"Issachar is a large-limbed ass,Stretching himself between the sheepfolds:For he saw a resting-place that it was good,And the land that it was pleasant."
"Issachar is a large-limbed ass,Stretching himself between the sheepfolds:For he saw a resting-place that it was good,And the land that it was pleasant."
"Such exactly is Esdraelon—a land relaxed and sprawling up among the hills to north, south and east, as you will see a loosened ass roll and stretch his limbs any day in the sunshine of a Syrian village yard. To the highlander looking down upon it, Esdraelon is room to stretch in and lie happy. Yet the figure of the ass goes further—the room must be paid for—
'So he bowed his shoulder to bearAnd became a servant under task-work.'
'So he bowed his shoulder to bearAnd became a servant under task-work.'
"The inheritors of this plain never enjoyed the highland independent of Manasseh or Naphtali. Open to east and west, Esdraelon was at distant intervals the war-path or battle-field of great empires.... Even when there has been no invasion to fear, Esdraelon has still suffered: when she has not been the camp of the foreigner she has served as the estate of her neighbors."[4]
As we might expect in a land possessing such a varied topography, nearly every known climate is represented in Palestine. Along the seashore the salt breezes of ocean blow; the climate of the Coast Plain is mild and pleasant, and favorable to the growth of gardens and orchards; within the Central Range itself several varieties of climate prevail, and in the low valley of the Jordan and in the region of the Dead Sea, the heat of the tropics obtains. The plateaus of the Eastern Range are visited by health-giving breezes, which moderate the atmosphere. Farther east and south extends the desert, with its parched sands and sultry air, yet in the very sight of these desert wastes rise snowy mountain peaks.
"There are palms in Jericho and pine forests in Lebanon. In the Ghor, in summer, you are under a temperature of more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and yet you see glistening the snow-fields of Hermon. All the intermediate steps between these extremes the eye can see at one sweep from Carmel—the sands and palms of the coast; the wheat-fields of Esdraelon, the oaks and sycamores of Galilee; the pines, the peaks, the snows of Anti-Lebanon. How closely these differences lie to each other! Take a section of the country across Judaea. With its palms and shadoofs the Philistine Plain might be a part of the Egyptian Delta; but on the hills of the Shephelah which overlook it, you are in the scenery of Southern Europe; the Judaean moors which overlook them are like the barer uplands of Central Germany; the shepherds wear sheep-skin cloaks and live under stone roofs—sometimes the snow lies deep; a few miles farther east and you are down on the desert among the Bedouin, with their tents of hair and their cotton clothing; a few miles farther still, and you drop to torrid heat in the Jordan Valley; a few miles beyond that and you rise to the plateau of the Belka, where the Arabs say 'the cold is always at home.' Yet from Philistia to the Belka is scarcely seventy miles."[5]
The year is divided into a wet and a dry season. The rains begin the last of October and are over by the last of March. These are called the "early" rains in the Old Testament. Showers which fall in the late spring are called the "latter" rains. From May until October the summer is dry. The vegetation is sustained in many places by the heavy dews. Water is not abundant and the rain-water which falls during the winter months is stored in wells and cisterns for use in the dry months.
Flowers of many varieties are found through the land and range from those common to tropical and desert lands to those native to high altitudes. As in Egypt the fertile land borders upon the shifting desert sands, so in Palestine the strong contrasts between the productive and waste lands is the more marked because of their proximity.
Palestine is not a land of heavy forests. To be sure, ages upon ages of habitation have divested many slopes of native timber, but evidences go to show that at no time since records began has the country been heavily forested. Today the woodlands are frequently mere undergrowth. Orchards are plentiful. The olive is most widely cultivated; apricots, figs, oranges, almond and walnut trees are grown, and the vine is grown extensively. Grain fields wave on the plains, in the valleys and lowlands, wheat, barley and millet being most abundant. Vegetables of many varieties are commonly raised. Beans, tomatoes, onions and melons are produced in large quantities. Grass is grown only on small areas, pasturage being for the most part found on the public land. During the summer months pasturage exists only near the large fountains or the carefully built cisterns. These are jealously guarded by their owners. In earlier times and now, to some extent, wells and pools are provided to preserve water falling during the winter, and these are for the use of all who come to them with their flocks and herds.
We find no such condition here as in Egypt, where crops grow abundantly if the seeds be but once dropped into the ground. On the contrary, while grains, fruits and garden produce are generally grown, care and constant industry are required to bring forth good yields. Certain portions of the country are adapted to the art of husbandry, while others have always been better suited to cattle and sheep raising. So much of the tablelands is rocky and stony and unsuited for cultivation that no arable spots are allowed to go untended.
[1]George Adam Smith: Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 149.[2]George Adam Smith: Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 208.[3]George Adam Smith: Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 349.[4]George Adam Smith: Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 381.[5]George Adam Smith: Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 56.
[1]George Adam Smith: Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 149.
[1]George Adam Smith: Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 149.
[2]George Adam Smith: Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 208.
[2]George Adam Smith: Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 208.
[3]George Adam Smith: Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 349.
[3]George Adam Smith: Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 349.
[4]George Adam Smith: Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 381.
[4]George Adam Smith: Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 381.
[5]George Adam Smith: Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 56.
[5]George Adam Smith: Historical Geography of the Holy Land, 56.
Certain natural effects of the physical conditions upon the people in Palestine have been apparent as we traced the general land formation. It is evident that in an age when easy communication was essential to union, there could be no political unity among a people dwelling in a country so divided by mountains, plains, and valleys. Again, we would expect tribes settling the plateaus of the Central Range to develop differently from those peopling the fertile plain of Sharon. Indeed, within this range itself we have found that the inhabitants of austere Judaea led a life unlike that of more accessible Samaria. Other effects of natural conditions upon the Hebrews are evident, as we shall see.
The very climate of Palestine seems to have had its influence in molding the religious thought of Israel. "The climate of Palestine is regular enough to provoke men to methodical labour for its fruits, but the regularity is often interrupted. The early rains or the latter rains fail, drought comes occasionally for two years in succession, and that means famine and pestilence. There are too, the visitations of the locust, which are said to be bad every fifth or sixth year, and there are earthquakes, also periodical in Syria. Thus a purely mechanical conception of nature as something certain and inevitable, whose processes are more or less under man's control, is impossible; and the imagination is roused to feel the presence of a will behind nature, in face of whose interruptions of the fruitfulness or stability of the land man is absolutely helpless. To such a climate, then, is partly due Israel's doctrine of Providence."[1]In Deuteronomy the contrast between Egypt, the land just left, and Palestine, to which Israel was then passing, is drawn, and the price of prosperity definitely given.
"But the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thousowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: but the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven. A land which Jehovah thy God careth for: the eyes of Jehovah thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.
"And it shall come to pass, if ye shall harken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love Jehovah your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayst eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; andthenJehovah's wrath be kindled against you and he shut up the heaven, that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which Jehovah giveth you."[2]
The productivity of the soil had two important results in the development of the Hebrews. The first affected the very nature of their being, for it changed them from desert nomads into herders and small farmers. In place of the tent, they adopted the house, thefixedhabitation. Instead of wandering from pasture to pasture with their cattle and families, as they had done for generation upon generation before their sojourn in Egypt, they cultivated the land and found it overflowing with "milk and honey." In the Song of Moses this great transformation is pictured with vividness and beauty:
"Remember the days of old,Consider the years of generation on generation.Ask thy father and he will show thee,Thine elders and they will tell thee.When the highest gave nations their heritage,When he sundered the children of men.He set the border of the tribes,By the number of the children of Israel.For the portion of Jehovah is his people,Jacob the measure of his heritage.He found him in a land of the desert,In a waste, in a howling wilderness.He encompassed him, He distinguished him,He watched him as the apple of His eye.As an eagle stirreth his nest,Fluttereth over his young,Spreadeth abroad his wings, taketh them,Beareth them up on his pinions,Jehovah alone led himAnd no strange god was with him.He made him to ride on the Land's high places,And to eat of the growth of the field.He gave him to suck honey from the cliff,And oil from the flinty rock.Cream of kine and milk of sheep,With lambs' fat and rams'Breed of Bashan and he-goats,With fat of the kidneys of wheat;And the blood of the grape thou drankest in foam!"
"Remember the days of old,Consider the years of generation on generation.Ask thy father and he will show thee,Thine elders and they will tell thee.When the highest gave nations their heritage,When he sundered the children of men.He set the border of the tribes,By the number of the children of Israel.For the portion of Jehovah is his people,Jacob the measure of his heritage.He found him in a land of the desert,In a waste, in a howling wilderness.He encompassed him, He distinguished him,He watched him as the apple of His eye.As an eagle stirreth his nest,Fluttereth over his young,Spreadeth abroad his wings, taketh them,Beareth them up on his pinions,Jehovah alone led himAnd no strange god was with him.He made him to ride on the Land's high places,And to eat of the growth of the field.He gave him to suck honey from the cliff,And oil from the flinty rock.Cream of kine and milk of sheep,With lambs' fat and rams'Breed of Bashan and he-goats,With fat of the kidneys of wheat;And the blood of the grape thou drankest in foam!"
While settlement in Palestine produced an advancement in civilization, it brought at the same time a lower plane of religious life and thought. With sudden plenty and no longer enforced abstinence of the desert, came a certain confusion and riot. The desert tends to inspire monotheistic ideas and conceptions; lands of varied aspect, such as Greece or Palestine, inspire polytheistic conceptions—divided power rather than unity.
"The creed of the desert nomad is simple and austere—for nature about him is monotonous, silent, and illiberal. But Syria is a land of lavish gifts and oracles—where woods are full of mysterious speech, and rivers burst suddenly from the ground, where the freedom of nature excites, and seems to sanction, the passions of the human body, where food is rich, and men drink wine. The spirit and the senses are equally taken by surprise.No one can tell how many voices a tree has who has not come up to it from the silence of the great desert....
"But with the awe comes the sense of indulgence, andthe starved instincts of the body break riotously forth.... All this is said to have happened to Israel from almost their first encampment in Canaan."
"They moved him to jealousy with strange gods,With abominations provoked him to anger.They sacrificed to monsters undivine,Gods they had known not,New things, lately come in,Their fathers never had them in awe."
"They moved him to jealousy with strange gods,With abominations provoked him to anger.They sacrificed to monsters undivine,Gods they had known not,New things, lately come in,Their fathers never had them in awe."
One more effect of physical conditions may be noted here, leaving the rest to appear in connection with Israel's story—namely, the effect of the picturesqueness of the land upon these former desert nomads. For one who has made himself familiar with the beautiful places of earth, Palestine has its charm, but to people journeying thither from the wastes of desert, the land possesses matchless beauty. Before calling attention to the reflection of scenery to be found in ancient Hebrew writings, let us read the description of certain aspects of the country, as given by one who knows every foot of the land and has watched it in and out of season.
"There is the coast-line from the headland of Carmel—northwards the Gulf of Haifa, with its yellow sands and palms, ... southwards Sharon with her scattered forest, her coast of sand and grass: westwards the green sea and the wonderful shadows of the clouds upon it—grey when you look at them with your face to the sun, but, with the sun behind you, purple, and more like Homer's 'wine-colored' water than anything I have seen on the Mediterranean. There is theexcellency of Carmelitself: wheat-fields climbing from Esdraelon to the first bare rocks, then thick bush and scrub, young ilex, wild olives and pines, with undergrowth of large purple thistles, mallows with blossoms like pelargoniums, stocks of hollyhocks, golden broom, honeysuckle, and convolvulus—then, between the shoulders of the mountain, olive-groves, their dull green mass banked by the lighter forest trees, and on the flanks the broad lawns, where in the shadow of great oaks you look far out to sea. There is the Lake of Galilee as you see it from Gadara, with the hills of Naphtali above it, and Hermon filling all the north. There, is the prospective of the Jordan Valley as you look up from over Jericho, between the bare ranges of Gilead and Ephraim, with the winding ribbon of the river's jungle, and the top of Hermon like a white cloud in the infinite distance. There is the forest of Gilead, where you ride, two thousand feet high, under the boughs of great trees creaking and rustling in the wind, with all Western Palestine before you. There is the moonlight view out of the bush on the northern flank of Tabor, the leap of the sun over the edge of Bashan, summer morning in the Shephelah, and sunset over the Mediterranean, when you see it from the gateway of the ruins on Samaria down the glistening Vale of Barley. Even in the barest provinces you get many a little picture that lives with you for life—a chocolate-coloured bank with red poppies against the green of the prickly pear hedge above it, and a yellow lizard darting across; a river-bed of pink oleanders flush with the plain; a gorge in Judaea, where you look up between limestone walls picked out with tufts of grass and black-and-tan goats cropping at them, the deep blue sky over all, and, on the edge of the only shadow, a well, a trough, and a solitary herdsman.
"And then there are those prospects in which no other country can match Palestine, for no other has a valley like the Ghor, or a desert like that which falls from Judaea to the Dead Sea. There is the view from the Mount of Olives, down twenty miles of desert hill-tops to the deep blue waters, with the wall of Moab glowing on the further side like burnished copper, and staining the blue sea red with its light. There is the view of the Dead Sea through the hazy afternoon, when across the yellow foreground of Jeshimon the white Lisan rises like a pack of Greenland ice from the blue waters, and beyond it the Moab range, misty, silent and weird. There are the precipices of Masada and Engedi sheer from the salt coast. And, above all, there is the view from Engedi under the full moon, when the sea is bridged with gold, and the eastern mountains are black with a border of opal."[3]
The literature of no other people has more vividly reflected a landscape than has that of the ancient Hebrews. Without some understanding of Palestine, one would fail to appreciate much that is beautiful in Hebrew poetry. While we shalltouch upon this again in the consideration of Hebrew literature, some examples will sufficiently illustrate this point. Take, for example, a portion of the Hundred and Fourth Psalm:
He sendeth forth springs into the valleys;They run among the mountains:They give drink to every beast of the field;The wild asses quench their thirst.By them the fowl of the heaven have their habitation,They sing around the branches.He watereth the mountains from his chambers:The earth is satisfied with the fruits of thy work.He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle,And herb for the service of man:That he may bring forth food out of the earth,And wine that maketh glad the heart of man,And oil to make his face to shine,And bread that strengtheneth man's heart.The trees of Jehovah are satisfied;The cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;Where the birds make their nests:As for the stork, the fir trees are her house;The high mountains are for the wild goats;The rocks are a refuge for the conies.O Jehovah, how manifold are thy works!In wisdom hast thou made them all:The earth is full of thy riches.Yonder is the sea, great and wide,Wherein are things creeping innumerable,Both small and great beasts.There go the ships;There is leviathan, whom thou hast formed to take his pastime therein.These wait all upon thee,That thou mayest give them their meat in due season.
He sendeth forth springs into the valleys;They run among the mountains:They give drink to every beast of the field;The wild asses quench their thirst.By them the fowl of the heaven have their habitation,They sing around the branches.He watereth the mountains from his chambers:The earth is satisfied with the fruits of thy work.He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle,And herb for the service of man:That he may bring forth food out of the earth,And wine that maketh glad the heart of man,And oil to make his face to shine,And bread that strengtheneth man's heart.The trees of Jehovah are satisfied;The cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;Where the birds make their nests:As for the stork, the fir trees are her house;The high mountains are for the wild goats;The rocks are a refuge for the conies.
O Jehovah, how manifold are thy works!In wisdom hast thou made them all:The earth is full of thy riches.Yonder is the sea, great and wide,Wherein are things creeping innumerable,Both small and great beasts.There go the ships;There is leviathan, whom thou hast formed to take his pastime therein.These wait all upon thee,That thou mayest give them their meat in due season.
This poem reflects general characteristics of the land. The next is a pastoral poem which could have been written only in Judaea. Its figures are pastoral throughout, and lack ofacquaintance with the land wherein it was produced often causes one to miss the successive pictures it portrays. Reference is made to the Twenty-third Psalm, wherein the comparison of the shepherd with his sheep is maintained.
"The Lord is my shepherd,I shall not want."
"The Lord is my shepherd,I shall not want."
Only a good faithful shepherd could lead his sheep in Judaea so that at no time would they want for care or food.
"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:"
"He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:"
Pasturage was often scanty, and to lie always ingreenpastures was the greatest boon that could befall the sheep.
"He leadeth me beside the still waters."
"He leadeth me beside the still waters."
Not lakes, but cisterns or pools, constructed to hold the rains of winter for use in the dry months of summer. Unless these were carefully sought out in each new pasture, the sheep would suffer from thirst.
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil;For thou art with me:Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil;For thou art with me:Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."
When one pasture was exhausted, it was necessary to journey to another. Danger lurked on every side. Did the sheep wander away, they were sure to be attacked by fierce animals, or stolen by other herders. The shepherd led the way amid all dangers, and his rod and staff gave assurance to the sheep some distance from him.
"Thou preparest a table before meIn the presence of mine enemies:Thou anointest my head with oil;My cup runneth over."
"Thou preparest a table before meIn the presence of mine enemies:Thou anointest my head with oil;My cup runneth over."
The figure is not changed here, as some have supposed, and a banquet introduced. Quite on the contrary. In that land grew many poisonous herbs, likely to be unnoticed by the sheep. The shepherd watched to see that his flock found food free from these enemies. Then at last, when the night fell, and the flock was gathered into the fold, the shepherd stood by the door with a cup of oil in his hand ready to pour on the heads of weary, exhausted lambs, thus to refresh and revive them. Only a little could be spared for each one. To have a cup filled to overflowing was a wonderful blessing. So is the figure carried on to the end of the beautiful song, and only goodness and mercy could possibly attend one so protected.
[1]Smith: Historical Geography of Holy Land, 73.[2]Deuteronomy 11, 10.[3]Smith: Historical Geography, 94.
[1]Smith: Historical Geography of Holy Land, 73.
[1]Smith: Historical Geography of Holy Land, 73.
[2]Deuteronomy 11, 10.
[2]Deuteronomy 11, 10.
[3]Smith: Historical Geography, 94.
[3]Smith: Historical Geography, 94.
We may divide the sources of early Hebrew history into (1) Hebrew sources, and (2) sources supplied by contemporaneous nations and by archæology. The Hebrew sources are principally three: the historical books of the Old Testament, the Talmud, the writings of Josephus. The sources derived elsewhere are records and inscriptions throwing light upon the events of this ancient nation as chronicled by the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, and statements of Greek travellers and writers bearing upon their later development. Moreover, in late years the spade of the excavator has unearthed ruins and remains which have added materially to previous knowledge of the subject and have established beyond any doubt facts previously unsettled.
Before taking up a discussion of the historical books of the Old Testament—the first of the Hebrew sources,—it is necessary that we consider the compilation of the Bible, and understand how the many books which compose it were made up, and gathered into the one volume with which we are now familiar.
Only in late years have people generally been ready to approach the study of the Bible in the spirit of modern investigation long applied to other fields of learning. While the reasons for this reluctance may not be at once apparent, they are not difficult to discover.
During the Middle Ages religious teaching was guarded and kept alive by monks in the monasteries of Europe. Only with them was learning of any sort fostered and saved from extinction during the period known as the Dark Ages. The books which these monks studied, and the records and productions they committed to paper or parchment, were invariably written in Latin—a tongue unknown to the people at large. Since the Bible existed only in Latin, Hebrew or Greek, it was a sealed book to the masses, who knew it only through brief portions read and explained to them by the priests.
After a time, translations were made, first of portions only, then the entire work was rendered in modern languages. Still it was not considered fitting to allow its contents to be generally known. Copies were chained to pulpits in the cathedrals and were opened by the priest alone. Those who might have been able to procure the costly copies were not permitted to do so. In the story of England we shall find that only a few centuries ago, to possess a Bible and read it aloud in the family was made an offense and was punishable if discovered. Thus a mystery attached to the Scriptures, instilled into the masses by those who guarded the ancient volume. The awe and reverence so aroused, clung to the Bible generations after its contents had become familiar to the Christian world. One scholar calls the Bible "literature smothered in reverence."
Again, no other event can be cited throughout history which has had so great an effect upon the world as had the ministry of Christ, recorded at length in the New Testament. The doctrines he taught have been held sacred by his followers in all subsequent ages.
The prophetic literature of the Old Testament had foretold the coming of some one who should restore Israel, and the ancient Hebrew nation looked with expectancy to the birth of one who should raise their kingdom to the rank of powerful nations of the earth. By some, Christ was identified with the one whose coming the prophets had proclaimed, and thus a continuity was found throughout the Bible—from the epic of creation in the beginning, to the birth and teaching of Christ, and the added records of his apostles. For many years the entire work was spoken of as the "Word of God," and equal reverence given the sixty-four books which compose it. A verse would be quoted from one chapter with no regard to its context quite as freely as from another. Sentences would be extracted from primitive Hebrew law and put side by side with portions of Christ's Sermon on the Mount, or Paul's letters to mission churches. Finally scholars began to exclaim against such crude and literal interpretation of the Scriptures. "Here," they exclaimed, "is a book embodying legends current among a Semitic people twenty-five hundred years before the birth of Christ; there are prayers and hymnsof praise composed at varying periods and finally brought together into one collection; and once again, here is a series of letters written by early preachers of the gospel to their outlying churches, and you are culling a stanza here, a verse there, and a sentence in a third place, as though they were of equal value and had been written under similar circumstances!" Far from welcoming new light upon the subject of deep importance, a cry of indignation arose, from the clergy as well as laymen. It was argued that a scientific study of the Bible would be sure to detract from the force and influence of its teachings, and was in itself irreverent. But the spark of Promethean fire was not destined to go out—the spirit of investigation was abroad. The more scholars searched and studied, the more they were persuaded that a scientific exposition of the Bible would enhance rather than lessen its value. They saw that changing ideas in the book itself existed and had been passed over by those who did not understand them and who thought it their duty to blindly accept what they did not comprehend; while a broader conception was destined to lead to the establishment of profound religious truths, far more satisfying than the earlier blind belief.
At last the facts these scholars derived, the methods they applied, the conclusions they reached, largely overcame prejudices of long standing, and it may safely be said that today only those people oppose a scientific study of the Bible who are themselves unfamiliar with scientific study in other fields of knowledge.
With this explanation, the results of careful investigation of the Old Testament will henceforth be cited and used freely with no further comment, since by such study alone can we come into a true understanding of a wonderful literature and a remarkable people.
The wordBiblemeansbooks, or alibrary. A considerable portion of Hebrew literature has herein been preserved to us. Originally these productions were written in the ancient Hebrew tongue, and had no connection with one another save that they treated of the same people at different stages of their development, and further, treated in some form—most of them, at least—of their faith. When these writings were first collected and bound together, more books wereincluded than at present. Since then the collection has been edited and re-edited. Compilers have introduced notes in the text and assigned authorship of certain writings to those who were themselves mere compilers. Later still, it became customary to write books in verses; into this form the contents of the Scriptures were thrown. Instead of a narrative being given at length it was divided into verses, as in our Bibles at present used. Instead of a poem being reproduced in its original form, or a drama being divided by the speeches of its participants, both were cast into verses and numbered. Thus prose and poetry came to have the same appearance.
"More than fifty books, the production of a large number of different authors representing periods of time extending over many centuries, are all comprehended between the covers of a single volume. There is no greater monument of the power of printing to diffuse thought than this fact, that the whole classic literature of one of the world's greatest peoples can be carried about in the hand or pocket.
"But there is another side to the matter. A high price has been paid for this feat of manufacturing a portable literature: no less a price than the effacement from the books of the Bible of their whole literary structure. Where the literature is dramatic there are no names of speakers nor divisions of speeches; there are no titles to essays or poems, nor anything to mark where one poem or discourse ends and another begins. It is as if the whole were printed 'solid,' like a newspaper without newspaper headings. The most familiar English literature treated in this fashion would lose a great part of its literary interest; the writings of the Hebrews suffer still more through our unfamiliarity with many of the literary forms in which they were cast. Even this statement does not fully represent the injury done to this literature of the Bible by the traditional shape in which it is presented to us. Between the Biblical writers and our own times have intervened ages in which all interest in literary beauty was lost, and philosophic activity took the form of protracted discussions of brief sayings or 'texts.' Accordingly this solidified matter of Hebrew literature has been divided up into single sentences or 'verses,' numbered mechanically one, two, three, etc., and thus the original literary form has been further obscured. Itis not surprising that to most readers the Bible has become, not a literature, but simply a store-house of pious 'texts.'"[1]
We call certain books of the Old Testamenthistorical, but this does not mean, in this case, that they were written with the sole object of chronicling the events of Hebrew progress. They were at the same time books of devotion, showing God's dealing with them, His chosen people.
Before the ninth or eighth centuryB.C., records of Israel's past existed only in snatches of song and in traditions handed down by word of mouth from one generation to another. The Song of Deborah, preserved in the Book of Judges, belongs to a remote period; the legends of creation, common to the Semitic race, as related in Genesis were current from time immemorial. In the eighth century before Christ an effort was made in the "Schools of the Prophets" to compile the history of Israel, but the leading motive was rather to illustrate God's favor to them in the past by citing instances familiar to them all, and to prove that divine protection had been withdrawn from them when they had gone astray—as exemplified in their past, rather than to leave for future ages records of their heroic deeds and victories and civil administration. The result was that the historical writings prepared were based on ancient traditions, to be sure, but reflected the religious beliefs and the normal ideas of the age in which they were produced.
The historical books include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, I. and II. Samuel, I. and II. Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Other books, such as Isaiah, for example, include historical matter.
"The first portion of the history, the biblicalGenesis, gives us what that word implies—the Gradual Formation of the Chosen Nation. The next section on the Exodus (the biblicalExodus,Leviticus,Numbers), the Emigration of the Chosen People to the Land of Promise; with migration goes the gradual evolution into an organized nation, and the massing at this point of legal documents makes the Constitutional History of Israel. Under the name of The Judges (the biblicalJoshua,Judges, part ofSamuel) we next distinguish the Grand Transition: a people starting with theocracy, the governmentof an invisible God, comes to accept the rule of visible kings copied from nations around. But precisely at the time these kings begin there is established a regular order of 'prophets,' or interpreters for God, representing the old idea of theocracy: the fourth period of the history may be named as The Kings and The Prophets, a regular Government of Kings tempered by an Opposition of Prophets. Then comes the Exile: the witnessing of Israel for Jehovah has to be carried on in the land of strangers. There return from exile, not the whole people, but only those who are devoted to the service of God; not the Hebrew Nation, but the Jewish Church: and the final section is thus the Ecclesiastical History ofThe Chronicles. The spirit of the history is throughout made emphatic by story, or at times by fable or song. But in addition to the formal historic books we have to note two others:
"Deuteronomygives us the Orations and Songs of Moses, emphasizing the crisis of the leader's Farewell to Israel. And in Isaiah we find a certain dramatic work, which, in connection with the deliverance from exile, reads a meaning into events such as strikes a unity through the whole career of the chosen people: it is an Epilogue to the History of Israel."
TheTalmudhas been mentioned as a second source of Hebrew history. The word itself means literally "learning," or "teaching." It is the name given a collection of Hebrew writings which were written primarily to explain and exemplify Jewish law. Two Talmuds were prepared, one in Babylon—known as the Babylonian Talmud, or the Talmud of the Eastern land; the other written in Jerusalem, known as the Talmud of the Western land. They were kept in the temples and added to and continued by rabbis through the first five centuries after the Christian era. The interest in them for the historian today centers around the traditions and legends introduced, these having been current among the Hebrews generations earlier. The Talmud is rich in folklore, and so possesses relative value from a historical standpoint.
Third among Hebrew sources we have noted the Writings of Josephus. Josephus was a Jewish priest who lived in the first century after Christ. Not only was he himself a priest but for twenty-four generations before him his forefathers had presided in the temple. During his life, Palestine washeld by the Romans, and he wrote the "Antiquities of the Jews," and a history of the Jewish War, to acquaint the people of his day with the story of his people. He claims to have found his material in the sacred books of the temple and frequently explains at length events merely mentioned in the Old Testament. His writings have been valued both in early and recent times.
Harbor of JappaHarbor of Jappa
Among the sources elsewhere obtained, the records of contemporaneous nations are of first importance. The oppression of the Israelites under the Egyptian pharaoh, for example, is believed to find confirmation in scenes and inscriptions recently discovered in the valley of the Nile. In our study of Assyrian conquest, we have noted tribute lists and memorials celebrating victories over the Hebrew kingdoms, recovered among other ruins in Mesopotamia. The king of Babylonia finally left Jerusalem, the beautiful city of Palestine, demolished and well nigh abandoned. Thousands of her noblest citizens were taken captives to Babylon. This incident was naturally chronicled in Babylonian annals. Similar instances might be cited, but these serve to show ways in which material for Hebrew history may be gleaned from the records of nations that flourished by her side.
Lastly we may note the results of archaeological research as supplying material for the reconstruction of Israel's past. In 1883 M. Naville opened a mound wherein was discovered a portion of what is supposed to have been Pithom—one of the two "store-cities," built by the Children of Israel while in bondage. The bricks still remaining verified the story as it has come down to us from the Hebrews themselves, in the Book of Exodus. The lower rows of bricks were mixed with straw; those laid in later were kneaded with stubble, and those last placed were formed simply of sun-dried mud.
Explorations have been carried on recently in Jerusalem and elsewhere in Palestine, and some important discoveries have already been made.
In spite of these various means, we have scanty material at best for the reconstruction of Hebrew history. The Hebrews were unhistorical and did not appreciate, nor apparently care to preserve, their secular history. Records of priceless value were allowed to perish and we have today onlyextracts from them, or some simple phrase concerning them. It was the portion of Israel to tell the world of her religion and to leave to others the extolling of earthly successes and failures. The comments of alien nations are unsatisfactory, for their attitude was generally hostile, or at least, unsympathetic. Nevertheless, while questions remain unanswered and certain points disputed by authorities, we are able to follow with some degree of certainty the formation of the Hebrew nation and its political development.
HIGH PRIEST.HIGH PRIEST.
[1]Biblical Masterpieces, Moulton, Intro.
[1]Biblical Masterpieces, Moulton, Intro.
[1]Biblical Masterpieces, Moulton, Intro.
Regarding the earliest period of Israel's existence there has been wide difference of opinion. Until recently there have been many who have accepted literally the early books of the Old Testament, composed hundreds of years after the events recorded took place, and the product of several writers, all of whom were filled with a desire to show the favor of God exemplified in every detail of Hebrew progress. If one takes the position that the history of the Hebrews is different from that of every other people in the world's history, if it be held that their development cannot be traced as the unfolding of all other peoples has been traced, then there is nothing more to be said—one can merely chronicle the wonders and marvel. If, on the other hand, one accepts the absolutely established historical fact that these people began as other nations began, in a very crude and primitive state, and came slowly into enlightenment as did nations contemporaneous with them, then the progress of the early Hebrews can be similarly followed. The conclusions which seem to be best substantiated are the ones we shall consider, noting at the same time that among authorities and scholars many differences of opinion still exist.
It is generally conceded that about 1500B.C.a company of Semitics, originally inhabiting Arabia, but for some years settlers in Mesopotamia, set out from the Euphrates valley—probably from Ur—and journeyed westward. The name Abraham is the one tradition gives as the leader of this company, which after the fashion of nomads, sought new pastures in districts less crowded than those of Chaldea. Among those who attached themselves to this migration appear to have been the ancestors of the tribes later known as the Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites. By slow stages this band of emigrants passed into Syria and reached at length the country we know as Palestine. At that time it was known as Canaan, and was the home of Semitics more or less closelyrelated to the people we know as Phœnicians. The Canaanites and Phœnicians are often identified. As a matter of fact, the Canaanites were Phœnicians who occupied the country districts and, save for a common heritage, had little in common with those merchantmen who filled the great sea-ports of Phœnicia.
The Moabites and Ammonites immediately settled the most fertile places in the plateaus of the Eastern Range, and continued the sheep-raising and cattle grazing to which they had long been accustomed. The Edomites also found homes for themselves. The few followers of Abraham appear to have continued their life as tent-dwellers in the southern part of Canaan. In course of time, they were re-enforced by a second company from Mesopotamia,—a tribe bearing the name of Jacob. The word Jacob means re-enforcement, and he is represented in the Old Testament as the father of twelve children, later spoken of as the twelve tribes of Israel. It was quite customary for Hebrew writers of a late period to treat the names of tribes as individuals, and to attribute to the individuals thus created characteristics peculiar to the patriarchal, or heroic age. "However plastic and distinct the individualities of Ishmael and Edom, Israel and Joseph may seem to us, they are all only personifications and representations of the races of tribes whose names they bear.... When Jacob and Laban together set up a boundary-stone upon Mount Gilead and make a solemn and sworn covenant that neither of them henceforth will pass this boundary with evil intent, it is perfectly plain that this is not a private agreement between father-in-law and son-in-law, but a legal regulation of tribal boundary rights between Israel and Aram."[1]
Leadership of the whole band of Israelites was desired by the tribe of Joseph, which, failing to secure it, departed from the rest and journeyed to Egypt. Here, after some time, the other tribes gathered and settled a fertile district northeast of the Delta, and known by the name of Goshen.
When these Israelites first came into Egypt, a great Semitic upheaval had taken place in the ancient world, and there seem to be reasons for thinking that the welcome given them was due to the fact that a Semitic pharaoh ruled inEgypt. In any event, they lived peaceably for two or three generations—how much longer we do not know—when the aspect of matters changed. The native rulers were restored and because Egypt was having difficulty with tribes in Western Asia, foreigners within her immediate borders were looked upon with suspicion. A large number of laborers were needed to carry on gigantic building projects, and the Israelites were suddenly impressed as public slaves, and set to work under armed guards.
It was against all nature that desert nomads, accustomed to the freedom of the wide world, would long endure this servitude. The instincts of their ancestors would live on for many generations, although temporarily overpowered. After being ground down by the heel of the oppressor for a considerable number of years, they were at length incited by Moses to depart for the land still known to them by stories handed down from father to son—the land of Canaan.
Moses, by birth a Hebrew, had been educated in the family of an Egyptian, but became an outlaw upon killing an Egyptian while defending one of his own kinsmen. Escaping to the land of the Midianites, he had drunk in the air of freedom and the instincts of his forefathers were stimulated into activity. He took on the religion of the Midianites and accepted Jahweh as his God. He grieved over the condition to which his people had fallen, and brooding over it, experienced a divine commission to restore them to freedom. Rallying them in the name of Jahweh, he led them out of the land of bondage. According to the Hebrew account, Egypt was at that particular time stricken by plagues, and the people, naturally superstitious, attributed their afflictions to the foreigners within their land. So incensed against them did they become that the ruler, in a moment of weakness, consented to their exodus. No sooner had they departed, however, than he bethought him of the laborers he had lost, and dispatched the flower of his cavalry to compel their return.
A wind, blowing fiercely, made a fording of the Sea possible for the Israelites, but the cavalry, sent in pursuit, was engulfed and lost. This incident was seized upon as a mark of divine favor by these disheartened people, who saw direct intervention of Jahweh in their behalf. Thus the power of asupreme God was impressed upon their minds as long years of religious instruction could never have impressed it.
For forty years the Children of Israel wandered in the desert, loitering here and there, finding their way between hostile tribes. During these years the figure of Moses stands forth with unfailing strength and courage. The people he had led thither were mere children, rendered dependent and unsteadfast by their long period of servitude. When difficulties beset them, they did not hesitate to turn upon their deliverer and reproach him, and to wish often to return to the land they had recently left, where food was always forthcoming, even though at the expense of liberty and self-respect. But Moses, with staunch heart and great patience, slowly organized them into a religious body, finding unity for them in the one God, Jahweh. Meanwhile a new generation was growing up among them; sons and daughters who were born in the air of freedom, assimilated new ideas more readily, were more steadfast in their purpose, and grew into greater self-reliance than their fathers knew. With this new spirit manifest, we see the possibilities of a dawning nation, and a more promising future.
Not long before the exodus, incoming Philistines pressed the Canaanites farther east, and they in turn displaced the Moabites and Ammonites from their fertile homes in the Eastern Range. These Semitics remembered their old allies, now in the desert, and besought them for aid. The Israelites helped them defeat the Canaanites and then appropriated the fertile places for themselves. Soon, however, increasing numbers made it necessary to seek wider room, and the tribe of Judah crossed the Jordan and settled the tableland which afterwards bore its name. This settlement was not made without great effort, for the earlier inhabitants held tenaciously to the land. The tribes of Simeon and Levi tried to do likewise, but their treachery made them victims to the revenge of the Canaanites. The Levites disappeared as a tribe, but were perpetuated as a priestly order. The Simeonites became absorbed with the tribe of Judah. Reuben and Gad remained east of the Jordan, and the remaining tribes united under Joshua and made an attack upon the central part of Canaan. Jericho fell into their hands, also Ai and Bethel. When these most exposed places fell to their portion, the inhabitants ofGibeon, a Canaanite stronghold, grew alarmed for their own safety and craftily sought a treaty with the invaders. This becoming known among the league of Canaanite cities, banded together to drive out the Israelites, the members of the league were so incensed that they marched against the walls of Gibeon for thus deserting their common cause. The citizens of Gibeon appealed to the Hebrews for aid, and according to their treaty, Joshua led his army out to meet the forces of the besiegers.
The Hebrews were accustomed to hand-to-hand conflicts, and to the heights; the Canaanites fought wherever possible with chariots, and naturally preferred the plains. At first it seemed as though the advantage belonged to the Canaanites, for they carried the battle into the plain, and had strong cities behind them. Nevertheless, a sudden rain made the earth so soft that their chariots availed them little, and when the rain changed to hail, their ranks were thrown into confusion.
The book of Jashar, an ancient Hebrew work, has not been preserved but was apparently made up of old ballads and war songs. A fragment repeated in the book of Joshua recounts that Joshua, the famous Hebrew warrior, commanded the sun and moon to stand still until the battle ended. Some infer that he wished daylight to remain until the battle could be fought out; others hold that he wanted the darkness of the storm to continue, to further discomfit the Canaanites.