark (<abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 5).<a id='r203'></a><a href='#f203' class='c013'><sup>[203]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The parallelism between the temples and ritual of Israel and +of Babylonia is indeed close. The temple itself was of the +same square or rectangular form. Outwardly it presented the +appearance of a huge box. Within were the forecourt and +court, while at the back came the Holy of Holies, with its +altar and ark. There was, however, one distinguishing feature +in the Babylonian temple which was lacking in the Hebrew +tabernacle. That was the great tower which mounted up +towards heaven, and the topmost stage of which seemed to +approach the gods. In the absence of a tower the Hebrew +tabernacle agreed with the temples of Canaan.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Israelitish altars found their counterpart in Babylonia. +So, too, did the table of shewbread, which similarly stood in +the sanctuaries of the Chaldæan deities. The sacrifices and +offerings were also similar. Babylonia had its daily sacrifice. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_198'>198</span>its ‘meal-offering,’ and its offerings for sin; the same animals +that were sacrificed to Yahveh were sacrificed also to Bel; and +the Babylonian worshipper sought the favour of his gods with +the same birds and the same fruits of the field. Oil, moreover, +was used for purposes of anointing, and herein the ritual of +Babylonia and Israel differed from that of Egypt, where oil was +not employed.<a id='r204'></a><a href='#f204' class='c013'><sup>[204]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The contrast between Egypt and Israel, indeed, in the +details of religious service was as great as the agreement in +this respect between Israel and Babylonia. The children of +Israel had never forgotten their Asiatic origin; throughout +their long sojourn in Goshen they had preserved their old +culture and habits of thought as tenaciously as they had +preserved their language. Between them and the Egyptians, +on the contrary, there had been antagonism from the outset. +And this antagonism was accentuated by their lawgiver, who +was naturally anxious to turn their thoughts from ‘the fleshpots +of Egypt,’ and to prevent them from lapsing into Egyptian +idolatries. Even the Egyptian legend of the Exodus bears +witness to this fact.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_199'>199</span>In one detail, however, we find an analogy in Egypt. +Professor Hommel<a id='r205'></a><a href='#f205' class='c013'><sup>[205]</sup></a> has pointed out that the breastplate of +the high-priest, the mysterious Urim and Thummim, with its +twelve engraved stones, is pictured on the breast of an +Egyptian priest. Thus Seker-Khâbau, a high-priest of +Memphis in the age of the nineteenth dynasty, wears upon his +breast a sort of double network with four rows of precious +stones set in it, each row consisting of three stones, alternately +in the form of crosses and disks.<a id='r206'></a><a href='#f206' class='c013'><sup>[206]</sup></a> The Hebrew breastplate +was used as an oracle, like the linen ephod which was worn +under it, though how the future was divined from it we do +not know. But in moments of danger it was usual to consult +it; and the fact that ‘when Saul inquired of the Lord, the +Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor +by prophets,’ is brought forward as a proof that he had been +forsaken by his God (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-eight'>xxviii.</abbr> 6). Like the lawgiver +himself, it was the mouthpiece of Yahveh, and as such it bore +the name of ‘the breastplate of judgment.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>The architects of the tabernacle and its adornment in +precious metals were Bezaleel of Judah and Aholiab of Dan.<a id='r207'></a><a href='#f207' class='c013'><sup>[207]</sup></a> +Modern criticism would hold them to be part of an elaborate +fiction, of which the tabernacle was the subject. But the +fiction would be too elaborate, too detailed, to be conceivable. +Moreover, we have references to the tabernacle or ‘tent of +meeting’ in the later history of Israel; and to declare these to +be interpolations or the products of the same pen as that +which invented the tabernacle itself may be an easy way of +saving a theory, but it is not scientific. How far the description +of the tabernacle is exact, how far it has not been +<span class='pageno' id='Page_200'>200</span>coloured by the conceptions of a later age, is, of course, a +question that may be asked. Those who maintain that the +Pentateuch goes back in substance to the Mosaic age must +nevertheless allow that it has undergone many changes and +modifications before assuming its present shape. But, except +in rare instances, it is impossible to indicate these changes +with the assurance that the historian demands, and we must +therefore be content with the probability that in the description +of the tabernacle we have the revised version of an +old story.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It has been asked how the materials used in the construction +of the tabernacle could have been obtained in the desert, +from whence came the silver and gold, the bronze and precious +stones, the rich embroideries and cloths stained with Tyrian +dye? Those who ask such questions have forgotten that the +Israelites were not wild Bedâwin, and that they were laden +with the spoils of Egypt. Like the invading hosts who +attacked Egypt in the reign of Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>, they carried with +them in their retreat the treasures of their late masters. And +we are specially told that the gold was obtained from the +bracelets and earrings and rings which were offered by the +people and melted down.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was during the second absence of Moses, when the conception +and form of the tabernacle were being revealed to his +mental vision, that his followers showed how little they understood +the spirit and character of the legislation he was +endeavouring to give them. They believed he had deserted +them, and with his departure his religious teaching departed +also. Israelitish religion was no slow growth: like Zoroastrianism +or Buddhism or Christianity itself, it implies an +individual founder who gave it the impress of his own +individuality. Modern theories which attempt to explain it as +a process of evolution start with a false assumption, and arrive +consequently at false conclusions. None of the great religions +of the world has been a product of evolution except in an +indirect sense; they are all stamped with individualism, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_201'>201</span>owe their existence to the genius or inspiration of an individual. +The religions of Babylonia and Egypt, as far as we know, were +the results of a slow development; but Mosaism and Zoroastrianism, +Buddhism and Christianity derived not only their +names, but their essence also from the individual founders who +created them. We cannot understand the religion of Israel +without the Law in its background, and we cannot understand +the Law without the personality of its lawgiver.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The declaration that Israel should serve no other gods +before Yahveh stood or fell with Moses, to whom Yahveh had +revealed Himself. And Moses seemed to have vanished +among the clouds that enveloped the summit of the sacred +mountain. Their leader and his God had deserted them, and +the people required another. Aaron the priest was ready to +take the place of the lost lawgiver, and to provide them with +a new deity and a new faith. And, after all, it was but an +ancient faith, the faith of the kindred nations that surrounded +them, their own faith, moreover, in the days before the +Exodus. A calf was fashioned out of their golden earrings, +and in it both priest and people beheld the god who had +brought them out of Egypt. Aaron proclaimed a feast in +honour of the divinity whose worship was celebrated with the +same shameless rites as those which characterised the cult of +the Semitic populations of Babylonia, of Canaan, and of +Arabia.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But in the midst of the festival Moses suddenly reappeared. +The sons of Levi rallied round their tribesman, and fell with +him upon the rebels against his laws. Some of the latter were +slain, the rest were terrorised, and the golden calf was ground +to powder.<a id='r208'></a><a href='#f208' class='c013'><sup>[208]</sup></a> Aaron was forgiven, perhaps because he too had +gone over to the side of Moses, perhaps because he was too +<span class='pageno' id='Page_202'>202</span>powerful or too necessary to be removed.<a id='r209'></a><a href='#f209' class='c013'><sup>[209]</sup></a> But in his wrath +at the defection of his people Moses had dashed to the ground +the two stone tables on which the words of God had been +written, and it was needful that they should be replaced. +Once more, therefore, Moses left the camp and sought solitary +communion with Yahveh on the summit of Sinai. Two fresh +tables of stone were hewn, and with these he ascended the +mountain.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We must not picture to ourselves heavy stelæ of stone such +as the kings and princes of Egypt delighted to set up in their +tombs and temples, or the ‘great slab’ which Isaiah was +bidden to engrave (<abbr title='Isaiah'>Isa.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 1). They were rather like the +small alabaster slabs found in the ark of the Assyrian temple +at Balawât, which measure only twelve and a half inches in +length by eight in width and two and a half inches in thickness, +and nevertheless contain a long and valuable text. They +were, in fact, stone tablets cut in imitation of the clay tablets +which served as books in the Asiatic world of the Exodus, +and, like the latter, were probably inscribed with cuneiform +characters. That these characters were used for ‘the language +of Canaan’ we know from the existence of two seals of the age +of the Tel el-Amarna correspondence, now in the possession +of <abbr class='spell'>M.</abbr> de Clercq, which record the names of two Sidonians.<a id='r210'></a><a href='#f210' class='c013'><sup>[210]</sup></a> +It is probable that the first draft of the Ten Commandments +was also in the cuneiform script.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The book of Exodus ends fitly with the conclusion of the +legislation which was promulgated from Mount Sinai and +with the building of the tabernacle. Henceforward Yahveh +<span class='pageno' id='Page_203'>203</span>was to reveal Himself to His people, not amid the clouds of +a mountain in the wilderness, but in the sanctuary which they +had raised in His honour. The first stage in the education of +Israel had been completed; the Israelites had become a +nation with a national God and a national sanctuary. Henceforth +the sanctuary was to be the centre of their religious +faith, the place where the law and judgment of God were to +be declared, and to which the tribes were to resort that they +might ask counsel from Him. The tabernacle, nomad though +it still was, like the tribes themselves, had taken the place of +‘the mount of God,’ and with the legislation of Leviticus a +new book of the Pentateuch begins.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We are not to suppose that this legislation has descended +to us from the age of Moses without addition and change. +Such a belief would be contrary to the history of other +religious law-books, or indeed to historical probability. As +the utterances of the Hebrew prophets were modified or +enlarged according to the circumstances of the successive +ages to which they were applied, so too the Mosaic legislation +must have undergone revision and enlargement. Laws and +regulations which suited the life in the desert needed adaptation +to the changed conditions of life in Canaan; tribes fresh +from their servitude in Egypt required different guidance from +that required by a nation of conquerors; and the details of a +legislation which was adapted to the period of Moses would +have been wholly unsuited to the period of the Judges, and +still more to the period of the Kings. So far as the change +and modifications are concerned, which all institutions in this +world must necessarily undergo, the Mosaic legislation was a +matter of growth. But it was the form and details that +changed, not the substance of the legislation. The spirit and +conceptions of the legislator had imprinted themselves too +indelibly upon it ever to be obliterated. The reiteration of +the same law in various forms, and the confused arrangement +of many of them, may indeed show that later hands have been +at work, but in essence and origin they remain his. The +<span class='pageno' id='Page_204'>204</span>book of Leviticus, modernised though it may be, nevertheless +goes back to the age of Moses.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Even in the age of Moses many of its regulations were not +new. We find their parallels in Babylonia and Canaan, and +they had doubtless long been among the unwritten institutions +of Israel. But Moses gave them a new sanction and a new +adaptation. The Israelites must have had priests like the +nations round about them; but it was Moses who defined the +priestly character of the sons of Aaron, and consecrated his +own tribe to the service of Yahveh. If Yahveh was the national +God of Israel, He was also in a special way the tribal God of +Levi.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We still know too little about the details of Babylonian +ritual to be able to compare it with the religious institutions +of Israel. We know, however, that the peace-offerings and +trespass-offerings of the Mosaic Law were represented in it, +that even the heave-offerings found in it their counterpart, +and that solemn fasts and days of atonement were observed +in Babylonia and Assyria as well as among the Israelites. In +Babylonia, too, a distinction was made between clean and +unclean animals, and, as in Israel (<abbr title='Leviticus'>Lev.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 17-23), none who +was maimed or diseased was allowed to minister to the gods. +Purification with water, moreover, played much the same part +in Babylonian ritual that it played in the ritual of the Israelites, +and tithes were exacted for the support of the service in the +temples.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Similar regulations prevailed in Canaan, as we may learn +from the Phœnician sacrificial tariffs found at Carthage and +Marseilles. Both are mutilated, but the missing portions of +the one can to a large extent be supplied from the other. +The text thus obtained is as follows:—</p> + +<p class='c003'>‘In the temple of Baal the following tariff of offerings shall +be observed which was prescribed in the time of the judge ...-Baal, +the son of Bod-Tanit, the son of Bod-Ashmun, and in +the time of Halzi-Baal, the judge, the son of Bod-Ashmun the +son of Halzi-Baal, and their comrades. For an ox as a full-offering, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_205'>205</span>whether it be a prayer-offering or a full thank-offering, +the priests shall receive ten shekels of silver for each beast, +and if it be a full-offering, the priests shall receive besides +this three hundred shekels’ weight of flesh. And for a prayer-offering +they shall receive besides the small joints (?) and the +roast (?), but the skin and the haunches and the feet and the +rest of the flesh shall belong to the offerer. For a bullock +which has horns, but is not yet broken in and made to serve, +or for a ram, as a full-offering, whether it be a prayer-offering +or a full thank-offering, the priests shall receive five shekels of +silver for each beast, and if it be a full-offering they shall +receive besides this one hundred and fifty shekels’ weight of +flesh; and for a prayer-offering the small joints (?) and the +roast, but the skin and the haunches and the feet and the rest +of the flesh shall belong to the offerer. For a sheep or a goat +as a full-offering, whether it be a prayer-offering or a full +thank-offering, the priests shall receive one shekel of silver +and two <i>zar</i> for each beast; and in the case of a prayer-offering +they shall have besides this the small joints (?) and +the roast (?), but the skin and the haunches and the feet and +the rest of the flesh shall belong to the offerer. For a lamb +or a kid or a fawn as a full-offering, whether it be a prayer-offering +or a full thank-offering, the priests shall receive three-fourths +of a shekel of silver and two <i>zar</i> for each beast; and +in the case of a prayer-offering they shall have besides this the +small joints (?) and the roast (?), but the skin and the haunches +and the feet and the rest of the flesh shall belong to the offerer. +For a bird, whether wild or tame, as a full-offering, whether it +be <i>shetseph</i> or <i>khazuth</i>, the priests shall receive three-fourths +of a shekel of silver and two <i>zar</i> for each bird, and [a certain +amount of flesh besides]. For a bird, or for the offering of +the firstborn of an animal, or for a meal-offering, or for an +offering with oil, the priests shall receive ten pieces of gold +for each.... In the case of every prayer-offering which is +offered to the gods, the priests shall receive the small joints (?) +and the roast (?); and the prayer-offering ... for a cake and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_206'>206</span>for milk and for fat, and for every offering which is offered +without blood.... For every offering which is brought by a +poor man in cattle or birds, the priests shall receive nothing.... +Anything leprous or scabby or lean is forbidden, and no +one as regards that which he offers shall taste of the blood of +the dead. The tariff for each offering shall be according to +that which is prescribed in this publication.... As for every +offering which is not prescribed in this table, and which is not +made according to the regulations which have been published +in the time of ...-Baal the son of Bod-Tanit, and of Bod-Ashmun +the son of Halzi-Baal, and of their comrades, every +priest who accepts the offering which is not included in that +which is prescribed in this table shall be punished.... As +for the property of the offerer who does not discharge his debt +for his offering [it shall be taken from him].’<a id='r211'></a><a href='#f211' class='c013'><sup>[211]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The general resemblances between these regulations and +those of the Levitical law are obvious. In both we have the +same kind of sacrifices and offerings—the ox, the sheep and +the goat, the lamb and kid, birds and cakes, meal and oil. +Silver shekels were to be paid to the priests, like the silver +shekels of the sanctuary exacted in certain cases from the +Israelite (<abbr title='Leviticus'>Lev.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 15, <abbr title='twenty-seven'>xxvii.</abbr> 25), and the blood and the fat +were to be offered to the gods. The necessities of the poor +man were remembered as they were in the Levitical law +(<abbr title='Leviticus'>Lev.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 7, <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 8, <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 21), and whatever was ‘leprous or +scabby or lean’ was forbidden to be brought to the altar. +The firstborn could be claimed by Baal as they were claimed +by Yahveh, and the offerer was not permitted to taste of the +blood of the slain beast (compare <abbr title='Leviticus'>Lev.</abbr> <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 26, 27). The +‘full-offerings’ of the Phœnician tariffs mean that the whole +of the victim had been given to the gods, and so correspond +with the burnt sacrifices of the Mosaic Code. It is unfortunate +that we cannot fix with certainty the exact signification +of the words denoting the parts of the animal which were the +due of the priests, and consequently cannot be sure whether +<span class='pageno' id='Page_207'>207</span>or not they answer to the breast and shoulder of the peace-offering, +which under the Levitical legislation were assigned +to the sons of Aaron (<abbr title='Leviticus'>Lev.</abbr> <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 33, 34).</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is true that the tariffs of Carthage and Marseilles belong +to a late period. But they embody regulations and usages +which were common to the Semitic world of Western Asia, as +we may gather from a comparison of them with the ritual of +Babylonia, and which therefore must have been—at least in +substance—of great antiquity. Two conclusions result from +this fact. On the one hand the Levitical legislation cannot +have been the invention of the Exilic age, as some adventurous +critics have believed; on the other hand, it is based on +customs and ideas which must have been prevalent in Israel +long before the birth of Moses. The Hebrew legislator did +but develop, modify, and define existing rites; the Levitical +Code is not a new creation, but a body of religious and ritual +laws which has been formed deliberately and with individual +effort out of older customs and habits of thought. Doubtless +there are laws and regulations which were the immediate +creation of the lawgiver; from time to time new cases arose +for which special legislation was needed, and of which the +cases of Nadab and Abihu (<abbr title='Leviticus'>Lev.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 1-3), of the son of +Shelomith and the Egyptian (<abbr title='Leviticus'>Lev.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 10-16), and of the +daughters of Zelophehad (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-seven'>xxvii.</abbr> 1-11) are examples. +To assume that such cases originated in the laws which they +illustrated, and not the reverse, is a gratuitous supposition +which is contradicted by the history of modern European law.<a id='r212'></a><a href='#f212' class='c013'><sup>[212]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_208'>208</span>Whether the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Trumpets on +the first of each seventh month and the Year of Jubilee were +also new creations of the lawgiver, may be questioned. The +special legislation connected with them, as well as their +association with the Exodus out of Egypt, was certainly +peculiar to the Levitical code, but the same is true of the +three older feasts of the Semitic calendar. These too were +made to illustrate the events of Israelitish history, and new +regulations were laid down for their observance. The Day of +Atonement, however, had its counterpart in Babylonia and +Assyria. There also in periods of danger or distress, days of +humiliation and fasting were prescribed, and prayers and offerings +were made to the gods that they might forgive the sins of +the people. When at the beginning of Esar-haddon’s reign +Assyria was threatened by the Kimmerian invasion, ‘religious +ordinances and holy days’ were proclaimed by the priests for +‘a hundred days and a hundred nights,’ and the sun-god was +besought to remove the sin of his worshippers.<a id='r213'></a><a href='#f213' class='c013'><sup>[213]</sup></a> So, again, +after the suppression of the Babylonian revolt, Assur-bani-pal +tells us that ‘by the command of the prophets I purified their +sanctuaries and cleaned their streets which had been defiled. +Their wrathful gods and angry goddesses I tranquillised with +prayers and penitential hymns. Their daily sacrifice, which +had been discontinued, I restored in peace and established +again as it had been before.’ The Feast of Trumpets reminds +us that in Babylonia the first day of each month was kept as a +Sabbath, and the Babylonian analogy is still more manifest +in the case of the Feast of Pentecost, on ‘the morrow after +the seventh Sabbath,’ after the offering of the firstfruits. This +‘seventh Sabbath’ is the Babylonian Sabbath, on the 19th of +the month, forty-nine days after the first Sabbath of the preceding +month. The Year of Jubilee was a Babylonian institution +of exceeding antiquity. We learn from classical +writers<a id='r214'></a><a href='#f214' class='c013'><sup>[214]</sup></a> that once each year in the month of July the feast of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_209'>209</span>Sakea was held at Babylon, when the slave changed places +with his master, and for five days lived and was clothed as a +free man. We can now carry the history of the institution +back to the age of the third dynasty of Ur. Gudea, the high-priest +of Lagas, <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 2700, states in his inscriptions that after +he had finished building the temple of E-ninnu, he celebrated +a festival; and ‘for seven days no obedience was exacted; the +female slave became the equal of her mistress, and the male +slave the equal of his master; the subject became the equal of +the chief; and all that was evil was removed from the temple.’<a id='r215'></a><a href='#f215' class='c013'><sup>[215]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The Year of Jubilee, it is clear, was but an adaptation and +improvement of one of the oldest institutions of Babylonian +culture. To assert that, together with the other holy days of +the Levitical Code, it was borrowed from Babylonia in the age +of the Exile, is to assert what not only cannot be proved, but is +in the highest degree improbable. In the age of the Exile, +Babylonia had become a second Egypt to the Jews, and the +religious party among them regarded with abhorrence all that +was specifically Babylonian. The feasts consecrated to ‘Bel +and Nebo,’ the rites associated with the worship of the Babylonian +gods, were the last things that would be adopted or +adapted by a pious Jew. Moreover, we now know that the +culture which had been carried from Chaldæa to the west long +before the period of the Exodus included the gods and sacred +rites of the Babylonians. So distinctive a characteristic of it +as ‘the feast of Sakea,’ or days of prayer and humiliation for +‘the removal of sin,’ would not be forgotten when Anu and +Moloch and Ashtoreth and Nin-ip made their way to Canaan.</p> + +<p class='c003'>There are passages in the Levitical Code which look back +very distinctly to Egypt. Thus marriage with a sister, whether +a full sister or a half-sister, is forbidden (<abbr title='Leviticus'>Lev.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 9). This +was one of ‘the doings of the land of Egypt’ (<abbr title='Leviticus'>Lev.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 3) +which had been consecrated there both by the civil and by the +religious law, and continued in force down to the time of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_210'>210</span>Roman conquest. So, too, tattooing the flesh, and shaving +the head or lacerating the flesh for the dead, were prohibited +(<abbr title='Leviticus'>Lev.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 27, 28, <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 5), all of them practices which are still +common in the valley of the Nile. But, on the whole, it is +remarkable how entirely Egypt is ignored. The Mosaic legislation +seems intentionally to close its eyes to all things Egyptian, +and, wherever it is possible, to make enactments which tacitly +contradict or set aside the beliefs and customs of Egypt. Even +the doctrine of the resurrection, as Bishop Warburton long ago +observed, is carefully dropped out of sight. There is no reference +to it, no sign that obedience to the laws of Yahveh will +benefit the Israelite in any other world than this. On any +theory of the age and authorship of the Levitical law such a +silence is remarkable. Indeed, if the law is as late as the +epoch of the Babylonish exile the silence would be more than +remarkable, since the doctrine of a future life and of the +power of the god Merodach to raise the dead to life had been +firmly established for centuries among the Babylonians. A +belief in the resurrection, or at all events, in a life beyond the +grave, could not but have betrayed itself in the atmosphere of +the Exile. For those, however, who had the Egyptian house +of bondage immediately behind them, and who feared lest the +tribes in the desert might again lust after the flesh-pots and +green pastures of the Delta, the silence is intelligible. The +doctrine was closely associated with Egyptian idolatry, with +Osiris and Anubis, with the assessors of the dead, and with +the pictured polytheism of the Egyptian monuments.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Levitical legislation was accompanied by a census of +the people. What credit we are to attach to the numbers +which have been handed down is a question that has been +much debated. On the one hand it has been shown that the +vast multitude presupposed by them could not have moved +about in the desert, as it is represented to have done, and that +many of the regulations in the Levitical Code could not have +been carried out with a nomad population of over two millions.<a id='r216'></a><a href='#f216' class='c013'><sup>[216]</sup></a> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_211'>211</span>On the other hand, the 600,000 men above twenty years of +age who were ‘able to go forth to war’ are specified again and +again, and the same number is implied in all the calculations +that are made of the numerical strength of Israel. It is also +the sum of the numbers assigned to the fighting men of the +individual tribes. Throughout the history the ciphers are +consistent with one another. If the number is exaggerated, it +it is an exaggeration which has been consistently adhered to. +We must either accept it, or believe that it belongs to an +artificial system which has been framed with deliberate intention. +But the same may be said of the chronology of the early +patriarchs as well as of the chronology of the kings of Israel +and Judah, and in both instances we know that the system is +wrong. In the case of the chronology of the early patriarchs, +indeed, there are at least three rival systems, all equally complete +and self-coherent, while the chronology of the kings +involves such hopeless anachronisms as have long since caused +it to be rejected by the historian. The difficulties presented +by the census of the Israelites in the wilderness are similar in +character to the anachronisms presented by the chronology of +the kings, and the same reasons which lead us to reject the +one ought equally to induce us to reject the other.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Nevertheless, the chronology of the kings is not wholly incorrect. +The length of reign assigned to the several kings is +usually right. It is only the system into which it has been +fitted that is at fault. And probably this is also the case as +regards the numbering of the tribes of Israel. It may be that +the 8580 Levites and the 22,273 firstborn males are authentic, +and that the increase of the population by 3550 (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-eight'>xxxviii.</abbr> +26; <abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 46) a few months after the flight from Egypt, +and its decrease by 1820 at the end of the wanderings (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> +<abbr title='twenty-six'>xxvi.</abbr> 51), rest on a foundation of fact. Even the traditional +number of 600,000 may have better support than its being a +multiple of the Babylonian <i>soss</i> and <i>ner</i>.<a id='r217'></a><a href='#f217' class='c013'><sup>[217]</sup></a> Perhaps it originally +represented the whole body of fugitives from Egypt.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_212'>212</span>At all events, some light may be thrown on the matter by a +comparison of the numbers given in the Pentateuch with those +of the Libyans and their allies as recorded in the inscription of +Meneptah. Of the Libyans, 6365 men were slain and 230 +(including 12 women) were captured; of their allies, 2370 fell +on the field of battle, and 9146 were taken prisoners, while no +less than 9111 bronze swords were taken from the Maxyes. +We gather from the history of the battle that few, if any, of +the enemy escaped. The whole force of fighting men, therefore, +would not have amounted to very much over 25,000. +And yet this was one of the most formidable hosts that had +invaded Egypt; and its male population had not been decimated +by the tyranny of an Egyptian king. On the other +hand, a population of 2,000,000 in the land of Goshen is inconceivable, +and there would hardly have been room in the +eastern Delta for 600,000 able-bodied brickmakers. The +Sweet-water Canal was dug by only 25,000 fellahin, though +250,000 worked at the Mahmudîya Canal, and for some years +20,000 fresh labourers were sent monthly to excavate the Suez +Canal. Even in the desert, moreover, the Egyptians required +a considerable number of troops to guard the serfs or convicts +who worked for them. At Hammamât, for example, in the +reign of Ramses <abbr title='the fourth'><span class='fss'>IV.</span></abbr>, the 2000 bondservants of the temples +who effected the transport of the stone were attended by 5000 +soldiers, 800 mercenaries, and 200 officers; and provisions for +this large body of men were carried across the desert in ten +waggons, each drawn by six pairs of oxen, and laden with bread, +meat, and cakes.<a id='r218'></a><a href='#f218' class='c013'><sup>[218]</sup></a> For 600,000 Israelites the whole Egyptian +army would not have sufficed. According to Manetho, the +Hyksos, when driven from Egypt, did not number more than +240,000 in all.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We cannot, then, look upon the numbers that have come +down to us as exact. The occupants of the Israelitish camp, +continually under the personal supervision of Moses, and constantly +required to assemble before the tabernacle, could not +<span class='pageno' id='Page_213'>213</span>have been a very large body of men. Had the fighting population +amounted to anything like the number recorded, there +would have been no need of avoiding ‘the way of the land of +the Philistines,’ lest the people should ‘see war,’ or of doubting +the issue of the combat at Rephidim with the Bedâwin +tribes.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The year after the flight from Egypt, Sinai, ‘the mount of +God,’ was left behind. The service that Yahveh required had +been performed, the legislation revealed there had been completed, +and the tabernacle and ark had been made. Israel +had henceforth another religious centre than the sacred +mountain of the desert, which had now fulfilled its part in the +religious training of the tribes. Canaan, and not the wilderness, +was the destined home of the descendants of Jacob, and +to Canaan the ark and the tabernacle were to accompany +them.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The guiding column of cloud moved accordingly from the +wilderness of Sinai to that of Paran (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 12). This +is in harmony with the rest of Old Testament geography. In +the blessing of Moses (<abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 2) it is said that when God +came from Sinai, ‘He shined forth from the mount of Paran,’ +and in Habakkuk (<abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 3) the mount of Paran takes the place +of Sinai itself. Paran, in fact, was the desert which formed +not only the southern boundary of Canaan, but also the +western frontier of Edom. The real Mount Sinai of Hebrew +geography, therefore, was upon the Edomite border; and since +Paran was the home of Ishmael (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 21), it is not +surprising that Esau should have taken one of Ishmael’s +daughters to wife (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-six'>xxxvi.</abbr> 3).</p> + +<p class='c003'>Before Sinai was left, however, Hobab the Midianite, the +brother-in-law of Moses, proposed to return to his own land. +Sinai adjoined Midian, if indeed it was not included in +Midianitish territory, and here, therefore, if at all, it was +needful for the Midianite chief to quit the Israelitish camp. +But his knowledge of the district was too valuable to be lost, +and Moses persuaded him to remain with the Israelitish tribes +<span class='pageno' id='Page_214'>214</span>and guide them to the places where they should encamp. +The Kenites in later days traced their descent to him (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> +16, <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 11), and the rocky nest of the Kenites was visible from +the heights of Moab, perhaps in Petra itself (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 21).</p> + +<p class='c003'>The geographical details which follow are confused. In the +itinerary (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 15, 16) the camp is transported at +once from the wilderness of Sinai to Kibroth-hattaavah. In +the narrative, however, we are told that the people first went +‘three days’ journey,’ and then rested at Taberah, which +seems to be identified with Kibroth-hattaavah; from thence +they travelled to Hazeroth, and then pitched their tents ‘in +the wilderness of Paran.’ On the other hand, the book of +Deuteronomy (<abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 22) distinguishes between Taberah and +Kibroth-hattaavah, and interpolates Massah between them, +which, according to <abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr> 7, was visited before Sinai. +If we follow the official record, we must suppose that the +incident connected with Taberah has been inserted in the +wrong place, or else that Taberah and Kibroth-hattaavah are, +like Massah and Meribah, one and the same. At all events, +all these encampments must have lain on the outskirts of the +desert of Paran. Hazeroth, ‘the enclosures,’ was a common +name for the Bedâwin encampments in the desert south of +Judah, and the Hazeroth mentioned here is doubtless that of +which we read in <abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 1. It lay near Paran on the borders +of the plains of Moab.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Taberah, it was said, derived its name from the fire which +had here consumed some of the people, while Kibroth-hattaavah +marked the ‘graves’ of the murmurers who had +died from a surfeit of quails. Similar flights of quails still +visit the Egyptian Delta in the early spring, when the sky is +sometimes overshadowed by myriads of birds. Hazeroth was +remembered for the rebellion of Aaron and Miriam against +their brother Moses, and the punishment that Miriam the +prophetess had in consequence to endure. The authority of +Moses was disputed because he had married an Ethiopian +wife. It is the only passage in the Pentateuch where this +<span class='pageno' id='Page_215'>215</span>‘Cushite’ wife is alluded to; elsewhere we hear only of +Zipporah the Midianitess. But it points to a traditional recollection +of the days when Moses was still Messu, the Egyptian +prince, and when, like that other Messu, his contemporary, he +might have been the Egyptian governor of Ethiopia.<a id='r219'></a><a href='#f219' class='c013'><sup>[219]</sup></a> The +objection to the Ethiopian wife came but ill from Aaron, +whose grandson bore the Egyptian name of Phinehas, +Pi-nehasi, ‘the negro.’ But Yahveh declared that the Cushite +affinities of Moses were no bar to his being a true servant of +the God of Israel and the divinely-appointed leader of the +tribes. To him Yahveh had revealed His will openly, and as +it were face to face; not, as to other prophets, in waking +visions and dreams.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In the heart of the wilderness of Paran was the venerable +sanctuary of Kadesh-barnea. Centuries before, the army of +Chedor-laomer had swept through it, slaughtering its Amalekite +inhabitants, and drinking the water of En-Mishpat, ‘the Spring +of Judgment,’ where the shêkhs of the desert had given laws +to their people. Its site has been found again in our own days +by Dr. John Rowlands and Dr. Clay Trumbull.<a id='r220'></a><a href='#f220' class='c013'><sup>[220]</sup></a> The spring +of clear water which fills the oasis with life and verdure is still +called ’Ain Qadîs, the ‘Spring of Kadesh.’ It rises at the +foot of a limestone cliff, in which a two-chambered tomb has +been cut in early times, in the hollow of an amphitheatre +of hills. The hills form a block of mountains which occupy +the central part of the desert, midway between El-Arîsh and +Mount Hor, and more than forty miles to the south of Sebaita, +the supposed site of Hormah.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Kadesh, the ‘Sanctuary,’ was destined to be the second +resting-place and scene of Israelitish legislation. The work +which had been left unfinished at Sinai was completed here. +The will of Yahveh, which had first been declared on the +summit of the mountain, was now to be more fully unfolded +among the soft surroundings of the oasis in the valley. Sinai +<span class='pageno' id='Page_216'>216</span>and Kadesh-barnea were the two schools of the desert in which +Israel was trained.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But Kadesh-barnea had other advantages as well. It was +on the high-road from the desert to Canaan, it commanded +the approach to the latter country, and nevertheless within its +rocky barriers the Israelites were safe from attack. Here, +therefore, at Kadesh-barnea, the first preparations were made +for the invasion of Palestine. Twelve scouts were sent, in +Egyptian fashion, to explore the land, and bring back a report +of its capabilities for defence. They made their way as far as +Hebron,<a id='r221'></a><a href='#f221' class='c013'><sup>[221]</sup></a> where a popular etymology derived the name of the +valley of Eshcol from the cluster of grapes they had cut there.<a id='r222'></a><a href='#f222' class='c013'><sup>[222]</sup></a> +But the report with which they returned was discouraging. +The Amorites were tall and strong; by their side the children +of Israel appeared but as grasshoppers; while the cities in +which they dwelt were ‘very great,’ and walled, as it were, to +heaven. It was folly for the desert tribes to dream of assaulting +them; that would need the disciplined army of a Pharaoh, +with its chariots and horses and machines for scaling the walls. +‘We be not able to go up against the people,’ they declared, +‘for they are stronger than we.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>Here, then, was an end to all the promises of Moses. The +Promised Land was in sight, and they were excluded from it +for ever. ‘Let us make another captain,’ they cried, ‘and +return to Egypt.’ The leader who had brought them thus far +had failed on the very threshold of their goal. The Hyksos, +when they forsook Egypt, had found a refuge in Canaan; but +the barren wastes of the wilderness were all that the Israelites +could expect. It was little wonder that a rebellion broke out +in the Israelitish camp, and that the supporters of Moses were +threatened with stoning.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_217'>217</span>But experience soon showed that the Israelitish tribes were +as yet no match for the people whose possessions they desired +to seize. Despite the report of the spies, they climbed the +cliff which formed the northern boundary of the oasis, and +attempted to force their way beyond the frontiers of Canaan. +But their enemies proved the stronger. When Seti <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr> had +attacked the frontier fortress of Canaan, not far from Hebron, +he had found it defended by Shasu or Bedâwin, and so, too, +the Israelites now found themselves confronted not by the +Canaanites only, but also by their Amalekite or Bedâwin allies. +The assailants were utterly defeated and ‘discomfited even +unto Hormah.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>Hormah was more usually known as Zephath (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 17), +and its site must be looked for south of Tell ’Arad. It was +one of the cities of Palestine which Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> claims to +have captured, and it lay towards the southern end of the Dead +Sea, on the road to Hazezon Tamar (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 7). The +mention of it makes it clear that the Israelitish invasion of +Canaan had been a serious attempt. The invaders had +marched along the same military road as that followed by +Chedor-laomer, and had penetrated as far as the hill country +of what was afterwards Judah. But they did not succeed in +getting further, and their shattered relics must have made their +way with difficulty back to the fastness of Kadesh. The first +attempt to conquer Palestine had failed.<a id='r223'></a><a href='#f223' class='c013'><sup>[223]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The disaster was never forgotten. It was some years before +the Israelites again attempted to cross the Canaanitish boundary, +and when they did so it was from a different quarter. A new +generation had to grow up before they were strong enough to +renew the attack; indeed, it is probable that most of the +fighting men had been lost in the earlier expedition. When +at last Israel felt able once more to march against Canaan, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_218'>218</span>it was already in possession of land on the east of the Jordan, +but its great ‘captain’ and lawgiver was dead. Israelitish +history found its leader to the conquest of Palestine not in +Moses, but in Joshua.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The history of the period that followed the disaster left little +that was worth recording. The chief incidents of the life in +the desert had been crowded into the first few months of the +wanderings. But it was during this later period that trouble +arose with Moses’ own tribesmen, the Levites. It was again +a question of authority. The democratic spirit of the Israelites +resented claims to superior power; and just as Aaron and +Miriam had disputed the authority of Moses, so now the Levites +disputed that of Aaron. It was a dispute which, if we are to +believe modern criticism, was continued into later Jewish +history, when it ended, as it did in the desert, in the triumph +of the high-priest.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Aaron and his sons, like Moses, were at the outset Levites, +and as such doubtless had no claim to superior sanctity and +power. But circumstances had placed them at the head of +their tribe; and when that tribe became the ministers of the +sanctuary, Aaron and his descendants necessarily occupied the +foremost place in its services. They were in a special sense +the guardians of the ark, and thus alone privileged to enter +the Holy of Holies, where Yahveh revealed Himself above the +cherubim. As long as there was but one sanctuary, it was +easy to maintain the distinction between the priest of the +house of Aaron and the ordinary Levite. But with the conquest +of Canaan all this was changed. Sanctuaries were +multiplied all over the land; the old high-places became seats +of the worship of Yahveh, and there were rival centres of +religious authority, like that of Baal-berith at Shechem, or that +of the graven image at Dan (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 14, etc.). Local +temples or tabernacles took the place of the one that was +hallowed by the presence of the ark, and the line of Aaron +fell into the background. In the age of national trouble and +disintegration which preceded the accession of Saul, the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_219'>219</span>character of the high-priestly family itself had much to do with +the loss of its power and influence. Eli, its representative at +Shiloh, was old and feeble, and his sons set at defiance the +Mosaic law, which required that Yahveh’s portion of the +sacrifice should be burned on the altar before the priests received +their share, and so they made ‘the offering of the Lord’ to be +‘abhorred.’ The capture of the ark by the Philistines and the +massacre of the priests at Nob by order of Saul completed the +dissolution of the high-priestly authority; and when the temple +at Jerusalem was built under Solomon, a new branch of the +family of Aaron was appointed to minister in it, and his descendants +became little more than hereditary court-chaplains. +It has even been doubted whether there was any high-priest, +properly so called, under the kings; if there were, he had +been divested of the power and position which had been +given him by the Levitical law.</p> + +<p class='c003'>To conclude, however, as has sometimes been done by +modern criticism, that because the priests of Solomon’s temple +were no longer the high-priests of the Pentateuchal law, +therefore there had been no such high-priests at all, is contrary +to the evidence of archæology. Monumental discovery +has disclosed the fact that among the Semitic kinsmen of the +Israelites as well as in Chaldæa the high-priest preceded the +king. Not to speak of the <i>patesis</i> or high-priests of the Babylonian +cities who exercised royal sway within the limits of their +territories, like the Popes within the limits of the Romagna, the +earliest rulers both of Assyria and of Saba or Sheba in Southern +Arabia were high-priests. The Assyrian kings followed the +high-priests of the god Assur, and the Makârib or ‘high-priests’ +of Saba came before the kings. Israel also had the +same experience. The Israelitish kings appeared at a comparatively +late period on the scene of Hebrew history, and +Saul was preceded by the high-priest Eli.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In the book of Deuteronomy, it is true, we do not find the +distinction between ‘the priests, the sons of Aaron,’ and the +rest of the Levites that is made in the Levitical law. Here +<span class='pageno' id='Page_220'>220</span>the priests are all alike called Levites; it is not ‘the priests, +the sons of Aaron,’ but ‘the priests the Levites’ who are +appointed to perform the highest offices of the sanctuary. +How far the phraseology is due to a different conception of +the Mosaic law, or how far it testifies to an older usage of +language, is a question which need not concern us; what is +important to observe is that the difference of expression is +linguistic and not historical. Historically all the priests were +Levites, though from the outset some of them must have been +assigned higher positions than others, and have been invested +with more sacred functions. The Levitical law draws the +distinction which the book of Deuteronomy is not so careful +to do. In fact, there was not the same necessity for doing so +in the case of the Deuteronomic retrospect.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The tabernacle had been constructed, its services arranged, +and the grades and duties of its ministers appointed. Now, +therefore, disappointed in their hope of invading Canaan +from the south, the Israelites settled themselves tranquilly at +Kadesh, in the heart of the wilderness of Zin, and slowly +developed into a strong and united community. Here it was, +by the waters of En-Mishpat, that the legislation of Moses was +completed, and the undisciplined horde of fugitive serfs from +Egypt was moulded into a formidable band of warriors knit +together by a common religion and worship, and continually +gathering increased confidence in its own strength.<a id='r224'></a><a href='#f224' class='c013'><sup>[224]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_221'>221</span>How long the Israelites remained in their desert fastness +we do not know. A time came when they once more resumed +their wanderings, or at all events a portion of them must have +done so. The Itinerary in <abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> gives a long list of +their encampments before they again found themselves in the +oasis of Kadesh. One of the places at which they rested was +Mount Shapher, another was Moseroth, of which we hear in +the book of Deuteronomy (<abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 6). Moseroth was in the +territory of the Horite tribe of Beni-Yaakan,<a id='r225'></a><a href='#f225' class='c013'><sup>[225]</sup></a> and it was from +the Beeroth or ‘Wells’ of the Beni-Yaakan—Hashmonah, as it +is called in the Itinerary—that they had made their way to it.</p> + +<p class='c003'>At Mosera or Moseroth, according to Deuteronomy, Aaron +died, and was succeeded in his office by his son Eleazar. The +statement, however, is not easily reconcileable with what we +are told in the book of Numbers. There it is said that the +death of the high-priest took place on the summit of Mount +Hor after the departure from Kadesh.<a id='r226'></a><a href='#f226' class='c013'><sup>[226]</sup></a> The fact that Gudgodah +was also called Hor-hagidgad, ‘the mountain of clefts,’ +may have been the cause of the transference.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But it must be remembered that Kadesh was merely the +headquarters of Israel during its weary years of waiting in the +wilderness. The scanty notice of the unsuccessful invasion of +Southern Palestine shows that it was only the camp as a whole +which remained fixed there. Like the Bedâwin of to-day, +portions of the tribes made distant expeditions, and the +Itinerary may relate rather to their encampments than to that +of the stationary part of the people. Kadesh was a sort of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_222'>222</span>centre from which fragments of the main body could be sent +forth to scour the frontiers of Seir and Edom, or to encamp +at the foot of Ezion-geber on the Yâm Sûph.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In the book of Numbers (<abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 14, 15) there is a quotation +from ‘the Book of the Wars of the Lord,’ one of the old +documents on which the history of Israel in the wilderness is +based. The introductory words are unintelligible as they stand, +thus testifying to the antiquity of the passage; all that can be +made out of them is that they relate not only to the struggle +between Israel and the Amorites at ‘the brooks of Arnon,’ +but also to a previous war carried on by the Israelites ‘in +Suphah,’ near the gulf of Aqaba.<a id='r227'></a><a href='#f227' class='c013'><sup>[227]</sup></a> Here the Israelites would +have been on the borders of Edom, if indeed they were not +in Edom itself; and it is therefore noticeable that the Egyptian +Pharaoh, Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>, whose reign coincided with the period +of the wanderings of the Israelites in the desert, declares that +he had ‘smitten the Shasu (or Bedâwin) tribes of Seir and +plundered their tents’ (<i>ohélu</i>). Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> was the only +Pharaoh of Egypt who had ventured to attack the Edomite +Bedâwin in their mountain strongholds; while Canaan and +the plateau east of the Jordan had been Egyptian provinces +the inhabitants of Mount Seir had retained their independence. +The synchronism, therefore, of this Egyptian expedition +against, not the Edomites only, but ‘the Bedâwin of Seir’ +and the war in which Israel was engaged ‘in Suphah,’ is, at +least, worthy of notice. It may be that part of the training +undergone by the Israelites in the desert for their future +conquest of Canaan was the help they had rendered their +kinsfolk of Edom in their contest with the old taskmasters of +the Hebrew tribes.</p> + +<p class='c003'>However this may be, of the three leaders who had brought +Israel out of the house of bondage, Moses alone survived the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_223'>223</span>long sojourn at Kadesh. Miriam had died there; the death +of Aaron also, if we may trust Deuteronomy, had taken place +before the final departure from the great desert sanctuary. In +any case, it had happened in sight of Kadesh, and before the +march had commenced which was to lead the Israelitish tribes +to the Promised Land. The time had now arrived when +Israel felt strong enough once more to attempt its conquest; +not, this time, by the road through the mountains of the south +along which Chedor-laomer had marched to Kadesh, but from +the plateau eastward of the Jordan where the kindred nations +of Moab and Ammon had already established themselves. +Here, too, the Israelites made their first permanent settlements +in the land which they had marked out for their own.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Canaanite population east of the Jordan was sparse +and weak compared with that to the west. It had been further +weakened by foreign conquest. Between the fall of the Egyptian +empire and the Israelitish invasion the Amorites under Sihon +had formed a kingdom and occupied the territory of Moab as +far south as the Arnon. As in the age of the eighteenth +dynasty, so too under the kings of the nineteenth dynasty, +Egyptian rule extended over what is called in one of the Tel +el-Amarna tablets ‘the field of Bashan.’ The so-called Sakhret +Eyyûb, or ‘Stone of Job,’ a little to the north of Tell ’Ashtereh, +eastward of the Jordan, has been discovered by Dr. +Schumacher to be a monument of Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr><a id='r228'></a><a href='#f228' class='c013'><sup>[228]</sup></a> The figure of +the Pharaoh is engraved upon it, with his name beside him, +as well as the figure of a deity who wears the crown of Osiris, +and is represented with a full face, while his Canaanitish name +is written in hieroglyphs.<a id='r229'></a><a href='#f229' class='c013'><sup>[229]</sup></a> At Luxor<a id='r230'></a><a href='#f230' class='c013'><sup>[230]</sup></a> Ramses claims Moab +<span class='pageno' id='Page_224'>224</span>among his conquests, and we may therefore gather that up to +the time of the Exodus the authority of Egypt had been +restored throughout the country east of the Jordan. But the +Libyan invasion shattered the strength of Egypt, and long +before the close of the nineteenth dynasty its possessions in +Palestine passed from it forever. This is precisely the period +to which the Pentateuch refers the kingdom of Og in Bashan +and the conquests of Sihon in Moab, and the Biblical and +monumental evidence thus stand in complete agreement.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Moses had requested permission from the Edomite king to +pass through his dominions. The Song of Moses (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> +15) still speaks of the <span lang="hbo"><i>alûphim</i></span>, or ‘dukes,’ of Edom, who had +originally governed the country; but while the Israelites had +been lingering in the desert, the ‘dukes’ had made way for an +elective monarchy. The dissolution of the Egyptian power +may have had something to do with this; possibly the invasion +of Mount Seir by Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> had produced the same result +in Edom that the Philistine invasion produced among the +Israelites, and had obliged them to elect a king. At all +events, the first king of Edom, we read, was ‘Bela, the son of +Beor.’ Bela, however, is merely a contracted form of Balaam, +and in the first Edomite king we must therefore see Balaam, +the son of Beor. What relation he bore to the seer from +Pethor will have to be considered later on.<a id='r231'></a><a href='#f231' class='c013'><sup>[231]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>It is not surprising that the Edomite king refused the +request that had been made to him. To have admitted +within his frontiers a large body of emigrants like the Israelites, +many of whom were armed, might have been as dangerous +as the passage of the Crusaders through the Eastern Empire +proved to Constantinople. The Israelites were not strong +enough to force their way through a hostile country, and very +reluctantly, therefore, they once more turned southward to the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_225'>225</span>Gulf of Aqaba, and from thence marched northward again to +the east of Edom. Their route brought them to the southeastern +part of Moab.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The people, we are told, bitterly complained of the length +of ‘the way.’ It was not strange. The Promised Land, so +constantly in sight, seemed always to recede as soon as it was +approached. They had vainly attempted to enter it from the +south; the Philistines kept garrison in the cities on the +Mediterranean coast; and now, when a third and last mode of +approach was undertaken, their brethren of Edom closed the +path. The road, too, which they were thus forced to adopt +led them through a desert, which the Assyrian king Esar-haddon +describes as a land of drought, inhabited only by +‘snakes and scorpions, which filled the ground like locusts.’<a id='r232'></a><a href='#f232' class='c013'><sup>[232]</sup></a> +These were the ‘fiery serpents’ that bit the Israelites and +increased their miseries. A memorial of their sufferings lasted +down to the age of Hezekiah. The brazen ‘seraph’ or +‘fiery serpent’ which had been wrought by order of Moses, +and planted on the top of a pole, was religiously preserved in +the chief sanctuary of the nation. Incense was burned before +it, for it had been the means of preserving the people from +the fiery poison of the snakes. But the idolatry of which it +was the object brought about its destruction. The relic, +which had been spared by the earlier kings and priests of +Judah, was destroyed by Hezekiah, who realised at last that +it was but ‘a piece of brass.’ It is true that doubts have +been cast upon its having actually been a monument of the +life in the wilderness; but it is difficult for the historian to +understand how a modern critic can be better informed on +such a point than the contemporaries of Hezekiah.<a id='r233'></a><a href='#f233' class='c013'><sup>[233]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Zalmonah, Punon, and Oboth were the next stages on the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_226'>226</span>journey after Mount Hor. Then came Iye-ha-Abârim, ‘the +Ruins of the Hebrews’—a name, it may be, which contained a +reminiscence of the settlement of the Israelites in the country.<a id='r234'></a><a href='#f234' class='c013'><sup>[234]</sup></a> +Iye-ha-Abârim was in the plain east of Moab, under the +shadow of the mountain-range of Abarim. Then the stream +of the Zered was crossed, and the emigrants found themselves +in Moab. The banks of the Arnon were the next resting-place.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The nation retained but little recollection of the dreary +years that had been passed in the wilderness. A few incidents +alone were recorded which had broken the monotony of +their desert life. But here, on the verge of Canaan and of +conquest, the national consciousness awakened into new life. +The song was handed down which had been sung when at some +station in the desert the ground had been pierced and water +found. ‘Spring up, O well!’ it said; ‘sing ye unto it. O +well that hast been dug by princes, that hast been pierced by +the nobles of the people, by (the direction of) the lawgiver, +with their staves!’ Similar songs, according to Professor +Goldziher, were sung in old days by the Arab kinsmen of the +Israelites when they too dug wells in the desert and the +refreshing water bubbled up from below.<a id='r235'></a><a href='#f235' class='c013'><sup>[235]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Arnon was now the boundary between Moab and the new +kingdom of Sihon the Amorite. Sihon refused permission to +the Israelites to pass through his territories, along the ‘royal +highway,’ and endeavoured to stop their advance. But the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_227'>227</span>tribes were no longer the undisciplined rabble who had fled +from the Canaanites of Zephath, and the result of the struggle +was the complete overthrow of the Amorite forces. The +district between the Arnon and the Jabbok, which had been +taken by Sihon from ‘the former king of Moab,’ was occupied +by the Israelites, who accordingly established themselves +midway between Moab and Ammon. It is on the occasion +of this conquest that the Hebrew historian has preserved the +fragment of an Amorite song of triumph which had celebrated +the capture of Ar, the Moabite capital, and which was now +embodied by the Israelites in a similar song of triumph for +their own victory over Sihon.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Ammon was too strong to be attacked (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 24), +but ‘Moses sent to spy out Jaazer,’ not far from Rabbah, the +future capital of the Ammonites, and the fall of the Amorite +city of Jaazer brought with it the conquest of Gilead. The +tribes of Reuben and Gad were settled in the newly-acquired +districts, on condition, however, that they should acknowledge +their relationship to the rest of the tribes, and help the latter +in case of necessity (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-two'>xxxii.</abbr> 29-32; <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 15-17). +Gilead had been conquered by Machir, a branch of the tribe +of Manasseh (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-two'>xxxii.</abbr> 39; <abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 15; <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 14), +and the conquest was subsequently extended further by +armed bands under chieftains, like Jair and Nobah, who +occupied outlying districts on their own account.<a id='r236'></a><a href='#f236' class='c013'><sup>[236]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The Havoth-Jair, or ‘Villages of Jair,’ were in the ‘stony’ +region of Argob, the Trachonitis of Greek geography, which +extended northward to the Aramaic kingdoms of Geshur and +Maachah. It formed part of the ‘Field of Bashan,’ which in the +Mosaic age was ruled by Og ‘of the remnant of the Rephaim.’ +Like Sihon, he is called an Amorite, and his two capitals were +at Edrei and Ashtaroth-Karnaim.<a id='r237'></a><a href='#f237' class='c013'><sup>[237]</sup></a> His rule was acknowledged +<span class='pageno' id='Page_228'>228</span>from the Haurân in the south to Mount Hermon in the north, +and he must thus have been one of the native princes who +arose out of the ruins of the Egyptian empire. But his power +was shortlived. He was unable to withstand the shock of +the invaders from the desert, and his dominions became +Israelitish territory. It would seem that what was afterwards +the eastern side of Ammon was included in his kingdom, +since in after ages a huge sarcophagus of black basalt, which +was preserved in Rabbah of Ammon, was pointed out as his +‘iron bed’ (<abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 11).</p> + +<p class='c003'>These conquests of the Israelites doubtless occupied a considerable +space of time. Some of them, indeed, were made +after the Mosaic age, and were merely extensions of the +conquests made at that time. But the overthrow of Og must +have followed quickly on that of Sihon. A year or two +would have sufficed to allow the Israelitish bands to overrun +the districts to the north-east of the Arnon.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is not wonderful that the Moabites should have wished to +rid themselves of such dangerous neighbours. But their king, +Balak the son of Zippor,<a id='r238'></a><a href='#f238' class='c013'><sup>[238]</sup></a> was uncertain how to act. The +Moabite forces were no match for the fierce desert-tribes who +had overthrown Sihon and burnt his towns. An embassy +was accordingly sent to the seer, Balaam the son of Beor, who +lived at Pethor on the Euphrates, in ‘the land of the children +of Ammo.’ The site of Pethor has been recovered from the +Assyrian monuments. It lay on the west bank of the +Euphrates, a little to the north of its junction with the Sajur, +and consequently only a few miles south of the Hittite capital +Carchemish, now Jerablûs. The Beni-Ammo must have +claimed the same ancestry as the Beni-Ammi or Ammonites, +and the name is probably to be found in that of the country +<span class='pageno' id='Page_229'>229</span>of Ammiya or Ammi, which is mentioned in the Tel el-Amarna +tablets.<a id='r239'></a><a href='#f239' class='c013'><sup>[239]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The fame of Balaam must have been widespread. But it is +permissible to ask whether the only object of the embassy was +that the seer should ‘curse’ the descendants of Jacob. A +curse usually meant something more substantial than a form +of words; and, as we have already seen, the first Edomite +king given in the extract from the chronicles of Edom bears +the same name and has the same father as Balaam. Did +Balaam end by becoming elected king of Edom, and finally +falling in battle against the Israelites, along with his allies the +Midianitish chiefs?<a id='r240'></a><a href='#f240' class='c013'><sup>[240]</sup></a> The materials for an answer are not yet +before us.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The story of Balaam seems to form an episode by itself. +The narrative and the prophecies constitute a single whole, +which cannot be torn apart. It is the first example in the +Old Testament of a written prophecy, and that the prophet +should have been a Gentile diviner is of itself significant. +Nothing can be more vivid and lifelike than the picture that +is presented to us. We see the ambassadors of Balak persuading +the half-reluctant seer to accompany them; we read of +the strange miracles that accompanied the journey, and of the +altars that were reared, and the sacrifices that were offered in +the hope that his enchantments might prevail over those of +Israel. He was taken from high-place to high-place, whence +he could look down upon the distant hosts of the enemy, and +upon each, in Babylonian fashion, seven altars were erected. +But all was unavailing. The God of Jacob refused to be +turned from His purpose by the bullocks and the rams that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_230'>230</span>were offered Him, and the curses of the Aramæan seer were +turned into blessings. When Balaam fell into the prophetic +trance, seeing ‘the vision of the Almighty, but having his eyes +open,’ the words which were put into his mouth were words +which predicted the future glories of Israel. ‘A star should +come out of Jacob, and a sceptre should arise out of Israel, +which should smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the +children of Sheth.’<a id='r241'></a><a href='#f241' class='c013'><sup>[241]</sup></a> Edom, too, should at last become the +possession of his younger brother, and the Amalekites of the +desert should perish for ever.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The age of the episode has been often disputed. Much +depends on the question whether the references in the last +prophecy to the Kenites and others belong to the original +document, or are later insertions. The Assyrians did not +penetrate into the desert south of Judah, where the Kenites lived, +until the time of Tiglath-pileser <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> and Sargon in the eighth +century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> The Amalekites were destroyed by Saul; Moab +and Edom were conquered by David. But the concluding verse +of the prophecy is at present difficult to explain. When was +it that ships came from Cyprus and ‘afflicted’ Assyria and the +Hebrews, so that they too perished for ever? In the age of +the Exodus, the pirates of the Greek seas joined their forces +with those of the Libyans in the invasion of Egypt, and the +Philistines and their allies sailed from Krete and other islands +of the Mediterranean, and established themselves on the coast +of Palestine. Was it here that the Hebrews lived who were +to perish for ever? It is, at any rate, worthy of note that it +was the Philistines more especially among whom the Israelites +were known as the ‘Hebrews.’ In the time of the Tel el-Amarna +tablets we already hear of Assyrian intrigues in the +far West. The Babylonian king asks the Pharaoh why the +Assyrians, his ‘vassals,’ have been allowed to come to Canaan +<span class='pageno' id='Page_231'>231</span>and enter into relations with the Egyptian court.<a id='r242'></a><a href='#f242' class='c013'><sup>[242]</sup></a> At a later +period, while Israel was ruled by judges, more than one +Assyrian monarch actually made his way to the Mediterranean +coast.<a id='r243'></a><a href='#f243' class='c013'><sup>[243]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>As the historical chapters of the book of Isaiah, including +the prophecies contained in them, have been embodied in the +book of Kings, so, too, the history of Balaam and Balak has +been embodied in the book of Numbers. There is no reason for +denying its substantial authenticity. Written prophecies were +already known both in Egypt and in Babylonia,<a id='r244'></a><a href='#f244' class='c013'><sup>[244]</sup></a> and it is +almost inconceivable that a Jewish fabricator of prophecies +would have made a Gentile diviner the mouthpiece of Yahveh. +Moreover, there is nothing in the narrative or the prophecies +themselves which is inconsistent with the date to which they +profess to belong, unless indeed it is maintained that the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_232'>232</span>conquest of Moab and Edom by the Israelites could not have +been predicted at the time. But, apart from theological considerations +which lie outside the province of the historian, it +did not require much political foresight to conclude that a +people which had begun by destroying the power of Sihon was +likely to end by conquering the nations surrounding them. In +fact, it would seem from the enumeration of the cities occupied +by Reuben and Gad (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-two'>xxxii.</abbr> 34-38) that at one time +little, if any, territory was left to the Moabite king.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In the embassy to Balaam ‘the elders of Midian’ are united +with those of Moab. In fact, it is to the ‘elders of Midian,’ +and not to those of Moab, that Balak first addresses himself +(<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-two'>xxii.</abbr> 4). It is the Midianites, moreover, and not the +Moabites, who tempted Israel to sin ‘in the matter of Baal-Peor,’ +and who were accordingly massacred in the war that +followed, although ‘the people had begun to commit whoredom’ +with ‘the daughters of Moab’ (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-five'>xxv.</abbr> 1). It is +clear, therefore, that Moab was at the time occupied by the +Midianites, just as the eastern portion of Israelitish territory +was occupied by them in later days before it was freed by +Gideon. Then they had swarmed up from the south along +with the Amalekite Bedâwin and the Kadmônim of the south-east, +and under their five shêkhs had overrun the land of +Israel. Moab had now undergone the same fate, perhaps in +consequence of its weakened condition after the unsuccessful +war against Sihon. At any rate, it is probable that the +Moabites had eventually to thank their Edomite neighbours +for their deliverance from the invaders, since in the list of the +Edomite kings we are told that the fourth of them, Hadad, +the son of Bedad, ‘smote Midian in the field of Moab’ (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> +<abbr title='thirty-six'>xxxvi.</abbr> 35). The age of Hadad and that of Gideon could +not have been far apart, and Gideon’s success may therefore +have been one of the results that followed upon the Midianite +defeat in Moab. The losses sustained by the Midianites, +however, in their struggle with the invading Israelites, must +have weakened their hold upon the territories of the Moabite +<span class='pageno' id='Page_233'>233</span>king. The storm-cloud which had terrified Balak passed over +him to his Midianite foes.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The conquest of the Moabite cities brought with it intermarriages +between the Israelites and their inhabitants as well +as an adoption of the native forms of faith. Yahveh was +deserted for Baal-Peor, the Moabite Baal of Mount Peor, but +it was not long before He avenged Himself. Pestilence broke +out in the camp, and the people saw in it the finger of God. +By command of Moses ‘all the heads of the people’ were +‘hanged before the Lord in face of the sun’; while Phinehas, +the son of the high-priest, jealous of the rights of Yahveh, +stabbed to the death an Israelite and his Midianitish wife who +had dared to show themselves before the sanctuary of the +Lord. The time had passed when Moses was justified in +marrying a wife of Midianitish race; Israel had now become +a peculiar people, dedicated to Yahveh, who would allow ‘no +other god’ to share His place. The Midianitish wife was a +sign and evidence that Yahveh of Israel had been forsaken +for a Midianitish Baal.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Thus far, it would seem, Israel and Midian had mixed +together on friendly terms. Both were desert tribes, both +were connected together by old traditions and intercourse, +and claimed descent from a common ancestor. But it was +now a question of rival deities and forms of faith. The very +existence of the Law that had been promulgated from Sinai +and Kadesh was at stake; and if Israel and its religion were +not to be absorbed into the world of heathenism around +them, it was time for the tribe of Levi—the keepers of the +sanctuary—to awake. Moses and Phinehas saw the danger, +and swift punishment descended on the backsliders within +Israel itself. How formidable, however, the danger had been +may be gathered from the statement that ‘all the heads of the +people’ were put to death.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The turn of Midian came next. The Midianite tribes were +overthrown, and their five shêkhs slain, one of whom, Rekem, +gave his name to the city which is better known as Petra. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_234'>234</span>‘Balaam also, the son of Beor, they slew with the sword.’ +The Midianite villages and forts were burned to the ground, +and the captives and spoil were brought to the Israelitish +camp. Here they were divided among the people, Yahveh +and His priests receiving their share. Out of a total of +16,000 captives, thirty-two slaves were given to the Lord. +Henceforth it became the rule that the spoil taken in war +should be divided into two equal parts, one-half for the +fighting men, the rest for the people as a whole; and that +while the fighting men had to deliver up only one share in +five hundred to the Levites, the priestly tribute levied on the +rest of the ‘congregation’ was as much as one in fifty. The +regulation was reinforced by David after his defeat of the +Amalekites when his companions clamoured for the whole of +the spoil (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty'>xxx.</abbr> 24, 25), at all events in so far as the +equal division of it was concerned between the combatants +and those who remained at home.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Midianites were driven from Moab and its frontiers. +Their overthrow meant the triumph of the priestly tribe in +Israel. The war had been waged not against Midian only, +but against the allies and kinsmen of Midian in Israel itself. +The old relationship between Israel and Midian had been +severed on the confines of the Promised Land; the supremacy +of Yahveh in Israel had been once more asserted, and Israel +had become more than ever His peculiar people. Before +they entered Canaan, it was needful that the last links that +bound them to the wild tribes of the desert should be cut +in two.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The work of Moses was completed. He had led Israel +from the house of bondage, had given it laws and made it a +nation in the wilderness, and had fitted it for the conquest of +Canaan. The land flowing with milk and honey, which the +Semitic settlers in Egypt seem always to have regarded as a +home of refuge to which they should ultimately return, was +now within their grasp. Egyptian troops no longer garrisoned +it, and its population was weakened by intestine troubles, by +<span class='pageno' id='Page_235'>235</span>the long war between Egypt and the Hittites, and, above all, +by the invasion of the Philistines and other pirates from the +Greek seas. A large portion of the cultivated territory on the +east side of the Jordan was already in Israelite hands; all that +was needed was to cross the river and take possession of +‘the land of promise.’ Israel never forgot that it was from +hence that its ancestors had come, and tradition recorded +that the bodies of the patriarchs still lay in the rock-tomb of +Machpelah. Even now the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh +carried with them the mummy of Joseph, from whom they +claimed their origin, ready to deposit it wherever they could +gain a permanent foothold and build for themselves a central +sanctuary.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The scene of the last legislation of Moses is laid in the +plains of Moab, in the newly-won territory of Israel, and +almost within sight of the mountains of Canaan. The additional +laws and regulations which needed to be made were +not many. Reuben and Gad were settled in the districts +which subsequently bore their names, the Reubenites pasturing +their flocks like nomad Bedâwin among the northern wadis +of Moab, while Gad occupied the greater portion of the +Amorite kingdom of Sihon. Part of the tribe of Manasseh +also made its home in the districts of Gilead and Bashan, +which it had won by the sword.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The institution of the six cities of refuge, moreover, as well +as of the forty-eight cities of the Levites, is assigned to the +same period. Modern criticism, however, has shown itself +unwilling to accept its Mosaic authorship. But sacred cities, +to which the homicide could flee for refuge, were an ancient +institution in both Syria and Asia Minor. We find them also +in the region of the Hittites. Such <i>asyla</i>, as the Greeks +called them, lasted down to the classical period, and played a +considerable part in the local history of Asia Minor. Wherever +we find a Kadesh or a Hierapolis, there we may expect to +find also an asylum in which the gods and their ministers +would protect the unintentional shedder of blood from the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_236'>236</span>vengeance of man. It was a means of checking the <i>vendetta</i> +or blood feud, which was in full harmony with primitive law.<a id='r245'></a><a href='#f245' class='c013'><sup>[245]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>In establishing the cities of refuge, therefore, the Israelites +did but carry on the traditions of the past. And two at least +of the cities, which were subsequently set apart for the purpose, +were sanctuaries, and consequently ‘asyla,’ long before +the children of Jacob entered Palestine. These were Kadesh +in Galilee and Hebron (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> 7). The name of Kadesh +declares its sacred character, and the sanctuary of Hebron +had been famous for centuries.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The institution of the Levitical cities, again, was a result of +the new position assigned to the tribe of Levi as the priests +and representatives of the national God. The overthrow of +the Midianites and their Israelitish allies had definitely settled +the place of the tribe in Israel. Yahveh had prevailed over +all other gods, and those who worshipped another god had +been put to the sword. It had been the work of Levi, of +those who had been chosen to be the ministers of Yahveh or +had voluntarily devoted themselves to the service of the +sanctuary. On the day that the spoil of Midian was divided +it was recognised that Levi was not a tribe in the sense that +the other tribes were so; it represented the priests and +ministers of Yahveh, whoever and wheresoever they might be. +And as, in the division of the spoil, due care was taken of +Yahveh and His priests, so, too, in the division of the land, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_237'>237</span>it was needful that similar care should be taken for them. +The priests of Egypt had their lands, out of the revenues of +which the temples were supported, and Egypt was not the +only country of the Oriental world in which the same practice +prevailed. Indeed, while Canaan was an Egyptian province +temples had been built in it by the Pharaohs, and doubtless +endowed in the same way as the temples of Egypt itself. +The revenues of Syrian towns, moreover, had been given to +Egyptian temples; Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>, for example, immediately +after the conquest of Syria, settled three of its towns (Anaugas, +Innuam, and Harankal) upon Amon of Thebes.<a id='r246'></a><a href='#f246' class='c013'><sup>[246]</sup></a> The custom +lingered on into late times; the Persian king assigned the +three cities of Magnesia, Myos, and Lampsacus for the maintenance +of Themistoklês,<a id='r247'></a><a href='#f247' class='c013'><sup>[247]</sup></a> and the taxes of the Fayyûm in +Egypt formed the ‘pin-money’ of Queen Arsinoê Philadelphos.<a id='r248'></a><a href='#f248' class='c013'><sup>[248]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Later ages misunderstood the regulations that related to +the Levitical cities, and, misled by the belief that the tribe of +Levi was constituted like the other tribes of Israel, imagined +that they were intended to be places where the Levites should +dwell and none else. This misconception has coloured the +existing text of <abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-five'>xxxv.</abbr> 2-8, but we have only to turn to +the list of the cities given in <abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> to see how unfounded +it is. In fact, the Levites, as ministers of the national God, +lived wherever there was a sanctuary of Yahveh to be served; +in the days of the Judges we find a Levite even in the private +house of Micah, on Mount Ephraim, from whence he is +taken by the Danite raiders along with the image of his God +(<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr>). There was no intention of shutting up the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_238'>238</span>Levites in certain cities apart from the rest of the people; on +the contrary, they were to be ‘scattered’ throughout Israel, +the priests and representatives everywhere of the national God.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The book of Deuteronomy is the testament of Moses. +Even the most sceptical criticism admits that such was already +the belief in the age of Josiah, so far, at any rate, as regards +the main portion of the book. At the same time, the stoutest +advocates of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch also +admit that it cannot all have come from his hand. The +account of his death, which forms the close of the book, +cannot have been written by the great legislator himself. +Here, as elsewhere, it is for the historian to decide where the +narrative may belong to the Mosaic age, and where it transports +us to the atmosphere of a later period.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The original Deuteronomy of philological criticism begins +with the twelfth chapter, without introduction or even explanation. +The Deuteronomy of Hebrew tradition is the +fitting conclusion of the Pentateuch. Moses, worn out with +years and labour, addresses his people for the last time. +They are about to cross the Jordan and enter Canaan; here +on the threshold of the Promised Land his task is done, and +he must leave the work of conquest to other and younger +hands. He has been the legislator of Israel, Joshua must be +its general.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We have, first, a recapitulation of the chief events of the +wanderings in the wilderness from the day that the Covenant +was made in Horeb, the mount of God.<a id='r249'></a><a href='#f249' class='c013'><sup>[249]</sup></a> They are intermingled +with antiquarian notes, which may, or may not, be of +the Mosaic age, as well as with exhortations to obedience +to the Law. Then follows a series of enactments which +constitute the Deuteronomic Law itself. The enactments +necessarily go over some of the ground already traversed by +<span class='pageno' id='Page_239'>239</span>the previous legislation; in some points they even seem to +contradict it. But the contradictions are more apparent than +real, like the reason assigned for observing the Sabbath. +Sometimes they are supplementary to the Levitical laws, +sometimes are supplemented by the latter; at other times the +same regulation is repeated from a different point of view.<a id='r250'></a><a href='#f250' class='c013'><sup>[250]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>A special characteristic of the Deuteronomic Law is its +tenderness and care for animals as well as for the poor, ‘the +stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.’<a id='r251'></a><a href='#f251' class='c013'><sup>[251]</sup></a> Even the Egyptian +is not to be ‘abhorred’ (<abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> 7), and all Hebrew slaves +are to be released every seventh year. Along with this, however, +we find the ferocity which distinguished the Semites in +time of war. If the enemy lived afar off, all the males of a +vanquished city were to be mercilessly slain, and the children +and women spared, only to become the slaves and concubines +of the conquerors. But even this amount of mercy was forbidden +in the case of the Canaanitish cities; here the massacre +was to be universal, lest the Israelites should take wives from +the conquered population and fall away from the worship of +Yahveh. A similar spirit of ferocity breathes through the +Assyrian inscriptions, where the kings boast of the multitudes +of the vanquished whom they had tortured and slain in +honour of their god Assur. Alone of the ancient nations of +the East the Egyptians seem to have understood what we +mean by humanity in war.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Like the poor, the Levite is commended to the care and +support of the people. He has no land or property of his +own—much less a ‘Levitical city,’—the Lord alone ‘is his +inheritance,’ and consequently those who remember the Levite +remember at the same time the Lord whom he serves. The +portion of the offering is defined which is to be the due of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_240'>240</span>Levites, and tithe is to be paid to them upon all the produce +of the land. No distinction is drawn in the book of Deuteronomy +between the Levites and the priests, ‘the sons of +Aaron,’ and therefore the laws relating to the Levites apply +to all the priests alike.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Another characteristic of the Deuteronomic Law is its +insistence on a central sanctuary. It was to this central +sanctuary that the God-fearing Israelite was commanded to +‘go up’ three times in the year at each of the great feasts, +and there offer his firstlings and sacrifices to the Lord. This +central sanctuary, however, did not exclude the existence of +local altars or shrines. The Levite is described as living in +the families of the other tribes throughout the land (<abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 19, +<abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 27), and as deciding cases at law, wherever they might +occur, along with the judges (<abbr title='sixteen'>xvi.</abbr> 18, <abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr> 9, <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 17, <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 6). +Nor was it necessary when an animal was slaughtered, and its +life-blood poured out before Yahveh, that this should be done +in the one chief temple of the nation. It was only such +offerings as had been specially vowed to the national God +that were required to be brought there. They had been +dedicated to Yahveh as God of the whole nation, and it was +therefore to that sanctuary in which Yahveh was worshipped +by the nation as a whole that they had to be taken. In his +individual or local capacity the Israelite was free to offer his +sacrifices where he would. For, it must be remembered, the +very fact that the life-blood was shed made the death of the +animal a sacrifice to the Lord, and the feast on its flesh which +followed was a feast eaten in the presence of the Lord.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The insistence on the central sanctuary implied an equal +insistence on the absolute supremacy of Yahveh in Israel. +Idolaters and enticers to idolatry were to be cut off without +pity; even the prophet who spoke in the name of another +god, and whose words came to pass, was to be stoned to +death. The fulfilment of a prediction guaranteed its truth +only if the prophet was the messenger of Yahveh. Yahveh +would suffer no other gods to be worshipped at His side, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_241'>241</span>the Deuteronomic Law accordingly forbids all such practices +as were connected with the heathenism of the neighbouring +peoples. The Israelites were forbidden to tattoo themselves +like the Syrian worshippers of Hadad, to scarify their flesh +like the Egyptians in mourning for the dead, far less like the +Canaanites around them to sacrifice their firstborn by fire. +Every effort was made to preserve them from contact with +their neighbours; their king was forbidden to ‘multiply’ +horses and wives; for the one would lead to intercourse with +Egypt, the other would introduce into Israel the worship and +the images of foreign deities. The sacred trees which from +time immemorial had been planted near the altars of the +gods, some of them by the patriarchs themselves, were to be +destroyed like the conical pillar of the goddess Asherah and +the upright column which symbolised the sun-god.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Few aspects of Hebrew life are left untouched by the enactments +of Deuteronomy. Marriage and divorce, murder and +other crimes, the institution of the cities of refuge, the +observance of the great feasts, the election and duty of a +king, sanitary laws including the distinction between clean +and unclean meats, slavery, commerce, and usury, are all +alike subjects of the Deuteronomic legislation. And the whole +legislation is marked by a spirit of compassion for the poor +and suffering, at all events if they belong to the house of +Israel, or have been allowed to share some of its privileges. +The creditor is enjoined to give back to the poor man before +nightfall the raiment he had taken in pledge, and the master +is bidden to pay at the close of the day the wages of ‘the +hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy +brethren or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy +gates.’ Even the curious prohibition to mix like and unlike +together, as in the case of a garment of wool and linen (xxii. +11), seems to be a reduction from the principle which forbade +the yoking together of the ox and ass.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The legislation relating to the king is perhaps somewhat +striking, especially when we bear in mind the protest raised +<span class='pageno' id='Page_242'>242</span>by Samuel against the election of one (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 6-18). +Samuel, however, was not altogether disinterested in the +matter; and it was obvious that as soon as the conquest of +Canaan was completed, there could be no national unity without +a monarch who could represent the people and lead them +in war. Before the time of Samuel, Abimelech had established +a kingdom in Central Palestine, and tradition spoke of Moses +also as ‘king in Jeshurun’ (<abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 5). The Israelites, +if ever they were to form a nation, were destined to follow the +example of their neighbours; even in the wild fastnesses of +Mount Seir the ‘dukes’ of Edom had been succeeded by +kings. The idea of kingship was so familiar to the Mosaic +age, that it is difficult to conceive of any legislation which did +not contemplate it. Whether the legislation would have taken +precisely the same form as that which we find in Deuteronomy +is another question.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The commandments enjoined by Moses were ordered to be +written on the stuccoed face of ‘great stones.’ Whether the +whole of the Deuteronomic legislation is meant is more than +doubtful. But that the chief enactments of the code should +be thus placed before the eyes of the people was in accordance +with the customs of the age. The acts and events of the +reign of Augustus engraved on the marble slabs of Ancyra +are a late example of the same usage; and the great inscription +of Darius on the cliff of Behistun has similarly preserved to +us the history of the foundation of the Persian empire. To +cover stone or rock with stucco, which was then painted white +and written upon, was a common practice in Egypt. It seems +to imply, however, that the writing could be painted with the +brush, and thus to exclude the use of cuneiform characters. +At the same time, these characters could be cut in stucco as +well as in stone, and it is possible that the stucco was intended +to be a substitute for clay, where a large surface had to be +covered. However this may be, the monument was ordered +to be erected on Mount Ebal, by the side of an altar of +unwrought stones.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_243'>243</span>On Ebal, moreover, and the opposite height of Gerizim, it +was prescribed that a strange ceremony should be performed. +While half the tribes stood on the one mountain, and the other +half on the other mountain, the Levites were to curse from +Ebal all those who disobeyed the law, and to bless from +Gerizim those who obeyed it.<a id='r252'></a><a href='#f252' class='c013'><sup>[252]</sup></a> Unfortunately, as might have +been expected, the curses much predominated over the blessings. +We hear afterwards in the book of Joshua that the +ceremony was duly performed, excepting only that Joshua +read the words of cursing and benediction in place of ‘the +priests the Levites.’ Critics have doubted the historical +character of the occurrence, but it is inconsistent with no +known fact, and it is difficult to find a reason for its gratuitous +invention.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The latter part of the book of Deuteronomy brings the life +of Moses to an end. It includes the final covenant made +between himself on behalf of Yahveh and the people of Israel, +to which are attached the various calamities that would await +the breaking of it. It also tells us that the law contained in +Deuteronomy was really written by the legislator, and delivered +to the priests the sons of Levi with an injunction that it should +be read every seventh year (<abbr title='thirty-one'>xxxi.</abbr> 9-11). Like the ‘witness’ +to <abbr title='Saint'>S.</abbr> John’s Gospel, therefore, the compiler of the Pentateuch +in its present form wishes to add his testimony to the belief +that the Mosaic law was written by Moses himself.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Two songs, attributed to Moses, are also incorporated in +the book. They seem to be a reflection of the curses and +blessings pronounced respectively on Ebal and Gerizim. The +one paints the sufferings which forgetfulness of Yahveh was to +bring upon Israel; the other describes the future happiness +and glory of the several tribes. Chiefest among them are +Levi and the house of Joseph; ‘the precious things’ of the +Promised Land are reserved for Ephraim and Manasseh, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_244'>244</span>whose warriors shall drive the enemies of Yahveh to the ends +of the earth. Levi shall be the lawgiver and instructor of +Israel, while Benjamin shall be the ‘beloved of the Lord,’ +who shall ‘dwell between his shoulders’ at Shiloh. Judah, +on the other hand, stands in the background; little is said of +him except a prayer that he should be delivered from his +enemies. And Simeon is passed over altogether. It is plain +that this second song or ‘blessing’ must be of early date. +It cannot be later than the early days of the conquest of +Canaan, when Ephraim and Manasseh were still the most +powerful of the tribes, and when the tabernacle of Yahveh was +erected at Shiloh. The tribes were still united among themselves; +they still recognised a common God and a common +worship, and had not as yet fallen upon the evil days depicted +in the book of Judges. The tone of the song throughout is +that of triumph and success; the Israelites must have still +been in their first flush of victory, and the house of Joseph +have still been their leader in war. But history knows of only +two periods when such was the case; the one period that +which followed the conquest of the Amorite kingdoms east of +the Jordan, the other period that which saw Joshua the +Ephraimite at the head of the armies of Israel. Hebrew +antiquity decided that it was to the first period that the song +belonged.<a id='r253'></a><a href='#f253' class='c013'><sup>[253]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The death of Moses was placed on the summit of one of +the mountains of Abarim—the mountains of the ‘Hebrews’—in +the land of Moab over against the temple of Baal-Peor. +On the one side he looked down upon the scene of his last +victory over the opponents of his law, on the place where the +Midianites and their Israelitish sympathisers had been slain; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_245'>245</span>on the other side lay the Land of Promise, to the borders of +which he had led his people. The peak of Pisgah on which +he stood had been dedicated in old days to the worship of +Nebo, the Babylonian god of prophecy and literature, the +interpreter of the will of Merodach, the supreme divinity of +Babylon. It was no accident that the prophet and legislator +of Israel, the interpreter of the will of Yahveh, should die on +the same mountain-peak.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The high-places which the kindred Semitic nations dedicated +to the gods become in the history of Israel the scenes of the +death of its great men. Aaron dies on the summit of Mount +Hor, and even to-day the tomb of the prophet Samuel is +pointed out on the lofty top of Mizpah. But no tomb +marked the spot where Moses died; alone among the heroes +of Hebrew history he was buried in a foreign land, and the +place where he was buried was unknown. The legislator of +Israel, he who had made Israel a nation, and with whom +Israelitish history began, vanished utterly out of sight. The +fact is a strange one, whatever be the explanation we attempt +to give of it. Can it be that Moab had been more completely +conquered by Israel than the narrative in the Pentateuch +would lead us to suppose, but that with the death of Moses +the dominion of Israel passed away?<a id='r254'></a><a href='#f254' class='c013'><sup>[254]</sup></a> In that case Moab +would have had little interest in preserving a memory of the +last resting-place of its conqueror, and the time would soon +have come when its site was forgotten.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_246'>246</span> + <h2 id='chap4' class='c009'>CHAPTER <abbr title='four'>IV</abbr> <br> THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN</h2> +</div> +<p class='c012'>Joshua not the Conqueror of Canaan—The Conquest gradual—The Passage of the +Jordan—Jericho, Ai and the Gibeonites—Battle of Makkedah—Lachish and Hazor—The +Kenizzites at Hebron and Kirjath-Sepher—Shechem—Death of Joshua.</p> +<p class='c004'>Hebrew tradition ascribed the conquest of Canaan to Joshua +the son of Nun. But when we come to examine the book of +Joshua or the book of Judges, we find that the extent of his +work has been greatly magnified in the imagination of later +ages. The Ephraimitish chieftain successfully established +Israel on the western side of the Jordan, gained permanent +possession of Mount Ephraim, and defeated the Canaanitish +princes to the south and north. But the conquest of Canaan +was a longer work, which was not completed till the days of +David and Solomon.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The first chapter of Judges tells us in outline what the map +of Palestine was like after the settlement of the Israelitish +tribes. In the south the mountainous country was held by +the Edomite tribe of Caleb as well as by the more strictly +Israelitish tribe of Judah. But it was only ‘the mountain’ +that was thus held. Though ‘the Lord was with Judah,’ he +‘could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because +they had chariots of iron.’ Further south, however, Judah +and Simeon in combination succeeded in making themselves +masters of the Negeb or desert plain as far as Zephath, where +a mixed population, partly Israelitish, partly Edomite, and +partly Kenite, took the place of the older inhabitants.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Jerusalem remained in the hands of the Jebusites until it +was captured by David. It is true, we read (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 8) that +‘the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had +taken it and smitten it with the edge of the sword.’ But if +<span class='pageno' id='Page_247'>247</span>so, it must soon have been again fortified by its former +possessors, since we are expressly told (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 21) that the +children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that +inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites ‘dwell with the +children of Judah in Jerusalem unto this day.’<a id='r255'></a><a href='#f255' class='c013'><sup>[255]</sup></a> Modern +critics have been in the habit of dismissing the alleged capture +of the city as unhistorical, but it is quite possible that +Jerusalem really suffered momentarily from a sudden raid. +The capture of the city is not ascribed to Joshua—indeed, +though he defeated its king and his allies, he seems to have +made no effort to reduce the city itself—and it is said to have +been effected by Judah after Joshua’s death. This may have +been at any time during the period of the Judges. The Tel +el-Amarna tablets show us how easily the cities of Canaan +could be taken and retaken in the course of local quarrels, +and the fact that Jerusalem was for a while in Jewish hands +seems to form an integral part of the story of the conquest of +Bezek.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Even the great sanctuary of Beth-el, destined to be the +possession of Benjamin as well as of Ephraim,<a id='r256'></a><a href='#f256' class='c013'><sup>[256]</sup></a> had not fallen +into the hands of ‘the house of Joseph’ when Joshua died, +though the ‘ruined heap’ of Ai which lay near it was one of +the first of the Israelitish conquests. All the chief towns in +the territory of Manasseh—Megiddo and Taanach, Dor and +Beth-Shean—remained Canaanite, the utmost that Israel +could do in the days of its strength being to exact tribute from +them. Gezer defied the power of Ephraim down to the time +when it was given to Solomon by the Egyptian Pharaoh; while +the great cities of Zebulon and Naphtali, like those of +Manasseh, never became Israelitish, but paid tribute to the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_248'>248</span>Hebrews whenever the latter were ‘strong.’ Asher failed to +secure the territory that had been assigned to him, where +Moses in his song had promised that his foot should be dipped +in oil and his sandals should be of iron and bronze. The +Phœnicians continued to hold the coast long after the +Israelitish tribes had been carried into Assyrian captivity, and +even in the mountains that overlooked the shore the Asherites +were forced to live and be lost among the older Canaanites +(<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 32). ‘The children of Dan’ were in even worse +case; the Amorites drove them into the mountains and ‘would +not suffer them to come down to the valley.’ When at last +their enemies were made tributary by ‘the house of Joseph,’ it +was too late; the tribe of Dan was merged into that of Judah, +or had found a refuge in the city of Laish in the extreme +north.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Joshua, therefore, was not the conqueror of Canaan in any +exact sense of the term. The districts east of the Jordan had +been occupied by the Israelites before the death of Moses, and +north of Moab the occupation had been fairly complete. In +Canaan itself the amount of territory won by Joshua was +practically confined to the passage over the Jordan and the +mountainous region of the centre. Few of the Canaanitish +cities were captured by him; and with the exception of Jericho +and Lachish, and perhaps Hazor, none of them was of +primary importance. But he succeeded in doing what had +been attempted in vain in earlier days; he led his people into +Palestine, and planted them there so firmly that the future +conquest of the whole country became merely a matter of +time.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was at Jericho, ‘the city of palms,’ that the passage into +Canaan was forced. The army of Israel crossed the Jordan +dry-shod, for ‘the waters which came down from above stood +and rose up upon an heap very far from the city Adam, that +is beside Zaretan; and those which came down towards the +sea of the plain, even the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off.’ +A similar phenomenon is recorded as having occurred in the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_249'>249</span>Middle Ages. <abbr class='spell'>M.</abbr> Clermont-Ganneau has pointed out a +passage in the Arabic historian Nowairi, in which an account +is given of the construction in <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>A.D.</span></abbr> 1266 of a bridge across the +Jordan by the Sultan Beybars <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr> of Egypt, when in consequence +of a landslip the bed of the river was for a time left dry. The +bridge was built on five arches between the stream of the +Qurawa and Tel Damieh, perhaps the Adam of the Old +Testament. But no sooner was it completed than ‘part of the +piers gave way. The Sultan was greatly vexed, and blamed +the builders, and sent them back to repair the damage. They +found the task very difficult, owing to the rise of the waters +and the strength of the current. But in the night preceding +the dawn of the 17th of the month Rabi the First of the year +of the Hijra 666 (<abbr class='spell'><i>i.e.</i></abbr> the 8th of December, <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>A.D.</span></abbr> 1267) the +water of the river ceased to flow so that none remained in its +bed. The people hurried and kindled numerous fires and +cressets, and seized the opportunity offered by the occurrence. +They remedied the defects in the piers, and strengthened +them, and effected repairs which would otherwise have been +impossible. They then despatched mounted men to ascertain +the nature of the event that had occurred. The riders urged +their horses, and found that a lofty mound (<i>Kabâr</i>) which +overlooked the river on the west had fallen into it and dammed +it up. A <i>Kabâr</i> resembles a hill, but is not actually a hill, for +water will quickly disintegrate it into mud. The water was +held up, and had spread itself over the valley above the dam. +The messengers returned with this explanation, and the water +was arrested from midnight until the 4th hour of the day. +Then the water prevailed upon the dam and broke it up. The +water flowed down in a body equal in depth to the length of a +lance, but made no impression upon the building owing to the +strength given to it.’<a id='r257'></a><a href='#f257' class='c013'><sup>[257]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_250'>250</span>The megalithic ‘circle’ of Gilgal commemorated the passage +of the Jordan. The camp was fixed there, and a popular +etymology explained the name by the circumcision that had +‘rolled away the reproach of Egypt.’<a id='r258'></a><a href='#f258' class='c013'><sup>[258]</sup></a> Jericho, the city of the +‘Moon-god’ Yârêakh, was next invested and captured in spite +of its strong walls. All its inhabitants were put to the sword, +Rahab only being spared to become the founder of a family +in Israel because she had sheltered the Israelitish spies. The +city was razed to the ground, and was not again rebuilt till the +reign of Ahab.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We can still trace the site of Jericho in the hollow of the +deep valley through which the Jordan flows into the Dead +Sea. Its ruins lie round about the ’Ain es-Sultân, a spring of +warm water which gushes into an ancient basin, overgrown +with reeds and brushwood, among which the birds flutter and +watch the fish in the water below. Above towers the huge +mass of Mount Qarantel, while the black soil which forms the +floor of the hollow is covered with small artificial mounds of +earth, and is thick with the decayed relics of a tropical vegetation. +In the coldest weather it is still warm at Jericho; in +summer the damp heat is stifling, and the mosquitoes are +innumerable. Now it is given over to idle Bedâwin, but +in the old days when the country was filled with an industrious +population, it was as ‘the garden of the Lord.’ No place in +Palestine was more fertile, and it commanded the ford that led +across the Jordan from the east.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The destruction of Jericho opened to Joshua the way into +Canaan. Laden with its spoil, the Israelites matched westward, +up into the mountains and through the pass of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_251'>251</span>Michmash towards Beth-el. Beth-el itself was too strong to +be attacked. But a neighbouring town, whose later name of +Ai, ‘the ruined heap,’ was a lasting record of its fate, was not +so fortunate. The Israelites took it by means of an +ambuscade, and the same merciless treatment was dealt out +to it that had been dealt to Jericho. The inhabitants were all +massacred, ‘only the cattle and the spoil Israel took for a prey +unto themselves.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>The conquest of Ai, however, had not been easy. The +Canaanites had made a brave defence, and the invaders had +at first suffered a check. The cause was discovered in the +Israelitish camp. A Jew, Achan or Achar, had hidden under +his tent some of the booty of Jericho which ought to have +been either destroyed or dedicated to Yahveh. ‘A goodly +Babylonish garment,’ two hundred shekels of silver, and a +tongue-like wedge of gold fifty shekels in weight, were the +objects which he had coveted and concealed. But the order +had been issued that all objects of metal should be given to +the tabernacle, and that all things else should be burned with +fire. Achan accordingly was condemned to be stoned to +death, and along with him the rest of his family as well as his +oxen, his asses, and his sheep. Then the bodies were burnt, +and a heap of stones piled over them in memory of the event.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The mention of the ‘goodly Babylonish garment’ takes us +back to the time when Assyria had not as yet supplanted +Babylonia in the west. For centuries Babylonia had been +the home of weavers and embroiderers whose fabrics were +famous all over the east. The cuneiform tablets contain long +lists of articles of clothing, each of which had its own name; +and, as we learn from the Tel el-Amarna correspondence, the +merchants of Babylonia found a ready market for their goods +in the cities of Canaan. The age of the Exodus marks the +period when the old peaceful intercourse with Babylonia was +coming to an end; alien peoples had barred the road across +the Euphrates, and Babylon itself was about to fall into the +hands of an Assyrian conqueror. Henceforth it was Assyria, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_252'>252</span>and not Babylonia, whose name was known or feared in +Palestine, and the writer of a later day would have spoken of +the wares of Assyria rather than those of the Babylonians.<a id='r259'></a><a href='#f259' class='c013'><sup>[259]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The destruction of Ai gave Joshua a foothold in the +mountain of Ephraim. Then came the league with the +Gibeonites, secured, so we are told, by craft. Modern criticism, +with needless scepticism, has seen in the narrative +merely a popular legend to account for the fact that the four +cities which formed the western half of the future territory of +Benjamin were laid under tribute, and not destroyed. But the +extermination of the Canaanites was relative, not absolute; +their utter destruction, like that of the Britons by the Saxon +invaders, was the dream of a later day. As we have seen, the +Hebrew occupation of Canaan was a slow and gradual process, +and in the more important cities the older population remained +to the end. Even the temple of Solomon was built on the +threshing-floor of a Jebusite, and the heads of the prisoners +which surmount the names of the places captured by Shishak +in the south of Palestine are Amorite rather than Jewish. +The Amorite population was still predominant there; and the +fellahin of to-day, as has been pointed out by M. Clermont-Ganneau, +are the lineal descendants of the old races.<a id='r260'></a><a href='#f260' class='c013'><sup>[260]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim are not the +only cities of which we hear as having been made tributary. +This was also the case with Megiddo and Taanach, Beth-shean, +Dor, and Ibleam (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 27), as well as with the chief +cities in the territories of Zebulon and Naphtali (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 30, +33); while, on the other hand, the tribe of Issachar became +tributary to its Canaanitish neighbours (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='forty-nine'>xlix.</abbr> 15).<a id='r261'></a><a href='#f261' class='c013'><sup>[261]</sup></a> It is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_253'>253</span>more profitable to exact tribute from a wealthy and industrious +population than to exterminate it, as Mohammed found; and +the near neighbourhood of the central sanctuaries of Israel, +first at Shiloh, then at Jerusalem and Beth-el, afforded a +special reason why the Gibeonites should be made ‘hewers of +wood and drawers of water for the house of God.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>The greater part of the future territory of Benjamin was +now in Israelitish hands. The destruction of Jericho had +secured the ford across the Jordan and communication with +the Israelitish settlers on the east side of the river. But it +must be remembered that the tribe of Benjamin as distinct +from that of Ephraim did not as yet exist. Its territory +formed the southern part of Mount Ephraim, and for military +and political purposes the two tribes constituted a single whole. +This was still the case as late as the age of Deborah and +Barak, when the power of Ephraim, ‘behind’ Benjamin, is +said to extend as far as the desert of the Amalekites to the +south of Judah (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 14). The name of Benjamin, in +fact, means ‘the southerner’; the tribe lay southward of +Ephraim; and the second name by which it was known—that +of Ben-Oni, ‘the Onite’—indicated that it was settled +round the great sanctuary of Beth-On. And such indeed was +the case when the tribe had vindicated its individual existence +and been definitely separated from Ephraim. Beth-On or +Beth-el was then included within its boundaries (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> +22). Originally, however, Beth-el belonged to Ephraim, and +had been an Ephraimitish conquest (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 22-26).</p> + +<p class='c003'>The conquest of Beth-el did not take place until after +Joshua’s death, and as long as it remained independent it +must have been a constant menace to the Israelitish settlers +in Mount Ephraim. With its capture all danger passed away, +and Mount Ephraim—the heart of Palestine—became at last +the secure possession of the ‘house of Joseph.’ From hence, +as from an impregnable fortress, they were able to make +descents upon the fertile lands to the west and attack the cities +which stood there. The powerful city of Gezer was eventually +<span class='pageno' id='Page_254'>254</span>compelled to pay them tribute (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='sixteen'>xvi.</abbr> 10), and the territory +which had been assigned to Dan became tributary to ‘the +house of Joseph’ (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 35).</p> + +<p class='c003'>But all this was after Joshua had passed away. Besides +crossing the Jordan and securing a footing in Mount Ephraim, +Joshua had made a successful raid into those mountains in +the ‘Negeb’ of Judah which had been so fatal to the first +Israelitish invaders of Canaan. The destruction of Ai had +excited the fears of Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem, and in the +league that had been made between Gibeon and the invaders +he saw danger to his own state. Gibeon lay only a few miles +to the north of Jerusalem, and the Tel el-Amarna tablets have +shown us that the neighbourhood of two Canaanitish cities +was a quite sufficient cause of war between them. When +the tablets were written, Ebed-Tob was king of Jerusalem, and +his letters to the Pharaoh are filled with imploring appeals for +help against his enemies. These were partly the neighbouring +‘governors,’ partly the Khabiri or ‘Confederates,’ who +seem to have been of foreign origin, and who had already +captured some of his cities. The situation, therefore, was +very much like what it was in the later days of Adoni-zedek, +the place of the Egyptian ‘governors’ being taken by Gibeon, +while the Khabiri were represented by the Israelites. But +Adoni-zedek had no suzerain lord in Egypt to whom he could +apply for aid. He was therefore forced to turn to the +Canaanitish princes around him and form a league with them +against the invading hordes from the desert. Hoham of +Hebron, Piram of Jarmuth, Yaphia of Lachish, and Debir of +Eglon rallied to his summons, and the combined forces +marched against Gibeon and besieged the town.<a id='r262'></a><a href='#f262' class='c013'><sup>[262]</sup></a> The +<span class='pageno' id='Page_255'>255</span>Gibeonites at once sent messengers to Joshua, who accordingly +left the camp at Gilgal and fell suddenly on the besieging +army. The Canaanites were utterly routed, and fled towards +Beth-horon and Makkedah, a hailstorm adding to their discomfiture. +The five kings were discovered hiding in a cave +at Makkedah, and dragged before Joshua, who pitilessly put +them all to death. The bodies were buried in the cave and +great stones laid upon its mouth, which, the compiler of +the book of Joshua states, remained there unto his day +(<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 27).</p> + +<p class='c003'>The defeat of the Canaanite army was followed by the +capture of Makkedah and Libnah, which opened the road to +Lachish. The site of Lachish was rediscovered by Professor +Flinders Petrie in 1890 at Tell el-Hesy, sixteen miles eastward +of Gaza. The great mound that covers its ruins has been +excavated partly by him, partly by Dr. Bliss, and the huge +wall that surrounded it in the days of the Amorites, and +before which the Israelites encamped, has been explored and +measured.<a id='r263'></a><a href='#f263' class='c013'><sup>[263]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The city stood on a natural eminence some forty feet in +height. Close to it rises the only good spring of water in the +district, which when swollen by the winter rains becomes the +torrent of the Hesy. The stream ran past the eastern side of +the city, and has eaten away part of the remains of the successive +cities which rose upon the site, one above the ruins of +the other. Fragments of the pottery used by the Amorite +defenders of the city in the days of Joshua can now be seen +in the rooms of the Palestine Exploration Fund.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_256'>256</span>The walls of Lachish, like those of the cities of Egypt, were +built of crude brick, and were nearly thirty feet in thickness. +It had, in fact, long been one of the principal fortresses of +Southern Palestine. Among the Tel el-Amarna tablets are +letters from two of its governors Zimrida and Yabniel, the first +of whom was murdered, and who is mentioned on another +tablet found by Dr. Bliss among the ruins of Lachish itself. +Its capture, therefore, by the Israelites was a serious blow to +the Canaanites in the southern part of the country. But, +though Horam king of Gezer came to its assistance, all was +no avail; the strong fortress fell at last before the invaders, +and ‘all the souls’ that were in it were massacred.<a id='r264'></a><a href='#f264' class='c013'><sup>[264]</sup></a> For at +least a century its site lay desolate and uninhabited; and the +explorers found in the soil that accumulated above the ruins +of the Amorite city nothing but the ashes of the camp-fires of +Bedâwin nomads.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Eglon, now probably Tell Ejlân, close to Tell el-Hesy, +naturally shared the fate of the neighbouring city. According +to the compiler of the book of Joshua, the fall of Hebron and +Debir followed immediately after that of Eglon. But this +cannot be correct. Debir, as we afterwards learn, was taken +at a later date by Othniel (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 16, 17; <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 12, 13), +not by Joshua, and the error seems to have been due to the +fact that Debir was the name of the king of Eglon. It was the +king and not the town of that name who fell before the arms +of Joshua.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is, moreover, difficult to reconcile the statement that +Hebron was captured by Joshua after the defeat of the five kings +with the narrative of its capture by Caleb, which is given in detail +elsewhere (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 13, 14; <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 9, 10). Here, as in other +parts of the book of Joshua, we find a tendency to ascribe the +gradual occupation of Canaan to a single point of time, and to +assign all the successive conquests made in it by the Israelites +<span class='pageno' id='Page_257'>257</span>to the general who first led them across the Jordan. The +individual hero has absorbed all the victories gained by his +people, and the past has been foreshortened in the retrospect +of the later historian. As in the books of Kings the murder of +Sennacherib is made to follow immediately after his flight from +Judah twenty years before, so in the book of Joshua, the conquest +of Canaan is all placed in one age, the lifetime of the +hero himself. As Moses was the lawgiver of Israel and its +deliverer from the house of bondage, posterity saw in his +successor the conqueror of Canaan.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is noticeable, however, that neither Jerusalem nor Gezer +is said to have been taken after the battle of Makkedah. +Both cities were doubtless too strong to be attacked; and +though Gezer was subsequently forced to become the vassal +of Ephraim, Jerusalem was destined to fall before a Jewish +and not an Ephraimitish leader.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The battle of Makkedah became the subject of a national +song. It was embodied, like David’s dirge over Saul and +Jonathan, in the book of Jashar, a fragment of which is +quoted by the compiler of the book of Joshua. ‘Sun, be thou +still upon Gibeon, and thou, moon, in the valley of Ajalon!’ +cried Joshua, ‘in the sight of Israel,’ ‘when the Lord delivered +up the Amorites’ before them: ‘and the sun was still, and the +moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves upon +their enemies.’ So ran the words of the poem, and the prose +historian seems to have taken them literally.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The alliance with Gibeon and the destruction of Lachish +opened the way to the south. Westward, the sea-coast was +in the hands of the Philistines, whom the Israelites would +have found more formidable enemies than the disunited and +effeminate Canaanites. The five Philistine cities, accordingly, +which had been but recently wrested from Egyptian hands, +were left untouched, and the Israelitish raiders made their way +into the Negeb towards the south-east, where they succeeded +in penetrating as far as Arad and Zephath. They had thus +reached the very spot where the first attempt to invade Canaan +<span class='pageno' id='Page_258'>258</span>had failed, and from which the disappointed tribes had been +driven back again into the wilderness. Zephath was not far +distant from Kadesh-barnea, so that it is with a pardonable exaggeration +that the Jewish historian describes Joshua as smiting +his enemies ‘from Kadesh-barnea even unto Gaza’ (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 41).</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is true that his victories in this part of Canaan have been +questioned. No detailed account is given of them, and it is +only in the list of the ‘kings’ who were overthrown by ‘Joshua +and the children of Israel’ on the western side of the Jordan +that the names of Arad and Zephath, or Hormah, appear +(<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 14). Moreover, we are told in the book of Judges +(<abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 17) that Zephath was destroyed by Judah and Simeon +after the death of the Ephraimitish leader (<abbr title='verse'><i>v.</i></abbr> 1), a memorial +of the destruction being preserved in the change of name to +Hormah. But it must be noted that it is only the ‘kings’ of +Arad and Zephath who are said to have been ‘smitten’ by +Joshua, not the cities over which they ruled. The expedition +to the Negeb was merely a raid, such as the possession of +Lachish and the mountainous country to the north-west of it +enabled the Israelitish chieftain to make with impunity. +Indeed, such raids into the fertile land to the south would +have been natural, if not inevitable.</p> + +<p class='c003'>No detailed account was preserved of them, since they were +connected with no striking and important event, like the +capture and destruction of a Canaanitish city. The four +military deeds with which history associated the name of +Joshua centered each of them round the overthrow of a +Canaanitish stronghold and gave the Israelites the command +of the surrounding country. They were campaigns which led +to the permanent possession of territory, not mere raids or +barren victories. The capture of Jericho secured the passage +across the Jordan, that of Ai planted Ephraim and Benjamin +in the mountains of central Palestine, the destruction of +Lachish opened up communication with that desert of the +south in which the Israelites had received the legislation of +Kadesh-barnea, while the overthrow of the king of Hazor gave +<span class='pageno' id='Page_259'>259</span>them a foothold in the north. The alliance with the Gibeonites +was of equal importance, for it secured friends and allies in +the very heart of the enemy’s country, and its firstfruits were +the victory at Makkedah and the destruction of Lachish. +Jericho, Ai, Lachish, Hazor, and Gibeon,—these were the +names which guaranteed to Joshua his claim to have been +the conqueror of Canaan.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The victory at Hazor seems to have been his last. Hazor +stood near Kadesh of Galilee, now represented by the ruins of +Qedes, to the north of Safed, and on the western side of the +marshes of Hûleh, the Lake Merom of the Old Testament.<a id='r265'></a><a href='#f265' class='c013'><sup>[265]</sup></a> In +the age of the Tel el-Amarna letters it was still governed by its +native kings, and in one of them an Egyptian officer complains +that the king had joined with Sidon in intriguing with the +Bedâwin.<a id='r266'></a><a href='#f266' class='c013'><sup>[266]</sup></a> When the Israelites entered Palestine it was the +leading city of the northern part of the country. While +Megiddo was the capital of the centre of the country, Hazor +was the capital of the north. Its king, Jabin, now put himself +at the head of a great confederacy which extended from +Sidon to Dor on the sea-coast, and from the slopes of Hermon +to the Sea of Galilee in the inland region. Among the confederates +history remembered the names of Jobab, the king of +Madon, and the kings of Shimron and Achshaph. Achshaph is +the Phœnician Ekdippa, now Zîb, on the sea-coast, which is +called Aksap by Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> But Madon is written Marôn +in the Septuagint, though the reading of the Hebrew text +seems to be confirmed by the modern name of Khurbet +Madîn, ‘the ruins of Madîn.’ Shimron, moreover, is Symoôn +in the Septuagint, and this form of the name finds support +in the Simônias of Josephus, Simonia in the Talmud, now +Semûnieh, sixteen miles from Khurbet Madîn. Mr. Tomkins +would identify it with the Shmânau of Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr><a id='r267'></a><a href='#f267' class='c013'><sup>[267]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_260'>260</span>But, again, the reading of the Hebrew text is probably the +more correct. In what may be termed the official list of +Joshua’s victories (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 20), the name appears as Shimronmeron, +and this reminds us of Samsi-muruna (‘the Sun-god is +lord’), which is given by the Assyrian inscriptions as the +name of a town in this very neighbourhood. It was from +‘Menahem, king of Samsi-muruna,’ that Sennacherib received +tribute during his campaign against Hezekiah, and it is +possible that Shimron may be a contracted form of Shem[esh-me]ron +or Sam[si-mu]runa.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Once more criticism has raised doubts as to the truth of the +narrative. We hear of another Jabin of Hazor, at a later date, +in the time of Deborah and Barak, and we hear also of +another great victory gained by Israel over Jabin’s troops. It +is urged that if Hazor had been burnt to the ground by +Joshua, and all its inhabitants put to the sword, it could +hardly have risen so soon again from its ashes and have +assumed a leading position in the north. Had Joshua’s +conquest been as complete as it is represented to have been, +the country would have been Israelitish, and not Canaanite.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But it does not follow that because there was one king of +Hazor called Jabin, there should not have been another of the +same name. Such repetitions of name have been common in +other countries of the world, and it is difficult to see why the +rulers of Hazor should not be allowed a similar privilege. +That a city should rise from its ruins and recover its former +power is again no unique event. Much depends upon its +position and the character of its inhabitants. We gather from +the Egyptian annals that the towns of Canaan were accustomed +to capture and temporary destruction. But they soon recovered +themselves, the old population flocked back, and their +ruined walls were again repaired.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is true that the conquest of the country by Joshua could +not have been as thorough as the narrative describes. But +that we already knew from the first chapter of Judges (<abbr title='verses'>vv.</abbr> 30-33). +Oriental expressions and modes of thought are not to be +<span class='pageno' id='Page_261'>261</span>measured by the precise terminology of the modern West, and +an Eastern writer speaks absolutely where we should speak +relatively. When it is said that ‘all the earth sought to +Solomon, to hear his wisdom’ (1 Kings <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 24), the universality +of the statement must be very considerably limited, and so too +when it is said that ‘Joshua took all that land’ (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 16), +the expression admits of a similarly liberal discount. In fact, +the narrative itself contains its own corrective. The words, ‘All +the cities of those kings ... did Joshua take, and smote them +with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed them’ (<abbr title='verse'>ver.</abbr> 12), +are followed immediately by the conditioning clause, ‘Only +the cities which were built upon <i>tels</i>, Israel burned none of +them: Hazor alone did Joshua burn.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>Between the story of Joshua’s campaign and that of the +rising under Barak there is no resemblance whatever. In the +time of the Hebrew judge the army of Jabin was commanded +by Sisera, not by Jabin himself. The decisive battle took +place on the banks of the Kishon, not on the shores of Lake +Hûleh, miles away to the north, and the city of Hazor was +neither captured nor destroyed. Kadesh of Galilee and other +districts were already in the hands of the Israelites, and must +therefore have been occupied by them at some earlier period. +The account in the book of Joshua, brief as it is, tells us when +the occupation took place.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Jabin had summoned his allies and vassals to oppose the +northward march of the Israelites. The Canaanites stood +upon the defensive, and the Israelites therefore must have +been the attacking party. That they did not cross the Jordan +from the plains of Bashan we may gather from the list of the +kings vanquished by Joshua.<a id='r268'></a><a href='#f268' class='c013'><sup>[268]</sup></a> Among them we find the kings +of Taanach and Megiddo, Kadesh of Naphtali and Jokneam, +Dor, Gilgal, and Tirzah.<a id='r269'></a><a href='#f269' class='c013'><sup>[269]</sup></a> Tirzah would have been the first +<span class='pageno' id='Page_262'>262</span>stage northward of Shechem; the fortress of Megiddo commanded +the plain of Jezreel. A common danger would thus +have forced the kings of the centre and the north of Canaan +to fight together, and the confederacy would have covered +much the same extent of territory as that which confronted +Barak on the banks of the Kishon. But instead of advancing +upon the enemy from the north, as was the case with Barak, +Joshua would have moved up from the south.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was on the shore of Lake Merom that the Israelites fell +suddenly upon the Canaanitish encampment. The Canaanites +were taken by surprise and fled in all directions. Some made +their way across the narrow gorge of the Jordan towards +Mizpeh of Gilead;<a id='r270'></a><a href='#f270' class='c013'><sup>[270]</sup></a> the larger body was pursued as far as +Sidon, where they at last found a shelter behind the strong +walls of the city. The chariots of their cavalry, useless to +mountaineers, were burned, and their horses were maimed. The +flight of the army had left Hazor undefended; the Israelites +accordingly turned back from the pursuit, and took the city by +assault. Its houses were burned, its spoil carried away, and +‘every man’ was smitten with the edge of the sword, ‘neither +left they any to breathe.’ The merciless ferocity of Joshua +finds a close parallel in that of the Assyrian kings.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The life of Joshua was drawing to an end. He was an old +man; it was said he was 110 years of age at his death, the +length of time the Egyptian wished his friends to live. He +had brought his people into the Promised Land, had shown +them how to take cities and defeat their adversaries, and had +planted Israel firmly in the mountainous part of Canaan. +Before his death the tribes were provisionally established in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_263'>263</span>the territories subsequently called after their names. We are +not bound to believe that the division of the land was made +with the mathematical precision which had become possible in +the days of the compiler of the book of Joshua, but to deny +that it was made at all is merely an abuse of criticism. In the +period of the Judges we find most of the tribes actually settled +in the very districts which we are told were given to them, and +the fact that in one or two instances—Dan and Simeon, for +example—the tribe never gained possession of the larger part +of the territory said to have been assigned to it, shows that the +story of the division could not have been based on the later +geographical position of the tribes. The doctrine of development +may have no limitations in the domain of organic nature, +but history has to take account of individual action and the +arbitrary enactments of great men. To suppose that the tribal +division of Palestine was the result of a process of development +has little in support of it, and fails to explain the +geographical position traditionally assigned to a tribe like Dan.</p> + +<p class='c003'>There was one tribe, however, to whose history the theory +of development is to some extent applicable. This was the +tribe of Judah. The tribe was only partly of Israelitish descent. +Its most important family, that of Caleb and Othniel, belonged +to the Edomite tribe of Kenaz; while another Edomite tribe, +that of Jerahmeel, occupied the southern part of the Jewish +territory (1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 25-33, 42). Even ‘the families of the +scribes which dwelt at Jabez’ were Kenites from Midian +(1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 55).<a id='r271'></a><a href='#f271' class='c013'><sup>[271]</sup></a> Down to the time of the kings the Israelitish +members of the tribe of Judah mixed freely with their +neighbours; David himself was descended from Ruth the +Moabitess, and Bath-sheba, the mother of his successor, had +been the wife of a Hittite. As has been already noticed, the +prisoners whose figures surmount the names of Shishak’s +<span class='pageno' id='Page_264'>264</span>conquests in Judah have the features of the Amorite and not +of the Jew. In the Song of Deborah the tribe of Judah, like +those of Dan and Simeon, is unknown. It is Ephraim and +Benjamin who form the Israelitish vanguard against the +Amalekites of the southern desert. And the deliverers of +southern Israel from its two first oppressors were Othniel the +Kenizzite and Ehud the Benjamite.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The tribe of Judah as a compact and definite whole first +makes its appearance at a later period, and, unlike the other +tribes of Israel, represents a geographical rather than an ethnographical +unity.<a id='r272'></a><a href='#f272' class='c013'><sup>[272]</sup></a> Jews were commingled in it with Edomites, +as well as with other tribes—Dan, Simeon, and Levi. Its cities +were only partly Israelitish; even the future capital, Jerusalem, +retained its Jebusite population, and the temple was built on +land that had been bought from a Gentile owner.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Nevertheless, the fact that both tribe and territory bore to +the last the name of Judah indicates that in this mixture of +nationalities the Hebrew element remained the stronger and +more predominant. It is true that Hebron, the first centre +and capital of Judah, had been conquered, not by a Jew, but +by the Kenizzite Caleb, and that his brother Othniel was the +first ‘Judge’; but it is also true that the settlement of the +country was in the main due to an amalgamation of Hebrew +and Edomite elements. Gedor, Socho, Zanoah, Keilah, and +Eshtemoa traced their second foundation to a Kenizzite father +and a Jewish mother (1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 18, 19), and Hebron itself +soon ceased to be distinctively Kenizzite and became Jewish.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Caleb the Kenizzite had been one of the spies sent out from +Kadesh-barnea when the Israelites made their first, and unsuccessful, +attempt to invade Canaan. He consequently +belonged to the generation which had escaped from the +bondage of Egypt, of which he and Joshua were said to have +been the only survivors at the time of the passage of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_265'>265</span>Jordan. Hebron had been the chief point and goal of exploration +on the part of the spies, and it was from its neighbourhood +that the grapes were brought which testified to the fertility of +the land. It was natural, therefore, that Hebron should again +be the object of Caleb’s aim, and that while the Ephraimitish +general was establishing himself in the north Caleb should +lead his followers to its assault. The destruction of Lachish +had opened the way; and the steep path which led up the +limestone hills from Lachish to Hebron was left undefended.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Modern writers have seen in the name of Caleb a mere +tribal designation denoting the ‘Calebites’ or ‘Dog-men.’ +But the cuneiform inscriptions show us that Caleb or ‘Dog’ +was the name of an individual, and they also explain how it +came to be so. In the Tel el-Amarna tablets, as well as +in later Assyrian letters, the word <i>Kalbu</i> or ‘Dog’ is used +in the sense of ‘officer’ or ‘messenger’; the king’s officer +was his ‘faithful dog,’ and the term was an honourable one.<a id='r273'></a><a href='#f273' class='c013'><sup>[273]</sup></a> +It conveyed none of those ideas of contempt or abuse with +which it was afterwards associated in the Semitic mind, and +which may have had their origin in Arabia. It is possible +that Caleb had been an ‘officer’ of the Pharaoh before he +became a Hebrew spy.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The capture of Hebron is said to have taken place five years +after the passage of the Jordan (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 10). At any rate, +it was before the death of Joshua (notwithstanding <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 1, +10). It was after that event, however, that the further conquests +of the Kenizzites were made.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Somewhere near Hebron, but higher in ‘the mountains,’ +was the Canaanitish city of Debir. Debir signified the +‘Sanctuary’; and it was here, as in Babylonia and Assyria, that +a great library of books was stored in one of the chambers of +the temple. Like the Babylonian cities, moreover, Debir had +more than one name. It was also called Kirjath-Sannah, ‘the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_266'>266</span>city of Instruction,’ from the schools which gathered round its +library,<a id='r274'></a><a href='#f274' class='c013'><sup>[274]</sup></a> and in the Old Testament it is further known as +Kirjath-Sepher or ‘Booktown.’ In <i>The Travels of the Mohar</i>, +however, a satirical account of a tourist’s adventures in Palestine, +which was written by an Egyptian in the reign of +Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, it is termed Beth-Sopher, ‘the house of the +scribe,’ and is coupled with Kirjath-Anab. It is plain, therefore, +that the Massoretic punctuation Sepher ‘book’ is erroneous, and +must be corrected to Sopher or ‘scribe.’ Whether Kirjath, +‘city,’ should also be corrected into Beth, ‘house’ or ‘temple,’ +is more doubtful. <i>Beth</i> would be the more appropriate term +in the case of a town which possessed a sanctuary, and it +may be that the word Kirjath has been derived from the +neighbouring town of [Kirjath-] Anab, which is called simply +Anab in <abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 50. But it is also possible that the Egyptian +writer has made a mistake, and has interchanged the words +‘city’ and ‘house,’ the true names of the two cities having +been Kirjath-Sopher and Beth-Anab.<a id='r275'></a><a href='#f275' class='c013'><sup>[275]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>However this may be, Caleb promised his daughter Achsah +as a reward to the conqueror of Debir. The prize was won +by his ‘younger brother’ Othniel, and the Canaanitish city +was so completely destroyed that its very site is still unknown. +Its library perished in the ruins, though the clay tablets with +which it was doubtless filled must still be lying beneath the +soil, awaiting the discoverer who shall with their aid reconstruct +<span class='pageno' id='Page_267'>267</span>the ancient history of southern Canaan. Hebron was +more fortunate. The city was spared after its capture, and +became the chief seat of the Kenizzites, and subsequently, +when the Kenizzites were merged in Judah, the capital of +Judah itself.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Hebrew tribe of Judah was slow in following the example +of its Edomite comrades. The ‘children of Judah,’ it is said, +had at first been content to live with the Midianitish Kenites in +the neighbourhood of Jericho, and when the Kenites returned +to the desert of Kadesh-barnea to settle there along with them +(<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 16). But there were other Jews who remained +behind in Canaan, and there carved out a patrimony for +themselves. Judah and Simeon, we are told, ‘went up’ +together into the country which had been allotted to them, +and eventually succeeded in occupying the greater part of it. +The expression is a curious one, and seems to imply that the +invaders started from the desert of Kadesh-barnea, though +Lachish and its neighbourhood may be meant. At all events, +Adoni-bezek, ‘the lord of Bezek,’ was defeated and captured, +and his thumbs and great toes cut off, like those of the seventy +vassal princes who had ‘picked up their meat’ under his own +table. It is added that he was brought to Jerusalem, where +he died.</p> + +<p class='c003'>That he was brought there by the Hebrews is not certain. +However, the compiler of the book of Judges seems to have +thought so, as he goes on to say, ‘And the children of Judah +fought<a id='r276'></a><a href='#f276' class='c013'><sup>[276]</sup></a> against Jerusalem, and took it, and smote it with the +edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.’ It is difficult to +reconcile this with the very definite statement in the book of +Joshua (<abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 63), ‘As for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, +the children of Judah could not drive them out: but +the Jebusites dwell with the children of Judah at Jerusalem +unto this day’; or with the equally explicit statement in the +first chapter of Judges itself (verse 21), ‘The children of Benjamin +did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_268'>268</span>but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in +Jerusalem unto this day.’<a id='r277'></a><a href='#f277' class='c013'><sup>[277]</sup></a> The latter passage belongs to the +period when Judah had not yet become a corporate whole, +and when, therefore, as in the Song of Deborah, Benjamin +was still regarded as forming the southern boundary of the +tribes of Israel; but the first passage takes us down to the +time when Benjamin had been supplanted by Judah, and +Israel was being prepared to receive a king. It was during +the earlier period that the Levite of Mount Ephraim, when +returning from Beth-lehem, would not lodge in ‘Jebus’ +because it was a ‘city of the Jebusites’ (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 10, 11); +the later period extended to the time when Jerusalem was +taken by David, and when the Jewish king, so far from +massacring its inhabitants and setting it on fire, allowed the +Jebusites in it to retain their property (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 18-24), +and made it the capital of his empire. Doubtless Jerusalem +might have been captured by the ‘children of Judah,’ and +nevertheless have continued to exist. We may gather from +the Tel el-Amarna tablets that such an occurrence actually +took place at the close of the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty, +and one of the cities of southern Canaan taken by Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> +was Shalama or Salem. But if so, there could have been no +massacre of the population and burning of the town; the +passages of the Old Testament which describe the Jebusites +as living uninterruptedly in their city are too clear and definite +to admit of such a supposition. On the contrary, the Jebusites +lived in peace and harmony along with both Jews and Benjamites; +and were it not for the words of the Levite (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> +<abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 11), that Jerusalem was still ‘the city of a stranger,’ we +could well believe that the fate which overtook it in the time +of David had been anticipated in an earlier century. But +neither Benjamin nor Judah could ‘drive out the Jebusites +that inhabited’ the great fortress-city of Southern Palestine.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The rise of Judah dated from the overthrow of Adoni-bezek, +‘Afterwards,’ we read, ‘the children of Judah went down to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_269'>269</span>fight against the Canaanites that dwelt in the mountain, and +in the Negeb of the south, and in the plain.’ It was all long +subsequent to the death both of Joshua and of Caleb. The +last survivors of the first attempt to penetrate into that part of +Canaan had passed away before it at last fell—if only partially—into +Israelitish hands. The first dreams of conquest had +long since made way for a sober and disappointing reality. +Canaan had proved for Israel a more difficult prize to secure +than Britain proved for the Saxons. It was only in the +mountains and a few isolated cities that the invaders succeeded +in holding their own. Elsewhere the walls and chariots of +the Canaanites kept them at bay, while the strongholds of the +Philistines and Phœnicians barred them from the coast. The +children of Israel were compelled to dwell ‘among the +Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, +and Jebusites,’ and there was little cause for wonder that +‘they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their +daughters to their sons, and served their gods’ (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 5, 6).</p> + +<p class='c003'>Before Joshua died the tabernacle was set up at Shiloh, on +the slopes of Mount Ephraim, in the heart of the newly-conquered +land. That the central sanctuary should thus be +under the protection of Ephraim was a token that ‘the house +of Joseph’ was paramount among the tribes of Israel. A +further token was the burial of the mummy of Joseph at +Shechem. Here, too, at Shechem were the two mountains +Ebal and Gerizim, on which the curses and the blessings of the +Law had been ordered to be pronounced. History has left no +record of the conquest of the place, and the name of the king of +Shechem is not even found in the list of the kings vanquished by +Joshua. But the city must have fallen during the early period +of the invasion, and the narrative in <abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 33 would imply +that its capture followed closely upon the destruction of Ai.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We may gather from the silence of history that there was +neither siege nor massacre to make an impression on the +memory of posterity. And the inference is confirmed by what +we know of the subsequent history of Shechem. In the time +<span class='pageno' id='Page_270'>270</span>of Gideon and Abimelech its population was still half-Amorite +(<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 28). As at Jerusalem, the older inhabitants cannot +have been destroyed or driven out. Like the Gibeonites, they +must have made terms with the invaders, or mixed peaceably +with them in the course of years.</p> + +<p class='c003'>At the outset, however, Shechem would have been the +capital of Ephraim. Here was the sepulchre of the founder of +‘the house of Joseph,’ here were the two sacred mountains of +the Law, and here, too, it was that Joshua gathered the people +together to hear his last words. Like Moses at Sinai and +Kadesh-barnea, ‘Joshua made a covenant with the people ... +and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. And +Joshua wrote these words in the book of the Law of God, and +took a great stone, and set it up there under the terebinth +that was in the sanctuary of the Lord.’ Here, therefore, was +the local sanctuary of Ephraim, separate from the central one +at Shiloh, and a sacred terebinth stood within its precincts. +Criticism finds no reason to doubt that ‘the great stone’ +spoken of in the text was actually set up, like a ‘Beth-el,’ under +the shadow of the tree, and it is hard to see why it should be +more sceptical towards the further statement that the covenant +which the stone commemorated was written by Joshua ‘in the +book of the Law of God.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>While Shechem was thus the local sanctuary of Ephraim, +the tribes east of the Jordan had consecrated a ‘great altar’ +of their own on the banks of the river. The altar was the +occasion of a dispute between the two branches of the house +of Israel, which nearly resulted in war. But the danger was +averted through the mediation of the priests; and although the +tribes east and west of the Jordan necessarily had different +interests, it was long ere this led to open hostility, or even +to forgetfulness of their common ancestry and common God. +Deborah reproaches Reuben and Gilead for having stood +aloof while Zebulon and Naphtali were hazarding their lives in +the field, and the son of Gideon had his kingdom on the +eastern side of the Jordan.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_271'>271</span>Joshua was buried at Timnath-serah or Timnath-heres<a id='r278'></a><a href='#f278' class='c013'><sup>[278]</sup></a> in +Mount Ephraim, in a piece of ground which had become +the property of himself and his family. The Israelites of a +later day looked back upon his memory with gratitude and +veneration; he had been the hero who had succeeded in +doing what Moses had failed to accomplish, and had led his +people into the Promised Land. But history judges somewhat +differently. He was not a lawgiver or a leader of men like +Moses, and even from a military point of view the conquest of +the Amorite kingdoms of Sihon and Og was a greater achievement +than securing a foothold in the mountains of central +Palestine. Joshua was not the conqueror of Canaan, as the +pious imagination of a later age supposed him to be: he +merely opened the way to it. He taught the Israelites how to +defeat the Canaanites, and he succeeded in destroying a few +of their cities. But that was all; and the wholesale massacres +which marked his progress, the wanton destruction of everything +which could not be carried away as spoil, and the barbaric +extermination of the elements of culture, find their match +only in the sanguinary campaigns of some of the Assyrian +kings and the Saxon invasion of Britain.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_272'>272</span> + <h2 id='chap5' class='c009'>CHAPTER <abbr title='five'>V</abbr> <br> THE AGE OF THE JUDGES</h2> +</div> +<p class='c012'>The Condition of Israel—The Destruction of the Benjamites—Story of Micah and the +Conquest of Dan—Chushan-rishathaim- and Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>—Office of Judge—Eglon of +Moab—The Philistines—Deborah and Barak—Sisera and the Hittites—The Song of +Deborah—Gideon—Kingdom of Abimelech—Jephthah—Sacrifice of his Daughter—Defeat +and Slaughter of the Ephraimites—Samson—Historical Character of the +Book of Judges.</p> +<p class='c004'>Israel has at last forced its way into the Promised Land. +Mount Ephraim is in its hands, and it has already planted +itself in other parts of Palestine. Joshua, the leader who +taught it how to cross the Jordan and defeat the princes of +Canaan, is dead. The age of wandering is over; the age of +settlement has begun.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But the age of settlement was a stormy one. The Canaanites +were but partially subdued; the Israelites themselves were +little better than a collection of raiding bands. They had +brought with them, moreover, the nomadic habits of the +desert, and were but little inclined to rebuild the cities which +they had so ruthlessly destroyed. And in almost every direction +they were encircled by enemies, better organised, better +armed, or more numerous than themselves, who from time to +time succeeded in overrunning their fields and reducing them +to subjection. The tribes who had dreamed of conquering +Canaan found themselves, instead, the prey of others.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was a period of anarchy and perpetual war. Without a +head, and without cohesion, it seems strange that they did +not perish utterly or become absorbed by the older population +of the land. That the nation should have survived +admits of only one explanation. It possessed a common +faith, a common sanctuary, and a common code of sacred +laws. As in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire the +Church preserved the fabric of society, and eventually brought +order out of chaos, so, too, in ancient Israel, the nation owed +<span class='pageno' id='Page_273'>273</span>its continued existence to the law which had been given by +Moses. Only the iron fetters of a written law, with its +organised priesthood and sanctions, and, above all, the knowledge +that it existed, could have prevented the process of +political and social disintegration from rapidly running its +course. Had the religion of Israel been merely that result +of evolution which is dreamed of by some modern writers, +and the law of Moses the invention of a later age, there would +have been no Israel in which a religion could have developed, +or a code of laws have been compiled. The outward unity of +the tribes in Egypt and the desert was shattered by the settlement +in Canaan, and all that remained was the inward and +religious unity that had been forced upon them by the genius +of an individual legislator. The place of the political head +and leader was supplied by the organised cult and elaborate +code of laws which he had bequeathed to the nation. To all +external appearance, indeed, Israel had ceased to be a nation, +and had been reduced to a scattered and anarchical collection +of marauding tribes; but the elements which could again bind +them together still existed—the belief in the same national +God, the rites with which He was worshipped, and the +priesthood and sanctuary where the tradition of the law was +preserved.</p> + +<p class='c003'>That this is no imaginary picture is proved by the Song of +Deborah. The Song is admitted by the most sceptical of +critics to belong to the age to which it is assigned, and consequently +to reflect the ideas of the Israelite shortly after the +settlement in Canaan. No composition of the Exilic period +could be more uncompromising in its monotheism, and its +assertion that Yahveh alone is the God of Israel. And the +Song further assumes that the tribes of Israel, disunited though +they otherwise may be, are nevertheless bound together by +a common faith in the one national God. Nor is this +all. Israel still possesses, even among its northern tribes, +‘legislators’ like Moses, and scribes who handle the pen +(<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 14). Writing, therefore, is still known and practised +<span class='pageno' id='Page_274'>274</span>even among a people so oppressed by their enemies that ‘the +highways were unoccupied,’ and the fellahin of the villages +had ceased to exist. Laws, too, were still promulgated in +continuation of the laws of Moses, and the people of Israel +are ‘the people of the Lord.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>And yet there was another side to the picture. While +Zebulon and Naphtali were hazarding ‘their lives unto the +death’ ‘on behalf of Yahveh,’ there were tribes and cities +which forgot their duty to their God and their brethren, and +‘came not to the help of the Lord.’ Such was the case with +the inhabitants of Meroz; such, too, was the conduct of +Reuben and Gilead, of Dan and Asher. The description +given by the compiler of the Book of Judges of the condition +of the tribes after the death of Joshua cannot be far from the +truth. They were planted in the midst of enemies whom they +had found too strong to be destroyed or driven out. On all +sides of them were ‘the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, +and the Sidonians, and the Hittites that dwelt in Mount +Lebanon from Mount Baal-Hermon unto the entering in of +Hamath.’<a id='r279'></a><a href='#f279' class='c013'><sup>[279]</sup></a> ‘And the children of Israel,’ we are told, dwelt +among them, and ‘took their daughters to be their wives, and +gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. +And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, +and forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the +Ashêrahs.’<a id='r280'></a><a href='#f280' class='c013'><sup>[280]</sup></a> Even more expressive are the words with which +the Book of Judges ends: ‘In those days there was no king +in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes.’ +It was an age of individual lawlessness; the bands of society +were unloosed, and none was strong enough to lead and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_275'>275</span>control. Outside the influence of the representatives of the +Mosaic law there was neither curb nor order.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Two incidents have been recorded which throw a lurid light +on the manners and character of the age which immediately +followed the settlement in Canaan. In one of them we hear +of a Levite of Mount Ephraim ‘who took to him a concubine +out of Beth-lehem in Judah.’ Phinehas, the grandson of +Aaron, had succeeded his father Eleazar as high-priest at +Shiloh (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> 28), where ‘the ark of the covenant’ had +been placed. The concubine proved unfaithful to the Levite, +and eventually fled to her father’s house in Beth-lehem. +Thither the Levite followed her, and persuaded her to return +with him to his home. The woman’s father, however, highly +pleased at the reconciliation, continued to press his hospitality +upon his guest, and it was not until the afternoon of the fifth +day that the Levite succeeded in getting away. The evening +soon fell upon him, and, rejecting the advice of his slave that +he should spend the night in Jerusalem, on the ground that +it was ‘the city of a stranger,’ he pressed on with his concubine +to Gibeah, which belonged to Benjamin. It had been better +for him, however, to have sought hospitality from ‘the stranger’ +rather than from his own people; for, in spite of the fact that +he had with him food in plenty both for himself and for his +asses, he was left to spend the night in the street. But at the +last moment an old man, who was not a native of Gibeah, +came in from his work in the fields, and seeing the Levite in +the street, asked him and his companions into the house. +While they were eating and drinking, the rabble gathered +about the house and demanded that the man should be +brought out to them that they might ‘know him.’ It was a +repetition of the scene enacted in Sodom when the angels +visited the house of Lot, with the difference that the actors +were Israelites instead of Canaanites, whom the Hebrews had +been called upon to destroy for their sins. In vain ‘the +master of the house’ intreated his fellow-townsmen not to +act ‘so wickedly,’ offering them his own daughter as well as +<span class='pageno' id='Page_276'>276</span>his guest’s concubine in place of the guest himself. Finally, +however, they were satisfied with the unfortunate concubine, +whom they ‘abused’ all night, and then left dead on the doorstep +of the house. The first thing ‘her lord’ saw when he +opened the door in the morning was the woman’s corpse. +This he placed on his ass and carried to his home, where he +divided it into twelve pieces, which he sent ‘into all the coasts +of Israel.’<a id='r281'></a><a href='#f281' class='c013'><sup>[281]</sup></a> The horror of the deed, or perhaps of the visible +proofs with which it was announced, aroused the Israelites, and +they demanded the punishment of the guilty. The crime had +been committed against a Levite, whose brethren were to be +found wherever the Israelites were settled, and who had on +his side the priesthood of the central sanctuary at Shiloh. He +was, too, a Levite of Mount Ephraim, and the sympathy of +the powerful tribe of Ephraim was accordingly assured to him. +The Benjamites, however, refused to hand over their fellow-tribesman +to justice, and the result was an inter-fraternal war. +Before the tribes had conquered half the country which had +been promised them, they were already fighting among themselves.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Benjamites at first were successful, and their opponents +were defeated with considerable slaughter in two successive +battles. Then they fell into an ambuscade: the main body +of their troops being drawn away after the retreating enemy +towards the north, while an ambush rose up from ‘the +meadows of Gibeah’ in their rear, and set fire to the city. +The retreating foe now turned back; and the Benjamites, +enclosed as it were between two fires, were cut to pieces +almost to a man. Six hundred only escaped ‘towards the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_277'>277</span>wilderness unto the rock of Rimmon,’ where they maintained +themselves for four months. Meanwhile ‘the men of Israel’ +treated their Benjamite brethren like Canaanitish outcasts, +smiting ‘them with the edge of the sword, from the men of +each city even unto the beasts and all that was found; and +all the cities they came to did they set on fire.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>Benjamin was almost exterminated. A few men alone +survived. But at the outset of the war they had been placed +under the same ban as the Canaanites, and a solemn vow had +been made that no Israelitish woman should be married to +them. When peace was restored with the practical annihilation +of the guilty tribe, the prohibition was evaded by a +stratagem, which, however inconsequent it may appear to the +European of to-day, was fully in keeping with the ideas of the +ancient East. Jabesh-Gilead had refused to take part in the +war against Benjamin, and the victors accordingly resolved to +take summary vengeance upon it. The city was taken by +surprise, and every male in it massacred in cold blood, as well +as ‘every woman that had lain by man.’ About four hundred +unmarried maidens were carried off to Shiloh, and there +forcibly married to the surviving Benjamites. But even these +did not suffice, and the Benjamite youths were consequently +encouraged to hide in the vineyards near Shiloh, and there +capture and make wives of the maidens of the place who +came out to dance at the yearly ‘feast of the Lord.’ The +place, we are told, was northward of Beth-el, ‘on the east side +of the highway that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem, and +on the south of Lebonah.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>Recent critics have seen in this story merely a popular +legend intended to account for the fact that marriage by +capture was practised among the Benjamites. We might just +as well assert that the story of Gunpowder Plot is a legend +which has grown out of the customs of the 5th of November. +The critics have not even the justification that marriage by +capture was common among the Israelites. In fact, this +is the only instance of it which we meet with in the Old +<span class='pageno' id='Page_278'>278</span>Testament history of Israel—an instance so exceptional as to +be inexplicable unless it had originated under special circumstances. +It was certainly not the survival of an earlier custom +common to the rest of the tribes, nor is there any trace of its +having been general in the tribe of Benjamin itself. In fact, +we look in vain for any other example of it alike among +Israelites and Canaanites, or even among the Benjamites in +any other period of their history.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is true, however, that the account of the war between +Benjamin and its brother tribes has passed through the +magnifying lenses of later history. The exaggerated numbers +of the combatants and the slain, like the use of the universal +‘all’ and ‘every’ where the partial ‘some’ is intended, are +in thorough accordance with Oriental habits of expression. +The modern resident in the East is only too familiar with +such exaggerations of language, and in studying Oriental +history due allowance must always be made for them. In +the account of the war, moreover, its real character has been +somewhat obscured. Benjamin has been regarded too much +as a separate entity, distinct and cut off from the rest of Israel, +rather than as the tribe which had once gathered round the +sanctuary of Beth-On, and which continued to form the +‘southern’ frontier of the house of Joseph. The war against +Benjamin, in fact, was like the war against Jabesh-Gilead—a +quarrel not with a tribe, but with certain Israelitish cities. It +is even possible that in this quarrel Jabesh-Gilead was from +the beginning associated with Gibeah and the other cities of +Benjamin. At all events, we find it so allied in the age of +Saul. Saul’s first act as king was to rescue Jabesh-Gilead from +the Ammonites, and it was the men of Jabesh-Gilead who +took down the bodies of Saul and Jonathan from the walls of +Beth-Shan and gave them honourable burial.<a id='r282'></a><a href='#f282' class='c013'><sup>[282]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_279'>279</span>The second incident, which tells us something of the +manners of Israel in the years that immediately followed +the invasion of Palestine, is recorded in language which has +been little, if at all, altered by the compiler of the Book of +Judges. The gruesome horror of the story of the Levite’s +concubine is absent from it, but it equally shows how far +from the truth is the idyllic picture sometimes painted of the +first Israelitish conquerors of Canaan. It is again a Levite +who is the central personage of the story. An Ephraimite +named Micah, we are told, stole eleven hundred shekels +of silver from his mother, but, terrified by her imprecations +upon the thief, confessed the deed and restored the money. +His mother thereupon informed him that the treasure had +been dedicated to Yahveh by her on his behalf, in order that +a graven and a molten image might be made out of it for him. +Two hundred of the shekels were accordingly taken, and the +silver employed to make the images. These were set up in +the house of Micah, along with ‘an ephod and teraphim,’ and +one of his sons was consecrated as priest. This, however, +was recognised as contrary to the law, and when therefore a +wandering Levite from Beth-lehem, ‘of the family of Judah,’ +came seeking employment, he was welcomed by Micah, who +asked him if he would be his priest. His wages for undertaking +the office were to be ten shekels of silver each year, as +well as ‘a suit of apparel’ and food. The terms were accepted, +and ‘Micah consecrated’ him his priest. The provisions of +the Mosaic law had been satisfied, and the Ephraimite complacently +remarked, ‘Now know I that the Lord will do me +good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>His complacency, however, was of no long duration. The +Danites, unable to establish themselves in the south of Canaan, +sent out five spies from their camp near Kirjath-jearim<a id='r283'></a><a href='#f283' class='c013'><sup>[283]</sup></a> who +<span class='pageno' id='Page_280'>280</span>on their way northward were hospitably received in Micah’s +house. Here they found the Levite, with whom, it would +appear, they had been previously acquainted, and asked him +to inquire ‘of God’ whether their journey would be prosperous +or not. The priest’s reply was favourable: ‘before Yahveh is +your way wherein you go.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>Far away, to the north of the other Hebrew settlements, the +spies found the Phœnician city of Laish, already mentioned in +the geographical lists of the Egyptian conqueror Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> +Its inhabitants were living in peaceful security, ‘after the +manner of the Zidonians,’ with no one to interfere with them, +and no enemy of whom they could be afraid. The spies saw +at once that the city was unprepared for a sudden attack by +armed men; that, in short, ‘God had given it into’ their hands. +They returned therefore to Mahaneh-Dan, the Camp of Dan, and +reported what they had seen. Thereupon the Danites determined +to seize an inheritance for themselves in the north, and +six hundred men ‘girded with weapons of war,’ along with their +families and cattle, started for Laish.<a id='r284'></a><a href='#f284' class='c013'><sup>[284]</sup></a> On the road the spies +led them to the house of Micah, whom they robbed of his +images, ephod and teraphim, as well as of his priest. The latter +at first protested; but on being told that he would be the +priest of ‘a tribe,’ his ‘heart was glad,’ and ‘he took the ephod +and the teraphim and the graven image and went into the +midst of the people.’ Micah and his friends on discovering +the robbery pursued after the Danites, but finding they were +too strong for him he judged it prudent to return home.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Danites continued their march, and had little difficulty +in capturing the unguarded Laish, in massacring its inhabitants, +and burning the houses with fire. On the ruins they built a +new city, the Dan of future Israelitish history. Here the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_281'>281</span>graven image of Micah was erected, and worship carried on +‘all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.’ The +Levite who presided over the sanctuary became the ancestor +of a long line of priests who continued to be ‘priests to the +tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.’<a id='r285'></a><a href='#f285' class='c013'><sup>[285]</sup></a> The +compiler of the Book of Judges adds that his name was +Jonathan, the grandson of Moses, whose name has been +changed to Manasseh in the majority of Hebrew manuscripts.<a id='r286'></a><a href='#f286' class='c013'><sup>[286]</sup></a> +The statement fixes the date of the conquest of Laish, and +shows that, like the war against Benjamin, it took place only +two generations after the great legislator’s death.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The picture presented to us by the narrative stands in sharp +contrast to the ideal aimed at in the legislation of the Pentateuch. +The golden calf has been revived in an intensified +form, and the ordinary Israelite, including a Levite who was +the grandson of Moses, takes it for granted that Yahveh must +be adored in the shape of a twofold idol. Nay, more; by the +side of the graven and molten images which were meant to +represent the God of Israel in defiance of the second commandment, +we find also the images of the household gods or +teraphim, whose cult forms part of that which was paid to +the national deity. The cult, in fact, survived to the latest +days of the northern kingdom; it was practised in the household +of David (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 13), and is even regarded by a +prophet of Samaria as an integral portion of the established +religion of the state (<abbr title='Hosea'>Hos.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 4). The priestly powers of the +Levite, however, suffered in no way from the idolatrous nature +of the worship over which he presided. Like David in a later +age (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> 2, 4, 9, <abbr title='thirty'>xxx.</abbr> 8; 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 19, 23) when the +men of Dan inquired through him whether their journey +<span class='pageno' id='Page_282'>282</span>would be successful, he was able to answer them in the name +of the Lord.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But this is not all. Micah, the Ephraimite, consecrates his +own son as priest, while the Levite wanders through the land, +seeking employment and begging his bread. There is no +endowment that is his by right; no Levitical city where he can +claim a shelter and a field; no central sanctuary where his +services are required. He is said to be ‘of the family of +Judah,’ not a descendant of Levi, though the compiler implies +that the expression must not be understood in a literal sense. +And the priesthood which he established at Dan continued to +be a rival of that of ‘the sons of Aaron’ through nearly five +centuries of Israelitish national life.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Criticism has drawn the conclusion that the Pentateuchal +legislation could not have been in existence at the time when +the city of Laish was taken by the tribe of Dan. The conclusion, +however, by no means follows. It is quite certain +that it was not drawn by the compiler of the Book of Judges, +who has preserved the narrative for us; and, after all, he is +more likely to have understood the ideas and feelings of the +Israelites of an earlier generation than is a European critic of +the nineteenth century. In fact, he has given us an explanation +of the contradiction between the Mosaic law and early +Israelitish practice, which not only satisfies all the conditions +of the problem, but is on the whole more probable than the +rough-and-ready solution of modern criticism. Israel in +Canaan in the first throes of the invasion was a very different +Israel from that which had lived in the desert under the immediate +control and superintendence of the legislator. It was disorganised, +it was lawless, it was broken up into fragments +which were surrounded on all sides by an alien population +whose superior culture and wealth, when it could not be seized +or destroyed, necessarily exercised a profound influence over +the ruder tribes of marauders from the desert. The Israelites +inevitably fell under the spell; they intermarried with the +natives, and adopted their gods and religious ideas.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_283'>283</span>The proof that this is the true explanation of the disregard +or forgetfulness of the Mosaic law which characterised the +age of the Judges is furnished by the fact that this disregard or +forgetfulness was not universal. Throughout the age of the +Judges Israel possessed a central sanctuary, little though it +seems to have been frequented, and in this central sanctuary +the worship of Yahveh was conducted by ‘the sons of Aaron,’ +who kept alive the memory of the legislation in the wilderness. +At Shiloh there was no image, whether graven or molten, no +figures of the teraphim, no idolatrous rites. Instead of an +image there was the ark of the covenant, with nothing within +it except the tables of the law.<a id='r287'></a><a href='#f287' class='c013'><sup>[287]</sup></a> Shiloh was the only place in +Israel where the Pentateuchal enactments could be observed, +and it is only at Shiloh that we find them to have been so.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But the influence of Shiloh did not extend far. It did not +even become the central sanctuary of Ephraim. The history +of Micah is alone sufficient to prove this. Ephraimite as he +was, Shiloh and its priesthood had no existence for him; his +gods and his priests were part of his own household. Equally +conclusive is the history of Gideon.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The ephod after which Israel went ‘a whoring,’ was not +dedicated at Shiloh but at Ophrah, a few miles to the north; +and Baal-berith in the Ephraimitish city of Shechem had more +worshippers than Yahveh of Shiloh. Just as the spirit of +Judaism was kept alive in the age of the Maccabees among a +small remnant of the people, amid the obscurity of a country +town, so in the time of the Judges the spirit of the law was +preserved among the mountains of Ephraim in the midst of an +insignificant body of priests.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was not only with the Canaanites and with its own internal +disorganisation and dissensions that the infant nation of Israel +was called upon to contend. Foreign invasion followed +quickly on the settlement in Palestine. We have learnt from +<span class='pageno' id='Page_284'>284</span>the tablets of Tel el-Amarna that already before the days of +the Exodus the kings of Mesopotamia had cast longing eyes +upon Canaan. To the Semites of the west Mesopotamia was +known as Naharaim, or Aram Naharaim, ‘Aram of the Two +Rivers,’ the Euphrates and Tigris, and the name was borrowed +by the Egyptians under its Aramaic form of Naharain or +Nahrina.<a id='r288'></a><a href='#f288' class='c013'><sup>[288]</sup></a> The leading state of Mesopotamia had for some +centuries been Mitanni, on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, +not far from Carchemish, and the rulers of Mitanni had made +themselves masters not only of the district between the +Euphrates and the Tigris, but also of the country westward +to the Orontes. In the age of the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty +Mitanni was the most powerful of the Asiatic kingdoms, and +the Pharaohs themselves did not disdain to unite their solar +blood with that of its royal family.</p> + +<p class='c003'>From time to time, the Tel el-Amarna correspondence +teaches us, the princes of Mitanni had interfered in the affairs +of Palestine. Rib-Hadad, the governor of Phœnicia, declares +that ‘from of old’ the kings of Mitanni had been hostile to +the ancestors of the Pharaoh, and his letters are filled with +complaints that the Amorites to the north of Palestine had +revolted against Egypt with the help of Mitanni and Babylonia. +Ebed-Tob of Jerusalem, who uses the name Nahrina or +Naharain like the writers of the Old Testament, refers to the +struggles that had taken place on the waters of the Mediterranean +when Nahrina and Babylonia held possession of +Canaan. ‘When the ships,’ he says, ‘were on the sea, the +arm of the Mighty King (the god of Jerusalem) overcame +<span class='pageno' id='Page_285'>285</span>Nahrima and Babylonia; yet now the Khabiri have overcome +the cities of the king’ (of Egypt in Southern Palestine).<a id='r289'></a><a href='#f289' class='c013'><sup>[289]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>It was not the last time that Mitanni and Egypt were ranged +on opposite sides. Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> claims to have defeated the +forces of Mitanni, and the name of the same country appears +among the conquests of Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> of the twentieth dynasty.<a id='r290'></a><a href='#f290' class='c013'><sup>[290]</sup></a> +It is coupled with Carchemish the Hittite capital among the +kingdoms over which the last of the conquering Pharaohs had +gained a victory. In the great struggle which Egypt had to +face against the Philistines and other piratic hordes from the +Greek seas, the northern invaders had carried with them in +their train contingents from the various peoples of Northern +Syria through whose lands they had passed. The Hittites +and Amorites, the inhabitants of Carchemish and Arvad, even +the people of Elishah or Cyprus, joined the invaders of Egypt, +and among the captured leaders of the enemy recorded on +the walls of Medinet Habu are the kings of the Hittites and +Amorites. The king of Mitanni, however, is wanting; enemy +though he was of the Pharaoh, he never ventured into Egypt, +and his name therefore does not appear among the conquered +chiefs. All that the Pharaoh could do was to include the +name of his kingdom among those whose forces he had +overthrown.<a id='r291'></a><a href='#f291' class='c013'><sup>[291]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The reign of Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> brings us to the moment when the +Israelites under Joshua were about to enter Canaan. Egypt +had annihilated the enemies who had invaded it, and had +carried a war of vengeance into Palestine and Syria. The +Israelite had not as yet crossed the Jordan. Among the +places in Southern Palestine subdued by Ramses are Beth-Anoth +(<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 59), Carmel of Judah, Hebron, Ir-Shemesh, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_286'>286</span>Hadashah (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 37), Shalam or Jerusalem, the districts of +the Dead Sea and the Jordan, even Korkha in the land of +Moab.<a id='r292'></a><a href='#f292' class='c013'><sup>[292]</sup></a> There is as yet no trace of Israel, and Hebron had +not as yet become the spoil of the Kenizzite.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The chronology, however, makes it certain that though the +Israelites had not entered Palestine at the time of the Egyptian +campaign in that country, it could not have been very long +before they actually did so. The campaign of Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>, +in fact, prepared the way for the Israelitish invasion by weakening +the forces of the Canaanites. In any case, the victory +over the northern nations and their allies, commemorated in +the temple of Medinet Habu, must have taken place only a +few years before the Israelitish conquest of southern Canaan.<a id='r293'></a><a href='#f293' class='c013'><sup>[293]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The king of Mitanni was numbered among the enemies of +Egypt; nevertheless he had not joined the invading hordes +in their attack upon the valley of the Nile. Can it have been +that he lingered in what had once been an Egyptian province, +that land of Canaan which his forefathers had coveted before +him? The Egyptian Empire had fallen, the very existence of +Egypt itself was at stake, and the favourable opportunity had +come at last when Naharaim might make herself the mistress of +Western Asia. Babylonia was powerless like Egypt, Assyria +had not yet put forth its strength, and the Hittites barred the +old road which had led from Chaldæa to the West.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The armies of Chushan-rishathaim<a id='r294'></a><a href='#f294' class='c013'><sup>[294]</sup></a> of Naharaim, accordingly, +made their way through Syria to the southern frontiers of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_287'>287</span>Palestine. They were no longer associated with those of +Babylonia, as in the days of Ebed-Tob; for a short while +Naharaim ruled supreme on the eastern coasts of the +Mediterranean. For eight years both the Canaanites and their +Israelite and Kenizzite invaders were forced to submit to its +sway. The work of conquest was checked by the stronger +hand of the foreign power.</p> + +<p class='c003'>How soon after the Israelitish settlement in Canaan the +invasion of Chushan-rishathaim must have been is shown by +the fact that Othniel, the Kenizzite, the brother of Caleb, and +the conqueror of Kirjath-Sepher, was the hero who ‘delivered’ +Israel from the foreign yoke. How the deliverance was +effected we do not know, whether through the death of the +king of Naharaim, or through a revolt of the Canaanites and +Syrians, or whether it was only the Israelitish tribes and not +the Canaanitish cities to which it came. What is certain is +that both the ‘oppression’ and the deliverance followed closely +on the occupation of Palestine by the Israelites. Caleb +belonged to the same generation as Moses and Joshua, and +though Othniel was his ‘younger brother,’ he too must be +counted in it. Joshua can hardly have been dead before +Israel had passed under the yoke of Naharaim.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The supremacy of Naharaim extended to the southernmost +borders of Palestine. It was not an Ephraimite who +‘delivered’ Israel, but the Edomite chief at Hebron, where +the tribe of Judah had not yet established itself. The fact is +noteworthy: the first of the ‘Judges’ was a Kenizzite of +Edomite origin, and the yoke which he shook off was one +which pressed equally upon Israelites and Canaanites. In the +very act of conquering and exterminating the Canaanites, +Israel was forced to sympathise and join with them against a +common foe.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The sign which gave Othniel the right to be a <span lang="hbo"><i>Shophêt</i></span> or +<span class='pageno' id='Page_288'>288</span>‘Judge’ was twofold. ‘The spirit of Yahveh came upon him,’ +and he delivered Israel from its oppressor. The Shophêt was +thus marked out by Yahveh for his office, and his success in +war was a visible token that he had been called to be the +leader of his people. The office was a peculiarly Canaanitish +institution. When Kingship was abolished at Tyre in the +time of Nebuchadrezzar, the kings were replaced by ‘Judges,’ +and at Carthage the ‘Sufetes’ or ‘Judges’ were the chief +magistrates of the state.<a id='r295'></a><a href='#f295' class='c013'><sup>[295]</sup></a> Whether the institution existed +elsewhere in the Semitic world we do not know. But it was +as it were indigenous to the soil of Canaan, and in submitting +themselves to the rule of the Judges, the Israelites submitted +themselves at the same time to Canaanitish influence. It was +a step backward, a step towards absorption into the population +around them, and it is therefore not without reason that the +period of the Judges is a synonym for the period when the +religion and manners of Canaan were dominant among the +Israelitish tribes. The Pentateuch recognised the priest, +the lawgiver, and the king; the judge was the creation of an +age in which the Baalim seemed to have gained the mastery +over Yahveh.</p> + +<p class='c003'>That the first of the Judges should have been of Edomite +descent is a striking commentary on what may be termed the +catholicity of pre-exilic Israel. It was not race so much as +participation in the worship and favour of Yahveh, that gave +a right to be included among ‘the chosen people.’ The +ancestress of David was a Moabitess, and the Deuteronomic +law lays down that the children of an Edomite, or even of an +Egyptian, ‘shall enter into the congregation of the Lord in +their third generation’ (<abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> 7, 8).<a id='r296'></a><a href='#f296' class='c013'><sup>[296]</sup></a> A ‘mixed multitude’ +accompanied the Israelites in their flight from Egypt, +and the Kenites, with whom Moses was allied, shared like the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_289'>289</span>Kenizzites in the conquest of Canaan. Hebron, the future +capital of Judah, and a Levitical city, was a Kenizzite possession, +and the Judah of later days was itself a mixture of +Israelitish and Edomite elements.</p> + +<p class='c003'>How far the authority of Othniel extended it is difficult to +say. But the fact that the enemy, whose yoke he had broken, +was an invader from the north makes it probable that his rule +was acknowledged in Mount Ephraim as well as among the +northern tribes. That it was also acknowledged on the east +side of the Jordan there is no proof. Though the Song of +Deborah shows that the solidarity of Israel was recognised, it +also shows that this feeling of a common God and of a common +history had but little political effect. The eastern tribes lived +apart from those of the west, and the judges whom we hear +of as rising among them had purely local powers. Indeed, +between Jephthah and the Ephraimites there was internecine +war.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The rule of Othniel could not have lasted long. If he +belonged to the generation which had witnessed the Exodus +out of Egypt, he would have been already an old man at the +time of the war with Chushan-rishathaim. Hardly was he +dead before Israel was again under the yoke of an oppressor. +Moab had recovered from its reverses at the hands of the +Amorites and Israelites, the Reubenites had degenerated into +mere Bedâwin squatters in the wadis of the Arnon,<a id='r297'></a><a href='#f297' class='c013'><sup>[297]</sup></a> and Eglon, +the Moabite king, now prepared to possess himself of southern +Canaan. Jericho was seized, or rather ‘the city of palm-trees’ +which had succeeded to the Canaanitish Jericho, and the ford +over the Jordan was therefore secure. Eglon was followed by +bands of Amalekite Bedâwin, eager for spoil, like the Sutê who +in the age of the Tel el-Amarna correspondence were hired by +the rival princes of Canaan in their quarrels with one another. +He was also allied with the Ammonites, from which we may +<span class='pageno' id='Page_290'>290</span>infer that the Israelites north of the Arnon, between Moab +and Ammon, had been either expelled or brought into +subjection.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The capture of Jericho opened the road to Mount Ephraim +to Eglon as it had done a few years previously to Joshua. +But the Israelites were treated more mercifully than Joshua +had treated the Canaanites. Perhaps they lived in unwalled +villages rather than in fortified towns, and their culture was +not high enough to tempt an enemy with the prospect of a +rich booty. At all events we hear of no massacres or burnt +cities; the Israelites are laid under tribute, that is all.</p> + +<p class='c003'>For eighteen years they served Eglon. Then Ehud, the +Benjamite, who like so many of his tribe was left-handed,<a id='r298'></a><a href='#f298' class='c013'><sup>[298]</sup></a> was +chosen to carry the yearly tribute to the conqueror. Eglon +was encamped at Gilgal, in the very spot where the Israelitish +camp had so long stood, and received the envoys in the upper +story of his house, immediately under the roof. When the +tribute-bearers had been dismissed, Ehud, who had gone as far +as the sacred ‘circle’ of hallowed stones,<a id='r299'></a><a href='#f299' class='c013'><sup>[299]</sup></a> turned back with +the excuse that he had a secret message for the king, which +demanded the utmost privacy. Taking advantage of his +solitude, Ehud seized his sword with his left hand and plunged +it into the body of Eglon, then, locking the door of the room +behind him, he escaped through the columned verandah. +Before the murder was discovered he had made his way to +Seirath, and gathered around him the Israelites of Mount +Ephraim. The fords across the Jordan were occupied, and the +flying Moabites slain at them to a man.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It would seem that the Moabite ‘oppression’ did not extend +<span class='pageno' id='Page_291'>291</span>beyond Mount Ephraim. Ephraim and Benjamin were the +tribes who had suffered from it, and it was over them accordingly +that Ehud was judge. His authority does not appear to +have been recognised further to the north or to the south.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In the south, indeed, there were other enemies to be contended +against, and there was another hero who had risen up +against them. The Edomite and Jewish settlers found themselves +confronted by those formidable sea-robbers who had +once dared the whole power of Egypt, and were now +established on the southern coast of Palestine. The Philistines, +called Pulista by the Egyptians, Palastâ and Pilistâ by the +Assyrians, were new-comers like the Israelites. They had +come from Caphtor, which modern research tends to identify +with the island of Krete, and, along with their kinsfolk the +Zakkal, had taken part in the invasion of Egypt by the +barbarians of the north at the beginning of the reign of +Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr><a id='r300'></a><a href='#f300' class='c013'><sup>[300]</sup></a> It is the first time that their name is mentioned +in the Egyptian annals. But the Zakkal, who afterwards +settled on the Canaanitish coast to the north of them, and +whom they resembled in dress and features, are mentioned +among the invaders against whom Meneptah <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> had to contend, +and it is therefore possible that the Philistines also were +included in the host whose assault upon Egypt seems to have +been connected with the Hebrew Exodus. At any rate, at the +very moment when the Israelites were making ready to enter +Canaan, the Philistines had already possessed themselves of +the five cities which guarded its southern frontier. The date +<span class='pageno' id='Page_292'>292</span>of the conquest can be fixed within a few years. Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> +tells us that the barbarians had swept through Syria, where +they had established their camp in the ‘land of the Amorites’ +northward of Canaan. Then they fell upon Egypt partly by +land, partly by sea. This may be the time when the five cities +of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath were captured by +the Philistines; if so, Gaza must have again become Egyptian +after the overthrow of the invading hordes, since Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> +includes it among the conquests of his campaign in southern +Palestine. But it could not have remained long in his hands. +The key of Syria, the frontier town which had so long been +garrisoned by Egyptian troops, at last ceased to be Egyptian, +and became Philistine. Henceforth Egypt was cut off from +Asia; ‘the way of the Philistines’ was guarded by the +Philistines themselves.<a id='r301'></a><a href='#f301' class='c013'><sup>[301]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The actual occupation of ‘Philistia’ was doubtless preceded +by piratical descents upon the coast. This, in fact, seems to +be indicated by the statement in the book of Exodus that the +Israelitish fugitives were not led by ‘the way of the Philistines’ +lest they should ‘see war.’ From the time when the northern +barbarians first attacked Egypt in the reign of Meneptah <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> +down to the final settlement of the Philistines on the Syrian +coast after the Asiatic campaign of Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>, the conquest +of the Canaanitish coast was slowly going on. All the while +that the Israelites were in the desert, the Philistines of Caphtor +<span class='pageno' id='Page_293'>293</span>were creating their new kingdom for themselves. They were +one of the ‘hornets’ which Yahveh had sent before Israel into +the Promised Land. When Judah and Simeon eventually took +possession of southern Canaan, they found the Philistines too +firmly established to be dislodged.<a id='r302'></a><a href='#f302' class='c013'><sup>[302]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>It was not only from their walled cities in Palestine that the +Philistines derived their strength. They were within easy +reach of their kinsmen in Krete, and fresh supplies of +emigrants were doubtless brought to them from time to time +in Kretan ships. Greek tradition knew of a time when Minôs, +the Kretan king, held command of the sea, and it is said that +the sea between Gaza and Egypt was called ‘the Ionian.’<a id='r303'></a><a href='#f303' class='c013'><sup>[303]</sup></a> In +the reign of Hezekiah we learn from the Assyrian king Sargon +that when the people of Ashdod deposed their prince the +usurper whom they placed on the throne was still a ‘Greek’ +(<i>Yavani</i>).</p> + +<p class='c003'>The features of the Philistine are known to us from the +Egyptian sculptures. They offer a marked contrast to those +of his Semitic neighbours. They are, in fact, the features of +the typical Greek, with straight nose, high forehead, and thin +lips. Like the Zakkal he wears on his head a curious sort of +pleated cap, which is fastened round the chin by a strap. +Besides the cap, and sometimes a cuirass of leather, his dress +consisted of a kilt, or perhaps a pair of drawers, similar to +those depicted on objects of the ‘Mykenæan’ period, and he +was armed with a small round shield with two handles, a spear, +and a short but broad sword of bronze. The kilt and arms +were the same as those of the Shardana or Sardinians.<a id='r304'></a><a href='#f304' class='c013'><sup>[304]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The Philistines were thus aliens on the soil of Canaan. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_294'>294</span>Their Hebrew neighbours stigmatised them as the ‘uncircumcised,’ +and in the Septuagint they are called the Allophyli or +‘Foreigners.’ But they mixed in time with the Avim whom +they had displaced.<a id='r305'></a><a href='#f305' class='c013'><sup>[305]</sup></a> The Amoritish Anakim survived at +Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 22), and Goliath of Gath +was reputed one of their descendants. The Philistines +borrowed, moreover, numerous words from the Semitic +vocabulary, if indeed they did not adopt ‘the language of +Canaan’ altogether. Their five ‘lords’ took the Semitic title +of <i>seren</i>, and the supreme god of Gaza was called by the +Semitic name of Marna or ‘Lord.’ Dagon, whose temple +stood at Gaza, was a Babylonian god whose name and worship +had been brought to the West in early days.<a id='r306'></a><a href='#f306' class='c013'><sup>[306]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The Israelites soon found that the Philistines were dangerous +neighbours. From their five strongholds in the south they +issued forth to plunder and destroy. Judah and Simeon were +the first to suffer, while such parts of the heritage assigned to +Dan as had not been annexed to Ephraim or Benjamin passed +into Philistine hands.<a id='r307'></a><a href='#f307' class='c013'><sup>[307]</sup></a> But the central and northern tribes +did not escape. We learn from an unpublished Egyptian +papyrus in the possession of <abbr class='spell'>M.</abbr> Golénischeff that Dor, a little +to the south of Mount Carmel, had been occupied by the +Zakkal, the kinsmen of the Philistines, so that the whole coast +from Gaza to Carmel may be said to have become Philistine. +From hence their raiding parties penetrated into the interior, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_295'>295</span>and depopulated the villages of Ephraim and Manasseh, of +Zebulon and of Naphtali.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Such at least is the conclusion to be drawn from a +comparison of the Song of Deborah with the statement that +the Shamgar ben Anath, Shamgar the son of Anath, ‘delivered +Israel,’ by slaying six hundred Philistines with an ox-goad. +Shamgar, as we gather from the Song, lived but a short while +before Deborah herself, and it was in his days, we further read, +that the Israelitish peasantry were almost exterminated by their +enemies. The Philistine invasion in the time of Samuel was +but a repetition of earlier raids.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The name of Shamgar testifies to the survival of Babylonian +influence in Canaan. It is the Babylonian Sumgir, while +Anath is the Babylonian goddess Anat, the consort of Anu, +the god of the sky. In one of the Tel el-Amarna tablets two +Syrians are referred to, who bear the names of Ben-Ana and +Anat.<a id='r308'></a><a href='#f308' class='c013'><sup>[308]</sup></a> Does this survival of Babylonian names imply a +survival also of the Babylonian script and language? At all +events the worship of Babylonian deities still survived, and an +Israelite and a ‘judge’ was named after one of them.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Deborah couples with Shamgar the otherwise unknown +Jael. The reading is possibly corrupt, another name having +been assimilated to that of the wife of the Kenite. But it is +also possible that it is due to a marginal gloss which has crept +into the text.</p> + +<p class='c003'>However this may be, the age of Shamgar overlapped that +of the prophetess Deborah. ‘In the days of Shamgar,’ she +says, ‘the highways were unoccupied ... until that I, Deborah, +arose—that I arose a mother in Israel.’ It was not only from +the incursions of the Philistines that the Israelites suffered. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_296'>296</span>In the north the tribes were called upon to face a confederacy +of the Canaanitish states. It was the last effort of Canaan to +stem the gradual advance of Israel, and the struggle was +decided in the plain of Megiddo, as it had been in the older +days of Egyptian invasion and conquest.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Megiddo and Taanach were still Canaanitish fortresses; so, +too, was Beth-shean, in the valley of the Jordan,<a id='r309'></a><a href='#f309' class='c013'><sup>[309]</sup></a> and the +Israelites of Mount Ephraim were thus cut off from their +brethren in the north. Here Jabin, the king of Hazor, was +the dominant Canaanite prince, whose standard was followed +by the other ‘kings of Canaan.’ Twenty years long, we are +told, ‘he mightily oppressed the children of Israel,’ ‘for he had +nine hundred chariots of iron.’<a id='r310'></a><a href='#f310' class='c013'><sup>[310]</sup></a> Two accounts of the ‘oppression’ +and the war that put an end to it have been handed +down, one a prose version, which the compiler of the book of +Judges has made part of his narrative, while the other is contained +in the song of victory composed by Deborah after the +overthrow of the foe.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Critics have found discrepancies between the two accounts, +and have maintained that where they differ the prose version +is unhistorical. In the latter the Canaanitish leader is the +king of Hazor, Sisera being his general, who ‘dwelt in Harosheth +of the Gentiles,’ whereas in the song there is no mention +of Hazor, and Sisera appears as a Canaanitish king. Moreover, +it is alleged that, according to the Song (<abbr title='verse'>v.</abbr> 12), Barak +seems to have belonged to the tribe of Issachar, while in the +prose narrative he is said to have come from Kadesh of +Naphtali, and it is further asserted that Hazor had already +been taken and destroyed in the time of Joshua.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The author of the book of Judges, however, failed to see +the discrepancies which have been discovered by the modern +<span class='pageno' id='Page_297'>297</span>European critic, and he has accordingly set the prose narrative +by the side of the Song without note or comment. As +the king of Hazor did not personally take part in the battle on +the banks of the Kishon, there was no occasion for any reference +to him in the Song, and that the commander of his army +should have been one of his royal allies is surely nothing +extraordinary. In the Song, Barak is expressly distinguished +from ‘the princes of Issachar,’<a id='r311'></a><a href='#f311' class='c013'><sup>[311]</sup></a> and the question of the +destruction of Hazor by Joshua has already been dealt with. +It is a gratuitous supposition that the introduction of Jabin into +the narrative, and the reference to Harosheth, are the inventions +of popular legend or interested historians.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The prophetess Deborah, the wife of Lapidoth, ‘judged +Israel’ at the time of the war. Her name means ‘Bee,’ and +a connection has been sought between it and the fact that the +priestesses of Apollo at Delphi, of Dêmêter, of Artemis, and +of Kybelê, were called ‘bees,’ while the high priest of Artemis +at Ephesus bore the title of the ‘king-bee.’<a id='r312'></a><a href='#f312' class='c013'><sup>[312]</sup></a> We might as +well look for a connection between the name of her husband +and the ‘lamps’ of the sanctuary. Deborah ‘judged Israel’ +because she was a prophetess, because she was the interpretress +of the will of Yahveh, whose spirit breathed within her. The +‘judgments’ she delivered were accordingly the judgments of +Yahveh Himself, and the indwelling of His spirit was the sign +of her claim to the office of ‘judge.’ We hear of other prophetesses +in Israel besides Deborah; Huldah, for example, +who was consulted by the king and the priests in the reign of +Josiah. The position held by the prophetess prevented the +Israelitish women from sinking into the abject condition of +the women among some of the Arab and other Semitic tribes. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_298'>298</span>In fact, women have played a leading part in Hebrew history. +It has long ago been noticed that the mother had much to do +with the character of the successive kings of Judah, and +Athaliah of Samaria filled a prominent place in the history of +the northern kingdom. Prophecy was no respecter of persons; +it came to rich and poor, to learned and simple, to men +and women alike, and upon whomsoever the spirit of prophecy +fell, it made him fit to be the leader and the counsellor of his +people. Deborah had been marked out by Yahveh Himself +to be the judge of Israel.</p> + +<p class='c003'>She dwelt, we are told, under the palm-tree of Deborah, +between Ramah and Beth-el in Mount Ephraim. She was, +therefore, presumably of Ephraimitish descent, though the +conclusion does not necessarily follow, and the palm-tree +which was called after her continued to be a landmark on the +high-road down to the time when the narrative in the book of +Judges was written. There was another tree, a terebinth, and +not a palm, which stood within the sacred precincts of Beth-el +itself, and also bore the name of Deborah, but this Deborah +was said to have been Rebekah’s nurse, whose tomb was +pointed out under the branches of the tree.<a id='r313'></a><a href='#f313' class='c013'><sup>[313]</sup></a> The writers of +the Old Testament have carefully distinguished between the +two trees; it has been reserved for modern criticism to confound +them.</p> + +<p class='c003'>With a woman’s insight and enthusiasm, Deborah perceived +that the time had come when the highways should no longer +be deserted, and when the northern tribes of Israel should be +freed from their bondage to the Canaanite, and she also perceived +who it was that was destined to lead the Israelitish +troops to victory. This was Barak of Kadesh in Naphtali, +the near neighbour of Jabin and Sisera. Like the Carthaginian +Barcas, he bore a name—‘the Lightning’—which fitly +<span class='pageno' id='Page_299'>299</span>symbolised the vengeance he was born to take on the enemies +of Israel.<a id='r314'></a><a href='#f314' class='c013'><sup>[314]</sup></a> But Barak shrank from the undertaking at first, +and it was not until the prophetess had consented to go with +him to Kadesh that he summoned his countrymen together, +and occupied the summit of Mount Tabor. Here, protected +by the forests which clothed its slopes, he trained and multiplied +his forces until he felt strong enough to attack the foe. +Then he descended into the plain of Megiddo, where the +Canaanitish host was marching from Harosheth to meet him. +It was the old battlefield of Canaan; it was there that in +the days of the Egyptian conquerors the fate of the country +had been decided and the Canaanitish princes under Hittite +commanders from Kadesh on the Orontes had been utterly +overthrown.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In the camp on the lofty summit of Tabor, Barak had +done more than train his men. Time had been given them in +which to provide themselves with arms. Deborah declares +that in the days of the oppression a shield or spear had not +been seen ‘among forty thousand in Israel.’<a id='r315'></a><a href='#f315' class='c013'><sup>[315]</sup></a> The statement +receives explanation from what we are told of the policy of the +Philistines at a later date. When they had laid the Israelites +under tribute in the time of Samuel, they banished all the +smiths from the land of Israel, to prevent ‘the Hebrews’ from +making themselves ‘swords and spears’ (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 19). +Agricultural implements alone were allowed (<abbr title='verse'>ver.</abbr> 20). It would +seem that a similar policy had been pursued by the Philistines +and Canaanites in the earlier age of Deborah, though probably +with less success. At all events Heber the Kenite, or itinerant +‘smith,’ still pitched his tent in Israelitish territory, and his +<span class='pageno' id='Page_300'>300</span>wife Jael sympathised with the Israelites rather than with their +Canaanitish lords.</p> + +<p class='c003'>When Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> of Egypt met the confederated kings +of Canaan in the plain of Megiddo, they were led by the +Hittite sovereign of Kadesh on the Orontes. It is possible +that Barak was called upon to meet a similar combination of +forces. Sisera is not a Semitic name, while, as Mr. Tomkins +has pointed out, it finds striking analogies in such Hittite +names as Khata-sar, Khilip-sar, and Pi-siri[s]. The Hittite +power at Kadesh on the Orontes had not yet passed away. It +still existed in the time of David, when it formed one of the +frontiers of the Israelitish kingdom.<a id='r316'></a><a href='#f316' class='c013'><sup>[316]</sup></a> In the age of the Tel +el-Amarna letters we find the Hittites intriguing in Palestine +along with Mitanni or Naharaim, and it is not likely that they +would have been less disposed to resume their old influence +in that country when Egypt was no longer to be feared. Sisera +may not only have been the commander of the Canaanitish +forces, but also a Hittite prince, nominally the ally of Jabin, +but in reality his suzerain lord. He dwelt, we are told, in +‘Harosheth of the Gentiles,’ an otherwise unknown place. It +may have been in ‘Galilee of the Gentiles’ (<abbr title='Isaiah'>Is.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 1), but it +may also have been further north among the Gentile Hittites +of Kadesh.<a id='r317'></a><a href='#f317' class='c013'><sup>[317]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The battle took place on the banks of the Kishon, and +ended in a complete victory for the Israelites. The nine +hundred iron chariots of Sisera availed him nothing; ‘the +stars in their courses’ had fought against him. He escaped +<span class='pageno' id='Page_301'>301</span>on foot to the tent of Heber the Kenite, whose wife Jael +received him as a guest, and then murdered him by driving a +peg of the tent through his temples while he lay asleep. When +Barak arrived in pursuit, Jael showed him the corpse of his +enemy.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The pæan of triumph, ‘sung by Deborah and Barak’ on the +day of the victory, is one of the oldest fragments of Hebrew +poetry. To its antiquity and the archaic character of its +language are due the many corruptions of the text. Some of +the passages in it are quite unintelligible as they stand, and +the conjectural emendations that have been proposed for them +are seldom acceptable except to their authors.<a id='r318'></a><a href='#f318' class='c013'><sup>[318]</sup></a> But, as a +whole, the pæan is not only a magnificent relic of ancient +Hebrew song, full of fire and vivid imagery, it is also a document +of the highest value for the historian. It gives us a +picture of Israelitish life and thought in the age of the Judges, +untouched by the hands of compilers and historians, and few +have been hardy enough to question its genuineness. It is a +solid proof that the traditional view of Israelitish history is +more correct than that which modern criticism would substitute +for it, and that the ‘development’ of Israelitish religion, +of which we have heard so much, is a mere product of the +imagination. The belief in Yahveh displayed in the Song is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_302'>302</span>as uncompromising as that of later Judaism; Yahveh is the +God of Israel, who has fought for His people, and beside Him +there is no other god. The monotheism of Deborah is the +monotheism of the Pentateuch. Nor is the song less of a +witness to the truth of the history which we have in the +Pentateuch and the book of Joshua. It tells us that Yahveh +revealed Himself to Israel on Mount Sinai, and it distinguishes +the tribes one from the other, and assigns to them the territories +which bore their names.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Song began with words which, as we see from <abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> +<abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 2, <abbr title='Psalms'>Ps.</abbr> <abbr title='sixty-eight'>lxviii.</abbr> 7, were a common property of Hebrew +poetry.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c014'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘For the avenging of Israel,</div> + <div class='line'>When the people gave themselves as a freewill offering,</div> + <div class='line'>Praise ye Yahveh!</div> + <div class='line'>Hear, O ye kings, give ear, O ye princes,</div> + <div class='line'>I will sing unto Yahveh, even I,</div> + <div class='line'>I will make music to Yahveh the God of Israel.</div> + <div class='line'>O Yahveh, when thou wentest forth from Seir,</div> + <div class='line'>When thou marchedst out of the field of Edom,</div> + <div class='line'>The earth trembled, the heavens also dropped water.<a id='r319'></a><a href='#f319' class='c013'><sup>[319]</sup></a></div> + <div class='line'>The mountains melted from the face of Yahveh,</div> + <div class='line'>Even Sinai itself from before Yahveh the God of Israel.</div> + <div class='line'>In the days of Shamgar ben-Anath,</div> + <div class='line'>[In the days of Jael]<a id='r320'></a><a href='#f320' class='c013'><sup>[320]</sup></a> the roads were deserted,</div> + <div class='line'>And the travellers walked along by-paths.</div> + <div class='line'>The peasantry failed, in Israel did they fail,</div> + <div class='line'>Until I, Deborah, arose,</div> + <div class='line'>I arose a mother in Israel.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='lg-container-b c014'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>Then was war (in) the gates (?):<a id='r321'></a><a href='#f321' class='c013'><sup>[321]</sup></a></div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_303'>303</span>A shield was not seen, or a spear,</div> + <div class='line'>Among forty thousand in Israel.</div> + <div class='line'>My heart (saith) to the lawgivers of Israel,</div> + <div class='line'>Who gave themselves as a freewill offering among the people:</div> + <div class='line'>Praise ye Yahveh!</div> + <div class='line'>Ye that ride on white asses,</div> + <div class='line'>Ye that sit on cloths,</div> + <div class='line'>And ye that walk on the road, shout ye!</div> + <div class='line'>Above the voice of the [noisy ones] at the places of drawing water,</div> + <div class='line'>There<a id='r322'></a><a href='#f322' class='c013'><sup>[322]</sup></a> shall they rehearse the righteous acts of Yahveh,</div> + <div class='line'>Even righteous acts towards his peasants in Israel,</div> + <div class='line'>(Saying), “Then to the gates descended the people of Yahveh.”</div> + <div class='line'>Awake, awake, Deborah,</div> + <div class='line'>Awake, awake, utter a song!<a id='r323'></a><a href='#f323' class='c013'><sup>[323]</sup></a></div> + <div class='line'>Arise, Barak,</div> + <div class='line'>And capture thy capturers,<a id='r324'></a><a href='#f324' class='c013'><sup>[324]</sup></a></div> + <div class='line in2'>O son of Abinoam!</div> + <div class='line'>Then to the nobles descended the people of Yahveh (?),<a id='r325'></a><a href='#f325' class='c013'><sup>[325]</sup></a></div> + <div class='line'>They descended unto me among the heroes.</div> + <div class='line'>Out of Ephraim (came they) whose roots<a id='r326'></a><a href='#f326' class='c013'><sup>[326]</sup></a> (are) in Amalek,</div> + <div class='line'>Behind thee, O Benjamin, among thy clans.</div> + <div class='line'>Out of Machir descended lawgivers,</div> + <div class='line'>And out of Zebulon they that handle the staff of the scribe.</div> + <div class='line'>And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah,</div> + <div class='line'>For Issachar was as Barak;</div> + <div class='line'>In the valley (of the Kishon) were they sped on the feet,</div> + <div class='line'>Among the wadis of Reuben great were the searchings of heart.</div> + <div class='line'>Why didst thou stray among the sheep-folds</div> + <div class='line'>To hear the bleatings of the flocks?</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_304'>304</span>For the wadis of Reuben great were the searchings of heart.</div> + <div class='line'>Gilead abode beyond the Jordan;</div> + <div class='line'>And Dan, why does he sojourn in ships?</div> + <div class='line'>Asher stayed on the sea-shore,</div> + <div class='line'>And abides in his havens.</div> + <div class='line'>Zebulon is a people that has jeopardied its life unto the death,</div> + <div class='line'>And Issachar also on the heights of the plain.</div> + <div class='line'>Kings came and fought,</div> + <div class='line'>Then fought the kings of Canaan</div> + <div class='line'>At Taanach on the waters of Megiddo;</div> + <div class='line'>They took no spoil of silver.</div> + <div class='line'>From heaven fought the stars,</div> + <div class='line'>In their courses they fought against Sisera.<a id='r327'></a><a href='#f327' class='c013'><sup>[327]</sup></a></div> + <div class='line'>The torrent of Kishon swept them away;</div> + <div class='line'>A torrent of slaughters is the torrent Kishon.</div> + <div class='line'>Thou hast trodden down the strong ones, O my soul!<a id='r328'></a><a href='#f328' class='c013'><sup>[328]</sup></a></div> + <div class='line'>Then did the horse-hoofs strike (the ground)</div> + <div class='line'>Through the prancings of his steeds.</div> + <div class='line'>Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of Yahveh,</div> + <div class='line'>Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof</div> + <div class='line'>Because they came not to the help of Yahveh,</div> + <div class='line'>To the help of Yahveh among the heroes.</div> + <div class='line'>Blessed above women be Jael,</div> + <div class='line'>The wife of Heber the Kenite,</div> + <div class='line'>Above women in the tent may she be blessed!</div> + <div class='line'>Water he asked, milk she gave,</div> + <div class='line'>In a lordly dish she brought forth butter:</div> + <div class='line'>Her hand she put to the tent-pin</div> + <div class='line'>And her right-hand to the workman’s hammer,</div> + <div class='line'>And with the hammer she smote Sisera, she shattered his head,</div> + <div class='line'>And struck and pierced his temples.</div> + <div class='line'>At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down,</div> + <div class='line'>At her feet he bowed, he fell;</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_305'>305</span>Where he bowed, there lay he dead.</div> + <div class='line'>Behind the window looked and cried</div> + <div class='line'>The mother of Sisera behind the lattice:</div> + <div class='line'>“Why is his chariot so long in coming?</div> + <div class='line'>Why tarry the wheels of his cars?”</div> + <div class='line'>The wisest of her waiting-women answered her,</div> + <div class='line'>Yea, she returned answer to herself:</div> + <div class='line'>“Have they not found and divided the spoil,</div> + <div class='line'>A damsel or two to each man,</div> + <div class='line'>A spoil of many-coloured garments to Sisera,</div> + <div class='line'>A spoil of garments of many-coloured needlework,</div> + <div class='line'>Two garments of many-coloured needlework for the neck of the spoiler.”<a id='r329'></a><a href='#f329' class='c013'><sup>[329]</sup></a></div> + <div class='line'>So may all thine enemies perish, O Yahveh;</div> + <div class='line'>But may those who love him be as the rising of the sun in his might!’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c015'>Of Barak and Deborah we hear no more. The next judge +and deliverer who appears upon the canvas is an Abi-ezrite of +Manasseh, who came from the northern borders of Ephraim between +Ophrah and Shechem. His father was Joash, the head, it +would seem, of the clan. But he himself bears a double name. +It is as Gideon, the ‘cutter-down’ of his father’s idol, that he +is first introduced to us. In later history his name is Jerubbaal. +The latter name is said to have been given him because he had +thrown down the altar of Baal, and is interpreted to mean +‘Let Baal plead against him.’<a id='r330'></a><a href='#f330' class='c013'><sup>[330]</sup></a> But the other Old Testament +examples we have met with of the interpretation of proper +names may well make us hesitate about accepting this. They +are all mere plays upon words, mere ‘popular etymologies,’ which +have no claim to be regarded as history. Whether the philology +<span class='pageno' id='Page_306'>306</span>is that of an ancient Hebrew writer or of a modern critic, its +conclusions do not belong to the domain of the historian.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Jerubbaal signifies ‘Baal will contend,’ not ‘Baal will plead +against him,’ and therefore really has a meaning exactly the +reverse of that ascribed to it in the narrative. The name +seems substantially identical with that of Rib-Hadad, the +governor of Phœnicia in the age of the Tel el-Amarna tablets. +Joash, the father of Jerubbaal, was a worshipper of Baal, and +consequently there was nothing strange in his calling his son +after his god. It is only as Jerubbaal that the future judge was +known to the generation that followed him,<a id='r331'></a><a href='#f331' class='c013'><sup>[331]</sup></a> and his successor +in the kingdom of Manasseh was called even in his own day +‘Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal.’<a id='r332'></a><a href='#f332' class='c013'><sup>[332]</sup></a> It has been suggested +that Jerubbaal and Gideon were two different personages, whom +tradition has amalgamated together,<a id='r333'></a><a href='#f333' class='c013'><sup>[333]</sup></a> but double names of the +kind were not unknown in Oriental antiquity. Solomon himself +also bore the name of Jedidiah (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 25), and +Gideon, ‘the cutter-down,’ was not an inappropriate epithet +for the conqueror of the Midianites. There was a good +reason why the pious Israelite of a later generation should +shrink from admitting that one of his national heroes had +borne a name compounded with that of Baal.<a id='r334'></a><a href='#f334' class='c013'><sup>[334]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The tribes of the desert, Amalekites, Midianites, and those +Benê-Qedem or ‘Children of the East,’ whom an Egyptian +papyrus of the twelfth dynasty places in the neighbourhood of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_307'>307</span>Edom,<a id='r335'></a><a href='#f335' class='c013'><sup>[335]</sup></a> had fallen upon the lands of the settled fellahin, as +their Bedâwin descendants still do whenever the Turkish +soldiery are insufficient to keep them away. Year by year +bands of raiders swarmed over the cultivated fields, murdering +the peasants and carrying off their crops. At first it was +Gilead that suffered, but the Hebrews were weak and divided, +and the robbers of the desert were soon emboldened to cross +the Jordan, and extend their raids as far as the western +frontiers of Israel. ‘They destroyed the increase of the +earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for +Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>At last the Lord sent a prophet to the people and an angel +to Gideon the Abi-ezrite. Gideon was threshing wheat by the +winepress near the sacred terebinth of Ophrah. Here, under +the shadow of the tree, was an altar of Baal, and by the side +of it the cone of stone which symbolised the goddess Asherah. +The angel summoned Gideon to rise and deliver Israel, and as +a sign that he was indeed the angel of Yahveh he touched +with his staff the offerings of flesh and unleavened cakes that +Gideon had made to him, so that fire rose out of the rock and +consumed them all. On the threshing-floor Gideon built an +altar to Yahveh, like that more stately sanctuary which David +raised in later days on the threshing-floor of rock which had +belonged to Araunah the Jebusite.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Recent criticism has discovered in the history of Jerubbaal +two different and mutually inconsistent narratives, which are +again subdivided among a variety of writers. To these some +critics would add a third version of the story, which is +supposed to be referred to in <abbr title='Isaiah'>Is.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 26, though others maintain +that the reference in the book of Isaiah is to the first of the +two narratives. It cannot be denied that the history of the +war against the Midianites in its present form is confused, and +that it is difficult to construct from it a clear and intelligible +picture of the course of events. That the compiler of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_308'>308</span>book of Judges should have made use of more than one +narrative, if such existed, is indeed only natural, and what a +conscientious historian would be bound to do. But to distinguish +minutely the narratives one from the other, much more +to analyse them into still smaller fragments, is the work of +Sisyphus. It is even more impossible than to distinguish +between Rice and Besant in <i>The Golden Butterfly</i> or <i>Celia’s +Arbour</i>. The historian must leave all such literary trifling to +the collectors of lists of words, and content himself with comparing +and analysing the facts recorded in the story.<a id='r336'></a><a href='#f336' class='c013'><sup>[336]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The altar raised by Gideon was dedicated to Yahveh-shalom, +‘the Yahveh of Peace,’ and it was still standing at Ophrah +when the narrative relating to it was written.<a id='r337'></a><a href='#f337' class='c013'><sup>[337]</sup></a> Its name shows +that it could hardly have been built before Gideon had returned +in peace from the Midianitish war. There was much +that had first to be done.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Gideon’s first task was to destroy the symbol of Asherah +and the altar of Baal. The revelation made to him had been +made in the name of Yahveh, and it was in the name of +Yahveh alone that he was about to lead his countrymen to +victory. It is true that between Yahveh and Baal the Israelite +villager of the day saw but little difference. Yahveh was +addressed as Baal or ‘Lord,’<a id='r338'></a><a href='#f338' class='c013'><sup>[338]</sup></a> and the local altars that were +dedicated to Him in most instances did but take the place of the +older altars of a Canaanitish Baal. Mixture between Israelites +and Canaanites, moreover, had brought with it a mixture in +religion. Along with the title, Yahveh had assumed the +attributes of a Baal, at all events among the mass of the +people. Joash and the villagers, who demanded that Gideon +should be put to death for destroying the altar of Baal, doubtless +thought that they were zealous for the God of Israel. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_309'>309</span>It was the symbol of Asherah only which was the token of a +foreign cult.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Perhaps the answer made by Joash to the charge against his +son has been coloured by the theology of the later historian. +It breathes rather the spirit of an age when the antagonism +between Yahveh and Baal had become acute than that of one +who was himself a worshipper of Baal and Asherah, and whose +son in the hour of victory made an idol out of the enemy’s +spoil. The Baal worshipped by the villagers of Abi-ezer was +regarded as Yahveh himself, and hence it was that the offence +committed by Gideon against him was an offence committed +against the national God, and therefore punishable with death. +To set him up as another god in opposition to the God of +Israel carries us down to the age of Elijah, when the subjects +of Ahab were called upon to choose between the Yahveh who +had led them out of Egypt and the Phœnician Baal. It +belongs to the same period as the etymological play on the +name of Jerubbaal.</p> + +<p class='c003'>There was a special reason why Jerubbaal should thus have +come forward to deliver his countrymen from the Midianites. +The Bedâwin raiders had slain his brothers in a previous +struggle at Mount Tabor (<abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 18-21). Jerubbaal thus had a +blood-feud to avenge. He was the last and presumably the +youngest of his family, and upon him therefore devolved the +duty of revenging his brothers’ death. Moreover, it would +appear from the words of the Midianite chiefs that Joash and +his sons were not only the heads of their clan, but that they +also exercised a sort of kingly authority in Ophrah and its +neighbourhood. The history of Abimelech seems to imply +that the family of Abi-ezer had succeeded to the power and +even the name of the Canaanitish ‘kings’ of Shechem, and +that the subsequent ingratitude of the inhabitants of Shechem +to the house of Jerubbaal was due to jealousy of the preference +displayed by it for Ophrah. Shechem contained a large +Canaanitish element which was wanting at Ophrah, where the +population was more purely Israelitish. If Joash were thus +<span class='pageno' id='Page_310'>310</span>king of a mixed population, recognised by Canaanites and +Israelites alike, we can understand why by the side of the +altar of Baal there stood also the symbol of the Canaanitish +goddess. The very fact that the sanctuary of Ophrah belonged +to him (vi. 25) indicates that he possessed royal prerogatives. +Even at Jerusalem the temple of Solomon was as it were the +chapel of the kings.<a id='r339'></a><a href='#f339' class='c013'><sup>[339]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>It has been suggested that the Baal whose altar stood on +the land of Joash at Ophrah was the Baal-berith or ‘Baal of +the Covenant,’ worshipped at Shechem,<a id='r340'></a><a href='#f340' class='c013'><sup>[340]</sup></a> and that the ‘covenant’ +over which the god presided was that made between the +Canaanites of Shechem and their Hebrew master. Doubtless +the two elements in the population would have interpreted the +name in a different way. For the Hebrews the ‘Baal of the +Covenant’ would have been Yahveh; for the Canaanites he +would have been the local sun-god. But there is nothing to +prove that the attributes of the Baals of Ophrah and Shechem +were the same, or that they were adored under the same form. +Indeed, the fact that the altar erected by Jerubbaal at Ophrah +was dedicated to the ‘Yahveh of Peace’ tells rather in a contrary +direction. Shechem had its Baal-berith, while Ophrah +may have had its Baal-shalom. While the one commemorated +the covenant that had been entered into between the two parts +of the population, the other would have commemorated its +‘peaceful’ settlement. For the Canaanite it was a covenant, +for the Hebrew it was peace.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The struggle at Mount Tabor, in which the brothers of +Jerubbaal had fallen, laid the fruitful valley of Jezreel at the +feet of the Bedâwin plunderers. The plain of Megiddo was +now in the hands of the Israelites. The battle on the banks +of the Kishon had broken for ever the power of the Canaanites +and their ‘chariots of iron,’ and they were now tributary to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_311'>311</span>Manasseh.<a id='r341'></a><a href='#f341' class='c013'><sup>[341]</sup></a> The Canaanite townsman and the Israelitish +peasant were now living in peaceful intermixture, and the +torrent of raiders from the desert fell upon both alike. We +hear no more of any attempts made by the older population +to shake off the Hebrew yoke; it suffers from the Midianite +invasion equally with its Hebrew masters, and the family of +Joash govern it as much as they govern the Israelites themselves. +Jerubbaal is the deliverer of the Canaanite as well as +of the Israelite.</p> + +<p class='c003'>From Ophrah he sends messengers throughout Manasseh, +as well as to the tribes of Asher, Zebulon, and Naphtali, and +their fighting-men gather together at his summons. He thus +acts like a king, and is obeyed like a king. Though he may +not have actually borne the royal title, he was more than a +mere ‘judge.’ Barak may have assumed the name and +prerogatives of the Canaanitish kings he had conquered, and +have passed them on to the family of Ebi-ezer. At any rate +the power of Joash must have extended beyond Shechem and +Ophrah; all Manasseh obeys the call of his son, and even the +more distant northern tribes come at his bidding. The subjugation +of the Canaanites had demanded a head to the state, +and their union with their conquerors implied an organised +community under a common king.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was, however, with three hundred chosen followers that +Jerubbaal made his first attack upon the foe. Encouraged by +a dream, he fell upon their camp by night, and his followers, +breaking the pitchers they carried with them, and waving +torches in their left hands, caused such a panic among the +undisciplined hordes of the desert that they fled in all directions.<a id='r342'></a><a href='#f342' class='c013'><sup>[342]</sup></a> +The rout of the enemy was completed by the rest +<span class='pageno' id='Page_312'>312</span>of the Israelitish army, which pursued the Midianites eastward +towards the Jordan. Part of them under the shêkhs Oreb +and Zeeb made for the ford at Beth-barah, where, however, +they were intercepted by the Ephraimites, and their chiefs +slain at ‘the rock of Oreb’ and the ‘winepress of Zeeb.’<a id='r343'></a><a href='#f343' class='c013'><sup>[343]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Meanwhile Jerubbaal was already on the eastern side of the +Jordan, following in hot haste a detachment of the Midianites +under two other of their shêkhs, Zebah and Zalmunna. +His road led past Succoth and Penuel, but their Israelitish +inhabitants refused all help, and even bread, to their brethren +of Manasseh. It is clear that between Gilead and the western +tribes there was now a diversity of interests and feelings, and +that the half-nomad Israelites on the eastern side of the +Jordan had more sympathy with the heathen of the desert +than with the ruler of the organised state on the other side of +the river. Perhaps they feared that his arms would next be +turned against themselves, and that they too would be forced +to become part of a kingdom of Manasseh.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But if they had hoped that the Midianites would have freed +them from all fears upon this score they were doomed to +disappointment. Once more ‘the sword of Yahveh and of +Gideon’ prevailed, and Zebah and Zalmunna were slain. The +claims of the blood-feud were satisfied, and Jerubbaal now +returned to his old home. Condign vengeance was taken on +‘the elders’ of Succoth and ‘the men’ of Penuel. The first +<span class='pageno' id='Page_313'>313</span>were scourged with the thorns of the wilderness, the others +were put to death, and their tower, which guarded the approach +from the desert, was razed to the ground.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Now, however, Jerubbaal had to meet with more formidable +adversaries. The house of Joseph was divided against itself, +and the Ephraimites resented his conduct in acting independently +of the elder tribe.<a id='r344'></a><a href='#f344' class='c013'><sup>[344]</sup></a> In the earlier days of the +occupation of Palestine it had been Ephraim which took the +leading part; Joshua, who first opened the path into Canaan, +had been an Ephraimite, and Mount Ephraim had been the +first stronghold of Israel on the western side of the Jordan. In +the time of Barak Ephraim had still been the dominant tribe, +at least such is the impression we gather from the Song of +Deborah; but it had begun to live on its past glories rather +than on its present achievements. The Benjamites had +definitely separated from it, and become a separate tribe, +and Issachar, Zebulon, and Naphtali had carried on the war +against Jabin and Sisera. Manasseh, however, had not yet +appeared on the political scene; its place was taken by +Machir, whose territory lay in Gilead, not to the west of +the Jordan. But between the age of Barak and that of +Jerubbaal a change had occurred. The Canaanitish towns, +which the victory on the banks of the Kishon had laid at the +feet of the northern tribes, passed into the possession of the +younger branch of the house of Joseph, and Issachar had to +be content that Shechem also should become a part of its +territory.<a id='r345'></a><a href='#f345' class='c013'><sup>[345]</sup></a> Manasseh grew at the expense of its neighbours. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_314'>314</span>It is possible that the clan of the Abi-ezrites at Ophrah had, +by their conquest of Shechem, paved the way for the rise of +Manasseh; if so, the dominant position they occupied in the +tribe would become intelligible. Ophrah would have been +the first home and gathering-place of the tribe. The treaty +with Shechem, which united that city with Ophrah, may have +been the beginning of Manasseh’s rise to power.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But Ephraim could ill brook the growing ascendency of the +younger tribe. Manasseh had become wealthy from the +tribute levied on its Canaanitish subjects; it had united itself +with the older inhabitants of the land, and had borrowed their +habits and their culture, and therewith their idolatries as well. +The mountaineers of Ephraim, on the other hand, had retained +much of the roughness and the virtues of the first invaders of +Palestine. They were still warlike and hardy; they held the +fortress of the Israelitish possessions in Canaan; and Shiloh, +with its Aaronic priesthood, its traditions of the Mosaic law, +and its purer worship of Yahveh was in their midst. Jerubbaal +was forced to temporise with them. He pointed out that the +destruction of the main body of the Midianites at the fords of +the Jordan was a greater achievement than his own successful +pursuit of the remaining bands. He had slain Zebah and +Zalmunna in revenge for the death of his brothers; the +slaughter of Oreb and Zeeb had been for the sake of all +Israel. ‘Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better +than the vintage of Abi-ezer?’</p> + +<p class='c003'>Jerubbaal was fitted to rule, for he possessed statecraft as +well as military ability. His statecraft was shown not only in +his answer to the Ephraimites, but also in his refusal to accept +the title of king. It was pressed upon him, we are told, by +<span class='pageno' id='Page_315'>315</span>‘the men of Israel’—that is to say, by the northern tribes. +Whether his father had actually borne the title we cannot +say, though it would seem from the subsequent history of +Abimelech, as well as from the words of Zebah and Zalmunna +(<abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 18), that he must have done so. But at any rate he had +exercised the authority of a king, like his son Jerubbaal, at the +outset of the Midianite war, and it may be that among the +Canaanites of Shechem he had also the name of king. +Jerubbaal, however, if we are to regard the passage as historical, +rejected the crown offered him by the Israelites, +declaring that their king was Yahveh alone.</p> + +<p class='c003'>That the passage is historical seems to admit of little doubt. +Jerubbaal’s words were in harmony with the feelings of the +time among the stricter adherents of Yahveh, as we learn +from the language of Samuel when the people demanded of +him a king. How different were the feelings of the compiler +of the book of Judges may be gathered from the words with +which it ends. Moreover, Jerubbaal’s refusal of the royal +title was politic. He had already realised that he had powerful +enemies in Ephraim, who viewed his success and claims +to power with suspicion and hostility, and he also knew that +it was in Ephraim and among the priesthood of Shiloh that +the belief in the theocratic government of Israel was strongest. +As in Assyria, in Midian, and in Sheba, so too in Israel, the +high priest preceded the king; it was not until the need for a +single head and a leader in war became too urgent to be +resisted that the national God made way for a national king.<a id='r346'></a><a href='#f346' class='c013'><sup>[346]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Phœnician tradition remembered that Jerubbaal was a priest +of Yahveh, not that he was a king.<a id='r347'></a><a href='#f347' class='c013'><sup>[347]</sup></a> It was as a priest that he +<span class='pageno' id='Page_316'>316</span>exacted from the people the golden earrings they had won +from the Midianites in order that he might make with them +an image of his God. The Hebrew text has substituted for +the image the ephod which accompanied it.<a id='r348'></a><a href='#f348' class='c013'><sup>[348]</sup></a> But the ephod +was the linen garment of the priest, which he wore when +ministering, and with the help of which the future was divined.<a id='r349'></a><a href='#f349' class='c013'><sup>[349]</sup></a> +It was not the vestment but the image, in whose service the +vestment was used, that Jerubbaal set up in Ophrah, and after +which ‘all Israel went a whoring.’ Like his father, Jerubbaal +saw no idolatry where it was Yahveh of Israel who was represented +by the idol. The religious beliefs and practices of +Canaan had entered deeply into the soul of Israel; at Shiloh +alone was no image of its God.</p> + +<p class='c003'>High priest among the Israelites, king among his Canaanitish +subjects, Jerubbaal lived long in his father’s home at Ophrah. +He acted like a king, even if he did not take the royal title. +Like Solomon, he had ‘many wives,’ and like Solomon also, +he built a sanctuary attached to his own house.<a id='r350'></a><a href='#f350' class='c013'><sup>[350]</sup></a> The Bedâwin +spoilers came no more: there was now a strong hand ruling +over the northern tribes of Israel, checking all tendency to +disunion, and building up an organised community.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But the kingdom of Jerubbaal contained within it those +seeds of dissolution which have brought about the fall of so +many Oriental monarchies. They spring up, not among the +people, but in the family of the ruler. Polygamy brings with +it a curse, and the king is hardly dead before the children of +his numerous wives are murdering and fighting with one +another. Even during his lifetime the palace is honeycombed +with the intrigues of the harîm, which break out into open war +as soon as he has passed away. The family of Jerubbaal was +no exception to the rule. Abimelech, the son of his concubine, +a Canaanitess of Shechem,<a id='r351'></a><a href='#f351' class='c013'><sup>[351]</sup></a> conspired with his mother’s +<span class='pageno' id='Page_317'>317</span>kinsmen in Shechem, and taking seventy shekels of silver +from the temple of Baal-berith, hired with them a band of +mercenaries, who fell upon the other sons of Jerubbaal at +Ophrah and murdered them all save one. Alone of the +‘seventy’ brethren of Abimelech, Jotham, the youngest, hid +himself and escaped. The rest were slaughtered like oxen on +a block of stone. Abimelech then returned to Shechem, and +there under the sacred terebinth, which stood by the consecrated +‘pillar’ or Beth-el of the city, he was anointed king. +The garrison of the Millo, or fortress, of Shechem took part in +the ceremony.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The report of Abimelech’s usurpation was brought to +Jotham. He left his place of concealment, and, standing on +the top of Mount Gerizim, upbraided the men of Shechem +with ingratitude towards Jerubbaal. He clothed his words +in one of those parables of which the East is the home. +‘The trees went forth,’ he told them, once on a time, ‘to +anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive-tree, +Reign thou over us. But the olive-tree said unto them, +Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour +God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? And +the trees said unto the fig-tree, Come thou and reign over us. +But the fig-tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness +and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the +trees? Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou and +reign over us. And the vine said unto them, Should I leave +my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted +over the trees? Then said all the trees unto the +bramble, Come thou and reign over us. And the bramble +said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, +then come and put your trust in my shadow; and if not, let +fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of +Lebanon.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>The moral of the parable was so obvious that it did not +need Jotham’s explanation to make it clear. He had been +bold in venturing near his enemies, and as soon as he had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_318'>318</span>finished speaking, he fled to a place of safety. Beer, ‘the +well,’ where he found a refuge, may have been the place of +that name in the extreme north of Naphtali.<a id='r352'></a><a href='#f352' class='c013'><sup>[352]</sup></a> Here at least +he would have been secure from pursuit.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The usurpation of Abimelech was the revolt of the older +Canaanitish population against their Israelitish masters. It +marked the successful rising of the native element. Ophrah has +to make way for Shechem, and ‘the men of Hamor the father +of Shechem’ take the place of the children of Jacob. Yet the +deliverance from the Midianites wrought by Jerubbaal had +been achieved as much for the benefit of the Canaanitish part +of the population as for the Israelites themselves. The +murder of his sons and the destruction of his family was a +poor requital for all that he had done for them. Jotham was +justified in prophesying that their own god Baal-berith would +avenge the broken ‘covenant,’ and that Abimelech and his +Shechemite conspirators would fall by one another’s hand.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Before three years were ended the prophecy was fulfilled. +The ‘god’ of Shechem ‘sent an evil spirit between Abimelech +and the Shechemites,’ who began a plot against his rule. +Abimelech had withdrawn from the city and was living at the +otherwise unknown Arumah, the garrison and government of +Shechem being placed under the command of a certain Zebul.<a id='r353'></a><a href='#f353' class='c013'><sup>[353]</sup></a> +Perhaps the king had already begun to be suspicious of his +subjects; perhaps his retirement to another town had aroused +their jealousy. However it may have been, the Shechemites +openly set at naught his authority. Bands of brigands left +the city and infested the neighbouring mountains, where they +robbed all who passed that way. They were soon joined by +another band of bandits, under the leadership of Gaal the son +of Jobaal.<a id='r354'></a><a href='#f354' class='c013'><sup>[354]</sup></a> Under him the disaffection towards Abimelech +<span class='pageno' id='Page_319'>319</span>came to a head, and Gaal proposed that the citizens should +revolt against Abimelech and Zebul. Zebul, however, while +professing to be upon their side, sent messengers to Abimelech +and urged him to march against Shechem before it was too +late. Abimelech gave heed to the message, and Gaal’s forces +were defeated outside the city, and driven back within its +gates. Abimelech then pretended to retire to Arumah, and +the citizens accordingly once more went out to their work in +the fields. But the royal troops were really lying in ambush, +divided into three companies, two of which fell upon the +fellahin in the fields and massacred them; while the third, with +Abimelech himself at their head, rushed into the city through the +open gate. All day long the battle raged in the streets; then +the survivors fled to the ‘crypt’ of the temple of Baal-berith +which adjoined the Millo or fort.<a id='r355'></a><a href='#f355' class='c013'><sup>[355]</sup></a> By the orders of Abimelech +brushwood was brought from the neighbouring Mount +Zalmon, piled up over the entrance to the crypt and set on +fire. All who were inside, men and women, to the number of +about a thousand, perished in the flames. Shechem itself +was razed to the ground, and its site sown with salt. For a +time the old Canaanitish city disappeared from the soil of +Palestine.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The destined punishment had now fallen upon Shechem; +it was not long before it fell also upon its destroyer. The +town of Thebez had shared in the revolt of Shechem, and +Abimelech’s next action was to besiege it. The town itself +offered little resistance, but there was a ‘strong tower’ within +it, to which its defenders fled for refuge. Abimelech again +<span class='pageno' id='Page_320'>320</span>had recourse to fire. But while the wood was being laid +against the gate of the tower, a woman on the parapet above +threw a broken millstone upon his head and shattered his +skull. The king felt himself dying, and besought his armour-bearer +to thrust a sword through his body, lest it might be +said that he had been slain by the hand of a woman. But +the request was made in vain, and future generations remembered +that the last king of Shechem, the murderer of his +brethren, had perished ignominiously by a woman’s hands.<a id='r356'></a><a href='#f356' class='c013'><sup>[356]</sup></a> +With Abimelech the sovereignty of the house of Joash seems +to have come to an end. We hear no more of Jotham, or of +any other attempt to found a monarchy among the northern +tribes. The first endeavour to organise Israel into a state had +but little success. Once more the old elements of disorder +and disunion reigned supreme. The tribes stood further and +further apart from each other, and mutual jealousies led to +intestine wars. The influence of Ephraim and of the sanctuary +of Shiloh grew daily less, and the power of the northern tribes +waned at the same time. The Israelites on the eastern side +of Jordan began to forget that they had brethren on its western +bank; Reuben is lost among the Bedâwin of Moab, and +Gilead and Ephraim engage in interfraternal war. Meanwhile +a new tribe is rising in the south. Judah has absorbed +Simeon and the Kenizzites of Hebron; the few relics of Dan +which have been left in the neighbourhood of Zorah have +become Jews in all but name, and the Kenites and the Jerahmeelites, +and the other foreign settlers in the Negeb have +followed the example of the Kenizzites. A common enemy +and a common danger has thus forced them together.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The enemy were the Philistines. In the early days of the +Hebrew settlement in Canaan the Philistines had already +made the raids inland which had been checked, if not suppressed, +by Shamgar ben-Anath. For a time they had remained +quiet in their five cities of the coast. But fresh immigrants +from Krete or other Ægean lands introduced new blood and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_321'>321</span>warlike energy. Once more their armed bands marched +forth to plunder and destroy. This time they are no longer +contented with mere raids; they now aim at conquest. +Hardly have the Canaanites been subjugated after long +generations of struggle, when the Israelites are called upon to +meet a new foe. It is a foe, moreover, which is not enervated +by centuries of luxury and culture, not accustomed to foreign +rule or divided within itself, but a hardy nation of pirates +whose whole life has been passed in fighting, and in seizing +the possessions of others.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The first brunt of the Philistine attack was borne by Judah. +But it was not long before the armies of the Philistines made +their way northwards, and even penetrated into the fastnesses +of Mount Ephraim.<a id='r357'></a><a href='#f357' class='c013'><sup>[357]</sup></a> Of all this, however, the record has +been lost. The compiler of the book of Judges failed to find +it in the fragmentary annals of the past, and has been compelled +to fill up the interval between the fall of the kingdom of +Manasseh and the supremacy of the Philistines in Palestine +with notices of judges and events whose exact place in +Hebrew history was uncertain.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is here, accordingly, that we have the names of the so-called +lesser Judges, of whom little more was known than the +names. Two of them, Tola the son of Puah, and Elon, belonged +to Issachar and Zebulon; and it is somewhat singular +that while the book of Numbers makes Tola and Puah the +heads of families in Issachar, it makes Elon the head of a +family in Zebulon.<a id='r358'></a><a href='#f358' class='c013'><sup>[358]</sup></a> Of Tola we are told that he lived and +died at Shamir in Mount Ephraim, which at that time therefore +must have been in the hands of Issachar, and that he +judged Israel twenty-three years. The account of Elon is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_322'>322</span>equally laconic; he judged Israel ten years, and was buried at +Aijalon in Zebulon. Another judge in Zebulon was Ibzan of +Beth-lehem,<a id='r359'></a><a href='#f359' class='c013'><sup>[359]</sup></a> who was judge for seven years only, but of whom +it was recorded that he had thirty sons and thirty. daughters. +A similar record has been handed down of another of these +minor judges, Abdon the son of Hillel. He, it is said, had +forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy colts. +Abdon was judge for eight years, and ‘was buried at Pirathon +in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites.’ This +statement seems to push back the date of Abdon to an early +period when Benjamin had not yet separated from the +‘House of Joseph,’ and ‘the land of Ephraim’ accordingly +extended southwards into the Amalekite region. It would be +of the same age as that of the Song of Deborah.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Gilead also had its judges, though the names of only two of +them have been preserved. One was Jair, who ruled as judge +for twenty-two years, and who ‘had thirty sons that rode on +thirty ass-colts, and they had thirty cities which are called the +villages of Jair.’ We hear something more of this Jair in the +Pentateuch. He had taken the villages which were called +after his name, and must have lived not long after the Israelitish +conquest of Bashan.<a id='r360'></a><a href='#f360' class='c013'><sup>[360]</sup></a> He belongs, therefore, to the earliest +period of Israelitish history in Canaan, and may have been +a contemporary of Joshua himself.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The second judge left a more famous record behind him. +This was Jephthah, who delivered Gilead from its bondage to +the Ammonites. His father’s name was doubtful, his mother +was a harlot, and ‘the elders’ of Gilead accordingly expelled +him from what he claimed to be his father’s house.<a id='r361'></a><a href='#f361' class='c013'><sup>[361]</sup></a> He fled +<span class='pageno' id='Page_323'>323</span>to the desert land of Tob,<a id='r362'></a><a href='#f362' class='c013'><sup>[362]</sup></a> and there gathering a band of +bandits around him, lived on the spoils of brigandage. He +soon became known, like David in later days, for his skill and +courage in deeds of arms. For eighteen years the Ammonite +domination had lasted, and the Gileadites sighed for independence. +But it was long before a champion could be found. +At last the fame of the bandit captain in Tob reached the ears +of the Israelitish elders, and they begged him to come to their +help. Jephthah taunted them with their conduct towards +him, but feelings of patriotism finally prevailed, and he agreed +to lead his followers against the national enemy if the Gileadites +would promise to make him their ‘head.’ The representatives +of the people had no choice but to agree to his +terms, and the struggle for independence began. It ended in +the deliverance of the Israelites; the Ammonites were again +driven from the land which had once been theirs, and Gilead +was free.<a id='r363'></a><a href='#f363' class='c013'><sup>[363]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The rejoicings over the victory, however, were clouded by +the rash vow of the Israelitish chieftain. Before marching +forth to attack the Ammonites, Jephthah had vowed to sacrifice +<span class='pageno' id='Page_324'>324</span>as a burnt-offering to Yahveh whatever first came out of his +house at Mizpeh to meet him should he return ‘in peace.’ +It was his own daughter, his only child, who thus came forth +to meet him, and to celebrate his victory with timbrels and +dances. The spirit of the Gileadites was very far removed +from that which had taught Abraham a newer and better way; +the Canaanite belief was strong in them that their firstborn +could be claimed by their God; and none questioned that +Yahveh Himself had selected the victim and led her forth +from the house to welcome the conqueror. The vow had to +be fulfilled; Yahveh had claimed that which was nearest and +dearest to the Gileadite chief in return for the victory He had +given him. All Jephthah could do was to grant his daughter’s +request that she might wander for two months in the mountains +with her comrades, bewailing ‘her virginity,’ before the +day of sacrifice arrived.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The memory of the sacrifice was never forgotten. It +became a custom in Israel, we are told, for the Israelitish +maidens year by year to ‘lament’ for four whole days the +daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite. It has been maintained +that this custom was the origin of the story, and that the +lamentation was not for the daughter of a Hebrew judge, but for +some mountain goddess who corresponded with the Phœnician +god Adonis. As the maidens of Phœnicia once each year +mourned the death of Adonis, so the maidens of Gilead bewailed +the untimely death of a virgin goddess. But the +theory is part of that reconstruction of ancient Israelitish +history, one of the postulates of which is that a custom has +never arisen out of a historical incident. The historian, on the +other hand, finds in the story evidences of its truth. There is +no trace elsewhere of such a goddess as the story demands, or +of an anniversary of lamentation in her honour, while the +account of the vow and its fulfilment is in thorough harmony +with the beliefs and customs of the time. It is wholly contrary +to the spirit of later Israel as well as to the feelings of +those who adhered faithfully to the Mosaic Law. If the story +<span class='pageno' id='Page_325'>325</span>were an invention, it must have originated either in the days +when human sacrifice was still practised, or else in the later +period when it was regarded with abhorrence. In either case, +its invention would be inconceivable. In the earlier period +there would have been no reason to invent what actually took +place; in the later period, the character of a judge and +deliverer of Israel would never have been needlessly blackened. +Moreover, the belief that the first thing met with on +leaving or entering a house is unlucky and devoted to the +gods, is a belief which is probably as old as humanity. It still +survives in our own folklore, and testifies to a time when he who +first left the protection of the hearth and threshold could be +claimed by the powers of the other world.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Jephthah’s term of office as ruler of Gilead was only six +years. He seems to have been already advanced in years +when he was called upon to oppose the Ammonites. But his +rule was signalised by a war with Ephraim. The ever-increasing +dissensions between the tribes on the eastern and western +sides of the Jordan came openly to a head, and the elder and +younger branches of the house of Joseph engaged in a struggle +to the death. Ephraim, it seems, still claimed predominance, +and asserted its right to interfere in the concerns of its eastern +brethren. ‘Ye Gileadites,’ it was said, ‘are fugitives of Ephraim +among the Ephraimites and among the Manassites.’ But the +‘fugitives’ soon proved that they were the stronger of the +two. The Ephraimites invaded Gilead, but were compelled to +retreat. Before they could reach the Jordan Jephthah had +seized the fords across it, and the retreat of the Ephraimites +was cut off. A terrible massacre took place; whoever said +<i>sibboleth</i> for <i>shibboleth</i>, ‘river-channel,’ was thereby known to +belong to the western bank, and was at once put to death. +Altogether 42,000 men of Ephraim perished, and the power +of the tribe was broken. Jephthah, however, did not follow +up his success; that would have brought upon him the hostility +of the other western tribes, and he seems to have returned to +Gilead. There he died and was buried in one of its cities, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_326'>326</span>the name of which was not stated in the sources used by the +compiler of the book of Judges.<a id='r364'></a><a href='#f364' class='c013'><sup>[364]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The date of Jephthah it is impossible to fix. That the +author of the book of Judges was ignorant of it would appear +from his making Jephthah follow immediately after Jair. But +it is clear that he believed it to have been towards the close of +the period of the Judges. This, too, would agree with the +fact that it corresponded with the fall of the power of Ephraim. +In the time of Jerubbaal, the Ephraimites were still strong +enough to command the respect of the conqueror of the +Midianites; when the light once more breaks upon the history +of central Israel we find the Philistines in possession of the +passes that led into Mount Ephraim, and threatening Shiloh +itself. The destruction of the Ephraimite forces at the fords +of the Jordan can best explain the Philistine success.</p> + +<p class='c003'>With the period of the Philistine supremacy the history of +the Judges comes to an end. That supremacy forced Israel +to the conviction that they must either submit to the organised +authority of a king or cease to be a nation at all. The kingdom +of Israel was born amid the struggle with the Philistines; +and though the first king perished in the conflict, his successor +succeeded in founding an empire.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Philistine wars lasted for many years. They began with +raids on the Israelitish territory immediately adjoining that of +the Philistines. Perhaps the conquest of the plain at the foot +of the mountains of Judah first roused their hostility against +Judah; at all events, it brought them into contact with the +conquering tribe. A desultory warfare was carried on for +some years; then the plans of the Philistines became more +definite, and they aimed at nothing less than the conquest of +the whole of Canaan. The sea-robbers had been gradually +changed into a nation of soldiers.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Samson, the hero of popular tradition, belongs to the earlier +part of the Philistine wars. The last relics of the tribe of Dan +<span class='pageno' id='Page_327'>327</span>in the neighbourhood of Zorah and Eshtaol have not as yet +been absorbed by Judah; the Philistines, on the other hand, +have gained possession of the whole plain. Between them and +the Israelites there is constant intercourse, partly friendly, +partly hostile; at one time the two peoples intermarry, visit, +and trade with one another; at another time they carry on a +guerilla warfare.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Of late years it has been the fashion to transform Samson +into the hero of a myth.<a id='r365'></a><a href='#f365' class='c013'><sup>[365]</sup></a> It is true that his name is derived +from <i>Shemesh</i>, ‘the sun,’ and it cannot be denied that the stories +relating to him have come rather from popular tradition than +from written records. His hair, in which his strength lay, +reminds us of the face of the sun-god engraved on the platform +of the Phœnician temple of Rakleh on Mount Hermon, +where the flaming rays of the sun take the place of human +hair. But it must be remembered that Samson is represented +as a Nazarite—a purely Israelitish institution between which +and a solar myth there is no connection—and that his strength +was dependent on the keeping of the vow which consecrated +him to Yahveh as a Nazarite from the day of his birth. With +the loss of the hair the vow was broken, the consecration at an +end; the strength had been given by Yahveh, and Yahveh +took it away. Between this and the fiery locks of the sun-god +there is but little connection.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The character of Samson, however, is that of a hero of +popular tradition. His utter ignoring of moral principles, his +hankering after foreign women, his riddle, his devices for +deceiving and slaying his enemies, belong to the tales told by +the Easterns at the door of a <i>café</i>, or around the camp-fire, +rather than to sober history. When we hear that Ramath-lehi +was so called from the ‘jawbone’ of an ass which Samson had +‘flung away’ after slaying a thousand men with it, or that Ên-hakkorê +received its name from the water which flowed from +the bone to quench the hero’s thirst, we find ourselves in the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_328'>328</span>presence of those etymological puns with which the historian +has nothing to do.<a id='r366'></a><a href='#f366' class='c013'><sup>[366]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The compiler of the book of Judges has turned this hero of +popular story, this lover of Philistine women, into a Judge of +Israel. He was, however, merely a Danite champion, the one +hero of Danite tradition, of whom indeed the tribe had little +reason to be proud. Even in Judah his achievements gained +him no honour. When the Philistines sought to seize him +after he had burnt their corn, ‘three thousand men of Judah’ +ascended to his place of refuge ‘on the top of the rock Etam’ +and handed him over to his enemies. The wiles of a Philistine +harlot deprived him of his strength and his eyes, and he ended +his days as a fettered slave at Gaza, grinding wheat for his +Philistine lords. The glory of his death, however, in the eyes +of his fellow-tribesmen redeemed the rest of his life. Called +to make sport for his masters in the temple of Dagon, while +they feasted in honour of their god, he laid hold of the two +central columns on which the building was supported, and +brought it down on the assembled crowd. Samson and the +Philistines alike were buried under its ruins. And ‘so,’ the +chronicler adds, ‘the dead which he slew at his death were +more than they which he slew in his life.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>In the story of Samson we hear for the first and the last +time in the book of Judges of ‘the men of Judah.’ It is the +first time that they appear in history. Judah produced no +Judges, for Othniel was a Kenizzite, and throughout the +epoch of the Judges its history is a blank. Nothing can +show more clearly how modern a tribe it was as compared with +the other tribes of Israel, and how insignificant was the power +which it possessed. The original Judah had its home at +Beth-lehem, shut in between the Jebusite Jerusalem and the +Edomite Hebron, and it was not until it had absorbed and +coalesced with the other occupants of its future territory that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_329'>329</span>the Judah of history was born. It is possible that the union +was brought about, or at all events completed, by the Philistine +wars; at any rate we find no traces of it at an earlier date. +Even Lachish had been an Ephraimitic conquest, and in the +time of Deborah it must still have been reckoned among the +cities of Ephraim.<a id='r367'></a><a href='#f367' class='c013'><sup>[367]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Ephraim was yet to have a judge, the last of the race. +Though the title must be denied to Samson, it must be given +to Samuel the seer. In Samuel the judges and the prophets +of Israel met together, and the spirit of Yahveh which had +marked out the judge now passed over into the prophet.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But the history of Samuel is not contained in the book of +Judges. We have to look for it in a new book which records +the foundation of the Israelitish kingdom. The books of +Samuel take their name from that of the prophet which appears +on their first page. They begin, however, with the conjunction +‘And,’ and thus presuppose an earlier volume. They are, in +fact, merely the continuation of the book of Judges. Whether +or not the same compiler has worked at the two books we +cannot tell; that is a question which must be left to the philological +critics who have long since settled his character and +date, and determined exactly the limits of his work.</p> + +<p class='c003'>There is one fact, however, connected with the compilation +of the book of Judges which the historian cannot but notice. +The narratives embodied in it differ from one another in tone +and character. The religious point of view of the stories of +Jephthah or Micah is wholly different from that of the stories +of Barak or Jerubbaal. Between the account of the overthrow +of the Canaanites on the Kishon and the stories narrated of +Samson, there is the contrast between written history and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_330'>330</span>folklore. Each narrative preserves its own individuality, its +own point of view, its own reflection of the age and locality +to which it belongs.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Here and there, indeed, the pen of the historian who has +collected and combined these fragments of the past history of +Israel can be clearly traced. The speeches sometimes remind +us of those in Thucydides, and exhibit the colouring of a +later age. The framework of the narrative, moreover, is the +writer’s own; in fact, he shows himself to be more than a +compiler; he is a historian as well. But with all this, the +narratives he has collected differ as much in character and +tone as they do in the events they record.</p> + +<p class='c003'>What more convincing proof can we have of the faithfulness +with which he has reproduced his materials? In most cases +they have not even passed through the assimilating medium of +his own mind; instead of using his privilege as a historian he +has given them to us unchanged and unmodified. And yet +in many cases they must have shocked both his religious and +his patriotic sense. Whatever else he may have been, the +author of the book of Judges possessed a historical restraint +and honesty which is rare even among the modern writers of +Europe. He has given us the older records of his country +just as he found them.</p> + +<p class='c003'>They were for the most part written records. The scribes +of Zebulon are alluded to in the Song of Deborah, and the +notices of the ‘lesser’ Judges have the same annalistic character +as the notices of the early kings of Egypt in the fragments of +Marretho. The Canaanites of Shechem, from whom Abimelech +was sprung, had been acquainted with the art of writing from +untold centuries, and the Canaanitish cities which were laid +under tribute by Manasseh and the neighbouring tribes contained +archive-chambers and libraries where the older literature +of the country was stored. It is only in the future territory +of Judah that we hear of a Kirjath-Sepher, ‘a town of books,’ +being destroyed, and it is just this part of the country whose +history in the age of the Judges is a blank. Between Othniel +<span class='pageno' id='Page_331'>331</span>the destroyer of Kirjath-Sepher and David the conqueror and +embellisher of Jerusalem, the name of no single Judge or hero +has been preserved. Samson belonged to the feeble relics of +the tribe of Dan, and the story of his deeds is the one narrative +in the book of Judges which betrays an origin in folklore +instead of written history.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_332'>332</span> + <h2 id='chap6' class='c009'>CHAPTER <abbr title='six'>VI</abbr> <br> THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MONARCHY</h2> +</div> +<p class='c012'>Influence of Shiloh—Samuel and the Philistines—Duplicate Narratives in the Books of +Samuel—Prophet and Seer—Dervish Monasteries—Capture of the Ark and Destruction +of Shiloh—Saul made King—Quarrels with Samuel—Delivers Israel from the +Philistines—Attacks the Amalekites—David—Two Accounts of his Rise to Power—Jealousy +of Saul—David’s Flight—Massacre of the Priests at Nob—Wanderings of +David—He sells his Services to the King of Gath—Duties of a Mercenary—Battle of +Gilboa and David’s Position—He is made King of Judah—War with Esh-Baal—Intrigues +with Abner—Murder of Esh-Baal—David revolts from the Philistines and +becomes King of Israel—Capture of Jerusalem, which is made the Capital—Results +of this—Conquest of the Philistines, of Moab, Ammon, Zobah, and Edom—The +Israelitish Empire—Murder of Uriah and Birth of Solomon—Influence of Nathan—Polygamy +and its Effects in the Family of David—Revolt of Absalom—Of Sheba—Folly +and Ingratitude of David—Saul’s Descendants sacrificed because of a Drought—The +Plague and the Purchase of the Site of the Temple—David’s Officers and last +Instructions—His Character—Chronology—Solomon puts Joab and Others to Death—His +Religious Policy—Queen of Sheba—Trade and Buildings—Hiram of Tyre—Palace +and Temple Built—Tadmor—Zoological and Botanical Gardens—Discontent in +Israel—Impoverishment of the Country—Jeroboam—Tastes and Character of Solomon.</p> +<p class='c004'>When Samuel was born, the Hebrew settlement in Palestine +had long been a matter of the past. Little by little Canaan +had passed into the possession of the Israelitish tribes. The +older population had at first been massacred, then laid under +tribute and amalgamated with the newcomers. The tribes +themselves had changed much. Some had disappeared, others +had grown at their expense. Ephraim, which from the first +days of the conquest had been the most powerful among them, +was now in a state of decadence, and a new force was rising in +the south in the shape of the mixed tribe of Judah. A few of the +Canaanite cities in the interior still remained independent, like +Gezer and Jerusalem, as well as all those on the Phœnician coast.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The tribes had suffered from want of cohesion. The +attempt to found a monarchy in Manasseh had failed; it was +too local and limited, and served only to arouse the jealousy +of the tribes which lay outside it. It had done little more +than bring to light the dissensions and differences that existed +within Israel itself. The bond that connected the tribes had +become continually looser, and the ‘House of Joseph’ was +divided into hostile factions. Benjamin had been decimated +by its brother Israelites under the leadership of Ephraim, and +Ephraim had undergone the same treatment at the hands of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_333'>333</span>its brethren from Gilead. The conquest of Canaan had +brought with it the old Canaanitish spirit of disunion and +discord; the spectacle which the Tel el-Amarna letters present +to us of city arrayed against city is reproduced in the Israel +of the period of the Judges. The common brotherhood, +which was still felt in the age of Deborah, tended to be forgotten. +The tribes no longer come to one another’s aid; +they fight with one another instead. The authority of the +Judges become more and more circumscribed, their jurisdiction +more and more confined. The tribes on the east of the +Jordan begin to lead a separate life, and hardly acknowledge +that the tribes to the west are kinsmen at all. The incorporation +of the Canaanite element had weakened the recollection +of a common descent, and at the same time had introduced +into Israel a spirit of selfish isolation. The causes which had +brought about the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites were +now working among its conquerors, and it seemed as if the +fate of the Canaanites was to be the fate of the Israelites also.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The sanctuary at Shiloh still existed, but it had lost much +of its influence. It had become little more than the local +sanctuary of Ephraim,<a id='r368'></a><a href='#f368' class='c013'><sup>[368]</sup></a> and as the power of Ephraim waned +the influence of Shiloh declined as well. Elsewhere rival +sanctuaries and rival forms of worship had arisen. The +high-places, whereon the Canaanites had adored Baalim and +Ashtaroth, still continued sacred, and though officially the +Baal of Israel was Yahveh, the mass of the people worshipped +the local Baal of the place in which they lived. Yahveh was +scarcely remembered, even in name: His place was taken +by the Baalim and Ashtaroth of Canaan. Manasseh went +‘a whoring’ after the golden image erected by Jerubbaal in +Ophrah, or after the Canaanitish Baal-berith in Shechem; a +rival priesthood to that of Shiloh served before the idols of +Micah at Dan; and Jephthah sacrificed his daughter in +accordance with Canaanitish beliefs. The Law of Moses was +forgotten; each man did that which was right in his own eyes.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_334'>334</span>Modern criticism has asked how it is possible that all this +could have been the case if a written Law actually existed. +But the question forgets to take account of the circumstances +of the time. A knowledge of reading and writing was confined +to a particular class, that of the scribes; Israel was +divided; intercommunication was difficult, and a Law which presupposed +a camp of nomads continually under the eye of their +legislator, was not adapted to the changed conditions in which +the Israelites found themselves. Moreover, it must be remembered +that the Israelites were for the most part a peasantry +living in scattered villages; the inhabitants of the towns were +Canaanites either by race or marriage. The one were too ignorant, +the others too alien, to be affected by the Mosaic Code.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Nevertheless, the Code was preserved at Shiloh. Here +there was an Aaronic priesthood, and the few notices that we +possess of the worship carried on there show that it was in +accordance with the Mosaic Law. Outside Shiloh, among +those who still remained true to the faith of their fathers, the +Law was remembered and presumably observed. Of this the +Song of Deborah is a witness. The God of Israel, in whose +name Barak and Deborah went forth against the heathen, is +the Yahveh of the Pentateuch, not the Baal of Canaan. The +history of Israel in the age of the Judges is, religiously as well +as politically, the history of degeneracy, not of development.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In fact, religion and politics cannot be separated one from +the other in the history of the ancient East, least of all in the +history of the Hebrews. The one presupposes the other, and +the political decay of the nation is a sure sign of its religious +retrogression. The same causes which broke up its political +unity broke up its religious unity as well. The knowledge +and worship of Yahveh lingered in Ephraim, because in +Ephraim alone the old ideal and spirit of Israel continued to +survive. Ephraim was, as it were, the heart and core of +Israel; it had led the attack upon Palestine, and its blood +was purer than that of the other tribes. It remained more +genuinely Israelite, with less admixture of foreign blood.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_335'>335</span>After Joshua and Othniel the history of most of the Judges +is connected with that of Ephraim. Ehud is a Benjamite—the +Ephraimitic ‘Southerner’; Shamgar is referred to in +the Song of Deborah;<a id='r369'></a><a href='#f369' class='c013'><sup>[369]</sup></a> Deborah herself dwelt near ‘Beth-el +in Mount Ephraim’; between Ephraim and Jerubbaal, who +reigned on the Ephraimitic frontier, there was smothered +hostility, which burst into open war in the case of Jephthah; +Tola was buried in ‘Shamir in Mount Ephraim’; Abdon was +an Ephraimite; while Ibzan and Elon came from adjoining +tribes. Jair the Manassite, and Samson from ‘the camp of +Dan,’ are the sole exceptions to the rule. What else can this +mean except that such annals as survived the stormy age of +the Judges were preserved amid the fastnesses of Mount +Ephraim? The scribes of early Israel were not confined to +Zebulon, and as in Babylonia or Egypt, so also in Palestine, +the temple was the seat of the library. In the sanctuary at +Shiloh the written records of the country would have found a +safe harbourage along with the tables of the Law and the +other monuments of the Mosaic age.<a id='r370'></a><a href='#f370' class='c013'><sup>[370]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The lifetime of Samuel separated the age of the Judges +from that of the Kings. It marked the transition from a +period of anarchy and disunion to one of order and organised +unity under a single head. But never had the fortunes of +Israel seemed so desperate. Disunited, with its former leader, +Ephraim, disabled and half-exterminated through civil war, +it had become the prey of a foreign enemy. The Philistines +<span class='pageno' id='Page_336'>336</span>were no longer content with raiding expeditions. They now +occupied the districts they overran, and built forts to secure +the passes that led into the very heart of the Israelitish +territory.<a id='r371'></a><a href='#f371' class='c013'><sup>[371]</sup></a> Their supremacy extended from one end of +Palestine to another, and so gave a name to the country +which it never afterwards lost. The tribes were reduced to a +condition of serfdom; they ceased to be free men who could +go forth with arms in their hands to fight their foes; and were +compelled, as in the subsequent days of Chaldæan domination, +to confine themselves to tilling the soil. The wandering +smiths, the Kenite gypsies, were driven from the land; the +Israelite was deprived of all warlike weapons, and was forced +to go to the nearest Philistine post if he wished merely to +sharpen his implements of agriculture. The sons of Jacob +had almost ceased to be a nation.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was while Samuel was still young that the chief Philistine +victories were gained, and as he grew older the Philistine yoke +became heavier and more severe. In the general wreck, his +was the one prominent figure in Israel. To him the people +looked for counsel and help, and saw in him a prophet of +Yahveh. But Samuel was a man of peace, not of war. He +could not lead his people to battle, or check the rising tide of +Philistine success. Other men were wanted for the work, +and these were not forthcoming. Perhaps a time came when +Samuel himself was unwilling they should be found, and that +the authority he had possessed should pass to another. Such, +at least, is the impression we derive from his opposition to +the demand of the people that they should have a king.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Samuel possessed, moreover, something more than personal +influence. He was the last representative of the ancient +sanctuary at Shiloh. He had been dedicated to it even +before he was born; he had grown up in it among the last +descendants of the earlier high-priests; he had seen the ark +taken from it to fall into the hands of the Philistines; he had +also witnessed, probably, the destruction of the temple itself. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_337'>337</span>All the older traditions of Mosaic worship gathered about +him; he was the living link in the chain which bound the +religious past of Israel with its present. In his person the +doctrines and practices which had been preserved at Shiloh +were handed on to the newer age of the kings.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Hebrew historian who put together the books of +Samuel was no longer embarrassed, like the compiler of the +book of Judges, by a want of materials. His embarrassment +arose from a contrary cause. The documents before him +relating to the history of the seer, to the rise of the monarchy +and the adventures of David, were numerous, and the same +event was sometimes recorded in different forms. He was +called upon to harmonise and combine them together, and he +doubtless experienced the same difficulty in doing so that +the Assyriologists at present experience in reconciling the +various accounts they have of the history of Babylonia in the +thirteenth century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> That the latter can be reconciled, if +only we knew a little more, we cannot doubt; but for the +present the chronological inconsistencies seem irreconcilable. +All that can be done is to set them side by side.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The compiler of the books of Samuel treated his materials +in the same way. The result is that the picture of the Hebrew +prophet which is presented to us is not always uniform in +its colours. Sometimes he is a priest, sometimes the judge of +all Israel, sometimes a mere local seer whose very name +appears to be unknown to Saul.<a id='r372'></a><a href='#f372' class='c013'><sup>[372]</sup></a> Throughout the greater +part of the narrative the Philistines are represented as the +irresistible masters of the country; once, however, we hear +that the cities they had captured were restored to Israel.<a id='r373'></a><a href='#f373' class='c013'><sup>[373]</sup></a> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_338'>338</span>But it does not follow that because the colours of the picture +are not uniform, a fuller knowledge of the history would not +show that they are in harmony with one another. European +critics are apt to forget that in the East, and more especially +in the ancient East, conditions of life and society which are +incompatible in Europe may exist side by side. John, the +hermit of Lykopolis in Upper Egypt, was nevertheless on more +than one occasion the arbiter of the destinies of the Roman +Empire. And in the border warfare of Canaan cities passed +backwards and forwards from one side to the other with a +rapidity which it is difficult for the modern historian to realise.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Whether Samuel was a Levite or an Ephraimite by descent +has been disputed. His father came from the village of +Ramathaim-zophim in Mount Ephraim, and was descended +from a certain Zuph, who is called ‘an Ephrathite.’<a id='r374'></a><a href='#f374' class='c013'><sup>[374]</sup></a> +‘Ephrathite’ signifies ‘a man of Ephraim’ (as in 1 Kings +<abbr title='six'>xi.</abbr> 26). But it also signifies a native of Ephratah or Bethlehem +in Judah (Ruth <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 2, 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr> 12), and could +therefore signify any other place of the same name. That +there were other places of the name, the very name of +Ephraim, ‘the two Ephras,’ is a witness,<a id='r375'></a><a href='#f375' class='c013'><sup>[375]</sup></a> and we might +therefore see in the ‘Ephrathite’ merely a native of one of +them. The Chronicler (1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 26, 27, 33-38) definitely +makes Samuel a Levite, and traces his genealogy back to +Kohath. It is true that in the age of Samuel the priests, in +spite of the Mosaic law, were not always of the family of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_339'>339</span>Levi—the fact that David’s sons were ‘priests’ is a sufficient +proof of this,<a id='r376'></a><a href='#f376' class='c013'><sup>[376]</sup></a>—but it seems hard to believe that such an +infringement of the Levitical tradition would have been permitted +at Shiloh. Nor is it likely that the genealogy given by +the Chronicler was an invention. Samuel had been in a +special manner the gift of Yahveh. His mother Hannah had +borne no children to her husband Elkanah, and was accordingly +exposed to the taunts of a second and more fortunate +wife. Once each year did the whole family ‘go up’ to Shiloh, +‘to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of Hosts.’ On +one of these occasions Hannah besought Yahveh with tears +that He would grant her a son, promising to dedicate him to +the service of the sanctuary should he be born. A Babylonian +tablet, dated in the fifth year of Kambyses, records a similar +dedication by a Babylonian mother of her three sons to the +service of the sun-god at Sippara.<a id='r377'></a><a href='#f377' class='c013'><sup>[377]</sup></a> In this case, however, the +sons did not leave their mother’s house until they were grown +up, when they entered the temple, where part of their duty +was to attend the daily service.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Hannah’s prayer was granted, and a son was born. The +name which he received has no relation to the circumstances +of his birth, in spite of the etymology suggested for it in +1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 20, so long as we look only to its Hebrew spelling. +But if this spelling has been derived from a cuneiform original +all becomes clear. Samû-il in Assyrian would mean ‘God +hears,’ and there would thus be a fitting connection between +the name and the story of the prophet’s birth. The fact is +noteworthy, as it suggests that the history of Samuel was first +written in the cuneiform characters of Babylonia; and that the +cuneiform syllabary was used in Israel up to the time of the +fall of Shiloh.<a id='r378'></a><a href='#f378' class='c013'><sup>[378]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_340'>340</span>As soon as the child was weaned he was brought to the +sanctuary along with other gifts. These consisted of meal and +wine, and three bullocks, one of which was slain at the time +of the dedication. ‘The priest’ who presided over the +services of the temple was old and infirm, and the management +of the sanctuary was really in the hands of his two sons, +Hophni and Phinehas. His own name was Eli. But he +comes before us without introduction; we know nothing +of his parentage and descent, and even the Chronicler +found no record of his genealogy. That he was a lineal +descendant of Aaron, however, admits of no doubt. This, +indeed, is plainly stated not only in the prediction of the +destruction that should overtake Eli’s house (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 14), +but also in the opening words of the prophecy of ‘the man of +God’ (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 27, 28).<a id='r379'></a><a href='#f379' class='c013'><sup>[379]</sup></a> The very name of Phinehas, +given to Eli’s son, connects him with the line of Aaron and +the long bondage of the Israelites in Egypt. Phinehas is not +Hebrew, but the Egyptian Pi-Nehasi ‘the Negro,’ and could +have no sense or meaning in the Israel of the age of Samuel +except as an old family name.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Samuel was clad in the linen ephod, the sacred vestment +and symbol of the priest, and ‘ministered unto Yahveh before +Eli.’ One night, before ‘the lamp of God’ had gone out +which burned before the ark of the covenant,<a id='r380'></a><a href='#f380' class='c013'><sup>[380]</sup></a> ‘the word of +the Lord’ came to the boy in his sleep. Three times did it +call to him, and then came the revelation of the punishment +which Yahveh was about to bring on the house of the high +priest.<a id='r381'></a><a href='#f381' class='c013'><sup>[381]</sup></a> His sons had been unfaithful to their office; not only +<span class='pageno' id='Page_341'>341</span>had they lain ‘with the women that assembled at the door +of the tabernacle of the congregation,’ they had made men +abhor the offering of the Lord, and the weak old man had +restrained them not. The law had ordained that the fat of +the sacrifice belonged to Yahveh, and that before it was +burned upon the altar neither priest nor offerer could receive +anything of the victim. Unless the law was complied with, +the sacrifice was useless; Yahveh had been robbed of His +portion, and no blessing could follow upon the offering. But +the sons of Eli persistently set at naught the strict injunctions +of the law. Before the fat was burned, their servant came +and struck his three-pronged fork into the flesh that had been +placed in the caldron, demanding that it should be given to +him raw. God’s priests thus mutilated the sacrifices that were +made to Him, and compelled His worshippers to defraud Him +of His due. The Israelites began to shrink from bringing their +yearly offerings to Shiloh, and the downward course of the religion +of Israel was hastened by the cynical greed of its priests.<a id='r382'></a><a href='#f382' class='c013'><sup>[382]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Eli had already been warned by ‘a man of God’ of the +coming vengeance of Yahveh. The prophet destined to play +so important a part in the history of Israel now appears almost +for the first time upon the scene. Deborah, indeed, had been +a prophetess, and a prophet had denounced the idolatry of his +countrymen during the period of Midianitish oppression; but +the spirit of Yahveh, which, in later days, revealed itself in the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_342'>342</span>form of prophecy, had hitherto rather inspired those upon whom +it had fallen to become leaders in war and ‘judges’ of their +people. Now it assumed a new shape. Out of the misery +and confusion produced by the Philistine raids sprang the first +great outburst of Hebrew prophecy. Those who still believed +Israel was the chosen people of Yahveh, and that He alone +was God over all the earth, were profoundly stirred by the +triumph of the uncircumcised. There was an outbreak of that +religious enthusiasm, degenerating at times into fanaticism, +which has occurred again and again in the East. The ‘seer’ +took the place of the ‘judge.’ The waking visions which he +beheld revealed the future, and declared to him and the +people the will of Yahveh. The arms of flesh had failed; all +that was left was the ‘open vision,’ where the events of the +future were pictured beforehand, and men learned how to +escape disaster.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Around the seer there gathered bands of disciples, closely +resembling the dervishes of to-day. They, too, received a part of +the prophetic spirit, and at times, under the influence of strong +emotions, passed, as it were, out of the body into an ecstatic +state. Like the modern dervishes, however, they were completely +under the control of the seer. At a word from him +their ecstasy would cease, and they would once more become +ordinary citizens of the world. But the spirit that moved +in them was easily communicated to religious or excitable +natures. The messengers sent by Saul to arrest David at +Ramah were themselves arrested by the spirit of prophecy +which permeated the home of Samuel, and when Saul himself +followed in his wrath, he, too, was suddenly overcome by the +same divine influence. ‘The spirit of God was upon him +also; and he went on and prophesied, until he came to Naioth +(the convent) in Ramah. And he stripped off his clothes also, +and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down +naked all that night.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>But this ecstatic excitement was not of the essence of +Hebrew prophecy, and the latter soon divested itself of it. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_343'>343</span>The dervish element, indeed, remained almost to the last; +Elijah is a proof of it, and even Hosea and Isaiah still recur +at times to symbolic action. But it became subordinate and +purely symbolical, while the seer himself became a prophet. +The conception that gathered round him was no longer that +of a seer of visions, a revealer of the future, but of an interpreter +of the will of God to man. Prediction there might +be in his prophecies; but it was accidental only, and dependent +on conditions which were clearly expressed. If the +people repented of their sins, God’s anger would be turned +away from them; if, on the contrary, they persisted in their +evil ways, disaster and destruction would fall upon them. The +message of Yahveh was conditional; it did not contain the +revelation of an inevitable future.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In this respect the Hebrew prophet was unique. His +name <span lang="hbo"><i>nâbî</i></span> is found in Babylonian, where it takes the form of +<i>nabium</i> or <i>nabu</i>, ‘the speaker.’ It was the name of the +prophet-god of Babylon, Nebo, the interpreter of the will of +Bel-Merodach, the supreme deity of the city. Nebo declared +to mankind the wishes and commands of Merodach; he was, +too, the patron of literature, the inventor, it may be, of writing +itself. The name of the mountain whereon Moses died is a +testimony that the worship of Nebo had been carried to the +West in the old days of Babylonian dominion in Canaan, and +we need not wonder that the word <i>nâbî</i>, with all that it implied, +had been carried to the West at the same time. But it was +not until after the age of Samuel that it made its way successfully +into the Hebrew language. Samuel was still the <i>roeh</i> or +‘Seer,’<a id='r383'></a><a href='#f383' class='c013'><sup>[383]</sup></a> though the Babylonian word in the form of a verb +(<i>hithnabbê</i>) was already applied to his ecstatic companions +who prophesied around him.<a id='r384'></a><a href='#f384' class='c013'><sup>[384]</sup></a> But the word answered to a +<span class='pageno' id='Page_344'>344</span>need. As the Hebrew prophet ceased more and more to be +a seer, it became necessary to find some new title for him +which should express more accurately his true nature, and the +word <span lang="hbo"><i>nâbî</i></span> was already at hand. The ‘seer,’ accordingly, fell +into the background; the ‘prophet’ occupied his place.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We can trace the beginning of this great religious movement +in the age of Samuel. Samuel has often been called +‘the founder of the prophetic schools,’ and, to a certain extent, +this is true. But they were not schools in the sense of establishments +where his contemporaries could be educated in the +older literature of their country, and be trained to take upon +them the prophetic office. Schools of this kind were to come +later in the history of Israel. They did not even resemble the +early Christian monasteries of Egypt, where bodies of monks +lived together under a head, sometimes in a single building, +sometimes in a collection of separate cells. The earlier +disciples of Samuel were wandering bands of enthusiasts, over +whose religious ecstasies he exercised an exciting and a controlling +influence. They were men, to use a Biblical expression, +who were ‘drunk with the spirit’ of God.<a id='r385'></a><a href='#f385' class='c013'><sup>[385]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The loss of the ark and the destruction of Shiloh must +have quickened the movement which the Philistine troubles +<span class='pageno' id='Page_345'>345</span>had begun. And it should be remembered that the ‘prophets’ +among whom Saul was numbered were not all of them of the +Dervish type. Among them must have been men like Samuel +himself, the true predecessors of the prophets of later Hebrew +history. In the generation which followed, we find men like +Gad and Nathan, who have ceased to be seers and have become +the preachers of Israel, the conscience-keepers of the king himself, +and the chroniclers of his reign.<a id='r386'></a><a href='#f386' class='c013'><sup>[386]</sup></a> The literary traditions +of Shiloh passed to them through the hands of Samuel.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The prophetic movement did something more than keep +alive a belief in Yahveh as the God of Israel. It preserved +at the same time the feeling of national unity. The ‘prophets’ +who surrounded Samuel were drawn from all classes and from +all parts of the Israelitish territory. That Samuel was ‘established +to be a prophet of Yahveh’ was, we are told, known to +‘all Israel,’ ‘from Dan to Beer-sheba.’ That the statement +is not too general is shown by the history of Saul. All Israel +demanded a king, and it was over all the Israelitish tribes that +he ruled. As he owed his power to Samuel, it is clear that +the influence of Samuel also must have extended from one +extremity of the Israelitish tribes to another. Wherever the +Philistine supremacy allowed it, the authority of the seer was +recognised and reverenced.<a id='r387'></a><a href='#f387' class='c013'><sup>[387]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>But it follows from this that the veneration in which the +temple at Shiloh had been held was equally widespread. +Theoretically, at least, the Israelite acknowledged a central +<span class='pageno' id='Page_346'>346</span>sanctuary, where the sons of Aaron served before Yahveh, and +the prescriptions of the Mosaic law were observed. In +practice, it is true, the old Canaanitish high places, with their +local Baalim and Ashtaroth, had usurped the place of Shiloh; +private chapels had been set up in the houses of individuals, +and priests ministered in the sacred ephod before a graven +image. But all this was the natural fruit of an ‘age of ignorance,’ +and later generations recognised that such was the case. +The purer worship of Yahveh was no ‘development’ out of +an earlier polytheism; it was simply a return to an ideal, the +memory of which was kept alive at Shiloh.</p> + +<p class='c003'>And yet a time came when it seemed as if Yahveh had +forgotten the sanctuary wherein He had set His ‘name at the +first.’ The punishment denounced upon the house of Eli was +not slow in coming. Judah was already in Philistine hands, +and the enemy were now attacking the Israelitish stronghold +in Mount Ephraim. The Philistine camp was pitched at +Aphek, not far from Ramah, the birthplace of Samuel.<a id='r388'></a><a href='#f388' class='c013'><sup>[388]</sup></a> The +last relics of the Hebrew army were encamped opposite them +in a spot subsequently named Eben-ezer, ‘the Stone of Help.’ +But it proved no help to them on this occasion. The Israelites +were defeated with a loss of about four thousand men, and in +their despair ‘the elders’ advised that the ark of the covenant +should be brought to the camp. Yahveh, it was believed, +enthroned Himself above it between the wings of the cherubim, +like the Babylonian Bel-Merodach, who on the feast of the +New Year similarly enthroned himself above the ‘mercy-seat’ +in his temple at Babylon.<a id='r389'></a><a href='#f389' class='c013'><sup>[389]</sup></a> He would therefore be actually +<span class='pageno' id='Page_347'>347</span>among them, visibly, as it were, leading their troops to victory +and blessing them with His presence. In the old days of the +conquest of Canaan, the ark had been carried before the camp +of Israel; the visible presence of ‘Yahveh of hosts’ had gone +with it, and the foe had been scattered before Him like chaff +before the wind.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The ark was accordingly fetched from its resting-place at +Shiloh, and for the first time since the days of Moses and +Joshua the safeguard of Israel was seen by the common eye. +Despite the fears and reluctance of Eli<a id='r390'></a><a href='#f390' class='c013'><sup>[390]</sup></a> his two sons bore it +on their shoulders to the Israelitish camp. Its arrival was +greeted by a shout of joy which resounded across the valley to +the camp of the foe. Thereby the Philistines knew that the +God of the Hebrews had come in person to help his people +against their enemies as he had helped them in old days +against the Egyptians. But the old days were not to come +again. The ark had been carried out of its resting-place by +the command of the elders, not of Yahveh. Its sanctity had +been profaned, the mystery that surrounded it rudely stripped +away. It was only when it stood in its appointed place in the +Holy of Holies that the glory of the Lord rested upon it, and +Yahveh enthroned Himself between the wings of its golden +cherubim. The tabernacle and the ark were inseparable like +the casket and the treasure within it; either without the other +was forsaken of the Lord.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The presence of the ark in the Israelitish camp availed +nothing. The Israelites fought with desperation, but without +a leader they were no match for the well-armed and well-trained +Philistine troops. Their army was cut to pieces; it +was said that thirty thousand of them were left dead on the +field. Worst of all, the two sons of Eli were among the slain; +the ark of Yahveh was captured by the heathen, and the way +lay open to Shiloh.</p> + +<p class='c003'>A Benjamite fled from the slaughter to carry the evil tidings +to the high priest. Eli was ninety-eight<a id='r391'></a><a href='#f391' class='c013'><sup>[391]</sup></a> years old; his eyes +<span class='pageno' id='Page_348'>348</span>were blind, and he was sitting on a bench at the entrance to +the temple, full of anxiety for the fate of the ark. The shock +of the news was more than he could bear; when he heard that +it had been taken by the Philistines he fell backwards, and his +neck was broken. A single day had deprived Israel of its ark +and of its priests.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Hardly was Eli dead when his daughter-in-law, the wife of +Phinehas, was prematurely delivered of a child. He was born +on an evil day, a day when the light of Israel seemed +extinguished for ever. Throughout his life he bore a name +which prevented the terrible circumstances of his birth from +being forgotten. His mother called him I-chabod, ‘the glory +is departed,’ ‘for the ark of God was taken.’<a id='r392'></a><a href='#f392' class='c013'><sup>[392]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>I-chabod had an elder brother, Ahitub, born in happier +times.<a id='r393'></a><a href='#f393' class='c013'><sup>[393]</sup></a> Through him the line of Shilonite priests was continued, +and the high priesthood still remained in Eli’s house. +It was Ahitub’s grandson, Abiathar, who, after being the +faithful servant of David in his troubles, was banished and +deprived of the priesthood on Solomon’s accession.<a id='r394'></a><a href='#f394' class='c013'><sup>[394]</sup></a> But +<span class='pageno' id='Page_349'>349</span>Ahitub must still have been young when the Philistines gained +the victory which laid all Palestine at their feet.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The destruction of the temple at Shiloh must have been one +of the first results of the victory. The Israelites had no longer +an army, and the Philistine conquerors could march in safety +through the passes of Mount Ephraim. A fort was built by +them to command the pass at Michmash, and the old +sanctuary of Israel was levelled to the ground. No record of +its destruction, indeed, was known to the compiler of the +books of Samuel; it would have been strange, if in that hour +of distress and national disaster, when the storehouse of +Hebrew literature was itself destroyed, a chronicler should +have been found to describe the event. But the memory of +it was never forgotten, and it is alluded to both by the prophet +Jeremiah and by the Psalmist (Jer. <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 12, <abbr title='twenty-six'>xxvi.</abbr> 6; <abbr title='Psalms'>Ps.</abbr> +<abbr title='seventy-eight'>lxxviii.</abbr> 60).</p> + +<p class='c003'>Such of the priests of Shiloh as survived the catastrophe +were scattered through Israel. In the time of Saul we find +eighty-five of them at Nob, which is accordingly called ‘the +city of the priests.’ Samuel himself fled to the home of his +fathers at Ramah. There as a seer and prophet, as the representative +of the fallen sanctuary of Israel, and as one of the +few literary men of the age, he became the centre of all that +was left of patriotism and national feeling in Israel. Gradually +his influence grew. Ahitub, the grandson of Eli, was young +like himself, and the destruction of Shiloh had deprived him +of such authority as his service before the ark of the covenant +would have conferred.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The ark itself was once more within the confines of Israel. +It had been carried to Ashdod, and there placed in triumph +in the temple of Dagon. But the triumph was short-lived. +In the night, the image of Dagon twice fell from its pedestal +and lay on its face before the ark of the mightier God. On +the second occasion, it was broken in pieces by its fall; when +the priests entered the sanctuary in the morning, they found +the head and hands of their god rolled upon the threshold. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_350'>350</span>‘Therefore,’ we are told, ‘neither the priests of Dagon nor +any that come into Dagon’s house tread on the threshold of +Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.’<a id='r395'></a><a href='#f395' class='c013'><sup>[395]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Dagon has been supposed to have had the shape partly of +a man, partly of a fish. But the supposition has arisen from +a false etymology of the name, which connects it with the +Hebrew <span lang="hbo"><i>dâg</i></span>, ‘a fish.’ We now know from the cuneiform +inscriptions that Dagon was really one of the primitive deities +of Babylonia adored there in days when as yet the Semite had +not become master of the land. Dagon was coupled with +Anu, the god of the sky, and when the name and worship of +Anu were carried to the West, the name and worship of Dagon +were carried there too. Sargon ‘inscribed the laws’ of Harran +‘according to the wish of the gods Anu and Dagon,’ and a +Phœnician seal in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford has +upon it the name of Baal-Dagon as well as representations of +an ear of corn, a winged solar disk, a gazelle, and several +stars. The ear of corn symbolises the fact that among the +Phœnicians Dagon, the brother of El and Beth-el, was the +god of agriculture and the inventor of bread-corn and the +plough.<a id='r396'></a><a href='#f396' class='c013'><sup>[396]</sup></a> But this was because in the language of Canaan +<i>dagan</i> signified ‘corn.’ In passing to the West the god thus +assumed new attributes, and became an agricultural deity who +watched over the growing crops.<a id='r397'></a><a href='#f397' class='c013'><sup>[397]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The power of the God of Israel was not shown only in the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_351'>351</span>humiliation of the Philistine god. The plague broke out in +Ashdod, accompanied by its usual symptom, hæmorrhoidal +swellings. The inhabitants of the city were not slow in +recognising in it the wrathful hand of Yahveh, and the ark +was accordingly sent to their neighbours in Gath. But here, +too, the plague followed it, and Ekron, to which it was sent +next, fared no better. For seven months the sacred palladium +of Israel remained in the hands of its captors. Then ‘the +priests and the diviners’ advised that it should be sent back +to the people of Yahveh along with offerings to mitigate the +anger of the offended God. Five mice and five hæmorrhoids +of gold were made and placed in a coffer by the side of the +ark. They represented the five Philistine cities, and the mice +were symbols of the wrathful Yahveh, the God of hosts and of +battle, who had wreaked his vengeance on the worshippers of +the peaceful god of agriculture. The mice which devoured +the corn were the natural foes of Dagon.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The ark and the coffer were placed on a cart, and two +milch-kine were yoked to draw it. A doubt still lingered in +the minds of the Philistines whether the God who had allowed +his people to be conquered and his dwelling-place to be +captured could really, after all, have been the author of the +plague, and they watched, therefore, to see whether the kine +took the road towards Israelitish territory or back to their own +young. But all doubt vanished when the kine marched +straight eastward towards Beth-shemesh, lowing as they went. +The villagers were in the fields reaping when they saw the cart +coming towards them, laden with its precious freight. The +kine stood still at last by the side of a great stone—the stone +of Abel ‘in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite.’ Then the +Levites came and took the ark and the offerings from the cart +and laid them on the stone, which thus became a sanctuary +and an altar. The wood of the cart was broken into firewood, +and the kine were repaid for the gift they had brought +by being sacrificed to the Lord.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But the plague followed the ark even upon Israelitish soil. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_352'>352</span>The men of Beth-shemesh believed that it was because they +had looked into the sacred shrine of Yahveh, to see, possibly, +whether its original contents were still within it, and in their +terror they begged the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim to come +and carry it away. To Kirjath-jearim accordingly it was +removed and placed in the house of Abinadab, whose son +Eleazar was consecrated to look after it. That it was not +carried to Shiloh is a sign that the destruction of Shiloh had +already taken place.</p> + +<p class='c003'>With the removal of the ark to Kirjath-jearim darkness falls +on the history of Israel. There was little for the patriotic +historian to record. The people were in servitude to the +Philistines, the national sanctuary had been destroyed, the ark +itself was hidden away in a private house. When the curtain +is again lifted, it is to chronicle a local success over the +Philistine foe. Samuel is at Mizpeh, ‘the watch-tower,’ which +must have adjoined Ramah, if indeed it was not the name of +one of its two quarters.<a id='r398'></a><a href='#f398' class='c013'><sup>[398]</sup></a> Here was the last refuge of the few +Israelites who still refused to acknowledge the Philistine rule, +and the surrounding mountains afforded a home and shelter +to the bands of outlaws who still carried on a guerilla warfare +with the foreigner. One of the incidents of this warfare was +long remembered. While Samuel was sacrificing a lamb as +a burnt-offering to Yahveh, the Philistines fell upon the +assembled people. But a sudden thunderstorm dismayed the +assailants, who fled down the valley towards Beth-car pursued +by the inhabitants of Mizpeh. It was in memory of the +victory that Eben-ezer, ‘the stone of help,’ was set up by the +seer between Mizpeh and Shen.<a id='r399'></a><a href='#f399' class='c013'><sup>[399]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_353'>353</span>It would seem that no further attack was made upon +Mizpeh and its neighbourhood during the lifetime of Samuel. +At least such appears to be the conclusion we must draw from +the generalising and optimistic language of the Hebrew +historian.<a id='r400'></a><a href='#f400' class='c013'><sup>[400]</sup></a> For a time, indeed, the whole district was freed +from the presence of the foreigner. The villages eastward of +Ekron and Gath ceased to pay tribute to the conqueror, +though their independence could not have lasted long.<a id='r401'></a><a href='#f401' class='c013'><sup>[401]</sup></a> +Samuel’s ‘circuit’ did not extend beyond Mizpeh, Gilgal and +Beth-el, and his sons judged cases in Beer-sheba.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Ahitub, the high-priest, was doubtless at Nob with the rest +of the Levites of Shiloh, almost within sight of Mizpeh. What +had been saved out of the wreck of the temple at Shiloh must +have been there with him. We know that at Nob the sword +of Goliath was subsequently laid up before Yahveh, and at +Nob too was probably preserved the brazen serpent that had +been set up by Moses in the wilderness.<a id='r402'></a><a href='#f402' class='c013'><sup>[402]</sup></a> According to the +Chronicler,<a id='r403'></a><a href='#f403' class='c013'><sup>[403]</sup></a> however, the tabernacle and the brazen altar +which had been made by Bezaleel were at Gibeon; how +this came to be the case he does not say.<a id='r404'></a><a href='#f404' class='c013'><sup>[404]</sup></a> At any rate, if the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_354'>354</span>brazen serpent were preserved, there is no reason why other +things should not have been preserved as well. And the +books of the Law would have been among the first objects to +be carried with them by the fugitive priests. We are told that +when the ark was brought into the temple of Solomon it still +contained the tables of stone which had been placed in it by +Moses (1 Kings <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 9); if these had been removed from it +when it was taken to the Israelitish camp, they too must have +formed part of the temple furniture which was saved by the +priests.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Here, therefore, in a small district of the tribe of Benjamin, +a portion of which was inhabited by the old Gibeonite natives +of the land, all that remained of Israelitish independence, +whether religious or political, found its last refuge. Here the +national spirit of Israel still lingered among the priests and +Levites who had fled from Shiloh, or who lived in the +mountains of Ephraim. It is not without significance that +here, too, was the home of the Gibeonite serfs of the sanctuary;<a id='r405'></a><a href='#f405' class='c013'><sup>[405]</sup></a> +priests, Levites, and Nethinim were gathered together, +as it were, in one spot. Though the temple had fallen, the +Mosaic Law and ritual were enshrined in the hearts of those +who had served in it.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The destruction of Shiloh had restored to Beth-el its old +pre-Israelitish renown. Once more its high-place became +thronged with worshippers, and those who had formerly +carried their gifts and sacrifices to Yahveh at Shiloh, now +brought them instead ‘to God at Beth-el.’<a id='r406'></a><a href='#f406' class='c013'><sup>[406]</sup></a> At Beth-el, +accordingly, once each year Samuel offered sacrifice and +adjudged the cases that were brought before him, or predicted +the future to those who consulted him as a seer. It was at +a similar gathering at Mizpeh that the Israelites had been +attacked by the Philistines, and that the victory of Eben-ezer +had been gained.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But the results of the victory were local and momentary, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_355'>355</span>and the condition of the Israelites had become intolerable. +Samuel, moreover, was growing old; his sons Joel and Abiah +were corrupt,<a id='r407'></a><a href='#f407' class='c013'><sup>[407]</sup></a> and his own influence was that of the seer +rather than that of the leader in war or the administrator in +peace. The only hope for Israel lay in its finding a chieftain +who could mould its shattered fragments into unity, could +organise its forces, and break the Philistine yoke. A new +Jerubbaal or Jephthah was required, but one who would +lead to victory not a few only of the tribes, but the whole of +Israel.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The people demanded a king. Their instinct was right; +in no other way could the Israelitish nation be saved. Democracy +had been tried, and had failed: the end of the era of +the Judges was internal anarchy and decay, the destruction of +the central sanctuary, and servitude to the foreigner. Naturally +Samuel was reluctant to hand such powers as he still possessed +to another. His sons, doubtless, were more reluctant still. +Moreover, he had been brought up in the school of the past. +His boyhood had been spent at Shiloh under the influence of +ideas which saw in a theocracy the divinely-appointed government +of Israel.<a id='r408'></a><a href='#f408' class='c013'><sup>[408]</sup></a> At first he resisted the demand of the people. +But it was in vain that he protested against their rejection +of Yahveh and himself, or pointed out to them that the +establishment of a kingdom meant the loss of their personal +independence. The logic of events was too strong for the +seer, and he was compelled to yield. The time had come +when the choice lay between a king or national extinction, +and a king accordingly had to be found.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Samuel yielded apparently with a good grace. In such a +matter the word of the chief seer and prophet of Israel was +law, and he knew that the selection was in his own hands. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_356'>356</span>And he made it wisely and patriotically. Saul, the son of +Kish, the first king of united Israel, justified his election to +the crown. He saved Israel from destruction, and for a time +succeeded in rolling back the wave of Philistine domination. +His military capacities were unquestionable, as well as his +courage and devotion to his people.<a id='r409'></a><a href='#f409' class='c013'><sup>[409]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>But there was another side to his character, which perhaps +commended itself to Samuel quite as much as his military +abilities. A vein of deep religious fervour ran through his +whole nature, which at times degenerated into the gloomy +despondency of the fanatic. Rightly handled, he was capable +of high religious enthusiasm, and of following his religious +guide with the simplicity of a child. But he could not brook +opposition; and, like all men of strong emotions, his hate was +as intense as his love. He was born to be the leader of his +countrymen, whether as a king or as a dervish the future had +to decide.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Naturally he was a Benjamite, from that little corner of +Palestine which still remained true to the best traditions of +Israel. At first it seemed as if he was going to be the obedient +disciple of Samuel, a crowned addition to the group of dervish-like +prophets who surrounded the seer. More than one +<span class='pageno' id='Page_357'>357</span>account of his accession to the throne of Israel has been +handed down, and it is not always easy to reconcile them. +One thing, however, is clear: Saul did not seek election, and +it came upon him as a surprise.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But the tallness of his stature had marked him out from +among his companions; it was the outward token of superiority +which Yahveh had set upon him. His first meeting with +Samuel was accidental. He had been sent by his father<a id='r410'></a><a href='#f410' class='c013'><sup>[410]</sup></a> to +seek some asses that had strayed or been stolen, and, while +vainly engaged on his quest, was advised by his slave to +consult a seer who lived in the neighbouring town. The +town proved to be Ramah, and the seer to be Samuel, who +was that day offering a solemn sacrifice on the high place.<a id='r411'></a><a href='#f411' class='c013'><sup>[411]</sup></a> +Samuel invited him to the feast which followed the sacrifice, +and assigned to him the chiefest position among his guests; +then before his departure he secretly anointed his head with +oil, and declared that he was chosen to be ‘captain over +Yahveh’s inheritance.’ Next the seer told him where the +asses were that he sought, and bid him make his way to the +sacred circle of stones at Gilgal, and there remain seven days +until the prophet himself should come.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Hardly had Saul quitted the presence of Samuel than he +was met by ‘a company of prophets’ coming down with music +and wild cries from the high-place of Gibeah.<a id='r412'></a><a href='#f412' class='c013'><sup>[412]</sup></a> Saul had not +yet recovered from the excitement of the strange and unexpected +scene in which he had just been an actor, and was in +no mood to resist the infection of the religious ecstasy which +<span class='pageno' id='Page_358'>358</span>now seized upon him. He, too, like the spectators at a +modern <i>zíkr</i> in the East, joined the band of enthusiasts, and +added his voice to theirs. It was not until he reached the +high-place that his outburst of religious frenzy had spent itself.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Such is one of the versions of the history of the foundation +of the Israelitish monarchy. Saul is anointed secretly by +Samuel, and at once enrols himself in one of the ‘prophesying’ +bands of which Samuel was the spiritual director. According +to another version, his election as king took place in public at +a great assembly convened by Samuel at Mizpeh. Here the +lot fell upon Saul, who had hidden himself ‘among the stuff,’ +and Samuel thereupon presented him to the people, who +shouted ‘Long live the king!’ Then the seer ‘wrote in a +book’ such regulations regarding the election and duties of a. +king as we find in the book of Deuteronomy (xvii. 14-20), +‘and laid it up before the Lord.’ As soon as the assembly +was dismissed Saul returned ‘to his house at Gibeah.’<a id='r413'></a><a href='#f413' class='c013'><sup>[413]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>His election, however, was not accepted unanimously, +consecrated though it had been by Yahveh. There were some +who failed to see in the tall enthusiast anything more than the +son of a yeoman at Gibeah. But a sufficient number of his +own tribesmen were ready to gather around him as soon as he +should summon them to battle. And the occasion was not +long in coming. Jabesh-Gilead, the old ally of Benjamin, +was beleaguered by Nahash, the Ammonite king. The city +was too weak to resist, and its inhabitants, offered to surrender. +But with Semitic ferocity Nahash answered that he would +spare their lives only on condition that the right eye of each +should be torn out. Seven days were granted them in which +to determine whether they should accept his terms or fight to +the death, and during the period of respite the elders of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_359'>359</span>city sent to Benjamin to beg for help. Saul was ploughing +when the messengers arrived, and, fired with indignation, he +cut his oxen into pieces, which he sent throughout Israel with +the words: ‘Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after +Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen.’<a id='r414'></a><a href='#f414' class='c013'><sup>[414]</sup></a> The summons +still ran in the name of the old seer.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Men came in from all sides, and Saul found himself at the +head of a small army. It is said that when he numbered his +troops at Bezek, ‘the children of Israel were three hundred +thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.’ Such may +have been the full fighting force of Israel before Saul’s reign +was ended; it cannot have represented the number of those +who were able to flock to his standard during the few days +that still remained for the relief of Jabesh. As elsewhere in +the Old Testament, the ciphers are largely exaggerated. Indeed +when we consider the size of the Assyrian army, as recorded +in the inscriptions, at a time when it was the most formidable +engine of destruction in Western Asia, it becomes clear that +the number of fighting men in the Hebrew army can never +have been very great. The three hundred and thirty thousand +men in Saul’s army are but an instance of that Oriental +exaggeration of numbers and inability to realise what they +actually mean, which is as common in the East to-day as it +was in the age of Samuel.<a id='r415'></a><a href='#f415' class='c013'><sup>[415]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_360'>360</span>Jabesh was rescued, and the Ammonites were scattered in +flight. The victory was a proof of Saul’s military capacity, +and justified his choice as king. The news of it rang from +one end of Israel to the other, and the victorious soldiers +demanded the death of those who had questioned their leader’s +right to reign. But Saul refused the demand; no bloodshed +was to mar the glory of the day; from henceforth all true +Israelites were to be united in recognising their king. Yahveh +had chosen him at Mizpeh; it was now needful that he should +go to the sacred enclosure of Gilgal, the first camping-ground +of the Israelites in Canaan, and there be solemnly acclaimed +by the assembled multitude. As Joshua the Ephraimite had +started from Gilgal to conquer Canaan, so Saul the Benjamite, +the new ‘captain of the Lord’s inheritance,’ set forth also from +Gilgal to restore its fallen fortunes.</p> + +<p class='c003'>A year had to pass before Saul felt himself strong enough +to attack the Philistine garrisons. By that time he had +collected three thousand Israelites about him, all of them +prepared to fight and willing to obey their leader. But they +were armed only with implements of agriculture, or such other +makeshifts for weapons as they could find. The Philistines +had forbidden the wandering blacksmiths to enter Israelitish +territory, and Saul and his son Jonathan, we are told, alone +possessed sword and spear. Out of the three thousand, one +thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah; the rest were with +Saul watching the road that led over the mountains from +<span class='pageno' id='Page_361'>361</span>Michmash to Beth-el. There was a Philistine fort on the +hill above Gibeah, in the very heart of Saul’s own country; +another fort commanded the pass of Michmash and the +approaches to Ephraim.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Philistines seemed to have made a rising among the +Israelites impossible. Their forts and garrisons commanded +the roads, like the French garrisons in Algeria, and the conquered +population was forbidden the use of arms. Saul, +nominally the king of Israel, was in reality merely the chief +of a band of outlaws, desperately holding their own in the +fastnesses of the mountains, and protected by the sympathy of +the priests and the peasantry. The victory over Nahash had +confirmed Saul’s title to lead them among his own countrymen; +it had done nothing towards releasing them from the +domination of the Philistines.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Now, however, Jonathan ventured to assail the Philistine +outpost at Gibeah. The attack was successful; the fortress +was taken and its defenders put to the sword.<a id='r416'></a><a href='#f416' class='c013'><sup>[416]</sup></a> It was open +revolt against the Philistine supremacy, and the news of it +quickly spread. Saul sent messengers throughout Israel, claiming +the success for himself and the monarchy, and formed a +camp at Gilgal. Meanwhile the Philistine army was on the +march to suppress the revolt. The Hebrew chronicler describes +it as consisting of ‘thirty thousand chariots and six thousand +horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore +for multitude,’<a id='r417'></a><a href='#f417' class='c013'><sup>[417]</sup></a> and it pitched its camp at Michmash, a +little to the north of Gibeah. Here it cut Saul off from all +<span class='pageno' id='Page_362'>362</span>communication with the north, and threatened his rear. He +therefore left Gilgal and joined his son at Gibeah. Only six +hundred men remained with him; the rest had fled at the +approach of the enemy, who sent out three bands of raiders +from their camp, one of which marched in a south-eastward +direction towards the Dead Sea, while the other two turned, +the one to the north-west, and the other to the north-east.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The mountainous district from which Saul drew his forces +was panic-stricken. The peasantry fled from their devastated +fields, and the whole country was given up to fire and sword. +Pure-blooded Israelites and Hebrews of mixed descent were +united in the common disaster. The one hid themselves in +the caves and forests, even in cisterns and grain-pits, while the +others took refuge in Gad and Gilead, on the eastern side of +the Jordan.<a id='r418'></a><a href='#f418' class='c013'><sup>[418]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>It was again Jonathan who brought deliverance to Israel. +Between the Israelites at Gibeah, and the Philistines at Michmash, +lay a deep gorge, usually identified with the Wadi +Suweinît.<a id='r419'></a><a href='#f419' class='c013'><sup>[419]</sup></a> On either side rose a precipitous crag of rock +which effectually cut off the hostile forces one from the other. +Across this gorge Jonathan determined to make his way, +accompanied only by his armour-bearer, and trusting in the +help of Yahveh of Israel. In broad daylight the two heroes +climbed the opposite cliff, in the face of the Philistines, who +believed they were deserters from the Israelitish camp. But +once arrived in the Philistine stronghold, they fell suddenly on +its unprepared defenders and slew about twenty of them +‘within as it were half a furrow of an acre of land.’ The +<span class='pageno' id='Page_363'>363</span>Hebrew camp followers of the Philistines thereupon turned +upon their companions, and the camp of the Philistines became +a scene of confusion and dismay. Jonathan had said +nothing to his father of his intended exploit, but Saul soon +observed that fighting was going on in the enemy’s camp.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Among the Israelitish fugitives with Saul was the high-priest +Ahimelech,<a id='r420'></a><a href='#f420' class='c013'><sup>[420]</sup></a> the great-grandson of Eli, who had joined the +king with the sacred ephod. The ark, too, had been carried +for safety into the Israelitish camp, and was once more +accompanying the army of Israel against its foes. When, therefore, +Saul had numbered his men and found that Jonathan +was absent, he called for the priest and bade him inquire of +Yahveh whether they should go to his help or not. But +before the question could be answered the tumult on the +opposite side of the valley made hesitation impossible. It was +clear that the moment had come for striking a blow at the +supremacy of the foreigner. The gorge accordingly was +quickly traversed, and the Israelitish king with his six hundred +followers threw himself on the enemy’s rear. The Philistines +resisted no longer. Attacked in front by the peasants who +had followed them, and in the rear by the soldiers of the +king, they fled precipitately up the pass to Beth-el.<a id='r421'></a><a href='#f421' class='c013'><sup>[421]</sup></a> The +victory was complete, and the Philistine forces would have +been annihilated had Saul’s religious convictions been less +fervent. But when the instinct of the general overcame the +zealot, and he had stayed the priest in the very act of consulting +Yahveh, he salved his conscience by a vow. None should +eat or drink until he had overthrown his enemies, and whoever +broke the royal vow should be devoted to death.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The vow was rash and untimely, but it was registered in +heaven. The Philistines were pursued as far as Aijalon. The +<span class='pageno' id='Page_364'>364</span>Israelites were too weak from want of food to follow them +further. Jonathan alone, who had not been in the Israelitish +camp when the vow was made, ate a little honey which he saw +dropping from a tree. His companions looked at it with +longing eyes, but dared not follow his example. All the more +fiercely, therefore, did they fall upon the spoil which they +afterwards found in the Philistine camp. The sheep and +oxen and calves were slaughtered as they stood upon the +ground, ‘and the people did eat them with the blood.’ The +news of this violation of one of the primary laws of Israelitish +religion struck Saul with horror. He caused a great stone to +be rolled towards him, and on this improvised altar the animals +were slain. It was ‘the first altar,’ we are told, that Saul +‘built unto the Lord.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>But worse was yet to come. Saul proposed to pursue the +Philistines in the night, and accordingly the oracle of Yahveh +was again appealed to. No answer, however, was returned to the +questioners. Neither priest nor ephod availed anything, and +it became clear that sin had been committed in Israel. When +the lots were cast, they fell upon Jonathan, who then confessed +that he had, in ignorance of his father’s vow, eaten a little +honey. The religious fanatic was stronger in Saul than the +father, and he pronounced sentence that Jonathan must die. +Jonathan, in fact, was the firstborn whose sacrifice was +demanded by Yahveh as the price of the victory. Fortunately +the religious convictions of the Hebrew soldiers were less +intense than those of their king. It was Jonathan to whom +the victory was due, and in the hour of his triumph they +refused to allow him to die. Saul yielded, perhaps willingly; +but the Philistines were permitted to disperse to their own +homes.<a id='r422'></a><a href='#f422' class='c013'><sup>[422]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_365'>365</span>Was the sacrifice of Jonathan urged by Ahimelech and the +priests? They at any rate did not interfere to prevent it, and +the lots were cast under their supervision. What is certain is +that from this time forward there was an increasing estrangement +between Saul and the priesthood, which ended in the +secret anointing of David as king of Israel, and in the massacre +of the priests at Nob. We hear no more of Ahimelech and +the ark in the camp of Saul.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Samuel, the aged and venerated representative of the +Shilonite priesthood, had much to do with this growing +estrangement. From the first he had looked upon Saul as a +rival who had robbed him of his former power. Even after +Saul had proved his fitness to rule by the rescue of Jabesh, and +had been publicly acclaimed king by the people at Gilgal, he +could not conceal his mortification and hostility. Were not +he and his sons still with them? he asked the assembled +Israelites; why then had they added this ‘wickedness’ unto +‘all their sins,’ to demand a king? In the thunder which +rolled overhead he bade them recognise the anger of Yahveh +at their thus rejecting His representative, and he ended with +the threat that both they and their king should be ‘consumed.’<a id='r423'></a><a href='#f423' class='c013'><sup>[423]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Samuel was not long in embodying his hostility in deeds. +According to one of the authorities used by the compiler of +the books of Samuel, seven days only had elapsed after Saul’s +election when the seer upbraided him in the presence of his +army and told him that Yahveh had chosen another king in +his place.<a id='r424'></a><a href='#f424' class='c013'><sup>[424]</sup></a> Here, however, two occurrences have been confused +together—Saul’s confirmation as king by the people at +Gilgal, and his subsequent encampment at the same place in +the second year of his reign. By this time the breach had +grown and widened between the old Judge and the new +‘Captain’ of Israel. Saul, in spite of his religious convictions +and excitability, had not shown himself the obedient disciple +and tool of Samuel that might have been expected; he +<span class='pageno' id='Page_366'>366</span>proved to have a strong and violent will of his own, which he +was fully ready to exercise when not under the influence of +religious excitement. It was only temporarily that Saul was +‘among the prophets.’ Nor did he possess that tact and +pliability which would have enabled David under the same +circumstances to avoid an open quarrel with the aged seer. +Saul was too earnest, too convinced that what he believed was +the truth, to understand a compromise, much less a course of +duplicity.</p> + +<p class='c003'>That the incident at Gilgal is historical, there can be no +doubt. It is only the time of its occurrence that is misplaced. +It belonged to those days of danger and difficulty when the +Philistines seemed to have triumphed finally, and the hope of +Israel lay in the six hundred desperate men who still followed +Saul. Saul had waited vainly for the coming of Samuel, and at +length, tired of waiting, had offered the burnt-offering for the +safety and success of the army which Samuel had agreed to +present. Hardly had it been offered when the seer appeared. +Then it was that the king of Israel was told that he had been +rejected by the Lord, and that another had been selected in his +place. The occasion was indeed well chosen; the Israelites +were already sufficiently discouraged and inclined to believe +that their king had been even less successful against the +Philistines than Samuel and his sons. Under the rule of +Samuel, at all events, the territory of Benjamin had not been +devastated, and its inhabitants compelled to hide themselves +in the holes of the earth.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Samuel returned from Gilgal to ‘Gibeah of Benjamin.’ The +victory at Michmash, which disappointed his predictions,<a id='r425'></a><a href='#f425' class='c013'><sup>[425]</sup></a> +changed the aspect of affairs, and Saul’s throne seemed now to +be firmly established. Once more, however, Samuel made an +<span class='pageno' id='Page_367'>367</span>effort to shake it, and it was again at Gilgal that the event +took place. Saul’s power rested on his soldiery, and the +surest way, therefore, of striking at it was through the soldiery +in the camp of Gilgal.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was after an expedition against the Amalekites. The +Israelites had marched towards El-Arîsh and smitten the +Bedâwin of the desert ‘from Havilah’ in Northern Arabia to +the great Wall of Egypt.<a id='r426'></a><a href='#f426' class='c013'><sup>[426]</sup></a> They had brought back with them +a vast amount of spoil, as well as Agag, the Bedâwin chief, +‘everything that was vile and refuse,’ including the mass of the +people, having been ‘destroyed utterly.’ But this was not +enough. The Amalekites were to be treated as the Canaanites +had been by Joshua; they and all that belonged to them had +been laid under the ban and condemned to extermination.<a id='r427'></a><a href='#f427' class='c013'><sup>[427]</sup></a> +Samuel, therefore, went in haste to the Israelitish camp, and +there charged Saul with disobedience to the commands of +Yahveh. Saul’s plea that the cattle and herds had been saved +by ‘the people’ in order that they might be sacrificed to the +Lord, was not accepted, and the fierce old seer himself +‘hewed Agag in pieces before Yahveh.’ At the same time, he +told the Israelitish king that the kingdom had been rent +from him and given to a neighbour that was better than he. +It was the last time that the king and the seer met. Samuel +went back to his home at Ramah and Saul returned to Gibeah. +Between Saul and the priesthood there was open war.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The attack upon the Amalekites implies that the Philistines +had for a time ceased to be formidable. The extract from the +state chronicles given in 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 47-52 makes it follow the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_368'>368</span>other wars of Saul. Among these wars we hear of one against +Moab, of another against Edom (or rather Geshur), and of a +third against ‘the kings of Zobah.’<a id='r428'></a><a href='#f428' class='c013'><sup>[428]</sup></a> The Aramæans of +Zobah, called Tsubitê in the Assyrian texts, and placed northward +of the Haurân, were beginning to be powerful, and as we +learn from the history of David, were about to establish a +kingdom under Hadadezer which extended to the Euphrates +and included Damascus. But at present they were still +governed by more than one chief.<a id='r429'></a><a href='#f429' class='c013'><sup>[429]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The campaign against Zobah makes it clear that Saul’s +authority was acknowledged in Gilead as well as on the +western side of the Jordan. It is not surprising, therefore, +that after his death his son should have resided there, well out +of the reach of the Philistines, or that Eshbaal’s kingdom +should have comprised all the northern tribes. Little by +little, in spite of the opposition of Samuel, Saul worked his +way to general acknowledgment and power. The Israelites, +for the first time, were welded into a homogeneous state, and +their enemies were kept at bay. The organisation of the +kingdom went hand in hand with the military successes of its +king. Israel at last was not only feared abroad, but at peace +and unity within.</p> + +<p class='c003'>With all this, Saul preserved the old simplicity of his life and +manners. He never yielded to the usual temptations of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_369'>369</span>Oriental despot; he had no harîm like David or Solomon, no +palaces, no gardens, no trains of cooks and idle servants.<a id='r430'></a><a href='#f430' class='c013'><sup>[430]</sup></a> The +people were not taxed to supply him with luxuries, nor dragged +from their homes for his buildings and wars. In some of +these royal pleasures doubtless he could not indulge: the conditions +under which he reigned prevented it. But it was only +by his own free choice that he remained faithful to one wife—Ahinoam, +the daughter of Ahimaaz,—and that he held court +at Gibeah under the shade of a tamarisk instead of a palace, +with a spear in his hand in place of a sceptre.<a id='r431'></a><a href='#f431' class='c013'><sup>[431]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Saul was a born soldier, and he had a soldier’s eye for +detecting those who could best serve him in war. He added +to his bodyguard all who were distinguished by strength or +courage, and the border warfare with the Philistines kept them +in constant employment. Among the young recruits was +David, the youngest of the eight sons of Jesse, a Jew of +Beth-lehem. Two different accounts have been preserved of +the way in which David was first introduced to the king. It +is difficult to reconcile them; the compiler of the books of +Samuel was content to set them side by side without attempting +to do so, while the Septuagint translators have cut the +Gordian knot by omitting large portions of one of them. The +difficulty is increased by the fact that the second account +makes David the conqueror of Goliath of Gath, who elsewhere +(2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 19) is said to have been slain during David’s +reign by El-hanan the Beth-lehemite.<a id='r432'></a><a href='#f432' class='c013'><sup>[432]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>According to this second story, the Philistines had invaded +Judah and pitched their camp on a mountain-slope between +Socoh and Azekah. Saul was encamped on the hill opposite, +and between the two armies was the valley of Elah at the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_370'>370</span>bottom of which was the dry bed of a mountain stream. The +three elder brothers of David were in the Hebrew army, +David himself having been left at home to look after his +father’s sheep. From time to time, however, he was sent with +loaves of home-made bread to his brothers and a present of +milk-cheeses to ‘the captain of their thousand.’ On one of +these occasions a Philistine giant, Goliath by name, came +forth from the camp of the enemy to challenge the Israelites +to single combat. He had done so day by day, but none of +Saul’s followers had ventured to accept the challenge. For +Goliath of Gath was a descendant of the ancient Anakim, +and of gigantic stature. His height, it was said, was six cubits +and a span, or nearly ten feet,<a id='r433'></a><a href='#f433' class='c013'><sup>[433]</sup></a> and the staff of his spear was +like a weaver’s beam, while its head weighed six hundred +shekels of iron. Like the Greeks, he wore not only a bronze +helmet and coat of mail, but also greaves on his legs; a +bronze shield was hung between his shoulders and a broad-sword +at his side.</p> + +<p class='c003'>David offered to accept the challenge of the uncircumcised +giant, and in spite of his brothers’ ridicule his words were +repeated to Saul. As a shepherd he had already proved his +strength and daring by slaying both a lion and a bear; he was +now ready to face the Philistine and redeem the honour of +Israel. At first the Israelitish king insisted that he should be +armed, and he was accordingly equipped in the usual Hebrew +fashion with helmet, cuirass, and sword. But the young +shepherd felt restricted and awkward in these unaccustomed +accoutrements; nor did he know how to manage the sword. +He therefore stripped them from him, and boldly approached +the Philistine champion with his shepherd’s sling and five +‘smooth stones.’ These he knew how to wield, and with +such effect that one of the stones penetrated the forehead of +the Philistine, who fell dead to the ground. Then his conqueror +dissevered his head with his own sword, while the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_371'>371</span>Israelites shouted and pursued the panic-stricken enemy to +the gates of Ekron.<a id='r434'></a><a href='#f434' class='c013'><sup>[434]</sup></a> Saul had inquired in vain through +Abner, the commander-in-chief of the army, whose son the +young champion of Israel was; and it was not until David +had presented himself before the king, with the head of the +Philistine in his hand, that he learned from his own lips that +he was the son of his ‘servant Jesse the Beth-lehemite.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>David’s fortune was made; Saul at once incorporated him +in his bodyguard, and a warm friendship began between him +and Jonathan, a friendship that ceased only with Jonathan’s +death. David was fresh and handsome, with a charm of +manner and a ready tact which won the hearts of those he +was with. It was not long, therefore, before he became first +the favourite, then the general, and eventually the son-in-law +of the Israelitish king.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The other account of David’s introduction to Saul brings +Samuel once more upon the stage. The ‘neighbour’ better +than Saul proves to be David, whom Samuel is accordingly +sent to Beth-lehem to anoint secretly. He goes there under +the pretence of wishing to offer a sacrifice, to which he invites +Jesse and his sons. The elders of the city receive him with +fear and trembling, and ask if he has come in peace. He is +known to be the enemy of the king, and his arrival in a city +of Judah bodes nothing good. The sons of Jesse are passed +in review before him; none of them, however, is approved, +and the seer asks if there is still no other. Thereupon Jesse +tells him that there is yet the youngest, who is in the fields +tending the sheep. Samuel bids him be sent for, and in spite +of his terror of Saul and the secrecy of his mission, anoints +the youth ‘in the midst of his brethren.’ Then the spirit of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_372'>372</span>Yahveh comes upon David, and an evil spirit from Yahveh +takes possession of Saul. Saul still reigns, indeed, but the +mystic power conferred by the consecration, which had given +him the right to do so, has henceforth passed to another.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The ‘evil spirit’ shows itself in fits of moody depression, +which at times become insanity. Saul’s mind, always excitable, +loses its balance; he is oppressed by a settled +melancholy, which is now and again broken by outbursts of +ungovernable rage. His servants determine that the evil spirit +can be charmed away only by music, and one of them recommends +David, the Beth-lehemite shepherd, who is not only +a valiant ‘man of war,’ but also a skilful player upon the harp. +David is hereupon summoned to the court, where his harping +cures the king, who makes him his armour-bearer.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Such are the two narratives of David’s introduction to Saul. +It is plain that they exclude one another. The king’s handsome +armour-bearer, who soothes his mind and banishes his +melancholy by music, cannot be the shepherd-lad who brings +the loaves of home-made bread to his brothers, and whose +very name and parentage are unknown to Saul and Abner. +And yet there are points in each narrative which seem to be +historical. It is true that in a later passage the death of +Goliath is ascribed to a certain El-hanan; but the passage is +corrupt, and though the Chronicler must have had an equally +corrupt text before him,<a id='r435'></a><a href='#f435' class='c013'><sup>[435]</sup></a> it is possible he may be right in +making the Philistine slain by El-hanan the brother of +Goliath. At all events, the fact that the sword of the giant +of Gath was preserved at Nob and was there handed over to +David on his flight from Saul, shows that the death of Goliath +must have happened while Saul was reigning and that David +<span class='pageno' id='Page_373'>373</span>had been the hero of the deed. The priest expressly says +that it was ‘the sword of Goliath the Philistine whom thou +slewest in the valley of Elah.’ On the other hand, David was +famous as a musician, and was even said to have invented +instruments of music (<abbr title='Amos'>Am.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 5), while Saul’s fits of depression +were also historical; and the description given of David’s +appearance (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='sixteen'>xvi.</abbr> 12) is that of one who had seen him. +Perhaps the harp-playing before the king followed David’s +enrolment in Saul’s bodyguard, and was one of the means +whereby he gained the heart of his royal master.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Are we to accept the anointing by Samuel as a historical +incident, or are the modern critics right in asserting that the +story is an invention, the object of which was to claim for +the founder of the Judæan monarchy the same consecration +at the hands of the great Hebrew seer as that which had been +bestowed upon Saul? That David was actually anointed by +a messenger of Yahveh admits of little doubt. Apart from +Psalm <abbr title='eighty-nine'>lxxxix.</abbr> 20, the date of which is questionable, and which +may refer to the coronation in Hebron, it is clear from +incidental notices in the historical books of the Old Testament +that such consecration by a prophet or seer was felt to be a +necessary prelude to the usurpation of a throne. It was +thus that both Jehu and Hazael were incited to seize the +crowns of Samaria and Damascus.<a id='r436'></a><a href='#f436' class='c013'><sup>[436]</sup></a> The use of oil in religious +ritual went back to the days when Babylonian culture was +predominant in Western Asia, and the religious texts of +Babylonia contain many references to it. That the prophet +was anointed for his office, we know from the history of +Elisha.</p> + +<p class='c003'>On the other hand, it is difficult to conceive that David’s +<span class='pageno' id='Page_374'>374</span>brother would have treated him with the contempt to which +he gave utterance in the valley of Elah (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr> 28) had +he really been a witness to his consecration as king, and +David’s future friendship with Jonathan, the heir-apparent to +the throne, would have been more than hypocritical. Possibly +the period of the consecration has been transferred from a +time when David had become the son-in-law of Saul and the +friend and guest of Samuel (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 18-22) to an earlier +time in David’s life to which it is inappropriate.<a id='r437'></a><a href='#f437' class='c013'><sup>[437]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Abner, the cousin of Saul, remained the commander-in-chief +of the Israelitish army, the Turtannu or Tartan, as the +Assyrians would have called him. David, however, was made +a general—‘the captain of a thousand’ was the exact title. +The desultory war with the Philistines still continued, and +the new general soon justified his appointment. But his +successes and his popularity with the army aroused the +jealousy of the king. Saul began to plot against his life and +to hope that he might fall in one of the skirmishes with the +enemy. Merab, Saul’s elder daughter, had been promised to +him in marriage, but she was given to another, and though +her younger sister Michal was offered in her place, Saul +stipulated that David should bring him instead of a dowry a +hundred foreskins of the Philistines. It was the Egyptian +mode of counting the slain, which is still practised in +Abyssinia; when Meneptah <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> defeated the Libyans and +their northern allies, the number of the enemy who had fallen +was determined partly by the hands, partly by the foreskins +cut off from the slain. The hundred foreskins demanded +by Saul were doubled by David, who thereupon received +Michal as his wife.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Saul had already, in one of his fits of frenzy, made an +attempt on David’s life. The day before he had heard the +women welcoming David as he returned from ‘the slaughter +<span class='pageno' id='Page_375'>375</span>of the Philistine’<a id='r438'></a><a href='#f438' class='c013'><sup>[438]</sup></a> with sounds of music and the refrain: +‘Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands.’ +The king brooded over the words, until in his moments of +insanity they overpowered all prudence and restraint. When +he recovered they still sounded in his ears, and his feigned +friendship towards his son-in-law concealed murder in his +heart.</p> + +<p class='c003'>At last he openly avowed his desire to be rid of his +supposed enemy; and though in his saner hours he still +shrank from murdering him with his own hand, he suggested +both to Jonathan and to his retainers that they should do so. +David, in truth, was becoming a formidable rival. He was +idolised by the army, was popular among the people, and was +a member by marriage of the royal house. He was, moreover, +a Jew; and the tribe of Judah was now beginning to +rise into importance and to realise its own strength. Above +all, Samuel and the priests were at bitter feud with Saul, and +favourably disposed to David.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Jonathan betrayed his father’s secret to his unsuspecting +friend, and bade him await the issue of an appeal to the better +nature of Saul. The appeal was successful, and for a time +Saul laid aside his suspicions and there was apparent, if not +real, harmony once more between him and his son-in-law. +But another success against the Philistines revived the evil +passions of the king. Again the old depression and gloom +came upon him, and David’s harp, instead of dissipating it, +transformed it into madness. Suddenly he flung his spear at +the player, who slipped aside and fled. The time for mediation +and forgiveness was passed. David could no longer be +safe in the presence of a madman who was bent on taking +his life. Royal guards were even sent to watch David’s +house, and he escaped only with the help of his wife. In +the night she let him down through the window of his room, +and laid on the bed in his place the image of the household +<span class='pageno' id='Page_376'>376</span>god covered with a sheet. When the king’s guards arrived +to take him she pretended that he was sick, and it was not +until they had come a second time that they discovered they +had been deceived. Saul reproached his daughter for abetting +her husband’s escape; but it was too late, and David had +made his way to the house of Samuel at Ramah. Here, +however, he was not yet safe from pursuit, and he and the +seer accordingly took refuge in the sacred enclosure of the +Naioth or monastery. There, surrounded by the prophet-dervishes, +they felt that even the king in the madness of +disappointed fury would not venture to violate their sanctuary.</p> + +<p class='c003'>That Samuel also should have been compelled to shelter +himself from Saul’s anger, and that David on escaping from +Gibeah should at once have gone to him, makes it evident that +the king at least believed in the complicity of the seer in the +plot against his throne. It also raises the presumption that +Saul’s belief was justified, and that Samuel had played the +same part towards David that Ahijah subsequently played +towards Jeroboam, and Elijah towards Jehu. That David and +Samuel were acquainted with one another seems clear; indeed, +Gibeah and Ramah were so close to each other that it would +have been strange if the politic David had not visited the old +seer. Had it been on the occasion of one of these visits that +the rising rival of Saul was anointed with the consecrated oil?</p> + +<p class='c003'>David remained safe in sanctuary. The messengers sent by +Saul to fetch him from it fell under the influence of the place, +and joined the dervishes in their ecstatic exercises; and when +Saul himself followed them, he too was infected by the religious +excitement around him. One of the sources used by the +compiler of the books of Samuel ascribes to this occasion the +origin of the saying: ‘Is Saul also among the prophets?’<a id='r439'></a><a href='#f439' class='c013'><sup>[439]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>But as in the case of the introduction of David to Saul, +there is again a double account of his escape. The two +narratives are equally worthy of credit from a historical point +of view, yet it is difficult to reconcile them together. The +<span class='pageno' id='Page_377'>377</span>compiler has endeavoured to do so by supposing that David +‘fled’ from the monastery of Ramah to Jonathan after Saul’s +return to Gibeah. But this only makes the difficulty of +harmonising the two accounts the greater. If we accept them +both, the only way of reconciling them is to suppose that a +considerable interval of time elapsed between the events +recorded in them, that in the monastery of Ramah peace was +once more established between David and his father-in-law, +and that David consequently returned to his accustomed place +at court. In this case, the statement of the compiler that the +second narrative follows immediately upon the first would be +a mistaken inference.<a id='r440'></a><a href='#f440' class='c013'><sup>[440]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>According to the second account, David came to Jonathan +and assured him that Saul was determined to take away his +life. Jonathan protested that this was impossible, although he +had himself previously warned his friend that such was the +case,<a id='r441'></a><a href='#f441' class='c013'><sup>[441]</sup></a> on the ground that his father concealed nothing from +him. It was then agreed that Jonathan should discover Saul’s +intentions and reveal them three days later to David, who +should meanwhile hide himself in the fields. Jonathan was +to shoot three arrows, and send a boy to gather them up. If +he told the boy they were on the hither side of David’s hiding-place, +it meant that all was well; if, on the contrary, he said +they were beyond it, David would know that his life was in +danger. The day following was the feast of the New Moon, +when David ought to have dined with the king. But his place +was empty; only Abner sat by the side of Saul, whose seat +was, as usual, ‘by the wall.’ Saul said nothing, thinking that +David was absent for ceremonial reasons; but when on the +next day the place was again empty, he asked Jonathan what +had become of him. Jonathan replied, as had been agreed +upon, that he had given David permission to go to Beth-lehem +to take part in an annual sacrifice of the family. But the +answer did not deceive his father. Saul broke forth into +<span class='pageno' id='Page_378'>378</span>reproaches, accusing Jonathan of rebellion and folly in +preferring friendship to self-interest, and in saving the life of +one who would use it to deprive him of the crown. Jonathan +replied; and the king, mad with rage, flung his spear at his own +son, who left the table and made his way to the place where +David was concealed. There he gave the signal by which +David knew that he must flee for his life, and while the lad +was picking up the arrows the two friends embraced and +parted, perhaps for the last time.</p> + +<p class='c003'>David fled to Nob. The priests of Shiloh had settled in it, +and he believed therefore that he would find a shelter there. +But Ahimelech was afraid of Saul; he knew that the king bore +no goodwill to his son-in-law, and it was strange that David +should be alone. David, however, had a ready answer to the +question why ‘no man’ was with him. Saul had sent him out +in haste on a secret mission, and his servants accordingly had +been ordered to wait for him ahead. The haste indeed was +such that he had brought with him neither food nor weapons. +The priest had only the shewbread to offer, and at first +hesitated about giving it to those who were not Levites. But +David overcame his scruples, assuring him that his companions +had ‘kept themselves from women’ for the past three days, +and that the vessels they carried with them were clean. At +the same time he took Goliath’s sword which had been +dedicated to Yahveh, and lay behind the ephod wrapped in a +cloth. Then he continued his flight, and did not rest until he +found himself at the court of the old enemy of Israel, Achish +the son of Maoch, king of Gath.<a id='r442'></a><a href='#f442' class='c013'><sup>[442]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Recent criticism has maintained that this first visit to Achish +of Gath is but a duplicate version of David’s second visit to +the same prince, like the duplicate accounts of his introduction +<span class='pageno' id='Page_379'>379</span>to Saul and flight from the Israelitish court. The two visits, +however, clearly belong to different periods of time, and the +different treatment experienced by the fugitive at the hands of +the king of Gath was due to the wholly different circumstances +under which he arrived there on the two occasions. The +solitary and defenceless exile, flying for his life from his own +countrymen, was a very different person from the leader of a +numerous band of reckless and well-armed adventurers who +came to offer their services as mercenaries in war. A more +serious difficulty is the fact that Achish, the son of Maoch or +Maachah, was still reigning over Gath in the third year of +Solomon (1 Kings <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 39). But the long reign of about fifty +years, which this presupposes, is no impossibility; Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> +of Egypt, for example, was sixty-seven years on the throne.</p> + +<p class='c003'>David did not remain long in Gath. The Philistines could +not forget that he had been one of their most formidable +adversaries, and there must have been some among them who +had blood-feuds to avenge upon him. The fugitive servant of +Saul was no longer to be feared, but there were many voices +crying for his life. For a while Achish was inclined to protect +him in the hope of using him against his countrymen, but how +long this protection would last was doubtful. David accordingly +feigned himself mad, he scrabbled on the gates, and let +the spittle fall on his unshorn beard. The Philistine king gave +up all hope of making him his tool, and allowed him to quit +the court. David thereupon made his way to the home of his +boyhood, and took refuge in the limestone caves of Adullam, +a few miles to the south-west of Beth-lehem.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Here at last he was safe. He was among his own tribesmen, +in a district well known to him, and in a place of refuge +where the outlaw could defy his pursuers. Moreover, the +home of his family was not far distant, and it was not long, +accordingly, before his brothers and other relatives joined him +in his mountain stronghold. The band of outlaws increased +rapidly, and soon amounted to four hundred men. David’s +abilities as a military leader were known throughout Israel, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_380'>380</span>all the outlaws and adventurers of Judah flocked to his +standard; among them was the prophet Gad.</p> + +<p class='c003'>David once more found himself at the head of a considerable +force. The quarrel between him and the king was assuming +the character of a civil war. It was Judah against Israel, the +first revolt of the new power that was rising in the south against +the domination of the north. But the power was still in its +infancy. Against the trained veterans of the royal army, with +the prestige of legal authority and resources behind them, the +bandits of the Judæan mountains could hold their own only so +long as they remained among the limestone fastnesses of their +own land. It was like a struggle between Sicilian brigands +and the regular troops; the sympathies of the peasantry were +with the brigands, and as long as they acted on the defensive, +their lives were safe.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But the mountains of Judah were barren, and it was needful +for David and his men to descend at times into the valleys +and plains below, and there levy contributions of food. These +were the moments of danger. The townsmen and owners of +land could not be trusted like the peasantry; they looked with +no favourable eyes on the armed outlaws who seized what was +not freely given to them, and were ready enough to betray +them to Saul. In the towns and plains the king’s troops had +the advantage; while, on the other side, it was always possible +to fall in with a body of Philistines to whom every Israelite +was a foe.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But while David was hidden in the cave of Adullam, Saul +committed a deed which shattered his kingdom and transferred +the allegiance of the priesthood to his Judæan rival. This was +the massacre of the priests at Nob. In reading the story of it +we seem to have before us the words of an eye-witness. Saul +was seated under the tamarisk on the hill at Gibeah, with his +spear in his right hand, and his officers standing around him. +Suddenly he broke out into reproaches against them and +against his son. ‘Hear now, ye Benjamites; will the son of +Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make +<span class='pageno' id='Page_381'>381</span>you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds; that +all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that +sheweth me that my son hath made a league with the son of +Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or sheweth +unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me, to +lie in wait, as at this day?’ Then the heathen foreigner, +‘Doeg the Edomite which was set over the servants of Saul,’ +answered and said that he had seen David come to Ahimelech +the priest at Nob, and that there the priest had consulted +Yahveh for him, had given him food and Goliath’s sword. At +once the infuriated king sent for Ahimelech and his brother +priests, and demanded of him why he had conspired with the +rebel. Ahimelech’s answer only increased his anger. David, +said the priest, was the son-in-law of the king, and his most +faithful servant; how then could he have refrained from +helping him on his road? Thereupon, Saul ordered the priests +to be put to death, but no Israelite could be found to +perpetrate such an act of sacrilegious atrocity. The Edomite, +however, had no scruples; he fell with a will upon the defenceless +priests, and eighty-five of them were massacred. Saul +then descended upon Nob, ‘the city of the priests,’ and treated +it like a city of the Amalekites, smiting it with the edge of the +sword, ‘both men and women, children and sucklings, and +oxen and asses and sheep.’ Only Abiathar, the son of +Ahimelech, escaped, and fled to David, carrying with him the +ephod and the oracles of God. The prophecy of the destruction +of Eli’s house was fulfilled, but in fulfilling it Saul +destroyed his own. The breach between the king and the +priests was complete; he had compelled them, and all who +reverenced them, to take the side of his rival.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was now that David determined to send his father and +mother to the protection of the Moabite court. His great-grandmother +had been a Moabitess, and it is possible that the +war between Saul and Moab, referred to in 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 47, +was continuing at this very time. In this case, the Moabite +king would have given a ready welcome to the parents of his +<span class='pageno' id='Page_382'>382</span>enemy’s enemy. They would be hostages for David himself, +and David was a person whom it was desirable to attach to +the Moabite cause. Not only was he the son-in-law of Saul, +and an able general, but he was now at the head of a devoted +body of men who were waging war on the Israelitish king. If +war was actually going on at the time between Israel and +Moab, alliance with David would divert and weaken the +Israelitish attack. Moreover, as long as David’s parents were +in his power, the king of Moab could compel the Jewish +chieftain to serve and, if need be, to fight for him.</p> + +<p class='c003'>David’s followers had increased to six hundred men, and he +now felt himself strong enough to occupy one of the Judæan +cities, and make it a centre for his war against Saul. A pretext +for doing so was soon found. Keilah was threatened by +Philistine raiders, and patriotism demanded its rescue. The +city is mentioned in the Tel el-Amarna letters under the name +of Keltê; it was already a place of military importance, and +was surrounded by walls. David’s followers, however, were +reluctant to leave their retreat in the mountains and venture +into a town. But the representative of the high priests of +Shiloh was now with them, and the oracles of Yahveh, which +he consulted through the ephod, admitted of no contradiction. +Keilah was accordingly occupied by David, and its Philistine +invaders repulsed. The citizens, however, showed little gratitude +towards their preservers. Perhaps they thought it was +merely an exchange of masters, and that Philistine pillage +would not have been worse than the exactions of the outlaws. +Perhaps they feared the fate of Nob for harbouring the enemy +of Saul. However it might be, they sent word to Saul that +David and his men were in the town. The king marched to +Keilah without delay; had not God delivered David into his +hand by bringing him into a city that had ‘gates and bars’? +But once more the ephod was consulted, and the answer was +clear. The people of Keilah were traitors, and David’s band +must seek a shelter elsewhere. This time they fled to the +wooded slopes above the wilderness of Ziph, on the eastern +<span class='pageno' id='Page_383'>383</span>side of the Dead Sea. Here David and Jonathan met once +more<a id='r443'></a><a href='#f443' class='c013'><sup>[443]</sup></a> under the shadow of the forest. But the Ziphites +betrayed the hiding-place of the outlaws, and offered to help +the king to capture his foe. For a time the hunted fugitives +evaded their pursuers; spies brought David intelligence of +Saul’s movements, and the desolate wadis of Ziph and Maon, +with their deep defiles and precipitous rocks, enabled him to +slip out of the toils. But at last the game became desperate; +the outlaws were encircled on all sides, and the difficulty of +procuring food must have been great. At that moment the +Philistines came to their help; a messenger arrived in haste +at the royal camp, urging the king to march westward at once, +for a Philistine army had invaded the land. David was saved, +and he now settled himself in the caves and fastnesses of the +mountains about En-gedi.</p> + +<p class='c003'>From the peaks where only the wild goats trod,<a id='r444'></a><a href='#f444' class='c013'><sup>[444]</sup></a> David +could look across the Dead Sea to the purple hills of Moab. +Here, therefore, he was in touch with the Moabites, while his +inaccessible position rendered him safe from attack. Below +him was the comparatively fertile valley of Carmel of Judah, +where large flocks of sheep fed on the scanty grass. It was +the northern portion of the wilderness of Paran, and the outlaws +exacted from it their supplies of food. The supplies +were usually yielded with a good grace, and in return the +shepherds and their flocks were protected from the Bedâwin +and the wild beasts. But on one occasion the request for +food met with a refusal. Nabal, a wealthy farmer at Maon, +was shearing his sheep, and refused to give any of them to the +messengers of David. Perhaps Saul was still in the neighbourhood, +and he was thus emboldened to play the part of +the churl. But he was soon taught that David was strong +enough to take without asking. Four hundred of the outlaws +<span class='pageno' id='Page_384'>384</span>marched down upon Maon, bent upon making him and his +family pay with their lives for the niggardly refusal. The tact +of a woman, however, saved them, and averted the anger of +David. Abigail, the wife of Nabal, met the angry chieftain +on the road with presents and honeyed words, and her fair +looks and speeches induced him to turn back. That night +Nabal was holding a shearing feast in fancied security, but +when, the next day, his wife told him of his narrow escape, +and of the band of outlaws that was still in the neighbourhood, +his heart failed him, and ‘he became as a stone.’ The shock +was too great for his strength; a few days later he died. Then +Abigail, like a prudent woman, became the wife of the outlaw, +and the wealth of Nabal passed into his hands. It was a +welcome addition to David’s resources, and made him better +able to control his men. Abigail, too, proved a devoted wife, +following her husband in his wanderings, and sharing his wild +life. She was not his only wife, however, though Michal had +been given by her father to a Benjamite named Phaltiel. +David, it would seem, had already married a certain Ahinoam +of Jezreel.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was probably before the marriage of Abigail, and while +Saul was still chasing the outlaws through the wilderness of +Ziph,<a id='r445'></a><a href='#f445' class='c013'><sup>[445]</sup></a> that an incident occurred, two versions of which had +reached the compiler of the books of Samuel. Saul had with +him a force of three thousand men, more than sufficient +gradually to close in upon David and cut off all his chances of +escape. Abner, the commander-in-chief, was with him, and +the king was obstinate in his determination to track his enemy +to the death. According to the one version of the story, Saul +was alone in a cave; according to the other, he was asleep at +night in his camp among the rocky crevices of Mount Hachilah. +While he slept, David, with his two companions, Ahimelech +the Hittite and Abishai the brother of Joab, crept stealthily +towards him, and soon reached the unconscious king. Abishai +would have slain him with his spear, but David forbade his +<span class='pageno' id='Page_385'>385</span>touching ‘the Lord’s anointed,’ and contented himself with +carrying away the spear and cruse of water which stood at his +head, or, according to the other version, with cutting off the +skirt of the royal robe. Then, standing on the opposite side +of the gorge, David reproached Abner for his careless watch +over the king. Saul recognised David’s voice, and demanded if +it were not he, whereupon David made an appeal to the king’s +better nature, asked why he was thus driving him from his +country and his God, and pointed to the trophies he had just +carried off in proof of his innocence. If he were really aiming +at the throne, would he have spared the king when Yahveh +had delivered him into his hands? The impulsive Saul +yielded for the moment to the voice and words of his former +favourite, but they produced no further effect upon him. +David could not venture to send back the spear by one of his +own men; it had to be fetched by a servant of the king. +David had given Saul a lesson in generosity, but the only +result of it was that he had to return to his old hiding-place. +Saul remained resolutely bent on taking his life.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Meanwhile Samuel had died, and there seemed no longer +any power left in Israel to contend against the will of the king. +David began to perceive that his cause was hopeless; he had +become a mere chief of brigands, and against him were +arrayed all the forces of order and authority in the country. +It was useless to continue the struggle, and he determined, +therefore, to sell the services of himself and his followers to +the hereditary enemies of his people. Accordingly he passed +over to Achish of Gath, and entered the service of the +Philistine.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The use of mercenary soldiers was no new thing. Egypt +had long since set the example, and in the age of the nineteenth +dynasty the larger part of the Egyptian army already +consisted of foreigners. Many of these were kinsfolk of the +Philistines from the Greek seas. Such soldiers of fortune +were acceptable to the kings who employed them for more +reasons than one. Their lives were devoted to fighting, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_386'>386</span>therefore they were better trained and more amenable to +discipline than the native recruits, who were levied only as +occasion required. Moreover, they had everything to gain +and nothing to lose from war, unlike the peasantry, whose +fields might be ravaged while they themselves were away in +the camp. Above all, the mercenaries were faithful to their +employer so long as he supplied them with plunder or pay. +They had no party feuds to avenge, no loss of liberty to chafe +at, no spirit of independence to cherish. Their swords were +at the disposal of the king, and of none else; the tyranny +which crushed his subjects found in them a willing instrument. +David never forgot the lesson which his service with Achish +had taught him. When at last he became the king of Israel, +he also surrounded himself with a bodyguard of foreign mercenaries, +drawn from much the same countries as those of the +Pharaoh.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was not as a bodyguard, however, that Achish needed +the Jews. It was rather as an auxiliary force in future contests +with their countrymen. Consequently they were allowed +to settle in the country, at some distance from Gath, and +Ziklag was given them as a residence. The outlaws had ceased +to be brigands, and had become part of the regular army of a +foreign prince.</p> + +<p class='c003'>For a year and four months the Hebrew corps dwelt at +Ziklag. But they were not idle all the time. Once David +led them on a raiding expedition against the Bedâwin Amalekites +of the south. Men, women, and children were alike put +to the sword, so that none might live to tell the tale. When +the Jews returned with their booty, David professed to Achish +that the raid had been directed against the Hebrews of Judah +and their allies the Kenites and Jerahmeelites. The deception +was successful, and the Philistine king rejoiced in the +thought that the captain of his mercenaries had thus for ever +rendered himself hateful to his countrymen. David had succeeded +in disarming the suspicions of his hosts, in providing +his retainers with the spoil they coveted, and yet at the same +<span class='pageno' id='Page_387'>387</span>time in not alienating from himself the affections of his own +people.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But a further trial was in store for the wily exile. The +quarrel between Saul and his son-in-law had allowed the +Philistines to assert once more their old supremacy in Israel. +In David the Israelites had lost one of their chiefest generals, +and the troops which should have been employed against the +common foe were occupied in hunting him through the wilds +of the Judæan mountains. The watchful enemy took speedy +advantage of the fact. Israel was again invaded; the Philistines +swept the lowlands of Judah, and prepared to march +northward. Saul returned from his pursuit of David among +the trackless rocks on the shore of the Dead Sea only just in +time to prevent their penetrating again into the heart of Mount +Ephraim. The territory of Benjamin was saved for a time, +and the foreigner did not succeed in reaching the royal residence +at Gibeah.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But the respite was not for long. A year and a quarter +later the united forces of the Philistine cities marched northward, +along the highroad on the coast of the Mediterranean, +which had been trodden so often by the former conquerors of +Western Asia. They passed Dor, the modern Tantûra, then +occupied by their kinsfolk the Zakkal, and, turning the point +of Mount Carmel, proceeded eastward through the valley of +the Kishon towards the plain of Megiddo. It was the old +fighting ground of Palestine; its possession gave the conqueror +the command of the whole country west of the Jordan, and +cut off the Israelitish king in his rear. With the enemy established +at Megiddo, Benjamin and Ephraim would be effectually +severed from the northern tribes.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Saul lost no time in proceeding against his foe. The +Philistine camp had been pitched, first at Shunem, then at +Aphek, on the southern slope of Mount Gilboa;<a id='r446'></a><a href='#f446' class='c013'><sup>[446]</sup></a> the Israelites +<span class='pageno' id='Page_388'>388</span>now took up their station at a fountain near Jezreel, a few +miles to the north-west. But the sight of the huge Philistine +army, recruited, doubtless, as it had been by the Zakkal, filled +Saul with despair. His own forces were miserably insufficient +to meet it; he had lost his old confidence in Yahveh and +himself, and the priests and prophets had become his enemies. +In vain he sought counsel of Yahveh; such priests as still +remained near him refused their help, and ‘Yahveh answered +him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.’ +Abiathar and Gad were with David; the prophets who had +gathered round Samuel were now the bitter foes of the +Israelitish king.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In his despair he turned to the powers of witchcraft and +necromancy. In younger and happier days, before the +massacre at Nob, when he was still the favourite of the servants +of Yahveh, still enthusiastic for the religion of Israel, +Saul had driven from his dominions all those who professed +to traffic with the powers of the unseen world. The wizards +and fortune-tellers, the enchanters and the possessed had +been expelled from the land. The fact is a proof of the influence +of the Mosaic code and religion in the priestly and royal +circle.<a id='r447'></a><a href='#f447' class='c013'><sup>[447]</sup></a> Elsewhere in Western Asia the necromancers’ trade +was flourishing; Babylonia, which was the home of the culture +of Western Asia, was the home also of the arts of magic. +Here the magician was held in high honour, and the literature +of magic and omens occupied a large place in the libraries of +the country. We cannot suppose that beliefs which were held +by the most cultivated classes of Babylonia were not also +shared by the mass of the population in Canaan and Israel. +And it must be remembered that outside the Levitical law +there was no suspicion or idea that those who practised magic +had dealings with spirits of evil. Heathendom drew no +distinction between spirits of good and spirits of evil; the gods +themselves were destructive as well as beneficent. The Mosaic +condemnation of witchcraft was utterly opposed to the popular +<span class='pageno' id='Page_389'>389</span>belief, and Saul’s expulsion of those who practised it proves +not only the existence of the Law, but also its recognition as +the law of the state by the representatives of the religion of +Yahveh. It was a reform analogous to those of Hezekiah and +of Isaiah in later days; an attempt to conform to the Law of +Yahveh, contrary though it was to the prejudices and the practices +of the time.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But the king was now forsaken by the Law and its ministers, +and as a last resource he turned to the forbidden arts. In +disguise he went by night to a witch at Endor, and begged her +to raise the shade of Samuel from the dead. And Samuel +came in visible presence to the witch, though his voice only +was heard by the king. But it was a voice that pronounced +judgment. God had indeed departed from Saul and given his +kingdom to another, and the doom was about to be fulfilled. +Before the morrow’s sun was set, where Samuel was there +should Saul and his sons be also, and the host of Israel should +be delivered into the hand of the Philistines. Saul fell to the +earth in a swoon; he had fasted all the previous day, and +brain and body were alike worn out.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was an ill-omened beginning for the day of battle which +followed. Like the army of Israel, that of the Philistines +was divided into companies of a thousand men each, which +were further subdivided into companies of a hundred. Along +with the native Philistines and their allies, the band of +Hebrew mercenaries marched past the five generals. But +hardly had they passed when a discussion arose as to their +trustworthiness. Achish, indeed, declared his full confidence +in the fidelity of David and his followers, but the other +Philistine ‘lords’ distrusted them. The risk of employing +them against their own countrymen was too great. How +could they be trusted not to desert at a critical moment of the +battle, and so make their peace with Saul by the sacrifice of +the uncircumcised foreigner? The wishes of Achish were +overruled, and David was sent back to Ziklag.</p> + +<p class='c003'>What would David have done had the result of the council +<span class='pageno' id='Page_390'>390</span>been otherwise? It has generally been assumed that the fears +of the Philistine lords were justified, and that he would have +betrayed his new masters by going over to his old one. But +in that case it is probable that he would have found some +excuse for not leaving Ziklag and accompanying Achish on +his march. That he followed the Philistine army as far as the +field of battle implies that in selling his services to the king +of Gath, he accepted all the recognised consequences of the +act. As he had told Saul, it was not only from his country +that he was driven out, but from the God of his country as +well. In leaving Judah for Gath he had transferred his +duties from Israel to Philistia, from Saul to Achish, from +Yahveh to Dagon. It was the first step that mattered: all +else was contained in it. The duties of the mercenary were +well understood: he ceased to have a country of his own, and +became, as it were, the property of the prince to whom his +services were given. In after days, David would have had no +scruple in employing his Philistine bodyguard in subjugating +their kinsmen, any more than the Egyptians had in employing +their Sardinian or Libyan mercenaries in their wars against +Libya and the peoples of the Greek seas.</p> + +<p class='c003'>David, indeed, would not have lifted up his hand personally +to attack ‘the anointed of Yahveh.’ But there was a good deal +of difference between a hand-to-hand fight between himself and +Saul and assisting his new masters in overthrowing the power +of the northern tribes of Israel. Between the Jews and these +northern tribes there was always a certain amount of smothered +hostility, which broke out into actual war in the early part of +David’s reign, and eventually led to the revolt of the Ten +Tribes. It was not the Israelitish king, but the Israelitish +kingdom which David and his followers were helping to +destroy.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We need not question his sincerity, therefore, when he +offered his sword to the lords of the Philistines and protested +against their mistrust of himself. Nor would the fact that he +had been on the side of the Philistine enemy have been +<span class='pageno' id='Page_391'>391</span>prejudicial to his future interests, if he already cherished the +hope of being the successor of Saul. It was in Judah, among +his own tribesmen, and not in Northern Israel, that the +foundations of his kingdom were to be laid; it was only the +Jews, consequently, whose good-will it was needful for him to +secure. If he already aimed at extending his power over all +Israel, a defeated and broken Israel would be more easily +won over to him than an Israel proud of its independence +and strength, and attached to the house of a sovereign who +had led them to victory.<a id='r448'></a><a href='#f448' class='c013'><sup>[448]</sup></a> David’s loyalty to Achish, however, +was never put to the test. He and his mercenaries were +sent back to Ziklag, and their dismissal from the field of +battle was in itself an insult which would serve as a pretext +for a quarrel with the Philistines should the need or opportunity +for one ever arise. But when they reached their homes, +they found there only desolation and ruins. The Bedâwin +Amalekites had made a raid upon the undefended town, had +burned its buildings and carried away the women and the +spoil. There was no longer any Saul to repress their attacks, +or to exact vengeance for their incursions.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Mutiny broke out among the mercenaries. They accused +David of having torn them from their families, thus leaving +Ziklag to the mercy of the foe. He was the cause of the +disaster, and they began to talk of stoning him to death. +The priest Abiathar came, however, to his rescue, and announced +through the ephod the word of Yahveh that the +robbers should be overtaken and the spoil recovered. At +once, therefore, the pursuit commenced. The Bedâwin tracks +were followed in such haste that when the desert was reached, +only four hundred out of the whole band of six hundred had +strength enough to proceed. Then an Egyptian was found +who had been a slave among the Amalekites, and having +fallen ill on their retreat from Palestine had been left to die +<span class='pageno' id='Page_392'>392</span>upon the road. The departure of the Philistine army had +exposed the Negeb to the attack of the Bedâwin, and they +had not been slow to take advantage of it.<a id='r449'></a><a href='#f449' class='c013'><sup>[449]</sup></a> Only three days +had elapsed since they had passed the spot where the slave +was found, and he offered himself a willing guide to the +Hebrews in their quest of his former masters. The Amalekite +tents were soon reached, and the nomads were found +feasting on the abundant plunder they had gained and dancing +in fancied security. Suddenly at twilight the Hebrews fell +upon them, and an indiscriminate slaughter took place. The +massacre went on for twenty-four hours, and none of the +Amalekites escaped except about four hundred young men, +who succeeded in mounting their camels and flying beyond +pursuit. All the spoil they had carried off fell into the hands +of their conquerors, including the two wives of David himself. +The flocks and herds were given to David: the rest of the +plunder was divided among his followers, the two hundred +men who had been left on the road being allowed, after some +dispute, to share it equally with their fellows.<a id='r450'></a><a href='#f450' class='c013'><sup>[450]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>David, with characteristic foresight, sent portions of the spoil +that had been allotted to him as a ‘present’ to ‘the elders of +Judah’ in the chief towns of the tribe. The Jerahmeelites +and Kenites were not forgotten, nor the Calebites of Hebron. +Some of the plunder was sent as far south as Hormah and +Zephath, as well as to Aroer and Ramoth of the south. +Reuben and Simeon had now ceased to exist as separate +tribes, Simeon having been absorbed into Judah while such +cities of Reuben as still remained Israelite had been occupied +by ‘the elders of Judah.’<a id='r451'></a><a href='#f451' class='c013'><sup>[451]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_393'>393</span>David’s object in sending the presents was cloaked under +the pretext that they were made to those who had befriended +him in the days of his wandering. But the pretext was more +than transparent. His wanderings had never extended to +Hormah or Aroer, or even to ‘the cities of the Jerahmeelites.’ +A crown was already within measurable distance of the +Jewish chieftain: his soldier’s eye had seen that the Israelitish +army was no match for that of the Philistines, and the priests +who were with him were assured that Yahveh had forsaken +Saul, and would work no miracle in his favour. The Philistines +were once more dominant in the south, and a victory at +Gilboa would make that domination secure. David possessed +the confidence of Achish, and as the vassal of the Philistines +he could count on their support were he to make himself the +king of Judah. All that was needed was the good-will of the +Jewish elders, and this his victory over the Amalekites gave +him the means of purchasing.</p> + +<p class='c003'>On the other hand, were the Philistines to be defeated, and +the Hebrew army, contrary to all probability, to be victorious, +David’s position would be in nowise affected. He would +still be safe among the Philistines, out of reach of Saul, and +at the head of a formidable band of mercenary troops. The +pretext for sending the presents could be urged with some +show of reason: they were merely a return to the friends who +had aided him in the time of his necessity. Now, as ever, +David could indignantly disclaim any intention of plotting +against the ‘anointed of the Lord.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>While David was thus looking after his own interests, +events were fighting for him in the north. The Israelites at +Gilboa were utterly defeated, and all Israel lay helpless at the +feet of the heathen. Saul was slain along with his three +elder sons; only a minor, Esh-Baal, was left, who was carried +for safety to the eastern side of the Jordan. Israel was +<span class='pageno' id='Page_394'>394</span>without either a king or a leader; even its army was lost. +For a time the mercenaries of David were the only armed +force that still remained among the tribes of Israel.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Saul had fallen on his own sword. Wounded by an arrow, +he had prayed his armour-bearer to slay him lest he should +fall still living into the hands of his foes. But his armour-bearer +refused to commit the act of sacrilege, and the king +slew himself. His body, like those of his sons, was stripped +and hung in derision from the walls of Beth-shan. But the +inhabitants of Jabesh of Gilead could not forget that Saul had +once saved them from the Ammonite, and they went by night +and carried away the ghastly trophies of Philistine victory; +the bodies were first burnt, then the ashes were buried under +a tree at Jabesh, and a fast of seven days was held for the +dead.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Philistines do not seem to have crossed the Jordan. +They contented themselves with occupying the country west +of it, and garrisoning the cities from which the Israelites had +fled. The monarchy had fallen, and the house of Israel +appeared to have fallen with it. From Dan to Beersheba the +Philistine was supreme.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Deliverance came from the south, from the latest born of +the Israelitish tribes. The mixed Israelite, Edomite, and +Kenite population, which had there been slowly forming into +a united community, now found a common head and leader in +the son of Jesse. David, too, was of mixed descent. His +great-grandmother had been the Moabitess Ruth, and on his +father’s side he was partly of Calebite origin.<a id='r452'></a><a href='#f452' class='c013'><sup>[452]</sup></a> Mixed races +have always shown themselves the most vigorous and the most +fitted to rule, and the history of the Israelitish monarchy is no +exception to the general law. A purely Israelitish dynasty had +failed, as it was destined to do again after the revolt of the +Ten Tribes; it needed the genius and tact of the Jewish +<span class='pageno' id='Page_395'>395</span>David to establish the monarchy on a lasting basis and defend +it against all enemies.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The news of the death of the king of Israel was brought to +David by an Amalekite. He had robbed the corpse of its +crown and golden bracelets which he laid at the feet of the +Jewish chief. In the hope of a reward he had come in hot +haste and pretended that he had dealt the final blow which +delivered David from his enemy, and opened to him the way +to a throne.<a id='r453'></a><a href='#f453' class='c013'><sup>[453]</sup></a> But he met with an unexpected reception. +The story of the disaster aroused in David his slumbering +patriotism, his affection for Jonathan, and his old reverence +for Saul. Now that he had nothing any longer to fear from +the Hebrew king, and everything to gain by his death, he +could allow his impulse and emotions to have free play. He +turned in anger upon the messenger, demanding of him how +he—a stranger and an Amalekite—had dared to lift up his +hand against the anointed of Yahveh. Then he ordered his +followers to cut down the luckless Bedâwi, whose blood, as +he told him, was upon his own head. After their recent +experience the nomad thief was likely to have but a short +shrift at the hands of the mercenaries.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In this act of vengeance there was that mixture of policy +and impulse which is the key to so many of David’s actions. +On the one hand, David freed himself from all responsibility +for the death of Saul. The blood of the king could not be +<span class='pageno' id='Page_396'>396</span>required at his hand either in the form of a blood-feud with +the family of Saul, or in that of the nemesis which waited on +the shedder of blood. On the other hand, it could not be +said that he had gained the crown through the murder of the +legitimate king. Saul indeed had been slain, and David had +reaped the advantage of his death, but he had in no way +connived at it. In the eyes of God and man alike he was +innocent of the deed.</p> + +<p class='c003'>David found an outlet for his feelings in a dirge which is +one of the gems of early Hebrew poetry. Future generations +knew it as the Song of the Bow; such was the name under +which it was incorporated in the collection of early Hebrew +poems called the book of Jasher, and under which David +ordered that it should be learned in the schools.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c014'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘Thy glory, O Israel, is slain upon thy high places!</div> + <div class='line'>How are the mighty fallen!</div> + <div class='line'>Tell it not in Gath,</div> + <div class='line'>Publish it not in the streets of Askelon;</div> + <div class='line'>Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice,</div> + <div class='line'>Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.</div> + <div class='line'>Ye mountains of Gilboa,</div> + <div class='line'>Let there be no dew nor rain upon you, neither fields of offerings;</div> + <div class='line'>For there the shield of the mighty ones was cast away,</div> + <div class='line'>The shield of Saul, as of one unanointed with oil.</div> + <div class='line'>From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty,</div> + <div class='line'>The bow of Jonathan turned not back,</div> + <div class='line'>And the sword of Saul returned not empty.</div> + <div class='line'>Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives,</div> + <div class='line'>And in their death they were not divided;</div> + <div class='line'>They were swifter than eagles,</div> + <div class='line'>They were stronger than lions.</div> + <div class='line'>Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul,</div> + <div class='line'>Who clothed you in scarlet delicately,</div> + <div class='line'>Who put ornaments of gold upon your apparel.</div> + <div class='line'>How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle</div> + <div class='line'>Jonathan is slain upon thy high places.</div> + <div class='line'>I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan;</div> + <div class='line'>Very pleasant hast thou been unto me:</div> + <div class='line'><span class='pageno' id='Page_397'>397</span>Thy love to me was wonderful,</div> + <div class='line'>Passing the love of women.</div> + <div class='line'>How are the mighty fallen,</div> + <div class='line'>And the weapons of war perished!’<a id='r454'></a><a href='#f454' class='c013'><sup>[454]</sup></a></div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<p class='c015'>David, however, was too practical to spend his time in useless +laments. He had relieved his feelings in a burst of lyric +poetry; it was now time to seize the opportunity which the +overthrow and death of Saul had given him. The oracle of +Yahveh was consulted, and the answer was favourable; let +David march to Hebron and there offer himself as king of +Judah. The way had already been prepared: he had secured +the good-will of the Jewish elders; he was the son-in-law of +the late king, and a hero of whom his tribesmen were proud. +Above all, he had behind him a body of armed veterans and +devoted adherents, the only armed force now left in the +country.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Hebron was the natural capital of Judah. It is true it had +been a Calebite settlement, but Calebites and Jews were now +one. Its ancient sanctuary had been a gathering-place for the +population of the south from time immemorial, and there was +no other city which could rival its claims to pre-eminence. +Here, therefore, the representatives of Judah assembled, and +here they anointed David to be their king. The goal of so +many years of struggle and hardship, of patient waiting and +politic tact, was at length reached. David was king of +Judah; it could not be long before he became king of Israel +also.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Philistines offered no difficulties. David was their +vassal; he had shown himself loyal to them, and they were +well content that he should rule over his countrymen, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_398'>398</span>collect the tribute due from them year by year. The territory +of Judah, moreover, was small; it adjoined the cities of the +Philistines, and in case of revolt could easily be overrun and +reduced to subjection. That a rival prince should reign in +the north, thus separating the northern tribes from Judah and +putting an end to all joint action, was a further guarantee for +Philistine supremacy. The old Egyptian province of Canaan +had become Palestine, the land of the Philistines.</p> + +<p class='c003'>For seven and a half years David reigned in Hebron. +Meanwhile, the relics of the Israelitish army had found a refuge +on the eastern side of the Jordan. Here, under their old +commander-in-chief Abner, the son of Ner, they once more +formed themselves into a disciplined body, and made Esh-Baal, +the surviving son of Saul, their king.<a id='r455'></a><a href='#f455' class='c013'><sup>[455]</sup></a> Esh-Baal, we are +told, reigned two years. His position was a difficult one. +His rule was titular only; all the real power of the State was +in the hands of his uncle Abner. Judah refused to acknowledge +his authority, and had raised itself into a separate kingdom +under a rebel chief; the northern tribes on the west side of the +Jordan were in subjection to the heathen conqueror who held +possession of the highroad from Asia into Egypt, and therewith +of the trade and wealth that passed along it. Cut off +from Mount Ephraim, the subjects of Esh-Baal saw David, the +Jewish vassal of the Philistines, extending his sway over +Benjamin, the ancestral territory of the house of Saul, while +they themselves maintained a precarious struggle against their +foes behind the fortified walls of Mahanaim. Here they +would have been under the protection of the Ammonites, who +were threatened by the same enemy as themselves.<a id='r456'></a><a href='#f456' class='c013'><sup>[456]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_399'>399</span>The Philistines found the task of forcing the fords of the +Jordan too dangerous or too unprofitable. Terms were made +with the Israelites; Esh-Baal became their vassal, and his +nominal rule was allowed to extend over Western Israel as far +south as the frontiers of Judah. Here the two vassal kingdoms +came into collision with one another, and Israel and Judah +were engaged in perpetual war. It was a repetition of what +had been the state of Canaan in the closing days of the +Egyptian empire when the Tel el-Amarna letters passed to +and fro.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Esh-Baal was merely the shadow of a king. Whether he +was a minor or an imbecile it is impossible to say with +certainty; most probably he was but a child.<a id='r457'></a><a href='#f457' class='c013'><sup>[457]</sup></a> Abner, the +master of the army, was also the real master of the kingdom. +David’s rise to power must have been as distasteful to him as +it would have been to Saul, and he seized the first opportunity +of endeavouring to overthrow it. The brigand-chief had become +a king, and the outlaws who had gathered round him in +the cave of Adullam had been rewarded with posts of honour. +Joab, the nephew of David,<a id='r458'></a><a href='#f458' class='c013'><sup>[458]</sup></a> was made the commander-in-chief +of the Jewish army, and the choice was justified by the +results. David owed most of his future successes in war to +the military skill and generalship of his commander-in-chief. +He himself ceased more and more to take part in active +warfare; Joab more than supplied his place, and the safety of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_400'>400</span>the king was too important to the army and its general to +allow of his risking his person in battle. David ruled at +home while Joab gained victories for him in the field.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Joab proved a faithful and a loyal servant. No suspicion +was ever breathed against him that he sought to steal the +hearts of his soldiers away from their master, and to supplant +David as David had supplanted Saul. In the evil days of +rebellion and disaster that were to overtake David, Joab +never deserted him, and his restoration to the throne was the +work of his faithful general. The services, however, rendered +by Joab had their drawback. He became indispensable to the +king; nay more, he became the master of the king. As +David grew old, he began to fret under the irksome yoke; +gratitude and self-interest alike forbade him to remove his too +powerful servant by those Oriental means which had given him +a wife, and up to the day of his death Joab’s power was +checked only by the influence or the intrigues of Bath-sheba.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Even in the early days when David still reigned at Hebron, +there was ill-feeling between the uncle and the nephew. The +masterful nature of Joab had asserted itself, and David was +made to feel that his throne depended on ‘the sons of +Zeruiah.’ War had broken out between Esh-Baal and David. +The Jews, it would seem, had advanced northward into the +territory of Benjamin, where they were met at Gibeon by the +Israelite forces under Abner from Mahanaim. A fierce battle +ensued which ended in the defeat of the Israelite troops. +Abner fled across the Jordan, the north of Israel being in the +hands of the Philistines, and the authority of David was +acknowledged as far as Mount Ephraim. The Benjamites +were forced to transfer their allegiance from the house of Saul +to that of Jesse. Nineteen Jews only had fallen in the fight, +while 360 of the enemy were left dead on the field of battle. +But among the Jews was Asahel, the younger brother of Joab, +who had been slain by Abner during his flight. It was the +beginning of a blood-feud which could be extinguished only +by Abner’s death.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_401'>401</span>Abner’s military genius was no match for that of Joab, and +the long war which followed between David and Esh-Baal saw +the power of the Jewish king steadily increase. David began +to assume the manners and privileges of an Oriental despot, +to multiply his wives, and to marry into the families of the +neighbouring kinglets. Four more wives were added to his +harîm, one of whom was the daughter of Talmai, the Aramaitish +king of Geshur. The alliance with Talmai had a political +object; Geshur lay on the northern frontier of Esh-Baal’s +kingdom, and in Esh-Baal, therefore, David and Talmai had a +common enemy.<a id='r459'></a><a href='#f459' class='c013'><sup>[459]</sup></a> Absalom was the offspring of the marriage +with the Aramaitish princess.<a id='r460'></a><a href='#f460' class='c013'><sup>[460]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Enclosed between Geshur and Judah, with Benjamin lost +and the north of Israel garrisoned by the Philistines, the +dynasty of Saul grew continually weaker. The Ammonites +made common cause with David (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 2), and in the +neighbouring Aramæans found further allies. Abner was not +slow in perceiving that his fortunes were linked with those of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_402'>402</span>a lost cause, and he determined to betray his nephew and his +master. A pretext was quickly found; he entered the royal +harîm and spent a night with Rizpah, the concubine of Saul. +The act was equivalent to claiming the throne, and Esh-Baal +naturally ventured to protest. The protest gave Abner the +opportunity he wanted. He fell with angry words on the +helpless king, told him that his throne depended on his +general’s loyalty, and that that loyalty was at an end. +Henceforth Abner’s sword was at the service of David to +transfer to him the kingdom from the house of Saul, and +to establish the rule of the Jewish prince from Dan to +Beer-sheba.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Israelite general now sent secret messengers to David +to arrange the details of the betrayal. Abner undertook to +‘bring over’ all Israel to David, in return for which he was to +supplant Joab as the commander of David’s army. The terms +were agreed to by the Jewish king, David only stipulating in +addition that Michal should be restored to him. We are not +told what it was proposed to do with Esh-Baal; Abner’s +treason, however, involved putting him out of the way. As +long as he lived there would have been a claimant to the +Israelite throne.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The plot prospered at first. Abner tampered successfully +with the elders of Israel, reminding them that they had once +wanted David as their king,<a id='r461'></a><a href='#f461' class='c013'><sup>[461]</sup></a> and that Yahveh had declared +that through him alone the yoke of the Philistines should be +broken. The Benjamites also allowed themselves to be +persuaded by one of their own princes, who was at the same +time the most prominent member of the house of Saul, and +Abner accordingly went to Hebron with a troop of twenty +men to announce to David that his part of the compact had +been fulfilled. But the secret had already oozed out. Abner +had timed his visit so that Joab should be absent on a raid +when he had his audience with David. Joab, however, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_403'>403</span>returned sooner than was expected, and, pretending to be +ignorant of the real object of Abner’s coming, expostulated +with the king for allowing an enemy to penetrate to the court +and spy out the weak places of the land. Meanwhile he had +sent a messenger who brought Abner back to Hebron, where +he and his brother Abishai murdered the unsuspecting +Israelite, and thus avenged the blood of Asahel.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The blow was felt keenly by David, who saw in it the +destruction of his hopes. The acquisition of Israel seemed +further off than ever, for the Israelites were not likely to +forgive or forget the murder of their chief. Worst of all, +perhaps, his chances of getting rid of Joab were at an end. +It was clear that the Jewish general had discovered the +treachery that had been meditated towards him, and though +he was too politic to reproach the king, it gave him a firmer +hold upon David than before. From the point of view of the +monarchy, indeed, this was fortunate, as Joab had proved +himself a better and more loyal general than Abner, and it is +probable that had Abner been thrust into his place, the future +conquests of David would never have been made.</p> + +<p class='c003'>All that David could do was to disavow the murder of +Abner, to protest that though he had been anointed king +he had not the power to punish the perpetrators of it, and +ostentatiously to abstain from food at the public dinner of +the court. Abner, moreover, received a sumptuous burial in +Hebron, at which the king was chief mourner. Joab must +have recognised the policy of the king’s action, since he seems +to have accepted it without a word of protest. He had gained +his point; his rival was removed from his path, and his position +in the kingdom was more unquestioned than ever.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The death of Abner reduced the adherents of Esh-Baal to +despair. The seeds of disaffection which he had sown also +began to grow up. If Israel was to be delivered from the +Philistines, it was evident that the throne of Esh-Baal must +be occupied by another. Time was on the side of David, +and it was not long before the end came.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_404'>404</span>Esh-Baal was murdered by two of his own tribesmen. +Baanah and Rechab, the sons of Rimmon, penetrated into +his bed-chamber one summer afternoon while he was taking +his <i>siesta</i>, and there murdered the sleeping king. Then they +beheaded the corpse, and, taking the head with them, hurried +to David at Hebron without once resting on the road.<a id='r462'></a><a href='#f462' class='c013'><sup>[462]</sup></a> But +David was too prudent to countenance the deed. While +securing all the advantages of it, he ordered summary punishment +to be inflicted on its perpetrators, and thus cleared +himself and his house from the stain of blood. Like the +Amalekite who claimed to have killed Saul, the murderers of +Esh-Baal were put to death, and the divine law, which exacted +blood for blood, was satisfied. The Jewish king could enjoy +with an easy conscience the fruits of a murder of which he +was innocent. No other rival stood in his path, for Merib-Baal, +the son of Jonathan, was a hopeless cripple, with his +spine injured by a fall in his childhood. When he was still +but five years of age the fatal battle of Gilboa had taken +place, and his nurse in the hurry of flight had dropped the +child from her arms.<a id='r463'></a><a href='#f463' class='c013'><sup>[463]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The death of Esh-Baal made David king of what was left +of Northern Israel. Those who had gathered round the son +of Saul at Mahanaim now flocked to Hebron, and there +anointed the king of Judah king also of Israel. They +reminded him that they, too, were of his ‘bone and flesh,’ +sprung from a common ancestor and acknowledging the same +<span class='pageno' id='Page_405'>405</span>God, that he had once been their leader against the Philistines, +and that it had been predicted of him that he should again be +the captain of Israel.<a id='r464'></a><a href='#f464' class='c013'><sup>[464]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>His coronation as king of Israel led to war with the +Philistines. From the vassal prince who reigned at Hebron, +and whose title was not acknowledged by the majority of his +countrymen, there was nothing to fear; it was different when +he had become the king of a united Israel, and could once +more summon the forces around him with which he had +gained the victories of his earlier years. In accepting the +crown of Israel, moreover, without the permission of the +Philistines, David had been guilty of revolt. The Philistines +claimed dominion over the whole of Northern Israel west of +the Jordan; if they had condoned his annexation of the +territory of Benjamin, it was because he was still their +tributary vassal, and the annexation meant war between him +and the rival kingdom of Israel. The heathen lords of Palestine +were well content that Judah and Israel should waste +their strength in contending with one another. But the union +of the two kingdoms turned that strength against themselves. +The union had been effected without their consent; it was +‘the men of Israel’ who had anointed David without consulting +the suzerain power.</p> + +<p class='c003'>At first the war went against the newly crowned king. He +was taken by surprise, and the Philistine army had invaded +his territories before he had time to gather his forces together. +Beth-lehem, the seat of David’s forefathers, was seized by the +enemy, and made the base of their attack. Thus cut off +from help from the northern and eastern tribes, or even from +Benjamin, David was forced to retire from Hebron, and once +more to take refuge in the ‘hold’ of Adullam.<a id='r465'></a><a href='#f465' class='c013'><sup>[465]</sup></a> It was a +country well known to him; it had already saved him from +the pursuit of Saul, and the foreign foe did not dare to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_406'>406</span>penetrate into its dark caves and narrow gorges. Here for a +time he carried on a guerilla warfare with the Philistines until +he felt himself strong enough to venture out into the open +field. It was while he was thus keeping the enemy at bay +that three of his followers performed a deed which placed +them among the thirty <span lang="hbo"><i>gibbôrîm</i></span>, or ‘mighty men,’ in immediate +attendance on the king.<a id='r466'></a><a href='#f466' class='c013'><sup>[466]</sup></a> David had a sudden longing +for the water of the well at the gate of Beth-lehem, of which +he had doubtless often drunk in his boyish days. His wish +was overheard by Joshebbasshebeth,<a id='r467'></a><a href='#f467' class='c013'><sup>[467]</sup></a> Eleazar, and Shammah, +who broke through the host of the Philistines, and succeeded +in bringing the water to their leader. David, however, refused +to drink it. It was, as it were, the price of blood; the three +heroes had risked their lives to bring it, and the king accordingly +poured it out as a libation to the Lord.</p> + +<p class='c003'>How long this guerilla warfare lasted we do not know. +Only a meagre abstract is given us of the wars and conquests +of David, and it seems probable that a detailed history of +them has been intentionally omitted by the compiler of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_407'>407</span>books of Samuel. A separate work dealing with the history +was doubtless in existence at the time he wrote, and there +was no room for another by the side of it. It was the lesser +known portion of David’s history which he aimed at compiling +out of the records of the past. The story, therefore, of the +conquest of the Philistines and then of the creation of an +Israelitish empire has been lost to us; we know the results, +but little more.</p> + +<p class='c003'>When David at length ventured to descend from his +mountain fortress, the Philistines were encamped in the plain +of Rephaim, or the ‘Giants,’ which stretched to the south-east +of Jerusalem.<a id='r468'></a><a href='#f468' class='c013'><sup>[468]</sup></a> He was thus cut off from the north, the +road being further barred by the Jebusite stronghold of Jerusalem, +which appears to have peacefully submitted to the +Philistine domination. For a while the two hostile forces +watched one another, neither daring to attack the other. +Heroes and champions on either side performed individual +deeds of valour like that which had first won recognition for +David on the part of Saul, but no general engagement took +place.<a id='r469'></a><a href='#f469' class='c013'><sup>[469]</sup></a> The Philistines were too numerous, the Israelites too +securely posted to be assailed.</p> + +<p class='c003'>At last, however, David judged that his opportunity had +come. The oracle of Yahveh was consulted; the answer was +favourable; and the Israelites descended suddenly on their +enemies at a place called Baal-perazim. The Philistines fled +precipitately, leaving behind them the images of their gods, +which fell into the hands of the conquering army. The +defeat at Gilboa was in part avenged.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But the strength of the Philistines was by no means broken, +and they still held possession of the country north of Judah. +Once more they poured through the valley of Rephaim, and +once more they were driven back towards the coast. David +had fallen upon them in the rear, the sound of the approaching +footsteps of the Israelites being drowned in the rustling +<span class='pageno' id='Page_408'>408</span>made by the wind in a grove of mulberry-trees. This time +the invaders were utterly shattered; they retreated from the +territory of Benjamin, and fled to Gezer, which was still in +Canaanite hands. The war was now carried into the country +of the enemy. Gath, the most inland of the Philistine cities, +was the primary object of attack; but a long and desultory +war was needed before either it or its sister cities could be +forced to yield. Again opportunities occurred for the display +of individual deeds of prowess, and for winning the rewards +of valour from the Israelitish king. The three brothers of +Goliath were slain by three of the champions of Israel, +Jonathan the nephew of David being the victor in one +combat, Abishai the brother of Joab in another. Abishai’s +victory was gained at Gob, where David narrowly escaped +death at the hands of the giant Ishbi-benob.<a id='r470'></a><a href='#f470' class='c013'><sup>[470]</sup></a> The narrowness +of the escape terrified his subjects, and they determined +that he should not again expose his life in the field. The +memory of Saul’s death and its disastrous results was too +recent to be forgotten. Henceforward, except on rare occasions, +David governed his people from the city or the palace; +his armies were led by Joab, and the king became to them +a name rather than an inspiring presence. The personal +affection he had once excited was confined to his bodyguard, +and when the evil days of rebellion came upon him, it was +the bodyguard alone which remained faithful to their king.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Before the war with the Philistines was finished, an event +occurred which had a momentous influence on the future +history of Judah. This was the capture of Jerusalem. The +Jebusite city had severed Judah from the northern tribes, +and the struggle with the Philistines had shown what advantage +that gave to an enemy. A united Israel was impossible +so long as the Israelitish territory was thus cut in two by a +belt of hostile country. While Jerusalem remained in the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_409'>409</span>hands of the foreigner, Israel could never be secure from +Philistine attacks, or its king be able to hurl against the +enemy the full force of his dominions. If the Philistine war +was to be brought to a decisive and satisfactory end, if the +king of Judah was also to be king of Israel, it was needful +that Jerusalem should be his. We have learned from the +tablets of Tel el-Amarna how important Jerusalem already +was in the days when the Israelites had not as yet quitted +Egypt, and when Canaan formed part of the Egyptian empire. +Its position made it one of the strongest of Canaanitish +fortresses. It was the capital of a larger territory than usually +belonged to the cities of Canaan, and it was already venerable +for its antiquity. Its ruler was also a priest, ‘without father +and without mother,’ and appointed to his office by ‘the +Mighty King,’ ‘the Most High God’ of the book of Genesis. +Its name testified to the worship of a god of peace: Urusalim, +as it is written in the cuneiform characters, signified +‘the City of Salim,’ the god of peace.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The city stood on a hill to which in after days was given +the name of Moriah. A low depression, first recognised in +our own days by Dr. Guthe, separated it from another hill, +which sloped southward till it ended in a point. On one side +was the deep limestone valley through which the torrent of +the Kidron had forced its way; on the other side, to the +west, was another valley known in later times as that of the +sons of Hinnom. On the southern hill was a fort which +protected the approach to the upper town to the north.<a id='r471'></a><a href='#f471' class='c013'><sup>[471]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Its Jebusite defenders believed it to be impregnable. Even +the lame and the blind, they said, could repel the assault of +an enemy. But they were soon undeceived. The Israelites +climbed up the cliff through a drain or aqueduct that had +been cut in the rock, and the Jebusite fortress was taken. It +may be that its capture was due to treachery, and that the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_410'>410</span>way had been shown to the besiegers by one of the garrison; +at all events the inhabitants of the city were spared, and +henceforward shared it with settlers from Judah and Benjamin. +The latter would seem to have been chiefly planted in the +new city which David built on the southern hill of Zion +where the Jebusite fortress had stood. In contradistinction +to Jerusalem it came to be known as the City of David; a +strong wall of fortification was built around it, a Millo or +citadel was erected on the site of the Jebusite fort, and the +king’s palace was founded in its midst. The palace seems +to have stood on the western side of the hill, with a flight of +steps cut in the rock leading down from it to the valley +below, traces of which have apparently been discovered by +Dr. Bliss in his recent excavations.<a id='r472'></a><a href='#f472' class='c013'><sup>[472]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>It was built by Phœnician artificers from Tyre. War and +foreign oppression had destroyed most of the culture the +Israelites had once possessed, and they no longer had among +them skilled artisans like Bezaleel, who could undertake the +construction or adornment of buildings which might vie with +the palaces of the Philistine or Canaanite cities. Carpenters +and stone-masons had to be fetched from Tyre like the beams +of cedar that were cut on the slopes of the Lebanon. Jaffa, +the port of Jerusalem, must already have fallen by war or +treaty into David’s hand.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We are told that the cedar and the workmen were sent by +Hiram, the Tyrian king. But if the Israelitish palace had +been built in the early part of David’s reign, this can hardly +have been the case. Josephus, quoting from the Phœnician +historian Menander, tells us that Hiram <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr>, the son of Abibal, +reigned thirty-four years (<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 969-936),<a id='r473'></a><a href='#f473' class='c013'><sup>[473]</sup></a> and since he was +still alive in the twentieth year of Solomon’s reign (1 Kings +<abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 10), it would have been Abibal rather than Hiram who +<span class='pageno' id='Page_411'>411</span>first entered into commercial alliance with David.<a id='r474'></a><a href='#f474' class='c013'><sup>[474]</sup></a> Abibal +seems, like David, to have been the founder of a dynasty, +and his son and successor was the Solomon of Tyre. He +constructed the two harbours of the city, restored the temples, +and built for himself a sumptuous palace, while his ships +traded to the Straits of Gibraltar in the west and to the +Persian Gulf in the east.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Jerusalem became the capital of the Israelitish king, and +the choice was a sign of his usual sagacity. It was an ideal +centre for a kingdom such as his. It lay midway between +Judah and the northern tribes, and thus, as it were, bound +them together. At the same time it belonged to neither; +its associations were Canaanite, not Hebrew, and its choice +as a royal residence could excite no jealousies. Moreover, +this absence of past associations with the history of Israel +enabled David to do with it as he liked; it contained nothing +the destruction or alteration of which would offend the prejudices +of his countrymen. Situated as it was on the borders +of both Judah and Benjamin, it served to unite the houses +of Saul and Jesse, and the mixed population which soon filled +it—partly Jebusite, partly Jewish, and partly Benjaminite—was +a symbol and visible token of that unification of races +and interests in Palestine which it was the work of David’s +reign to effect. In addition to all this, Jerusalem was a +natural fortress, difficult to capture, easy to defend; it had +behind it the traditions of a venerable past, and had once +been the seat of a priest-king.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The spoils of foreign conquest allowed David to fortify +and embellish it. Israel as yet had no trade of its own. +The struggle with the Philistines had effectually prevented it +from engaging in the commerce which had made the name +<span class='pageno' id='Page_412'>412</span>of ‘Canaanite’ synonymous with that of ‘merchant.’ The +Philistines had held possession of the highroads that ran +through Palestine as well as of the southern line of coast; +the coasts and harbours to the north were occupied by the +Phœnicians. The capture of Joppa from the Zakkal first +opened to Israel and Judah a way to the sea.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The fortifications of Jerusalem were completed and the +royal palace built. But the God of Israel to whom David +owed his power and his victories had no habitation there. +Jerusalem had become the capital of the Israelitish monarchy, +yet it was still under the protection of a Canaanitish god. +The time had come when Yahveh should take his place and +assume the protection of David’s capital and David’s throne.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In Egypt, in Babylonia, in the cities of Canaan itself, the +palace of the king and the temple of the deity stood side by +side. It was on the temple rather than on the palace that +the wealth of the nation was lavished: while the palace might +be built of brick and stucco, the temple was constructed of +hewn stone. David naturally desired that Yahveh also should +have a fitting habitation in the city He had given to His +worshippers. But the prophet Nathan, who had at first +shared in the plans of David, was commissioned to arrest the +design. David had been a man of war who had ‘shed much +blood upon the earth’;<a id='r475'></a><a href='#f475' class='c013'><sup>[475]</sup></a> until the wars were finished ‘which +were about him on every side’<a id='r476'></a><a href='#f476' class='c013'><sup>[476]</sup></a> Yahveh would not permit +him to build Him a house. All he might do was to prepare +the material for his happier and more peaceful son. Jerusalem +was ‘the city of the god of peace,’ and it was as a god of +peace and not of war that Yahveh would consent to dwell +within it.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Nevertheless, though the building of a temple was forbidden, +the new capital of the kingdom was not deprived of the +presence of Yahveh. The ark of the covenant was brought +from the Gibeah or ‘Hill’ of Kirjath-jearim,<a id='r477'></a><a href='#f477' class='c013'><sup>[477]</sup></a> where it had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_413'>413</span>lain so long. Placed in ‘a new cart,’ it was led along by oxen, +while David and the Israelites accompanied it with music and +singing. On the road, the oxen stumbled and shook the sacred +palladium of Israel; Uzzah, one of the two drivers, put forth +his hand to steady it, and immediately afterwards fell back +dead. His death was regarded as the punishment of one who, +though not a Levite, had ventured to touch the shrine of +Yahveh, and David in terror and dismay broke up the festal +procession, and left the ark in the nearest house, which +happened to belong to a Philistine of Gath named Obed-Edom.<a id='r478'></a><a href='#f478' class='c013'><sup>[478]</sup></a> +Here it remained three months. Then, David +finding that the household of the Philistine had been blessed +and not cursed by its presence, caused it to be again removed +and taken to Jerusalem. Sacrifices were offered as it passed +along, music once more accompanied it, and David, as +anointed king, clad in the priestly ephod, danced sacred +dances before it. But his wife, Michal, who had seen him +from a window thus acting like one of the inferior priests, +‘despised him in her heart,’ and on his return to the palace +upbraided him with his unseemly conduct. David answered +taunt with taunt; the king could not degrade himself by any +service, however mean, that he might perform in honour of his +God, but Michal herself should be degraded by living the rest +of her life a childless wife. Meanwhile the assembled multitude +was feasted with bread, meat, and wine, and the ark was +reverently placed in ‘the tent’ set up for the purpose in the +midst of Jerusalem. Was this the famous ‘tabernacle of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_414'>414</span>congregation’ which had accompanied the Israelites in their +wanderings in the desert, and had afterwards formed part of +the temple-buildings at Shiloh? The fact that it is called ‘the +tent’ would seem to imply that such was the case. On the +other hand, the Chronicler evidently thought otherwise,<a id='r479'></a><a href='#f479' class='c013'><sup>[479]</sup></a> and +we are not told that ‘the tent’ had been brought from +elsewhere.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It would seem that the war with the Philistines was over +when the ark was brought to Jerusalem. During its continuance +it is not probable that a native of Gath would be +living peaceably in Israelitish territory, or giving hospitality to +the sacred safeguard of Israel. The Philistines must have +already been incorporated into David’s kingdom, like the +Jebusites of Jerusalem or the Kenites of the south, and his +bodyguard have been recruited from among them. Unfortunately +we do not know how long the war had lasted. A time +came, however, when they acknowledged themselves the +servants of the Israelitish king, and became the vassals of +Judah. They never again were formidable to their neighbours, +nor did they ever seriously dispute the suzerainty of Judah. +It is true that they might now and then take advantage of a +foreign invasion, like that of the Assyrians, to shake off the +yoke of their suzerain, but their independence never lasted +long, and the five cities did not always take the same side. +Even when the very existence of Jerusalem was threatened by +Sennacherib, we find Ekron faithfully supporting Hezekiah +against the Assyrian conqueror. David broke the spirit as +well as the power of the Philistines, and took for ever the +supremacy they had wielded out of their hands.<a id='r480'></a><a href='#f480' class='c013'><sup>[480]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_415'>415</span>The ‘lords’ or kings of the five Philistine cities were left +undisturbed. But their position towards David was reversed. +Instead of his being their vassal, they became vassals to him, +paying him tribute, and providing him with military service +when it was required. David was well acquainted with the +excellence of the Philistines as soldiers in war. Accordingly +he followed the example of the Egyptian Pharaohs who had +transformed their Libyan and Sardinian enemies into mercenary +troops, and of the king of Gath in his own case. He +surrounded himself with a bodyguard of Philistines and +Kretans, to whom were afterwards added Karian adventurers +from the south-western coast of Asia Minor. Already in the +age of the Tel el-Amarna tablets Lycians from the same part +of the world had served as mercenaries in Syria, and in the +time of Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> the Hittite army contained troops from +Lycia, from Ionia, and from the Troad. Not only could the +foreigners be used against David’s own countrymen in case of +disaffection or rebellion; their employment about the king’s +person in an office of trust made them feel that they were as +much his subjects as the Israelites themselves, and forget also +that they had been conquered. It was a means of cementing +together the monarchy which the Israelitish king had created.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The war with the Philistines was followed by one with +Moab. Here, too, David was successful. The Moabites +were vanquished, and the captives massacred in accordance +with the cruel fashion of the day. Forced to lie along the +ground, two-thirds of the row were measured off with a line +and pitilessly put to death. The result was the almost +complete destruction of the fighting force of the country; +and a century had to pass before Moab recovered its strength, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_416'>416</span>and once more regained its independence. It was during the +war with Moab that Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, who was +sprung from the mixed Jewish and Edomite population of +Kabzeel, first came into notice, and was rewarded with a place +among the thirty ‘heroes.’ He slew, we are told, two <span lang="hbo"><i>ariels</i></span> +of Moab.<a id='r481'></a><a href='#f481' class='c013'><sup>[481]</sup></a> The word seems to have specially belonged to +the language of the Moabites. Mesha, on the Moabite Stone, +states that after the conquest of Ataroth and Nebo, he took +from them the <span lang="hbo"><i>arels</i></span> (or <span lang="hbo"><i>ariels</i></span>) of Dodah and Yahveh, and +tore them in pieces before Chemosh,<a id='r482'></a><a href='#f482' class='c013'><sup>[482]</sup></a> and in the Egyptian +<i>Travels of the Mohar</i> the same word is found, having been +borrowed from the Canaanites in the sense of a ‘hero.’<a id='r483'></a><a href='#f483' class='c013'><sup>[483]</sup></a> The +<span lang="hbo"><i>ariels</i></span> slain by Benaiah must therefore have been Moabite +champions like the Philistine Goliath of Gath.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Their overthrow was not the only achievement of Benaiah +which qualified him for a place among the <span lang="hbo"><i>gibbôrîm</i></span>. He had +found a lion at the bottom of a cistern in the winter-time when +the ground was covered with snow, and had boldly descended +into the pit and killed it. He had, moreover, slain an Egyptian +in single combat, though armed only with a staff, while his +opponent wielded a spear. These and similar deeds raised +him to the rank of captain of the foreign mercenaries, an office +which he retained throughout the reign of David. Between +him and Joab, the commander of the native army, feelings of +rivalry and ill-will grew up, as perhaps was natural. The +native troops naturally looked askance at the mercenaries, +who formed, as it were, a check upon themselves, and were +favoured by the king with a confidence which they did not +themselves enjoy. The feelings of the troops they commanded +were reflected back upon the two generals, whose +jealousies and counter intrigues ended, finally, in the destruction +of one of them. Benaiah survived, while Joab perished +at the foot of the altar.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_417'>417</span>Moab was conquered; it was now the turn of Ammon. +The Ammonites had looked on while their neighbours on the +eastern side of the Jordan were being annexed to the kingdom +of Israel. Nahash, however, the Ammonite king, had long +been the ally of David. A common hostility to Esh-Baal had +brought them together, and the league against the son of Saul +had included Ammon, Judah, and the Aramæans. It was +this alliance which had largely contributed to the success of +David in his war against the northern tribes; left to himself +it is doubtful whether the Jewish prince would have succeeded +in overcoming his rival.</p> + +<p class='c003'>While Nahash lived, the old friendship continued between +him and the king of Israel. But with his death came a change. +The ambassadors sent by David to congratulate his son +Khanun on his accession were grossly insulted, and driven +back across the Jordan with their beards half-shorn and their +robes cut off in the middle. Khanun, it was clear, was bent +upon provoking war. He had the Aramæans at his back to +support him; the fate of Moab had alarmed him, and he +determined, while he still possessed allies, to anticipate the +war which he foresaw.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The challenge was promptly taken up. Joab and his +brother Abishai marched across the Jordan at the head of a +large army of veterans. A battle took place before ‘the City +of Waters,’ Rabbath-Ammon, ‘the capital of Ammon.’ The +Aramæan forces had already come to the help of their confederates. +Hadad-ezer of Zobah had furnished 20,000 men; +12,000 had come from the land of Tob, and 1000 from Maacah.<a id='r484'></a><a href='#f484' class='c013'><sup>[484]</sup></a> +Joab found himself enclosed between the Aramæans on one +side and the Ammonites on the other. But the Israelitish +general was equal to the danger. Leaving Abishai to resist +the Ammonite attack, he put himself at the head of a picked +body of troops and fell upon the Syrians, whom he succeeded +in utterly routing. The Ammonites, seeing the flight of their +<span class='pageno' id='Page_418'>418</span>allies, retreated behind the walls of their city, and Joab +remained master of the field.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But the battle had been sharply contested, and the Hebrew +army had suffered too severely to be able to pursue its +advantage. Joab retired to Jerusalem, there to recruit his +army and prepare for another campaign. Meantime, the +enemy also had not been idle. Hadad-ezer summoned the +vassal princes of Syria from either side of the Euphrates, and +placed the army under the command of a general named +Shobach. The struggle had passed from a mere war with +Ammon to a contest for the supremacy in Western Asia. The +time had come for David himself once more to take the +field; the issue at stake was too important to be decided by +an inferior commander, however able and experienced.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The two great powers on the Euphrates and the Nile, which +had controlled the destinies of the Oriental world in earlier +days, were now in a state of decadence. Egypt was the +shadow of its former self. Its empire in Asia had long since +fallen, and it was now divided into two hostile and equally +impotent kingdoms. The Tanite Pharaohs reigned in the +north, and though their supremacy was theoretically acknowledged +as far as the First Cataract, Upper Egypt was really +governed by the high priests of Ammon at Thebes, who had +blocked the navigation of the Nile by a strong fortress at +El-Hîba, near Feshn, which successfully prevented the rulers +of the Delta from advancing to the south.<a id='r485'></a><a href='#f485' class='c013'><sup>[485]</sup></a> Babylonia was +similarly powerless. A younger rival had grown up in Assyria, +and about <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1290 the Assyrian king Tiglath-Ninip had even +captured Babylon and held possession of it for seven years. +Like Egypt, Babylonia had renounced its claim to rule in +Western Asia, not to renew it till the age of Nebuchadrezzar.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_419'>419</span>The kingdom of Mitanni or Aram-Naharaim, moreover, +had passed away; when Tiglath-pileser <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr> of Assyria swept +over Western Asia, in <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1100, it had already become a thing +of the past. Perhaps its overthrow was due to the irruption +of the Hittites from the mountains of Cappadocia, but if so +it was soon avenged, for the Hittites too had ceased to be +formidable. Their empire had dissolved into a number of +small states: one of these was Carchemish, which commanded +the chief ford across the Euphrates; another was Kadesh, on +the Orontes, which had once more sunk into obscurity.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In place of Mitanni and the Hittites the Semitic Aramæans +of Syria had risen into prominence. They had been the +older inhabitants of the country, and the decay of the intrusive +powers of Mitanni and the Hittites had enabled them to +shake off the foreign yoke, and establish kingdoms of their +own. Among these, Zobah, called Zubitê in the Assyrian +inscriptions, acquired the leading place.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In the closing days of the Assyrian empire, the capital of +Zobah lay to the north-east of Moab—perhaps, as Professor +Friedrich Delitzsch thinks, in the neighbourhood of the modern +Homs.<a id='r486'></a><a href='#f486' class='c013'><sup>[486]</sup></a> It was essentially an Arab state, but had been +founded by those Ishmaelite Arabs of Northern Arabia, who, +like the Nabatheans, had by intercourse with a Canaanite +population developed a dialect which we term Aramaic. +Saul, as we have seen, had been already brought into hostile +collision with them. At that time the tribes of Zobah were +still disunited, and it was with the ‘kings’ or chieftains of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_420'>420</span>Zobah that the war of the Israelitish ruler had been carried +on. As in Israel, however, so in Zobah, the necessity of +defending themselves against the enemy had led to union, +and when David reigned at Jerusalem they were under the +sway of a single sovereign, Hadad-ezer, ‘the son of Rehob.’ +Rehob had given his name to a district a little to the north of +Palestine, of which Hadad-ezer must have been the hereditary +prince.<a id='r487'></a><a href='#f487' class='c013'><sup>[487]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Hadad-ezer had attempted to establish his empire on the +ruins of that of the Hittites. He had not only unified +Zobah, but had reduced the neighbouring Aramæan princes +to subjection. All northern Syria was tributary to him except +the kingdom of Hamath, and Hamath also was threatened by +the rising power. He had erected a stela commemorating +his victories on the banks of the Euphrates, in imitation of +the ancient Pharaohs of Egypt, and his alliance was courted +by the Aramæans on the eastern side of the river.</p> + +<p class='c003'>His career of conquest was suddenly arrested. The +Ammonites, threatened by David, sought his assistance, +and in return for his help offered to acknowledge his +suzerainty. The offer was accepted, and the Syrian king +found himself face to face with the upstart power of Israel. +The war which followed must have been a long one, but it +ended in the complete victory of David. In the brief +<span class='pageno' id='Page_421'>421</span>annalistic summary of David’s reign given in 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr>, +we hear only of one or two of the later incidents in the +campaign. David, it is said, smote Hadad-ezer ‘as he was +marching to restore his stela on the banks of the river’ +Euphrates (<abbr title='verse'><i>v.</i></abbr> 3). This implies that the memorial of former +conquests had been destroyed either by the Israelitish king +or by the revolted subjects of Hadad-ezer himself.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The account of the war against Ammon (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr>) shows +that the Israelitish victory must have been subsequent to the +overthrow of the Ammonites. The defeat of Hadad-ezer +was complete. The Israelites captured 1000 chariots, 7000 +horsemen,<a id='r488'></a><a href='#f488' class='c013'><sup>[488]</sup></a> and 20,000 foot-soldiers, besides a large number +of horses. The Syrian power, however, was not yet broken. +Damascus rose in defence of its suzerain, and David found +himself once more confronted by a formidable enemy. But +fortune again smiled on the veterans of Israel, and 22,000 +Syrians from Damascus were left dead on the field. Israelitish +garrisons were placed in Damascus and the neighbouring +cities, and the rule of David was acknowledged as far as the +frontiers of Hamath.<a id='r489'></a><a href='#f489' class='c013'><sup>[489]</sup></a> Nevertheless, Hadad-ezer was still +unsubdued. His communications with Mesopotamia were +still open across the desert, and it would seem that the last +scene in the war was enacted as far north as Aleppo.</p> + +<p class='c003'>A final effort to save Hadad-ezer was made by the Aramæan +states on the eastern side of the Euphrates, who were either +his vassals or his allies. Troops poured across the river, +under the command of Shobach, called Shophach by the +Chronicler. Once more David made a levy of the Israelitish +<span class='pageno' id='Page_422'>422</span>forces and led them in person against the foe. He crossed +the Jordan to the south of Mount Hermon, traversed the +territories of Damascus and Homs, and after leaving Hamath +on the left found himself at Helam, where the Aramæan host +had pitched their camp. Josephus in his account of the +campaign transforms Helam, which he reads Khalaman, into +the name of the Aramæan king beyond the Euphrates; we +may accept his reading without following him in changing a +place into a man. Khalaman would correspond exactly with +Khalman, the Assyrian name of Aleppo, which lay on the +high road from the fords of the Euphrates to the west. It +seems probable, therefore, that in Helam or Khalaman, we +must see Aleppo.</p> + +<p class='c003'>According to Josephus, who appears to have derived his +account from some Midrash or Commentary on the books of +Samuel, the army of Shobach consisted of 80,000 infantry +and 1000 horse. At all events, in the battle which followed, +and which resulted in the complete victory of the Israelites, +7000 of the Syrian cavalry and 40,000 of their foot-soldiers +are said to have been slain.<a id='r490'></a><a href='#f490' class='c013'><sup>[490]</sup></a> The power of Zobah was +utterly destroyed. All Syria on the western side of the +Euphrates hastened to make peace with the conqueror, and +to offer him homage or alliance. The states on the eastern +bank were separated from their Aramæan kinsfolk to the +west, and as long as David lived took good care not again +to cross the river. The old dream of the Israelitish patriot +was fulfilled, and the dominion of Israel extended northwards +to the borders of Hamath. Even the desert tribes to +the east of Hamath, who had owned obedience to Hadad-ezer, +passed under the sway of David, and for a time at all events +the Jewish king could boast that his rule was acknowledged +as far as the Euphrates.<a id='r491'></a><a href='#f491' class='c013'><sup>[491]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_423'>423</span>The immediate result of the victory was a sudden influx of +wealth into the Jewish capital. Not only were the golden +shields carried by the bodyguard of Hadad-ezer brought to +Jerusalem, to be borne on state occasions by the foreign +guards of the conqueror, but immense stores of bronze were +found in two of the cities of northern Syria, Tibhath and +Berothai.<a id='r492'></a><a href='#f492' class='c013'><sup>[492]</sup></a> It was out of this bronze that the fittings of the +temple were afterwards made by Solomon.<a id='r493'></a><a href='#f493' class='c013'><sup>[493]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Another result of the war was an embassy from Toi or Tou +of Hamath. The powerful Hebrew prince who had so +unexpectedly appeared on the horizon of northern Syria was +a neighbour whose goodwill it was necessary to purchase at +all costs. The embassy sent by Toi to David was accordingly +headed by the Hamathite king’s own son. This was +Hadoram, whose name was changed into the corresponding +Hebrew Joram. The change of name was a delicate way of +acknowledging the supremacy of the God of Israel and the +sovereign who worshipped Him, and of declaring that henceforth +Hadad of Syria was to become Yahveh of Israel. As +the Assyrian kings professed to make war in order that they +might spread the name and worship of Assur, so it might be +<span class='pageno' id='Page_424'>424</span>presumed that the campaigns of David were carried on in +order to glorify Yahveh, who had given him the victory.<a id='r494'></a><a href='#f494' class='c013'><sup>[494]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The ambassadors brought with them various costly gifts, +which Israelitish vanity might, if it chose, interpret as tribute, +and which would certainly have been so interpreted by an +Egyptian or Assyrian scribe. Vessels of gold, silver, and +bronze were laid at the feet of David, and a treaty of alliance +formed between him and the ruler of Hamath. That +Hadad-ezer had been the common enemy of both was a +sufficient pretext both for the embassy and for the alliance. +The memory of the alliance lasted down to a late date. Even +when Azariah reigned over Judah in the time of the Assyrian +king Tiglath-pileser <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>, Hamath could still look to Jerusalem +for help; and in the age of Sargon, Yahu-bihdi, whose name +contains that of the national God of Israel, led the people of +Hamath to revolt.</p> + +<p class='c003'>All this while the siege of ‘the City of Waters,’ the Rabbah +or ‘Capital’ of Ammon, still dragged on. Joab was encamped +before it, while David was leading a life of ease and luxury in +his palace at Jerusalem. This neglect of his kingly duties +finds little favour in the eyes of the Hebrew historian. At +the season of the year when David sent Joab and ‘his +servants’ to do his work, other ‘kings’ were accustomed to +‘go forth to battle,’ and special emphasis is laid upon the +words of Uriah: ‘The ark and Israel and Judah abide in +tents; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are +encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, +to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife?’ With a king +who had thus delegated his proper work to others, and had +already forgotten that the very reason for his existence was +that he should lead the people of Yahveh against their +enemies, a catastrophe could not be far distant. First came +the act of adultery with Bath-sheba, the wife of Uriah the +Hittite, next the treacherous murder of a faithful guardsman +<span class='pageno' id='Page_425'>425</span>and brave officer. Uriah was made to carry to Joab the letter +which contained his own death-warrant, as well as that of +other servants of David, equally innocent and equally valorous. +A special messenger brought the king the news of his death, +and Bath-sheba was at once added to the royal harîm. One +man only could be found with courage enough to protest +against the deed; this was Nathan the prophet, a successor +of the Samuel who had placed the crown on David’s head. +The king professed his penitence, though he did not offer to +put away Bath-sheba, and the death of the child he had had +by her was accepted in expiation of his guilt. It was an +example of that vicarious punishment, that substitution of +‘the fruit of the body for the sin of the soul,’ a belief in +which was as strong among the Canaanites as it was in +Babylonia. The second son borne by Bath-sheba received +the double name of Jedidiah from Nathan, and Shelomoh or +Solomon from his father. Shelomoh, ‘the peaceful,’ was, in +fact, the Hebrew equivalent of Salamanu or Solomon, the +name of a king of Moab in the days of Tiglath-pileser <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr><a id='r495'></a><a href='#f495' class='c013'><sup>[495]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>David’s submission gave him a claim upon Nathan which +the prophet never forgot. The death of the first-born of +Bath-sheba, moreover, seemed to indicate that Yahveh had +accepted the sacrifice of the child that had been, as it were, +offered for the sin of the father, and that the guilt of the +Israelitish monarch had been atoned. Henceforward Nathan +took a peculiar interest in the new queen and her offspring. +One of the four sons of Bath-sheba was named after him +(1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 5), and it was to him that Solomon owed in part +his succession to the throne. It may be that Solomon’s +training was intrusted to the prophet; such at any rate may +be the significance of the words in 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 25.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_426'>426</span>It was after the birth of Solomon that Rabbah was at +length starved into a surrender. Joab, ever jealous of his +master’s fame, sent to tell David of the fact, and to bid him +come at once and occupy the city lest the glory of its capture +should be credited to the general who had besieged it rather +than to the king who had remained at home. David +accordingly proceeded to the camp, and entered the +Ammonite capital at the head of his troops. The crown of +gold, inlaid with gems, which had adorned the image of +Malcham, the Ammonite god, was placed over the head of +his human conqueror; the city itself was sacked, and its +population treated with merciless rigour. In the euphemistic +language of the historian they were put ‘under saws and +under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made to +pass through the brickkiln.’<a id='r496'></a><a href='#f496' class='c013'><sup>[496]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The war with Ammon was followed by one with Edom. +The Amalekites or Bedâwin had already been taught that a +strong power had arisen in Palestine, thoroughly able to +protect its inhabitants from the raids of the desert robbers +(2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 12); the turn of the Edomites was to come +next. David himself seems to have led the Israelitish army,<a id='r497'></a><a href='#f497' class='c013'><sup>[497]</sup></a> +and in a decisive battle in a wadi south of the Dead Sea, +utterly crushed the forces of Edom.<a id='r498'></a><a href='#f498' class='c013'><sup>[498]</sup></a> Eighteen thousand of +the enemy were slain, and all further resistance on the part of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_427'>427</span>disciplined troops was at an end. For six months longer the +inhabitants of Mount Seir carried on a guerilla warfare with +Joab; they were, however, mercilessly hunted out and +massacred, hardly a male being left alive (1 Kings <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 15). +The child Hadad, the son, it may be, of the last Edomite +king Hadar, was carried by ‘his father’s servants’ to Egypt, +where they found shelter in the court of the Pharaohs, and +David took possession of the depopulated country. Its +possession opened up for Israel a new era of wealth and +commercial prosperity. The high road along which the spices +of southern Arabia were carried ran through it, and at its +southern extremity were the two ports of Elath and Ezion-geber +on the Sea of Suph, which connected Western Asia +with the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. David now commanded +the caravan-trade from the north of Syria to the Gulf +of Aqaba; on the one side he was in contact with Mesopotamia +and Asia Minor, on the other with Egypt and Arabia. +Apart from the trade which passed through Palestine, leaving +riches on its way, the tolls levied on merchandise must have +brought a goodly income to the royal exchequer. David, +indeed, had too much in him of the peasant and the warrior +to realise the full extent of his good fortune; it needed a +Solomon to perceive all the advantages of his position, to fit +out merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aqaba, and to secure a +monopoly of the carrying trade. For the present, David was +occupied in fortifying the conquests he had made. Aramæans +from Ammon and Zobah were drafted into his bodyguard,<a id='r499'></a><a href='#f499' class='c013'><sup>[499]</sup></a> +and Edom was so effectively garrisoned as to make revolt +impossible for more than a century. A firm hold was kept +upon the kinglets of the small Aramæan states to the north +who had formerly owned Hadad-ezer as their suzerain; the +king of Geshur was already connected by marriage with the +royal house of Israel. A new and formidable power had +grown up at the entrance to Egypt, effectually cutting off the +monarchy of the Nile from Western Asia, and the commander-in-chief +<span class='pageno' id='Page_428'>428</span>of the Israelitish army had proved himself the ablest +and most irresistible general of his time.</p> + +<p class='c003'>David appeared to be securely fixed not only on the throne +of Israel, but also on that of an Israelitish empire. But his +power after all was wanting in stability. It depended in great +measure upon Joab; Joab alone commanded the confidence +of the veteran soldiery, and was dreaded by the foreign foe.<a id='r500'></a><a href='#f500' class='c013'><sup>[500]</sup></a> +Moreover, there was as yet but little real adhesion between +the Israelitish tribes. Ephraim could not forget its old +position of pre-eminence, or cease to resent the domination +of the new-born and half-foreign tribe of Judah. The blood-tax +demanded by the wars of David added to the discontent. +The wars were wars of aggression rather than of defence, and +were to the advantage of a Jewish dynasty, not of the people +as a whole. Military service became as unpopular in Israel +as it has been of recent years in Egypt: when David proposed +to number his subjects and thereby ascertain what fighting +force he possessed, Joab vainly endeavoured to dissuade him +from his intention, and the people subsequently saw in the +plague that followed the punishment of a royal crime. The +bodyguard of Philistines and Kretans, with its officers of +various nationalities and creeds, protected the person of the +king and prevented any open signs of disaffection; but +discontent smouldered beneath the surface, ready to break +into flame whenever a favourable opportunity occurred. The +Israelites had too recently submitted themselves to the rule +of a single sovereign to be as yet amenable to discipline, or to +have lost the democratic instincts of the armed peasant and +his guerilla methods of carrying on war.</p> + +<p class='c003'>There was yet another, and a still more potent cause for +the instability of David’s throne. This was to be found in +the royal family itself. Polygamy has been the fatal cancer +which has eaten away the strength and prosperity of the most +powerful dynasties of the Oriental world; and the history of +the Israelitish empire proved no exception to the rule. David +<span class='pageno' id='Page_429'>429</span>had none of the stern and ascetic fanaticism which distinguished +Saul; he enjoyed life to the fullest, and when +success came, policy alone set bounds to his enjoyment of it. +Self-indulgent as most other Oriental despots, he multiplied +to himself wives and children, not shrinking even from the +murder of the trustiest of his followers in his determination to +add yet another beauty to his well-stocked harîm. Polygamy +brought with it its usual curse. In the dull and idle seclusion +of the palace, the wives of the king quarrelled one with +another for his favour and love, and the quarrel of the mother +was adopted by her children. Maachah, the daughter of the +king of Geshur, claimed precedence for herself and her son +Absalom in virtue of their royal blood; Amnon, as the first-born +of his father, regarded himself as rightful heir to the +throne, and as therefore placed above the ordinary laws of +men; while Bath-sheba, whose unscrupulous ambition had +betrayed a husband to destruction, never ceased intriguing in +the interests of Solomon whom she had destined from the +outset for the crown.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The latter years of David’s life were clouded with the +crimes and rebellions of his family. Amnon outraged his +half-sister Tamar, and was murdered by her brother Absalom, +and Absalom, his father’s favourite, fled to Talmai, king of +Geshur. Thanks to Joab, the blood-feud was eventually +appeased, and after an exile of three years Absalom was +allowed to return to Jerusalem. Two years later, David +consented to forget the past. Absalom was again received +at court, and his beauty and grace of manner resumed their +former sway over the hearts of both king and people.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But David was growing old; discontent was gathering +even among his own tribesmen, and Absalom was impatient +to seize the crown which he conceived to be his by right. +He obtained leave to go to Hebron, there to offer sacrifice +in the ancient sanctuary and capital of Judah. The place +was well chosen: the religious traditions of a venerable past +were associated with the city, and its inhabitants could have +<span class='pageno' id='Page_430'>430</span>looked with little favour on the rise of Jerusalem. They gave +ready ear to the prince who promised to restore Hebron to +its ancient importance, and make it once more a capital. +The cry of Hebron and Judah as against Jerusalem and a +dynastic empire was eagerly responded to.</p> + +<p class='c003'>David was taken by surprise. Even Joab does not seem +to have been aware of the conspiracy which was being formed. +There were no troops in Jerusalem sufficient to defend it +against attack, even if its defenders could be trusted, and of +this David was no longer sure. He seemed deserted by all +the world, and his only safety lay in flight. Even his counsellor +Ahitophel had gone over to the rebel son.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The royal household and harîm fled eastwards across the +Jordan to those outlying districts of Israelitish territory in +which Esh-Baal had so long maintained himself. David was +accompanied by his bodyguard: the priests who wished to +accompany him with the ark were sent back. So, too, was +Hushai, the fellow-councillor of Ahitophel, in the hope that +he might counteract the schemes of Absalom’s adviser.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The revolt showed David that he had been living in merely +fancied security. His tribesmen had fallen away from him at +the first summons of his more popular son; his old comrades, +indeed, still stood by him, and he could count on the swords +and fidelity of his foreign bodyguard. But what were they +against a revolted nation? Even in the days of outlawry, +when he was hunted from cave to cave by Saul, he could +reckon on popular sympathy and help; now the popular +sympathy was transferred to another, and the flood-gates of +disaffection and hatred were opened upon him. In spite of +his guards, Shimei of the house of Saul ventured to stone him +as he passed along, and to call him the man of blood who had +unrighteously seized the crown. It was a sign that the fall of +Saul’s dynasty had not been forgotten, and that there were +still those in Benjamin who submitted with reluctance to the +rule of his supplanter.</p> + +<p class='c003'>David was saved by the loyalty of Joab. Had that +<span class='pageno' id='Page_431'>431</span>invincible general gone over to the enemy a new king would +have sat on the throne of Israel. The commander-in-chief +would have taken his veterans with him and led them, as +ever, to victory. Fortunately for David, his old friend refused +to forsake the fortunes of the fallen king. Perhaps family +jealousies may have had some influence on his resolution. +Absalom conferred the office of commander-in-chief on Amasa, +the son of Joab’s cousin, who had married a man of Israel.<a id='r501'></a><a href='#f501' class='c013'><sup>[501]</sup></a> +The appointment may indeed have been made because Joab +had already thrown in his lot with that of the king; more +probably it had been promised to Amasa before the beginning +of the revolt.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But the priests and prophets remained faithful to the king +of their choice. Zadok and Abiathar, the chief priests, had +returned to Jerusalem with the sacred symbol of Yahveh’s +presence in Israel, but their sons Ahimaaz and Johanan +undertook to keep David informed of the plans of his enemies +in the capital. Fortunately for him, the advice of Ahitophel +was only partially acted upon. Absalom possessed himself +of his father’s concubines, and thereby, in accordance with +Hebrew ideas, published to the world his usurpation of the +throne, but the further advice of the wily counsellor was disregarded. +Instead of despatching a body of twelve thousand +men, who should fall upon the fugitives before they could +reach the fords of the Jordan, Absalom and his youthful +friends preferred the counsel of Hushai, and determined first +to raise a levy of all Israel. The idea of marching in person +at the head of a great army appealed to the vanity of the +young usurper; and to the inexperience of youth the possibility +of David and his guards hiding in ambush, and thence +descending upon their unwary pursuers, seemed a very real +danger. Ahitophel, the single representative of age and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_432'>432</span>experience among the conspirators, knew only too well what +the rejection of his advice must mean. The rebellion was +self-condemned; it was doomed to failure, and the return of +David would be the destruction of himself. Even at the +council-board of Absalom his rival Hushai had been preferred +to himself; all that was left him was to crawl back to his +home in bitter disappointment, and there hang himself. The +conspiracy had lost the brain which alone could have conducted +it to success.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The news of Ahitophel’s advice was brought to David by +the young priests. They had escaped with difficulty from +their hiding-place at the Fuller’s Spring below the southern +extremity of the wall of Jerusalem, and subsequently owed +their preservation to a woman’s wit. The priests were known +to be hostile to the new movement; they had therefore been +watched and closely pursued. They reached David while he +was still on the western side of the Jordan, and no time was +lost in putting the river between himself and his enemies. +The fugitives, however, did not consider themselves safe +until they found themselves at Mahanaim, where they were +in the midst of a friendly population. Ammonites as well as +Gileadites hastened to do honour to David, and to furnish +him with everything that he and his companions required.<a id='r502'></a><a href='#f502' class='c013'><sup>[502]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>He was soon joined by Joab and his brother Abishai, with +the veteran troops under their command. A third division +of the army was placed under Ittai of Gath, a captain in the +royal bodyguard, and the approach of the rebel army was +awaited without anxiety. Amasa made the fatal mistake of +attacking the royal troops in their own territory, on ground +<span class='pageno' id='Page_433'>433</span>they had chosen for themselves. Not only was it on the +further side of the Jordan, it was also among the trees and dense +undergrowth of the forest of Ephraim.<a id='r503'></a><a href='#f503' class='c013'><sup>[503]</sup></a> The issue could not +be doubtful. David, indeed, had not been allowed by his +followers to enter the field himself. He was now too old for +active service, and his death would involve all the horrors of +a disputed succession and civil war. That Absalom, however, +would be defeated seems to have been taken for granted, +and David accordingly impressed upon his generals that they +should spare his son’s life.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But Joab judged more wisely than the king. He knew +that as long as Absalom lived there would be constant trouble +and insecurity, and that for those who had fought against +him on his father’s side there would be but short shrift. As +Absalom, therefore, hung suspended by his hair from the +branches of a tree which had caught him in his flight, he +pierced him with three darts, while his ten armour-bearers +despoiled the corpse. Twenty thousand of the enemy were +said to have been slain, partly by the sword, partly from the +nature of the place in which the battle was fought, and the +slaughter would have been greater had not Joab recalled his +men from their pursuit of the foe as soon as Absalom was +dead. With the fall of the usurper all further danger was at +an end.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Ahimaaz, the Levite, famous for his fleetness of foot, ran +with news of the victory to the king. But Joab knew how +fondly David had doted on his handsome and selfish son; he +knew also that he was weakened in both mind and body, and +that the day was past when his emotions could be kept under +control. Joab, therefore, refused to let Ahimaaz carry the +tidings of his son’s death to the king, and an ‘Ethiopian’ +slave was sent with the news instead. In the end, however, +Ahimaaz outran the Ethiopian, and announced at Mahanaim +<span class='pageno' id='Page_434'>434</span>the victory that had been won. Then came the foreigner +with the message that Absalom was dead.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The conduct of David which followed on the message was +indefensible. He forgot that he was a king, that he had +duties towards his people and those who had risked their +lives on his behalf, that the prince who had fallen in open +fight had been the murderer of his brother, a rebel against +his father, and a would-be parricide. All was forgotten and +absorbed in a father’s grief for his dead son. David allowed +the passion of his emotion to sweep him away, and he wept +as a woman and not as a man. It was an outburst of +Oriental exaggeration of feeling, unrestrained and untempered +by the reason or the will.</p> + +<p class='c003'>His followers regarded the spectacle with amazement and +dismay. Had it been worth their while to fight for such a +king? One by one they slunk away, and it seemed as if he +would soon be left alone to the company of himself and his +harîm. But once more Joab came to the rescue of his old +master and companion in arms. It was indeed with the +rough speech of the soldier, but plain speech was needed +even though it was rough and rude. ‘Thou hast shamed +this day,’ he said, ‘the faces of all thy servants, which this +day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of +thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy +concubines; in that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy +friends. For thou regardest neither princes nor servants: for +this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had +died this day, then it had pleased thee well. Now therefore +arise, go forth, and speak comfortably unto thy servants: for I +swear by the Lord, if thou go not forth, there will not tarry +one with thee this night: and that will be worse unto thee +than all the evil that befell thee from thy youth until now.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>David was roused from his selfish and unworthy grief; +weak and self-indulgent as he had become, the words of Joab +nevertheless forced him to recognise the dangers he had +provoked. But he never forgave his monitor. He soon +<span class='pageno' id='Page_435'>435</span>found an opportunity of punishing Joab for his loyalty, and +his dying orders to his successor were to put his grey-haired +servant to death.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Secret word was sent to the priests at Jerusalem that they +should shame the elders of Judah into demanding the return +of the king, seeing that he was their own tribesman, and that +the rest of Israel had already acknowledged his sovereignty. +At the same time Amasa was appointed commander-in-chief +in place of Joab. David thus revenged himself upon his too +outspoken general, and also made a bid for popularity among +the Jewish forces who had followed Amasa.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The act was as foolish as it was unjust, and it soon brought +its penalty with it. The elders of Judah indeed begged the +king to return, and he was led across the Jordan in a sort of +triumphal procession by the delegates of that tribe. But the +other tribes resented this appropriation of the royal person. +It was the Jews rather than the rest of Israel who had revolted +and made Absalom their king, while the veterans of Joab who +had remained loyal represented the whole nation. For the +first time since the death of Esh-Baal, the men of Israel and +of Judah stood over against one another with antagonistic +interests and angry rivalry; Israel claimed to have ten parts +in the king, whereas Judah had but one, and yet David’s +action had implied that Judah alone was his rightful heritage. +Hardly was he again in Jerusalem before a new and more +dangerous revolt broke out against his rule. Sheba, a Benjamite, +raised the standard of rebellion, and his cry, ‘We +have no part in David,’ found an echo in the hearts of +the northern tribes. ‘Every man of Israel,’ we are told, +deserted ‘the son of Jesse’; Judah alone adhered to him. +But the strong arm and able brain that had so long fought +for David were no longer there to help him; Joab had been +superseded by Amasa; and the raw levies of Judah who had +escaped from the forest of Ephraim were but a poor substitute +for the disciplined forces which had created an empire. +David at last awoke to the fact that in a moment of weak +<span class='pageno' id='Page_436'>436</span>passion he had done his best to throw away a crown; Abishai +was summoned in haste and sent with the bodyguard and +‘Joab’s men’ against the new foe.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It would seem that Sheba’s camp had been at Gibeon, not +far to the north of Jerusalem. On the advance of the Jewish +army he retreated northward. Joab had accompanied his +brother, and at ‘the great stone’ of Gibeon the Jewish +forces were overtaken by their new commander-in-chief. +Amasa placed himself at the head of them, clad in the robe +of office which Joab had worn for so many years. The provocation +was great, and the murder of Abner with which Joab +had begun his career was repeated in the murder of Amasa at +the close of it. Abner, however, had been a general of considerable +ability and influence; and Joab had not yet accumulated +so many claims upon the gratitude of the king. The +army took Joab’s side in the matter: Amasa’s body was +thrown into a field with a common cloth above it, and the +Jewish soldiers hurried on along the high-road in pursuit of +the foe. They would have no other commander but Joab, +and his degradation by the king was tacitly set aside.</p> + +<p class='c003'>With Joab once more at their head, the insurrection soon +came to an end. Sheba fled to the northern extremity of +Israelitish territory and flung himself into the city of Abel of +Beth-Maachah.<a id='r504'></a><a href='#f504' class='c013'><sup>[504]</sup></a> Here he was closely besieged until ‘a wise +woman’ persuaded her fellow-citizens to cut off his head and +throw it to Joab. The rebellion was over, and Joab returned +in triumph to Jerusalem.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The last ten years of David’s life were passed in tranquillity. +His bodily and mental powers grew enfeebled, and he sank +slowly into the grave. The hardships of his youth and the +self-indulgence and polygamy of his later years had weakened +his constitution prematurely. While his early companions +<span class='pageno' id='Page_437'>437</span>Joab and Abiathar still retained their vigour, the king became +old and worn-out. The intrigues of the harîm, it is true, +still continued, but there was no Absalom to steal away the +hearts of the people by his beauty and winsomeness of +manner; no Amnon to assert in deeds the rights of a crown-prince.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Israel was at peace with her neighbours. Edom and +Zobah had been utterly crushed; Moab and Ammon feared +to move while Joab was alive. The petty kings of Northern +Syria paid intermittently their tribute; Tyre and Sidon +courted their powerful neighbour, whose friendship was +preferable to his hostility. Egypt was divided against herself; +more than one dynasty ruled in the country, and the +Tanite sovereigns of the Delta had neither wealth nor men. +Like Egypt, Babylonia had fallen into decay, and the defeat +of the Assyrian king Assur-irbi by the Aramæans had cut off +Assyria from the nations of the West. The Philistines had +been compelled to become the servants of David; and the +pirate-hordes who had flocked to their aid from Krete and +the Ægean now passed into the service of the Israelitish +king, or else transferred their attention to other parts of the +Mediterranean Sea. According to Greek legend, Thrace, +Rhodes, and Phrygia occupied the waters of which they had +once been the masters. Phœnician trading-ships could at +last sail peaceably across them, and Tyre accordingly, under +Abibal and Hiram, became a centre of maritime trade.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In the north, the Hittite empire had long since passed +away. Kadesh, on the Orontes, had become the capital of +a small district, formidable to no one, and on good terms +with its Israelitish neighbours.<a id='r505'></a><a href='#f505' class='c013'><sup>[505]</sup></a> Hamath, also, was in +alliance with the Israelitish king. Among the wadis of the +Lebanon, near Damascus, Rezon, indeed, led the life of a +bandit-chief, and robbed the caravans which passed his way; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_438'>438</span>but it was not until after David’s death that he succeeded in +establishing himself at Damascus, and there founding a +dynasty of kings.</p> + +<p class='c003'>At home, however, though outwardly all seemed calm, the +seeds of disunion and discontent were lying thick below the +surface. The rebellion of Absalom in Judah, of Sheba in +Northern Israel, had shown how fragile were the bonds of union +that bound the tribes to one another and to their king. The +affections of Judah were not yet entwined around the house +of David; the feeling that they were a single nation had not +yet penetrated very deeply into the hearts of the other tribes. +The Davidic dynasty itself was not yet secure. It depended +for its support rather on the sword than on the loyalty of the +people. The fallen dynasty still had its followers and secret +supporters, and now and then an event occurred which +showed how dangerous they might become. Shimei the +Benjamite doubtless represented the feeling of his tribe +when he cursed David in the hour of his humiliation; and +David’s conduct after his restoration to the throne shows that +he could not trust even Merib-Baal or Mephibosheth, the +son of Jonathan, whom he had treated as his own son.<a id='r506'></a><a href='#f506' class='c013'><sup>[506]</sup></a> An +incident which had happened in an earlier part of his reign is +another proof of his readiness to root out as far as possible +the family of Saul. Three years in succession Palestine had +suffered from want of rain and consequent famine, and the +oracle of Yahveh declared that the cause of the visitation was +Saul’s slaughter of the Gibeonites. The massacre of the +priests at Nob had indeed been avenged by the death of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_439'>439</span>Israelitish king and his sons, and by the fall of his throne, +but other temple-servants besides the priests had suffered +from Saul’s outburst of mad anger, and their blood was still +crying out for revenge. Blood demanded blood, and the +sacrifice of Saul’s descendants could alone atone for the guilt +of their forefather.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Mephibosheth was spared, partly because of his father +Jonathan’s friendship towards David, whose life he had once +saved, partly because little was to be feared from a lame man. +But the five sons of Michal (?) by Adriel of Meholah were +handed over to the executioner.<a id='r507'></a><a href='#f507' class='c013'><sup>[507]</sup></a> They stood too near the +throne; apart from Mephibosheth they were, in fact, the only +direct descendants of the late king, and David was doubtless +glad of the opportunity of removing them from his path. +His dying injunctions to Solomon proved how merciless he +could be when the safety of his dynasty was at stake.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Two other descendants of Saul still remained, who might +possibly be a source of trouble. These were the sons of his +concubine Rizpah, and they also were condemned to die. +The sacred number of seven victims was thus made up, and +David satisfied at once the religious scruples of the Gibeonites +and the political exigencies of his own position. Shimei had +some reason for calling him a ‘man of blood’ who had shed +‘the blood of the house of Saul.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>The human victims were hanged on the sacred hill of +Gibeah ‘before the Lord,’ and none was allowed to take +the bodies down until at last the rain fell. Then they +were buried solemnly in the ancestral tomb of Saul’s family +at Zelah, along with the ashes of Saul and Jonathan, +which David had brought from Jabesh-gilead. The great +<span class='pageno' id='Page_440'>440</span>atonement had been made and accepted by Yahveh, and at +the same time David had cleared himself from all charges +of impiety towards the dead. The fallen dynasty had ceased +to be formidable.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Hence it was that when the northern tribes under Sheba +broke away from the house of David, they could find no +representative of the family of Saul to lead them. Sheba, it +is true, was a Benjamite, but he came from Mount Ephraim, +and was not related to Saul. He was rather one of those +military generals who in after days played so large a part in +the history of the northern kingdom in dethroning and founding +dynasties.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Nevertheless, the yoke of the royal supremacy was borne +with impatience. In spite of the support of the priesthood +and the swords of Joab and the foreign bodyguard, David’s +reign was troubled by rebellion. As long, indeed, as it was +signalised by victories over a foreign foe, by the conquest of +neighbouring states, by the influx of captive slaves and the +acquisition of spoil, his subjects were well content with their +successful leader in war. His influence over those who were +brought into personal contact with him had always been great, +and there were few who could resist his charm of manner. +But when the era of conquests was past, when David had +delegated his military duties to others, and had retired more +and more into the privacy of an Oriental palace, the seeds of +discontent began to grow and spread. Even in Judah there +were complaints that justice was neglected (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 2-6); +further off the complaints must have been loud and deep. +The unpopularity of the conscription by which the ranks of +the army were filled was patent even to Joab (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 3), +and the census on which it depended was regarded as hateful +to God as well as to man.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Even David himself half repented of his determination to +number the people (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 10), and the general feeling +was expressed by the seer Gad when he declared that the +punishment of heaven would be visited for the deed, not +<span class='pageno' id='Page_441'>441</span>indeed upon the guilty king, but upon his innocent subjects +(2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 13, 17). In the plague that devastated Palestine +they saw the anger of Yahveh, and the conscience-stricken +king at once assented to the common view.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The cessation of the plague was connected with the foundation +of the temple. At the very spot where David had seen +the angel of death standing with his sword unsheathed, the +altar was built and the sacrifice offered which appeased the +wrath of the Lord. It was the threshing-floor of Araunah +the Jebusite, on the level summit of Mount Moriah, where +the old Jebusite population of Jerusalem still dwelt. It may +even be that Araunah was the last Jebusite king whose life +and freedom were spared when Jerusalem was surrendered to +David.<a id='r508'></a><a href='#f508' class='c013'><sup>[508]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The threshing-floor was bought by David, and became the +great ‘high-place’ of the new capital of the kingdom. Everything +marked it out as the site of that temple which in the +Eastern world was a necessary supplement of the royal palace. +It was the highest part of the city; it was, moreover, a smooth +and sunny rock, and the place which it occupied was open +and unconfined. It had been the scene of a special revelation +of Yahveh to the king, and the altar erected on it had +been the means of preserving the people of Israel from death. +It is possible, too, that the spot was already sacred. In the +Tel el-Amarna tablets, Ebed-Tob, king of Jerusalem, speaks +of the Temple of Nin-ip as standing on ‘the mountain of +Uru-salim,’ and of all the mountains of Jerusalem the future +temple-mount was the most prominent and commanding.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We do not know when the pestilence occurred which thus +had such momentous consequences for the later religion of +Judah. The empire of David already extended as far as +<span class='pageno' id='Page_442'>442</span>‘Kadesh of the Hittites,’<a id='r509'></a><a href='#f509' class='c013'><sup>[509]</sup></a> but Edom does not as yet seem to +have become a province of Israel. The census was taken in +order to ascertain the number of fighting men in Israel, not +with a view to the levying of taxes. In the latter case the +conquered provinces would have been included in the registration. +We may gather, therefore, that the event happened +about the middle of David’s reign, probably at the time when +the struggle with Zobah was still going on.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was at a later period, when ‘the Lord had given him +rest round about from all his enemies’ (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 1), that he +announced to Nathan his purpose of building a temple. +Nathan had taken Gad’s place as the seer and confidant of +the king, and the palace of David had already been erected. +But Yahveh would not allow him to carry out his plan. His +hands were stained too deeply with blood; the work was +destined for the son whose name signified ‘the peaceful one,’ +and in whose birth and training the seer had taken so profound +an interest.<a id='r510'></a><a href='#f510' class='c013'><sup>[510]</sup></a> All that David could do was to prepare the way +for his successor, to collect the materials for the work, and to +determine the place whereon the temple of God should +stand.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Two lists have come down to us of David’s chief officers, +extracted from the State annals. The first list is given at the +end of the annalistic summary of the events of his reign +(2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 16-18), and belongs to the earlier portion of it; +the second must have been drawn up not long before his +death. From the outset, it is clear, the kingdom was as +thoroughly organised as that of the surrounding states. There +was the ‘recorder’ or ‘chronicler’ whose duty it was to hand +down the memory of all that happened to future generations; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_443'>443</span>the scribe or chief secretary who wrote and answered official +letters, and superintended the copying and re-editing of older +documents in the record office; the commander-in-chief of +the army, who corresponded to the <i>turtannu</i> or tartan of the +Assyrians, and the commander of the foreign troops. The +administration, in fact, seems to have closely resembled that +of Assyria, excepting only that there was no Vizier or Prime +Minister who acted as the representative of the king. It +presupposes a long-established use of writing and all the +machinery of a civilised Oriental state. The scribe and the +chronicler make their appearance in Israel simultaneously +with the establishment of an organised government. A +knowledge of the art of writing could have been no new thing.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, we are told, was the +recorder, Seraiah was the secretary,<a id='r511'></a><a href='#f511' class='c013'><sup>[511]</sup></a> Benaiah the commander +of the Kretan and Philistine bodyguard. By the side of the +civil functionaries were the two high priests Zadok and +Abiathar, while the office of royal chaplains was filled by the +sons of David himself. Their duties were probably to offer such +sacrifices as were not public in the absence or in place of their +father. That there should have been two high priests is difficult +to explain. Zadok was the son of Ahitub, whom the Chronicler +makes the son of Amariah, and a descendant of Phinehas the +son of Eleazar (1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 7), while Abiathar was the son of +Ahimelech or Ahiah, the grandson of Ahitub, and great-grandson +of Phinehas the son of Eli.<a id='r512'></a><a href='#f512' class='c013'><sup>[512]</sup></a> Abiathar appears to have represented +the family of Ithamar the younger brother of Eleazar +<span class='pageno' id='Page_444'>444</span>the son of Aaron; at any rate, it was to his family that the +safe keeping of the ark had been intrusted as well as the +high priesthood at the sanctuary of Shiloh. The destruction +of Shiloh dealt a blow at its influence and <i>prestige</i>, the +massacre of the priests at Nob almost annihilated it. Room +was thus given for another line of priests who claimed descent +from the elder branch of Aaron’s family, and who had probably +preserved the Mosaic tradition in another part of Israel. Is +it possible that Zadok had followed the fortunes of Esh-Baal, +while Abiathar attached himself to David? At all events, +the unification of the kingdom brought with it the unification +of the high-priestly families; throughout the greater part of +David’s reign the ark at Jerusalem was served by both Zadok +and Abiathar, with numerous Levites under them (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> +24-29). That Zadok is always named first, though Abiathar +had been the early friend and priest of David, implies that his +claim to represent the elder branch of the high priest’s family +was recognised.</p> + +<p class='c003'>When the second list of David’s officials was compiled +certain important changes had taken place. Seraiah, the +secretary, had been succeeded by Sheva or Shisha (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> +<abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> 25; 1 Kings <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 3); ‘Ira, the Jairite,’ had become the +chaplain of David, and the growth of the empire had +necessitated the creation of a new office. This was the +imperial treasurership which was held by a certain Hadoram, +who seems to have been of Syrian origin, and whose duty it +was to collect the tribute of the conquered provinces.<a id='r513'></a><a href='#f513' class='c013'><sup>[513]</sup></a> +<span class='pageno' id='Page_445'>445</span>Possibly he had already gained experience of the office under +one of the Syrian kings.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Other officers of David are enumerated by the Chronicler +(1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-seven'>xxvii.</abbr> 25-34). They had their analogues in Assyria +and Egypt, and show how thoroughly the court of Israel was +modelled after those of the neighbouring states. Among +them we read of Azmaveth, the son of Adiel, who presided +over the exchequer; of Jonathan, the son of Uzziah, who +superintended the public granaries, which must therefore have +been established in imitation of those of Egypt and Babylonia;<a id='r514'></a><a href='#f514' class='c013'><sup>[514]</sup></a> +of Ezri, the superintendent of the peasants who worked on +the crown lands; of Shimei and Zabdi, who had charge of the +royal vineyards and wine-cellars; of Baal-hanan and Joash, to +whom were intrusted the olive plantations and storehouses of +oil; of Obil, the Ishmaelite, the chief of the camel-drivers; of +Jehdeiah, the head of the ass-drivers; and of Jaziz, the +Hagarene, who superintended the shepherds of the king.<a id='r515'></a><a href='#f515' class='c013'><sup>[515]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>David sank slowly into the grave, old in mind as well as in +years. A young maiden, Abishag the Shunammite, was +brought to lie beside the king, and so keep up the warmth of +his body. But it was all in vain, and it became clear that he +could not last long. The bed of the dying king was surrounded +by intrigue. Adonijah, the eldest of his surviving sons, +naturally looked upon himself as the rightful heir. He could +count upon two powerful supporters. One was the priest +Abiathar, who had first given David’s title to the crown a +religious sanction; the other was Joab, who had created his +empire. But Bath-sheba had long since determined that she +should be queen-mother, and that her son Solomon should +wear the crown. Behind her stood Nathan, the spiritual +director both of herself and of her son. The adhesion of +Abiathar and Joab to Adonijah, moreover, drove their rivals +<span class='pageno' id='Page_446'>446</span>Zadok and Benaiah into the opposite camp, and Benaiah +took with him the foreign bodyguard of which he was +commander, and which, as in other countries, thus showed +itself ready from the outset to make and unmake kings. Above +all, Bath-sheba still exercised her old influence over the half-conscious +monarch, and it did not need the incitements of +Nathan to induce her to exert it once more on behalf of +Solomon. Backed as she was by the prophet, the issue was +not doubtful, and David did as he was bid. Bath-sheba +reminded him of his old promise to herself, Nathan craftily +represented that Adonijah was already seizing the crown +before his father’s life was extinct.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Zadok and Benaiah were accordingly summoned, and +ordered to escort the young prince on David’s own mule +to the spring of Gihon, and there, just outside the eastern +wall of Jerusalem, where the Spring of the Virgin now gushes +from the ground, to anoint him with the oil of consecration, +and proclaim his accession by the sound of trumpet. The +presence of the priests and the bodyguard was a visible sign +that the kingship and the power had been transferred from +David to Solomon.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Meanwhile Adonijah was holding a feast at the stone of +Zoheleth, near En-Rogel, the Fuller’s Spring, the modern +Well of Job south of the Pool of Siloam. Abiathar and Joab +were with him; so also were his brothers, who seem to have +had but little affection for the favourite of Nathan, as well as +those representatives of Judah who had been the mainstay of +Absalom’s rebellion. Solomon appears to have been regarded +as tainted by foreign blood; at all events, Judah followed +Adonijah as it had followed Absalom.<a id='r516'></a><a href='#f516' class='c013'><sup>[516]</sup></a> But Nathan and +Bath-sheba had taken their measures in time. In the midst +<span class='pageno' id='Page_447'>447</span>of the feast news was brought to the conspirators by Johanan, +the son of Abiathar, that Solomon had been proclaimed +king, and that his person was already protected by the royal +bodyguard. The guests fled in dismay, and Adonijah took +refuge at the altar. There the sovereign-elect promised him +that he would spare his life.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Solomon next received the last commands of the dying +king. David’s last thought was for the maintenance of the +kingdom and the dynasty. Solomon was to follow in the +footsteps of his father, to obey the law of Yahveh and His +priests. More especially he was to seek an early opportunity +of ridding himself of possible rivals or antagonists whom the +weakness or policy of David himself had hitherto spared. +Joab was to be put to death; he was too powerful a subject +to be allowed to live, aged though he now was, and his complicity +with Adonijah made him dangerous to the new king. +Shimei, too, was to be slain; as long as he lived the fallen +dynasty had a leader around whom the disaffected might +rally. On the other hand, the kindness of Barzillai, the +Gileadite, was not to be forgotten; favour to him would win +the hearts of the men of Gilead.<a id='r517'></a><a href='#f517' class='c013'><sup>[517]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>David died, leaving behind him a name which his countrymen +never forgot. He became the ideal of a patriot king. +He had founded a dynasty and an empire; and though the +empire soon fell to pieces, the dynasty survived and exercised +a momentous influence upon the religious history of the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_448'>448</span>world. He had established once for all the principle of +monarchy in Israel; never again could the Israelites return +to the anarchic days of the Judges, or forget the lessons of +unity which they had been taught.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In character he was generous and kind-hearted, though in +his later years his kindheartedness degenerated into weakness. +He was, moreover, brave and skilful, with a personal charm +of manner and readiness of speech which those about him +found it impossible to withstand. Alone of his sons, Absalom +seems to have inherited these gifts of his father, which may +perhaps account for the blind love David had for him. +But along with these gifts went a rich fund of Oriental +selfishness, which made him never lose an opportunity of +securing his own advantage or promotion. It was a selfishness +so deep as to be wholly unconscious; whatever made +for his interests was necessarily right. It was combined with +clearness of head and definiteness of aim, which ensured +success in whatever he undertook. A good judge of men, he +first attached them to himself by his gifts of manner, and then +knew how to trust and employ them.</p> + +<p class='c003'>With the strong and healthy mind of the peasant there was, +however, combined a depth of passionate emotion which +doubtless had much to do with the influence he possessed +over others. David was a man of strong impulses, and we +cannot understand his character unless we remember the fact. +The impulses, it is true, were controlled and regulated by the +cool judgment and politic self-restraint which distinguished +more especially his earlier life; but they swayed him to the +end, sometimes for good, sometimes for evil. Above all, he +was a religious man, deeply attached to the faith into which +he had been born, full of trust in priests and prophets and +oracles, and convinced that Yahveh would protect and +befriend him as long as he obeyed the divine law. But +there was neither asceticism nor fanaticism in his religion; it +was the firm faith and religious conviction of a healthy mind.</p> + +<p class='c003'>David was not cruel by nature; if he showed himself +<span class='pageno' id='Page_449'>449</span>merciless at times, it was either for reasons of policy, or +because the action was in accordance with the public opinion +of the age. The Assyrian kings gloat over the barbarities +they practised towards their conquered enemies, and the +Hebrew Semite similarly prayed that Yahveh might dip His +foot in the blood of His foes. David might indeed be a man +of blood, but by the side of the rulers of Nineveh he was +mercy itself; and the very fact that the blood he had shed +prevented him from building a temple to his God shows how +different the conception of Yahveh must have been from that +which prevailed among the neighbouring nations of their own +deities.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Such, then, was David’s character, with all its apparent +anomalies. Brave and active, clear-headed and politic, +generous and kind-hearted, he was at the same time selfish +and impulsive, at times unforgiving and merciless. He had +nevertheless a genuine and fervid trust in Yahveh, and a +fixed belief that Yahveh demanded an upright life and ‘clean +hands.’ Up to the last he remained at heart the Oriental +peasant, who takes a healthy view of life, whose shrewdness +is crossed and chequered by the impulses of the moment, +and whose religion is deep and unquestioning. But, like the +peasant, he failed to be proof against success and prosperity. +The bold and hardy warrior degenerated into the self-indulgent +and even sensual despot. It is true that he +repented of the crimes to which his self-indulgence had +led, and which to most other Oriental despots would have +soon become a second nature; the self-indulgence, however, +remained, and a weak will and infirmity of purpose marred +the latter years of his life.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Future generations saw in him the ‘sweet psalmist of +Israel.’ As far back as we can trace it, tradition averred +that a large part of the psalter owed its origin to him. It +has been left for the nineteenth century to be wiser than the +past, and to deny to David the authorship of even a single +psalm. But there are some of them which seem to bear +<span class='pageno' id='Page_450'>450</span>their Davidic authorship on their face,<a id='r518'></a><a href='#f518' class='c013'><sup>[518]</sup></a> and if there are many +which belong to a later date, while others are pieced together +from earlier fragments,<a id='r519'></a><a href='#f519' class='c013'><sup>[519]</sup></a> this is only what we should expect +when once the nucleus of a collection had been formed, and +the psalms embodied in it employed liturgically. Assyrian +discovery has shown that penitential psalms, similar in spirit +and form to those of David, had been composed in Babylonia +centuries before his time, and there collected together for +liturgical purposes.<a id='r520'></a><a href='#f520' class='c013'><sup>[520]</sup></a> In Egypt, what we should call ‘Messianic +psalms’ had been written before the age of the Exodus.<a id='r521'></a><a href='#f521' class='c013'><sup>[521]</sup></a> +There is, therefore, no reason why a part of the Hebrew +psalter should not belong to the Davidic period, and be the +work of David himself. There is nothing in it inconsistent +with the character of David or the ideas of his time. It is +only the false theory of ‘the development of Hebrew religion’ +which finds in it the religious conceptions of a later era. +Those indeed who maintain that in the age of David the law +of Moses was as yet unknown, and that faith in Yahveh was +<span class='pageno' id='Page_451'>451</span>hardly to be distinguished from that in Baal or Chemosh, +may be compelled to deny that any of the psalms, with their +high spiritual level, can belong to the king who was ‘after +God’s own heart’; but history cannot take note of theories +which are built upon assumptions and not facts. Even in +the northern kingdom of Israel, where the memory of the +founder of the Davidic dynasty was naturally held in little +esteem, tradition was obliged to confess that he had been the +inventor of ‘instruments of music’ (<abbr title='Amos'>Am.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 5).</p> + +<p class='c003'>The exact date of David’s death is doubtful. The +chronology of the books of Kings, so long the despair of +chronologists, has at length been corrected by the synchronisms +that have been established between the history +of Israel and Judah and that of Assyria. Thanks to the +so-called Lists of Eponyms or Officers from whom the years +of the state calendar took their name, we now possess an +exact chronology of Assyria from <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 911. In <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 854 +Ahab took part in the battle of Qarqar, which was fought by +the princes of the west against their Assyrian invaders, and +his death, therefore, could not have happened till after that +date. In <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 842 Jehu offered homage to the Assyrian +monarch, and Hazael of Damascus was defeated in a battle +on Mount Shenir. Four years previously the Syrian opponent +of the Assyrians was Hadad-idri or Ben-Hadad. Lastly, +Menahem of Israel paid tribute to Tiglath-pileser <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> in +<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 738, Pekah and Rezin were overthrown in <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 734, and +Damascus was taken and destroyed by the Assyrian king in +<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 732. It is only after the capture of Samaria by Sargon +in <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 722, when the kingdom of Judah stands alone, that +the Biblical dates harmonise with the Assyrian evidence, or +indeed with one another. It is evident, therefore, that the +Biblical chronology is more than forty years in excess. Ahab, +instead of dying in <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 898, as Archbishop Usher’s chronology +makes him do, cannot have died till some forty-five years +later. We have no means of checking the earlier chronology +of the divided kingdom, but assuming its correctness, the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_452'>452</span>revolt of the Ten Tribes would have taken place about +<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 930.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Solomon, like Saul, is said to have reigned forty years. +But this merely means that the precise length of his reign +was unknown to the compiler. It could not have exceeded +thirty years. Hadoram, who was ‘over the tribute’ in the latter +part of David’s life (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> 24), still occupied the same +office in the first year of Rehoboam’s reign (1 Kings <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 18), +and Rezon, who had fled from Zobah when David conquered +the country, was ‘an adversary to Israel all the days of +Solomon’ (1 Kings <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 24, 25). No clue is given by the +statement of Rehoboam’s age in 1 Kings <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 21, since when +it is said that he was ‘forty and one years’ at the time of his +accession this is merely equivalent to ‘<abbr class='spell'><i>x</i></abbr> + 1.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>The length of David’s reign is more accurately fixed. +Seven years and a half did he reign in Hebron, and thirty-three +years over Israel and Judah (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 5), or forty and +a half years in all. Approximately, therefore, we may date +his reign from <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1000 to 960. Saul’s accession may have +been ten or fifteen years earlier.</p> + +<p class='c003'>David’s palace at Jerusalem, it is stated in 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 11, +was built by the artisans of Hiram of Tyre, who also furnished +him with cedar wood. The fragment of Tyrian annals quoted +by Josephus from Menander<a id='r522'></a><a href='#f522' class='c013'><sup>[522]</sup></a> throws some light on the +chronology of the time. Hiram, we are told, was the son of +Abibal, and the names of his successors are recorded one +after the other, together with the length of their reigns. But +unfortunately the sum of the reigns does not agree with their +total as twice given by Josephus, nor indeed are our authorities +agreed among themselves in regard to the length of certain of +them. The fact, however, that Josephus twice gives the same +total raises a presumption in its favour, more especially when +we find that it is possible by a little manipulation to make the +sum of the several reigns harmonise with it.<a id='r523'></a><a href='#f523' class='c013'><sup>[523]</sup></a> This total is +<span class='pageno' id='Page_453'>453</span>one hundred and forty-three years and eight months, which, +it is said, elapsed from the building of Solomon’s temple in +the twelfth year of Hiram down to the foundation of Carthage +in the seventh year of Pygmalion. But the date of the foundation +of Carthage is itself not a wholly certain quantity, +though <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 826 is probably that which was assigned to it by +the native historians.<a id='r524'></a><a href='#f524' class='c013'><sup>[524]</sup></a> A hundred and forty-three years and +eight months reckoned back from 826 would bring us to +<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 969 or 970. As the temple was begun in the fourth +year of Solomon’s reign (1 Kings <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 1), this would give +<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 973 for the accession of Solomon, and <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1013 for +that of David. The palace constructed for David at Jerusalem +by the workmen of Hiram must have been erected at the very +end of David’s life, after the suppression of the revolt of +Absalom, unless, indeed, the author of the books of Samuel +has mistaken the name of the Tyrian king, and written Hiram +instead of Abibal.</p> + +<p class='c003'>There is yet another synchronism between Hebrew and +profane history which must not be overlooked. Jerusalem +was captured in the fifth year of Rehoboam by Shishak <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr>, +the founder of the twenty-second Egyptian dynasty. But +Egyptian chronology is more disputable even than that of +Israel, and we do not know in what year of the Pharaoh’s +reign the invasion of Palestine took place. Boeckh, on the +authority of Manetho, places the commencement of his reign +<span class='pageno' id='Page_454'>454</span>in <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 934; Unger, on the same authority, in <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 930; while +Lepsius pushes it back to <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 961.</p> + +<p class='c003'>On the whole, then, we must be content with approximate +dates for the founders of the Hebrew monarchy. The revolt +of the Ten Tribes will have taken place somewhere between +<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 940 and 930; the accession of David somewhere between +<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1010 and 1000. It coincided with the period when the +older kingdoms of the Oriental world—Babylonia, Assyria, +and Egypt—were in their lowest stage of weakness and decay.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Solomon succeeded to a brilliant heritage. The nations +which surrounded him had been conquered or forced into +alliance with Israel; there was none among them adventurous +or strong enough to attack the newly risen power. The +caravan-roads which brought the merchandise of both north +and south to the wealthy states of Western Asia passed +through Israelitish territory; Edom, which communicated +with the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, was in Jewish hands, +as well as Zobah, which commanded the road to the Euphrates. +The tolls levied on the trade which thus passed +through the empire filled the treasury at Jerusalem with +abundant riches, while the products and luxuries of the whole +eastern world flowed into the Hebrew market. The alliance +with the Tyrians gave Solomon a port in the Mediterranean; +the possession of Edom gave him ports of his own in the +Gulf of Aqaba. In return for the use of the Edomite +harbours by the ships of Phœnicia, he was allowed to send +forth merchantmen of his own from the havens of Hiram on +the Phœnician coast. The ships themselves were manned +with Phœnician sailors; like the Assyrian kings in later days +he had to turn to the experienced mariners of Phœnicia to +work his fleet.</p> + +<p class='c003'>At home the kingdom had been fully organised. There +were an army of veterans, a foreign bodyguard, who had no +interests beyond those of the master who paid them, a well-selected +capital, and a fiscal administration. The revolts +which had disturbed the later years of David had been +<span class='pageno' id='Page_455'>455</span>suppressed with a heavy hand, and such murmurs as may +have been raised against the enfeebled government and +neglected justice of the late reign were hushed in presence +of a young and well-educated prince, the <i>protégé</i> of priests +and prophets, whose very name promised his people the +blessings of peace. The wars of David, with their tax of +blood and treasure, were at an end. Those who had conspired +against the elevation of Solomon to the throne had +been put to death at the outset of his reign: the grey hairs +of Joab were stained with his own blood as he clung to the +unavailing altar; Adonijah was executed on the ground that +he had asked to have Abishag for a wife, and it was not long +before a pretext was found for removing Shimei out of the +way. Benjamin and Judah had alike lost their leaders, and +Solomon henceforth did his utmost to win them to himself.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Abiathar was banished to the priests’ city of Anathoth, and +the glory of the high priesthood was left to Zadok and his +descendants alone. They alone were allowed to serve before +the ark of the covenant, and the doom pronounced upon the +house of Eli was thus fulfilled. The act placed the religion +of Israel for many generations to come under the domination +of the king. Solomon declared by it his supremacy in +the church as well as in the state. It meant that the king +claimed the power and the right to appoint and dismiss the +ministers of the Mosaic law. The central sanctuary became +the royal chapel rather than the temple of the national God, +and its priests were the paid officials of the sovereign rather +than the administrators and interpreters to the people of the +divine law. The democratic element passed out of Hebrew +religion, and the king more than the high priest came to stand +at the head of it. The erection of the temple completed the +work which the deposition of Abiathar had begun; sanctuary, +services, and priesthood were all alike under the royal control. +The family of Eli had preserved the tradition of the days +when the priests of Shiloh exercised independent authority, +and interpreted the law which all were called upon to obey. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_456'>456</span>With the banishment of Abiathar came a break with the past; +no venerable memories were connected with the rival house +of Zadok, no recollection of a time when the word of the +priest of Shiloh had been a teacher in Israel. Under Zadok +and his successors the old meaning of the high priesthood +gradually faded out of sight; as in Assyria or Southern +Arabia the priests of an earlier age were supplanted by kings, +so too in Israel the place and influence of the high priest were +absorbed by the Davidic dynasty. Even a Jeroboam could +assert his right to establish sanctuaries and appoint the +priests who should serve them.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Solomon had been brought up under the eye and instruction +of Nathan, and to Nathan, therefore, we must probably +trace his religious policy. There was much to be said in +favour of it. It prevented friction between the priesthood +and the monarchy; it guaranteed the stability of the dynasty +of David by extending to it the sanction of religion; above +all, it secured the maintenance of the religion itself. It gave +it as it were a local habitation in a costly sanctuary built and +endowed out of the royal revenues, and attached to the royal +palace. The ark ceased to be national, and became instead +the sacred treasure of the chapel of the king. While the +monarchy lasted, the religion of the monarchy would last also, +and Nathan and Zadok might be pardoned if they believed +that the Davidic monarchy would last for ever.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The administration of the country next claimed the attention +of the new king. It was organised on an Assyrian +model, Palestine being divided into districts, each of which +was placed under a governor who was responsible for the +taxes as well as for the civil and judicial government of it. +Hitherto, it would appear, the old system of tribal government +had been preserved, the tribes owning allegiance to +hereditary chieftains or ‘princes,’ who, like the chieftains of a +Highland clan, represented the tribe, and led its members to +war. David seems to have modified this system for military +purposes, if we may judge from the list of ‘captains’ given in +<span class='pageno' id='Page_457'>457</span>1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-seven'>xxvii.</abbr>, but no attempt was made to carry out a general +system of taxation, or appoint governors with fiscal powers. +The conquered provinces alone were required to furnish an +annual tribute to the treasury, and for this a single officer, +Hadoram, was found sufficient.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The territory of the Israelites themselves was now formed +into fiscal districts. Twelve officers were appointed, who +were required to provide in turn for the necessary expenses of +the royal household during the twelve months of the year. +A list of them, extracted from some official document, is given +in 1 Kings <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 8-19. In the earlier part of the list the names +of the officers have been lost, those only of their fathers +having been preserved. Two of them were married to +daughters of Solomon, indicating that the list must have +been drawn up towards the end of Solomon’s life. One of +the king’s sons-in-law was the governor of Naphtali; the other +presided over the Phœnician coast-land south of Tyre. +Here, at Dor, in a country occupied by the Zakkal kinsmen +of the Philistines, and in proximity to Tyre, it was +needful that the prefect should be connected with the king +by closer ties than those of officialism. The direction of the +Mediterranean trade was mainly in his hands, and the +resources which were thus at his disposal, as well as the +neighbourhood of Hiram, might have tried the loyalty of any +but a relative of the king. The plateau of Bashan was under +the jurisdiction of one governor who had his residence at +Ramoth-gilead; Gilead was under a second, while a third +governor had Mahanaim. We may, therefore, gather that +Ammon and Moab, as well as Geshur, had been absorbed +into Israelitish territory. This may in part explain why at +the revolt of the Ten Tribes Moab went with Israel rather +than with Judah.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It is noticeable that there was no governor in Judah. +Here, in fact, the king himself ruled in person. It would +seem that Judah was exempt from the taxes levied on the rest +of Palestine. This was in accordance with the policy which +<span class='pageno' id='Page_458'>458</span>made Solomon court the goodwill of his father’s tribe, and +identify with its interests those of himself and his house. So +far as the continuance of the Davidic dynasty was concerned, +the policy succeeded. Judah identified itself with the house +of David, and rallied faithfully round its king. There was no +longer any talk of rebellion, or of transporting the capital to +Hebron; from henceforth Judah and its kings were one. +But the fact only made the breach between Judah and the +rest of Israel wider and more visible, and alienated the other +tribes from the reigning house. They were treated like the +conquered Gentiles; the place of their old hereditary princes +and leaders was taken by governors appointed by the crown, +and fixed taxes were rigorously exacted from them for the +support of the royal treasury. They derived no benefit, +however, from the royal expenditure; it was lavished upon +Jerusalem and the Jewish towns which lay near to it. They +were too far off to see even a reflection of that royal glory +of which they may have heard, and for which they certainly +had to pay. The same causes which strengthened the ties of +allegiance of Judah to the reigning dynasty weakened those +of Israel.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Throughout the reign of Solomon, Hadoram remained +‘over the tribute,’ and his duties were enlarged by the +supervision of the home taxation and <i>corvée</i> being added to +that of the foreign tribute.<a id='r525'></a><a href='#f525' class='c013'><sup>[525]</sup></a> Jehoshaphat still continued +‘recorder,’ but the secretary Shisha had been succeeded by +his two sons. The literary correspondence of the empire was +increasing, and one chief secretary was no longer sufficient +for it. The family of Nathan, as might have been expected, +was well provided for. One son was made Vizier; the other +became the royal chaplain as well as ‘the king’s friend.’ +The latter title, which had been given to Hushai in the time +of David (1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-seven'>xxvii.</abbr> 33), had been borrowed from Egypt; +the title of the Vizier, or ‘head of the officers,’ corresponded +<span class='pageno' id='Page_459'>459</span>with the Assyrian Rab-saki or Rabshakeh, ‘the chief of the +princes.’ Another office which may have been borrowed +from Assyria was that of royal steward, which was held by +Ahishar; along with him the Septuagint associates a second +steward Eliak, and a captain of the bodyguard called Eliab, +the son of Saph or Shaphat.<a id='r526'></a><a href='#f526' class='c013'><sup>[526]</sup></a> Like the list of governors, the +list of officials must have been drawn up at the end of +Solomon’s reign, since Azariah has already taken the place of +his grandfather Zadok as high priest (see 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 9, 10, +where a confusion has been made between Ahimaaz the son +of Zadok and Johanan or Jonathan the son of Abiathar). It +is significant that the list begins with the ‘priest,’ not with the +general of the army as in the warlike days of David.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The fame of Solomon’s wealth and magnificence was +spread through the Oriental world. Foreign sovereigns sought +his alliance or courted his favour. Even the Queen of Sheba +came to visit him. Modern criticism has long since banished +the Queen to the realm of fiction, but archæological discovery +has again restored her to history. Sheba or Saba was already +a flourishing kingdom in the time of the Assyrian king +Tiglath-pileser <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>; its territories extended from the spice-bearing +coasts of Southern Arabia to the borders of Babylonia +and Palestine. If Glaser and Hommel are right in their +interpretation of the south Arabian inscriptions, it had +entered on the older heritage of the kingdom of Ma’ân. The +Minæan kings of Ma’ân had ruled not only in the south but +in the north as well; their records are found near Teima, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_460'>460</span>they had command of the great highroad of commerce which +led from the Indian Ocean to Egypt and Gaza. Egypt and +Gaza, indeed, are mentioned in Minæan inscriptions.<a id='r527'></a><a href='#f527' class='c013'><sup>[527]</sup></a> From +an early period the kingdoms of Southern Arabia had been in +commercial contact with Canaan.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The conquest of Edom by David and the Hebrew fleets +which sailed from the Gulf of Aqaba must soon have +acquainted the merchant princes of Ma’ân and Saba with the +fact that a new power had risen in Western Asia, and a new +market been opened for their goods. The road to Palestine +was well-known and frequently travelled, and Minæan or +Sabæan settlements existed upon it almost as far as the +frontiers of Edom. What more natural, therefore, than that +a Sabæan queen should visit her wealthy neighbour whose +patronage had become important for Sabæan trade? That +queens might rule in the Arabian peninsula we know from the +annals of Tiglath-pileser <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>, which refer to Zabibê and her +successor Samsê, each of whom is called a ‘queen of the land +of the Arabs.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>Even the Pharaoh of Egypt condescended to mingle the +blood of the solar race with that of the grandson of a Hebrew +<span lang="hbo"><i>fellah</i></span>. Solomon married the daughter of the Egyptian +monarch. But it was a monarch of the twenty-first dynasty, +who, though acknowledged as the sole legitimate representative +of the line of the Sun-god Ra, had nevertheless been +sadly shorn of his ancient rights and authority. His power +was confined to the Delta, where he held his court in the +old Hyksos capital of Tanis or Zoan, close to the Asiatic +frontier, and as far removed as possible from the rival dynasty +which ruled in Upper Egypt. He was doubtless glad to +secure a son-in-law who could defend him from his enemies +at home in case of need, and whose friendship was preferable +to his hostility.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Egyptian princess had brought with her as dowry the +Canaanitish city of Gezer. That it should have been in the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_461'>461</span>power of the Pharaoh to give it is at first sight surprising. +It shows that Egypt had never relinquished in theory her old +claims to be mistress of Canaan. Like the title of ‘king of +France,’ which so long lingered in the royal style of England, +they were never abandoned, but were ready to be revived +whenever an opportunity occurred. Towards the close of the +period of the Judges, but before the Philistines had become +formidable, Assyria and Egypt had met on friendly terms on +the coast of Palestine. The Assyrian conqueror, Tiglath-pileser +<abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr> (in <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1100), had found his way to the Phœnician +city of Arvad, and there received from the Egyptian Pharaoh +various presents which included a crocodile and a hippopotamus. +The campaign of the Assyrian king had brought him +to the edge of the territory which the Egyptian rulers of the +twenty-first dynasty still regarded as their own, and they +hastened accordingly to propitiate the invader, and thus to +stay his further advance. The embassy and gifts further +show that the occupation of the coast by the Philistines did +not prevent the Egyptians from maintaining their old relations +with Phœnicia, though they may have done so by sea rather +than by land. At all events an expedition sent to Gebal by +Hir-Hor, the high priest of Thebes, at the beginning of the +twenty-first dynasty, was despatched in ships.<a id='r528'></a><a href='#f528' class='c013'><sup>[528]</sup></a> Had the coast-road +been free from danger, the Egyptians would doubtless +have asserted their right to march along it. They seized the +first occasion to do so, when the Philistines had been conquered +by David, and the successor of David was the +Pharaoh’s ally.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Solomon engaged in no wars of his own. He was no +general himself, and it may be that he feared to intrust a +subject with an army. Joab had taught him how easily the +commander-in-chief might defy his master, Abner how readily +<span class='pageno' id='Page_462'>462</span>he might betray him. In the list of officials given in the +Hebrew text, Benaiah indeed is stated to have been ‘over the +host’ (1 Kings <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 4), but Benaiah was actually the commander +of the bodyguard, so that his command of the army +must have been merely nominal. Practically the army which +had played so large a part in the history of David had ceased +to exist. Hence it was that Rezon was able to establish an +independent kingdom in Damascus, and that when the Ten +Tribes revolted there was no army at hand with which to +suppress the rebellion. Hence, too, the curious fact that just +as Solomon sought the help of Hiram in fitting out his +merchant fleet in the Gulf of Aqaba, so also he sought the +help of the Egyptian king in subduing the one Canaanitish +city of importance which still preserved its freedom. Gezer +had maintained its Canaanitish continuity from the days +when as yet the Israelites had not entered Canaan, and the +mounds of Tel Jezer which mark its site must still conceal +beneath them the records of its early history. Doubtless the +Egyptian court was gratified at the arrangement with the +Hebrew king. It admitted the Egyptian claim of suzerainty +over Palestine, and admitted the right of its armies to march +along its roads. But the substantial advantages remained +with Solomon. He gained Gezer without either expense or +trouble, and at the same time he allied himself by marriage +with the oldest and most exclusive royal race in the Oriental +world. Like the kings of Mitanni in the age of the eighteenth +dynasty, the son-in-law of the Pharaoh was on a footing of +equality with the proudest princes of Asia.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The alliance with Hiram was no less advantageous. Hiram +had done for Tyre what Solomon was doing for Jerusalem. +It has been conjectured that his father Abibal, or Abi-Baal, +was the founder of a dynasty; at all events the accession of +Hiram ushered in a new era for the Tyrian state. He +succeeded to the throne at the age of nineteen years, and +during his long reign of thirty-four years he raised Tyre to an +unprecedented height of prosperity and power, and rebuilt +<span class='pageno' id='Page_463'>463</span>the city itself. The ancient ‘rock’ from which it had derived +its name was connected by an embankment with another rocky +islet close to it, and a new and splendid city was erected upon +the space thus won from the sea. Excellent harbours were +constructed, massive walls built round the city, and the +venerable temple of Melkarth restored from its foundations, +and decorated with all the sumptuous splendour of Phœnician +art.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Tyre had always been famous for its sailors and its ships, +and its wealth is celebrated even in the letters of Tel el-Amarna. +But under Hiram its maritime trade underwent an +enormous development. The conquest of the Philistines by +David, and the consequent disappearance of piracy from the +eastern basin of the Mediterranean, were the immediate causes +of this. Tyrian ships could now venture into the bays and +havens of the Greek seas in quest of slaves, or the precious +purple-fish, and their merchants could make voyages in safety +as far as Tarshish. Riches poured into ‘the merchant-city,’ +and Hiram had resources in abundance for his public +works.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Hebrew king was eager to follow the example of his +Tyrian neighbour. It was true that his subjects were neither +sailors nor traders; it was true, also, that the harbours on the +Mediterranean coast which the conquest of the Philistines +had added to his dominions were few and poor. But the +conquest of Edom had given him the entrance to the spice-lands +of Southern Arabia, and the gold-mines which recent +discovery has found in Central Africa.<a id='r529'></a><a href='#f529' class='c013'><sup>[529]</sup></a> An agreement was +therefore come to with Hiram which was to the profit of +both. Hiram gave Solomon sailors and boat-builders, as +<span class='pageno' id='Page_464'>464</span>well as the use of his Mediterranean ports; in return he +received from Solomon the right of using the harbours of +the Red Sea. While the products of Europe made their +way to Solomon through Tyre, the products of the south +passed to Hiram from the Edomite havens of Elath and +Ezion-geber.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Hiram was useful to Solomon in yet another way. The +age of empire-building was over; the time had come to +create a capital which should be worthy of the empire. Like +Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> of Egypt, Solomon made himself an imperishable +name as a builder. Jerusalem was strongly fortified; royal +palaces were erected; above all, a temple was raised to Yahveh +that vied in splendour with those of Phœnicia and the Nile. +But the architects and artisans had to be brought from the +dominions of the Tyrian king; the Israelites had been too +much barbarised by the long struggle for existence they had +had to wage for another Bezaleel to be born among them, as +in the days when they had but just quitted the cultured land +of the Delta. It is true that the master-artificer in bronze, +who designed the bronze-work of the temple, was a Hebrew on +his mother’s side, but he bore the Tyrian name of Hiram, and +his father was ‘a man of Tyre.’ Even for his carpenters and +masons Solomon was indebted to his Tyrian ally; it was only +the gangs of labourers driven to their forced work among the +forests and quarries of Lebanon that were levied by Hadoram +out of ‘Israel.’ The Israelites had become hewers of wood +and drawers of water for their king, and, as in the old days of +Egyptian bondage, 3300 taskmasters were employed in keeping +them to their work.<a id='r530'></a><a href='#f530' class='c013'><sup>[530]</sup></a> Like the architects, the skilled +artificers were lent by Hiram; from Hiram came also the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_465'>465</span>logs of cedar and fir that were needed for the buildings at +Jerusalem.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In return Solomon provided his ally with wheat and oil. +The island-city was dependent on others for its corn; on the +rock of Tyre and on the barren crags of the opposite mainland +no wheat could be grown. Twenty cities of Galilee, +moreover, were ceded to Hiram. But for these Hiram had to +pay one hundred and twenty talents of gold; and in the end, +the wily Hebrew, like his forefather Jacob, had the best of the +bargain. When the Tyrian king came to inspect his new +territory, it ‘pleased him not.’ Solomon, in fact, had given +him what it was not worth his own while to keep.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The royal palace was thirteen years in building. Attached +to it was the armoury, or House of the Forest of Lebanon as +it was called from the cedar used in its construction. Here +the three hundred shields and two hundred targets of gold +were stored, which were made for the bodyguard, and served +also as a reserve fund in case of need. The architecture of the +palace itself culminated, as in Persia, in the audience-chamber +with its throne of ivory overlaid with gold, and approached by +six steps which were guarded on either side by the images of +lions. Another palace was erected for the Egyptian queen; +like the palace of the king it was in the Upper City, close to +the spot on which the temple was destined to stand.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The old palace of David, in the lower town or ‘City of +David,’ was deserted; as soon as the new buildings were completed +on Moriah, the king moved to them with his harîm +and court. The palace which had satisfied the simple tastes +of the father was no longer sufficient for the luxury and display +of the more cultured son. The ‘City of David’ was left +to the Jews and Benjamites; the court and the priesthood +settled above them by the side of the old Jebusite population, +which had been reduced to serfdom (1 Kings <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 20). +None but slaves and serfs might dwell where the monarch +lived surrounded by his armed bodyguard; the free Israelite +was confined to another quarter of the town.</p> + +<p class='c003'><span class='pageno' id='Page_466'>466</span>The palace was protected by a huge fortress called the +Millo, which was connected with the new walls of Jerusalem, +and begun as soon as the palace of the Egyptian princess had +been finished. Whether it stood on the eastern or western +side of the city is doubtful; the topography of pre-exilic +Jerusalem is unfortunately still involved in obscurity. The +pool of Siloam, and the identification of the Upper Gihon or +‘Spring’ with the Virgin’s Fountain, the only natural spring +of water in the immediate neighbourhood of the city, are +almost the only two points which can be fixed with certainty. +If the subterranean tunnel which conveys the water of the +Virgin’s Fountain to the pool of Siloam is the conduit made +by Hezekiah when he ‘stopped the upper water-course of +Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the +city of David’ (2 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-two'>xxxii.</abbr> 30), the west side will be that +which overlooks the Tyropœon valley, where the tunnel ends. +In this case the city of David, which is stated in 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 7 +to have been on Mount Zion, will be the so-called southern +hill or ‘Ophel,’ which lies south of the Mosque of Omar, and +the Tyropœon valley will be the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom +so often referred to in the Old Testament. The Jerusalem +of the kings will thus have been, like most of the cities +of the ancient Oriental world, of no great size according to our +modern conceptions; its population will have been as closely +packed together as it is to-day in the native quarters of Cairo, +and the fortifications which surrounded it would not have +occupied too wide a circumference for a Jewish army to defend. +The Tyropœon valley is choked with the rubbish of ancient +Jerusalem to a depth of more than seventy feet; but under it +must lie the tombs of the kings of Judah. The recent +excavations of Dr. Bliss have thrown but little light on the +question, since the walls he has found seem mostly of a late +date; but if the rock-cut steps he has discovered north of the +pool of Siloam are really ‘the stairs that go down from the +city of David’ (Neh. <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 16), a striking verification will have +been given of the theory which sees in the southern hill the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_467'>467</span>Zion of Scripture, and in the valley of ‘the Cheesemakers’ +the gorge of the sons of Hinnom.<a id='r531'></a><a href='#f531' class='c013'><sup>[531]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>The crown of all the building activity of Solomon was the +temple, even though it did not take so long to construct as +his own palace. Materials for it had already been accumulated +by David, and the architects and workmen came from +Tyre. It was built of large blocks of square stone, the edges +of which were probably bevelled as in early Phœnician work, +and the walls inside were covered with panels of cedar. +Walls and doors alike were profusely decorated with the +designs of Phœnician art. Cherubs and palms, lotus flowers +and pomegranates were depicted on them in the forms that +have been made familiar to us by the relics of ancient +Phœnician workmanship. The temple itself was of rectangular +shape, not unlike the chapel of King’s College at +Cambridge, and in front of it were two large courts, one of +which—the ‘inner’ or ‘upper’ court—stood on a higher level +than the other. The whole design, in fact, was purely +Phœnician; in form and ornamentation the building exactly +resembled the temples of Phœnicia. Like them, it must +have looked externally like a huge rectangular box, which +was further disfigured by chambers, in sets of three, being +built one over the other against the walls. The great temple +of Melkarth, which Hiram had just completed at Tyre, probably +served as the model for the temple of Jerusalem.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The entrance was approached by steps, and consisted of a +porch, on either side of which were two lofty columns of +bronze, called Jachin and Boaz.<a id='r532'></a><a href='#f532' class='c013'><sup>[532]</sup></a> Similar columns were +<span class='pageno' id='Page_468'>468</span>planted before the entrance of a Phœnician temple where +they symbolised the fertilising power of the Sun-god, and +Herodotos (<abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 44) states that the two which stood in front of +the temple at Tyre were made of gold and emerald glass. +Two similar columns of stone, though of small size, have been +found in the Temple of the Giants in the island of Gozo, one +of which still remains in its original place. In the outer +court was a bronze ‘sea’ or basin, thirty cubits in circumference, +and supported on twelve oxen. The ‘sea’ had been +imported into the West from Babylonia, where it similarly +stood in the court of a temple, and represented the <span lang="hbo"><i>apsu</i></span> or +‘watery abyss,’ out of which Chaldæan philosophy taught that +all things had been evolved. A Babylonian hymn which +describes the casting of a copper ‘sea’ for the temple of +Chaos tells us that, like the ‘sea’ at Jerusalem, it rested on the +heads of twelve bulls.<a id='r533'></a><a href='#f533' class='c013'><sup>[533]</sup></a> Along with the ‘sea’ bronze lavers +and basins were provided for the ablutions of the priests and +the vessels of the sanctuary.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The temple was but a shell for enclosing the innermost +shrine or Holy of Holies where, as in a casket, the ark of the +covenant was placed under the protecting wings of two gilded +cherubim. What they were like we may gather from the +Assyrian sculptures, in which the two winged cherubs are +depicted on either side of the sacred tree.<a id='r534'></a><a href='#f534' class='c013'><sup>[534]</sup></a> The over-shadowing +wings formed a ‘mercy-seat,’ the <i>parakku</i> of the +Babylonian texts, whereon, according to Nebuchadrezzar, Bel +seated himself on the festival of the new year, while the other +gods humbly ranged themselves around him bowing to the +ground.<a id='r535'></a><a href='#f535' class='c013'><sup>[535]</sup></a> At Babylon, moreover, the table of shewbread +which stood before Bel was of solid gold, like the table which +<span class='pageno' id='Page_469'>469</span>Solomon made for the service of Yahveh.<a id='r536'></a><a href='#f536' class='c013'><sup>[536]</sup></a> Indeed, the +description of the lavish use of gold in the temple of Jerusalem +finds its echo in the description given by Nebuchadrezzar +of the temples he reared in Babylon. The altar of +Yahveh, it is said, was of gold, so too were the candlesticks +and lamps and vessels; even the hinges of the doors that +opened into the Holy of Holies were of the same precious +metal, while the cedar work was richly gilded, and the floor +itself was overlaid with golden plates. In similar terms +Nebuchadrezzar describes his decoration of Ê-Sagila, the +temple of Bel, at Babylon. Here too, the beams and panels +of cedar were overlaid with gold, the gates were gilded, and +the vessels for the service of the sanctuary were of solid gold.<a id='r537'></a><a href='#f537' class='c013'><sup>[537]</sup></a> +There was one point, however, in which the temples of Jerusalem +and Babylon differed from one another; in the shrine +of Ê-Sagila was the image of Bel: the Hebrew shrine contained +no likeness of a god. The only graven figures within +it were the cherubim whose wings overshadowed the ark.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The temple was finished in seven (or more exactly seven +and a half) years. Perhaps an effort was made to restrict the +years of building to the sacred number. At all events, it was +in the seventh month of the Hebrew year, the Ethanim of the +Phœnicians, that the feast of the dedication was kept.<a id='r538'></a><a href='#f538' class='c013'><sup>[538]</sup></a> It +coincided with the ancient festival of the Ingathering of the +Harvest, a fitting season for commemorating the completion +of the work.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The dedication of Solomon’s temple is the beginning of a +new chapter in the history of the Jewish state and of Hebrew +religion. It became the visible centre round which the +elements of the Israelitish faith gathered and cohered together +until the terrible day came when the enemy stormed +<span class='pageno' id='Page_470'>470</span>the walls of the capital and laid its temple in the dust. But +it had already exercised a profound influence upon the history +of Judah. It had helped to unify the kingdom; to bind the +population of southern Palestine, mixed in blood though it +were, into a single whole. Unlike the northern tribes with +their two great sanctuaries at Dan and Bethel, Judah and +Benjamin had a common centre in the one sanctuary of +Jerusalem. Around it, moreover, were grouped all the +traditions and memories of a venerable past. It alone was +connected with the traditions of the Mosaic Law and the +priesthood of Shiloh, with the rites and ceremonies that had +come down from the primeval days of the Israelitish people, +and with the foundation of the monarchy itself. It was the +dwelling-place on earth of Yahveh of Israel; here was the +sacred ark of the covenant which had once been carried +before the invaders of Canaan, and was still the outward sign +and symbol of God’s presence among His people. With the +preservation of the temple the preservation of the Jewish +religion itself seemed to be bound up, as well as of the Jewish +state.</p> + +<p class='c003'>But the temple did something more than help to unify the +southern monarchy and preserve the traditions of the Mosaic +law. It served also to strengthen and perpetuate the Davidic +dynasty, and to keep alive in the hearts of the people their +allegiance to the line of Solomon. The temple, as we have +seen, was not only a national sanctuary, it was also a royal +chapel. It formed, as it were, part of the royal palace, in +which the king overshadowed the high priest himself. The +halo of veneration which surrounded the temple was thus +communicated to the royal line. The temple and the +descendants of David became parts of the same national +conception; the one necessarily implied the other. When +the throne of David fell, the temple also fell with it. While +the temple lasted, Judah remained a homogeneous state, +yielding willing obedience to its theocratic monarchy, and +gradually gaining a clearer idea of the meaning and practice +<span class='pageno' id='Page_471'>471</span>of the Mosaic Law. The temple of Solomon made Jewish +religion conservative, but it was a conservatism which, as +time went on, evolved the consequences of its own principles, +and sought how best to carry them out in ritual and +practice.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Jerusalem had become one of the great capitals of the +world. Its public buildings were worthy of the empire which +had been created by David, of the wealth that had poured +into the coffers of Solomon from the trade of the whole +Orient, of the culture and art which the young king had done +his best to introduce. But the necessities of defence were +not forgotten. The fortifications of the city were pushed on—though, +it would seem, not with sufficient rapidity to allow +them to be finished before the king’s death—and horses and +chariots were imported from Egypt and the land of the +Hittites in the north. With these Solomon equipped a +standing force of 1400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, who +served as garrisons in Jerusalem and the other fortresses of +the country.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Nor were the other cities of the empire neglected in favour +of Jerusalem. Gezer was rebuilt and fortified; so too were +‘Beth-horon the nether and Baalath’ in Judah, and ‘Tadmor +in the wilderness,’ the Palmyra of later days.<a id='r539'></a><a href='#f539' class='c013'><sup>[539]</sup></a> It is true that +modern criticism would see in Tadmor the Tamar of the +southern desert of Judah which is referred to by Ezekiel +(<abbr title='forty-seven'>xlvii.</abbr> 19, <abbr title='forty-eight'>xlviii.</abbr> 28) as a future border of the Holy Land. +But, though the Kethîbh or text of the Hebrew Scriptures has +Tamar, the reading is corrupt, and has been corrected by the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_472'>472</span>Massoretic scribes themselves.<a id='r540'></a><a href='#f540' class='c013'><sup>[540]</sup></a> The Chronicler (2 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> +<abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 4) shows that Tadmor was the reading of the text in his +time, and he shows further that it was known to be the +desert-city which afterwards became the seat of empire of +the merchant prince Odenathus and his queen, Zenobia. +We learn from him that Solomon had put down a rising in +that part of Zobah which adjoined Hamath, that he had +founded ‘store-cities’ in Hamath, and had built Tadmor in +the wilderness beyond. It is strange only that no allusion +is made to building operations in Israel: perhaps Solomon +was disinclined to establish fortresses among the northern +tribes which might be used against his own authority, +perhaps David had already put the cities of northern Israel in +a thorough state of defence. At all events, little danger from +abroad was to be apprehended in this part of the Israelitish +dominions; Solomon was in alliance with Tyre, and presumably +also with Hamath, and Zobah was included in his +empire.</p> + +<p class='c003'>We gather from the Assyrian inscriptions that Zobah extended +from the neighbourhood of Hamath and Damascus +eastward across the desert towards the Euphrates. Midway +stood Palmyra, approached by roads from both Damascus and +Homs, which there united and then led to the ford across +the Euphrates at Thapsacus or Tiphsakh. It was the shortest +route from Palestine to Mesopotamia, and avoided the tolls +and possible hostility of the Hittites in their strong fortress of +Carchemish. The conquest of Zobah would necessarily have +laid Palmyra and the roads that passed through it at the feet +of David, and the importance of the place for commercial +purposes could not have failed to strike the mind of Solomon +ever ready to discover fresh channels of trade. Its fortification +would naturally have been one of his first cares; even if +there had been no mention of the fact in the Old Testament, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_473'>473</span>the historian would have been almost compelled to assume it. +It opened to him the merchandise of Mesopotamia, of +Babylonia, and Assyria, and brought him into touch with the +old monarchies of the Asiatic world. For the trade of the +east, Palmyra was to Solomon what the ports of Edom were +for the trade of the south.</p> + +<p class='c003'>To the north his dominions touched on those of the +Hittites, who were still settled in Kadesh on the Orontes, +even if Hamath had long since passed out of their possession. +Lenormant was the first to point out that in 1 Kings <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 28 +there is an allusion to the importation of horses into Judah, +not only from Egypt, but also from the Hittite regions on the +Gulf of Antioch. Here lived the Quê of the Assyrian +monuments, who are named in the Hebrew text, though it +needed the revelations of Oriental archæology to discover the +fact. Solomon, it is there said, ‘had horses brought out of +Egypt and out of Quê; the royal merchants received it from +Quê at a price.’ In the later days of the Assyrian empire +Nineveh obtained its supply of horses and stallions from the +same part of the world, and there are numerous letters to the +king which relate to their importation. The chariots came +from Egypt, the value of each being as much as 600 shekels +of silver, or £90; it was only the horses that were brought +from ‘the kings of the Hittites’ and ‘the kings of Aram.’ +The trade in both horses and chariots was a monopoly which +Solomon kept jealously in his own hands; the merchants +were those ‘of the king,’ and none of his subjects was allowed +to import materials of war which might be employed against +himself.</p> + +<p class='c003'>It was the trade with the south which introduced into +Jerusalem the greatest novelties and the most costly articles +of luxury. In imitation of the kings of Egypt and Assyria, +Solomon established zoological and botanical gardens where +the strange animals and plants that had been brought from +abroad were kept. Such collections had been made by +Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> at Thebes, and on the foundations of a ruined +<span class='pageno' id='Page_474'>474</span>chamber in his temple at Karnak we may still see pictures of +the trees and plants and birds which he sent home from his +campaigns in Syria and the Soudan. In Assyria a botanical +garden had been similarly planted by Tiglath-pileser <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr> +(<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1100), and stocked with foreign plants.<a id='r541'></a><a href='#f541' class='c013'><sup>[541]</sup></a> Solomon’s collections +were therefore no new thing in the Oriental world, +though they were a novelty in Palestine; and his subjects +went to gaze and wonder, like the Cairenes of to-day, at the +apes which had come from the far south, or the peacocks +whose name (<span lang="hbo"><i>thukîyîm</i></span>) betrayed their Indian origin. It is +even said that he composed books on the animal and vegetable +collections he had made.<a id='r542'></a><a href='#f542' class='c013'><sup>[542]</sup></a></p> + +<p class='c003'>Gold and silver and ivory were also brought, with the apes +and peacocks, by the merchant vessels whose voyages of three +years’ duration carried them along the Somali coast, and +even, it may be, to the mouths of the Indus. The gold +probably came, for the most part, from the mines of the +Zambesi region, where foreign mining settlements are now +known to have been established at an early date, and where +objects have been found, such as birds carved out of stone, +which remind us of the civilisation of southern Arabia. But +the greater part of the silver, which we are told became as +plentiful as ‘stones,’ must have been derived from Asia +Minor. Here were the mines from which the Hittites extracted +the metal for which they seem to have had a special +fancy, and it was through them that it probably made its way +to Jerusalem. Copper would have come from Cyprus, and +been brought in the ships which trafficked in the Mediterranean. +It was the Mediterranean trade, moreover, which supplied the +tin needed for the vast quantities of bronze that was used in +the Solomonic age. We know of no source of it equal to +such a demand except the peninsula of Cornwall; but if it +really was Cornish tin that found its way to the eastern basin +<span class='pageno' id='Page_475'>475</span>of the Mediterranean during the Bronze Age it must have +travelled like amber across Europe until it reached the +Adriatic or the Gulf of Lyons. The amber found by Dr. +Schliemann in the prehistoric tombs of Mykenæ is of Baltic +origin, and amber beads have been discovered by Dr. Bliss at +Lachish, belonging to the century before the Exodus; if +amber could travel thus far from northern Europe, the tin +might have done the same.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Future generations looked back upon the reign of Solomon +as the golden age of Israel. But there was a reverse side to +the picture. The combination of culture and arbitrary power +produced in him the selfish luxury of an Oriental despot, +which is bent on satisfying its own sensuous desires at the +expense of all around it. Solomon’s extravagance was like +that of the Khedive Ismail in our own day, and it led to the +same amount of misery and impoverishment in the nation. +He found on his accession a treasury well filled by the +thrifty government of his father; and his trading monopolies +and alliances brought him an apparently inexhaustible supply +of wealth. But a time came when even this supply began to +fail, and to cease to suffice for his reckless expenditure. +Heavier taxes were laid on the subject populations; the free +men of Israel were compelled to work as unpaid serfs under +the lash of the taskmaster, and the older population of the +land, who were still numerous, were turned into veritable +bond-slaves. To the Gibeonites, who had long been the +serfs of the Levitical sanctuary, were now added the Nethinim, +a part of whom went under the name of ‘Solomon’s slaves’ +(Ezra <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 55, 58). The building of the temple had cost the +people dear: the Israelites had been robbed of their freedom +to provide for it stone and wood; the Canaanites had been +given to it as actual slaves.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Doubtless the policy of Solomon was partly determined by +the same considerations as those which had moved the +Pharaoh of the Oppression. He mistrusted the Canaanites, +he was afraid of the northern tribes. In either case he +endeavoured to break their spirit, and render them powerless +<span class='pageno' id='Page_476'>476</span>to revolt. But in the case of the Hebrew tribesmen he did +not succeed. Discontent was smothered for awhile, but it +was none the less dangerous on that account. And towards +the end of Solomon’s life an incident occurred which led +eventually to the division of the kingdom. Jeroboam the +son of Nebat—in whom Dr. Neubauer has seen the name of +a ‘Nabathean’—and whose mother belonged to the tribe of +Ephraim, had distinguished himself by his activity and +abilities. Solomon had finished the Millo or Fort, and was +now at work on the other fortifications of Jerusalem. His +notice was drawn to Jeroboam, and he made the young man +the ‘taskmaster’ or overseer of the <i>corvée</i> of Ephraimites +employed upon the walls. Like Moses in old days, Jeroboam’s +sympathy was aroused by the sufferings of his fellow-tribesmen, +which found a mouthpiece in Ahijah the prophet +of Shiloh. Ahijah was himself one of the dispossessed. The +glory of Shiloh had passed away from it; Jerusalem had taken +its place. The tabernacle of Shiloh had been rejected in +favour of the temple of the Jewish king. The centre of +Hebrew religion and power had departed from the house of +Joseph, and been transferred to the mixed parvenus of Judah.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In Jeroboam the prophet recognised the leader who should +restore the lost fortunes of Ephraim and revenge its injuries. +Jeroboam listened to the counsels of revolt, but the time for +making use of them had not yet come. His plans and +plotting became known to Solomon, and, once more like +Moses, he had to fly for his life. He made his way to the +Egyptian court, where a ready welcome awaited him.</p> + +<p class='c003'>A new dynasty had arisen there. The Libyan mercenaries +had dethroned their feeble masters, and seated Shishak or +Sheshanq, their general, upon the throne of the Pharaohs. +The Tanitic dynasty which ruled the Delta was swept away; +so also was the rival dynasty of high-priests who reigned at +Thebes and held possession of Upper Egypt. With the +rise of the twenty-second dynasty at Bubastis, a new and +unaccustomed vigour was infused into the government of +Egypt. Shishak proved himself an able and energetic king. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_477'>477</span>His earlier years were occupied in putting down opposition +at home, and restoring order and unity throughout the country. +When once the task was accomplished, he began to turn +his attention elsewhere. Egypt had never relinquished its +theoretical claims to sovereignty in Canaan; and the new +power that had arisen there menaced the safety of the Asiatic +frontier. Solomon, it is true, had allied himself by marriage +with the Pharaohs; but it was with a Pharaoh of the fallen +dynasty, and this in itself made him all the more dangerous +a neighbour. At present Israel was too powerful to be +attacked; but a time might come when the Egyptian monarch +might venture to march again along the roads that had once +conducted the armies of Egypt to the conquest of Syria. +Meanwhile Shishak could stir up disaffection and rebellion +in the Israelitish empire, and could harbour pretenders to +the throne who might hereafter undermine the very existence +of the new power.</p> + +<p class='c003'>As long as Solomon lived Jeroboam did not dare to stir. +But he was not the only ‘adversary’ of the Jewish king. +Hadad, the representative of the old kings of Edom, had also +found a refuge in the Egyptian court, and had there married +the sister-in-law of the Pharaoh. In spite of the Pharaoh’s +remonstrances he had returned to the mountains of Edom +when David and Joab were dead, and had there carried on a +guerilla warfare with the Israelitish garrisons. Throughout +the lifetime of Solomon he had maintained himself in the +fastnesses of Seir, and had been, as it were, a thorn in the +side of the conquerors of his country. But he never succeeded +in seriously injuring the caravan trade that passed through +Edom, or in shaking off the Israelitish yoke. The male +population of Edom had been too mercilessly exterminated +for this to be possible, and all that he could do was to molest +the trade with the Red Sea. But even in this he does not +seem to have been successful.</p> + +<p class='c003'>A more formidable opponent of Israel was Rezon of Zobah. +He, it would seem, had established himself at Damascus even +before the death of David, and all the efforts to dislodge him +<span class='pageno' id='Page_478'>478</span>were of no avail. It is possible that the insurrection in Zobah, +which led to the construction of fortified posts on the borders +of Hamath (2 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 3), was connected with his revolt. +At any rate, Rezon founded a kingdom and a dynasty in the +old Syrian capital, which in years to come was to shake the +monarchy of northern Israel to its base. ‘He abhorred Israel,’ +we are told, ‘and reigned over Aram.’</p> + +<p class='c003'>The Jewish historian traces the misfortunes of Solomon to +the religious indifferentism of his later years. His wives were +many, his concubines innumerable. They had been added +to his harîm from all parts of the known world; and they +brought with them the worship of their native deities. +Solomon had none of that intense belief in the national +God which had distinguished Saul and David, or which +made the Assyrian kings conquer and slay the unbelievers +who would not acknowledge the supremacy of Assur.<a id='r543'></a><a href='#f543' class='c013'><sup>[543]</sup></a> He +was a cultured and selfish epicure, catholic in his tastes and +sympathies, and doubtless inclined to stigmatise as narrow-minded +fanaticism the objections of those who would have +forbidden him to indulge his wives in their religious beliefs. +On the hill opposite Jerusalem they were allowed to worship in +the chapels of their own divinities, and the king himself did not +refuse to bow himself with them in the house of Rimmon. +Shrines were erected and altars blazed to Ashtoreth of the +Sidonians, to Milcom of Ammon, and to Chemosh of Moab.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Modern criticism has averred that all this was only in +accordance with the general ideas and practice of the time, +and that not Solomon alone but the rest of his people saw +little or no difference between Yahveh and Baal. The Song +of Deborah, which reflects the feelings of so much earlier +an epoch, is a sufficient answer to such an assertion. The +whole history of Saul and David points unmistakably to the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_479'>479</span>contrary, and the temple bears witness that there was a time +when Solomon also shared the belief that Yahveh alone was +God in Israel, and that He would brook the presence of no +other god beside Himself. The character of Solomon, his +habits and alliances,—above all, the seductions of the harîm, +are quite enough to account for a gradual change in his views. +It is probable, moreover, that the death of his old guide and +instructor Nathan may have had much to do with what an +undogmatic theology might call emancipation from the narrow +and exclusive circle of Hebrew religious ideas; we know that +such was the case with Jehoash after the death of Jehoiada the +priest. The king who began by sending to Phœnicia for the +architects and builders of the temple, ended not unnaturally +with the erection of sanctuaries to a Phœnician goddess.</p> + +<p class='c003'>In fact, the artistic tastes of Solomon ran counter to the +puritanical tendencies and restrictions of the Mosaic Law. It +had been made for the wanderers in the desert, for hardy +warriors intent on the conquest of a foreign land, for the +simple peasantry of Palestine. It was directed against the +cultured vices and artistic idolatries of Egypt and Canaan: +on its forefront was the command: ‘Thou shalt not make +the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, in the +earth beneath, or in the water that is under the earth.’ The +temple at Jerusalem, with its costly decoration and graven +images, was in itself a violation of the letter of the Law. +Solomon was called indeed to be king over Israel, but his +heart and his sympathies were with Phœnicia.</p> + +<p class='c003'>He had been carefully educated, and, like our own +Henry <abbr title='the eighth'><span class='fss'>VIII.</span></abbr>, was a learned as well as a cultivated prince. +His wisdom was celebrated above that of the wisest men of +his day (1 Kings <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 30, 31), and he left behind him a large +collection of proverbs. Some of these were re-edited by the +scribes of Hezekiah’s library (<abbr title='Proverbs'>Prov.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-five'>xxv.</abbr> 1), the foundation of +which may possibly go back to him. Indeed, he showed +himself so anxious to imitate the civilised monarchs of his +day that it is hard to believe he established no library at +Jerusalem. The library had been for untold centuries as +<span class='pageno' id='Page_480'>480</span>essential to the royal dignity in Western Asia or Egypt as +the temple or palace, and the annals of Menander imply +that one existed at Tyre in the age of Hiram. Archæology +has vindicated the authenticity of the letters that passed +between Solomon and the Tyrian king (2 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 3, 11); +similar letters were written in Babylonia in the age of +Abraham, and the tablets of Tel el-Amarna have demonstrated +how frequent they were in the ancient East. As in +Babylonia and Assyria, so, too, in Palestine, they would have +been preserved among the archives of the royal library.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Hiram was nineteen years old when he ascended the +throne, and he died at the age of fifty-three. Solomon was +probably of about the same age as his friend both at his +accession and at his death. He died, worn out by excessive +self-indulgence, leaving behind him an impoverished treasury, +a discontented people, and a tottering empire. But he had +achieved one great result. Jerusalem had become the capital +of a united Judah and Benjamin, Hebrew religion had +obtained a local habitation round which henceforward it +could live and grow, and the dynasty of David was planted +firmly on the Jewish throne. When the disruption of the +kingdom came after Solomon’s death, it did no more than +give outward form to the estrangement that had so long been +maturing between Judah and the northern tribes; the temple, +the line of David, and the fortress-capital of Jerusalem +remained unshaken. The work of David and Solomon was +accomplished, though in a way of which they had not +dreamed; and a nation was called into existence whom +neither defeat nor exile, persecution nor contempt, has ever +been able to destroy.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <h2 class='c009'>INDEX.</h2> +</div> + +<ul class='index c008'> + <li class='c016'>A</li> + <li class='c016'>Aaron, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a>, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a>, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abarim, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a>, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abdiel, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_38'>38</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abdon, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abel (city), <a href='#Page_436'>436</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abel-mizraim, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abesukh (Abishua), <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abi, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abiah, <a href='#Page_355'>355</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abiathar, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#Page_381'>381</a>, <a href='#Page_388'>388</a>, <a href='#Page_391'>391</a>, <a href='#Page_431'>431</a>, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>, <a href='#Page_444'>444</a>, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>, <a href='#Page_447'>447</a>, <a href='#Page_455'>455</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abibal, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>, <a href='#Page_411'>411</a>, <a href='#Page_437'>437</a>, <a href='#Page_452'>452</a>, <a href='#Page_453'>453</a>, <a href='#Page_462'>462</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abiel, <a href='#Page_399'>399</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abi-ezrites, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a>, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a>, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abigail, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>, <a href='#Page_431'>431</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abimelech, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>, <a href='#Page_316'>316</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Abimelech of Gerar, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abinadab, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abinoam, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abishag, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>, <a href='#Page_455'>455</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abishai, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a>, <a href='#Page_426'>426</a>, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a>, <a href='#Page_436'>436</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abishar, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abital, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abner, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a>, <a href='#Page_374'>374</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_436'>436</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abraham, etymology of, <a href='#Page_33'>33</a>, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>. + <ul> + <li>age of, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Abram (Abi-ramu), <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><i>abrêk</i>, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Absalom, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>, <a href='#Page_429'>429</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_448'>448</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Abulfarag, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Achan, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Achish, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>, <a href='#Page_385'>385</a>, <a href='#Page_389'>389</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Achshaph, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Adam (city), <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Adino, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Adoni-bezek, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Adonijah, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>, <a href='#Page_446'>446</a>, <a href='#Page_447'>447</a>, <a href='#Page_455'>455</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Adoni-zedek, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Adoram. <i>See</i> <a href='#index-hadoram'>Hadoram.</a></li> + <li class='c016'>Adriel, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Adullam, <a href='#Page_379'>379</a>, <a href='#Page_405'>405</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Agag, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ahiah. <i>See</i> <a href='#index-ahimelech'>Ahimelech</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ahijah, <a href='#Page_373'>373</a>, <a href='#Page_376'>376</a>, <a href='#Page_476'>476</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ahimaaz, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>, <a href='#Page_431'>431</a>, <a href='#Page_433'>433</a>, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-ahimelech'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Ahimelech or Ahiah, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a>, <a href='#Page_365'>365</a>, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>, <a href='#Page_381'>381</a>, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>. + <ul> + <li>the Hittite, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Ahinoam, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>. + <ul> + <li>wife of David, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Ahira, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ahitophel, <a href='#Page_430'>430</a>, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ahitub, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a>, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ahmes, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>. + <ul> + <li>‘Captain,’ <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Aholiab, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ai, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Aijalon, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a>. + <ul> + <li>in Zebulon, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Akiamos, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Aleppo, <a href='#Page_421'>421</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Alexander the Great, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Allon-bachuth, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><i>alûphîm</i>, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Amalek, city of, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Amalekites, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a>, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a>, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a>, <a href='#Page_386'>386</a>, <a href='#Page_391'>391</a>, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>, <a href='#Page_395'>395</a>, <a href='#Page_426'>426</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Amasa, <a href='#Page_431'>431</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>amber, <a href='#Page_475'>475</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ameni, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Amenôphis, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Amenôphis, <abbr title='the fourth'><span class='fss'>IV.</span></abbr> or Khu-n-Aten, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ammi, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ammi-satana (dhitana), <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ammiya, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ammi-zadoq, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ammo, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ammon, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>, <a href='#Page_358'>358</a>, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a>, <a href='#Page_457'>457</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ammonites, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a>, <a href='#Page_323'>323</a>, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a>, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Amnon, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>, <a href='#Page_429'>429</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Amon, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a>, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Amorites, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Amram, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Amraphel (<i>see</i> <a href='#index-khammu-rabi'>Khammu-rabi</a>), <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Amu, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Amurru (Amorites), <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a>, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Anab, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Anakim, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>, <a href='#Page_370'>370</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Anath, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Anathoth, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>, <a href='#Page_455'>455</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>angels, Babylonian, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ansarîyeh, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Anu, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Anuti, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Aperu, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Aphek, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#Page_346'>346</a>, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a>, <a href='#Page_391'>391</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Apophis, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Apuriu, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ar, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Arad, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Aram, <a href='#Page_368'>368</a>, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a>, <a href='#Page_473'>473</a>, <a href='#Page_478'>478</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Aramaic, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Araunah, <a href='#Page_441'>441</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Arba, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Argob, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><i>ariel</i>, <a href='#Page_416'>416</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Arioch (<i>see</i> <a href='#index-eri-aku'>Eri-Aku</a>), <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>ark, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_346'>346</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a>, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>, <a href='#Page_456'>456</a>, <a href='#Page_468'>468</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Arnon, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Aroer, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>, <a href='#Page_393'>393</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Arphaxad, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Arrian, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Arumah, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Arvad, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>, <a href='#Page_461'>461</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Asahel, <a href='#Page_400'>400</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Asenath, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ashdod, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a>, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Asher, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#Page_314'>314</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Asherah (Asratu), <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a>, <a href='#Page_468'>468</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ashkelon, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>, <a href='#Page_396'>396</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ashtaroth-Karnaim, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ashurites, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Asshurim, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Assur-bil-kala, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Assur-irbi, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_437'>437</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Assur-natsir-pal, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>, <a href='#Page_478'>478</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Assyrians, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>, etc., <a href='#Page_418'>418</a>, <a href='#Page_451'>451</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Astruc, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><i>asyla</i>, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Aten-Ra, <a href='#Page_156'>156</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Atonement, day of, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Aup, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Avaris, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Avim, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Azariah, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Azekah, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Azmaveth, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>B</li> + <li class='c016'>Baal, <a href='#Page_308'>308</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Baalath of Judah, <a href='#Page_471'>471</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Baal-berith, <a href='#Page_283'>283</a>, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Baale-Judah, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Baal-hanan, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Baal-Peor, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Baal-perazim, <a href='#Page_407'>407</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Baal-zephon, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Baanah, <a href='#Page_404'>404</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Baasha, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Baba, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Babylon, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Babylonia, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>, etc. + <ul> + <li>kings of, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Babylonian law, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr> + <ul> + <li>ritual, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Bad-makh-dingirene, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Baethgen, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-balaam'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Balaam, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Balak, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Balawât, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Barak, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Baring-Gould, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Barzillai, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a>, <a href='#Page_447'>447</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Bashan, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a>, <a href='#Page_457'>457</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Bastian, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Bath-sheba, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#Page_424'>424</a>, <a href='#Page_429'>429</a>, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>, <a href='#Page_446'>446</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Baxter, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Beer, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Beeroth, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>, <a href='#Page_404'>404</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Beer-Sheba, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Bela, son of Beor (<i>see</i> <a href='#index-balaam'>Balaam</a>), <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Belbeis, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Benaiah, <a href='#Page_416'>416</a>, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>, <a href='#Page_446'>446</a>, <a href='#Page_462'>462</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ben-Hadad, <a href='#Page_420'>420</a>, <a href='#Page_451'>451</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Beni-Yaakan, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Benjamin, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ben-Oni, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Bent, <a href='#Page_463'>463</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Berger, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Berothai, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Beth-Anoth, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Beth-barah, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a>, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Beth-car, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Beth-el, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a>, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a>, <a href='#Page_345'>345</a>, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a>, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Beth-horon, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>, <a href='#Page_471'>471</a>, <a href='#Page_472'>472</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Beth-lehem, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a>, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a>, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a>, <a href='#Page_377'>377</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Beth-lehem in Zebulon, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Beth-On, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Beth-Rehob, <a href='#Page_420'>420</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Beth-Shean, Beth-Shan, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#Page_394'>394</a></li> + <li class='c016'>Beth-Shemesh, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a>, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Bethuel, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Beybars <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr>, Sultan, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Bezek, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Bint-Anat, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Birch, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Bissell, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Bliss, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>, <a href='#Page_466'>466</a>, <a href='#Page_467'>467</a>, <a href='#Page_475'>475</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Boaz, <a href='#Page_394'>394</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Boaz, (a column), <a href='#Page_467'>467</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Boeckh, <a href='#Page_453'>453</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Briggs, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Brinton, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Browne, Sir Th., <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Brugsch, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Brünnow, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Bubastis, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Budde, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a>, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Bul (month), <a href='#Page_469'>469</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Burna-buryas, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>C</li> + <li class='c016'>Caleb, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a>, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>, <a href='#Page_394'>394</a>, <a href='#Page_397'>397</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>calendar changed, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>camels, <a href='#Page_169'>169</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Canaan, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Canaanitish. <i>See</i> <a href='#index-hebrew'>Hebrew.</a></li> + <li class='c016'>Caphtor, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Carchemish, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>, <a href='#Page_472'>472</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Carmel of Judah, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>, <a href='#Page_383'>383</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Carthage, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>, <a href='#Page_453'>453</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Casdim, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>census, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>, <a href='#Page_440'>440</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Chabas, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Chærêmôn, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-chedor-laomer'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Chedor-laomer, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Chemosh, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#Page_416'>416</a>, <a href='#Page_478'>478</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Chephirah, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Cherethithes, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Cheyne, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Chileab, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Chinnereth, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Chronicles, books of, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>chronology, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>, <a href='#Page_451'>451</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Chun, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Chushan-rishathaim, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>circumcision, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Clercq, de, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Clermont-Ganneau, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>, <a href='#Page_346'>346</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>copper, <a href='#Page_474'>474</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Cornill, <a href='#Page_343'>343</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Cornwall, <a href='#Page_474'>474</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Covenant, book of, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>cuneiform characters, use of in Israel, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>, <a href='#Page_339'>339</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Cushite wife of Moses, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Cyprus, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>, <a href='#Page_474'>474</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>D</li> + <li class='c016'>Dagon, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a>, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Damascus, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>, <a href='#Page_368'>368</a>, <a href='#Page_373'>373</a>, <a href='#Page_421'>421</a>, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a>, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a>, <a href='#Page_462'>462</a>, <a href='#Page_477'>477</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Dan, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a>, <a href='#Page_330'>330</a>. + <ul> + <li>Camp of, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Dangin, Thureau-, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Daressy, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>David, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr> + <ul> + <li>City of, <a href='#Page_465'>465</a>, <a href='#Page_466'>466</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Day of Atonement, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Debir (king), <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Debir (city), <a href='#Page_265'>265</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Deborah, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr> + <ul> + <li>Song of, <a href='#Page_273'>273</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Dedan, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Delitzsch, Friedrich, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Deluge—story, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Derketô, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Deuteronomy, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>, <a href='#Page_238'>238</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Dhi-Zahab, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Dibon, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Diktynna, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-dinhabah'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Dinhabah (Dunip), <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Diodoros, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Dodah, <a href='#Page_416'>416</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Doeg, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>, <a href='#Page_381'>381</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Dor (<i>Tantûra</i>), <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a>, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a>, <a href='#Page_457'>457</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Driver, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Dungi, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Dusratta, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Dussaud, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>E</li> + <li class='c016'>Ebal, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ebed-Tob, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>, <a href='#Page_441'>441</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ebed-Asherah, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Eben-ezer, <a href='#Page_346'>346</a>, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Eber, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ebers, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ebir-nâri, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ebronah, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ecclesiasticus, book of, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Edar, tower of, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Edom, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>, <a href='#Page_368'>368</a>, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>, <a href='#Page_426'>426</a>, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a>, <a href='#Page_442'>442</a>, <a href='#Page_454'>454</a>, <a href='#Page_463'>463</a>, <a href='#Page_477'>477</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Edom (god), <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Edrei, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Egibi, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Eglah, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Eglon (king of Moab), <a href='#Page_289'>289</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Eglon (city), <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Egypt, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>, etc., <a href='#Page_418'>418</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Egyptians in Israel, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ehud, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Eisenlohr, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ekron, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a>, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>El, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Elah, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a>, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a>, <a href='#Page_374'>374</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Elath, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a>, <a href='#Page_464'>464</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Elam, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Eleazar, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a>, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>El-hanan, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>, <a href='#Page_372'>372</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>El-Hîba (in Egypt), <a href='#Page_418'>418</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Eli, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>, <a href='#Page_340'>340</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_381'>381</a>, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>, <a href='#Page_455'>455</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Eliab, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Eliadah, <a href='#Page_421'>421</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Eliak, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Elijah, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Elim, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Elimelech, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Elishah (Cyprus), <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>El-Kab, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Elkanah, <a href='#Page_339'>339</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ellasar (Larsa), <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Elon, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>El-Paran, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>embalming, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Emim, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Endor, witch of, <a href='#Page_389'>389</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>En-gedi, <a href='#Page_383'>383</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>En-hakkorê, <a href='#Page_327'>327</a>, <a href='#Page_328'>328</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>En-Mishpat (Kadesh-barnea), <a href='#Page_191'>191</a>, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>, <a href='#Page_220'>220</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Enna (Egyptian writer), <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>En-rogel (the Fuller’s Well), <a href='#Page_446'>446</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>ephod, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>, <a href='#Page_283'>283</a>, <a href='#Page_316'>316</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ephraim, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_325'>325</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_334'>334</a>, <a href='#Page_335'>335</a>, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ephrathite, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>eponyms, <a href='#Page_451'>451</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Erman, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Erech, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-eri-aku'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Eri-Aku (Arioch), <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Esar-haddon, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a>, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Esau, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Esh-Baal, <a href='#Page_368'>368</a>, <a href='#Page_393'>393</a>, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a>, <a href='#Page_430'>430</a>, <a href='#Page_444'>444</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Eshcol, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Eshtaol, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#Page_326'>326</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Eshtemoa, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Etana, <a href='#Page_328'>328</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Etham, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ethanim (month), <a href='#Page_469'>469</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>eunuchs, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Eurafrican race, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ewald, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ezion-geber, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a>, <a href='#Page_464'>464</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ezra, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ezri, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>F</li> + <li class='c016'>Feast of Trumpets, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Fenkhu, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>festivals, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>firstborn claimed by Baal, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>G</li> + <li class='c016'>Gaal, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gad (tribe), <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a>, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gad (prophet), <a href='#Page_345'>345</a>, <a href='#Page_380'>380</a>, <a href='#Page_388'>388</a>, <a href='#Page_440'>440</a>, <a href='#Page_442'>442</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Galilee, <a href='#Page_467'>467</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>gardens, zoological and botanical, <a href='#Page_473'>473</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gath, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a>, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>, <a href='#Page_386'>386</a>, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>, <a href='#Page_414'>414</a>, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gaza, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>, <a href='#Page_328'>328</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Geba, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gebal, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#Page_461'>461</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gedor, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>George Syncellus, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gerar, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gerizim, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Geshur, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#Page_368'>368</a>, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a>, <a href='#Page_457'>457</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gezer, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>, <a href='#Page_460'>460</a>, <a href='#Page_462'>462</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gibeah, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>, <a href='#Page_357'>357</a>, <a href='#Page_358'>358</a>, <a href='#Page_361'>361</a>, <a href='#Page_366'>366</a>, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>, <a href='#Page_377'>377</a>, <a href='#Page_380'>380</a>, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a>, <a href='#Page_412'>412</a>, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gibeon, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>, <a href='#Page_436'>436</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gibeonites, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_404'>404</a>, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a>, <a href='#Page_475'>475</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gideon (Jerub-baal), <a href='#Page_232'>232</a>, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Gihon, <a href='#Page_446'>446</a>, <a href='#Page_466'>466</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gilboa, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a>, <a href='#Page_393'>393</a>, <a href='#Page_396'>396</a>, <a href='#Page_399'>399</a>, <a href='#Page_404'>404</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gilead, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_368'>368</a>, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a>, <a href='#Page_447'>447</a>, <a href='#Page_457'>457</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gilgal, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>, <a href='#Page_357'>357</a>, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a>, <a href='#Page_361'>361</a>, <a href='#Page_366'>366</a>, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gilgames, Epic of, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gimil-Sin, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Girshin, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Glaser, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gob, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Goldziher, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Golénischeff, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a>, <a href='#Page_461'>461</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Goliath, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_375'>375</a>, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gomer (Kimmerians), <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Goodwin, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Goshen, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>granaries, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gray, Buchanan, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Greene, Baker, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gudea, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Gudgodah, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Guthe, <a href='#Page_409'>409</a>, <a href='#Page_467'>467</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>H</li> + <li class='c016'>Hachilah, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hadad (god), <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hadad (king), <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a>, <a href='#Page_477'>477</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hadad, son of Bedad, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hadad-ezer, <a href='#Page_368'>368</a>, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a>, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a>, <a href='#Page_420'>420</a>, <a href='#Page_421'>421</a>, <a href='#Page_424'>424</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hadar, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hadashah, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-hadoram'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Hadoram (Adoram), <a href='#Page_444'>444</a>, <a href='#Page_452'>452</a>, <a href='#Page_457'>457</a>, <a href='#Page_458'>458</a>, <a href='#Page_464'>464</a>. + <ul> + <li>or Joram, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Hadrach, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Haggith, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ham (Ammon), <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hamath, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_421'>421</a>, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a>, <a href='#Page_472'>472</a>, <a href='#Page_478'>478</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hamor, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hannah, <a href='#Page_339'>339</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Har-el, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Harosheth, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-harran'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Harran (Kharran), <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hashmonah, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hathor, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Haurân, <a href='#Page_368'>368</a>, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Havilah, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Havoth-Jair, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hayman, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hazeroth, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hazor, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Heber, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-hebrew'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Hebrew language, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Hebrews, <a href='#Page_1'>1</a>, etc., <a href='#Page_362'>362</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hebron, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a>, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a>, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>, <a href='#Page_373'>373</a>, <a href='#Page_397'>397</a>, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a>, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>, <a href='#Page_402'>402</a>, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>, <a href='#Page_405'>405</a>, <a href='#Page_429'>429</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Helam (Aleppo), <a href='#Page_422'>422</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Heliopolis (On), <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hepher, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Herodotos, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#Page_468'>468</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Heshbon, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hesy (<i>see</i> <a href='#index-lachish'>Lachish</a>), <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hexateuch, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hezekiah, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>high-priests, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>, <a href='#Page_315'>315</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hilprecht, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hinnom, valley of sons of, <a href='#Page_409'>409</a>, <a href='#Page_466'>466</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hiram, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>, <a href='#Page_452'>452</a>, <a href='#Page_453'>453</a>, <a href='#Page_462'>462</a>, <a href='#Page_463'>463</a>, <a href='#Page_464'>464</a>, <a href='#Page_465'>465</a>, <a href='#Page_480'>480</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hir-Hor, <a href='#Page_461'>461</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hittites, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a>, <a href='#Page_420'>420</a>, <a href='#Page_437'>437</a>, <a href='#Page_471'>471</a>, <a href='#Page_472'>472</a>, <a href='#Page_473'>473</a>, <a href='#Page_474'>474</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hitzig, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hivites, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hobab, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hoffmann, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hoham, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hommel, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a>, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hophni, <a href='#Page_340'>340</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hor, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Horam, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Horeb, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hormah (or Zephath), <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>hornet, the, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Horites, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>horse, the, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Huldah, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hûleh (Lake Merom), <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hushai, <a href='#Page_430'>430</a>, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a>, <a href='#Page_458'>458</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Hyksos, <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>I</li> + <li class='c016'>Ibleam, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ibzan, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>I-chabod, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Iddo, <a href='#Page_345'>345</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Inê-Sin, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ira, <a href='#Page_444'>444</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ir-Shemesh, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Isaac, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr> + <ul> + <li>age of, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Ishbi-benob, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ishmael, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ishmaelites, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ishui, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a>, <a href='#Page_399'>399</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Israel, etymology of, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>‘Israelites’ in Egyptian, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Issachar, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a>, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a>, <a href='#Page_314'>314</a>, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Istar (Ashtoreth), <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ithamar, <a href='#Page_340'>340</a>, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ithream, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ittai, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Iye-ha-Abarim, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>J</li> + <li class='c016'>Jaazer, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jabesh-gilead, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a>, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>, <a href='#Page_358'>358</a>, <a href='#Page_394'>394</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jabez, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jabin, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jachin (column), <a href='#Page_467'>467</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jacob, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Jacob-el, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jacob’s Well, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jael, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jaffa. <i>See</i> <a href='#index-joppa'>Joppa</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jair, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jarmuth, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jasher (Jashar), book of, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>, <a href='#Page_396'>396</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jashobeam, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jaziz, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jebus, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jebusites, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>, <a href='#Page_409'>409</a>, <a href='#Page_414'>414</a>, <a href='#Page_441'>441</a>, <a href='#Page_465'>465</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jedidiah (Solomon), <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>, <a href='#Page_425'>425</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jehdeiah, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jehoshaphat, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>, <a href='#Page_458'>458</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jephthah, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_335'>335</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jephthah-el, <a href='#Page_326'>326</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jerahmeel, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a>, <a href='#Page_386'>386</a>, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>, <a href='#Page_393'>393</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jericho, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jeroboam, <a href='#Page_456'>456</a>, <a href='#Page_476'>476</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jerub-baal (Gideon), <a href='#Page_305'>305</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Jerusalem, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a>, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a>, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>, <a href='#Page_407'>407</a>, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_441'>441</a>, <a href='#Page_464'>464</a>, <a href='#Page_470'>470</a>, <a href='#Page_471'>471</a>, <a href='#Page_480'>480</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jeshurun, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a>, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jesse, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jethro, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jezreel, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Joab, <a href='#Page_399'>399</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Joash, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jobaal, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jobab, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Joel, <a href='#Page_355'>355</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Johanan, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>, <a href='#Page_431'>431</a>, <a href='#Page_447'>447</a>, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jonathan, son of Saul, <a href='#Page_358'>358</a>, <a href='#Page_360'>360</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Jonathan, son of Moses, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jonathan, brother of Joab, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jonathan, son of Uzziah, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-joppa'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Joppa (Jaffa), <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>, <a href='#Page_412'>412</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Joram, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jordan, dried up, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Joseph, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Joseph-el, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_38'>38</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Josephus, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>, <a href='#Page_421'>421</a>, <a href='#Page_422'>422</a>, <a href='#Page_452'>452</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Joshebbashebeth, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Joshua, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a>, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Jotham, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Judah, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_328'>328</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>judge (<i>shophêt</i>), <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Justin, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>K</li> + <li class='c016'>Kabzeel, <a href='#Page_416'>416</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kadesh on the Orontes, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>, <a href='#Page_437'>437</a>, <a href='#Page_442'>442</a>, <a href='#Page_473'>473</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kadesh in Galilee, <a href='#Page_236'>236</a>, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a>, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kadesh-barnea, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a>, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>, <a href='#Page_220'>220</a>, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kadmonites (<i>see</i> <a href='#index-kedem'>Kedem</a>), <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kainan, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><i>kalbu</i>, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kallisthenes, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Karians, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kastor, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-kedem'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Kedem or Qedem (Kadmonites), <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Keft, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Keilah, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>, <a href='#Page_382'>382</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kelt, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kenaz, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kenites, or ‘Smiths,’ <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a>, <a href='#Page_336'>336</a>, <a href='#Page_386'>386</a>, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kenizzites, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kennicott, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Keturah, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kibroth-hattaavah, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kidron, <a href='#Page_409'>409</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>king, law about the, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kirjath-jearim, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a>, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a>, <a href='#Page_412'>412</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kirjath-Sannah, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kirjath-Sepher, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a>, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>, <a href='#Page_330'>330</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kish, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kishon, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a>, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kittel, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kohath, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Korkha, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kretans, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a>, <a href='#Page_428'>428</a>, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Krete, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kudur-Laghghamar. <i>See</i> <a href='#index-chedor-laomer'>Chedor-laomer</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kudur-Nankhundi, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kush, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Khabirâ, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Khabiri, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Khalaman, <a href='#Page_422'>422</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-khammu-rabi'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Khammu-rabi (Amraphel), <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Khanun, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a>, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Khar (Horites), <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Kharran. <i>See</i> <a href='#index-harran'>Harran</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Khetem (Etham), <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Khubur, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Khu-n-Aten (Amenôphis <abbr title='the fourth'><span class='fss'>IV.</span></abbr>), <a href='#Page_156'>156</a>, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>L</li> + <li class='c016'>Laban, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a>, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Laban (god), <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-lachish'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Lachish, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a>, <a href='#Page_475'>475</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Laish, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Lakhmu, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Lapidoth, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Larsa (Ellasar), <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>lawgiver, the, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Leah, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Lebanon, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Lehmann, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Lemuel, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Lenormant, Fr., <a href='#Page_473'>473</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Lepsius, <a href='#Page_454'>454</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Levi, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a>, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Levite, story of the, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Levite of Ephraim, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Levites, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a>, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>. + <ul> + <li>cities of, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Libnah, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Libyans, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Lihyanian, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Lindl, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Lot, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Lotan, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Luz, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Lycians, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Lydians, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>M</li> + <li class='c016'>Maachah, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a>, <a href='#Page_436'>436</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Maachah wife of David, <a href='#Page_429'>429</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-maachah'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Maachah or Maoch of Gath, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>, <a href='#Page_379'>379</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Machir, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a>, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Machpelah, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Madai, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Madon, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Mafkat (Sinaitic Peninsula), <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Mahanaim, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a>, <a href='#Page_400'>400</a>, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a>, <a href='#Page_457'>457</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Mahler, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Makkedah, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Malcham or Milcom, <a href='#Page_426'>426</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Malik (Moloch), <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Mamre, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Mâ’n. <i>See</i> <a href='#index-minoans'>Minæans.</a></li> + <li class='c016'>Manasseh, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a>, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#Page_391'>391</a>, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a>. + <ul> + <li>kingdom of, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>maneh or mina, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Manetho, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#Page_330'>330</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Maoch. <i>See</i> <a href='#index-maachah'>Maachah</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Maon, <a href='#Page_383'>383</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Maonites (Minæans), <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Maqrîzî, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Marah, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Mariette, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><i>marna</i>, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>marriage by capture, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Martu (Moreh), <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Maspero, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Massah, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Max Müller, <abbr class='spell'>W.</abbr>, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Maxyes, <a href='#Page_362'>362</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Megiddo, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Meholah, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Meissner, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Melchi-shua, <a href='#Page_399'>399</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Melchizedek, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Melkarth, <a href='#Page_315'>315</a>, <a href='#Page_463'>463</a>, <a href='#Page_467'>467</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Melukhkha, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a>, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Memphis, <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Menander, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>, <a href='#Page_452'>452</a>, <a href='#Page_480'>480</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Meneptah, son of Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>, <a href='#Page_361'>361</a>, <a href='#Page_374'>374</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Men-kheper-Ra, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Mephibosheth (Merib-Baal), <a href='#Page_404'>404</a>, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Merab, <a href='#Page_374'>374</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Mer’ash, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Meribah, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>, <a href='#Page_220'>220</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Merib-Baal (Mephibosheth), <a href='#Page_307'>307</a>, <a href='#Page_404'>404</a>, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Merom, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Meroz, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Mesopotamia, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Messianic psalms, <a href='#Page_450'>450</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><i>messu</i>, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Messui or Messu, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><i>metheg-ammah</i>, <a href='#Page_414'>414</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>mice, <a href='#Page_351'>351</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Micah, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Michal, <a href='#Page_374'>374</a>, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Michmash, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a>, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>, <a href='#Page_361'>361</a>, <a href='#Page_362'>362</a>, <a href='#Page_366'>366</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Midian, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Migdol, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Millo, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>, <a href='#Page_466'>466</a>, <a href='#Page_476'>476</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-minoans'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Minæans (Mâ’n), <a href='#Page_7'>7</a>, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>, <a href='#Page_460'>460</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Minos, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Miriam, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Mitanni, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>, <a href='#Page_462'>462</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Mizpah, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a>, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#Page_324'>324</a>, <a href='#Page_345'>345</a>, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>, <a href='#Page_358'>358</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Moab, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a>, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a>, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>, <a href='#Page_368'>368</a>, <a href='#Page_381'>381</a>, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a>, <a href='#Page_457'>457</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Moabite Stone, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>, <a href='#Page_416'>416</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Mopsos, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Moreh, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Moriah, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a>, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>, <a href='#Page_465'>465</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Moseley, H. N., <a href='#Page_31'>31</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Moseroth or Mosera, <a href='#Page_220'>220</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Moses, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a>. + <ul> + <li>songs of, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>.</li> + <li>death of, <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Mount of the Lord, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Müller, <abbr class='spell'>D. H.</abbr>, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Muzri, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>N</li> + <li class='c016'>Nabal, <a href='#Page_383'>383</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nabatheans, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nabonassar, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nabonidos, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nadab and Abihu, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Naharaim (Mesopotamia), <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Nahash (of Ammon), <a href='#Page_358'>358</a>, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a>, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nahash (aunt of Joab), <a href='#Page_431'>431</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nahor, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nahshon, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Naioth (‘the monastery’), <a href='#Page_342'>342</a>, <a href='#Page_344'>344</a>, <a href='#Page_376'>376</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>name changed, <a href='#Page_32'>32</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Naphtali, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#Page_457'>457</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Naram-Sin, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nathan, <a href='#Page_345'>345</a>, <a href='#Page_412'>412</a>, <a href='#Page_425'>425</a>, <a href='#Page_442'>442</a>, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>, <a href='#Page_446'>446</a>, <a href='#Page_456'>456</a>, <a href='#Page_458'>458</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>‘Nations’ (Goyyim), <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Naville, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nebat, <a href='#Page_476'>476</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nebo, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>, <a href='#Page_343'>343</a>, <a href='#Page_416'>416</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nebuchadrezzar, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a>, <a href='#Page_468'>468</a>, <a href='#Page_469'>469</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Negeb, the, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a>, <a href='#Page_254'>254</a>, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a>, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ner, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a>, <a href='#Page_399'>399</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nethinim, the, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a>, <a href='#Page_475'>475</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Neubauer, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>, <a href='#Page_476'>476</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nile, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nin-ip, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>, <a href='#Page_441'>441</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nin-Marki, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nin-Martu, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Noah, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a>, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Noam, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nob, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a>, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>, <a href='#Page_372'>372</a>, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>, <a href='#Page_380'>380</a>, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a>, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a>, <a href='#Page_444'>444</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Nobah, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>O</li> + <li class='c016'>Obed-Edom, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Obil, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Oboth, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Og, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>On (Heliopolis), <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ophel, <a href='#Page_466'>466</a>, <a href='#Page_467'>467</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ophir, <a href='#Page_463'>463</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ophrah, <a href='#Page_283'>283</a>, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Oppert, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Oreb, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Oros, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Osarsiph, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Osiris, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Othniel, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c008'>P</li> + <li class='c016'>Padan (-Aram), <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>, <a href='#Page_17'>17</a>, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Pa-ebpasa, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>palace of David, <a href='#Page_452'>452</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>palace of Solomon, <a href='#Page_465'>465</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Palestine, name of, <a href='#Page_398'>398</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Palmyra (Tadmor), <a href='#Page_471'>471</a>, <a href='#Page_472'>472</a>, <a href='#Page_473'>473</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Paran, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>, <a href='#Page_213'>213</a>, <a href='#Page_383'>383</a>. + <ul> + <li>mount of, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Passover, the, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>peacocks, <a href='#Page_474'>474</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Peiser, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Pella, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Peniel, or Penuel, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Perizzites, or ‘fellahin,’ <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Pethor, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Petra, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Petrie, Flinders, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>, <a href='#Page_56'>56</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Phaltiel, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Pharaoh, etymology of, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Phichol, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Philistines, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a>, <a href='#Page_326'>326</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_335'>335</a>, <a href='#Page_437'>437</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Philo Byblius, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Phinehas, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a>, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Phineas son of Eli, <a href='#Page_340'>340</a>, <a href='#Page_348'>348</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Phœnician alphabet, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Phœnicians, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a>, <a href='#Page_35'>35</a>, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#Page_454'>454</a>, <a href='#Page_467'>467</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Phœnician sacrificial tariffs, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Pi-hahiroth, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Pinches, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Pinon. <i>See</i> <a href='#index-punon'>Punon</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Piram, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Pirathon, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Pithom (Pi-Tum), <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>plagues, the ten, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Pliny, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Plutarch, <a href='#Page_184'>184</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>polygamy, <a href='#Page_316'>316</a>, <a href='#Page_428'>428</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Porphyry, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Potiphar’s wife, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Potipherah (Potiphar), <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Priestly Code, the, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-prophet'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>prophet, the, <a href='#Page_341'>341</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Ptah-hotep, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Puah, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-punon'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Punon or Pinon, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Pur-Sin, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>Q</li> + <li class='c016'>Qarantel, mount, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Qedem. <i>See</i> <a href='#index-kedem'>Kedem</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Qos, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Qosem (Goshen), <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Quê, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>, <a href='#Page_473'>473</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>R</li> + <li class='c016'>Raamses (Rameses or Ramses), <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rabbah, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rabbath-Ammon (Rabbah), <a href='#Page_417'>417</a>, <a href='#Page_424'>424</a>, <a href='#Page_426'>426</a>, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rab-saris, the, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rab-shakeh, the, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rachel, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>ram in sacrifice, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ramah, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a>, <a href='#Page_344'>344</a>, <a href='#Page_346'>346</a>, <a href='#Page_349'>349</a>, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>, <a href='#Page_357'>357</a>, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a>, <a href='#Page_376'>376</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ramathaim-zophim, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a>, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ramath-lehi, <a href='#Page_327'>327</a>, <a href='#Page_328'>328</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rameses or Raamses, city of, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ramoth of the South, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ramoth-Gilead, <a href='#Page_457'>457</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ramsay, <abbr class='spell'>W. M.</abbr>, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ramses or Rameses <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr>, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ramses <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>, <a href='#Page_379'>379</a>, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a>, <a href='#Page_464'>464</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>, <a href='#Page_4'>4</a>, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ramses <abbr title='the fourth'><span class='fss'>IV.</span></abbr>, <a href='#Page_3'>3</a>, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ramses <abbr title='the sixth'><span class='fss'>VI.</span></abbr>, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rassam, Hormuzd, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rechab, <a href='#Page_404'>404</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>‘Red Sea,’ the, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>refuge, cities of, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rehob, <a href='#Page_420'>420</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rehoboam, <a href='#Page_452'>452</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rei, <a href='#Page_446'>446</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Reisner, <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rekem, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rephaim, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>. + <ul> + <li>plain of, <a href='#Page_407'>407</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Rephidim, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Reshpu, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>resurrection, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Reuben, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a>, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Reuel, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rezon, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>, <a href='#Page_421'>421</a>, <a href='#Page_437'>437</a>, <a href='#Page_452'>452</a>, <a href='#Page_462'>462</a>, <a href='#Page_477'>477</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rib-Hadad, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rimmon (god), <a href='#Page_15'>15</a>, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a>, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rimmon (Benjamite), <a href='#Page_404'>404</a>. + <ul> + <li>rock of, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Rizpah, <a href='#Page_402'>402</a>, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Rowlands, <abbr class='spell'>J.</abbr>, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ruth, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#Page_394'>394</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>S</li> + <li class='c016'>Saba or Sheba, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>, <a href='#Page_219'>219</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sabæans, in Babylonia, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sabbath, Babylonian etymology of, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sachau, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>sacrifices, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr> + <ul> + <li>Babylonian, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>.</li> + <li>human, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_324'>324</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Saft-el-Henna (Goshen), <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sakea, Babylonian feast of, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Salem or Jerusalem, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>, <a href='#Page_268'>268</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Salimmu, god of peace, <a href='#Page_28'>28</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Salma or Salmon, <a href='#Page_394'>394</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Samâla or Samalla, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Samaritans, <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Samson, <a href='#Page_327'>327</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Samsu-iluna, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Samuel, <a href='#Page_242'>242</a>, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>, <a href='#Page_335'>335</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_365'>365</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_389'>389</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>sanctuary, central, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Saph, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sardinians, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sargon of Akkad, <a href='#Page_10'>10</a>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sarid, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Saul, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>Saxon conquest of Britain, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>scapegoat, the, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Scheil, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Schliemann, <a href='#Page_475'>475</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Schumacher, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>scribes, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>‘sea’ in the temple, <a href='#Page_468'>468</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sebaita (Zephath), <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>seer. <i>See</i> <a href='#index-prophet'>prophet</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Seir, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Seirath, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Selamanês, <a href='#Page_425'>425</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sennacherib, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>, <a href='#Page_383'>383</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Septuagint, <a href='#Page_136'>136</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Seraiah, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>, <a href='#Page_444'>444</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>seraph, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>serpents, bronze, in Babylonia, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Set, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sethos (Ramses), <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Seti <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr>, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>, <a href='#Page_216'>216</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Seti <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>, <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Set-Nubti, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shalman, <a href='#Page_425'>425</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shamgar, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shamir, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shammah, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shapher, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shasu, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sharon, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shavsha, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sheba (Benjamite), <a href='#Page_435'>435</a>, <a href='#Page_436'>436</a>, <a href='#Page_440'>440</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sheba or Saba, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a>, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>, <a href='#Page_460'>460</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shechem, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>, <a href='#Page_283'>283</a>, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a>, <a href='#Page_316'>316</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>shekel, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shelomith, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shem (Babylonian Sumu), <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shemesh-Edom, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shephatiah, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>shepherd, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sheth, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sheva, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>, <a href='#Page_444'>444</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>shewbread, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>, <a href='#Page_468'>468</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><i>shibboleth</i>, <a href='#Page_325'>325</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shiloh, <a href='#Page_269'>269</a>, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a>, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a>, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a>, <a href='#Page_283'>283</a>, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a>, <a href='#Page_333'>333</a>, <a href='#Page_334'>334</a>, <a href='#Page_337'>337</a>, <a href='#Page_339'>339</a>, <a href='#Page_344'>344</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>, <a href='#Page_444'>444</a>, <a href='#Page_476'>476</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shimei (Benjamite), <a href='#Page_430'>430</a>, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a>, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a>, <a href='#Page_447'>447</a>, <a href='#Page_455'>455</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shimei (official of David), <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>, <a href='#Page_446'>446</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shimron, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shimron-meron, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shinar, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shisha, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>, <a href='#Page_444'>444</a>, <a href='#Page_458'>458</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shishak, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#Page_453'>453</a>, <a href='#Page_476'>476</a>, <a href='#Page_477'>477</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shobach or Shophach, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a>, <a href='#Page_421'>421</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shobi, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shunem, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a>, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Shur, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Siddim, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sidon, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sihon, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Siloam, pool of, <a href='#Page_466'>466</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Simeon, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a>, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a>, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a>, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sin (moon-god), <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>. + <ul> + <li>desert of, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Sinai, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a>. + <ul> + <li>mount, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Sinaitic Peninsula, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>, <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sin-idinnam, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_27'>27</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sinjerli, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sinuhit, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sippara (Sepharvaim), <a href='#Page_14'>14</a>, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sisera, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + <li class='c016'>slave, penalty for murder of, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Smith, <abbr class='spell'>G. A.</abbr>, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Socho or Socoh, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a>, <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sodom, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_30'>30</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Solomon, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>, <a href='#Page_425'>425</a>, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>, <a href='#Page_447'>447</a>, <a href='#Page_452'>452</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr> + <ul> + <li>proverbs of, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>.</li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>sphinx, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Spinoza, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Stade, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>, <a href='#Page_409'>409</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Stone of Job, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Strabo, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Strassmaier, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>strikes, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Subarti, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Succoth, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Suez Canal, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sumu-abi, <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-supah'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Suphah, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Suru (Syria), <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sutekh, <a href='#Page_22'>22</a>, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Sutu or Sutê, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Suweinît, Wâdi, <a href='#Page_362'>362</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>T</li> + <li class='c016'>Taanach, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Taberah, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>tabernacle, the, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>, <a href='#Page_414'>414</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>tables of the law, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tabor, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a>, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tadmor, <a href='#Page_471'>471</a>, <a href='#Page_472'>472</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tahtim-hodshi, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Takmonite, <a href='#Page_406'>406</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>tale of the two brothers, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Talmai, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>, <a href='#Page_429'>429</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tamar (wife of Judah), <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tamar (daughter of David), <a href='#Page_429'>429</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tamar (city of), <a href='#Page_471'>471</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tappuah, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>, <a href='#Page_262'>262</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tarkhu, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>tartan, the, <a href='#Page_374'>374</a>, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tatian, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tatnai, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>tattooing, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a>, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Teie, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tel el-Amarna, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>, etc. + <ul> + <li>tablets of, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Tel el-Maskhûta, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_166'>166</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tema, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Teman, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>temple, when built, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>, <a href='#Page_412'>412</a>. + <ul> + <li>of Solomon, <a href='#Page_464'>464</a>, <a href='#Page_467'>467</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></li> + </ul> + </li> + <li class='c016'>Terah, <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>, <a href='#Page_19'>19</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>teraphim, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Thapsacus (Tiphsakh), <a href='#Page_472'>472</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Thebes in Egypt, <a href='#Page_461'>461</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Thebez, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Themistokles, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a> <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>, <a href='#Page_280'>280</a>, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#Page_323'>323</a>, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a>, <a href='#Page_473'>473</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Thothmes <abbr title='the fourth'><span class='fss'>IV.</span></abbr>, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Thukut (Succoth), <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tiamat, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tibhath, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-tidal'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Tid’al, <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tiglath-pileser <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>, <a href='#Page_461'>461</a>, <a href='#Page_474'>474</a>, <a href='#Page_478'>478</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tiglath-pileser <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#Page_281'>281</a>, <a href='#Page_424'>424</a>, <a href='#Page_425'>425</a>, <a href='#Page_451'>451</a>, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>, <a href='#Page_460'>460</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tiglath-Ninip, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Timnath-heres, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>tin, <a href='#Page_474'>474</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tirzah, <a href='#Page_261'>261</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>tithe, <a href='#Page_29'>29</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tob, <a href='#Page_323'>323</a>, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Toi or Tou, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tola, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tomkins, <abbr class='spell'>H. G.</abbr>, <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Travels of the Mohar, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>, <a href='#Page_416'>416</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>tribes, the twelve, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Trumbull, Clay, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tubikhi (Tibhath), <a href='#Page_423'>423</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tudghula. <i>See</i> <a href='#index-tidal'>Tid’al</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tumilât, Wâdi (Goshen), <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>, <a href='#Page_154'>154</a>, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tunip (<i>see</i> <a href='#index-dinhabah'>Dinhabah</a>), <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tyre, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>, <a href='#Page_315'>315</a>, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>, <a href='#Page_457'>457</a>, <a href='#Page_462'>462</a>, <a href='#Page_463'>463</a>, <a href='#Page_465'>465</a>, <a href='#Page_467'>467</a>, <a href='#Page_480'>480</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Tyropœon valley, <a href='#Page_466'>466</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>U</li> + <li class='c016'>Ubi (Aup), <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Umman-Manda, <a href='#Page_26'>26</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Unger, <a href='#Page_454'>454</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ur of the Chaldees, <a href='#Page_8'>8</a>, <a href='#Page_9'>9</a>, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_16'>16</a>, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Uriah, <a href='#Page_424'>424</a>, <a href='#Page_425'>425</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Urim and Thummim, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>, <a href='#Page_388'>388</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Usous, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Uzzah, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>V</li> + <li class='c016'>Virey, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>, <a href='#Page_99'>99</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>von Luschan, <a href='#Page_36'>36</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>W</li> + <li class='c016'>Warburton, Bishop, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ward, <abbr class='spell'>J.</abbr>, <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>wedges of gold, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Wellhausen, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a>, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Welsh laws, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Wessely, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Wiedemann, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>, <a href='#Page_239'>239</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Wilbour, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Wilcken, <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Winckler, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Wolf, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Wright, Bateson, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>X</li> + <li class='c016'>Xanthos, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>Y</li> + <li class='c016'>Yabniel, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ya’di, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Yahveh, <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Yahveh-Shalom, <a href='#Page_308'>308</a>, <a href='#Page_310'>310</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Yahveh-yireh, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Yaphia, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Yâm Sûph (<i>see</i> <a href='#index-supah'>Suphah</a>), <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a>, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Yaudâ or Yaudû, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Year of Jubilee, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Yeud, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>.</li> + <li class='c008'>Z</li> + <li class='c016'>Zabdi, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zabsali (Zamzummim), <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zadok, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>, <a href='#Page_431'>431</a>, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>, <a href='#Page_444'>444</a>, <a href='#Page_446'>446</a>, <a href='#Page_455'>455</a>, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zahi, <a href='#Page_2'>2</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zakkal. <i>See</i> <a href='#index-zaqqal'>Zaqqal</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zalmon, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zalmonah, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zalmunna, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zambesi, <a href='#Page_474'>474</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zamzummim, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zanoah, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zaphnath-paaneah, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>, <a href='#Page_174'>174</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'><a id='index-zaqqal'></a></li> + <li class='c016'>Zaqqal or Zakkal, <a href='#Page_5'>5</a>, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a>, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a>, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a>, <a href='#Page_388'>388</a>, <a href='#Page_412'>412</a>, <a href='#Page_457'>457</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zared, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zaretan, <a href='#Page_248'>248</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zaru, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>, <a href='#Page_181'>181</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zebah, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>, <a href='#Page_368'>368</a>, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zebud, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zebul, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zebulon, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zeeb, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zelah, <a href='#Page_358'>358</a>, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zelophehad, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a>, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zephath (Hormah), <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a>, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>, <a href='#Page_258'>258</a>, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a>, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zeruiah, <a href='#Page_400'>400</a>, <a href='#Page_431'>431</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ziba, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ziklag, <a href='#Page_386'>386</a>, <a href='#Page_389'>389</a>, <a href='#Page_391'>391</a>, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zimrida, <a href='#Page_256'>256</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zin, <a href='#Page_220'>220</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zion, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>, <a href='#Page_466'>466</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Ziph, <a href='#Page_382'>382</a>, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zippor, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zipporah, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zoan (Tanis), <a href='#Page_23'>23</a>, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>, <a href='#Page_460'>460</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zobah, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a>, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a>, <a href='#Page_422'>422</a>, <a href='#Page_427'>427</a>, <a href='#Page_442'>442</a>, <a href='#Page_454'>454</a>, <a href='#Page_472'>472</a>, <a href='#Page_477'>477</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zoheleth, <a href='#Page_446'>446</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zorah, <a href='#Page_279'>279</a>, <a href='#Page_320'>320</a>, <a href='#Page_326'>326</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zuph or Ziph, <a href='#Page_338'>338</a>.</li> + <li class='c016'>Zuzim, <a href='#Page_11'>11</a>, <a href='#Page_24'>24</a>, <a href='#Page_25'>25</a>, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>.</li> +</ul> + +<div class='nf-center-c1'> +<div class='nf-center c007'> + <div><span class='large'>Footnotes</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='footnote' id='f1'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r1'>1</a>.  </span>See Brugsch, <i>Egypt under the Pharaohs</i>, <abbr title='english'>Eng.</abbr> <abbr title='translation'>tr.</abbr>, second <abbr title='edition'>edit.</abbr>, <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> +<abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 134.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f2'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r2'>2</a>.  </span><i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 66 <abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f3'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r3'>3</a>.  </span>Thus in an Assyrian hymn (<abbr class='spell'>K</abbr> 890), published by Dr. Brünnow in the +<span lang="de"><i>Zeitschrift für Assyriologie</i></span>, July 1889, we have (line 8) <i>istu pan Khabiriya +iptarsanni âsi</i>, ‘from the face of my confederates he has cut me off, +even me.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f4'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r4'>4</a>.  </span><i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 39.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f5'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r5'>5</a>.  </span>Thus Kharbi-Sipak, a Kassite or Kossæan, from the western mountains +of Elam, is called a ‘Khabirâ’ (<abbr class='spell'>W. A. I.</abbr> <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 34, 2, 5). The name is probably +connected with that of Khapir or Âpir, originally applied to the +district in which Mal-Amir is situated, south-east of Susa, but afterwards +in the Persian period extended to the whole of Elam (see my memoir on +the <i>Inscriptions of Mal-Amir</i> in the Transactions of the Sixth Oriental +Congress at Leyden, <abbr title='volume'>vol.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr>). Kharbi-Sipak himself, however, seems to +have been employed by the Assyrian king in Palestine in the neighbourhood +of the cities of Arqa and Zaqqal (Hommel in the <i>Proceedings</i> of the +Society of Biblical Archæology, May 1895, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 203).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f6'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r6'>6</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>W. A. I.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 50, 51 (where Khubur is said to be a synonym of +Subarti).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f7'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r7'>7</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>W. A. I.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 51, 4.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f8'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r8'>8</a>.  </span>Hommel, <i>The ancient Hebrew Tradition as illustrated by the Monuments</i>, +<abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 196, 245-262, 323-327; Glaser in the <span lang="de"><i>Mittheilungen</i></span> of the +<span lang="de">Vorderasiatische Gesellschaft</span>, <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 1897.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f9'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r9'>9</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>K</abbr> 3500.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f10'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r10'>10</a>.  </span>That <i>Ebir-nâri</i> signified the country west of the Euphrates in the +later days of Babylonian history is shown by a contract-tablet, dated in the +third year of Darius Hystaspis, and translated by Peiser (<span lang="de"><i>Keilinschriftliche +Bibliothek</i></span>, <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 305), in which mention is made of ‘Ustanni, the governor +of Babylon and Ebir-nâri’ (line 2). Meissner (<span lang="de"><i>Zeitschrift für Alttestament</i>, +<i>Wissenschaft</i></span>, <abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr>) has pointed out that Ustanni is the Tatnai of Ezra, <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> +3, 6; <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 6, 13, who is there called the ‘governor of the land beyond the +river’ (<i>’Abar Nahara</i>).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f11'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r11'>11</a>.  </span>See Hilprecht, <i>The Babylonian Expedition of the University of +Pennsylvania</i>, <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 2, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 31.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f12'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r12'>12</a>.  </span>An inscription of Sargon recently published by <abbr class='spell'>M.</abbr> Dangin (<span lang="fr"><i>Revue +Sémitique</i></span>, April 1897) states that ‘the governor’ of the subjugated +Amorites was Uru-Malik, where the name of Malik or Moloch is preceded +by the determinative of divinity. Uru-Malik, which is an analogous +formation to Uriel, Urijah, Melchi-ur (or Melchior), etc., shows that what +we call Hebrew was already the language of Canaan. The inscription +has been found at Tello in Southern Chaldæa.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f13'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r13'>13</a>.  </span>Zabsali, also written Savsal(la) or Zavzal(la), probably represents the +Zuzim or Zamzummim of Scripture. See my article in the <i>Proceedings of +the Society of Biblical Archæology</i>, February 1897, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 74.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f14'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r14'>14</a>.  </span>We possess a list of the kings of Babylonia, divided into dynasties, +from the first dynasty of Babylon, to which Khammu-rabi belonged, down +to the time of the fall of Nineveh. The number of years reigned by each +king is stated, as well as the number of years each dynasty lasted. But, +unfortunately, the compiler has forgotten to say what was the duration of +the dynasty to which Nabonassar (<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 747) belonged; and as the tablet is +broken here, the regnal years of most of the kings who formed the dynasty +have been lost. There are, however, a good many synchronisms between +the earlier period of Babylonian history and that of Assyria, and by means +of these the chronology has been approximately restored. We can also +test the date of Khammu-rabi in the following way. We learn from +Assur-bani-pal that Kudur-Nankhundi, king of Elam, carried off the image +of the goddess Nana from the city of Erech 1635 years before his own +conquest of Elam, and therefore 2280 <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> As Eri-Aku boasts of his +capture of Erech, and as he was assisted in his wars by his Elamite kinsmen, +it seems probable that the capture of the image by Kudur-Nankhundi +was coincident with the capture of the city by Eri-Aku.</p> + +<p class='c003'>The discovery of Mr. Pinches has been supplemented by that of Dr. +Scheil, who has found letters addressed by Khammu-rabi to Sin-idinnam +of Larsa, in which mention is made of the Elamite king Kudur-Laghghamar. +Sin-idinnam had been driven from Larsa by Eri-Aku with the +help of Kudur-Laghghamar, and had taken refuge at the court of Khammu-rabi +in Babylon. Fragments of other letters of Khammu-rabi are in the +possession of Lord Amherst of Hackney (see <abbr title='infra'><i>inf.</i></abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 27, 28).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f15'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r15'>15</a>.  </span>The name of Khammu-rabi himself is written Ammu-rabi in Bu. 88-5-12, +199 (<i>Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the British Museum</i>, +Part 2).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f16'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r16'>16</a>.  </span><i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <abbr title='sixteen'>xvi.</abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f17'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r17'>17</a>.  </span>Hommel, <span lang="de"><i>Geschichte des alten Morgenlandes</i></span>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 62, <i>The Ancient +Hebrew Tradition as illustrated by the Monuments</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 96.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f18'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r18'>18</a>.  </span>Published by Budge, <span lang="de"><i>Zeitschrift für Assyriologie</i></span>, <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 3, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 229, +230.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f19'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r19'>19</a>.  </span>The text, which is on a stela found in the ruined temple of Isis at the +south-east corner of the great pyramid of Gizeh, is now in the Cairo +Museum. It has been published by <abbr class='spell'>M.</abbr> Daressy in the <span lang="fr"><i>Recueil des Travaux +relatifs à la Philologie et à l’Archéologie égyptiennes et assyriennes</i></span> (<abbr title='sixteen'>xvi.</abbr> +3, 4, 1894), and is dated in the third year of king Ai. It follows from the +inscription that ‘the domain called that of the Hittites’ lay to the north +of the great temple of Ptah, and immediately to the south of two smaller +temples built by Thothmes <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr> and Thothmes <abbr title='the fourth'><span class='fss'>IV.</span></abbr> In the time of Herodotos +there was a similar district assigned to the Phœnicians, and known as +‘the Camp of the Tyrians,’ on the south side of the temple of Ptah (see my +<i>Egypt of the Hebrews and Herodotos</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 251).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f20'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r20'>20</a>.  </span>Amurru, ‘the Amorite god,’ was a name which had been given by the +Sumerians, the earlier population of Chaldæa, to the Syrian Hadad whom +the Babylonians identified with their Ramman or Rimmon (<abbr class='spell'>cf.</abbr> <abbr title='Zechariah'>Zech.</abbr> <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> +11). A cuneiform text published by Reisner (<span lang="de"><i>Sumerisch-babylonische +Hymnen nach Thontafeln griechischer Zeit</i></span>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 139, lines 141-144) couples +Amurru, ‘the lord of the mountains,’ with Asratu, the Canaanitish Asherah, +‘the lady of the plain.’ Asratu is identified with the Babylonian Gubarra.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f21'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r21'>21</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>W. A. I.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 12, 47.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f22'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r22'>22</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>W. A. I.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 33, <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 37.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f23'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r23'>23</a>.  </span><i>Padanu</i> also had the meaning of ‘path.’ Whether this is derived +from the other or belongs to a different root is questionable. But in the +sense of ‘path,’ <i>padanu</i> was a synonym of Kharran.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f24'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r24'>24</a>.  </span>This does not imply that the population which founded the kingdom +of Mitanni, and probably came from the mountains of Komagênê or of Ararat +in the north, was unknown in early Babylonia. In fact, one of the <i>Cuneiform +Texts from Babylonian Tablets</i>, published by the British Museum +in 1896 (Bu. 91-5-9, 296), contains the names of ‘the governor’ Akhsir-Babu +and other witnesses to a contract, most of which are Mitannian.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f25'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r25'>25</a>.  </span>I have given the tablet in transliteration in the <i>Proceedings</i> of the +Society of Biblical Archæology, <abbr title='November'>Nov.</abbr> 1883, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 18. The passage reads: +‘14-½ shekels of lead we have weighed in <i>nakhur</i>.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f26'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r26'>26</a>.  </span>See Sachau, <span lang="de"><i>Die altaramäische Inschrift auf der Statue des Königs +Panammu von Sam-al</i></span> and <span lang="de"><i>Aramäische Inschriften</i></span> in the <span lang="de"><i>Mittheilungen +aus den orientalischen Sammlungen <abbr class='spell'>d. K.</abbr> Museums zu Berlin</i></span>, <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr>, and +the <span lang="de"><i>Sitzungsberichte der <abbr class='spell'>K.</abbr> preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften</i></span>, +<abbr title='forty-one'>xli.</abbr> (1896).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f27'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r27'>27</a>.  </span>See my <i>Races of the Old Testament</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 110-117, and <abbr class='spell'>H. G.</abbr> Tomkins +in the <i>Journal</i> of the Anthropological Institute, <abbr title='February'>Feb.</abbr> 1889.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f28'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r28'>28</a>.  </span>In a report of an eclipse of the moon sent to an Assyrian king in the +eighth century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr>, the countries of ‘the Amorites and the Hittites’ +represent the whole of Western Asia (<abbr class='spell'>R. F.</abbr> Harper, <i>Assyrian and +Babylonian Letters</i>, Part <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 345).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f29'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r29'>29</a>.  </span>The discovery of the name of Shakama or Shechem in the <i>Travels of +the Mohar</i> is due to Dr. <abbr class='spell'>W.</abbr> Max Müller (<span lang="de"><i>Asien und Europa</i></span>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 394).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f30'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r30'>30</a>.  </span>Or <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr>, according to Maspero, who makes three Hyksos sovereigns of +this name.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f31'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r31'>31</a>.  </span>It is in the possession of Mr. John Ward.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f32'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r32'>32</a>.  </span>See my <i>Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monument</i>, +<abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 160, 161.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f33'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r33'>33</a>.  </span>Recent discoveries have made it clear that the Amraphel of Genesis is +the Khammu-rabi of the cuneiform texts. Khammu-rabi is also written +Ammu-rabi (Bu. 88-5-12, 199, <abbr title='line'>l.</abbr> 17), and Dr. Lindl has pointed out that +the final syllable of Amraphel is the Babylonian <i>ilu</i>, ‘god,’ a title which is +frequently attached to the name of Khammu-rabi. We learn from the +Tel el-Amarna tablets that in the pronunciation of Western Asia a +Babylonian <abbr class='spell'><i>b</i></abbr> often became <abbr class='spell'><i>p</i></abbr>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f34'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r34'>34</a>.  </span>Pinches, <i>Certain Inscriptions and Records referring to Babylonia and +Elam</i>, a paper read before the Victoria Institute, <abbr title='January'>Jan.</abbr> 7, 1896; see also +Hommel, <i>The Ancient Hebrew Tradition</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 180 <i>sqq.</i></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f35'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r35'>35</a>.  </span>Some Assyriologists interpret Manda as ‘much’ or ‘many’; in this +case Umman Manda, ‘much people,’ will be still more literally the +Hebrew <span lang="hbo"><i>Goyyim</i></span>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f36'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r36'>36</a>.  </span>Dr. Scheil, the discoverer of the letters of Khammu-rabi to Sin-idinnam +which are now in the Museum at Constantinople, gives the following +translations of them (<span lang="fr"><i>Recueil de Travaux relatifs à la Philologie et à +l’Archéologie égyptiennes et assyriennes</i></span>, <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 1, 2, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 40-44): (1) ‘To +Sin-idinnam Khammu-rabi says: I send you as a present (the images of) +the goddesses of the land of Emutbalum as a reward for your valour on the +day (of the defeat) of Kudur-Laghghamar. If (the enemy) trouble you, +destroy their forces with the troops at your disposal, and let the images +be restored in safety to their (old) habitations.’ (2) ‘To Sin-idinnam +Khammu-rabi says: When you have seen this letter, you will understand +in regard to Amil-Samas and Nur-Nintu, the sons of Gisdubba, that if +they are in Larsa, or in the territory of Larsa, you will order them to be +sent away, and that a trusty official shall take them and bring them to +Babylon.’ (3) ‘To Sin-idinnam Khammu-rabi says: As to the officials +who have resisted you in the accomplishment of their work, do not +impose upon them any additional task, but oblige them to do what they +ought to have done, and then remove them from the influence of him who +has brought them.’ All three letters were found at Senkereh, the ancient +Larsa. Fragments of some other letters of Khammu-rabi are in the possession +of Lord Amherst of Hackney. See above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_12'>12</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f37'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r37'>37</a>.  </span>Nicolaus of Damascus, in Josephus <i>Antiq.</i> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 7, 2.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f38'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r38'>38</a>.  </span>See my <i>Patriarchal Palestine</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 160, 165. The figure and name of +the god Salimmu, written in cuneiform characters, are on a gem now in +the Hermitage at <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Petersburg. The same god, under the name of +Shalman, is mentioned on a stela discovered at Sidon, and under that of +Selamanês in the inscriptions of Shêkh Barakât, north-west of Aleppo +(Clermont-Ganneau, <span lang="fr"><i>Études d’Archéologie orientale</i></span> in the <span lang="fr"><i>Bibliothèque +de l’École des Hautes Études</i></span>, <abbr title='a hundred and thirteen'>cxiii.</abbr> <abbr title='volume'>vol.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 36, 48; Sayce in the <i>Proceedings</i> +of the Society of Biblical Archeology, <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 2. <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 74).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f39'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r39'>39</a>.  </span>As Professor Hommel says (<i>Expository Times</i>, <abbr title='November'>Nov.</abbr> 1896, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 95), ‘The +“Mighty King” cannot possibly be the Pharaoh.’ But he seems to me to +introduce an unnecessary element of complication into the subject by +supposing that in the Tel el-Amarna letters the epithet has been transferred +to the king of the Hittites from the supreme god of Jerusalem, to whom it +properly belonged. It is true that in a letter of the governor of Phœnicia +(Winckler und Abel, <abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> 76, <abbr title='line'>l.</abbr> 66) the title is given to the king of the +Hittites, but it does not follow that the king of Jerusalem employs it in +the same way.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f40'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r40'>40</a>.  </span>It should be noticed that, according to Hesykhios (<abbr class='spell'><i>s. v.</i></abbr>), ‘the most +high God’ of the Syrians was Ramas, that is, Ramman or Rimmon, who +was identified with the sun-god Hadad, the supreme deity of Syria. The +Babylonians called him Amurru ‘the Amorite.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f41'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r41'>41</a>.  </span>Pietschmann, <span lang="de"><i>Geschichte der Phönizier</i></span>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 115. The suggestion was +first made by von Bunsen.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f42'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r42'>42</a>.  </span>For a possible explanation of the origin of the practice, see <abbr class='spell'>H. N.</abbr> +Moseley in the <i>Journal of the Anthropological Institute</i>, <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 4, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 396. +Bastian gives another in his description of the practice among the Polynesians +(<span lang="de"><i>Anthropologie der Naturvölker</i></span>, <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 40, 41).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f43'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r43'>43</a>.  </span>A brilliant suggestion of Professor Hommel, however, may prove to +be the true explanation of the mysterious name. In the Minæan inscriptions +of Southern Arabia a long <abbr class='spell'><i>â</i></abbr> is constantly denoted in writing by <abbr class='spell'><i>h</i></abbr>; +and Abraham, therefore, may be merely the Minæan mode of writing +Abram. If so, this would show that the Hebrew scribes were once under +the influence of the Minæan script, and that portions of the Pentateuch +itself may have been written in the letters of the Minæan alphabet +(Hommel, <i>The Ancient Hebrew Tradition</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 275-277). Dr. Neubauer +has suggested to me that this also may be the explanation of the name of +Aaron (<i>Aharôn</i>), which, like Ab-raham, has no etymology. Aaron would +be the graphic form of Âron, an Arabic name which appears as Aran in +the genealogy of the Horites (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-six'>xxxvi.</abbr> 28).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f44'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r44'>44</a>.  </span>See Berger, <span lang="fr"><i>L’Arabie avant Mahomet d’après les Inscriptions</i></span> (1885), +<abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 27, 28.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f45'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r45'>45</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>D. H.</abbr> Müller, <span lang="de"><i>Epigraphische Denkmäler aus Arabien</i></span> (1889), <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 13.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f46'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r46'>46</a>.  </span>Thus we have <i>anuki</i> ‘I,’ <abbr title='Hebrew'>Heb.</abbr> <span lang="hbo"><i>anochi</i></span>; <i>badiu</i> ‘in his hand,’ <abbr title='Hebrew'>Heb.</abbr> +<span lang="hbo"><i>b’yado</i></span>; <i>akharunu</i> ‘after him,’ <abbr title='Hebrew'>Heb.</abbr> <span lang="hbo"><i>akharono</i></span>; <i>rusu</i> ‘head,’ <abbr title='Hebrew'>Heb.</abbr> <span lang="hbo"><i>rosh</i></span>; +<i>kilubi</i> ‘cage,’ <abbr title='Hebrew'>Heb.</abbr> <span lang="hbo"><i>chelûb</i></span>; <i>har</i> ‘mountain,’ <abbr title='Hebrew'>Heb.</abbr> <span lang="hbo"><i>har</i></span>.</p> + +<p class='c003'>See my <i>Patriarchal Palestine</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 247.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f47'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r47'>47</a>.  </span>On the question of the site of Mizpah of Gilead, see <abbr class='spell'>G. A.</abbr> Smith, +<i>The Historical Geography of the Holy Land</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 586, 587.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f48'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r48'>48</a>.  </span><span lang="de"><i>Ausgrabungen in Sendschirli</i></span> in <span lang="de"><i>Mittheilungen aus den orientalischen +Sammlungen</i></span>, <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> (1893).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f49'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r49'>49</a>.  </span><i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi</abbr>, <abbr title='seven'>vii</abbr>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f50'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r50'>50</a>.  </span>Dussaud (<span lang="fr"><i>Revue Archéologique</i></span>, <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty'>xxx</abbr>. <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 346) states that according +to the Ansarîyeh of the Gulf of Antioch the ‘Yudi’ or Hebrews formerly +occupied their country, and constructed the ancient monuments found in +it, one of which is called after the name of Solomon. For Neubauer’s +suggestion that the Dinhabah of <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-six'>xxxvi.</abbr> 32 is identical in name with +the Dunip or Tunip of Northern Syria, see further on.</p> + +<p class='c003'>Hoffmann (<span lang="de"><i>Zeitschrift für Assyriologie</i></span>, <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 210) maintains that the +origin of the Aramaic dialects is to be sought in a Bedâwin language allied +to that of the Arabs and Sabæans, which underwent intermixture with +Canaanitish (or Phœnician) through the settlement of its speakers in a +Canaanitish country.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f51'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r51'>51</a>.  </span>In Assyrian letters of the Second Empire mention is made of the +Nabathean Â-kamaru, the son of Amme’te’, and the Arabian Ami-li’ti, +the son of Ameri or Omar (Harper, <i>Assyrian and Babylonian Letters</i>, +<abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 262; <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 437).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f52'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r52'>52</a>.  </span>It is stated in <abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> 4 that Balaam was hired from ‘Pethor of +Aram Naharaim,’ not only by the Moabites, but by the Ammonites as +well (though it is true that in the Hebrew text the word <i>sâkar</i>, ‘hired,’ is +in the singular). It may be noted that the mother of Rehoboam, whose +name is compounded with that of Am or Ammi (compare Rehab-iah, +1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> 17), was an Ammonitess (1 Kings <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 21). For a full +discussion of the name of ’Ammi or ’Ammu, and the historical conclusions +which may be deduced from it, see Hommel, <i>The Ancient Hebrew Tradition</i>, +<abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 89 <i>sqq.</i></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f53'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r53'>53</a>.  </span>The name of Carchemish is usually written Gargamis in the cuneiform +inscriptions (Qarqamish in the Egyptian hieroglyphs), but Tiglath-pileser <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr> +(<abbr class='spell'>W. A. I.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 13, 49) calls it ‘Kar-Gamis’ (the Fortified Wall of Gamis) +‘in the land of the Hittites,’ and from the Hebrew spelling in the Old +Testament we may gather that Gamis was identified with the Moabite +Chemosh. In Babylonian tablets of the age of Ammi-zadoq mention is +made of a wood Karkamisû or ‘Carchemishian’ (Bu. 88-5-12, 163, line +11; 88-5-12, 19, line 8). It may be noted that the name ‘Jerabîs,’ sometimes +assigned to the site of Carchemish instead of Jerablûs, is, according +to the unanimous testimony of English and American residents in the +neighbourhood, erroneous.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f54'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r54'>54</a>.  </span>See <i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 45.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f55'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r55'>55</a>.  </span>For the identity of the Zuzim with the Babylonian Zavzala, see my +note in the <i>Proceedings</i> of the Society of Biblical Archæology, <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 2, +<abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 74, 75.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f56'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r56'>56</a>.  </span>See above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_21'>21</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f57'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r57'>57</a>.  </span>See above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_20'>20</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f58'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r58'>58</a>.  </span>We owe the term ‘Eurafrican’ to Dr. Brinton (see his <i>Races and +Peoples</i>, 1890, Lecture <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr>). For the relationship of the Libyan and the +Kelt, see my Address to the Anthropological Section of the British +Association, 1887.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f59'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r59'>59</a>.  </span>The expression ‘mountain of the Amorites,’ which we meet with in +<abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 7, 19, takes us back to Abrahamic times. One of the campaigns +of Samsu-iluna, the son and successor of Khammu-rabi or Amraphel, was +against ‘the great mountain of the land of the Amorites’ (<i>kharsag gal +mad Martu-ki</i>, Bu. 91-5-9, 333; <i>Rev.</i> 19).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f60'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r60'>60</a>.  </span>See my <i>Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 41; +<abbr class='spell'>D. H.</abbr> Müller, <span lang="de"><i>Epigraphische Denkmäler aus Arabien</i></span>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 8 (the Minæan +inscriptions of El-Oela, south of Teima, are given <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 21 <abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr>).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f61'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r61'>61</a>.  </span>Philo Byblius in his work ‘On the Jews,’ as quoted by Eusebius +(<i>Præp. Evang.</i> <abbr title='one'>i</abbr>, 10), stated that ‘Kronos, whom the Phœnicians call El, +the king of the country, who was afterwards deified in the planet Saturn, +had an only son by a nymph of the country called Anôbret. This son +was named Yeud, which signifies in Phœnician an only son. His country +having fallen into distress during a war, Kronos clothed his son in royal +robes, raised an altar, and sacrificed him upon it.’ In his account of +the Phœnician mythology, the same writer describes the sacrifice a little +differently: ‘A plague and a famine having occurred, Kronos sacrificed +his only son to his father the Sky, circumcised himself, and obliged his +companions to do the same’ (Euseb. <abbr class='spell'><i>l. c.</i></abbr>).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f62'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r62'>62</a>.  </span><i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 49, <abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> 81.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f63'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r63'>63</a>.  </span><span lang="fr"><i>L’Imagerie Phénicienne</i></span> (1880), <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 105.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f64'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r64'>64</a>.  </span>Which may also be read <i>ayyal</i> or ‘hart.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f65'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r65'>65</a>.  </span>See my <i>Races of the Old Testament</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 130 <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f66'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r66'>66</a>.  </span>See my <i>Races of the Old Testament</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 127, 132, where a photograph +is given of Professor Flinders Petrie’s cast of the Ashkelon profiles.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f67'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r67'>67</a>.  </span><i>Black Obelisk</i>, lines 60, 61, compared with <i>Monolith Inscription</i>, <abbr title='lines'>ll.</abbr> +90-95.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f68'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r68'>68</a>.  </span>One <i>feddan</i> or acre contained 1800 <i>sari</i> (Reisner in the <span lang="de"><i>Zeitschrift +für Assyriologie</i></span>, <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 4, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 421). The area was not great, though it +was calculated that not more than 120 <i>sari</i> could be ploughed by a +single ox.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f69'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r69'>69</a>.  </span>Published by Strassmaier in the Transactions of the Fifth Oriental +Congress, <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 1, <i>Append.</i> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 14, 15; a translation will be found in Peiser’s +<span lang="de"><i>Altbabylonische Urkunden in the Keilschriftliche Bibliothek</i></span>, <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 7. +The tablet was found at Tel-Sifr.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f70'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r70'>70</a>.  </span>Published by Meissner, <span lang="de"><i>Beiträge zum altbabylonischen Privatrecht</i></span>, +<abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> 43 (with corrections by Pinches); a translation is given by Peiser, +<span lang="de"><i>Keilschriftliche Bibliothek</i></span>, <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 23-25.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f71'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r71'>71</a>.  </span><abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> 18. The Hebrew expression ‘In the presence of’ is the same +as that which is translated ‘Witnessed by’ in the Babylonian documents.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f72'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r72'>72</a>.  </span>Babylonian <i>shaqâlu kaspa</i>, Hebrew <span lang="hbo"><i>shâqal [eth-hak-] keseph</i></span>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f73'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r73'>73</a>.  </span>According to Professor Flinders Petrie, the heavy maneh or mina as +fixed by Dungi and restored by Nebuchadrezzar weighed 978,309 +grammes. An example of it is now in the British Museum. See Lehmann +in the <span lang="de"><i>Verhandlungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft</i></span>, 1893, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 27.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f74'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r74'>74</a>.  </span>The identification is, however, doubtful, since only potsherds of the +Roman period are visible at Umm Jerâr, which, moreover, according to +Palmer (<i>Name-lists</i> in the <i>Survey of Western Palestine</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 420), is merely +Umm el-Jerrâr, ‘the mother of water-pots.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f75'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r75'>75</a>.  </span>Beti-ilu (Winckler’s <i>Tel el-Amarna Letters</i>, <abbr title='Numbers'>Nos.</abbr> 51, 125) is associated +with Tunip and the country of Nukhassê. The reading of the name is not +quite certain, however, as it may be transcribed Batti-ilu or Mitti-ilu. A +Babylonian of the Abrahamic age also has the name of Beta-ili.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f76'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r76'>76</a>.  </span>The title seems to have been of Horite origin (see <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-six'>xxxvi.</abbr> 21, 29, 30).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f77'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r77'>77</a>.  </span>It is noticeable that the Edomite leader who was carried captive to +Egypt by Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> after he had destroyed ‘the tents’ of ‘the Shasu in +Seir,’ is entitled ‘chieftain,’ and not ‘king.’ There is a portrait of him on +the walls of Medînet Habu at Thebes.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f78'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r78'>78</a>.  </span>For another explanation of the name, see <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-five'>xxv.</abbr> 26; <abbr title='Hosea'>Hos.</abbr> <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 3.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f79'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r79'>79</a>.  </span>Jacob-el is written Ya’akub-ilu; Joseph-el, Yasupu-ilu and Yasup-il, +which is found in a list of slaves of the same early age (Bu. 91-5-9, 324). +In the same list mention is made of land belonging to Adunum, the <abbr title='Hebrew'>Heb.</abbr> +<span lang="hbo"><i>adon</i></span>, and to Nakha-ya, which is a parallel formation to the <abbr title='Hebrew'>Heb.</abbr> Noah. +In a tablet dated in the reign of Zabium, the founder of the dynasty to +which Khammu-rabi or Amraphel belonged, we find the name of +Ya-kh-ku-ub-il, <abbr class='spell'><i>i.e.</i></abbr> Ya’qub-il (Bu. 91-5-9, 387).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f80'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r80'>80</a>.  </span>Iqib-ilu and Asupi-ilu.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f81'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r81'>81</a>.  </span>See <i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 48, 51.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f82'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r82'>82</a>.  </span>One of the scarabs of Ya’qob-el is in the Egyptian Museum of +University College, London. <i>El</i> is written <abbr class='spell'><i>h(a)l</i></abbr>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f83'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r83'>83</a>.  </span>On the summit of the hill above Beitîn, the ancient Beth-On or Beth-el, +the strata of limestone rock take the form of vast steps rising one above +the other.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f84'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r84'>84</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>Cf.</abbr> the article of Mr. Pinches on ‘Gifts to a Babylonian Bit-ili’ in +the <i>Babylonian and Oriental Record</i>, <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 6.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f85'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r85'>85</a>.  </span>See, for example, Peiser, <span lang="de"><i>Texte juristischen und geschäftlichen +Inhalts</i></span> (<span lang="de"><i>Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek</i></span>, <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr>), <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 49, <abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr>, where Ubarum +hires himself out to Ana-Samas-litsi for a month, for half a shekel of silver.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f86'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r86'>86</a>.  </span><i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 169.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f87'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r87'>87</a>.  </span><abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-two'>xxxii.</abbr> 15. See also <abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 5, 26; <abbr title='Isaiah'>Isa.</abbr> <abbr title='forty-four'>xliv.</abbr> 2.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f88'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r88'>88</a>.  </span>According to immemorial tradition, the site of the field is marked by +Jacob’s Well (<abbr title='Saint'>S.</abbr> John <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 6). Dr. Masterman in the <i>Quarterly Statement</i> +of the Palestine Exploration Fund, April 1897, gives for the first time a +satisfactory explanation why this deep well, which is often dry in summer, +should have been sunk in the neighbourhood of a number of springs:—‘The +springs have probably always belonged to the townsfolk (since they +became settled); and, in the case of any wandering tribes with considerable +flocks among them, it is exceedingly probable that the more settled +inhabitants would first resent and then resist the new-comers marching +twice daily into their midst to water their flocks at their springs, Probably +any experienced nomad with such flocks, accustomed to such a +country as this, would know pretty surely where he might, from the conformation +of the hills, expect to find water. If, then, a quarrel arose, what +more probable than that he should seek to make himself independent of +these disagreeable neighbours. Further, if we can accept the tradition, +we have, in the story of Jacob, two special facts connected with this: +firstly, he bought a piece of ground on which he could make a well for +himself; and then we gather from Genesis <abbr title='thirty-four'>xxxiv.</abbr> that his family made +themselves sufficiently obnoxious to the Shechemites to make it very +necessary for Jacob to be independent of their permission to use their +springs.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f89'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r89'>89</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>Cf.</abbr> <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='forty-nine'>xlix.</abbr> 14, 15. The Hebrew word rendered ‘two burdens’ +by the Authorised Version in <abbr title='verse'>v.</abbr> 14 should be translated ‘sheepfolds,’ as it +is in <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 16.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f90'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r90'>90</a>.  </span>Thus the ancient Abshek, the Abokkis of classical geography, has +become Abu Simbel, or ‘father of an ear of corn’; and Silsila is said to +have derived its name from a ‘chain’ or <i>silsila</i> stretched across the Nile +from the rocks on either bank, though it really has its origin in the classical +Silsilis, the Coptic Joljel or ‘barrier.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f91'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r91'>91</a>.  </span>In the list of Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> the name of Nekeb of Galilee (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> +33) is followed by that of Ashushkhen, which may be compared with +Issachar, since the interchange of final <abbr class='spell'><i>n</i></abbr> and <abbr class='spell'><i>r</i></abbr> is not uncommon. But +the substitution of <abbr class='spell'><i>kh</i></abbr> for <abbr class='spell'><i>k</i></abbr> (<abbr class='spell'><i>ch</i></abbr>) is difficult to account for.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f92'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r92'>92</a>.  </span>Shmâna is the thirty-fifth name in the Palestine list of Thothmes, and +follows the name of Chinnereth (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 35; comp. also Shmânau, +<abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> 18. See Tomkins in <i>Records of the Past</i>, new series, <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 44, 46). +One of the Tel el-Amarna tablets (<abbr class='spell'>W.</abbr> and <abbr class='spell'>A.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr>, <abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> 39) mentions ‘the +Yaudu’ in the neighbourhood of Tunip, now Tennib, north-west of +Aleppo. The name of the Jews is written in the same way in the cuneiform +texts, though the Yaudu of the Tel el-Amarna tablets are probably +to be identified with the land of Ya’di, which the inscriptions of Sinjerli +place in Northern Syria. But it is noticeable that the Tel el-Amarna +correspondence makes Kinza a district near Kadesh on the Orontes, close +to the Lake of Homs, and Kinza is letter for letter the Biblical Kenaz. +The Kenizzites, it will be remembered, formed an integral part of the later +tribe of Judah.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f93'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r93'>93</a>.  </span>Hommel, <span lang="de"><i>Aufsätze und Abhandlungen sur Kunde der Sprachen, +Literaturen und der Geschichte des vorderen Orients</i></span> (1890), <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 31.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f94'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r94'>94</a>.  </span>The Rev. <abbr class='spell'>H. G.</abbr> Tomkins (<i>Quarterly Statement</i> of the Palestine Exploration +Fund, April 1885) first pointed out the true signification of the name of +Beth-lehem, Lakhmu was one of the primeval gods of Chaldæan religion.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f95'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r95'>95</a>.  </span>The village of Rachel, which was probably where the stone stood, is +referred to in 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty'>xxx.</abbr> 29.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f96'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r96'>96</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'><i>E.g.</i></abbr> <i>Yeôr</i>, ‘river,’ Egyptian <i>aur</i>; <i>akhu</i>, ‘herbage on the river bank’ +(<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='forty-one'>xli.</abbr> 2), Egyptian <i>akhu</i>; <i>rebid</i>, ‘collar,’ Egyptian <i>repit</i>. See +Ebers, <i>Aegypten und die Bücher Mose’s</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 337-339.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f97'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r97'>97</a>.  </span>See my <i>Egypt of the Hebrews and Herodotos</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 25 <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f98'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r98'>98</a>.  </span>See Tomkins, <i>Life and Times of Joseph</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 184.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f99'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r99'>99</a>.  </span>Asenath is probably Nes-Nit, ‘Attached to Neith,’ as Subanda is Nes-Bandid, +‘Attached to Bandid.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f100'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r100'>100</a>.  </span>Mattan-Baal. The corresponding Hebrew name is Mattaniah.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f101'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r101'>101</a>.  </span>A translation of the Sallier Papyrus is given by Maspero in the +<i>Records of the Past</i>, new series, <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 37 <i>sq.</i> For the scarab of ‘Sutekh-Apopi’ see Maspero’s <i>Struggle of the Nations</i> (<abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr>), <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> vii. The +names of Beth-On or Beth-el in Canaan, and of On near Damascus +(Amos <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 5), indicate a connection with the cult of the Sun-god at On in +Egypt. On in the ‘Beka’’ of Damascus is probably the Heliopolis of +Syria, to which the worship of Ra of Heliopolis of Egypt was brought in +the reign of the Pharaoh Senemures (Macrobius, <i>Saturnal.</i> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 23, 10).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f102'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r102'>102</a>.  </span><span lang="de"><i>Aegypten und die Bücher Mose’s</i></span>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 299.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f103'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r103'>103</a>.  </span>Maspero, <i>The Struggle of the Nations</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 271, note 5.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f104'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r104'>104</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>Cf.</abbr> Brugsch, <i>Aegyptologie</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 218 <i>sq.</i></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f105'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r105'>105</a>.  </span>Ebers, <span lang="de"><i>Aegypten und die Bücher Mose’s</i></span>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 323-333.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f106'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r106'>106</a>.  </span>Ebers, <abbr class='spell'><i>l.c.</i></abbr>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 335, 336.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f107'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r107'>107</a>.  </span>See Wiedemann, <span lang="de"><i>Religion der alten Aegypter</i></span>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 142-144. The +<span lang="hbo"><i>khartummîm</i></span> and <span lang="hbo"><i>khakâmîm</i></span> (Authorised Version, ‘magicians’ and ‘wise +men’) seem to correspond with the Egyptian <i>kherhebu</i>, ‘interpreters of +the sacred books,’ and <i>rekhu khetu</i>, ‘wise men.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f108'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r108'>108</a>.  </span>See Tomkins, <i>Life and Times of Joseph</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 44; Erman, <i>Life in +Ancient Egypt</i> (<abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr>), <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 439.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f109'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r109'>109</a>.  </span>Mariette, <i>Abydos</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 421 (Ben-Mazan from Bashan becomes Ramses-em-per-Ra); +Daninos-Pasha and Maspero in the <span lang="fr"><i>Recueil de Travaux +relatifs à la Philologie et à l’ Archéologie égyptienne et assyrienne</i></span>, <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> +<abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 214; and Sayce in the <i>Academy</i>, 1891, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 461.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f110'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r110'>110</a>.  </span>See Erman, <i>Life in Ancient Egypt</i> (<abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr>), <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 439.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f111'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r111'>111</a>.  </span>See Erman, <i>Life in Ancient Egypt</i> (<abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr>), <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 102, 103.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f112'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r112'>112</a>.  </span>Thus ‘Captain’ Ahmes had land given him according to his +biographical inscription, <abbr title='lines'>ll.</abbr> 22, 24; see Brugsch, <i>Egypt under the +Pharaohs</i> (<abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr>), second edit. <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 249.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f113'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r113'>113</a>.  </span>See Virey in <i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 7 <abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr> There were +similar public granaries in Babylonia called <i>sutummi</i>, under the charge of +an officer who bore the title of <i>satammu</i>, and the institution was probably +introduced into Egypt from Asia.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f114'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r114'>114</a>.  </span>Erman, <i>Life in Ancient Egypt</i> (<abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr>), <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 108.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f115'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r115'>115</a>.  </span>See Brugsch’s translation of the inscription in his <span lang="de"><i>Die biblischen sieben +Jahre der Hungersnoth</i></span> (1891).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f116'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r116'>116</a>.  </span>See Brugsch, <i>Egypt under the Pharaohs</i> (<abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr>), 2nd edit., <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> +262, 263. ‘Captain’ Ahmes, who took part in the War of Independence +under Ahmes <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr>, calls himself the son of Abana, and traces his descent to +his ‘forefather Baba.’ In Abana, Maspero (<i>The Struggle of the Nations</i>, +<abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 85) sees the Semitic Abîna, ‘Our father.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f117'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r117'>117</a>.  </span>Thus in the Tel el-Amarna tablets, Rib-Hadad, the governor of +Phœnicia, asks the Pharaoh to send corn to Gebal, as the crops there had +failed (Winckler and Abel, <abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> 48, <abbr title='lines'>ll.</abbr> 8-19), and Meneptah sent corn to +the Hittites when they suffered from a famine (Brugsch, <i>Egypt under the +Pharaohs</i>, <abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr>, 2nd edit., <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 119).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f118'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r118'>118</a>.  </span>According to Abulfarag (<i>Chron.</i> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 14), Joseph became Vizier in the +seventeenth year of the reign of Apopi. Maspero (<i>Struggle of the Nations</i>, +<abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 59, 107) makes Apopi Ra-aa-kenen the third of the name.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f119'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r119'>119</a>.  </span>See Maspero’s translation in <i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 37 <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f120'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r120'>120</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>E.</abbr> Naville, <i>Goshen and the Shrine of Saft el-Hennah</i>, Fourth Memoir +of the Egypt Exploration Fund (1887), <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 14 <i>sq.</i></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f121'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r121'>121</a>.  </span>See Naville, <i>Goshen</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 26.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f122'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r122'>122</a>.  </span><i>Bibl. Hist.</i>, <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 91.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f123'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r123'>123</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>N. H.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 5.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f124'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r124'>124</a>.  </span>Abel-Mizraim may be the Abel that is mentioned in connection with +the ‘gardens,’ the ‘tilth,’ and the ‘spring’ of Carmel of Judah in the list +of places in Canaan conquered by Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> (<abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> 92). Another Abel +is mentioned two names earlier (<abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> 90).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f125'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r125'>125</a>.  </span>See Virey’s translation in <i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 34.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f126'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r126'>126</a>.  </span>This, however, is beginning to be doubtful, in view of the discoveries +made by Messrs. de Morgan and Amélineau in 1886-87.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f127'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r127'>127</a>.  </span>For the logical goal of the ‘Higher Criticism,’ see Bateson Wright, +<i>Was Israel ever in Egypt?</i> (1895.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f128'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r128'>128</a>.  </span>The theory of Jean Astruc, the French Protestant physician, was set +forth in his <span lang="fr"><i>Conjectures sur la Genèse</i></span> published anonymously at Paris in +1753. In this he assumes that Moses wrote the book of Genesis in four +parallel columns like a Harmony of the Gospels which were afterwards +mixed together by the ignorance of copyists. Astruc intended his work +to be an answer to those who, like Spinoza, asserted that Genesis was +written without order or plan. It is interesting to note that Dr. Briggs in +his able defence of the ‘critical’ hypothesis (<i>The Higher Criticism of the +Hexateuch</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 138-141) quotes with approval Professor Moore’s appeal to +Tatian’s <i>Diatessaron</i>—a mere ‘patchwork’ of the Gospels—in support of +the literary analysis of the Pentateuch.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f129'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r129'>129</a>.  </span>See Bissell, Introduction to <i>Genesis printed in Colours</i> (1892), <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> +<abbr title='eleven'>xi</abbr>-<abbr title='thirteen'>xiii</abbr>; also <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <abbr title='seven'>vii</abbr>, where he says: ‘The argument from language outside +the divine names requires extreme care for obvious reasons. It is admitted +to be relatively weak, and can never have more than a subordinate and +supplementary value. There is no visible cleavage line among the +supposed sources.’ Professor Bissell’s work is an attempt to represent by +different colours the text of Genesis as it has been analysed and disintegrated +by the ‘higher critics,’ and the result at which he arrives in his +Introduction is that the analytical theory is a house built upon sand. As +regards the account of the Flood, in which ‘it is claimed’ that two distinct +narratives can be distinguished from each other, he remarks: ‘Two +flood-stories, originating, according to the theory, hundreds of years apart, +and literally swarming with differences and contradictions ... are found +to fit one another like so many serrated blocks, and to form, united, a +consecutive history whose unity, with constant use for millenniums, has +been undisputed till our day. Is this coincidence, or is it miracle? But let +us take a closer look. We shall find no loosely joined, independent sections, +but mutually dependent parts of one whole. An occasional overlapping +of ideas, a repetition for emphasis, or enlargement, in complete +harmony with Hebrew style, there undoubtedly is. But there is also a +marked interdependence and sequence of thought wholly inconsistent with +the theory proposed. Let the reader test what <abbr class='spell'>J</abbr>’s story would be alone. +Beginning it has none; no preliminary announcement of the catastrophe; +no command to make preparations; no report of Noah’s attitude.... And +so <abbr class='spell'>P</abbr>’s story, taken by itself, would be equally incomplete.... As to the +alleged discrepancies in other respects, they appear, as we have seen, to be +true in other cases, only after the text is rent asunder. The lighting +system of the one does not exclude the one window of the other; nor the +covering for the roof, the door in the side. Without the door, for which +one document alone is responsible, how is it supposed that the occupants +of the ark got in and out of it? If objects are thrown out of their due +perspective, as in a mirage, it need surprise no one if they appear distorted +and grotesque.... It is particularly in the matter of language and style +that resort is taken to this illogical and dangerous means of text-mutilation. +There are certain stylistic peculiarities of one or the other document, it is +claimed, which are fixed from the usage of previous chapters. But unfortunately +for the scheme, they appear not unfrequently in the wrong place. +For instance, the expression “male and female” is held to be characteristic +of <abbr class='spell'>P, J</abbr> using another for it. In <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 3, 9, <abbr class='spell'>J</abbr> uses this expression twice, and +our critics must make the redactor deny it. The oft-recurring formula, +“both man, beast, and creeping thing and fowl of the air,” is found in the +first chapter of Genesis, and so is said to be characteristic of <abbr class='spell'>P</abbr>. Here <abbr class='spell'>J</abbr> +has it in <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 7 and <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 23, and the redactor is called in to square the document +to the theory.... In all these changes we are supposed to have the +work of a redactor. How is it possible? What motive could a redactor +have had for it? It is claimed by our critics that he has left the principal +points of contrast between the two great documents from which he compiled +in their original ruggedness. The principal changes made, with rare +exceptions, are of single words, detached phrases, verses or parts of verses,—every +one of them changes in what was originally homogeneous matter to +what is now heterogeneous, from what was once true, from the point of +view of the document, to what is now false!’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f130'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r130'>130</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>Cf.</abbr> the plates in Flinders Petrie’s <i>Tel el-Amarna</i> (Methuen and <abbr title='Company'>Co.</abbr>, +1894).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f131'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r131'>131</a>.  </span>Literally, ‘Aten-Ra! the Record Office.’ Many of the bricks with +the inscription upon them still lay on the spot when I visited it in 1888.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f132'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r132'>132</a>.  </span>See my <i>Patriarchal Palestine</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 222.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f133'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r133'>133</a>.  </span>Hommel, <span lang="de"><i>Aufsätze und Abhandlungen zur Kunde der Sprachen, +Literaturen und der Geschichte des vorderen Orients</i></span>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 2 <abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f134'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r134'>134</a>.  </span>See my <i>Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments</i>, +<abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 56 <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f135'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r135'>135</a>.  </span>The Elohist and the Chaldæan story further agree in making the +hero of the Deluge the tenth in descent from the first man.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f136'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r136'>136</a>.  </span>See my <i>Archæological Commentary on Genesis</i>, in the <i>Expository +Times</i>, July and August, 1896.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f137'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r137'>137</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>Cf.</abbr> Gunkel, <i>Schöpfung und Chaos</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 114.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f138'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r138'>138</a>.  </span>See above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_13'>13</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f139'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r139'>139</a>.  </span>Naville, <span lang="de"><i>Das aegyptische Todtenbuch der <abbr title='eighteenth'>XVIII.</abbr> bis <abbr title='twentieth'>XX.</abbr> Dynastie</i></span>, +Einleitung; Maspero, <span lang="fr"><i>Études de Mythologie et d’ Archéologie égyptiennes</i></span>, <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> +<abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 325-387.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f140'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r140'>140</a>.  </span><i>Sanctuary and Sacrifice</i>, by <abbr class='spell'>W. L.</abbr> Baxter (Eyre and Spottiswoode, +1895).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f141'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r141'>141</a>.  </span>Cowley and Neubauer, <i>The Original Hebrew of a Portion of Ecclesiasticus</i>, +<abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f142'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r142'>142</a>.  </span>Ham for Am or Ammon, and Zuzim for Zamzummim (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 5); +see my <i>Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 160, 161.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f143'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r143'>143</a>.  </span>This probably stands for the Babylonian al-Larsa, ‘the city of Larsa.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f144'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r144'>144</a>.  </span><i>Contemporary Review</i>, February 1890, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 221.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f145'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r145'>145</a>.  </span>Mesha says in the inscription (<abbr title='line'>l.</abbr> 8): ‘Omri took the land of Medeba, +and [Israel] dwelt in it during his days and half the days of his son, +altogether forty years.’ The real length of time was not more than fifteen +years.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f146'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r146'>146</a>.  </span>Oppert dates the reign <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 2394 to 2339; Sayce, <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 2336-2281; +Delitzsch, <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 2287-2232; Winckler, 2264-2210; and Peiser, 2139-2084; +while Hommel suggests that the compiler of the list of dynasties has +reversed the true order of the first two dynasties in it, and accordingly +brings down the date of Khammu-rabi or Amraphel three hundred and +sixty-eight years. This would better suit the Biblical data, but so far +nothing has been found on the monuments in support of the suggestion. +Dr. Hales’s date for the birth of Abraham was <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 2153.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f147'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r147'>147</a>.  </span><span lang="de"><i>Zeitschrift für Aegyptische Sprache</i></span>, 1889, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 97-105.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f148'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r148'>148</a>.  </span>The ‘prince’ of Thebes who revolted against Apophis was Skenen-Ra +Taa <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr>, whose fourth successor was Ahmes.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f149'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r149'>149</a>.  </span><span lang="fr"><i>Revue Archéologique</i></span>, March 1865.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f150'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r150'>150</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>E.</abbr> Naville, <i>The Store-city of Pithom and the Route of the Exodus</i> (1885).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f151'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r151'>151</a>.  </span><span lang="de"><i>Zeitschrift für Aegyptische Sprache</i></span>, 1872, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 18; see also <abbr class='spell'>J.</abbr> de +Rougé, <span lang="fr"><i>Géographie ancienne de la Basse-Égypte</i></span>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 93-95.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f152'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r152'>152</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>Cf.</abbr> the articles of Sayce and Hommel in the <i>Expository Times</i> for +August, October, and November 1896, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 521, 18, and 89.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f153'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r153'>153</a>.  </span>See Sayce, <i>The Higher Criticism and the Monuments</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 249.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f154'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r154'>154</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>E.</abbr> Naville, <i>Goshen and the Shrine of Saft el-Hennah</i>, Fourth Memoir +of the Egypt Exploration Fund (1887).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f155'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r155'>155</a>.  </span>Brugsch, <i>Egypt under the Pharaohs</i> (<abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr>), second edit., <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> +<abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 133.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f156'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r156'>156</a>.  </span>Flinders Petrie, <i>Tel el-Amarna</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 40-42.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f157'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r157'>157</a>.  </span>See above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f158'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r158'>158</a>.  </span>For Khar, the Horites of the Old Testament, see Maspero, <i>Struggle +of the Nations</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 121.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f159'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r159'>159</a>.  </span>On the road from Assuan to Shellâl, ‘Messui, the royal son of Kush, +the fan-bearer on the right of the king, the royal scribe,’ has left his name +and titles on a granite rock (Petrie, <i>A Season in Egypt</i>, <abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> 70). Below the +inscription is Meneptah in a chariot, with Messui holding the fan and +bowing before him.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f160'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r160'>160</a>.  </span>For Dr. Neubauer’s suggestion that the name of Aaron, otherwise so +inexplicable, is the Arabic Âron or Âran written in the Minæan fashion, +see above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_34'>34</a>, note 1. If the suggestion is right, it was specially appropriate +that Aaron should have met Moses in ‘the Mount of God,’ on the +frontiers of Midian (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 27).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f161'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r161'>161</a>.  </span>A translation of the papyrus has been given by Professor Maspero in +<i>The Records of the Past</i>, new series, <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 11-36.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f162'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r162'>162</a>.  </span>See Preface to Maspero’s <i>Dawn of Civilisation</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v</abbr>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f163'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r163'>163</a>.  </span>Reuel, ‘Shepherd of God,’ was a son of Esau, according to <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> +<abbr title='thirty-six'>xxxvi.</abbr> 4. It may have been a title of the high-priest, since <i>rêu</i>, +‘shepherd,’ is one of the titles given to the kings and high-priests of early +Babylonia. The high-priest Gudea, for instance, calls himself ‘the +shepherd of the god Nin-girsu.’ On the other hand, Hommel (<i>The +Ancient Hebrew Tradition</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 278) compares the name Reuel-Jethro with +the Minæan Ridsvu-il Vitrân.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f164'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r164'>164</a>.  </span>In the word <span lang="hbo"><i>seneh</i></span> a popular etymology seems to have been found for +the name of Mount Sinai. Hence it is that in <abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 16, Yahveh is +described as ‘him that dwelt in the <span lang="hbo"><i>seneh</i></span>.’ The <span lang="hbo"><i>seneh</i></span> was probably the +small prickly <i>acacia nilotica</i>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f165'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r165'>165</a>.  </span>No satisfactory etymology of the name Yahveh has yet been found. +This, however, is not strange, considering that the etymology was unknown +to the Hebrews themselves, as is shown by the explanation of the +name in <abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 14, where it is derived from the Aramaic <i>hewâ</i>, the +Hebrew equivalent being <span lang="hbo"><i>hâyâh</i></span>, with <abbr class='spell'><i>y</i></abbr> instead of <abbr class='spell'><i>w</i></abbr> (or <abbr class='spell'><i>v</i></abbr>). The Babylonians +were also ignorant of the original meaning of the word, since one +of the lexical cuneiform tablets gives <i>Yahu</i> or Yahveh as meaning ‘god’ +(in Israelitish), and identifies it with the Assyrian word <i>yahu</i>, ‘myself’ +(83, 1-18, 1332 <abbr title='Obverse'><i>Obv.</i></abbr>; <abbr title='column'>Col.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 1). No certain traces of the name have been +found except among the Israelites. It is a verbal formation like <i>Jacob</i>, +<i>Joseph</i>, etc.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f166'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r166'>166</a>.  </span>Maspero, <i>Dawn of Civilisation</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 132-134.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f167'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r167'>167</a>.  </span>For ‘strikes’ among the Egyptian artisans, see Spiegelberg, <span lang="de"><i>Arbeiter +und Arbeiterbewegung im Pharaonreich unter den Ramessiden</i></span> (1895).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f168'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r168'>168</a>.  </span>At Tel el-Maskhuta, or Pithom, however, the bricks were not mixed +with straw.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f169'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r169'>169</a>.  </span>See Wiedemann, <span lang="de"><i>Religion der alten Aegypter</i></span>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 142 <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f170'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r170'>170</a>.  </span><abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 19 contains an exaggeration which could easily be omitted +without any injury to the sense of the narrative. The change of water in +the river would affect the canals and such pools and ponds as were fed from +the Nile, but nothing else. The river-water is not considered fit for +drinking in the early days of the inundation. The green and slimy vegetation +brought from the Equatorial regions renders it quite poisonous, and +it is not until some days after it has become ‘red’ that it is again fit to +drink.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f171'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r171'>171</a>.  </span>The ‘camels’ mentioned along with the cattle in <abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 3 have +been inserted from an Israelitish point of view. The Egyptians had no +camels; and though the Bedâwin doubtless used them from an early +period, none were employed by the Egyptians themselves until the Roman +or Arab age.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f172'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r172'>172</a>.  </span>The passage is, unfortunately, mutilated. What remains reads thus: ‘... the tents in front of the city of Pi-Bailos, on the canal of Shakana; ... [the adjoining land] was not cultivated, but had been left as pasture +for cattle for the sake of the foreigners. It had been abandoned since the +time of (our) ancestors. All the kings of Upper Egypt sat within their +entrenchments ... and the kings of Lower Egypt found themselves in +the midst of their cities, surrounded with earthworks, cut off from everything +by the (hostile) warriors, for they had no mercenaries to oppose to +them. Thus had it been [until Meneptah] ascended the throne of Horus. +He was crowned to preserve the life of mankind.’ The word translated +‘tents’ is <i>ahilu</i>, the Hebrew <span lang="hbo"><i>ôhêl</i></span>, which is used by Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> of the +‘tents’ of the Shasu or Edomites of Mount Seir. For translations of the +text, see <abbr class='spell'>E.</abbr> de Rougé, <span lang="fr"><i>Extrait d’un Mémoire sur les Attaques dirigées +contre l’Égypte</i></span>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 6-13 (1867); Chabas, <span lang="fr"><i>Recherches pour servir à +l’histoire de la <sup>xix</sup>e Dynastie</i></span>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 84-92 (1873); Brugsch, <i>Egypt under +the Pharaohs</i>, <abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr> (2nd edit.), <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 116-123; Maspero, <i>The +Struggle of the Nations</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 433-436.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f173'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r173'>173</a>.  </span><i>Cont. Apion.</i> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 26.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f174'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r174'>174</a>.  </span>This name, however, varied in different versions of the legend. +Chærêmôn makes it Phritiphantes, which may represent Zaphnath-paaneah, +the dental (<abbr class='spell'><i>t</i></abbr>) taking the place of <abbr class='spell'><i>z</i></abbr>, and <i>pa-Ra</i>, ‘the sun-god’ +of <i>pa-Ankhu</i>, ‘the living one.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f175'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r175'>175</a>.  </span>The papyrus is in the Hermitage at St. Petersburg (Golénischeff, +<span lang="fr"><i>Recueil de Travaux relatifs à la Philologie et à l’Archéologie égyptiennes +et assyriennes</i></span>, <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 88, 89).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f176'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r176'>176</a>.  </span>Dr. Wilcken has pointed out (<span lang="de"><i>Zur Aegyptisch-hellenistischen Literatur</i></span> +in the <span lang="de"><i>Festschrift für Georg Ebers</i></span>, 1897, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 146-152) that two fragments +of a Greek papyrus published by Wessely in the <span lang="de"><i>Denkschriften der Wiener +Akademie</i></span>, 42, 1893, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 3 <abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr>, contain a legend which closely resembles +that of the Egyptian version of the Exodus. In this, however, a potter +takes the place of the seer Amenôphis, the desire of the king to see the +gods is explained by his wish to know the future, the ‘impure people’ are +called the ‘girdle-wearers,’ and the beginning of a Sothic cycle is +apparently combined with the story. Moreover, it would seem that the +papyrus does not yet know of the identification of the ‘impure people’ +with the Jews.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f177'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r177'>177</a>.  </span><i>The Threshold Covenant or the Beginning of Religious Rites</i> (New +York, 1896).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f178'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r178'>178</a>.  </span><i>The Threshold Covenant</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 203, 204.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f179'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r179'>179</a>.  </span>See above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f180'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r180'>180</a>.  </span><i>Egypt under the Pharaohs</i> (<abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr>), second edit., <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 96-98.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f181'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r181'>181</a>.  </span><i>Anastasi</i>, <abbr class='spell'>v.</abbr> 19. For the translation, see Brugsch, <i>Egypt under the +Pharaohs</i> (<abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr>), second edit., <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 132.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f182'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r182'>182</a>.  </span>First pointed out by Goodwin in the Sallier Papyrus, <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 1, 6.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f183'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r183'>183</a>.  </span><abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 10; <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 23; <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 6-8.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f184'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r184'>184</a>.  </span><abbr title='Psalms'>Ps.</abbr> <abbr title='a hundred and six'>cvi.</abbr> 7-9, 22; <abbr title='a hundred and thirty six'>cxxxvi.</abbr> 13-15; <abbr title='Nehemiah'>Neh.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 9; see also Acts <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 36.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f185'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r185'>185</a>.  </span>The event was first recorded by Kallisthenes, and Plutarch (<i>Alex.</i> 17) +states that ‘many historians’ had described it. Arrian (<abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 27) alludes to +it, and Menander introduced a scoffing reference to the miracle in one +of his plays. The actual facts are given by Strabo (<i>Geog.</i> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 3, 9), who +says that near Phasêlis Mount Klimax juts out into the sea, but that in +calm weather a road runs round its base on the seaward side. If the +wind rises, however, the road is submerged by the waves. Alexander +ventured to march along it while still covered by the sea, and though the +water was up to the waists of the soldiers, passed safely through it, the +wind not being very strong. His success came to be regarded as a miracle, +and the miraculous passage of the sea by his army is narrated with many +embellishments in the fragment of an unknown historian in a lexicon +discovered by Papadopoulos in 1892.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f186'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r186'>186</a>.  </span>The narrative is careful to indicate that this was the case (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> +23, 28). It is only in the Song of Moses (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 19) that ‘Pharaoh’s +horses’ are changed into ‘the horse of Pharaoh,’ a change which, like the +confusion between ‘the sea’ and the Yâm Sûph, shows either that the +Song is of later date or that its language has been modified and interpolated.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f187'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r187'>187</a>.  </span><i>Pap. Anastasi</i>, <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> A translation of it by Dr. Birch will be found in +<i>Records of the Past</i>, first series, <abbr title='volume'>vol.</abbr> <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 49-52. The poet says of the +king: ‘Amon gave thy heart pleasure, he gave thee a good old age.’ +The name of the king, however, is not given, and it is therefore possible +that Seti <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> rather than Meneptah is referred to.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f188'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r188'>188</a>.  </span>The last Pharaoh whose monuments have been found in the Sinaitic +peninsula is Ramses <abbr title='the sixth'><span class='fss'>VI.</span></abbr> of the twentieth dynasty (De Morgan, <span lang="fr"><i>Recherches +sur les Origines de l’Égypte</i></span>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 237).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f189'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r189'>189</a>.  </span>The Amalekites adjoined Edom (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-six'>xxxvi.</abbr> 12) and southern Israel +(<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 14), and extended from Shur, or the Wall of Egypt, to Havilah, +the ‘sandy’ desert of Northern Arabia (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 7; see <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 7). +That these Amalekites were the same as those conquered by Moses is +expressly stated in 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 2 (<abbr class='spell'>cf.</abbr> <abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr> 16). The latter, therefore, +lived miles to the north of the Sinaitic peninsula. The wilderness +of Paran lay on the southern side of Moab (<abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 1) and Judah +(<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 14, 20, 21). Kadesh, now ’Ain Qadîs, was situated in it +(<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 26). The geography of the Exodus is treated with great +ability and logical skill in Baker Greene’s <i>Hebrew Migration from Egypt</i> +(1879).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f190'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r190'>190</a>.  </span><abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 4, 5; <abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 2; <abbr title='Habakkuk'>Hab.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 3.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f191'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r191'>191</a>.  </span>First pointed out by Baker Greene, <i>The Hebrew Migration from +Egypt</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 170; Elim is the masculine, and Elath the feminine plural. +Compare El-Paran, perhaps ‘El(im) of Paran,’ in <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 6, as well as +Elah in <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-six'>xxxvi.</abbr> 41.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f192'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r192'>192</a>.  </span><abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='sixteen'>xvi.</abbr> 1 compared with <abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 11.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f193'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r193'>193</a>.  </span>The name is found in an inscription of Hadramaut (Osiander, <i>Inscriptions +in the Himyaritic Character</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 29), where the god is called the +son of Atthar or Istar instead of her brother, as in Babylonia, as well as +in a Sabæan text from Sirwaḥ.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f194'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r194'>194</a>.  </span><abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 26. The sanctuary had originally been Amalekite +(<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 7).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f195'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r195'>195</a>.  </span>Unfortunately, no calculation of distance can be made from the statement +that Elijah was ‘forty days and forty nights’ on his way from Jezreel +to Horeb, since ‘forty’ merely denotes an unknown number.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f196'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r196'>196</a>.  </span>In the early days of the monarchy the armies of both the Israelites +and the Philistines were similarly divided into companies of a hundred +and a thousand (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-two'>xxii.</abbr> 7; <abbr title='twenty-nine'>xxix.</abbr> 2; 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 1). The system +could not have been derived from Babylonia, where sixty was the unit +of notation.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f197'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r197'>197</a>.  </span>See my <i>Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> +74-77, and Hibbert Lectures on the <i>Religion of the Ancient Babylonians</i>, +<abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 70-77.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f198'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r198'>198</a>.  </span>The text of this is given in the 125th chapter of the Book of the Dead. +A translation of it will be found in Wiedemann’s <span lang="de"><i>Religion der alten +Aegypter</i></span>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 132, 133.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f199'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r199'>199</a>.  </span>The conceptions which underlay this were embodied in the mediæval +jurisprudence of Europe, and curious reports exist of the trials of cocks, +rats, flies, dogs, and even ants, which lasted down to the eighteenth century +(see Baring-Gould, <i>Curiosities of Olden Times</i>, second edit., <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 57-73).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f200'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r200'>200</a>.  </span>The exhortation, together with some of the laws, is given again in a +somewhat changed form in <abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-four'>xxxiv.</abbr> 10-26.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f201'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r201'>201</a>.  </span>The name belongs to the period when the Philistines were infesting +the sea, before they had settled on the coast of Palestine, and indicates +the early date of the passage in which it occurs. Perhaps the Greek +tradition of the command of the sea by the Kretan Minos is a reminiscence +of the same period.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f202'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r202'>202</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>W. A. I.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 54, <abbr title='Column'>Col.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 54 <abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f203'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r203'>203</a>.  </span><i>Transactions</i> of the Society of Biblical Archæology, <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 1, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 53, 54.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f204'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r204'>204</a>.  </span>A contract-tablet dated in the 32nd year of Nebuchadrezzar, and +published by Dr. Strassmaier (<span lang="de"><i>Inschriften von Nabuchodonoser</i></span>, <abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> 217), +gives us an insight into the details of Babylonian sacrifices, though, unfortunately, +the signification of many of the technical words employed in it is +doubtful or unknown. The tablet begins as follows: ‘Izkur-Merodach +the son of Imbiya the son of Ilei-Merodach of his own free will has given +for the future to Nebo-balásu-ikbi the son of Kuddinu the son of Ilei-Merodach +the slaughterers of the oxen and sheep for the sacrifices of the +king, the prescribed offerings, the peace-offerings (?) of the whole year, +viz., the caul round the heart, the chine, the covering of the ribs, the ..., the mouth +of the stomach, and the ..., as well as during the year +7000 sin-offerings and 100 sheep before Iskhara who dwells in the temple +of Sa-turra in Babylon (not excepting the soft parts of the flesh, the +trotters (?), the juicy meat and the salted (?) flesh), and also the slaughterers +of the oxen, sheep, birds, and lambs due on the 8th day of Nisan, +(and) the heave-offering of an ox and a sheep before Pap-sukal of Bit-Kidur-Kani, +the temple of Nin-ip and the temple of Anu on the further +bank of the New Town in Babylon.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f205'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r205'>205</a>.  </span><i>The Ancient Hebrew Tradition</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 282-284.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f206'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r206'>206</a>.  </span>See the illustration in Erman’s <i>Life in Ancient Egypt</i> (<abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr>), +<abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 298.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f207'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r207'>207</a>.  </span>Mr. <abbr class='spell'>G.</abbr> Buchanan Gray (<i>Studies in Hebrew Proper Names</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 246, +note 1) suggests that Aholiab is a foreign name. At all events, while we +find names compounded with <i>ohel</i>, ‘tabernacle,’ in Minæan and Phœnician +inscriptions, no other name of the kind is found among the Israelites.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f208'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r208'>208</a>.  </span>Sir Thomas Browne, in his <i>Religio Medici</i> (Part <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr>), remarks on this: +‘I would gladly know how Moses, with an actual fire, calcined or burnt +the golden calf into powder; for that mystical metal of gold, whose solary +and celestial nature I admire, exposed unto the violence of fire, grows +only hot and liquefies, but consumeth not.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f209'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r209'>209</a>.  </span>An interpolation (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 1-5) makes the worship of the golden +calf account for the fact that, as declared in <abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> 20, an angel +should lead Israel into Canaan, and not Yahveh Himself. But it ignores +the further fact that Yahveh was really present in the Holy of Holies as +well as in the pillar of fire and cloud.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f210'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r210'>210</a>.  </span>Hadad-sum and his son Anniy (see my <i>Patriarchal Palestine</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 250). +Small stone tablets like those of Balawât, engraved with cuneiform +characters, are in the museums of Europe.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f211'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r211'>211</a>.  </span>Sayce, <i>Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 79-83.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f212'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r212'>212</a>.  </span>The contrast between such cases, where the names and details are as +circumstantially stated as in the legal tablets of early Babylonia, and cases +which rest merely upon the memory of tradition, will be clear at once +from a reference to <abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 32-36. Here we have to do with tradition +only, and accordingly no name is given, and the story is introduced with +the vague statement that it happened at some time or other when the +Israelites ‘were in the wilderness.’ The whole of the chapter is an interpolation +which is singularly out of place in the narrative, and seems to +have been substituted for a description of the disasters which followed on +the abortive attempt of the Israelites to invade Canaan.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f213'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r213'>213</a>.  </span>Sayce, <i>Babylonian Literature</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 79, 80; Knudtzon, <span lang="de"><i>Assyrische +Gebete an den Sonnengott</i></span>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 73 <abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f214'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r214'>214</a>.  </span>Athenæus, <i>Deipn.</i> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 639 <abbr class='spell'>c</abbr>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f215'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r215'>215</a>.  </span>Amiaud’s translation of the Inscriptions of Telloh in the <i>Records of the +Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 83, 84.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f216'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r216'>216</a>.  </span>This was clearly shown by Colenso, <i>The Pentateuch and Book of Joshua +critically examined</i>, <abbr title='Part'>Pt.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f217'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r217'>217</a>.  </span>The <i>soss</i> was 60, the <i>ner</i> 600.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f218'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r218'>218</a>.  </span>Erman, <i>Life in Ancient Egypt</i> (<abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr>), <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 475.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f219'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r219'>219</a>.  </span>So in Josephus, <i>Antiq.</i> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 10.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f220'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r220'>220</a>.  </span>Trumbull, <i>Kadesh-barnea</i> (1884).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f221'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r221'>221</a>.  </span><abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 21 seems to be a later exaggeration when compared with +the following verse. No argument, however, can be drawn from the +statement that the spies were absent only ‘forty days,’ since here, as elsewhere, +‘forty’ merely means an unknown length of time.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f222'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r222'>222</a>.  </span>Eshcol, however, was already the name of an Amorite chieftain of +Mamre in the time of Abraham (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 13).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f223'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r223'>223</a>.  </span><abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 1-3 is a combination of this abortive attempt and the +subsequent conquest of Arad and Zephath by Judah and Simeon (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> +16, 17), and is intended to resume the thread of the history which had +been broken by the insertion of chapter <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f224'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r224'>224</a>.  </span>In <abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> 1-13 a tradition about the waters of Meribah takes the +place of a history of the long period that elapsed between the first and +the second arrival at Kadesh, during which the numerous series of stations +mentioned in <abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 19-36 was passed. A comparison with +<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr> 1-7 and <abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 8 seems to show that the story of ‘the +water of Meribah’ has been transferred from Rephidim to Kadesh. At +Kadesh, indeed, there would have been no want of water (see <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> +7), and it may be that the meaning of the word Meribah, ‘contention,’ has +been the cause of the transference. En-Mishpat, ‘the Spring of Judgment,’ +where contentions were decided, had been for centuries the name +of the spring at Kadesh-barnea. As for the name of Zin, it possibly +signifies ‘the dry place.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f225'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r225'>225</a>.  </span><abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-six'>xxxvi.</abbr> 27; 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 42.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f226'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r226'>226</a>.  </span>In <abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 6, 7 (which has been interpolated in the middle of the +narrative of the legislation at Mount Sinai), the order of events is: (1) +Departure from Beeroth of Beni-Yaakan to Mosera, (2) death of Aaron at +Mosera, (3) departure to Gudgodah, (4) departure to Yotbath. In <abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> +<abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr>, <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 30-39 it is, on the contrary: (1) Departure from Hashmonah +to Moseroth, (2) departure to Beni-Yaakan, (3) departure to Hor-hagidgad, +the Gudgodah of Deuteronomy, (4) departure to Yotbathah, (5) departure to +Ebronah, (6) departure to Ezion-geber, (7) departure to Kadesh, (8) +departure to Mount Hor, (9) death of Aaron on Mount Hor.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f227'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r227'>227</a>.  </span>The passage was already corrupt in the time of the Septuagint +translators. But instead of <i>eth-wâhab</i>, their text reads <i>eth-zâhâb</i>. If this +was correct, the reference would probably be to Dhi-Zahab, ‘(the mines) +of gold’ which, according to <abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 1, was not far from Sûph.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f228'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r228'>228</a>.  </span><span lang="de"><i>Zeitschrift des Palästina Vereins</i></span>, <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 142 <i>sq.</i> Tell ’Ashtereh is +the Ashteroth-Karnaim of <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 5.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f229'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r229'>229</a>.  </span>Professor Erman reads them Akna-Zapn, perhaps Yakin-Zephon, +‘Jachin of the North.’ Above the figures is the winged solar disk (Erman, +<span lang="de"><i>Der Hiobstein</i></span> in the <span lang="de"><i>Zeitschrift des Palästina Vereins</i></span>, <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 210, 211).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f230'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r230'>230</a>.  </span>On the left side of the base of the second statue in front of the pylon, +where it follows the name of Assar, the Asshurim of <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-five'>xxv.</abbr> 3; see +Daressy, <span lang="fr"><i>Notice explicative des Ruines du Temple de Louxor</i></span>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 19.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f231'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r231'>231</a>.  </span>Bela’s city is stated to have been Dinhabah (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-six'>xxxvi.</abbr> 32), which +Dr. Neubauer has identified with Dunip, now Tennib, north-west of +Aleppo, which played an important part in the history of Western Asia +during the fifteenth century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f232'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r232'>232</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>W. A. I.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 46; <abbr title='column'>Col.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 29, 30. In another passage Esar-haddon +describes them as ‘serpents with two heads’ (Budge, <i>History of Esar-haddon</i>, +<abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 120).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f233'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r233'>233</a>.  </span>Bronze serpents were regarded in Babylonia as divine protectors +of a building, and were accordingly ‘set up’ at its entrance. Thus +Nebuchadrezzar says of the walls of Babylon, ‘On the thresholds of the +gates I set up mighty bulls of bronze and huge serpents that stood erect’ +(<abbr class='spell'>W. A. I.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 65, <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 19-21).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f234'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r234'>234</a>.  </span>It is called simply Iyîm in the official itinerary (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 45). +Punon is the Pinon of <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-six'>xxxvi.</abbr> 41, where it is coupled with Elah, the +El-Paran of <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 6.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f235'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r235'>235</a>.  </span>Those who wish to see what can be done by ingenious philological +conjectures which satisfy none but their authors may turn to a paper by +Professor Budde in the <span lang="fr"><i>Actes du Dixième Congrès Internationale des +Orientalistes</i></span>, <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 13-18, where they will find a ‘revised’ version of +<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 17, 18. The two last lines are changed into ‘With the sceptre, +with their staves: From the desert a gift!’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f236'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r236'>236</a>.  </span><abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-two'>xxxii.</abbr> 41, 42; <abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 14. We learn from <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 3, 4, that +Jair was one of the judges, so that the conquest of Havoth-Jair must have +taken place long after the death of Moses.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f237'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r237'>237</a>.  </span>Now Dar’at (pronounced Azr’ât by the Bedâwin) and Tell-Ashtereh.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f238'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r238'>238</a>.  </span>Zippor of Gaza was the name of the father of a certain Baal- ... whose +servant carried letters in the third year of Meneptah <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> from Egypt to +Khai, the Egyptian governor of the fellahin or Perizzites of Palestine, and +the king of Tyre (Brugsch, <i>Egypt under the Pharaohs</i>, <abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr>, second +edit., <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 126).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f239'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r239'>239</a>.  </span>Ammiya is said to have been seized by Ebed-Asherah the Amorite +(<i>The Tel el-Amarna Tablets in the British Museum</i>, 12. 25., 15. 27). It is +also called Amma (<i>ib.</i> 17. 7., 37. 58, where it is associated with Ubi, the +Aup of the Egyptian inscriptions) and Ammi (<abbr class='spell'>W.</abbr> and <abbr class='spell'>A.</abbr> 89. 13).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f240'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r240'>240</a>.  </span>If the two Balaams, ‘son of Beor,’ are really the same person, +Edomite and Israelitish history will have handed down two different conceptions +of him. The Israelitish chronology, moreover, would make it +impossible for him to have been the <i>first</i> Edomite king (see <abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> 14).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f241'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r241'>241</a>.  </span>Sheth are the Sutu of the Assyrian inscriptions, the Sittiu or ‘Archers’ +of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Bedâwin of modern geography. The +Beni-Sheth will be the Midianite Bedâwin who are associated with the +Moabites in the Pentateuch (<abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-two'>xxii.</abbr> 4, 7; <abbr title='twenty-five'>xxv.</abbr> 1-18; <abbr title='thirty-one'>xxxi.</abbr> 8).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f242'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r242'>242</a>.  </span><i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 61-65.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f243'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r243'>243</a>.  </span>Tiglath-pileser <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr> (<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1100) boasts of having sailed upon the Mediterranean +in a ship of Arvad, and of there killing a dolphin, while his son, +Assur-bil-kala, erected statues in the cities of ‘the land of the Amorites’ +(<abbr class='spell'>W. A. I.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 6, <abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr>). A little later Assur-irbi carved an image of himself +on Mount Amanus, near the Gulf of Antioch, but the capture by the king of +Aram of Mutkina, which guarded the ford over the Euphrates, subsequently +cut him off from the west. Palestine is already called Ebir-nâri, ‘the land +beyond the river,’ in an Assyrian inscription which Professor Hommel +would refer to the age of Assur-bil-kala, the son of Tiglath-pileser <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr> (<i>The +Ancient Hebrew Tradition</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 196). Professor <abbr class='spell'>D. H.</abbr> Müller (<span lang="de"><i>Die Propheten</i></span>, +<abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 215) conjecturally emends the Hebrew text of <abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> +23, 24, and sees in it a reference to the kingdom of Samalla, to the north-east +of the Gulf of Antioch. The two verses become in his translation, +‘[And he saw Samalla], and began his speech, and said, Alas, who will +survive of Samalla? And ships [shall come] from the coast of Chittim, +and Asshur shall oppress him, and Eber shall oppress him, and he himself +is destined to destruction.’ Samalla, however, was only the Assyrian +name of a district called by natives of Northern Syria Ya’di and +Gurgum; nor is it easy to understand how Balaam could have ‘seen’ the +north of Syria from Moab. Professor Hommel is more probably right +in his view that Asshur here does not signify the Assyrians, but the +Asshurim to the south of Palestine (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-five'>xxv.</abbr> 3, 18).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f244'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r244'>244</a>.  </span>For the Messianic prophecy of Ameni, see above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f245'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r245'>245</a>.  </span>Similar cities of refuge, called <i>puhonua</i>, existed in Hawaii. ‘A thief +or a murderer might be pursued to the very gateway of one of those +cities; but as soon as he crossed the threshold of that gate, even though +the gate were open and no barrier hindered pursuit, he was safe as at the +city altar. When once within the sacred city, the fugitive’s first duty was +to present himself before the idol and return thanks for his protection’ +(Trumbull, <i>The Threshold Covenant</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 151, quoting Ellis, <i>Through +Hawaii</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 155 <i>sq.</i>, and Bird, <i>Six Months in the Sandwich Islands</i>, +<abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 135 <abbr class='spell'><i>sq.</i></abbr>). For the <i>asyla</i> of Asia Minor see Barth, <i>De Asylis Græcis</i> +(1888); Daremberg et Saglio, <span lang="fr"><i>Dictionnaire des Antiquités, Grecques et +Romaines</i></span>, <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 505 <abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr>; Pauly’s <i>Real-Encyclopädie</i> (ed. Wissowa), +<abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 1884-5.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f246'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r246'>246</a>.  </span>Erman, <i>Life in Ancient Egypt</i> (<abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr>), <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 299.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f247'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r247'>247</a>.  </span>Cornelius Nepos, <i>Them.</i> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 10.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f248'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r248'>248</a>.  </span>Mahaffy, <i>The Empire of the Ptolemies</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 144, 156-158. For the <i>hiera</i> +or priestly cities of Asia Minor, see Ramsay, <i>The Cities and Bishoprics of +Phrygia</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 101 <abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr>; their constitution resembled very closely that of +the Levitical cities in Israel. Examples of such cities in the history +of Israel are Nob in the time of Saul and Anathoth in the age of +Jeremiah.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f249'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r249'>249</a>.  </span>The order of events is in many places confused, which probably points +to later insertions in the text. See, for example, <abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 6-9, which +interrupts the context, and has nothing to do either with what precedes or +with what follows.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f250'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r250'>250</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'><i>E.g.</i></abbr> <abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 21, compared with <abbr title='Leviticus'>Lev.</abbr> <abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr> 14-16.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f251'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r251'>251</a>.  </span>In this respect it resembles the ‘Negative Confession’ of the Egyptian +Book of the Dead, which the soul of the dead man was required to make +before the judges of the other world (Wiedemann, <span lang="de"><i>Religion der alten +Aegypter</i></span>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 132, 133).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f252'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r252'>252</a>.  </span>Levi is included among the six tribes which stood on Mount Gerizim +to bless. This is an inadvertency, as the Levites were placed on both +mountains, it being their duty to utter the curses as well as the blessings.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f253'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r253'>253</a>.  </span>If it did so, <abbr title='thirty-three'>xxxiii.</abbr> 4 can hardly be original. Perhaps Yahveh rather +than Moses was described as ‘king in Jeshurun’ (<abbr class='spell'>cf.</abbr> <abbr title='verse'><i>v.</i></abbr> 26). A very +ingenious attempt has been made by Dr. Hayman to explain the corruptions +of the text in the song by the theory that it was originally written +on a clay tablet, a fracture of which has caused some of the words at the +ends of the lines to be lost.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f254'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r254'>254</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>Cf.</abbr> 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 22.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f255'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r255'>255</a>.  </span>This passage must have been written at a time when Judah had not +yet come to occupy a definite place among the tribes in Canaan, and when, +as in the Song of Deborah, the territory of Benjamin was regarded as a +sort of appendage of that of Ephraim, and as extending as far south as +the desert of the Amalekites. (See also <abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 63.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f256'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r256'>256</a>.  </span><abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 22.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f257'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r257'>257</a>.  </span>Colonel Watson in the <i>Quarterly Statement</i> of the Palestine Exploration +Fund, July 1895, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 253-261; see also Quatremère, <span lang="fr"><i>Histoire des Sultans +Mamluks</i></span>, <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 26; and Mr. Stevenson in the <i>Quarterly Statement</i> +October 1895, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 334-338.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f258'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r258'>258</a>.  </span>The play is on the verb <i>gâlal</i>, ‘to roll.’ Gilgal, however, means the +‘circle’ of stones, or ‘cairn.’ Moreover, the Egyptians were circumcised, +so that uncircumcision could not correctly be called ‘the reproach of +Egypt.’ Some of the Israelites may have been circumcised at Gilgal, but +it is incredible that none of the males born in the desert had been so. +This would have been a flagrant violation of the Mosaic law (see <abbr title='Leviticus'>Lev.</abbr> +<abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 3; <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr> 14).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f259'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r259'>259</a>.  </span>The tongue-like wedge of gold finds its parallel in six tongue-like +wedges of silver discovered by Dr. Schliemann in the ‘Third prehistoric +City’ of Hissarlik or Troy, and figured by him in <i>Ilios</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 470-472. Mr. +Barclay <abbr class='spell'>V.</abbr> Head has shown that they each represent the third of a +Babylonian maneh.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f260'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r260'>260</a>.  </span>See my <i>Races of the Old Testament</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 75-77; <i>Quarterly Statement</i> +of the Palestine Exploration Fund, July 1876 and July 1877.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f261'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r261'>261</a>.  </span>Gezer was similarly laid under tribute by Ephraim (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='sixteen'>xvi.</abbr> 10).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f262'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r262'>262</a>.  </span>The Septuagint has Elam instead of Hoham, from which we may +perhaps infer that the older reading of the Hebrew text was Yeho-ham. +If so, we should have an example of the use of the name of the national +God of Israel among the Hebronites. The substitution of El for Yeho +would be parallel to the fact that in the inscriptions of the Assyrian king +Sargon the contemporary king of Hamath is called both Yahu-bihdi and +Ilu-bihdi. <abbr class='spell'>Cf.</abbr> also Joram and Hado-ram (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 10; 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> +10). Piram resembles the Egyptian Pi-Romi; the name was also Karian +(Sayce, <i>The Karian Language and Inscriptions</i> in the <i>Transactions of +the Society of Biblical Archaeology</i>, <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 1, <abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 3). The Jarmuth of +which Piram was king cannot be the same as the Yarimuta of the Tel el-Amarna +tablets, as that seems to have been in the north, though Karl +Niebuhr makes it the Delta. For Piram the Septuagint has Phidôn; and +it changes Yaphia into Jephthah and Eglon into Adullam.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f263'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r263'>263</a>.  </span>See Flinders Petrie, <i>Tell el-Hesy (Lachish)</i> (1891) and Bliss, <i>A Mound +of Many Cities</i>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f264'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r264'>264</a>.  </span>For Horam the Septuagint again has Elam. Perhaps the original +reading was Yehoram. There is no ground for supposing that Hoham of +Hebron and Horam of Gezer are one and the same.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f265'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r265'>265</a>.  </span>It is called Huzar in the list of the conquests of Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> at +Karnak, where it follows Liusa or Laish, and precedes Pahil, identified +with Pella by Mr. Tomkins, and Kinnertu or Chinnereth.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f266'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r266'>266</a>.  </span><i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 89.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f267'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r267'>267</a>.  </span><i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 44, <abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> 18.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f268'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r268'>268</a>.  </span>See also <abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 2.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f269'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r269'>269</a>.  </span><abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 21-24. Probably the kings of Tappuah, Hepher, Aphek, +and Sharon are to be included in the confederacy (verses 17, 18). We do +not know where Tappuah was (though it is usually placed in the Wadi +el-Afranj; <abbr class='spell'>G. A.</abbr> Smith, <i>Hist. Geog. of the Holy Land</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 202). Hepher +can hardly be the southern Hepher referred to in 1 Kings <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 10, but is +probably Gath-Hepher west of the Sea of Galilee. Aphek (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-nine'>xxix.</abbr> 1) +was a few miles to the south of it, and the plain of Sharon began at Dor. +<abbr class='spell'>Cf.</abbr>, however, Beth-Tappuah (in the Wadi el-Afranj) and Aphekah near +Hebron, in Judah (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 53).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f270'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r270'>270</a>.  </span>In <abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 3, ‘the land of Mizpeh’ is said to include ‘the Hittite’—so +we should probably read instead of ‘Hivite’—‘under Hermon.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f271'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r271'>271</a>.  </span>The main body of the Kenites, however, who, like ‘the children of +Judah,’ had settled in the neighbourhood of Jericho after its capture, +moved afterwards into the desert south of Arad (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 16; 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 6), +and lived here along with a portion of the tribe of Judah.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f272'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r272'>272</a>.  </span>Beth-lehem has been supposed to have been the original headquarters +of the tribe, as it is called Beth-lehem-Judah (<abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 1). But this was +merely to distinguish it from another Beth-lehem in Zebulon.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f273'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r273'>273</a>.  </span>Thus, in a despatch sent to one of the later Assyrian kings, the writer +says, ‘I am a dog, a dog of the king his lord’ (Harper, <i>Assyrian and +Babylonian Letters</i>, <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 460).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f274'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r274'>274</a>.  </span><abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 49. In one of the Tel el-Amarna tablets Ebed-Tob of Jerusalem, +when referring to the Khabiri or ‘Hebronites,’ speaks of Bit-Sâni, +which may be the Kirjath-Sannah of the Old Testament. Winckler (<i>Tell +el-Amarna Letters</i>, 185) has given a wrong translation of the passage, +which is partly based on an incorrect copy of the text. The translation +should be, ‘Behold Gath-Carmel has fallen to Tagi and the men of Gath. +He is in Bit-Sâni, and we will bring it about that they give Labai and the +land of the Sutê (Bedâwin) to the district of the Khabiri.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f275'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r275'>275</a>.  </span>The determinative of ‘writing’ is attached to the word Sopher, +showing that the Egyptian scribe was acquainted with its meaning. The +name of Beth-Sopher (<i>Baitha-Thupar</i>) was first deciphered on the papyrus +by Dr. <abbr class='spell'>W.</abbr> Max Müller, and published in his <span lang="de"><i>Asien und Europa</i></span>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f276'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r276'>276</a>.  </span>Not the pluperfect, as in the Authorised Version.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f277'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r277'>277</a>.  </span>See above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f278'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r278'>278</a>.  </span>The latter reading (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 9) is probably the more correct. The +name of Timnath-heres, ‘the portion of the Sun-god,’ may have been +changed to Timnath-serah, ‘the portion of abundance,’ on account of its +idolatrous associations. Perhaps it is the modern Kafr Hâris, nine miles +south of Shechem.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f279'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r279'>279</a>.  </span><abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 3. The ‘Hivites’ of the Hebrew text should probably be +corrected into ‘Hittites.’ The Sidonians are mentioned to the exclusion +of the Tyrians, as in <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 15-18. This takes us back to the period +before that of David, when Tyre was still a place of small importance, and +Sidon was the leading city on the Phœnician coast. <abbr class='spell'>Cp.</abbr>, however, +1 Kings <abbr title='sixteen'>xvi.</abbr> 31.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f280'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r280'>280</a>.  </span><abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 6, 7.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f281'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r281'>281</a>.  </span>As Israel was theoretically considered to be divided into twelve tribes, +there is no reason for doubting the cypher, even though there were not +actually twelve tribes at the time in Canaan, and one of tribes, Benjamin, +can hardly have had a piece sent to it. The text carefully avoids saying +that the pieces were sent to each of the tribes. In <abbr title='chapter'>chap.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> 2, the word +‘all’ is used in that restricted sense to which western students of Oriental +history have to accustom themselves, since one at least of the tribes, +Benjamin, was absent.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f282'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r282'>282</a>.  </span>The value of modern philological criticism of the Old Testament may +be judged from the fact that Stade pronounces the narrative of the war +against Benjamin to be unhistorical, because the first king of Israel was a +Benjamite! (<span lang="de"><i>Geschichte des Volkes Israel</i></span>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 161).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f283'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r283'>283</a>.  </span><abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 12, 13, where it is said to be ‘behind’ or west of Kirjath-jearim. +In <abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 25 the Camp of Dan is placed between Zorah and Eshtaol, +which were west of Kirjath-jearim. See <abbr class='spell'>G. A.</abbr> Smith, <i>Historical +Geography of the Holy Land</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 220, 221.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f284'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r284'>284</a>.  </span>We hear on other occasions of a regiment of six hundred men among +the Israelites (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> 47; 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 15, <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> 13), and it would seem, +therefore, that in the division of the troops a memory of the culture of +Babylonia was preserved. Six hundred men represented the Babylonian +<i>ner</i>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f285'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r285'>285</a>.  </span><abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 30. ‘The captivity of the land’ is of course that described +in 2 Kings <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 29, and shows that the compilation of the Book of Judges +must be subsequent to the conquest of Northern and Eastern Israel by +Tiglath-pileser.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f286'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r286'>286</a>.  </span>Kennicott, <span lang="la"><i>Vetus Testamentum Hebraicum</i></span>, <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 509. ‘Moses’ is +also the reading of the Vulgate and a few Greek <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>MSS</span></abbr>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f287'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r287'>287</a>.  </span>See 1 Kings <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 9. The addition of the pot of manna and Aaron’s rod +in the Epistle to the Hebrews (<abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 4) is due to a misunderstanding of +<abbr title='Exodus'>Ex.</abbr> <abbr title='sixteen'>xvi.</abbr> 33, 34, and <abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr> 10.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f288'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r288'>288</a>.  </span>The identity of Mitanni and Nahrina is stated in one of the Tel el-Amarna +letters (<abbr class='spell'>W.</abbr> and <abbr class='spell'>A.</abbr> 23) from Mitanni, a hieratic docket attached +to it stating that it came from Nahrina. In one place, however (<abbr class='spell'>W.</abbr> and +<abbr class='spell'>A.</abbr> 79. 13, 14), the Phœnician governor Rib-Hadad seems to distinguish +between ‘the king of Mittani and the king of Nahrina,’ though the +passage may also be translated, ‘the king of Mittani, that is, the king of +Nahrina.’ Ilu-rabi-Khur of Gebal (<abbr class='spell'>W.</abbr> and <abbr class='spell'>A.</abbr> 91. 32) writes the name +Narima, and says that the king of Narima in alliance with the king of the +Hittites was destroying the Egyptian cities of Northern Syria.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f289'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r289'>289</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>W.</abbr> and <abbr class='spell'>A.</abbr> 104. 32-35. Comp. <abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 24, where Assyria +and Eber take the place of Babylonia and Nahrima. The translation +given above is from a corrected copy of the cuneiform text.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f290'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r290'>290</a>.  </span>See <i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 28, 29, 34, 45.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f291'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r291'>291</a>.  </span>Brugsch, <i>Egypt under the Pharaohs</i> (<abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr>), <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 151; <i>Records of +the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 31-45.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f292'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r292'>292</a>.  </span><i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 38-41. As only the <i>qau</i> or ‘district’ +of Shalam is mentioned, it is possible that the city itself was not +captured by the Egyptian troops. Hebron is written <i>Khibur</i>, <abbr class='spell'><i>i.e.</i></abbr> the +city of the ‘Khabiri.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f293'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r293'>293</a>.  </span>Was the campaign of Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> the mysterious ‘hornet’ sent before +the children of Israel to destroy the populations of Canaan (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> +28, <abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 20, <abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 12)? At any rate, this is more probable than +the suggestion that <i>tsir’âh</i>, rendered ‘hornet,’ is a variant of <i>tsâra’ath</i>, +‘plague.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f294'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r294'>294</a>.  </span>The name has been Hebraised, and perhaps corrupted, so that it is +difficult to suggest what could have been its Mitannian original. The +Khusarsathaim of the Septuagint, however, reminds us of the name of +Dusratta or Tuisratta, the Mitannian king who corresponded with the +Pharaoh Amenophis <abbr title='the fourth'><span class='fss'>IV.</span></abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f295'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r295'>295</a>.  </span>Livy, <abbr title='twenty-eight'>xxviii.</abbr> 37, <abbr title='thirty'>xxx.</abbr> 7.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f296'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r296'>296</a>.  </span>The Welsh laws allowed a stranger to acquire proprietary rights in +the fourth generation, and to become a tribesman in the ninth (Seebohm, +in the <i>Transactions</i> of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1895-96, +<abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 12 <abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr>).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f297'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r297'>297</a>.  </span>This is expressly stated in the Song of Deborah: the Reubenites +could not come to the help of their brethren, for they had become a body +of scattered and nomad shepherds (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 15, 16).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f298'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r298'>298</a>.  </span>See <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> 16.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f299'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r299'>299</a>.  </span><span lang="hbo"><i>P’sîlîm</i></span>, mistranslated ‘quarries’ in the Authorised Version. They were +the sacred stones, believed to be inspired with divinity, which formed the +Gilgal or ‘Circle.’ Modern critics have raised unnecessary difficulties about +the geography of the narrative, and conjectured that the name of the capital +of Eglon has dropped out of the text in <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 15 (see Budde: <span lang="de"><i>Die +Bücher Richter und Samuelis</i></span>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 99). The Biblical writer makes it plain +that Eglon was at Gilgal, not at Jericho as his would-be critics assert.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f300'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r300'>300</a>.  </span>Caphtor is written Kptar in hieroglyphics at Kom-Ombo (on the wall +of the southern corridor of the temple), where it heads a list of geographical +names, and is followed by those of Persia and Susa (Sayce: <i>The +Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments</i>, 3rd edition, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 173). +The name of the Zakkal, formerly read Zakkar or Zakkur, and identified +with the Teukrians, has been pointed out by Professor Hommel in a +Babylonian inscription of the fifteenth century <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> (<abbr class='spell'>W. A. I.</abbr> <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 34, +<abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> 2, <abbr title='lines'>ll.</abbr> 2, 6). Here it is called the city of Zaqqalu, and we may gather +from a papyrus in the possession of <abbr class='spell'>M.</abbr> Golénischeff that it was situated on +the coast of Canaan not far from Dor.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f301'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r301'>301</a>.  </span>A reminiscence of the event is probably preserved in Justin, <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 3, +where we read that in the year before the fall of Troy, ‘the king of the +Ascalonians’ destroyed Sidon, whose inhabitants fled in their ships and +founded Tyre. The date would harmonise with that of the reign of +Ramses <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> Lydian history related that Askalos, the son of Hymenæos, +and brother of Tantalos, had been sent by the Lydian king Akiamos in +command of an army to the south of Palestine, and had there founded +Askalon (Steph. Byz. <abbr class='spell'><i>s.v.</i></abbr> Ἀσκάλων), and according to Xanthos the +Lydian historian, the goddess Derketô was drowned in the lake of +Askalon by the Lydian Mopsos (Athen. <i>Deipn.</i> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 37, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 346). In these +legends we have a tradition of the fact that the Philistines and their allies +came from the coast of Asia Minor and the Greek Seas.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f302'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r302'>302</a>.  </span><abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 2, 3; <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 1-3. The statement in <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 18 was true +only theoretically; it was not true in fact until the reign of David.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f303'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r303'>303</a>.  </span>Stephanus Byzantinus <abbr class='spell'><i>s.v.</i></abbr> Ἰόνιον, where it is also said that Gaza was +termed Ionê. According to Kastôr the thalassocratia or ‘sea-rule’ of +Minôs lasted until <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1180, when it passed into the hands of the +Lydians. By the latter may be meant the expedition sent to the south of +Palestine by the Lydian king Akiamos.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f304'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r304'>304</a>.  </span>Sayce, <i>Races of the Old Testament</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 126, 127, and <abbr title='plate'>pl.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f305'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r305'>305</a>.  </span><abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 23. Avim is merely a descriptive title signifying ‘the people +of the ruins.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f306'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r306'>306</a>.  </span>See my <i>Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> +325-327. It is possible that some of the Semitic deities had been adopted +by the Philistines before they left Krete, if indeed they came from that +island. At all events it has been supposed that certain Canaanitish +divinities were adored there, more especially Ashtoreth, under the title of +Diktynna. The presence of Semites in the island seems indicated by the +name of the river Iardanos or Jordan.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f307'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r307'>307</a>.  </span>In the age of Deborah, however, it would seem that the seaport of +Joppa was still in the possession of the Danites (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 17). But +<abbr title='compare'>cp.</abbr> <abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 46.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f308'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r308'>308</a>.  </span>Winckler and Abel, <span lang="de"><i>Mittheilungen aus den orientalischen Sammlungen</i></span>, +<abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 143. 37, 43. Anatum or Anat, the son of Sin-abu-su, is also +a witness to the sale of some property in a deed dated in the reign of the +Babylonian king Samsu-iluna, the son of Khammurabi or Amraphel, and +published by Mr. Pinches, <i>Inscribed Babylonian Tablets in the Collection +of Sir <abbr class='spell'>H.</abbr> Peek</i>, <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 61.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f309'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r309'>309</a>.  </span>See <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 27. Beth-shean, the Scythopolis of classical geography, +is the modern Beisân.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f310'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r310'>310</a>.  </span>Twenty is half the indeterminate number forty, and merely denotes +that the exact number of years, though unknown, was less than a +generation.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f311'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r311'>311</a>.  </span><abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 15. Literally the words are: ‘Issachar [is] like Barak.’ +The <abbr title='Hebrew'>Heb.</abbr> <span lang="hbo"><i>kên</i></span> is the Assyrian <i>kêmi</i>, ‘like,’ and is used in the same way +as <i>kida</i> in modern Egyptian Arabic. It is criticism run wild to assert +with Budde, Wellhausen, and others, that Deborah also is described as +belonging to Issachar.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f312'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r312'>312</a>.  </span>Pindar, <i>Pyth.</i> <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 106; <i>Lactant.</i> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 22; <i>Etym. Mag.</i> <abbr class='spell'>s.v.</abbr> ἐσσην.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f313'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r313'>313</a>.  </span><abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-five'>xxxv.</abbr> 8, where the name of the terebinth, Allon-Bachuth, ‘the +terebinth of weeping,’ is derived from the lamentations over the death of +the nurse. A different origin of the name, however, seems to be indicated +in <abbr title='Hosea'>Hos.</abbr> <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 4.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f314'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r314'>314</a>.  </span>Rimmon, one of the chief Assyrian gods, was also entitled Barqu, +‘the lightning,’ and it is possible that the name had migrated westward +along with that of Rimmon. Noam, whose name enters into that of +Abinoam, the father of Barak, seems to have been a Phœnician god, whose +consort was Naamah.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f315'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r315'>315</a>.  </span>‘Forty thousand’ represents the highest unit, one thousand, in the +division of the army, multiplied by the indeterminate number forty.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f316'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r316'>316</a>.  </span>‘The Hittites of Kadesh,’ according to the reading of Lucian’s +recension of the Septuagint, 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 6, in place of the corrupt and +unmeaning Tahtim-hodshi of the Massoretic text. See Hitzig, <abbr class='spell'><i>Z. D. +M. G.</i></abbr>, <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 763 <abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr>; Wellhausen, <abbr class='spell'><i>T. B. S.</i></abbr>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 221.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f317'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r317'>317</a>.  </span>It has been generally assumed to have been near the Kishon, on +account of Judges <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 16. But the inference is not certain, partly because +we do not know how far the pursuit may have extended, partly because +Oriental expressions cannot be interpreted with the mathematical exactitude +of western language. The name of Harosheth means probably +‘[the town of] metal-working,’ or ‘the smithy.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f318'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r318'>318</a>.  </span>Being a poem, it was probably handed down orally at first. This +would account for variant readings like ‘also the clouds dropped,’ by the +side of ‘also the heavens dropped,’ in <abbr title='verse'><i>v.</i></abbr> 4; or ‘in the days of Jael,’ by +the side of ‘in the days of Shamgar ben-Anath,’ in <abbr title='verse'><i>v.</i></abbr> 6. The name of +Jael, however, may have been a marginal gloss like <span lang="hbo"><i>sârîd</i></span>, ‘a remnant,’ +possibly, in <abbr title='verse'><i>v.</i></abbr> 13. The song was almost certainly written from the +outset in the letters of the so-called Phœnician alphabet, and not in +cuneiform characters. Had it been written in cuneiform there would have +been a confusion between <i>aleph</i>, <i>hê</i> and <i>’ayin</i>, which cannot be detected +in it. At the same time, the use of the preposition <i>bě</i> in <abbr title='verses'><i>vv.</i></abbr> 2 and 15 +(<i>b’ Isrâel</i>, <i>b’ Issachar</i>) could be explained from the cuneiform syllabary, +in which the character <i>pi</i> (used for <i>bi</i> in the Tel el-Amarna tablets) also +has the value of <i>yi</i>. The omission of the article, which is a characteristic +of the Song, reminds us that in Canaanite or Phœnician the definite article +of Hebrew did not exist.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f319'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r319'>319</a>.  </span>A variant reading gave ‘clouds’ instead of ‘heavens.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f320'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r320'>320</a>.  </span>Probably a marginal gloss.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f321'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r321'>321</a>.  </span>This line also is corrupt, but there is a reference to it again in verse 11, +‘The people of Yahveh went down to the gates.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f322'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r322'>322</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'><i>I.e.</i></abbr> on the road.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f323'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r323'>323</a>.  </span><span lang="hbo"><i>Dabbĕrî shîr</i></span>, with a play on the name of Deborah.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f324'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r324'>324</a>.  </span>The Massoretic text has ‘captives.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f325'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r325'>325</a>.  </span>The text is here again corrupt. The Septuagint renders it: ‘Then +went down the remnant to the strong.’ But <span lang="hbo"><i>sârîd</i></span>, ‘remnant,’ is possibly +a marginal gloss derived from the name of the place Sarid in Zebulon +(<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 10), the meaning being ‘Then the people of Yahveh descended +to Sarid to the nobles.’ The second member of the verse shows that the +‘nobles’ are Israelites.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f326'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r326'>326</a>.  </span>The text cannot be right here, though the general meaning of it is +clear.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f327'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r327'>327</a>.  </span>The idea is the same as that of the sun and the moon standing still +while Joshua defeated the kings at Makkedah (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 12-14). Babylonian +astrology taught that events in this world were dependent on the +motions of the heavenly bodies.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f328'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r328'>328</a>.  </span>Septuagint: ‘My mighty soul has trodden him down.’ The verse +seems to be corrupt. Cheyne translates: ‘Step on, my soul, with +strength!’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f329'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r329'>329</a>.  </span>The Massoretic punctuation makes it ‘spoil.’ Ewald conjecturally +reads <span lang="hbo"><i>sârâh</i></span>, ‘princess,’ for <span lang="hbo"><i>shâlâl</i></span>, ‘spoiling.’ The Septuagint has, +equally conjecturally, ‘spoils for his neck.’ The garment referred to is +the white towel worn round the neck as a protection from the sun or wind, +and called <i>shaqqa</i> in Upper Egypt, or the parti-coloured <i>milâya</i> used for +the same purpose in Lower Egypt. Cheyne translates: ‘A coloured +stuff, two pieces of embroidery, for my neck, has he taken for a prey.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f330'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r330'>330</a>.  </span><abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 32.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f331'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r331'>331</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 11, 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 21 (where ‘Baal’ has been changed into +‘bosheth,’ ‘shame’).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f332'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r332'>332</a>.  </span><abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 1.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f333'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r333'>333</a>.  </span>See Kittel, <span lang="de"><i>Geschichte der Hebräer</i></span>, <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 73.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f334'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r334'>334</a>.  </span>If a distinction is to be drawn between the names of Gideon and +Jerubbaal, it might be conjectured that the first was the name under +which the bearer of it was known to the Israelites at Ophrah, the second +that whereby he was known to the Canaanites of Shechem. According to +Porphyry, Phœnician annals spoke of a priest of Ieuô named Hierombalos, +which is clearly Jerubbaal. The Canaanitish kings could also be priests, +as we learn from the history of Melchizedek. Baethgen makes Jerubbaal +practically identical with Meribbaal (<span lang="de"><i>Beiträge zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte</i></span>, +<abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 143).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f335'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r335'>335</a>.  </span>The Kadmonites of <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 19, where they are coupled with the +Kenites and Kenizzites of Southern Palestine: see above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f336'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r336'>336</a>.  </span>Many of the accounts of battles given by Livy are similarly confused, +and are doubtless drawn from more than one source, but no one would +think of distinguishing the sources, much less of splitting the narrative of +the Roman historian into separate documents.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f337'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r337'>337</a>.  </span><abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 24.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f338'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r338'>338</a>.  </span>The usage lingered even as late as the time of Hosea (<abbr title='Hosea'>Hos.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 16).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f339'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r339'>339</a>.  </span>The name of Abimelech, ‘my father is king,’ cannot be used as an +argument, since the ‘king’ referred to in it is the divine king or Moloch, +not an earthly ruler.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f340'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r340'>340</a>.  </span><abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 4, 46. <abbr class='spell'>Cf.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 33.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f341'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r341'>341</a>.  </span>See <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 28.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f342'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r342'>342</a>.  </span>The story of the pitchers and torches is pronounced by modern +criticism to be a myth, and has been compared with old Egyptian romances +like that which described the capture of Joppa in the reign of Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> +by a stratagem similar to that which we read of in the story of Ali Baba +and the Forty Thieves. But from the point of view of history alone there +is no reason for discrediting the narrative. Bedâwin superstition would +fully account for the panic and flight if the camp believed that the spirits +of the night had attacked them. Indeed similar panics have been known +to arise not only among the Bedâwin of the wilderness, but even among +disciplined English soldiers.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f343'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r343'>343</a>.  </span>The names of the chiefs have been said to have been derived from the +two places which local tradition associated with their deaths. But though +‘the rock of the Raven’ is a very possible geographical name in the East—there +is indeed more than one ‘Raven’s Rock’ in modern Egypt—‘the +winepress of the Wolf’ is quite the reverse. Animal names like raven +and wolf, on the other hand, were frequently applied in ancient Arabia to +individuals and tribes (see <abbr class='spell'>W.</abbr> Robertson Smith in the <i>Journal of +Philology</i>, <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 17, 1880, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 79-88).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f344'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r344'>344</a>.  </span>In the narrative the quarrel with Ephraim comes before the defeat of +Zebah and Zalmunna, but <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 25 shows that it is misplaced. +Certain critics have maintained that two different versions of the same +story lie before us, and that the Oreb and Zeeb of the one version are the +Zebah and Zalmunna of the other. This, however, is to exhibit a curious +ignorance of Bedâwin organisation and modes of warfare: there would +have been more than one raiding band, and the different bands would +have been under different shêkhs.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f345'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r345'>345</a>.  </span>See above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>. Of the cities mentioned in <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 27, Dor, as +we learn from the Golénischeff papyrus, had been occupied by the Zakkal, +the kinsfolk of the Philistines, and would not have become Israelitish +until after the conquest of the latter people. (<abbr class='spell'>Cf.</abbr> 1 Kings <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 11.) Dor, +however, properly belonged to Asher, and <abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr> 11 expressly states +that the Canaanitish cities afterwards possessed by Manasseh were originally +included in the territories of Issachar and Asher. Issachar could not have +lost them until after the time of Barak.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f346'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r346'>346</a>.  </span>Even at Tyre, the title of the supreme Baal, Melek-qiryath (Melkarth), +‘the king of the city,’ shows that at the outset the state had been a +theocracy.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f347'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r347'>347</a>.  </span>See above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>. The priestly character of Jerubbaal has been suppressed +in the narrative in accordance with the feelings of a later time, +when the priesthood was strictly confined to the tribe of Levi. But at +an earlier date the anointed king was regarded as invested by Yahveh with +priestly functions. Saul and Solomon offered sacrifice, and David’s sons +acted as priests (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 18).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f348'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r348'>348</a>.  </span>See <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr> 5; <abbr title='Hosea'>Hos.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 4.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f349'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r349'>349</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 18, <abbr title='twenty-two'>xxii.</abbr> 18, <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> 9, <abbr title='thirty'>xxx.</abbr> 7, 8.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f350'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r350'>350</a>.  </span><abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 24, <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 27.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f351'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r351'>351</a>.  </span>See <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 1, 28.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f352'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r352'>352</a>.  </span>2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> 14. The reading of the latter passage, however, is not +certain.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f353'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r353'>353</a>.  </span>See <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 41. Verse 31 should be translated, Zebul ‘sent messengers +unto Abimelech to Arumah.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f354'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r354'>354</a>.  </span>The name of Jobaal, ‘Yahveh is Baal,’ has been preserved in the +Septuagint. Its signification has caused it to be omitted in the Massoretic +text where we have only <i>ben-’ebed</i>, ‘the son of a slave,’ corresponding to +the expression ‘son of a nobody,’ which we meet with in the Assyrian +inscriptions.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f355'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r355'>355</a>.  </span>It is here called the <i>Migdal Shechem</i> or ‘Tower of Shechem,’ but +seems to have been the same as the <i>Millo</i> of <abbr title='verse'><i>v.</i></abbr> 6. The fort would have +stood in the same relation to Shechem that the ‘stronghold of Zion’ taken +by David stood to Jerusalem. It was probably built just outside the +walls of the town. We may compare also the ‘Millo’ constructed by +Solomon to defend his palace and the temple (1 Kings <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 15).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f356'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r356'>356</a>.  </span>See 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 21.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f357'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r357'>357</a>.  </span>See <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 11, 12. All records of the wars with the Zidonians and +the Maonites have perished. Perhaps Professor Hommel is right in +identifying the Maonites with the people of Ma’ân in Southern Arabia, +whose power waned before the rise of that of Sheba, and extended to the +frontiers of Palestine (<span lang="de"><i>Aufsätze und Abhandlungen sur Kunde der Sprachen, +Literaturen und der Geschichte des vorderen Orients</i></span>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 2, 47).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f358'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r358'>358</a>.  </span><abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-six'>xxvi.</abbr> 23, 26.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f359'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r359'>359</a>.  </span>Had the southern Beth-lehem been meant, it would have been called, +as elsewhere in the book of Judges, Beth-lehem-Judah.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f360'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r360'>360</a>.  </span><abbr title='Numbers'>Numb.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-two'>xxxii.</abbr> 41; <abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 4, 14. In <abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 4, the ‘cities’ of +Argob are described as sixty in number, which in <abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 30 are identified +with ‘the towns of Jair which are in Bashan.’ This, however, is +incorrect, as it was thirty villages and not sixty cities that were conquered +by Jair.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f361'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r361'>361</a>.  </span>This must mean that he had claimed a portion of his father’s +inheritance from the legitimate sons, and that ‘the elders’ who tried the +case decided it against him. In the narrative he is called merely ‘the +son of Gilead.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f362'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r362'>362</a>.  </span>Tubi (<abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> 22) is one of the places mentioned by Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> among +his conquests in Palestine. It is probably the modern Taiyibeh, the +Tôbion of 2 <abbr title='Maccabees'>Macc.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 11, 17.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f363'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r363'>363</a>.  </span>The argument put into the mouth of the Ammonites (<abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 13), +like the answer made by Jephthah, doubtless expressed the feelings on +both sides, but the language is that of the historian, as in the case of the +speeches in Thucydides. When it is said (<abbr title='verse'><i>v.</i></abbr> 26) that the Israelites had +occupied the district north of the Arnon for three hundred years, the +chronology is that of the compiler. Three hundred years are equivalent +to ten generations, and the ten generations are made up by counting the +names of the judges given in the book of Judges, down to Jephthah, as +representing so many successive generations (1. Moses; 2. Joshua; 3. +Othniel; 4. Ehud; 5. Shamgar; 6. Barak; 7. Gideon; 8. Abimelech; +9. Tola; 10. Jair. If Moses and Joshua are reckoned as one generation, +the numeration would be carried on to Jephthah).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f364'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r364'>364</a>.  </span>The name of Jephthah is a shortened form of Jephthah-el, which we +find as the name of a valley on the borders of Asher (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 27).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f365'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r365'>365</a>.  </span>See Steinthal, <i>The Legend of Samson</i>, <abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr> by Russell Martineau +in Goldziher’s <i>Mythology among the Hebrews</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 392-446.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f366'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r366'>366</a>.  </span>Ramath-lehi is ‘the height of Lehi,’ and has nothing to do with +<i>râmâh</i>, ‘to throw’; ’Ên-haqqorê is ‘the Spring of the Partridge,’ not ‘of +the caller.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f367'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r367'>367</a>.  </span>It may be gathered from <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 16, 17, that Simeon preceded Judah +in the occupation of the future Judah. When the expedition against Arad +and Zephath was formed, the Jews and Kenites were still encamped together +at Jericho. The Kenites seem to have remained behind in the +newly-won territory of the Negeb, while the Jews established themselves +at Beth-lehem.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f368'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r368'>368</a>.  </span>We hear only of citizens of Mount Ephraim going up yearly to +sacrifice at Shiloh (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 1-3).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f369'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r369'>369</a>.  </span>It must be remembered that at this time, before the rise of Judah, +Ephraim was the nearest neighbour of the Philistines as well as of the +Amalekites.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f370'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r370'>370</a>.  </span>It cannot be supposed, of course, that an Ephraimite would have +recorded the defeat and slaughter of his tribe at the hands of Jephthah. +But such a momentous disaster could not fail to become known throughout +Canaan, and some notice of it must have been taken by the chroniclers +of Ephraim themselves. Where and by whom, however, the present +account was composed it is vain to inquire, and the question may be left +for discussion to the philological critics. That Samuel, who was brought +up at Shiloh, could write we are assured in 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 25.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f371'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r371'>371</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 5; <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 1.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f372'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r372'>372</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 18, 19. The disintegrating critics have assumed this +narrative to be primitive and contemporary because it presents us with a +picture of Samuel which seems to degrade him into an obscure local +soothsayer, and on the strength of it have disputed the antiquity of such +narratives as assign to him national influence. They might just as well +maintain that the only primitive and contemporary account of King +Alfred that we possess is the story of the burnt cakes at Athelney.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f373'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r373'>373</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 14.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f374'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r374'>374</a>.  </span>Zuph gave his name to ‘the district of Zuph’ (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 5), which +has the plural form in Ramathaim-zophim.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f375'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r375'>375</a>.  </span>Ephraim, however, may be, like Jerusalem, the older form of which +has been recovered from the cuneiform inscriptions, a later Massoretic +mispronunciation of an original plural Ephrim. The Massoretes have +erroneously introduced a dual form into the pronunciation of the name +Chushan-rishathaim, and probably also into that of Naharaim when compared +with the Egyptian Naharin and the Nahrima of the Tel el-Amarna +tablets. Perhaps the dual form Ephraim originated in the existence of +the two Ophrahs (with <i>’ayin</i>), which are already mentioned in the geographical +lists of Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f376'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r376'>376</a>.  </span>2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 18; see also 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> 26. The Authorised Version +mistranslates the word in both passages.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f377'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r377'>377</a>.  </span>Translated by me in the <i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='four'><span class='fss'>IV.</span></abbr>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 109-113.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f378'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r378'>378</a>.  </span>See above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_244'>244</a>. The Hebrew Samuel could also represent a Babylonian +Sumu-il, ‘Sumu is God’ or ‘the name of God,’ which we actually +find in early Babylonian contracts.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f379'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r379'>379</a>.  </span>So, too, the Chronicler states that he was descended from Ithamar the +younger son of Aaron (1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 3).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f380'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r380'>380</a>.  </span>It would seem from 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 3, as compared with <abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-seven'>xxvii.</abbr> 21, +and <abbr title='Leviticus'>Lev.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 3, that there was no veil at the time in ‘the temple of +the Lord, where the ark of God was.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f381'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r381'>381</a>.  </span>‘The priest’ of the narrative is equivalent to ‘high priest’: see above, +<abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 219. Eli’s two sons were naturally not on a level of equality with +himself. It has been gravely maintained that there were only three priests +at Shiloh at the time, because nothing is said about any others; had the +narrative not required the mention of Hophni and Phinehas we should +have been told there was only one. Such trifling with historical documents +is unfortunately only too characteristic of the so-called ‘literary +criticism.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f382'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r382'>382</a>.  </span>It has been assumed that ‘the women that assembled at the door of +the tabernacle of the congregation’ (<abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-eight'>xxxviii.</abbr> 8, 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 22) +were religious prostitutes like the <span lang="hbo"><i>qedashoth</i></span> in the Phœnician temples (see +<abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> 17, 18). But the fact that the intercourse of the sons of Eli +with them was a sin in the eyes of both Yahveh and the people proves the +contrary. Here, as in other cases, an old institution of Semitic religion was +retained among the adherents of the Mosaic law, but it was deprived of +its pagan and immoral characteristics.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f383'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r383'>383</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 9.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f384'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r384'>384</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 23. <i>Nâbî</i> is not of Arabic derivation as is often supposed, +as, for example, by Professor Cornill, <i>The Prophets of Israel</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 8-10, where +it is erroneously stated that the Babylonian <i>nabû</i> does not mean ‘to pronounce’ +or ‘proclaim.’ The name of Nebo shows to what antiquity the +Babylonian <i>nabium</i> in its special sense of ‘prophet’ reaches back. The +modern Arabic <i>nebi</i> is borrowed from the Hebrew <span lang="hbo"><i>nâbî</i></span>. <span lang="hbo"><i>Nâbî</i></span> corresponds +with the Greek προφήτης ‘forth-speaker,’ as distinguished from +μάντις or ‘diviner,’ the Babylonian <i>asipu</i>. In Babylonia the <i>asipu</i> performed +the offices which the Hebrew <span lang="hbo"><i>roeh</i></span> had once fulfilled; he determined +whether an army should move or not, whether victory would be +on its side, whether an undertaking would be prosperous or the reverse. +While, therefore, the <i>asipu</i> and the <i>nabiu</i> continued to exist side by side, +performing the functions which had been combined in the Hebrew <i>roeh</i>, +and at the outset in the Hebrew <span lang="hbo"><i>nâbî</i></span>, among the Israelites the <span lang="hbo"><i>roeh</i></span> disappeared, +and the <span lang="hbo"><i>nâbî</i></span> alone remained with purely prophetical attributes.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f385'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r385'>385</a>.  </span>Towards the end of Samuel’s life, however, a Naioth or ‘monastery’ +grew up around him at Ramah, which must have closely resembled the +Dervish colleges of the modern Mohammedan world; see 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 23. +This monastery will have taken the place of Shiloh, and become a veritable +‘school’ of prophetical training and instruction.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f386'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r386'>386</a>.  </span>Gad, however, still retained the title of ‘seer’ (1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-nine'>xxix.</abbr> 29), +and one of the histories of the reign of Solomon was contained ‘in the +visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam’ (2 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 29). Even +Isaiah’s history of Hezekiah was called ‘the vision of Isaiah the prophet’ +(2 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-two'>xxxii.</abbr> 32). But the title was merely a survival.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f387'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r387'>387</a>.  </span>We must, however, distinguish between Samuel’s authority as a seer, +which did not excite the jealousy of his Philistine masters, and his +authority as a dispenser of justice. That was confined to a small area in +the heart of Mount Ephraim. Each year, we are told (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 16) he +went on circuit like a Babylonian judge, ‘to Beth-el and Gilgal and +Mizpeh.’ This is the Mizpeh of Benjamin.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f388'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r388'>388</a>.  </span>Ramah, ‘the height,’ is identified in 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 11 with Ramathaim, +‘the two heights.’ The village evidently stood on two hills. For the +possible site of Aphek, see <abbr class='spell'>G. A.</abbr> Smith, <i>The Historical Geography of the +Holy Land</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 224. Eben-ezer is identified with the great stone at Beth-shemesh +(1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 14, 18) by <abbr class='spell'>M.</abbr> Clermont-Ganneau (<i>Quarterly Statement</i> +of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1874, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 279; 1877, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 154 +<abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr>), but this is questionable.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f389'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r389'>389</a>.  </span>See my <i>Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 154; +and above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f390'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r390'>390</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 13.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f391'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r391'>391</a>.  </span>The Septuagint text omits the ‘eight.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f392'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r392'>392</a>.  </span>The Septuagint reads Ouai-bar-khabôth, ‘Woe to the son of glory,’ +with the insertion of the Aramaic <i>bar</i>, ‘son.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f393'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r393'>393</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 3.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f394'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r394'>394</a>.  </span>As Abiathar was the contemporary of David, and his father Ahimelech +or Ahiah of Saul, Ahitub will have been the contemporary of Samuel. If +Solomon came to the throne about <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 965, and Saul was about forty +years of age at the time of his death, we should have about <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1045 for +the date of Saul’s birth. Samuel was an old man when he died; if he +lived ten years after Saul’s accession, and was ten years old when the ark +was taken, we may place his birth about <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1090. This would give +about <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>B.C.</span></abbr> 1180 for the birth of Eli, or very shortly after the Israelitish +invasion of Canaan. The life of Eli would thus cover almost the whole +period of the Judges, and form a single link between the Mosaic age and +that of Samuel. In such a case it is not astonishing that the records and +traditions of the Mosaic age were preserved at Shiloh. The ark was only +seven months among the Philistines (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 1), and it was removed +from ‘the house of Abinadab’ at Kirjath-jearim some time after the +seventh year of David (see, however, 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 18). ‘The sons of +Abinadab,’ in 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 4, must mean, as is so frequently the case, the +descendants of Abinadab.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f395'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r395'>395</a>.  </span>In <abbr title='Zephaniah'>Zeph.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 9 there is an allusion to the practice of the Philistine +priests of ‘leaping’ over the threshold. For the origin and reason of this +sacredness of the threshold see Trumbull, <i>The Threshold Covenant</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> +10-13, 116-126, 143. ‘In Finland it is regarded as unlucky if a clergyman +steps on the threshold when he comes to preach at a church.... +In the Lapp tales the same idea appears.’ (Jones and Kropf, <i>Folk-Tales +of the Magyars</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 410.)</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f396'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r396'>396</a>.  </span>Philo Byblius according to Euseb., <i>Præp. Evangel.</i> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 6.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f397'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r397'>397</a>.  </span>That Dagon was worshipped in Canaan before he was adopted by the +Philistine emigrants we know, not only from the evidence of geographical +names, but also from the fact that one of the Tel el-Amarna correspondents +in Palestine was called Dagan-takala.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f398'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r398'>398</a>.  </span>It is noticeable that Zophim in Ramathaim-zophim means ‘Watchmen.’ +Poels (<span lang="fr"><i>Le Sanctuaire de Kirjath-jearim</i></span>, Louvain, 1894) has, +moreover, made it probable that Kirjath-jearim, Mizpeh, Gibeah, Geba, +and Gibeon all represent the same place.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f399'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r399'>399</a>.  </span>According to 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 2, the victory at Eben-ezer took place +‘twenty years’ after the ark had been removed to Kirjath-jearim. But +this is merely the half of an unknown period, and means that the interval +of time was not long.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f400'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r400'>400</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 13, 14. The area of independence, however, must have +been very confined, since there was a garrison of the Philistines in ‘the +hill of God’ at Gibeah (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 5), as well as one at Michmash (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> +<abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 1).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f401'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r401'>401</a>.  </span>There is no reason for doubting the very explicit statement made in +1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 14, which explains and limits the preceding verse. Its +antiquity is vouched for by the concluding words: ‘And there was peace +between Israel and the Amorites.’ The term ‘Amorite’ instead of +‘Canaanite’ points to an early date, and the sentence reads like an +extract from a contemporary chronicle. The peace was an enforced one, +as both Israelites and Canaanites alike were under the yoke of the +Philistines.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f402'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r402'>402</a>.  </span>See 2 Kings <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 4.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f403'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r403'>403</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='sixteen'>xvi.</abbr> 39, <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 293; 2 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 3, 5.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f404'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r404'>404</a>.  </span>Is it an inference from 1 Kings <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 4? That the Chronicler sometimes +drew erroneous inferences from his materials, I have shown in <i>The +Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 463. It is +difficult to understand how ‘fixtures’ like the tabernacle and the altar +escaped destruction when the temple at Shiloh was ruined.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f405'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r405'>405</a>.  </span>Kirjath-jearim was a Gibeonite town (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 17).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f406'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r406'>406</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 3.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f407'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r407'>407</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 2. Joel is called Vashni in 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 28, where the +Septuagint reads Sani.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f408'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r408'>408</a>.  </span>As has been noticed above (<abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_315'>315</a>, note 1), the title of the supreme +god of Tyre is evidence that there, too, the state had been originally +regarded as a theocracy.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f409'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r409'>409</a>.  </span>The name of Saul corresponds with the Babylonian Savul, a title of +the Sun-god, though it might also be explained as a Hebrew word meaning +‘asked for.’ But one of the Edomite kings was also named Saul, and +he is stated to have come from ‘Rehoboth (Assyrian Rêbit) by the river’ +Euphrates (<abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-six'>xxxvi.</abbr> 37). This points to a Babylonian origin of the +name. Kish, Saul’s father, has also the same name as the Edomite god +Qos (in Assyrian Qaus), of which the Canaanitish Kishon is a derivative. +As Saul’s successors in Edom were Baal-hanan and Hadad, while Hadad +was a contemporary of Solomon, and El-hanan is said in 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 19 +to have been the slayer of Goliath, I have proposed (<i>The Modern Review</i>, +<abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 17, 1884) to see in the Saul and Baal-hanan of Edom the Saul and +David of Israel. Saul is said to have fought against Edom (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> +<abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 47), and Doeg the Edomite was his henchman. But the proposal is +excluded by two facts. The kings of Edom recorded in <abbr title='Genesis'>Gen.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-six'>xxxvi.</abbr> 31-39 +reigned ‘before there was any king over the children of Israel,’ and Saul +the son of Kish did not come from the Euphrates.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f410'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r410'>410</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 3. In 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 14-16, Saul’s uncle takes the place of his +father.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f411'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r411'>411</a>.  </span>Much has been made of the supposed fact that Saul had never heard +of Samuel, and did not know that he was a seer. But the narrative only +says that Saul’s slave informed him that a seer was in the town, without +mentioning his name; and if Saul had never previously seen Samuel, he +would naturally not recognise him in the crowd.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f412'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r412'>412</a>.  </span>That the prophets were at Gibeah is shown by the fact that ‘the hill +of God,’ where they met Saul, was also where ‘the garrison of the +Philistines’ was (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 5, <abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 2, 3).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f413'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r413'>413</a>.  </span>It has been usually supposed from this verse that ‘Gibeah of Saul’ +was the original home of Saul’s family. But as the family burial-place +was at Zelah (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 14), this can hardly have been the case. Gibeah +was the scene of Jonathan’s first success against the Philistines, and it was +here that Saul fixed his residence during the latter years of his life.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f414'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r414'>414</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>Cp.</abbr> <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 29, where the Levite similarly cuts up his concubine +and sends the pieces to the several tribes of Israel.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f415'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r415'>415</a>.  </span>See my <i>Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 463-4. +When Ahab came to the help of the Syrians against the Assyrian king +Shalmaneser, his whole force consisted of only ten thousand men and two +thousand chariots, and ‘Assur-natsir-pal thinks it a subject of boasting +that he had slain fifty or one hundred and seventy-two of the enemy in +battle.’ The whole of the country population of Judah carried into +captivity by Sennacherib was only two hundred thousand one hundred +and fifty, which would give at most an army of fifty thousand men. The +Egyptian armies, with which the victories of the eighteenth and nineteenth +dynasties were gained, were of small size. One of them, in the time of the +nineteenth dynasty, contained only three thousand one hundred foreign +mercenaries and one thousand nine hundred native troops (Erman, <i>Life in +Ancient Egypt</i>, <abbr title='English translation'>Eng. tr.</abbr>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 542). At the same time, we must not forget +that if there were fifty thousand available fighting men in Judah in the +time of Hezekiah, there would have been about three hundred and fifty +thousand among the other seven tribes a few generations earlier. Consequently +the calculation given in the text of 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 8 is approximately +correct as a mere calculation. Between available and actual fighting men +there was, of course, a great difference. In the second year of Saul’s +reign, when his authority was established, he was not able to muster more +than three thousand fighting men (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 2). A larger body, indeed, +had flocked to him, but they were an undisciplined, unarmed multitude, +who had to be dismissed to their homes.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f416'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r416'>416</a>.  </span>As the Hebrew <span lang="hbo"><i>netsîb</i></span> signifies a ‘governor’ as well as a ‘fortified +post’ or ‘garrison,’ many writers have maintained that the <span lang="hbo"><i>netsîb</i></span> in ‘the +Hill of God’ at Gibeah was the Philistine official. But Jonathan would +not have required a thousand men in order to destroy a single official and +the few soldiers who might have been with him.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f417'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r417'>417</a>.  </span>The Hebrews had, of course, no means of ascertaining the exact +numbers of the enemy. The number of chariots is quite impossible, and +they would have been useless in the mountainous country. In the great +battle in which Meneptah saved Egypt from the combined armies of the +Libyans and their northern allies, nine thousand three hundred and +seventy-six prisoners in all were taken, while the slain amounted to six +thousand three hundred and sixty-five Libyans and two thousand three +hundred and seventy of their Mediterranean confederates. To these must +be added nine thousand one hundred and eleven Maxyes. And yet it +does not seem that any of the invaders escaped from the battle.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f418'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r418'>418</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 6, 7. For the distinction that is here drawn between +‘the men of Israel’ and ‘the Hebrews,’ see above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_6'>6</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f419'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r419'>419</a>.  </span>The identification is uncertain, as it depends on the position to be +assigned to Gibeah.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f420'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r420'>420</a>.  </span>Ahimelech (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-two'>xxii.</abbr> 9, 11, 20) is here called Ahiah, perhaps out +of reluctance to apply the term Melech, ‘King,’ with its heathen associations, +to Yahveh.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f421'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r421'>421</a>.  </span>Here called by its old name of Beth-On, which the Massoretic +punctuation has transformed into Beth-Aven.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f422'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r422'>422</a>.  </span>Some of the literary critics have started the gratuitous supposition +that a prisoner was substituted for Jonathan, though the fact was suppressed +by the later Hebrew historian. It is perhaps natural that those who +re-write history should have a poor opinion of the trustworthiness of their +predecessors.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f423'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r423'>423</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f424'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r424'>424</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 8, compared with <abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 8-15.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f425'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r425'>425</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 14. Though Saul’s kingdom did ‘not continue,’ it nevertheless +lasted some time, and was not overthrown at Michmash, as +those who heard Samuel’s words must have expected. As David was not +anointed until some years later, he cannot be ‘the man’ after Yahveh’s +‘heart,’ whom the seer had in his mind at the time.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f426'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r426'>426</a>.  </span>The <span lang="hbo"><i>nakhal</i></span> (<abbr class='spell'>A.V.</abbr> ‘valley’) is probably the Wadi el-Arîsh, which lay +on the way to the Shur or line of fortifications that protected the eastern +side of the Delta. Havilah, the ‘sandy’ desert, corresponds with the +Melukhkha or ‘Salt’ desert of the Babylonian inscriptions. The ‘city of +Amalek’ may have been El-Arîsh, if this were not in Egyptian hands at +the time.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f427'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r427'>427</a>.  </span>The Israelites had been stirred to vengeance by the murderous raids +of the Bedâwin at a time when the Philistine invasion had made them too +weak to defend themselves (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 33).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f428'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r428'>428</a>.  </span>For ‘Edom’ we should probably read ‘Aram,’ as is demanded by +the geographical order of the list of countries which runs from south to +north. In 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 13, ‘Aram’ has been substituted for ‘Edom,’ +which was still read by the Chronicler (1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 12), and the marriage +of David with the daughter of the king of Aram-Geshur (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 3) +implies hostility between Saul and the Geshurites.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f429'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r429'>429</a>.  </span>The ‘critics’ have decided that the list of Saul’s wars has been +‘borrowed’ from the history of David. In this case, however, we should +have heard of ‘the king’ of Zobah, not of ‘the kings.’ We happen to know +that Saul fought against Ammon. Had the fact not been mentioned, the +‘critics’ would have maintained, as in the case of Moab and Zobah, that +such a war never took place. The argument from silence may simplify +the process of reconstructing history, but from a historical point of view +it is worthless.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f430'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r430'>430</a>.  </span>Saul showed himself in other cases such a scrupulous observer of the +Law that we can well understand his obeying the precept of Deuteronomy +that the king should not ‘multiply’ horses or wives (<abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 16, 17).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f431'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r431'>431</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-two'>xxii.</abbr> 6.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f432'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r432'>432</a>.  </span>It is clear, however, from 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 9, that there must be some +mistake here, since the sword of Goliath was laid up at Nob while Saul +was king.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f433'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r433'>433</a>.  </span>This must be an exaggeration, since David, who was not above the +ordinary size, afterwards used his sword (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 9).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f434'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r434'>434</a>.  </span>The narrative goes on to say that ‘David took the head of the +Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armour in his tent.’ +This verse is given in the Septuagint, though the next nine verses are +omitted. But the statement cannot be right. Jerusalem was not captured +by David until many years after the battle in the valley of Elah, and the +shepherd lad had no tent of his own at the time.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f435'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r435'>435</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> 5. ‘Beth-lehemite’ is turned into ‘Lahmi,’ the name +of the ‘brother’ of Goliath, and the unintelligible <i>Yaare-oregim</i> becomes +<i>Yair</i>. <i>Oregim</i>, ‘weavers,’ however, has crept in from the end of the +verse, and the original reading of 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 19 must have been, +‘El-hanan, the son of Yaari (the forester) the Beth-lehemite, slew Goliath +the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f436'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r436'>436</a>.  </span>1 Kings <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 15, 16; 2 Kings <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 2, 3. Ahijah, however, did not +anoint Jeroboam when he suggested to him that he should head a revolt +of the ten tribes against the house of David. When David was made +king at Hebron he was anointed by ‘the men of Judah,’ not by a prophet +(2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 4), and no mention is made of a prophet or priest when he +was anointed ‘king over Israel’ (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 3).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f437'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r437'>437</a>.  </span>We must remember that in any case the act of anointing would have +been a secret, and that consequently an erroneous account of it might +easily have been set on foot.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f438'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r438'>438</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 6. The singular ‘Philistine’ has to be noted, as if +there was a reference in it to the overthrow of Goliath. <abbr class='spell'>Cf.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 5.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f439'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r439'>439</a>.  </span>See above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_342'>342</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f440'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r440'>440</a>.  </span>It is also possible that chapter <abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> ought to precede chapter <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f441'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r441'>441</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 2.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f442'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r442'>442</a>.  </span>Hitzig identified the name of Achish with that of the Homeric +Ankhisês. Whether this is so or not, Dr. <abbr class='spell'>W.</abbr> Max Müller is probably +right in seeing the same name in that of a native of Keft, or the northern +coast of Syria, mentioned in an Egyptian papyrus where it is written +Akashau (Spiegelberg in the <span lang="de"><i>Zeitschrift für Assyriologie</i></span>, <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 384).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f443'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r443'>443</a>.  </span>Unless, indeed, 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> 16-18 is an interpolation.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f444'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r444'>444</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 2. Compare the expression used by Sennacherib when +describing his campaign against the Cilicians: ‘Like a wild goat I climbed +to the high peaks against them’ (<abbr class='spell'>W. A. I.</abbr>, <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 39, 77).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f445'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r445'>445</a>.  </span>The name is preserved in the modern Tell Zif.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f446'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r446'>446</a>.  </span>Shunem was a fortified city, already mentioned in the Tel el-Amarna +tablets, Aphek a mere village. Shunem had evidently been captured, +and the Philistine camp subsequently formed outside its walls a little to +the west.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f447'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r447'>447</a>.  </span>See <abbr title='Exodus'>Exod.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-two'>xxii.</abbr> 18; <abbr title='Leviticus'>Lev.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> 27; <abbr title='Deuteronomy'>Deut.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 10, 11.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f448'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r448'>448</a>.  </span>We are told in 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 19 that even while he was in the Philistine +camp at Aphek, and again when he was on the march back to Ziklag, +‘some of Manasseh’ deserted to him.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f449'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r449'>449</a>.  </span>The Negeb or ‘South’ was divided at the time into the Negeb of the +Cherethites or Philistines, of the Jews, and of the Calebites (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty'>xxx.</abbr> +14, 16.) Up to the end of Saul’s reign, therefore, Caleb and Judah had +not been as yet amalgamated into a single tribe.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f450'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r450'>450</a>.  </span>See above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f451'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r451'>451</a>.  </span>Aroer had belonged to Reuben (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 16), Hormah, Ziklag, +Chor-ashan, and Ramoth of the south to Simeon (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 4-8.) It is +curious that no mention should be made of Beth-lehem, and it is therefore +possible that ‘Beth-lehem’ should be read in place of ‘Beth-el’ in +1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty'>xxx.</abbr> 27. The Septuagint has Baith-Sour.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f452'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r452'>452</a>.  </span>Boaz, the grandfather of Jesse, is said to have been the son of Salmon +or Salma, who, according to 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 50, 51, was the founder of +Bethlehem, and the son of Caleb.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f453'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r453'>453</a>.  </span>Criticism has seen in the story told by the Amalekite a second version +of the death of Saul inconsistent with that which precedes it. The inconsistency +certainly exists, but that is because the Amalekite’s story was a +fabrication, the object of which was to gain a reward from David. There +was this much truth in it, that Saul had been wounded and had desired +death; the Amalekite could easily have learned this from those who had +witnessed the last scene of Saul’s life. But the fact that he had robbed +Saul’s corpse shows that he must have come to the ground after the flight +of the Israelitish soldiers; he was, in fact, one of those Bedâwin thieves +who, in Oriental warfare, still hang on the skirts of the battle in the hope +of murdering the wounded and plundering the dead when it is over and +the victors are pursuing the vanquished.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f454'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r454'>454</a>.  </span>The translation is that of the Revised Version, with a slight change in +the 21st verse. The contrast between the preservation of the text in this +Song and in that of the Song of Deborah is great, no passage in it being +corrupt, and points to the more archaic character of the latter, as well as +to a confirmation of the fact that the Song of the Bow was learnt in the +schools from the time of its composition.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f455'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r455'>455</a>.  </span>Ish-Baal or Esh-Baal, ‘the man of Baal,’ is called Ishui in 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> +<abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 49 (where the name of Abinadab is omitted; see 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 33). +Later writers changed Baal into Bosheth, ‘Shame,’ in accordance with +the custom which grew up when the title of Baal came to signify the god +of Phœnicia, rather than Yahveh of Israel.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f456'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r456'>456</a>.  </span>That the reign of David ‘in Hebron’ continued for five years after the +death of Esh-Baal seems the most probable way of explaining the statement +in 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 10, that the reign of Saul’s son lasted only two years. It is +certainly preferable to the usual supposition that ‘two’ is a mistake for +‘seven.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f457'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r457'>457</a>.  </span>The author of the books of Samuel did not know his age (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> +10). In 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 49 Ishui is named before Melchi-shua, but in 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> +<abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 33 Esh-Baal is the youngest of Saul’s children. That Esh-Baal did +not take part in the battle of Gilboa would suit equally well with either +hypothesis. Abner, the son of Ner, the son of Abiel, was the great-uncle +of Esh-Baal (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 50, 51). As he was still in the prime of life +when he was murdered, it is reasonable to suppose that his great-nephew +was very young.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f458'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r458'>458</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 16.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f459'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r459'>459</a>.  </span>If, as is probable, we should read ‘Geshurites’ for ‘Ashurites’ in 2 +<abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 9, Esh-Baal would have claimed rule over Geshur, and consequently +would have been as much involved in war with the king of that +country as he was with David. We subsequently find the Aramæans in +alliance with the Ammonites (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 6, etc.), and the king of Ammon +was the ally of David against Esh-Baal (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 2). It is probable that +in 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 47, ‘Aram’ must be read for ‘Edom,’ the geographical +position of which was not between Ammon and Zobah (see above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_368'>368</a>); +if so, Esh-Baal, in asserting his authority over Geshur, would only have +succeeded to his father’s conquests.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f460'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r460'>460</a>.  </span>Absalom, as the son of a princess, would claim precedence of his two +elder brothers, who, although born after David’s coronation, were nevertheless +not of royal descent on their mother’s side. The name of the eldest, +the son of Ahinoam, was Amnon, that of the second, the son of Abigail, is +given as Chileab in the Hebrew text of Samuel, Daniel in that of 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> +<abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 1, the Septuagint reading Daluia (Dalbia) and Damniêl in the two +passages. He seems to have died young. The fourth son of David was +Adonijah, the son of Haggith, who, by the death of his three elder brothers, +became the eldest son before his father’s death, while the fifth and sixth +sons were Shephatiah, the son of Abital, and Ithream, the son of Eglah. +All were born in Hebron.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f461'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r461'>461</a>.  </span>2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 17. This goes to show that Saul’s suspicions of David +were founded on fact.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f462'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r462'>462</a>.  </span>The name of the Babylonian god Rimmon or Ramman implies that +the family of the murderers were idolaters. They are said to have been +originally from Beeroth, the inhabitants of which had fled to Gittaim +(2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 3). If the flight had been due to Saul, the hostility of the +sons of Rimmon to the son of Saul would be explained. Beeroth was one +of the cities of the Gibeonites (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 17), and Saul, we learn from +2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 1, had slain the Gibeonites.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f463'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r463'>463</a>.  </span>The name Merib-Baal, given by the Chronicler (1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 34, +<abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 40), is doubtless correct. In the books of Samuel Baal has, as usual, +been changed into Bosheth, and Merib corrupted into the senseless +Mephi.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f464'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r464'>464</a>.  </span>See 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 2, and <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 38-40, where it is added that the coronation-feast +lasted for three days.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f465'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r465'>465</a>.  </span>See 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='thirteen'>xiii.</abbr> 13-17.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f466'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r466'>466</a>.  </span>It is difficult to say whether the number of the <span lang="hbo"><i>gibbôrîm</i></span> or ‘heroes’ +was actually restricted to thirty, or whether thirty was an ideal number +which was elastic in practice. In 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> thirty-seven ‘heroes’ are +named, but some of these may have been appointed to supply the place of +others who had died or fallen in war. To be included among the thirty +was equivalent to receiving a Victoria Cross.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f467'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r467'>467</a>.  </span>2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> 8, but the text is corrupt, and reads literally: ‘He that +sitteth on the seat, a Takmonite, chief of the third (?); he is Adino the +Eznite, over eight hundred slain at one time.’ The Septuagint has: +‘Yebosthe the Canaanite is chief of the third; Adino the Asônæan is he +who drew his sword against eight hundred warriors at once’; while the +Chronicler (1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 11) omitted the name of Adino, and read: +‘Jashobeam, a Khakmonite, chief of the captains; he lifted up his spear +against three hundred slain at one time.’ For Jashobeam the Septuagint +gives Yesebada. Adino seems to be the Adnah of 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 20, a +Manassite who deserted to David when he was at Ziklag. Jashobeam is +the most probable form of the name, and there must be some confusion +between Jashobeam, who brandished his spear over three hundred enemies, +and an unknown Adino, who did the same over eight hundred enemies.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f468'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r468'>468</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'>G. A.</abbr> Smith, <i>The Historical Geography of the Holy Land</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 218.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f469'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r469'>469</a>.  </span>See 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 15-22, <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> 8-17.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f470'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r470'>470</a>.  </span>If the name of Ishbi-benob, ‘my seat is in Nob,’ is correct, ‘Gob’ +must be corrected into ‘Nob.’ But perhaps it is the name of the giant +which needs correction.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f471'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r471'>471</a>.  </span>See the map given by Stade, <span lang="de"><i>Geschichte des Volkes Israel</i></span>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 268, and +my ‘Topography of Præ-exilic Jerusalem’ in the <i>Quarterly Statement</i> of +the Palestine Exploration Fund, <abbr title='October'>Oct.</abbr> 1883, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 215 <abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f472'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r472'>472</a>.  </span>Bliss, ‘Excavations at Jerusalem’ in the <i>Quarterly Statement</i> of the +Palestine Exploration Fund, Oct. 1896 and Jan. 1897.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f473'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r473'>473</a>.  </span><i>Antiq.</i> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 5, 3; <i><abbr class='spell'>C.</abbr> Ap.</i> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 18.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f474'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r474'>474</a>.  </span>It is, of course, possible that Abibal had been preceded by an earlier +Hiram of whom we otherwise know nothing, and who is meant in 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> +<abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 11. It is also possible that the use of Hiram’s name in this passage +is proleptic, derived from the fact that it was he who subsequently sent +materials to David for the construction of the temple.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f475'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r475'>475</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-two'>xxii.</abbr> 8.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f476'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r476'>476</a>.  </span>1 Kings <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 3.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f477'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r477'>477</a>.  </span>2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 3. In <abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 18 ‘Gibeah of Kirjath’ is given as +one of the cities of Benjamin. Like most of the Egyptian and Babylonian +cities it had a second and sacred name, Baalê-Judah, the city of ‘Baal of +Judah’ (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 2).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f478'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r478'>478</a>.  </span>The name of Obed-Edom, ‘the servant of Edom,’ shows that Edom +was the name of a deity as well as of a country, like Ammi, the patron-god +of Ammon, and it is met with in the monuments of Egypt. A papyrus +(<i>Pap. Leydens.</i> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 343. 7) states that Atum or Edom was the wife of the +Canaanitish fire-god Reshpu, and one of the places in Palestine captured +by Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> was Shemesh-Edom (<abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> 51), ‘the Sun-god is Edom’ +(<i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 47).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f479'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r479'>479</a>.  </span>2 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 3. See above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_353'>353</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f480'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r480'>480</a>.  </span>This must be the general signification of the Hebrew expression +<span lang="hbo"><i>Metheg-ammah</i></span> in 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr>, which the Septuagint translates τὴν +ἀφωρισμένην, ‘the tribute.’ The Chronicler read Gath for Metheg +(1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 1), and consequently understood <i>ammah</i> in the sense of +‘mother-city.’ My own belief is that we have in the phrase a Hebrew +transcription of a Babylonian expression which has been derived from a +cuneiform document. The Babylonian <i>mêtêg ammati</i> (for <i>mêtêq ammati</i>) +would signify ‘the highroad of the mainland’ of Palestine, and would +refer to the command of the highroad of trade which passed through +Canaan from Asia to Egypt and Arabia. <i>Ammati</i> is the Semitic +equivalent of the Sumerian Sarsar (<abbr class='spell'>W. A. I.</abbr> <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 18, 32 <abbr class='spell'><i>c.</i></abbr>), which was an +early Babylonian name of the land of the Amorites or Syria (<abbr class='spell'>W. A. I.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> +51, 19; see <i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 107); and <i>mêtêq</i> is given +as a rendering of <i>kharran</i>, ‘a highroad’ (<abbr class='spell'>W. A. I.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 38, 26).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f481'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r481'>481</a>.  </span>2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> 20.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f482'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r482'>482</a>.  </span>See my <i>Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments</i>, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 367.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f483'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r483'>483</a>.  </span><i>Ibid.</i> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 349, 350.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f484'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r484'>484</a>.  </span>The Septuagint has misread ‘Amalek’ for ‘Maacah.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f485'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r485'>485</a>.  </span>El-Hîba probably stands on the site of the Egyptian town of Hâ-Bennu, +the Greek Hipponon, the capital of the eighteenth nome of Upper +Egypt, and its fortifications were built by the high priest Men-kheper-Ra +and his wife Isis-em-Kheb. The Tanite Pharaohs formed the twenty-first +dynasty.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f486'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r486'>486</a>.  </span>See Delitzsch, <span lang="de"><i>Wo lag das Paradies</i></span>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 279-280. Assur-bani-pal +states that he sent his troops against the cities of Azar-el, the Khiratâqazians, +Edom, Yabrudu, Bit-Ammani or Ammon, ‘the district of the city of the +Haurân’ (<i>Khaurina</i>), Moab, Sakharri, Khargê, and ‘the district of the +city of Tsubitê, or Zobah.’ Delitzsch identifies Yabrudu with the Yabruda +of Ptolemy, the modern Yabrûd, north-east of Damascus. In the tribute-lists +of the Second Assyrian Empire, Tsubitê or Tsubutu comes between +Dûru (<i>Tantûra</i>) and Hamath, Samalla (<i>Sinjerli</i>) and Khatarikka or +Hadrach (<abbr title='Zechariah'>Zech.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 1.), and Zemar (<i>Sumra</i>), and the Quê on the coast of +the Gulf of Antioch.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f487'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r487'>487</a>.  </span>The fact that the Assyrian king Shalmaneser <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> calls Baasha, the +contemporary king of Ammon, ‘the son of Rukhubi’ or Rehob, just as +he calls Jehu ‘the son of Omri,’ shows that Rehob was a personal name. +The Biblical Beth-Rehob is parallel to Bit-Omri, a designation of Samaria +in the Assyrian texts. Beth-Rehob is placed near Dan in <abbr title='Judges'>Judg.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 28. +In 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 6, Aram-Naharaim is apparently substituted for Aram-Beth-Rehob, +though, as the dominions of Hadad-ezer extended to the +Euphrates, soldiers may have come to the help of the Ammonites from +Mesopotamia, as well as from Beth-Rehob. The name of Hadad-ezer is +incorrectly given as Hadar-ezer in 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 16. It appears as Hadad-idri +in the Assyrian inscriptions (with the Aramaic change of <abbr class='spell'><i>z</i></abbr> to <abbr class='spell'><i>d</i></abbr>), where it +is the name of the king of Damascus, called Ben-Hadad <abbr title='the second'><span class='fss'>II.</span></abbr> in the Old +Testament.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f488'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r488'>488</a>.  </span>So, according to the Septuagint and 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 4. The Hebrew +text of 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 4 has ‘700 horsemen.’ But it is possible that we +ought to read ‘1700 horsemen.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f489'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r489'>489</a>.  </span>Nicolaus Damascenus, as quoted by Josephus, makes Hadad the king +of Damascus, who thus vainly endeavoured to check the torrent of +Israelitish success. Hadad, however, must be merely Hadad-ezer in an +abbreviated form, Perhaps we may gather from 1 Kings <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 23, that the +ruling prince in Damascus at the time of David’s conquests was Rezon, +the son of Eliadah.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f490'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r490'>490</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 18. In 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 18, the numbers are 700 charioteers +and 40,000 horsemen, which are clearly wrong.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f491'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r491'>491</a>.  </span>The account of the war with Zobah given above is the most probable +that can be gleaned from the scanty and fragmentary notices that have +been preserved to us. But it must be remembered that it is probable +only. It is not even certain that ‘the Syrians that were beyond the +river’ (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 16) were not the Aramæans of Damascus rather than +those of Mesopotamia, since, as Professor Hommel has shown (<i>Ancient +Hebrew Tradition as illustrated by the Monuments</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 195 <abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr>) the +term <i>Ebir Nâri</i>, ‘Beyond the river,’ is already used in an Assyrian poem +(<abbr class='spell'>K.</abbr> 3500, <abbr title='line'>l.</abbr> 9) of the age of David, in the Assyro-Babylonian sense of the +country westward of the Euphrates. Indeed, Professor Hommel suggests +that it already denoted the country westward of the Jordan. This, +however, is inconsistent with 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 17; and west of the Jordan, +moreover, there were no Aramæan kingdoms.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f492'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r492'>492</a>.  </span>The Chronicler (1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 8) has preserved the true form of the +name of Tibhath, which has been corrupted into Betah in 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 8. +It is the Tubikhi of the Tel el-Amarna tablets, the Dbkhu of the +geographical list of Thothmes <abbr title='the third'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr> (<abbr title='Number'>No.</abbr> 6). Instead of Berothai the +Chronicler has Chun.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f493'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r493'>493</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 8.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f494'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r494'>494</a>.  </span>Hadoram, the older form of the name, is found only in 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 10. +The text of the books of Samuel has the Hebraised Joram.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f495'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r495'>495</a>.  </span>Salamanu appears as Shalman in <abbr title='Hosea'>Hos.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 14, as Sulmanu in Assyro-Babylonian. +Sulmanu was the god of Peace, like Selamanês in a Greek +inscription from Shêkh Barakât in northern Syria, whose name is also +found in a Phœnician inscription from Sidon (Clermont-Ganneau, +<span lang="fr"><i>Bibliothèque de l’École des Hautes Études</i></span> <abbr title='a hundred and thirteen'><span class='fss'>CXIII.</span></abbr>, <abbr title='volume'>vol.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 40, 48).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f496'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r496'>496</a>.  </span>This is usually supposed to mean that they were tortured in various +ways, but more probably it means only that they were made public slaves +and compelled to cut and saw wood, harrow the ground, and make bricks. +At all events, if tortures are referred to, no parallel to them can be found +elsewhere. As the crown is said to have weighed ‘a talent’ it can +hardly have been worn by an earthly king.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f497'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r497'>497</a>.  </span>2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 13. In 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 12, however, the victory is +ascribed to Abishai, the brother of Joab.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f498'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r498'>498</a>.  </span>2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 13, where the mention of ‘the valley of salt’ shows that +we must read ‘Edom’ instead of ‘Aram,’ as indeed is done by the +Chronicler as well as in the superscription of <abbr title='Psalms'>Ps.</abbr> <abbr title='sixty'>lx.</abbr> and in the Septuagint. +The ‘valley of salt’ was part of the Melukhkha or ‘Saltland’ of the +cuneiform inscriptions.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f499'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r499'>499</a>.  </span>2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-three'>xxiii.</abbr> 37, 36, 34.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f500'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r500'>500</a>.  </span>1 Kings <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 21.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f501'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r501'>501</a>.  </span>This was Ithra who ‘went in’ to Abigail, the daughter of Nahash, the +sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr> 25). The form of expression +may imply that Abigail was seduced. If so, the hostility of Joab +would be easily accounted for.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f502'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r502'>502</a>.  </span>It is probable that ‘Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the +children of Ammon’ (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr> 27) was a brother of the last king of +Ammon, and it is even possible that he may have been the cause of the +Ammonite war. If he had been a rival of his brother Khanun, and had +received shelter and protection from David, we should have an explanation +of the otherwise gratuitous insult offered by Khanun to the ambassadors +of the Israelitish king.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f503'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r503'>503</a>.  </span>That the forest was on the eastern bank of the Jordan is plain from +<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr> 15-18 and 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 31.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f504'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r504'>504</a>.  </span>It is called Abel-Maim, ‘Abel of the Waters,’ in 2 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='sixteen'>xvi.</abbr> 4, compared +with 1 Kings <abbr title='fifteen'>xv.</abbr> 20. In 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> 14, we should perhaps read, +‘And all the young warriors’ (<span lang="hbo"><i>bakhûrîm</i></span> for <span lang="hbo"><i>bêrîm</i></span>) ‘were gathered together,’ +as the Septuagint has ‘all in Kharri,’ and the Vulgate ‘viri electi.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f505'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r505'>505</a>.  </span>2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 6, according to Lucian’s recension of the Greek translation +(‘Khettieim Kadês’). See Field, <span lang="la"><i>Origenis Hexaplorum quæ supersunt</i></span>, +<abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 587.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f506'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r506'>506</a>.  </span>2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 29. Ziba, the steward of Mephibosheth, who was lame, +had accused his master of aiming at the kingdom, and David had accordingly +given him all Mephibosheth’s property. David not only had +believed the accusation, but in spite of Mephibosheth’s protests and +excuses, must have continued to do so, since Ziba, so far from being +punished, was allowed to retain half his master’s possessions. The +Jewish historian evidently takes a different view from that of David, and +regards the accusation as false. Mephibosheth is more correctly written +Merib-Baal in 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 34; <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 40.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f507'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r507'>507</a>.  </span>‘Adriel, the son of Barzillai the Meholathite’ (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 8), cannot +be the same as Phaltiel or ‘Phalti the son of Laish of Gallim’ (1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> +<abbr title='twenty-five'>xxv.</abbr> 44), to whom Saul had given Michal after David’s flight, and from +whom David afterwards took her (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 16). As Michal never seems +to have subsequently left the harîm of David (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 23), it would +appear that the name of Michal in 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 8 must be a mistake for +that of some other daughter of Saul.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f508'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r508'>508</a>.  </span>See 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 23, where the Septuagint has ‘Orna(n) the king.’ +The various spellings of the name Araunah, Araniah (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 18), +and Ornan (1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-one'>xxi.</abbr> 15) show that it was a foreign word, the pronunciation +of which was not clear to the Israelites. Araniah is an assimilation +to a Hebrew name.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f509'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r509'>509</a>.  </span>2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> 6.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f510'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r510'>510</a>.  </span>In 1 Kings <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 3, 4, the reason why David could not build the temple +is given a little differently. It is there stated to have been because of the +constant wars in which he was engaged which prevented him from securing +the needful leisure for the work. This reason, however, does not apply to +the latter part of David’s reign.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f511'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r511'>511</a>.  </span>The Chronicler (1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 16) reads Shavsha, apparently through +a confusion with the later Sheva (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> 25). However, the Septuagint +has Sasa in 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 17, and the two scribes of Solomon at the beginning +of his reign were the sons of Shisha (1 Kings <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 3).</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f512'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r512'>512</a>.  </span>The genealogy of the high priests is involved in a confusion which with +our present materials it is hopeless to unravel. In 1 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='fourteen'>xiv.</abbr> 3, Ahimelech +is called Ahiah, and in 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 17, as well as in the document used in +1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> (verses 3, 6, and 31), he is made the son of Abiathar instead +of his father. In 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 16, the name is transformed into +Abimelech, and in 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-four'>xxiv.</abbr> Ahimelech and Abiathar are stated to +have been descended from Ithamar the son of Aaron, and not from his +brother Eleazar. That the genealogy in 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 4 <abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr> is corrupt is +evident not only from the repetition of the triplet Amariah, Ahitub, and +Zadok in verses 7, 8, and 11, 12, but also from the statement that Azariah +four generations after Zadok ‘executed the priest’s office’ in Solomon’s +temple. In 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 11; Neh. <abbr title='eleven'>xi.</abbr> 11, again, the order is ‘Zadok the +son of Meraioth the son of Ahitub,’ whereas in 1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 7, 8, and 52, +53, it is Zadok the son of Ahitub the son of Amariah the son of Meraioth.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f513'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r513'>513</a>.  </span>Hadoram (2 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='ten'>x.</abbr> 18) is written Adoram in 2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty'>xx.</abbr> 24, and +Adoniram in 1 Kings <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 6. Adoni-ram is a Hebraised form of the original +name Addu-ramu, ‘Hadad is exalted.’ His father’s name, Abda, has an +Aramaic termination. An early Babylonian seal-cylinder in the collection +of <abbr class='spell'>M.</abbr> de Clercq has upon it the name of Abdu-ramu.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f514'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r514'>514</a>.  </span>See above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_92'>92</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f515'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r515'>515</a>.  </span>1 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-seven'>xxvii.</abbr> 25-32.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f516'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r516'>516</a>.  </span>The Jewish historian includes among those who refused to go with +Adonijah the otherwise unknown Shimei and Rei (1 Kings <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 8). They +are referred to as well-known personages, implying that the writer must +have had before him a large collection of documents relating to the history +of the time, most of which have now perished.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f517'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r517'>517</a>.  </span>As Barzillai was already eighty years of age at the time of David’s +flight (2 <abbr title='Samuel'>Sam.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> 35), the death of David could not have happened very +long after that event. That Joab and Abiathar were still vigorous implies +the same thing. As for the authenticity of David’s dying instructions, +there is no reason to question it. A later writer is not likely to have +gratuitously credited them to David; and inconsistent though they may +seem to us with David’s piety, they were in full keeping with his character +as well as with that of other Israelites of his age. If they had been +falsely ascribed to David by Solomon’s admirers after the murder of +Joab and Shimei, Adonijah also would have been included among the +victims.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f518'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r518'>518</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'><i>E.g.</i></abbr> <abbr title='Psalms'>Ps.</abbr> <abbr title='sixty'>lx.</abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f519'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r519'>519</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'><i>E.g.</i></abbr> <abbr title='Psalms'>Ps.</abbr> <abbr title='a hundred and eight'>cviii.</abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f520'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r520'>520</a>.  </span>See my Hibbert Lectures on the <i>Religion of the Ancient Babylonians</i>, +<abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 348-356. Thus we read:—</p> + +<div class='lg-container-b c014'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>‘O lord, my sins are many, my transgressions are great!</div> + <div class='line'>O my goddess, my sins are many, my transgressions are great!</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>The sin that I sinned I knew not.</div> + <div class='line'>The transgression I committed I knew not.</div> + <div class='line'>The cursed thing that I ate I knew not.</div> + <div class='line'>The cursed thing that I trampled on I knew not.</div> + <div class='line'>The lord in the wrath of his heart has regarded me;</div> + <div class='line'>God in the fierceness of his heart has revealed himself to me.</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>I sought for help and none took my hand;</div> + <div class='line'>I wept and none stood at my side;</div> + <div class='line'>I cried aloud and there was none that heard me.</div> + <div class='line'>I am in trouble and hiding; I dare not look up.</div> + <div class='line'>To my god, the merciful one, I turn myself, I utter my prayer;</div> + </div> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>O my god, seven times seven are my transgressions; forgive my sins!</div> + <div class='line'>O my goddess, seven times seven are my transgressions; forgive my sins!’</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f521'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r521'>521</a>.  </span>See above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f522'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r522'>522</a>.  </span><i>Cont. Ap.</i> <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 17, 18.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f523'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r523'>523</a>.  </span>The single reigns are:—(1) Hiram for thirty-four years; (2) Baleazor +for seven years according to the Armenian version of Eusebius and the +Synkellos, seventeen years according to Niese’s text of Josephus; (3) +Abdastartos nine years; (4) Methuastartos twelve years; (5) Astarymos +nine years; (6) Phelles eight months; (7) Eithobalos or Eth-Baal thirty-two +years (forty-eight years according to Theophilus <i>ad Autolyc.</i> <abbr title='three'><span class='fss'>III.</span></abbr>); +(8) Balezor six years (seven years according to Theoph., eight years +according to Euseb. and the Synk.); (9) Matgenos twenty-nine years +(twenty-five years according to the Arm. Vers. of Euseb.); (10) Pygmalion +forty-seven years.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f524'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r524'>524</a>.  </span><abbr class='spell'><i>I.e.</i></abbr> seventy-two years after the foundation of Rome; Trogus Pompeius +<i>ap.</i> Justin. <abbr title='eighteen'>xviii.</abbr> 7; Oros. <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 6. Velleius Paterculus (<abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 6) makes it seven +years later.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f525'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r525'>525</a>.  </span>See 1 Kings <abbr title='twelve'>xii.</abbr> 18. For the forced labour or <i>corvée</i> see 1 Kings +<abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 13, 14.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f526'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r526'>526</a>.  </span>The Vatican manuscript of the Septuagint has a wholly different list +from that of the Hebrew text, Baasha the son of Ahithalam taking the +place of Azariah as Vizier, Abi the son of Joab being commander-in-chief, +and Ahira the son of Edrei tax-master, while Benaiah remains commander +of the bodyguard as in David’s reign. The list is perhaps derived from +a document that belonged to the early part of Solomon’s reign. The +Syriac reads Zakkur for Zabud, the royal chaplain; but Zabud is supported +by the Vatican Septuagint, which makes him the chief councillor. For +the reading ‘army’ or ‘bodyguard’ instead of the senseless πατριᾶς in +<abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 6, see Field, <span lang="la"><i>Origenis Hexaplorum quæ supersunt</i></span>, <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 598.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f527'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r527'>527</a>.  </span>See Hommel, <i>The Ancient Hebrew Tradition</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 252 <abbr class='spell'><i>sqq.</i></abbr></p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f528'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r528'>528</a>.  </span>The papyrus in which the history of the expedition is recorded is +preserved in the Hermitage at <abbr title='Saint'>St.</abbr> Petersburg, and has not yet been +published. Mr. Golénischeff, its discoverer, however, has given me a +verbal account of it.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f529'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r529'>529</a>.  </span>There is no gold in Southern Arabia, and consequently Ophir must +have been an emporium to which the gold was brought for transhipment +from elsewhere. The mines were probably at Zimbabwe and the neighbourhood, +where Mr. Theodore Bent made important excavations. For +the site of Ophir, which may have been near Gerrha in the Persian Gulf, +see Sayce in the <i>Proceedings</i> of the Society of Biblical Archæology, June +1896, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 174.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f530'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r530'>530</a>.  </span>1 Kings <abbr title='five'>v.</abbr> 16. These taskmasters must be distinguished from the +550 (or 250 according to 2 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 10) who superintended the work +in Jerusalem itself (<abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 23), on which no Israelites were employed, but only +native Canaanites (<abbr title='nine'>ix.</abbr> 21, 22). The Chronicler makes the overseers of +the preparatory work 3600 in number (2 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> 18), the <i>corvée</i> itself +consisting of 150,000 men.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f531'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r531'>531</a>.  </span>See my article in the <i>Quarterly Statement</i> of the Palestine Exploration +Fund, 1883, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 215-223, where I have staked the justification of my +views on the discovery of the ‘stairs’ near the spot where the rock-cut +steps have been found by Dr. Bliss (<i>Ibid.</i> 1896-97). Dr. Guthe first +noticed that a shallow valley once existed between the Temple-hill and +the so-called ‘Ophel.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f532'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r532'>532</a>.  </span>The columns were 18 cubits high (1 Kings <abbr title='seven'>vii.</abbr> 15), though the +Chronicler (2 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> 15) makes them 35 cubits or 52-1/2 feet. The +<span lang="hbo"><i>khammânîm</i></span> or ‘Sun-pillars,’ dedicated to the Sun and associated with the +worship of Asherah and Baal, are often referred to in the Old Testament +(2 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='thirty-four'>xxxiv.</abbr> 4; <abbr title='Isaiah'>Is.</abbr> <abbr title='seventeen'>xvii.</abbr> 8, etc.), and are mentioned in a Palmyrene +inscription.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f533'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r533'>533</a>.  </span>A translation of the hymn is given in my Hibbert Lectures on the +<i>Religion of the Ancient Babylonians</i>, <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 495, 496; see also <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 63.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f534'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r534'>534</a>.  </span>Layard, <i>Monuments of Nineveh</i>, <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> plate 7<abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>A</span></abbr>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f535'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r535'>535</a>.  </span>See above, <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f536'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r536'>536</a>.  </span>Herod. <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> 181.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f537'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r537'>537</a>.  </span>See Ball, <i>The India House Inscription of Nebuchadrezzar</i> in the +<i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='three'>iii.</abbr> <abbr title='pages'>pp.</abbr> 104-123.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f538'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r538'>538</a>.  </span>1 Kings <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 2. In <abbr title='six'>vi.</abbr> 38, however, it is said that the work was not +completed until the eighth month of the year, the Phœnician Bul.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f539'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r539'>539</a>.  </span>To these the Chronicler adds ‘Beth-horon the Upper’ (2 <abbr title='Chronicles'>Chron.</abbr> <abbr title='eight'>viii.</abbr> 5). +Possibly the two Beth-horons were fortified in connection with the reservoirs +which Solomon is supposed to have constructed in order to supply +Jerusalem with water. Baalath was, strictly speaking, in Dan (<abbr title='Joshua'>Josh.</abbr> <abbr title='nineteen'>xix.</abbr> +44). The Latin form Palmyra comes from Tadmor by assimilation to +<i>palma</i>, ‘a palm.’ The change of <abbr class='spell'><i>d</i></abbr> to <abbr class='spell'><i>l</i></abbr> in Latin words is familiar to +etymologists, and the initial <abbr class='spell'><i>p</i></abbr> for <abbr class='spell'><i>t</i></abbr> is paralleled by <i>pavo</i>, ‘a peacock,’ from +the Greek ταὧς (Persian <i>tâwûs</i>). One of the Septuagint <abbr class='spell'><span class='fss'>MSS.</span></abbr> has Thermath +for Tadmor, but in the ordinary text the whole passage is omitted.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f540'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r540'>540</a>.  </span>Thus ‘Beth-horon the Upper’ is omitted in the verse, and the words +‘in the land’ (of Judah) have been transposed to the end of it, instead of +coming as they should after ‘Baalath.’</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f541'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r541'>541</a>.  </span><i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 115.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f542'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r542'>542</a>.  </span>1 Kings <abbr title='four'>iv.</abbr> 33. That books are meant, and not lectures such as were +given to his subjects by the Egyptian king Khu-n-Aten, seems evident +from verse 32, compared with <abbr title='Proverbs'>Prov.</abbr> <abbr title='twenty-five'>xxv.</abbr> 1.</p> +</div> +<div class='footnote' id='f543'> +<p class='c003'><span class='label'><a href='#r543'>543</a>.  </span>‘The enemies of Assur,’ says Assur-natsir-pal, he ‘has combated to +their furthest bounds above and below’ (<i>Records of the Past</i>, new <abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, +<abbr title='two'>ii.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 136); ‘Countries, mountains, fortresses, and kinglets, the enemies of +Assur, I have conquered,’ says Tiglath-pileser <abbr title='the first'><span class='fss'>I.</span></abbr> (<i>Records of the Past</i>, new +<abbr title='series'>ser.</abbr>, <abbr title='one'>i.</abbr> <abbr title='page'>p.</abbr> 94).</p> +</div> +<div class='tnotes'> + + <ul class='ul_1 c007'> + <li>Transcriber’s Notes: + <ul class='ul_2'> + <li>Footnotes have been collected at the end of the text, and are linked for ease of + reference. + </li> + </ul> + </li> + </ul> + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75324 ***</div> + </body> + <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57e on 2025-02-08 21:46:45 GMT --> +</html> + |