T^ PRINCETON, N.J. # Presented by T^&v/. cM. \T\.T?o\D\n50n Section ■-'••• THE RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL WILLIAM J. HUTCHINS Professor of Homiletics in the Oherlin Graduate School of Theology Author of *'The Preacher's Ideals and Inspirations" SSft^FTflfe SEP 19 191,0 ASSOCIATION PRESS New York: 347 Madison Avenue 1919 Copyright, 19 i9, by William J. Hutchins The Bible text printed in short measure (indented both sides) is taken from the American Standard Edition of the Revised Bible, copyright, 1901, by Thomas Nelson & Sons, and is used by permission. To MY THREE SONS Two OF Whom Have Served Overseas AS Soldiers in the Great War CONTENTS PAGE Foreword vii Introductory Study i I. Why Study the Old Testament? II. What Is the Ancestry of the Old Testament on Your Desk? III. Historical Chart I. Old Stories of the Elder World and Early Answers to Early Questions 17 I. The Creation II. The Fall III. The Beginnings of Civilization IV. The Flood V. Babel II. Early Heroes of the Hebrew Race and Faith. . 39 I. The Abraham Cycle II. The Jacob Cycle III. The Joseph Cycle III. Freedom, and the Foundations of National Life and Faith 73 I. Moses, the Liberator II. Moses, the Leader III. Moses, the Legislator IV. Conquest and Chaos , 114 I. Victories and Victors II. The Ways of Religion V. Politics and Faith Nationalized 130 Samuel, Saul, David VI. Prosperity, Despotism, and Disintegration 151 Solomon, Rehoboam, and Jeroboam I. V CONTENTS PAGE VII. Conflicts and Alliances with Foreign Nations AND Foreign Gods 163 I. The Northern Kingdom II. The Contemporary Fortunes of Judah . VIII. Old Problems and New Prophets 195 I. Two Prophets to the Northern Kingdom II. The Prophets of the Southern Kingdom IX. Politics and Prophecy in the Days of Judah's Decline and Fall 256 X. Exilic Hopes and Emphases 307 "Judaism in the Making" XI. The Restored City 348 Currents and Cross Currents of Thought in the Persian Period XII. Voices of Judaism in the Greek Period 414 [XIII. "The Daybreak Calls" 452 Heroisms and Hopes of the Maccabean and Has- monean Periods XIV. Songs of the Centuries 469 Index of Scripture Passages Discussed 513 Brief Index of Proper Names 518 VI FOREWORD These Studies have been prepared at the request of the Commission on Bible Study and Other Christian Education Books of the International Committee of Young Men's Chris- tian Associations, and the work connected with them has been done in general cooperation with that Commission. They are intended both for use in Bible study classes of adults and young people in Christian Associations and churches, and for personal study. The request was for a book which would form an introduction to the study of the Old Testament and give a guide to a general survey of the material. In the individual Studies are given most of the significant portions of the Scripture to be considered. It is well, how- ever, for the student always to have at hand his open Bible, that the context may be easily studied. Passages to be read will be frequently indicated, though not quoted. A story is told of an Association Secretary over- seas, who stood in his hut, helping the Tommies who were leaving for the trenches. It was midnight. A young boy made his way nervously to the counter. "Want something, lad?" "Yes, sir. I have a Bible, and I don't know much about it. I'd like you to mark some passages in it. I am going to the trenches tonight." While the Secretary was marking this boy's book, half a dozen others came up, and said, "Mark mine, too, sir." If one will study the passages quoted and indicated, he will have "marked" many of the most precious words in the Old Testament. The Studies have been arranged to cover the daily readings of half a year. But it is hoped that this scheme may be a guide and not a chain. Often it will be wise for a student or a class to spend a good deal of time upon a single Study, irrespective of the arrangement of the text. vii FOREWORD In the course of the following Studies, the writer tries to acknowledge his obligations to the authors who have helped him, but one realizes that there are many creditors unknown or forgotten. He is deeply indebted to his teachers and his colleagues who have combined painstaking, accurate scholar- ship with pure and aggressive Christianity. His best and dearest instructors have been the thousand Freshmen who in the past eleven years have been his fellow-students in his curriculum Bible classes. Especial gratitude is due Mr. Harri- son S. Elliott for his invaluable preliminary outline of the Studies, and for his persistent, enlightened interest in their preparation. A FEW REFERENCE BOOKS Abbreviations of Titles Ex. Bi. "Expositor's Bible" (volumes dealing with Twelve Prophets, very helpful). H. B.D. Hastings, "Bible Dictionary" (serviceable, now to be obtained in a one-volume edition). His. Bi. Kent, "Historical Bible" (four small volumes, de- lightfully written, well worth owning). Int. Com. International Critical Commentary (scholarly, rather than popular, important for discussion of difficult passages). S. O.T. Kent, "Student's Old Testament" (valuable for careful study). Other worth-while books will be mentioned in the course of the Studies. Introductory Study Our interest in the following Studies is not scholastic. It is the interest, rather, of the member of the Association Bible class, or of the student in "Curriculum Freshman Bible," or of the pastor-preacher. We would find and share "the pile of good thoughts" with which the Old Testament has been ever enriching the life of the world. Questions of criticism will be subordinated. Almost every verse of the books studied has been the battlefield of scholarship. We shall spend little time in wandering among the craters and trenches torn by the shells of the critics. Happily our purpose permits us to garner wheat and to gather flowers where other men have fought. A friend was telling of a preacher whom he asked, "What are you reading nowadays?" "The Bible." "Oh, I thought you finished that in the Seminary." "Well," said the preacher,. "I am reading it a second time." It is hoped that our study will not be a substitute for Bible reading, but a spur to that "second reading" which is sure to mean far more than the first. After all : I. WHY STUDY THE OLD TESTAMENT? We may frankly admit that the Old Testament calls forth a somewhat different interest from that aroused by the New. A man may scarcely be a free-hearted citizen of the Western world without knowing something of Jesus. In many non- Christian lands, the missionaries have been unable for years to give the Old Testament to their people. But a student never comes upon a mighty stream without wishing to trace it to its source. Beginnings are always im- portant. In religion they are of unique importance. One is I RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL reminded of the word of a man to Justice Holmes of the Supreme Court: "There is only one interesting thing in the world, and that is religion." When we are all through talking about football, politics, war itself, religion remains the per- manently, fundamentally interesting thing in the world. The Old Testament is the chief source-book of the religion of the Jew and of the Moslem; and with the New Testament, the chief source-book of Christianity. One cannot read the New Testament intelligently without some knowledge of the Old. The Old Testament was the Bible of John the Baptist, and from its pages he received the warrant for his mission; and in the atmosphere of its prophecies he lived. The Old Testament was the Bible of St. Peter; from one of its well- known prophecies he wrought his apologetic at Pentecost. One may never forget that the Old Testament was the Bible of St. Paul ; that its laws, which sometimes seem to us dead and mummified, he regarded as a living guide, leading men to the school of Christ, Above all, one may never forget that the Old Testament was the Bible of our Lord. "That book which was used by the Redeemer himself for the susten- ance of his own soul can never pass out of the use of the redeemed." From the words of the Old Testament the Master welded the sword with which he foiled the Tempter. The manifesto of his new religion (Luke 4: 18, 19) was his re-reading, with a new emphasis, of an Old Testament prophecy. The man who has no "religious" interest in the Old Testa- ment would still be constrained to study it, if he chanced to lay any claim to an intelligent understanding of the world's art and literature. The painters and sculptors of many Chris- tian centuries have dedicated their genius to the portrayal of persons and scenes of the Old as well as of the New Testa- ment. Professor Phelps of Yale, has said: "If I were appointed a committee of one to regulate the much-debated question of college entrance examinations in English, I should erase every list of books which has been thus far suggested, and INTRODUCTORY STUDY I should confine the examinations wholly to the authorized version of the Bible. The Bible has within its pages every kind of literature that any proposed list of English classics contains. . . . Priests, atheists, skeptics, devotees, agnostics, and evangelists are all agreed that the Bible is the best example of English composition that the world has ever seen. It contains the noblest prose and poetry with the utmost simplicity of diction," The words quoted refer as truly to the Old as to the New Testament. Again, if we had no "religious" interest in the Old Testa- ment, we should still be constrained, as students of the world's social and political progress, to familiarize ourselves with its narrative. The Jew of Babylon or of Brooklyn, the Jew of the Dis- persion or of Zionism, the Jew of the Ghetto or of the Lord Mayor's mansion can be understood only by the student of the Old Testament. The life of the German nation in its greatest days has been knit up inextricably with Luther's translation of the Bible. In England, led by the translation of the Scriptures into the vernacular, "the whole nation became a church." "The common Bible necessitated the common school. In the colonies of New England, the enormous interest in public education was due largely to the desire to read and under- stand the Bible; and the influence of the Old Testament is more clearly seen than that of the New Testament in the early legislation of the colonies." The Old Testament has been the poor man's friend, the handbook of democracy. Indeed, it has been noted that in the conflict of the people with the crown, the kings enforced their claims by quotations from the New Testament, while the people quoted as authoritative the Old Testament Law and Prophets. Students, then, of art and literature, of political and social progress, cannot afford to be ignorant of the Old Testament. But our main concern in these studies is that we may become more intelligent students of our religion, and share with her great teachers their best visions. 3 RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL II. WHAT IS THE ANCESTRY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ON YOUR DESK? Your Bible is, (or should be, for careful study), the Ameri- can Standard Revised Version, bearing the date 1901. This date speaks of the time when the American Committee of Revisers were permitted to insert in the text itself, rather than in the appendix, the revisions which they preferred to the readings of the English Committee. Who, then, were the English Committee? They were a group of the foremost biblical scholars of England, who were chosen as early as 1870, and who worked with the American Committee on the New Testament till 1881, on the Old Testament till 1884, to revise the so-called Authorized Version, This Authorized or King James Version had been in general use since the date of its original publication, 161 1. Its re- vision had become imperative. Most important manuscripts of the New Testament had been discovered, not accessible to the translators of the Authorized Version. Many words and phrases in both Testaments had become obsolete, others needed revision in the interest of accuracy. Changes in gram- matical construction and in paragraphing were highly desir- able. But the Authorized Version, with its sonorous, lofty, and beautiful English, with its innumerable associations with the deepest experiences of English and American life, is still deservedly loved and cherished in our homes and our churches. This Authorized Version itself was based upon the Bishops' Bible of 1568, corrected by the careful consideration of avail- able Hebrew and Greek texts. Behind the Old Testament of the Bishops' Bible we have the Massoretic Hebrew text. The Massoretes were a guild of Jewish scholars, who did their work between the fifth and eighth centuries of our era. They aimed to preserve, not alone the proper text, but the customary pronunciation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures. For this purpose they introduced vowel points and accents into the texts, which previously had indi- cated simply the consonants of words. The Massoretes them- INTRODUCTORY STUDY selves worked upon a text which had become practically fixed by the beginning of the second century. By this early date the theory had developed that the text of the Old Testament manuscripts was divinely authorized and must not be altered. It is of thrilling interest that the Hebrew text from which our most recent translations have been made has suffered com- paratively little change during the past eighteen hundred years. As we trace still further the pedigree of your Old Testa- ment, we meet with the work of the famous Council of Jamnia, held at some time between 90 and 100 A. D. At this Council, Jewish scholars agreed upon the books which should be re- garded as canonical, divinely authorized, and inspired. In their final list they included: 1. The Books of the Laiv: the Pentateuch, or first five books of the Bible. These had been counted sacred and unalterable probably ever since 397 B. C. 2. The Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. These books, as well, had been for centuries treated with peculiar reverence. 3. The Latter Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the "Twelve" or Minor Prophets, which certainly by the second century B. C. had come to be regarded as divinely authorized. 4. The Hagiographa, or Sacred Writings. These included : a. The Poetical Books : Psalms, Proverbs, Job. b. The Rolls : Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther. c. The Remaining Books: Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles. These sacred writings, had not long been regarded as super- latively holy and unalterable. At the Council of Jamnia itself, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon had a hard fight for admission to the Canon. At some time between 284 and 200 B, C, the Law and the Prophets (groups i, 2, 3) had been translated from the Hebrew into the Greek. By the beginning of the Christian era, all of the Old Testament had been so translated. This Greek Version, called the Septuagint, differs at some points RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL from our present Hebrew text, and is helpful to scholars who are seeking the readings of the earliest manuscripts.' As we try to trace the pedigrees of the individual books, we frequently discover in a given book evidences of various authorship. We must always keep in mind the Oriental method of book- making. One man would write his message, make his contri- bution. Another writer, living perhaps at a much later time, would add his own contribution to the older material, without giving any indication of change of authorship. Sometimes a document has undergone many editorial changes. Sometimes a 6ompiler has woven together two or more documents to form a continuous narrative; again he has loosely attached one document to another. Writings of the same general type were sometimes sheltered under the name of some great king, prophet, or lawgiver. Thus the book of Proverbs was given the name of Solomon, although the book itself declares that many of the proverbs were attributed to other authors, and gathered by other men. The psalms of many centuries are fittingly called by the name of David, the sweet singer of Israel. Today we may give to a collection of hymns of the ages the title, "The Songs of David." Jastrow remarks: "Authorship in fact counted for little in the ancient Orient. It was the utterance or the statement or the compilation that was regarded as the essence, and it is not until we come to an advanced literary period that the question of authorship was a matter of any concern. We have no specific word for author in ancient Hebrew, but merely a term ordinarily ren- dered as 'scribe,' which may be used indifferently for a secre- tary who writes at dictation, for one who copies or compiles what another has composed, as well as for the one who indites an original composition."" An interesting and important illustration of the foregoing 1 "The oldest dated Hebrew manuscript is 916 A.D., and most of the manu- scripts used by the translators of the Septuagint must have been at least 1 100 years older." 2 Morris Jastrow, "Hebrew and Babylonian Traditions," p. 285 — a valu- able and readable book. INTRODUCTORY STUDY paragraph is given us in the first six books of the Bible, com- monly called the Hexateuch (from the two Greek words, meaning six, and tool, or book). These books are the final compilation of documents of several different periods. 1. The earliest document is commonly called the Judean, or Jahvistic document. It consists for the most part of narra- tives and laws which probably had been handed down from century to century, and were finally gathered by prophetic writers living in the latter part of the ninth century, "under the shadow of Solomon's temple." The following characteristics of this document have been noted : a. The customary use of Yahweh^ as title for Israel's deity. b. A picturesque and vivid literary style. c. A primitive spirit and coloring of narrative. 2. The second document is styled Ephraimitic (or Elohistic), because it consists of narrative and laws apparently cherished and preserved by the prophetic schools of northern Israel, Ephraim. The document is usually dated about fifty years later than the Judean. We may note: a. That the document uses commonly the word Elohim, God, as the title of Israel's deity. b. That it begins, not with the creation, but with the story of Abraham, and reveals an exclusive interest in Israel's own social and religious life. c. That the narratives of this document are less pic- turesque, more subjective than those of the earlier document. For example, God does not now appear in visible form, walking and talking with men in the 3 The name of Israel's deity, written without vowels, was YHWH, and was probably pronounced Yahwe. But there was "a disposition to avoid names too sacred for common use," and the word Adonai, or Lord, came to be used instead of the sacred name. In comparatively recent times the vowels of the word Adonai were employed in vocalizing the mysterious and sacred name, so that we get the modern form, Jehovah. This form is used in the Revised Version, in our hymnology, and in common speech, and is accordingly used throughout this book, instead of the more correct form, Yahweh, or Jahveh. RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL daytime. Rather he appears in visions of the night, or sends his message by an angelic emissary. d. That the narratives are inclined to dwell upon the pathetic aspects of the patriarchal life, and to refine the occasionally crude morality of the stories told of the patriarchs by the Judean document. 3. The third document is called the Deuteronomic. Found, apparently, in the temple at Jerusalem in 621 B. C, its main purpose was to make Jerusalem the sole center of the people's worship. It insists upon the destruction of the village shrines and dwells upon the unique rights of the Jerusalem priest- hood. Many ancient laws are embedded in the document, and the authors who sought a compromise between the ideals of the prophets and of the priests regarded the book as essen- tially the utterance of the great prophet and lawgiver of Israel, Moses, in whose name they wrote. 4. At some time between the eighth and the sixth centuries, the Judean and Ephraimitic documents were welded into one continuous narrative. During and after the Exile, priestly writers seem to have worked over the old material, fashioned a framework for it, and added some new material; so that many scholars identify a fourth, or priestly, document. It has been noted : a. That this priestly document divides the history of the world into four periods, each period beginning with a divine revelation. b. That it emphasizes genealogies, reveals a keen interest in the origin of religious institutions, and shows a preference for the formal and the studied, rather than the natural and spontaneous style of speech. There is still much difference of opinion as to the precise identification of each portion of these documents; but their fairly successful disentanglement is of immense service to the student who might otherwise be disturbed by discrepancies and by duplications of narratives and of laws. The evidences of compilation and of editorial changes so well illustrated in the Hexateuch we observe in most of the 8 INTRODUCTORY STUDY .Z other books of the Old Testament. There were "Bibles be- fore the Bible." Your Old Testament, then, traces its ancestry back to earlier English versions, back to documents written in Hebrew or Aramaic, documents written at various times during many centuries, written to preserve and make widely serviceable the laws, the history, the deep experiences, and the lofty ideals of prophet hearts and a prophet race. . CoNCLUDiisTG Note It may be well to guard one's thought with reference to a phrase which to. the minds of many has come to bear ia some- what sinister meaning* "Biblical criticism" does not suggest a hostile attitude toward the Bible. An art critic is the most appreciative student of the great pictures and the great artists. A critic of literature is the man most certain to speak in rapt admiration of. Shakespeare and Wordsworth. "Biblical criti- cism" is simply one or another kind of careful consideration of the books which make up the divine library of the Bible. There are two main types of criticism: textual or lower criticism; literary and historical, or higher criticism. The textual critic concerns himself with the various texts of the documents, tries to ascertain the original text and its meaning. The literary and historical (higher) critic seeks to deter- mine "the scope, purpose and character of the various books, the times in which and the conditions under which they were written, the authorship," and the value of the literature as "evidence for the history of Israel and the life and thought of the time discussed." All biblical students must work in both fields of criticism. Let us suppose that the original Declaration of Independence had been lost forever, and that the names of the original signers had disappeared; but that various manuscript copies and copies of copies had come down to us. The textual critic of today would gather all available copies, try to determine which copies resembled most closely the original text, what 9 RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL was the meaning of each word and phrase not now in current use. The "higher" critic would consider the probable author- ship of the Declaration, the conditions under which it was written, the purpose expressed by it, and the value of the document as revealing the actual life, thought, and relation- ships of the American people at the assumed time of writing. We need only to remind ourselves that there is a radical distinction between negative, destructive, irreverent criticism, and the positive, constructive, reverent criticism which makes the finest scholarship the servant of the noblest religion. The Bible fears no honest investigation ; it rather bids every earnest seeker, "Come aild see," Biblical criticism has raised the patriarchs and the prophets from their tombs, and made them live again in the midst of their contemporary civilization, with its armies, its idols, its politics. Biblical criticism has transformed the Bible from a book of endless puzzles, enigmas, elusive mysteries, into a book of living messages for their own times, and for men living now upon the earth. in. HISTORICAL CHART Based mainly upon charts in Kent's "Historical Bible." I. THE PATRURCHS Chapter II. "Eariy Heroes of the Hebrew Race and Faith." n. THE OPPRESSION AND THE EXODUS Chapter III. * ' Freedom and the Foundations of National Life and Faith." The Work of Moses in Egypt and the Wilderness. (Ramses II and Memeptah IV 1292-1215 B. C.*) m. THE CONQUEST OF CANAAN Chapter IV. "Conquest and Chaos." The Period of Joshua and the Judges. 10 INTRODUCTORY STUDY IV. THE UNITED KINGDOM Chapter V. "Nationalization of Politics and Faith." Reigns of Saul, David, Solomon 1050-937 B. C. V. THE DIVIDED KINGDOM I. The Division of the Kingdom Chapter VI. "Prosperity, Despotism, and Disintegration . ' ' NORTHERN KINGDOM SOUTHERN KINGDOM (Israel) (Judah) Jeroboam I. 937-915 B. C. Rehoboam 937-920 B. C. 2. Conflicts and Alliances with Foreign Nations Chapter VII. "Conflicts and Alliances with Foreign Nations and with Foreign Gods," NORTHERN KINGDOM SOUTHERN KINGDOM (Israel) Qudah) Nadab Baasha Abijah Elah Asa 917-876 B. C. Omri Jehoshaphat 876-851 B. C. Ahab 875-863 B. C. * (Battle of Karkar, 854 B. C.) *Elijnh, Micaiah. Ahaziah Jehoram Jehoram Ahaziah Jehu 842-814 B. C. (Pavs tribute to Assyria, 842 B. C.) Athaliah ElisJm. Joash Jehoahaz Amaziah 3. Eighth Century Problems and Prophets Chapter VIII. "Old Problems and New Prophets." NORTHERN KINGDOM SOUTHERN KINGDOM (Israel) (Judah) Jeroboam n. 781-740 B. C. Azariah (Uzziah) 782-737 B. C. ♦Important rulers and dates are printed in heavy type; especially significant events in any reign enclosed in parentheses; names of prophets or of books for any period printed in italics. II RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL Amos c. 750 B. C. Jotham, regent and king 751- 735 B. C. • ' ' /^am/^ 740-686 (?) B. C. Zechariah ^, Shallum Ahaz 735-720 (?) B. C. Menahem Pekahiah iJo^ea c. 740-722 B. C. Hoshea (Fall of Samaria to Sargon II 722-721 B. C.) - ■ - Hezekiah 720-686 (?) B. C. (Sennacherib's Invasion 701 B. C.) Micah 701 B. C. VI. THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM I. The Great Reformation Chapter IX. "PoHtics and Prophecy in the Days of Judah's Decline and Fall." Manasseh 686-641 B. C. Amon Josiah 639-608 B. C. (Scythian Invasion 626 B. C.) Zephaniah 626 B. C. Jeremiah 626-580 (?) B. C. (Great Reformation 621 B. C.) Nahum 608 B. C. Jehoahaz Jehoiakim (Fall of Nineveh, end of Assyria 608-7 B, C.) (Battle of Carchemish 605-4 B. C.) Habakkuk 604 B. C. 2. The Babylonian Period 604-538 B. C. Chapter X. * 'Exilic Hopes and Emphases." Jehoiachin (First Exile 597 B. C.) Ezekiel 597-572 (?) B. C. Zedekiah (Destruction of Jerusalem and Final Exile 586 B. C.) 12 INTRODUCTORY STUDY Obadiah 586 (?) B. C. Book of Lamentations 586-5CX) (?) B. C. Prophet of Exile 539 (?) B. C. (Conquest of Babylonia by Cyrus 538 B. C.) 3. The Persian Period 538-332 B. C. Chapter XI. "Currents and Cross-Currents of Thought in the Persian Period." (The Second Temple 520-515 B. C.) Haggai 520 B. C. Zechariah 520-515 B. C. Malachi 460 (?) B. C. Nehemiah 445-432 B. C. Book of The Psalms Ezra 432-397 (?) B. C. Books of Job, Ruth, Jonah 400-350 (?) B. C. Joel 400-333 (?) B. C. (Establishment of Priestly Law 397 (?) B. C.) 4. The Greek Period 332-168 B. C. Chapter XII. "Voices of Judaism in the Greek Period." Book of Ecclesiastes c. 300 B. C. Books of Chronicles c. 250 B. C. Book of Song of Solomon 350-250 (?) B. C. Book of Proverbs c. 250 B. C Book of Esther c. 200 B. C. (Antiochus Epiphanes 175-164 B. C.) 5. The Maccabean and Hasmonean Periods 168-38 B. C. Chapter XIII. "The Daybreak Calls." A Glance at the Chart As we are most familiar with the times of Jesus, let us notice first that in the days of our Master's earthly ministry Rome was mistress of Palestine, as of the world.. Before the day of Roman control, we trace the story of the Macca- 13 RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL bees and Hasmoneans, members of the family which won the independence of their nation but fell from their high estate through mutual jealousies and foreign tyrants. Working backward from the Maccabean Period, we find ourselves in the Greek Period, beginning with the days of Alexander the Great. During this fateful time, Palestine was the football of the politics of Alexander's heirs and their successors. Pressing back still further, we are in the Persian Period, beginning 538 B, C, a period which witnessed the return of the exiles to Jerusalem, which witnessed as well the trans- formation of the religion of the Hebrews into the Jewish religion : a period of ghastly cruelties, bitter disillusionments, superb adventures of faith. We work our way back into the Babylonian Period, the brief but momentous years between 586 and 538 B. C, years which saw the destruction of Jerusalem, the exile of Judeans in Babylon, the work of exilic prophets and priests who kept alive the soul of Israel, yet forged for that soul new chains. Back again we journey into the period of the Divided King- dom. This period began with the most foolish decision of the foolish king Rehoboam to load with heavier burdens the tribes of Israel. At this time the northern tribes engaged in "a conservative revolution," which tore them away forever from Judah and Jerusalem. For two centuries this Northern Kingdom ran its course to the ruin which befell in 722 B. C. The Southern Kingdom, with the capital city, with the ancient temple, went its way for a century and a half longer until its life was blasted by the folly of its rulers and the fury of its foes, 586 B. C. Pressing back into Israel's remoter days, we come to the period of the United Kingdom, beginning with the reign of Saul, and continuing down through the days of glory and decline under David and Solomon. There are records which enable us to reconstruct in a general way the life of a still earlier period, that of the Con- quest and the Judges. It was a period of slow tribal unifica- 14 INTRODUCTORY STUDY \ tion under the pressure of hostile neighbors and of increasing devotion to the common deity of all the clans, Jehovah. As we seek to explore earlier ages, we come to an era which begins with the wandering of the family of Abraham, continues through the centuries of Egyptian bondage, through the years in the Wilderness down to the Conquest. In the first books of the Bible we can catch glimpses of remoter times, and note traces of their life and thought. Let us now make sure that we have in mind the most significant dates of the history of the Hebrews. All of us have felt a certain satisfaction in tying great facts to dates like 1492, 1776, 1861. With very little difficulty we caa bind together the supreme facts and dates of Israelitish history, and win a mastery of the great story. Most of the dates are approximate, but will serve our purpose. Consulting the dates emphasized upon the chart, we note the probable century of the Oppression and the Exodus. We pass down the years to mark the culmination of the monarchy in the reign of Solomon. One of the portentous dates of history is that of the division of the Kingdom. The Battle of Karkar stands out as a vivid suggestion of the growing international complications of Israel's politics. The date helps us, too, to remember the conflict waged between king and prophet, Baalism and Jehovah worship. The Fall of Samaria means the end of the Northern Kingdom. The dates of the two great writing prophets of northern Israel may be easily remembered in connection with this tragedy. Isaiah of the Southern Kingdom was probably a younger contemporary of Hosea. Twenty years after the fall of the Northern Kingdom, Sennacherib advanced upon Jerusalem. One hundred years after the fall of Samaria, we come to a great date in Judah's history, the Reformation of Josiah. This was speedily followed by the events of 608 and 604 which shook the Semitic world to its center. The dates of the first Exile, the destruction of Jerusalem, of the final Exile and the Return, of the restoration of the temple, and the rebuild- ing of the walls of the city under Nehemiah — these are easily 15 RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL borne in mind. The approximate dates of the Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Maccabean periods should be remembered. Close the book, and see if you cannot repeat the dates in heavy type and the events belonging to them. The drill will save much confusion of thought, and make far more inter- esting the great drama. QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND DISCUSSION 1. "What's the use of studying the Old Testament?" 2. If you were trying to comfort an aged woman, would you read from the Authorized or the Revised Version? If you were teaching a Bible class, which version would you use and why? 3. Why do you suppose the common people, in their struggles with their kings, challenged the royal authority with words from the Old Testament rather than the New? 4. Discuss Oriental bookmaking and authorship. How would you explain the fact that the earlier writers of Scrip- ture had no "pride of authorship"? 5. What is the difference between the "lower" and the "higher" criticism? 6. What events and persons can you "think together" with the following dates: 937, 854, 621, 608, 597, 586, 332, 63 B. C? 16 CHAPTER I Old Stories of the Elder World and Early Answers to Early Questions Introductory We are told that in the Age of Pericles the Athenian boys "learned by heart many passages from the old poets, and here and there a boy with a good memory could repeat the entire Iliad and Odysse3^" It is easy to see how Homer must have laid his hand upon every Athenian youth, shaping his thought and conduct. What the stories of Homer meant to Athens, that and more the stories of Genesis meant to the Hebrew people. While the Genesis narrative did not reach final literary form for centuries, its messages were familiar to every Hebrew child, and helped to fashion his conceptions of God, of the world, of his own proper attitude toward God and man. It is our present task to study the first eleven chapters of Genesis. The stories of the Creation, of the Fall, of Cain and Abel, of the Flood and the Tower of Babel, do not help the mother of today to answer quite as many child questions as they did the Hebrew mother. But they still bring to us, in their picture language, truths which we forget only when we forget ourselves. I. THE CREATION First Week, First Day. I. The Narrative Read all of Gen. i, noting dignity of style and loftiness of conception. 17 [I-i] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was waste and void ; and dark- ness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light : and there was Hght. And God saw the Hght, that it was good : and God divided the Hght from the darkness. And God cahed the Hght Day, and the darkness he caUed Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. And God said. Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament : and it was so. And God cajled the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. . . . And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him ; male and female created he them. And God blessed them : and God said unto them. Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every liv- ing thing that moveth upon the earth. — Gen. i : i^, 27, 28. With stately rhetoric the writer retells the ancient story of creation. The preacher of today uses the best science of our time as the vehicle of his religious ideas ; our author with like purpose used the best science of his day. His thought seems to be this: "In the beginning," the undivided waters enveloped the chaotic, formless earth. As the darkness steals across the world at the evening time, so the light quietly spread abroad. Then a solid, "beaten out" vault or dome separated ■the heavenly waters from the great deeps about and beneath the earth. On the third day the abyss of waters retired, the dry land arose, and vegetation began. On the fourth day ap- peared the heavenly luminaries, which seem to have been re- garded as receptacles of the light, that they might divide the day from the night and serve "for signs and for seasons and for years." The fifth day saw the appearance of the lower forms of life, such as swarm in air and water. On the sixth 18 OLD STORIES OF THE ELDER WORLD [I-i] day appeared the land animals, and finally man himself, cre- ated "in the image of God." 2. The Message The story offers rich and permanent values to the religious man. For example : The conception of God is true to our noblest thinking. Consider that first dramatic phrase: "In the beginning God." Can we go further back? Whatever be our conception of creation, must we not go back so far? "In the beginning f Slowly grope we back Along the narrowing track, Back to the deserts of the world's pale prime — The mire, the clay, the slime. And then — what then? Surely to something less, Back — back to nothingness. You dare not halt upon that dwindling way ! There is no gulf to stay Your footsteps to the last. Go back you must 1 Far, far below the dust Descend, descend 1 Grade by dissolving grade We follow unafraid. Dissolve, dissolve this moving world of men Into thin air — and then?" Is it out of "thin air," that by merest "chance" there have been woven "pageants of praise and prayer"? When we have seen the great hills — one of them "named Olivet" ; when we have seen "one child clasp hands and pray"; when we have "emerge from that dark mire One martyr ringed with fire; Or from that nothingness by special grace One woman's love-lit face," \ . . must we not say that we found on that dark road into the "blank abysmal night" "In the beginning — God"? To us the phrase seems trite enough. That first phrase, ^Alfred Noyes, "The Origin of Life." IQ [I-i] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL "In the beginning God," started the . young man, Joseph Neesima, upon his long journey from the worship of the gods of old Japan to monotheism, to Christianity, to his eminent service as founder of the Doshisha University. That is a striking sentence : **He made the stars also," as if God had flung them out into the darkness, a divine after- thought. At the Yerkes Observatory, one is shown a photo- graphic plate of a portion of the Milky Way. Upon the plate may be seen two little pin-points of light, a thread- like space of darkness between. Each of those points is a world larger than our sun, and the thread-like space of dark- ness is millions of miles wide. Ours is a greater universe than that of the writer, our guesses at the divine methods are more accurate; but have we a better word to describe the facts than this, "He made the stars also" ? The author's conception of the order and progress of crea- tion is suggestive. There is a vast difference between "in- choateness and chaos." The last word of science is not out of harmony with the ancient thought that there has been an orderly progress from primeval inchoateness toward a cosmos, fair, ordered, beautiful. Xote the author's thought of man. "In the image of God created he him." When in the earth-born mortal there sprang up the beginnings of self-consciousness, reason, love, the power of choice, then there arose within him the very ele- ments of the Godhead. Chesterton remarks : "Elephants do not build colossal temples of ivory, even in a rococo style ; camels do not paint even bad pictures, though equipped with the material of many camel-hair brushes." Man alone of the animals can become a conscious "coworker with an eternal creative good will." "Rejoice we are allied To That which doth provide And not partake, effect and not receive 1 A spark disturbs our clod; Nearer we hold of God Who gives, than of His tribes that take, I must believe." 20 OLD STORIES OF TUE. ELDER WORLD [I-2] The writer's view was necessarily earth-centered (geocen- tric). "When • Copernicus ' deciphered the mystery of the heaven, the movement of the earth around the sun,, he drd not win the assent of Luther. The great reformer, critical as he was, felt bound in this question by the authority of the Bible, and called Copernicus a fool.'* Luther was need- lessly anxious. Unless men, are to be found on other planets, the true religious view of the universe still, sees this tiny earth the center, since men are here ; and if there be men on other spheres, those spheres, which are but dirt or metal, gain significance only because men :are there. A baby in its cradle is of more worth than a constellation of stars, than all the rest of the material universe. "'Tn the image of God created he him." First Week, Second Day, 3. The Babylonian Myth In 1875, George Smith announced his discovery, in the library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, of the Babylonian poem of Creation. It is believed that this poem was known cer- tainly as early as 2000 B.C., at least seven hundred years before Moses, and at least fourteen hundred years before the Hebrew story took its final form in Gen. i. Comparison between that poem and our narrative reveals striking re- semblances. But the contrasts are equally remarkable. In the more ancient epic, we have gross polytheism and material- ism. In Genesis we have pure monotheism and spirituality. God's spirit broods upon the face of the waters. ' God's will becomes effective through a word. Set over against the scriptural account of the creation of our world this story of the conflict between the god of the spring sun and the monster of the deep : "Then Tiamat and Marduk, the leaders of the gods, stood up. They advanced to the fray, drew near to the fight. The lord spread out his net and caught her. The evil wind behind him he let loose in her face. . . . 21 [1-2] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL He bound her and cut off her life. He cast down her carcass, and stood upon it." Or contrast with the Genesis narrative this story of man's creation. Marduk speaks : "My blood will I take, and bone ... I will set up man, that man ... I will create man to inhabit (the earth), To establish the service of the gods, that shrines (may be built. )"^ Not directly, but through a long process of transformation and transfiguration, did our Creation narrative come from Babylonish sources. ''Our story," 5ays Ryle, "appears in the form in which it was received at the hands of devout Israel- ites moved by the spirit of God, and penetrated with the pure belief in the spiritual Jehovah. . . . The popular tradi- tion was not abolished, it was preserved, purified, hallowed, that it might subserve the divine purpose of transmitting as in a figure to future generations spiritual teachings upon eternal truths." 4. A Second Story of Beginnings Read Gen. 2 : 4-25, noting the early answers to the curious questionings of childhood and child people. And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up ; for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth: and there was not a man to till the ground ; but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And Jehovah God planted a garden eastward, in Eden ; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made Jehovah God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the 2 S.O.T., I, pp. 360-369. H.B.D. Extra Vol.. p. S7iff- 22 OLD STORIES OF THE ELDER WORLD II-3] tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. — Gen. 2:5-9. The second chapter of Genesis gives us a second story of creation. Here we have a different picture of the creative act, a different order of creation, a different conception of God and of man. No longer does God's spirit brood upon the face of the waters. No longer does God^peak the universe into being. Jehovah is the artificer, the landlord. Man is a gardener, tilling God's park. We have here the kind of story which would grow up among a people who had known the rainless desert and the agricultural life, a people who would seek to explain the origins and curious facts of life. How did the world begin? How shall we account for the relative dependence of woman, and the sense of responsibility for her protection felt by man? How shall we account for the resemblances and differences between the sexes ? What is the origin of marriage? How did the animals get their names? Not of great religious value, the story is of intense interest as suggesting some early answers to the questions of the childhood of the race. For hundreds of years Hebrew mothers doubtless told that story to wide-eyed little children in the tent or on the housetop. II. THE FALL First Week, Third Day. Read Gen. 3 to examine in detail this "pearl of Genesis." And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be / as God, knowing good and evil. And when the woman « saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat ; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And 23 [1-3] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in. the cool of the day: and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God amongst the trees of the garden. And Jehovah God called unto the man, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, T heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked ; and I hid myself. And he said. Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eateii of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest hot eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And Je- hovah God said unto the woman, What is this thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.— Gen. 3 : 4-13. The story of Gen. 3 has been well called "the pearl of Genesis." Note the actors in the drama: (i and 2) The man and the woman, both innocent, ignorant, untested. (3) The serpent, always and everywhere the object of loathing, yet fascination. (4) Jehovah, represented as walking in the garden in the cool of . the day, apparently in the habit of talking familiarly with the man whom he has made. As we turn to the action, note that the serpent tempts the woman; she eats, gives to her husband; he eats; the inno- cence of both is gone; God sees and knows. As we study the denouement, we see that first the serpent is punished, then the woman, finally the man. We may not pause upon the exquisite literary form of the story. We may well study the vivid picture of sin's entrance into the world, its opera- tion in the world, and its issues in the life of the world. I. Could there be a better picture of temptation than that of the serpent, slimy, ugly, yet compelling? "It can out- climb the monkey, outswim the fish, outleap the zebra, out- wrestle the athlete and crush the tiger. The serpent finds^ its way everywhere, over every fence, or barrier, into every crevice or recess." Note the subtle appeal to the physical appetite, to the esthetic sense, to the intellect. Truly this apple was good for food, a delight to the eyes, and a "recipe" for the winning of wisdom. Temptation delights in dis- 24 OLD STORIES OF THE ELDER WORLD [I-3] guises. "Why will a man insist on being tied to his mother's apron strings? Let him go out and learn something, see the world, taste the sweets of life, and see the things which are beautiful." Could the essence of sin be better portrayed? For what is the essence of sin? Disobedience to the known will of God. Back of the sin itself lies a doubt of God's word. Significantly does the tempter say : "Ye shall not surely die." 2. Mark, too, the operation of sin in the world. a. See how the sinner searches for comradeship. Eve must find her husband, that he may share her experience. One college man could not be persuaded to steal a spoon. A hun- dred collegians, after an athletic victory, have been known to enter a railroad restaurant, wreck it, and carry home spoons as trophies. Seldom does a man go to the devil alone. b. See how the sinner seeks to shift responsibility. The man blames the woman, and finally throws the onus of the sin upon God himself : "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." The woman in turn shifts the responsibility upon the serpent, who has ever since been loaded with our coward sins. How often have we heard rtien say, "The temptation was too much for me ; no man could stand it." 3. Note the issues of sin : the shame, the sense of guilt, the fear. The man now hides himself from God who has been his friend. In "Pippa Passes." Ottima says to her companion in guilt : "Buried in woods we lay, you recollect; Swift ran the searching tempest overhead; And ever and anon some bright white shaft Burned through the pine-tree roof, here burned and there, As if God's messenger through the close wood screen Plunged and replunged his weapon at a venture, Feeling for guilty thee and me : then broke The thunder like a whole sea overhead." The friend of God is not afraid of God's lightning or thunder. He revels in the storm. 25 [1-4] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL First Week, Fourth Day. And Jehovah God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field ; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life : and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed : he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception ; in pain thou shalt bring forth children ; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said. Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of wTiich I commanded thee, saying. Thou shalt not eat of it : cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee ; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou taken : for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. And the man called his wife's name Eve ; because she was the mother of all living. And Jehovah God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them. — Gen. 3 : 14-21. With more caution must we speak of the physical issues of sin, as pictured by the writer. The writhing movement of the serpent, the thorns, the toil, the pain, the death — • would these things have been, if sin had not been? Yes, so far as we can see. The wriggling of the serpent is no more an evidence of God's curse than is the leaping of the kangaroo an evidence of God's favor. Thorns and thistles have prob- ably as ancient a lineage as wheat and corn. But this is certain: sin meets "the abhorrence of nature." It has been said that Palestine looks like a country which had been stoned for its sins (or rather for the sins of the Turk). A man receives a farm from his father. The new prosperity ruins him; he begins to drink, and soon rain seeps through the roof of his barn, thorns begin to grow in the garden which had delighted to serve him. Sin makes toil drudgery instead 26 OLD STORIES OF THE ELDER WORLD [I-4] of glad labor in God's garden. Again, if all men and women from the earliest days had lived normal, that is, ideal, lives, there is no question that the pains of childbirth w^ould have been greatly lessened. Still again it is sin which has given death its sting. Where sin is conquered, the grave has lost its victory, and death lifts the gates of the eternal city that the victor may come in. There is a touching little verse at the close of the story to the effect that God made for the man and the woman tunics of skins. It is as if the writer would say. Grant the hideous results of sin, sin does not irretrievably separate humanity from God. God cares, loves, starts at once his work of saviourhood, not indeed apart from the suffering of the innocent. The story does not tell "the whole story." In this world of ours there must be the knowledge of good and evil, else we should have no moral world, no character. Toil, irk- some toil, has been indeed man's life-preserver. There is a story told of Tubal, son of Cain, to the effect that he clambered over the wall of the Garden of Eden. "Long in the Garden he lay at rest, Knowing nor sorrow nor pain. There storms never threatened nor trouble oppressed ; His wish was law for each beast and bird, They sprang to obey at his lightest word ; Yet he longed for the world again. ... Then he rose from his rest in the Garden's shade, And he climbed the wall once more ; Back to labor with axe and spade : And he smiled at the cold of the winter's storm, And laughed when the summer sun shone warm With the joy of a conqueror." Nor does the story answer all questions. The question has often been asked, "Who made the serpent?" Robinson Crusoe's man Friday asked, "Why didn't God kill the devil?" In other words, Why was sin admitted into God's world? We are not helped by the remark that sin does not exist. 27 [1-4] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL Kant says, "A dream which all dream together, and which all must dream, is not a dream but reality." The serpent may fairly represent those lower forces in our nature which, while not wrong in themselves, frequently lure us from our allegiance to God. A missionary once celebrated a Christian service in a heathen temple, and in the hands of the idols about the room, he placed candles to illuminate his Christian service. It is ours to make our old masters serve us. Our moral evolution depends on our whipping the serpent and making him walk on his belly. From one point of view, the story is seen to be another effort of early m.an to fight his way through some of the problems of the strange world in which he lived. How did men happen to go wrong? How shall we account for our antipathy to the serpent? Why does the serpent move in a fashion so mysterious to us — indeed incomprehensible to early peoples? Why do we have to work so hard against thorns and weeds to earn our daily food? Why do women suffer so dreadfully in childbirth? — a pathetic question often asked by those who knew no skilled physicians or midwives. Why do we, the offspring of God, live only to die? In the British Museum there is an ancient Babylonish cylinder on which is pictured the sacred tree ; to the left and right of the tree are male and female figures plucking fruit, while behind the woman a serpent twines itself about the tree. Botany knows no tree whose fruit would yield the knowledge of good and evil, nor yet a tree which would bear the fruit of eternal life. A talking serpent is a figure of folklore and literature rather than of zoology. It is probable that the story of the serpent tempter early made its way throughout the Semitic world. There are still traces of the early thought that the deity may become jealous of his creatures : "Jehovah God said. Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" (Gen. 3:22). But the story, far-traveled, changing frequently its form and features, has become, through the 28 OLD STORIES OF THE ELDER WORLD [I-5I inspired words of our writer, the friend and teacher of the religious world. III. THE BEGINNINGS OF CIVILIZATION Passages from Genesis^ Chapters 4-y. First Week, Fifth Day, I. The Acceptable Sacrifice; the First Murder Read Gen. 4: 1-15 for the connection. And again she bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto Jehovah. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And Jehovah had respect unto Abel and to his offering : but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And Jehovah said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shall it not be lifted up? and if thou doest not well, sin coucheth at the door ; and unto thee shall be its desire ; but do thou rule over it. And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And Jehovah said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother ? And he said, I know not : am I my brother's keeper ? A.nd he said, Wliat hast thou done ? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. — Gen. 4: 2-10. From the days of the wilderness wanderings down to the Exile itself, the Hebrev\^s were in danger of infection from the gross immoralities of their neighbors, who on defiled altars offered now and again the fruits of the ground. Cain and Abel pictured the persistent conflict between two theories of sacrifice and two ideals of morality. The sympathies of narrator and of listener were from the first held by Abel, the murdered offerer of the more excellent sacrifice. But 29 [1-5] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL the narrative bears its message even to our own day.^ Among its teachings are these : a. The spirit of envy is the spirit of murder. b. The spirit of murder is a brother devil of the spirit of falsehood. The first murderer becomes the first liar. c. The spirit of murder denies any claims of brotherhood. If a man is asked: "Are you your brother's keeper?" he may with perfect honesty answer : "No, I am not ; my brother is his own keeper, for he has in his exclusive keeping his per- sonality, the quintessence of his manhood." He must go on immediately to add, "Yes, I am my brother's keeper, in that I am bound by my brotherhood to throw about him all the influences that shall guard him from evil and guide him to the good." Cain's question, "Am I my brother's keeper?" is usually prompted by Cain's spirit. d. A human life is of infinite worth to God. The voice of Abel's blood cries aloud and is heard by the high God himself. e. The universe is against the man who does wrong. Note how the earth refuses to yield its strength to Cain, refuses to give him resting place. He is driven out, forever driven out, doomed to eternal wandering in the Land of Wandering (Nod). Worst of all, he is driven from the face of Jehovah himself. f. God's mercy rejoices over judgment. Here again we have that note of loving-kindness which we shall hear ring- ing ever more clearly as we go on in our studies. Sometimes we talk as if "the brand of Cain" were an element of punish- ment. In the narrative it is rather a token of God's com- passion : "lest any finding him should smite him." , 2. Tales of Antediluvians Passages from Genesis, Chapters 5-7. We pass Lamech's wild song of blood revenge, precisely 3 In the story there may be preserved "the reminiscence of some prehistoric incident, in which a pastoral tribe was exterminated by an agricultural tribe." 30 OLD STORIES OF THE ELDER WORLD [I-5I the kind of song which a Bedouin chieftain sings to his wives today on his return from his raids. The three chil- dren of Lamech are the traditional fathers of tent dwellers, musicians, and metal workers. Their story would seek to explain the origins of civilization, forgetful or ignorant of the flood story, which would preclude their descendants from having much opportunity to care for cattle, or to handle harps, or to make spears and swords. The ten antediluvian patriarchs resemble, in respect to their enormous ages, the ten kings of the Babylonian legend with their yet greater longevity. It is interesting to notice that Enmeduranki or Edoranchos, the seventh primeval king of the Babylonian legend, was called to intercourse with the sun god, and taught by him concerning many secrets of heaven and earth. Enoch, the seventh patriarch — counting Adam — is recorded to have lived three hundred and sixty-five years, after the number of the days of the solar year. "He was not, for God took him." By the Jews of the later times Enoch was regarded as the father and founder of astrology, and the possessor of all knowledge of the secrets of heaven and earth. The flood story is preceded by a curious bit of folklore which tells of the consorting of members of the lower angelic orders with the daughters of men, their children being the nephilim or giants. There was a time when such stories were the pith and marrow of popular religion. Contrast the conception of God and man behind this story with that suggested by words like these : "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy : I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite" (Isa. 57: 15). God led his people by a long path from the dank valleys up the heights which rise ever higher, until at last men stand "upon the shining table-lands, To which our God himself is moon and sun." 31 [1-6] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL IV. THE FLOOD First Week, Sixth Day. Read, after the study of the day, Gen. Chapters 6, 7, 8, noting evidences of composite authorship, and of advance upon the Babylonish story. And Jehovah said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous be- fore me in this generation. Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee seven and seven, the male and his female ; and of the beasts that are not clean two, the male and his female : of the birds also of the heavens, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights ; and every living thing that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the ground. And Noah did according unto all that Jehovah commanded him. , . . And the flood was forty days upon the earth ; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth. And the waters pre- vailed, and increased greatly upon the earth ; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth ; and all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were covered. . . . And God remembered Noah, and all the beasts, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged ; the fountains also of the deep and the win- dows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained ; and the waters returned from off the earth continually : and after the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. — Gen. 7 : 1-5, 17-19; 8: 1-4. The story of the Deluge is of the utmost interest to the student of religion. And to the religious man, it still makes its appeal, as revealing certain inspired convictions of "that grand Credo which in prophet-hearts hath burned Since the first man stood God-conquered with his face to heaven upturned." 32 OLD STORIES OF THE ELDER WORLD [1-6] We no longer think of a God who uses a phenomenon of the physical world as a club wielded directly to punish sin- ners. We have learned from Jesus to think of a Father, whose sun shines upon the evil and the good, who makes his rain to fall upon the just and the unjust. From science we have learned to talk glibly of natural law and second causes. But we have need to rehearse the teachings of the ancient story : 1. The universe is on the side of the good will. 2. Sin means punishment, righteousness salvation. 3. Between God and his friends, there is a permanent and blessed relationship. In the story we have this relationship sealed by a covenant. The idea of the covenant is one of the most fruitful religious conceptions. We read that the Greek Iris, goddess of the rainbow, is the sister of the harpies, and Iris descends upon the rainbow to the earth, to inspire men with madness. The Hebrew word for rainbow is the word originally used of the bow of the warrior. But the Hebrew seer does not think of the rainbow as the bridge of Iris, or as the bow of a warrior, god or giant, but rather as the precious token of the covenant or bargain made be- tween the righteous God and his now responsive people. 4. God is eternally willing to give humanity a new start. The collapse of the old has never meant the collapse of the whole. Unless all history and religion deceive us, out of the ruin and wretchedness of universal war itself shall rise a new life, richer because more righteous. In Noah we have one of the finest pictures of the man of faith to be found in the world's gallery. At God's word, the best word he knew, "by faith Noah, being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house" (Heb. 11: 7). Many a man, with the thought of the storied navigator in his mind, has fashioned out of the common things of life —the pitch and the gopher wood— the ark which has ridden safe upon the very waters which have submerged the moun- tains, all of the accustomed defenses and bulwarks of men. 33 [1-6] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL It is a pity that the Deluge narrative has been so frequently submerged beneath a modern flood of child toys, pictures, rhymes, and ideas, that we lose its profound suggestiveness. It is impossible to trace the flood story to its earthly source. We read that similar stories are told among all races of men, except the black race. The nearest ancestor of our narrative appears to be the Gilgamesh epic of Babylon. Ac- cording to this poem, the hero builds his ark, brings his family and treasure into it. "All which I possessed I loaded on it, All the silver I had I loaded on it. All the gold I had I loaded on it. All the living creatures of all kinds I loaded on it." When the rain abates, the hero sends forth a dove which finds no resting-place and returns. He sends forth a swal- low, which finds no resting-place and returns. "Then I sent forth a raven and let it loose. The raven went forth, and saw that the waters had de- creased ; it fed, it waded, it croaked, but did not return." After landing upon the mountain Nisir, the hero offers a mighty sacrifice to the gods, "The gods inhaled the odor, The gods inhaled the sweet odor. The gods gathered like flies above the sacrifice."* The relationship between the two stories is indubitable, but the differences are wonderful. In the more ancient narrative we have again gross polytheism, the conflict of non-moral deities, whose foolish anger causes the flood, whose favorit- ism saves the hero and his family. The Scripture narrative enriched every Hebrew who found it a part of his inheritance from the long past. In Gen. 9:20-27 we have the story of Noah's drunkenness, and the curse of Canaan. Some men, with a blind ferocity, which would be humorous if it were not so baneful, suppose 4 S.O.T. Vol. I, p. 373ff. Cf. Morris Jastrow, "Hebrew and Babylonian Traditions," p. 32 iff, ; 34 OLD STORIES OF THE ELDER WORLD [I-7] this curse still to be resting upon the "children of Ham." Here Noah is not the ark-builder, the man of faith. He is rather the vintner, who partakes too lavishly of the fruit of his own vineyard. The beginnings of viniculture and of the varied uses of the grape must have greatly interested the Hebrew invaders of Palestine. Who, then, was the an- cestor of vine-dressers? Another question sought answer: Why are the Canaanites, though much older inhabitants of the land, justly driven out or subdued? While the story of Noah the drunkard comes from another source than the flood story, it would not be strange to read both stories as inci- dents in the narrative of one man's life. The man with the long audacity of faith becomes a saviour, receives the tokens of the favor of his God, and then, the days of stress and strain past, he becomes a sensualist, his latter days casting their cloud upon the splendor of his earlier career. V. BABEL First Week, Seventh Day. And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar ; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name ; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And Jehovah said, Behold, they are one peo- ple, and they have all one language ; and this is what they begin to do : and now nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose to do. Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So Jehovah scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth : and they left off building the city. There- fore was the name of it called Babel; because Jehovah 35 1-7] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL did there confound the language of all the earth : and from thence did Jehovah scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. — Gen. ii: i-o. One of the hardest lessons for men to learn is this : that it is by each new obeisance in spirit that we climb to God's feet. Jesus was wont to promise exaltation to the humble. He "opened his mouth and taught" the multitudes, and said, first of all, "Blessed are the poor in spirit : for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:3). At the very close of his ministry, he pleaded once more with his disciples, so slow to learn the royalty of humility. "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came forth from God, and goeth unto God, riseth from sup- per . . . and he took a towel, and girded himself. Then he poureth water into the basin, and began to wash the disci- ples' feet" (John 13:3-5)- From the earliest days, the speakers for God among the Hebrews summoned them to humility. They lost no oppor- tunity of attacking the arrogance which "seeks to make it- self a name" ; the "autotheism," or self-deification, which does not hesitate to scale heaven. But while the compilers of the ancient documents of Israel had a primary religious interest, the story of Babel was anciently the answer to certain childish questions of the peo- ple. Apparently they asked : "What is the meaning of that great ruin on the plain of Babylon?" We read that the tower the people had in mind "was a characteristic feature of the sacred architecture in the Euphrates Valley, the staged construction with broad terraces heaped one above the other, in imitation of a mountain, with a winding road leading to the top, where the deity to whom the tower was dedicated had his seat." Again they asked : "How shall we account for the strange diversities of language in the world?" Content with a child- ish etymology, which derived Bab-el (the gate of God) from balal (to confuse), the questioners got the answers to their Z6 OLD STORIES OF THE ELDER WORLD [I-7] two questions: The lofty tower of Babylon was the work of heaven-daring rebels, who sought to scale the sky, "and make themselves a name." But God there wrought the "con- fusion" of their language, that they should not understand one -another's speech. The story is not "perfectly disengaged from polytheism," and still bears traces of that curious early conception of a deity fearful lest man should usurp the divine prerogative (v. 6). As through a thick cloud God made himself known to the early narrators of sacred story, who conceived diversity of language to be God's punishment for sin. The "thickness" is worn "thin" to the Revelator, who writes: "After these things I saw, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation, and of all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands" (Rev. 7:9). Concluding Note on Genesis, Chapters i to ii. The chapters thus far studied give us glimpses of the path by which the pioneers of the Hebrew religion sought to gain for themselves and their friends the Mount of Vision. For them the path was often overgrown with thorns and thistles ; but God's kindly light never failed, God's hand pushed aside the thicket, so that the "one step" needful might be made. One man got sight of the divine truth suggested by the word, "In the beginning God." Allured by that truth, he himself led his successors. Again there came to a certain traveler the conception that God made man in his own image. Led by him and his thought, subsequent generations dared to try to rise toward God's character. Again there was re- vealed to some of the early pilgrims of the path the truth that sin is suicide, righteousness is salvation ; and through the stories of Paradise Lost, of Cain and Abel, of the Flood and of Babel, they told and retold that truth, and led their primitive childish people up the long ascent. V [I-q] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND DISCUSSION 1. Of what value would the story of Creation be to the religious Hebrew? 2. What would be the probable effect of the stories of the Fall and the Deluge upon, the religious thinking of the Hebrews ? 3. How does the story of the Fall illustrate the entrance of sin into life, its operation in life, and its issues? 4. What part does diversity of language play in foster- ing or hindering the progress of the Kingdom of God? 5. What is the probable explanation of the diversity of language ? 6. If your "Bible" were the first eleven chapters of Genesis, what would you be led to believe regarding God, and re- garding your duty toward God and toward man? 7. Try the experiment of telling the story of the Fall as to a group of children of the primary grade, and then as to a group of high school boys. 38 CHAPTER ir Early Heroes of the Hebrew Race and Faith The Patriarchs : Their Lives and Experiences with God Introductory In Babylon, the great king Hammurabi had codified the laws of a benevolent monarchy, laws which should make their way throughout the Semitic world (see p. 103). He had dug a canal, which provided "lasting water for the land of Sumer and Accad." He had erected "a great granary for the storing of wheat against times of famine." He had created an em- pire of culture and reasonable justice which should make his reign one to which the later centuries would look back as the Golden Age. Still in Babylonia priests were studying the constellations of the heavens, and the markings on the livers of sacrificial sheep, to determine the plans of the gods for the future of the individual and the empire. Meanwhile little Babylonian boys were studying in their schoolhouses, one of which has been uncovered to reveal to us "the clay tablet exercises still lying on the floor." In Egypt, the pyramid builders had left to future millenniums their wondrous tombs ; the feudal barons had followed them. In their period the Egyptians dug an earlier "Suez" Canal, and made progress in literature and in the "higher realm of conduct and character." The writers of the Feudal Age have left to us "poems, stories, and records of just and generous 39 [II-i] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL dealings with the poor." ^ And now in the same general epoch we may discover the beginnings of a third people, smaller, yet greater than either Babylonian or Egyptian ; a people who through the centuries were to suffer unspeakably from the empires rising in the East and the South, but were to wield a surpassing influence upon the world's life. The story of the Hebrews begins in "the land between the rivers"; and our present chapter begins there, in Ur of the Chaldees, with the pilgrimage of Abraham, and closes with the story of Joseph, prime-minister of Egypt. I. THE ABRAHAM CYCLE Passages from Gen. 12: i to 25: 18 Second Week, First Day. I. The Pilgrimage of Faith Read Gen. 12: 1-9, the record of a journey shared in thought by every Hebrew to this day. As we pass from the first eleven chapters of Genesis, we leave the "morning stories."^ We begin now to see the separation of one people from other peoples, a race whose task it should be to bear to the world the world's supreme religion. We study first certain episodes in the story of the heroic founder of the race, who stands before the world as the Man of Faith. Now Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee : and I will 1 See a fascinating book, prepared for high school pupils by J. H. Breasted, "Ancient Times," pp. 75, 135R. 2 Some scholars would drive Abraham the man frorn the field of history, and would regard him as the legendary founder, or possibly as the personifica- tion, of the Hebrew race. Their conjecture is of more interest than importance. We assume the historic character of the man, while granting that stories gathered about his personality, of which some are true to truth rather than to history. Scholars find in the narrative evidences of the use by the com- piler of several of the documents which we have already noted (p. 7). 40 EARLY HEBREW HEROES [II-i] make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great ; and be thou a blessing : and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. So Abram went, as Jehovah had spoken unto him. — Gen. 12:1-4. The writer finds our hero in his home, Ur of the Chaldees, a city sacred to the worship of the moon-god. He thinks of Jehovah as bidding him start upon a great adventure into the unknown, yet piling up before him difficulty upon diffi- culty : "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house." Abram appears to have been the leader of a nomadic movement from Mesopotamia. Perhaps for the first time in the history of the world a migration occurred in conscious obedience to an invisible righteous deity. There is no evi- dence that Abram was impelled by economic allurement, or compelled by economic pressure. The impulsion and com- pulsion were religious. "So Abram went, as Jehovah had spoken unto him." Perhaps the closest modern parallel to this ancient journey is that of our own Pilgrim Fathers. Professor Fiske says : "Of all the migrations of nations, that of the Pilgrim Fathers was least influenced by the almighty dollar." We read of their departure from Leyden : "They left that goodly and pleasant city, which had been their resting-place for near twelve years, but they knew that they were pilgrims, and looked not upon those things, but lifted up their eyes to heaven, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits." They reminded the merchant adventurers that "they had scarce any butter, not a sole to mend a shoe, that they had not sufficient swords, muskets or arms, yet they were willing to expose themselves to such dangers and trust God's good providence." We Americans may well share the fine enthusiasm of the writer to the Hebrews, who, speaking of the ancient pilgrim- 41 [11-2] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL age, writes : "By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out unto a place which he was to receive for an inherit- ance; and he went out, not knowing whither he went" (Heb. ii:8). Second Week, Second Day, 2. The Generosity of Faith Read Gen. 13. And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together : for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen ; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right ; or if thou take the right hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the Plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt, as thou goest unto Zoar. So Lot chose him all the Plain of the Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. — Gen. 13: 6-1 1. Possibly the writer is interested in this story of ancient magnanimity and meanness, because it seeks to explain why Ammon and Moab, tribes descended presumably from Lot, had no share in the land of Canaan. Choosing the plain of Jordan, Lot resigned for himself and his descendants any claim to the land of promise. But the story carries a far more important interest. Manufactures prosper where great populations can concentrate ; the nomadic life requires wide elbow-room. Abram, leader of the clan, offers his nephew and dependant his choice of land. Lot moves his tent and his family toward Sodom and ruin, makes the worldling's 42 EARLY HEBREW HEROES [II-3] choice. Suppose we question Lot as to the reason for his choice: "Is there a good chance down there to educate your family? Are there large religious opportunities? Is the place free from demoralizing influences ? Or perhaps you are looking for a good chance to exert a fine moral influence? Have you considered that possibly gratitude to Abram would dictate your giving him first choice?" And Lot answers, perchance rather shamefacedly, "Well, to tell the truth, I want that land, well watered everywhere like the garden of Jehovah." Vividly the author pictures the results of the worldly choice, as contrasted with the choice of love. Lot chooses a good grazing ground, and that fundamental choice, dictated by pure selfishness, dictates all subsequent choices. We see him first a stranger in Sodom, then an elder of the city, with his seat by the gate. Scarcely can an angel's hand tear him from the city to which custom and interest and "honors" have bound him. The death of his wife, the ruin of his children, all date, according to the story, from that first worldly choice. Lot the worldling is typical of a certain Vement of the Hebrew race, which was to be unsparingly condemned by the prophets, an element which has been known throughout the years and throughout the world, whether in Sodom or Singapore or San Francisco. On the other hand, there have always been found among the Hebrews multitudes of Abra- ham's spiritual descendants, men whose faith gives them at this day a generosity which shares the last crust with a brother Jew, a generosity almost unknown among us smug and self- conceited Gentiles. The magnanimity of faith has never departed from Israel. Second Week, Third Day. 3. The Knighthood of Faith Read Gen. 14. A friend writing from Jericho, at the beginning of the 43 [II-3] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL Great War, predicted the day when there would be superb golf courses down by Jericho ! "The mountains of Jericho and the mountains of Moab, with Bedouin caddies will be a very picturesque setting for the game. Jericho's 'tell' will make an excellent series of bunkers. If the ball gets into the slime pits, though, where the ancient kings came to grief, the game will be unfinished. We got stuck in them ourselves in the dark, as we drove from the Dead Sea back to Jerusalem. That was also a picturesque experience." And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar) ; and they set the battle in array against them in the vale of Siddim ; against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar ; four kings against the five. Now the vale of Siddim was full of slime pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and they that remained fled to the mountain. And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way. And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew : now he dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner ; and these were confederate with Abram. And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan. And he divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people. And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, at the vale of Shaveh (the same is the King's Vale). And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine : and he was priest of God Most High. And he blessed him, and said. Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth : and blessed be God Most High, 44 EARLY HEBREW HEROES [II-3] who hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him a tenth of all. And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand unto Jehovah, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread nor a shoe-latchet nor aught that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich. —Gen. 14:8-23. Attempts have been made, not with assured success, to identify the four warrior kings from the East with royalties v/hose names are carved on the monuments. One of the most fascinating features of the narrative is the appearance of Melchizedek. In 1888 A. D. there were discovered in Tel el Amarna, Egypt, some three hundred letters, written on clay tablets, in the Babylonian cuneiform script. The letters proved to be official correspondence be- tween the Pharaohs and the governors of Palestine. Among these tablets, dating 1500-1400 B. C, is a letter from the king of Jerusalem to the Egyptian monarch, in which the king says that he is not like other Egyptian governors, nor has he inherited his crown from his father and mother, but it has been conferred upon him by the King.^ Melchizedek (lit. king of righteousness) may have been like this ancient correspondent of the Pharaoh, a priest-king, to whom there- fore it was natural that Abram, after the manner of con- querors, should make an ofifering. In the narrative, for the first time "the Holy People and the Holy City are brought into connection." In allegorical yet most impressive fashion, the author of the Hebrews uses the record (Heb. 5-7). This 14th chapter is one of many indications that we are not to think of the early patriarchs as lonely men leading their peaceful life of faith without opposition. "Formerly," says a writer, "the world in which the patriarchs moved seemed to be almost empty ; now we see it filled with em- 3 "Now as for me, neither my father nor my mother appointed me to this place. The strong arm of the king brought me to my father's house." — "Extra-BibUcal Sources for Hebrew and Jewish History," by Samuel A. B. Mercer, p. 13. 45 [II-4] RELIGIOUS EXPERIEXCE OF ISRAEL bassies, armies, busy cities, and long lines of traders, passing from one center of civilization to another." The pioneers of faith wrought out their ideals in the face of an aggressive, arrogant polytheism, a complex and powerful commercial and military age. But the ancient story speaks to us with a strange present power of the knighthood of faith. How easy it is to say of an ingrate, when in trouble, "The man has made his bed: now let him lie in it." Abram unhesitatingly goes to the rescue of his undeserving nephew.* Again, Abram refuses to take any gift from the king of Sodom, for he will owe all he has to his God, nor will he spoil his witness for any amount of money. Still further, the knight of faith gives himself in high devotement to the highest, to God most high. Second Week, Fourth Day. 4. The Pr.\yer of Faith Read Gen. 18, the story of the Promise and the Prayer. And the men turned from thence, and went toward Sodom : but Abraham stood yet before Jehovah. And Abraham drew near, and said. Wilt thou consume the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city : wilt thou consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this man- ner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as" the wicked ; that be far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And Jehovah said. If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake. And Abraham answered and said. Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes : peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous : wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, I will not destrov it, if I * The narrative doubtless idealizes Abram "as one who fights with kings, is blessed by a king, and will not take from a king so much as a shoe-latchet." Three hundred and eighteen men could scarcely have been a deciding factor in defeating the kings of the most powerful peoples of Asia. EARLY HEBREW HEROES [II-4] find there forty and five. . . . And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for the ten's sake. And Jehovah went his way, as soon as he had left off communing with Abraham : and Abraham returned unto his place. —Gen. 18:22-28, z^, 3Z' It would be delightful to study this story simply as a reve- lation of the soul of the ancient East. Mark the grace with which Abraham and his wife attend to the wants of the strangers; the background of Oriental hospitality upon which the picture is painted. But as students of religion, and reli- gious men, we find a special interest in the narrative as we study the character of the deity whom Abraham is described as worshiping. a. Abraham's God requires no sacrifice of his friend be- fore his friend may speak with him. b. He listens patiently to the pleading of his friend. c. He is more merciful than his friend dreams. Abraham insists that the Judge of all the earth shall do right, asks for justice; God oflfers not justice alone but mercy. d. Again Jehovah recognizes the redemptive worth of right- eousness. Ten good men — such is the thought — could have saved Sodom^ from destruction. It may be urged that the story is colored by the thinking of a far later time than that of Abraham himself, but it is certainly very ancient. In view of the persistent worship by all surrounding peoples of bloody, vengeful, non-moral, immoral gods, the chapter offers a singularly lofty conception of deity. As through the years the story was told and told again, it must have done much to shape the religious thinking of the Hebrews, • No trace of Sodom and Gomorrah has been discovered. Some have claimed that they are cities known only to folklore as having been destroyed because of their breaches of the moral law. More probably the names speak of pre- historic cities overthrown by earthquake and eruptions of bituminous matter. While the picture of God in our story is comparatively lofty, it is not the picture given us by Jesus. Our Father does not use the elements of the physical world after the fashion of our narrative to execute punishment upon the guilty. A7 [II-5] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL Second Week, Fifth Day. 5. Failures of Faith Read Gen. 12: 10-20. See Chapters 20, 16, and 21. Very frankly the Old Testament deals with the failures of God's heroes. Frequently indeed the compiler seems to be unconscious of the failure in faith or morality. Abraham deceives the king of Egypt (Chap. 12). Again he deceives the king of Gerar (Chap. 20, perhaps a variation of the earlier theme). The author of 12 does not appear to feel any moral difficulty. The author of 20 makes an effort to save his hero's reputation. There is little to be said in defense of a man who drives into the wilderness to almost certain death the woman who has borne him a son. The author of 21 seems to feel the necessity of explaining the act, whose immorality apparently escapes the writer of the story in 16. Throughout the Old Testament there is no forthright con- demnation of concubinage or of polygamy; but we shall be able to mark great advances in ethical ideals as we proceed in our study. We have no quarrel with the man who thinks of Abraham's deceit and cruelty, not as failures of faith, but rather as failures in the apprehension of God's true character. But one of the tragedies of our personal experience is our easy defeat by little foes. The man who is ready to sacrifice his son to his God is scared by his own imaginings of what a king may do. The man who will volunteer to lead a forlorn hope across No Man's Land falls before the tittering jibes of a couple of mates in his dugout. Browning puts into the lips of the aged John words which express the marvel of our failure : "Look at me who was present from the first! Ye know what things I saw ; then came a test, My first, befitting me who so had seen : 'Forsake the Christ thou sawest transfigured. Him Who trod the sea and brought the dead to life? What should wring this from thee !' — ye laugh and ask. 48 EARLY HEBREW HEROES [II-6] What wrung it? Even a torchlight and a noise, The sudden Roman faces, violent hands, And fear of what the Jews might do ! Just that, And it is written, 'I forsook and fled' : There was my trial, and it ended thus." —"A Death in the Desert." There are thoughtless men who say, "Let other men read the Old Testament if they will ; give me the New Testament." Very well ; let such men turn to Paul's discussion of the principles of Christian freedom, a discussion which helped to kindle the flame of the Reformation in the heart of Martin Luther, and let them try to explain the part played in that discussion by the pathetic story of Hagar and her outcast son (Gal. 4:21-31). Second Week, Sixth Day, 6. The Triumph of Faith Read Gen. 22. And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham ; and he said, .Here am L And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah ; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose early in the morn- ing, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men. Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder ; and we will worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-oft'ering, and laid it upon Isaac his son ; and he took in "his hand the fire and the knife; and they went both of them to- gether. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said. My father: and he said, Here am I. my son. And he said. Behold, the fire and the wood: but vv^here is the lamb for a burnt-offering? And Abraham said> 49 [1 1-6] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son : so they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of ; and Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of Jehovah called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham : and he said, Here am I. And he said. Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him ; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns : and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh : as it is said to this day, In the mount of Jehovah it shall be provided. — Gen. 22: 1-14. The excavations of Gezer have brought to light jars con- taining the skeletons of little children sacrificed in ancient times to the gods. In II Kings 3:27 we have the story of the king of Moab, who "took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt-offering upon the wall" of the city. The singularly pathetic story of Jephthah's daughter (Judges 11 : 30-40) shows that the custom of human sacrifice was not unknown in Israel in the time of the Judges. Even as far down as the seventh century, the Hebrews were in danger of yielding to the ghastly heathen custom. Tennyson's "The Victim" suggests the place of human sacrifice in times of crisis, among our nearer kin. Abraham stands out from among the surrounding peoples as a devotee of the invisible righteous God, Jehovah.® To him the most precious possession in the world is his son, the heir of all his hopes. His best thought, inspired as he be- lieves by his God, makes this suggestion : "Shall not I do " The story of Abraham's sacrifice has been thought by some to be an eflfort to explain why the Israehtes were forbidden human sacrifice, and to warn against relapse into the hideous custom. 50 EARLY HEBREW HEROES [II-7] for my God, my just and loving God, as much as the Ca- naanites are willing to do for their corrupt and corrupting deities?" The portraiture of the narrative is superb. The soul strug- gle is not discussed. Rather, we see the man of faith starting upon his journey with his son and his two servants, to the Mount of God. The servants are left behind, father and son go on. "So they went, both of them together." "My father, where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?" "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son." All the struggle of the soul is in those words. To later Israel, the story brought this lesson: "Even when your heart demands that you make to Jehovah the supreme sacrifice, he will seek from your hands another gift than the child sacrifice of the heathen." But — and this is the glory of the story — the God of Israel withholds nothing from the man who withholds nothing from him. On the Mount of Sacrifice the Lord provides. Perfect self-surrender to the All-Perfect is perfect self-realisation. Second Week, Seventh Day, 7. The Reward of Faith Read Gen. 17, 21 : 1-8. As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be the father of a multitude of nations. Nei- ther shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession ; and I will be their God. And God said unto Abraham, And as for thee, thou shalt keep my covenant, thou, and thy seed after thee 51 11-71 RELIGIOUS EXPERIEXCE OF ISRAEL throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which vc shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee: every male amon-^ you shall be circumcised. —Gen. 17:4-10. The narrative suggests as the most important reward of Abraham's faith a covenant, by which Jehovah agrees to make of his friend a great nation. The covenant, according to the record, is sealed by circumcision. The rite of circum- cision is observed today among many peoples, and is said to have- been known among the Egyptians as early as 3998 B. C. In Exodus 4 : 24ff. there is a curious story, very ancient, which suggests that Jehovah was angry with Moses and that the wife of Moses appeased the divine wrath by circumcising her son. Among the Hebrews the rite seems to have been in the nature of a tribal mark, and to have held a special reli- gious meaning. It was thought of as a sacrifice, and indicated the dedication or surrender of the person to his God. The rite, with its ancient associations, had tremendous influence upon the Hebrews. The later prophets urged the circum- cision of the heart and ears rather than of the flesh; but the legalists made much of the rite. Recall the fact that in Paul's day the Judaizing Christians believed that no man could be a Christian, and become an heir of the promises to Abraham, until he had received the external rite of circumcision. The story of Abraham practically ends with his purchase of a tomb for his wife. The writer is immensely interested in the old story of the buying of this tomb, the cave of Mach- pelah. Still at Hebron may be seen a most sacred mosque, beneath which are supposed to be buried Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their wives. The book of Hebrews makes fine use of the thought of the apparent illusiveness of Abraham's life. After speaking of him and the other heroes of faith, the author adds : "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth" (Heb. 11 : 13). Long before and long 52 EARLY HEBREW HEROES [III-i] after the days of the greatest glory of Athens, the Hebrews looked back to Abraham the man of faith. Paul suggests that if we are men of faith, we are children of Abraham, heirs with him of the promise. Scarcely a Christian man of the last nineteen centuries has started out upon a great adventure of faith, but has thought of Abraham, who, at God's command, went out from his country and his kindred, and his father's house, not knowing whither he went. It would not be strange if Abraham Lincoln found in the name he bore a certain inspiration, as he pursued the pil- grimage of faith. Doubtless the soldiers who answered the call of "Father Abraham" found help as they wove together their thoughts of the strong, sad man of the White House with their thoughts of the Father of the Faithful. One of the liberating words of literature is this : "He be- lieved in Jehovah ; and he reckoned it to him for righteous- ness" (Gen. 15:6). Paul buttressed his doctrine of Christian liberty with the word (Rom. 4:3, Gal. 3:6). And every man who has realized the futility of works and the salvation of the trustful heart, underscores with gratitude that word: "He believed in Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness" II. THE JACOB CYCLE Passages from Gen. 25: ig to Chap. 36 : Third Week, First Day. I. Jacob, the Son Read Gen. 24 and 27, whose interest is suggested by the Study. And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy first- born; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said unto his son. How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because Jehovah thy God sent me good speed. 53 IJ A- liLlGlOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father: and he felt him, and said. The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands: so he blessed him. And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am. And he said. Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son's venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank. And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son. And he came near, and kissed him : and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said. See, the smell of my son Is as the smell of a field which Jehovah hath blessed. — Gen. 27 : 19-27. We do not dwell upon the story of Isaac. It is of great interest to students of the critical question, and to students of the customs and the literature of the East. In Gen. 24 there is a charming sketch of Abraham's effort to win a bride for Isaac, "one of the most perfect specimens of descriptive writing which the Book of Genesis contains." In our present studies, Isaac is chiefly of service as, the link between Abra- ham and Jacob. He is a submissive, peace-loving, static sort of man, who in his latter days suffers from "fatty degenera- tion of the soul," and whose paternal interest is dictated largely by his interest in the venison, which his "soul loveth." As a son, Jacob^ is pictured as utterly unscrupulous. He betrays no trace of love or loyalty, is moved alone by ambi- tion, ambition which is saved from utter vileness only by the man's appreciation of the real values of life. He is his mother's son, a woman selfish, ambitious, playing her favorite son with meanest deception against her older child and against her blind and aged husband. i. li^7* '\^'^.^^, stories in Genesis in which the narrative of the individual n . r^l„L r'T ^'■°'" ^'^^ tradition of a tribe. But it is almost, impossible to explain Jacob and Esau as mere tribal reminiscences. 54 EARLY HEBREW HEROES [HI-i] 2. Jacob, the Brother Now Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison : and Rebekah loved Jacob. And Jacob boiled pottage: and Esau came in from the field, and he was faint : and Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me first thy birthright. And Esau said. Behold, I am about to die: and what profit shall the birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me first; and he sware unto him : and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way : so Esau despised his birthright. — Gen. 25 : 28-34. As brother, Jacob is equally repellent. With the same care- ful cunning he takes advantage ' of the weakness of his brother, the weakness of his father. According to Oriental usage, the birthright would bring a man a better position in the family, possibly the domestic priesthood; also, a larger inheritance of material and pre- sumably of spiritual goods. Throughout the entire cycle of stories, Esau appears the more attractive character. He is affectionate, liberal, a hale fellow well met, forgiving, or shall we say forgetful? But in the story of the birthright his faults become conspicuous. Big, husky man that he is, he cries like a starving baby : "Be- hold, I am about to die, and what profit shall the birthright do to me? Feed me with that same red stuff." In similar strain a college student will say: "I am positively starving; I must go down town and get a piece of pie." Esau would not have died if he had eaten nothing for a month. He was healthily hungry ; that was all. "The temporal advantages of the birthright are shadowy, while the spiritual blessings he cares not for." The defect of the Esau character is sug- gested by the writer to the Hebrews : Esau is "profane." George Adam Smith has an illuminating suggestion upon this: "The Greek word means literally, 'that which may be trod- [III-2] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL den,' which is unienced, open to the feet of all. It was applied to ground outside the sacred enclosures and temples, ground that was common and public. Profane — that which is in front of the fane or shrine. Esau was a profane per- son, an open and bare character, unfenced and unhallowed, no guardian angels at the doors, no gracious company within, no fire upon the altar; but open to his dogs, his passions, his mother's provocations, and his brother's wiles." In the long run we can more safely "bank" on a mean man who trusts God, and believes in the values God can give, than on a good-natured, passionate, careless, profane man. Esau might make a more agreeable room-mate ; Jacob would render a more permanent service to the world. One should read as a bit of literature the tragic appeal of Esau to his father (Gen. 27 : 34-40). To an Oriental, words in themselves have a magic efficacy to curse or bless. Isaac believes that, though Jacob has wrested by fraud the blessing from him, the words which have gone forth from his lips cannot be recalled, but must descend in blessings upon the head of his unworthy son. The blessing of a father was much to be desired, as he was in a position to ask very special favors of the deity of his clan. Third Week, Second Day, 3. Jacob, the Employe Read Gen. 29 to 31. And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled. And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey; and he overtook him in the mountain of Gilead. And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said unto . him, Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. And Laban came up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain : and Laban with his brethren encamped in the mountain of Gilead. And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters as captives of the sword.? Where- 56 EARLY HEBREW HEROES [III-2] fore didst thou flee secretly, and steal away from me, and didst not tell me, that 1 might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with tabret and with harp ; and didst not suffer me to kiss my sons and my daugh- ters ? now hast thou done foolishly. It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying. Take heed to thy- self that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad. And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, be- cause thou sore longedst after thy father's house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods ? And Jacob an- swered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid : for I said, Lest thou shouldest take thy daughters from me by force. With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live : before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them. — Gen. 31 : 22-32. As an employe, Jacob is no more attractive. In the Syrian Laban he meets a man as crafty as himself, but with less skill of execution.^ After various successful artifices, Jacob, the employe, escapes from his employer, bearing away his wives — Laban's two daughters — a goodly number of flocks and herds, and the teraphim or household gods, which Rachel, if not Jacob, regards as highly desirable assets. At last an agreement is made between Jacob and Laban, and ratified by a heap of stones or a pillar, which is forever to separate the Syrians from the sons of Jacob. It is a matter of curious interest that the last word of Laban to his keen, overreaching rival has come into use as the Mizpah benediction : "The Lord watch between me and thee, while we are absent one from another." The words in their original connection are an adjuration to the watchful God that when the two unscrupulous men part from each other, God himself may punish the man who breaks the covenant. 8 The student will recognize in the narrative elements of the older, bald, picturesque story, which rather enjoys the shrewdness of Jacob, and has no apology to make for his lack of scruple; he will also meet with material from the later group of writers who undertake the rather difficult task of moral- izing the character of Jacob. 57 IIII-2] RELIGIOUS EXPERIEXCE OF ISRAEL 4. Jacob, the Religionist a. The Fugitive at Bethel. Gen. 28: 10-22 And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed; and, behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and, behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac : the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed ; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south : and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land ; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said. Surely Jehovah is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said. How dreadful is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he called the name of that place Beth-el : but the name of the city was Luz at the first. — Gen. 28: 10-19. Some Occidentals seem to be able to keep' their religion in a compartment by itself, where it does not "interfere with business or politics." To the Oriental every act of life is shot through with religion. But we would note three inci- dents in which Jacob appears in a special sense as Jehovah's devotee. On the site of the ancient Bethel there is "a natural stone circle" and a "curious formation of the rocks in terraces and ramparts." The exile, Jacob, is pictured as seeing in his 58 EARLY HEBREW HEROES [111-2] dream a ladder, or flight of steps, leading up to heaven, and angels of God ascending and descending upon it. God's voice speaks to him in words of lavish promise, saymg : "I will not leave thee till I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." The dreamer wakes to realize that he is on holy ground ; he transforms his stone pillow into a pillar, and anoints it with oil, for he recognizes that that stone is surely the house or home of God. The story deeply impressed itself upon Jacob's descendants. In John's gospel it furnishes the striking symbolism of the words of Jesus to Nathanael : "Ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man" (John 1:51). Christ, like the ancient staircase of the dreamer, would become the medium of com- munication between the downmost man and the highest heaven. "No one cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). As the early Hebrews told this old story to their children, they may not have conceived of the God of their story as utterly different from those spirits who the "heathen" sup- posed haunted and made "sacred" certain stones and trees and wells and hills. Today in Palestine pilgrims journey to sites which were "sacred" in the dim days before Abraham set foot in Canaan.^ But it is the wonder of the Genesis narratives that, in the midst of tales of trickery and treachery and lust, we come upon a story like this, in which the latest generations have seen pictured their own lofty, redeeming experiences with God. As we read again the story of the fugitive at Bethel, it speaks home to our hearts such truths as these : God is not remote from the loneliest man of earth. "Not where the wheeling systems darken, And our benumbed conceiving soars ; The drift of pinions, would we hearken, Beats at our own clay-shuttered doors. 9 Samuel Ives Curtiss, "Primitive Semitic Religion Today.' 59 [III-3] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL The angels keep their ancient places : — Turn but a stone, and start a wing! 'Tis ye, 'tis your estranged faces, That miss the many-splendoured thing." There is no man so low but God can reach him. "But when so sad thou canst not sadder Cry ; — and upon thy so sore loss Shall shine the traffic of Jacob's ladder Pitched betwixt Heaven and Charing Cross." Nor is there any man so completely whipped but he may win a victory on the scene of his utter defeat. Third Week, Third Day. b. Jacob at Jabbok Read Gen. 32 for context. And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven children, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok. And he took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had. And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh ; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him. And he said. Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him. What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said. Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel : for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said. Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel : for, said he, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. — Gen. 32: 22-30. Here is a man who for years has been fighting in complete reliance upon his familiar weapons of shrewdness, craft, cun- ning: fighting on the whole a winning battle. Now, like a 60 EARLY HEBREW HEROES [III-3] Nemesis, his brother, whom he has deeply wronged, ap- proaches, with four hundred men. Jacob is alert, uses every safety device which his knowledge of Esau and his ingenuity can contrive. But a great dread seizes him. He realizes that God is his real antagonist. The mean little supplanter cannot cheat God. No trick will serve him now. One touch of the supernatural hand can paralyze his strength. With God, only his humility, his perseverance, his sense of the worth of God's values will count. "There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day." Unable to defeat his divine opponent, "with strong crying and tears" he holds him, and pleads, "I will not let thee go except thou bless me." And the bless- ing comes in a change of name, which involves, it may be, a change of nature. No longer heel-catcher, supplanter, he is nozv Israel: "for thou hast striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed." Did the Hebrew story tellers find in the narrative all that we find? Perhaps not. One naturally thinks of the experi- ence of Jacob as a dream or vision of the night. The nar- rator evidently thinks of an actual contest with a supernatural being, a contest from which Jacob rose with the sinew of his thigh strained. To the early listeners the story brought a plausible, satisfy- ing explanation of origins : How does it happen that we do not eat the flesh of the sciatic muscle (evidently an old tribal taboo) ? How shall we account for the name of this place Peniel,'" the name of this brook Jabbok, our tribal name, Israel? c. Bethel Revisited And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there : and make there an altar unto God, who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother. Then Jacob said unto his house- hold, and to all that were with him. Put away the If Children and child people are charmed with explanations of names based upon assonance or chance resemblances of sound. The name Peniel (Face of God) may have been suggested by "some projecting rock, in whose contour a face was seen." (Cf. Hawthorne's, "The Great Stone Face.") 61 [III-3] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL foreign gods that are among you, and purify your- selves, and change your garments : and let us arise, and go up to Beth-el ; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. And they gave unto Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hand, and the rings which were in their ears ; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. And they journeyed: and a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan (the same is Beth-cl). he and all the people that were with him. And he built there ari altar, and called the place El-beth-el; because there God was revealed unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother. — Gen. 35 : 1-7. A prosperous man, Jacob now fulfils a long delayed vow — goes back to the scene of his early exile, agony, and vision, to build an altar unto the God who appeared to him in the day when he fled from his brother. Thus does a successful man of the city slip back to the old New England home, to the little white church of his childhood, to stand once more before the altar, to renew the vows made when for the first time he broke home ties and set out to make his fortune, "^hus does a soldier leave for an hour the "mud and blood and blasphemy" of the trenches, to renew his childhood vows in some ancient shrine. In the story there is a suggestive reference to foreign gods, possibly the teraphim, or lares and penates, to which custom and superstition obstinately clung. The prophetic compilers of the ancient narratives wished their readers inwardly to digest this word that Jacob told his family to put away all these foreign gods. For centuries Jacob's descendants very cheerily retained images in their worship even of Jehovah. But it is worth noting that there are few people today who do not cherish some of these foreign gods, and betray the smallness of their faith in Jehovah. An aged man, honored as an able and intelligent Christian citizen, when picking a basketful of strawberries, first threw a luscious strawberry 62 EARLY HEBREW HEROES [III-4] over his head "to play safe" — but with whom, with what? Lincoln would not begin a journey on Friday. Many a man, quite sure of his Christianity, will not sit down as the thir- teenth at a table. It was wise of John Paton to throw the most cherished idols of his New Hebrides converts into the deepest waters of the sea, for idols have a curious habit of refusing permanent burial. Jacob advises us, not only to revisit Bethel, but, before beginning the journey, to put away the foreign gods that are among us. Third Week, Fourth Day. 5. Jacob, the Father Read Gen. 37: 1-4, 29-36; 42: 1-4, 42:35-43: 15, passages help- ful in the study of Jacob's character, and frequently re- ferred to in modern literature. While belonging strictly to the Joseph Cycle, the incidents which reveal Jacob as father may be briefly suggested here. He had deceived his own father, now his sons deceive him. He trusts none of the ten, but dotes upon his two youngest sons with a love which reminds one of senility. Suspicious to the last, he believes that all things are against him. He is induced to go down into Egypt only by the sight of the wagons sent by Joseph for his comfort. The record gives us a striking picture of the aged shepherd Jacob, now 130 years old, this bargain-maker with the Most High, standing before the Pharaoh, to give him an old man's blessing (Gen. 47:7-10). The story of Jacob ends with a funeral procession, and his burial in the family tomb in Hebron. It would have been impossible for the compilers of the ancient narratives to ignore Jacob, even if they had chosen to do so. In his character and in the incidents of his career, he came much closer to the experience of his descendants than did Abraham. In his fierce pursuit of those earthly blessings which he saw gained value only as they were really ^2 [III-5] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL blessed by his God; in his cunning artifices to baffle cunning foes; in his sudden discoveries of deity in the hard and common pathways of the world; in his struggle with the divine, in which he overcame as he was overcome, the whole people of Israel read their own experience. And they loved this man Jacob, and proudly called themselves his children, the Children of Israel. III. THE JOSEPH CYCLE Passages from Genesis, Chapters 37 to 50 Third Week, Fifth Day, I. Joseph, the Son And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed yet a dream; and, behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren ; and his father rebuked him, and said unto him. What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow .down ourselves to thee to the earth? And his brethren envied him; but his father kept the saying in mind. — Gen. 37:9-11. And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen ; and he presented himself unto him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, that thou art yet alive. — Gen. 46 : 29, 30. As a young fellow, Joseph is rather priggish. It is a fine thing to have dreams, and a finer thing to be true to them; but it is seldom wise to tell them to one's brothers ; not always is it judicious to mention them to one's father. Joseph's later treatment of his father is very beautiful — unless there is truth in the thought of the writer who is pained that Joseph, when risen to power, seems not to have made an eflfort to communicate with his father until famine drove his brothers down to Egypt. But we must not be too censorious in charac- 64 EARLY HEBREW HEROES [III-5] terizing one whose story is not a memorandum of daily doings. 2. Joseph, the Brother Read Gen. 37, 44, 45, noting the vividness of portraiture, the pathos of Judah's plea, the almost unique attitude of Joseph to his brothers. Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him ; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud : and the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph ; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. And now be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither : for God did send me before you to preserve life. — Gen. 45: 1-5. As a brother, Joseph in the early days is sufficiently irritat- ing, but in the denouement of the story, he reveals himself as possibly the ideal character of the Old Testament. Such for- giveness as his is practically unknown in the "heathen" world. In the Old Testament, his spirit can be matched only by that of Moses. We shall see David on his death-bed bequeathing vengeance to his son, Solomon. Concerning Shimei, who taunted the king in the day of his distress, David says to his son : "Now therefore hold him not guiltless, for thou art a wise man ; and thou wilt know what thou oughtest to do unto him, and thou shalt bring his hoar head down to Sheol with blood" (I Kings 2:9). Again we shall see Jeremiah, the man who, of all the prophets, most nearly approaches the character of Jesus, still calling down curses upon his own fellow-townsmen of Anathoth, the very playmates of his childhood (Jer. ii:2off). Quite reasonably, Joseph's brethren refuse to believe that his forgiveness is genuine, and believe, 65 [111-5] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL rather, that after their father's death he will "get even" with them. This forgiveness is by no means forgetfulness. He remembers what they have done, and remembers as well their characteristics. What a suggestive little hint he gives them as he sends them home with food for their families: "See that ye fall not out by the way" (Gen. 45-24). 3. Joseph, the Ruler Read Gen. 47, an illuminating study in pre-Christian politics and ethics. So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh ; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was sore upon them: and the land became Pharaoh's. And as for the people, he removed them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end thereof. Only the land of the priests bought he not : for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them ; wherefore they sold not their land. Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh : lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. And it shall come to pass at the ingatherings, that ye shall give a fifth unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones. And they said. Thou hast saved our lives : let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants. — Gen. 47 : 20-25. "By a bold stroke of statesmanship, private property in land, save in the case of the priests, is abolished throughout Egypt, and the entire population reduced to the position of serfs." National food control has been known in later times and in less despotic lands than that of Egypt, but it has been exer- cised presumably in the interest of the ultimate freedom of "the common people." The grain policy of Joseph is ante- Christian and essentially anti-Christian. Kipling somewhat irreverently inquires : 66 EARLY HEBREW HEROES [III-6] "Who shall doubt the secret hid Under Cheops' pyramid Was that the contractor did Cheops out of several millions, Or that Joseph's sudden rise To Comptroller of Supplies Was a fraud of monstrous size On King Pharaoh's swart civilians?" But so far from being a monster himself, Joseph was, if we may judge from the record, ahead of his age, and not behind the ethics of the compiler of his story, who delights in the words of gratitude and adulation of the people now made slaves, but saved from starvation : "Thou hast saved our lives : let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants" (Gen, 47:25). Even in our own day political and business morality have not begun to keep pace with personal morality. And many men of spotless personal and family life have not hesitated to corrupt legislatures and to house employes in tenements whose wretchedness cries to heaven. Third Week, Sixth Day. 4. Joseph, the Religionist Read Gen. 39, 40, 41, to find the religious roots of Joseph's conduct, the secret of his life mastery, A man's whole life is determined by the God he worships. Joseph's life is pictured as dominated by a holy, unescapable God, Far from home, in the land of alien deities, whom his contemporaries certainly regarded as alive and powerful ; a slave, presumably bereft of his God who ruled alone in Canaan ; this man cries : "How can I do this great wicked- ness, and sin against God?" In prison, he realizes that his God is with him. In his dream-telling, he thinks of God as revealer. "Do not interpretations belong to God? . . . God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace." Joseph's God, more- over, is master of events. In a very fine passage we hear 67 [III-6] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL Joseph say to his brothers : "As for you, ye meant evil against me ; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive" (Gen. 50:20). Ever his God stands "within the shadow, keeping watch above his own." In our later studies we shall see that the Hebrews did not generally and clearly attain to the conviction of the one sole, universal, righteous God until the Babylonian Exile, 586 B. C. Grant the late editing of our present narrative, it is practically certain that in very early times Joseph was portrayed as possessing for himself a practical working faith in a God who could go with him in his journeys, stay by him in his temptations, guide him in his « speech, save him from his enemies, and above all keep him true to the ideals of his boy- hood. Dr. Taylor used to say, "Young man, be true to the dreams of your youth." "A melancholy, life-o'er-wearied man Sat in his lonely room, and wich slow breath Counted his losses, thrice wrecked plan on plan, Failure of friend and hope and heart and faith. This last the deadliest, and holding all. Room was there none for weeping, for the years Had stolen all his treasury of tears. Then on a page, where his eye chanced to fall. There sprang such words of courage that they seemed Cries on a battle field, or as one dreamed Of trumpets sounding charges; on he read With fixed gaze, and sad, down drooping head, And curious, half remembering, musing mind. The ringing of that voice had something stirred In his deep heart, like music long since heard, 'Brave words,' he sighed, and looked where they were signed. There, reading his own name, tears made him blind." There is not a man of us who has not dreamed royal dreams like those of Joseph. Each of us might find in some old book, written in school-boy hand, words, brave words, of faith and purity. But the Philippines and the treaty-ports of the Orient have sad stories to tell of modern Josephs, who dreamed, then doubted, and went down. On the other hand, history delights 68 EARLY HEBREW HEROES [III-7] to teach us of the man who one day takes lunches to his brothers, another day feeds a nation and a race ; of the weaver-boy who one day goes down to that same land of Africa, to expose and to begin the healing of the open sore of a continent. That is a fine word of Lowell: "In life's small things be resolute and great, To keep thy muscles trained ; know'st thou when Fate Thy measure takes? or when she'll say to thee, T find thee worthy, do this thing for me'?" Third Week, Seventh Day. The Joseph Cycle consists of several strands of narrative, now lying side by side, now interwoven. The vividness of the portraiture can scarcely be matched in literature. Note the- description of the scene when Joseph saw at last his brother Benjamin: "Joseph made haste; for his heart yearned over his brother r and he sought where to weep ; and he en- tered into his chamber, and wept there. And he washed his face, and came out; and he refrained himself, and said, Set on bread" (Gen. 43:30, 31). The story-teller does not dilate upon the psychology of the incident. All is told in the deeds and the speech of the chief actor. Again study the tragic, beautiful plea of Judah on behalf of his brother, Benjamin (Gen. 44: 19-34). Scholars have noted the extraordinary lifelikeness of the narrative. For example: we know that the birthday of the Pharaoh was celebrated by amnesties granted to prisoners. The dreams of Pharaoh are dreams natural enough to one who is the ruler of a country which is the daughter of the Nile. On the monuments the Osiris steer and seven cows often appear. Before he goes in to see the king, Joseph shaves himself, not merely perhaps that he may be decently clean, but because only foreigners and Egyptians of low birth are accustomed to wear beards. The story tells us that "shep- herds are an abomination to the Egyptians," and again we 69 [III-7] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL know from inscriptions that the keepers of oxen and swine were thought to follow degrading occupations. The Land of Goshen has been identified. In the supposed time of our story, this region was marsh land which might well have been given to foreigners without despoiling the native popula- tion. Three quotations may well close this study : The Hyksos dynasty, 1788-1580 B. C. was undoubtedly Semitic. "More- over the scarabs of a Pharaoh who evidently belonged to the Hyksos time give his name as Jacob-her or possibly Jacob-el, and it is not unlikely that some chief of the Jacob tribes of Israel for a time gained the leadership in this obscure age. Such an incident would account surprisingly well for the entrance of these tribes into Egypt, which on any hypothesis must have taken place at about this age" (Breasted, "History of Egypt," p. 220). About 1580, after the expulsion of the Hyksos, Ahmose I saw to it that the feudal lords disappeared. "The lands which formed their hereditary possessions were confiscated, and passed to the crown, where they permanently remained. (There was one exception to this.) All Egypt was now the personal estate of the Pharaoh. ... It is this state of affairs which in Hebrew tradition was represented as the direct result of Joseph's sagacity" (Breasted, "History of Egypt," p. 229). In the Tel el Amarna letters (see p. 45) there is an inci- dent strikingly similar to that recorded of Joseph. "Yanhamu, whose name suggests Semitic origin, seems to have had con- trol of the state granaries, and complaints were made of the difficulty of securing supplies from this high-handed official ; in particular it is alleged that the people have had to part with their sons and their daughters, and the very woodwork of their houses, in return for corn" (Int. Com., p. 502). The records of Egypt give us thus far no word of Joseph, but they do give us a situation into which his life and work would easily fit. If we could read on obelisk, pyramid, or temple wall the detailed record of his career, the story of Joseph could hardly be more significant to us, a story which 70 EARLY HEBREW HEROES [III-7] has woven itself into the fabric of the thought and literature of the world. Concluding Note on Genesis An American was riding on a street-car in Shanghai, China. A Chinese came courteously to his side, and said, "Washing- ton." A Frenchman was in Russia in the earlier days of the Great War. He saw some Russian soldiers talking about him ; then one of them came to him, saluted, and, with the one French word he knew, said, "Verdun." There is not an American whose honor is not more sacred to him because of Washington. There is not a Frenchman whose heroism is not more tenacious because of the memory of Verdun. The men and the incidents recorded in Genesis were the inspiration to honor, heroism, faith, to the Hebrew people throughout their whole national existence. And even in the days of Israel's lowest estate, there were doubtless thousands who lived finer lives because their childhood thoughts were enriched by the stories we have studied. As students of religion, our study of Genesis should help us to enter more appreciatively into the treasure-houses of life and thought, from which the prophetic spirits of later times gathered warning and inspiration for their people. But we are more than students of religion. As religious men, we may gain from our study certain permanent assets : a. We may renew our acquaintance with stories which have influenced the religious thinking of the Christian world. b. We may enter into lasting friendship with the old heroes who in the midst of gross darkness found and followed, how- ever falteringly, the light which makes for us our day. c. We may understand more clearly the way in which God slowly unveils himself to humanity, in the lives of leaders who share with others their best visions of God ; a God who guides, delivers, vindicates, punishes, redeems, a God who is always seeking to give humanity a new start, and, as well, a new heart. 71 [Ill-q] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND DISCUSSION 1. Compare and contrast with each other the migrations of Abraham, of the Pilgrims, of the Jamestown colonists, of the present-day immigrants to America from Europe. 2. What was wrong in Lot's choice? How do men today make that choice? Isn't it legitimate for a man to choose a home in a well-irrigated section, simply because it is well irrigated? 3. Study the use made by the book of Hebrews of the character of Melchizedek. 4. If you had known as young men Esau and Jacob, which brother would you have selected as the more certain to win true success? Justify your choice. 5. Do you think that a man wins spiritual victory by con- flict or by surrender? 6. It has been said that forgiveness is Jesus' most striking innovation in morality. What would you say to this state- ment, in view of Joseph's attitude toward his brothers? Do you think that forgiveness of one's enemies is consistent with inflicting penalties upon them? 7. Would you regard the lifelikeness of the Joseph stories as evidence of the skill of the story-teller, or as evidence of the historic character of the narrative? 8. What contributions to the religious thinking of the He- brews would be made by the stories of Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph ? 72 CHAPTER III Freedom, and the Foundations of National Life and Faith The Work of Moses in Egypt and the Wilderness Introductory Fourth Week, First Day. Read Exodus i and 2 for picture of the environment and early life of Moses. In the centuries following the death of Joseph, the Israel- ites in Egypt met with varying fortunes, and were subjected to strange influences. As a people they must have witnessed the career of Thutmose III, 1501-1447 B. C, "the world's first great empire- builder." They may well have seen those two obelisks, which now our eyes may look upon in Central Park, New York, and in London, both commemorating the great king's fourth jubilee celebration. They may have known of the royal vic- tories over their own relatives in Palestine. Again, the tribal religious life may have been stirred by the activities of the "heretic," Amenhotep IV, or Ikhnaton (1375-1358 B. C), whom the historian describes as "the most remarkable person known to ancient literature, the first in- dividual in human history," This extraordinary king, sur- rounded by mighty temples to national deities, "grasped the idea of a world-dominator, as the creator of nature. He based the universal sway of God upon his fatherly care of 73 [IV-i] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL all men alike, irrespective of race or nationality." He built a new city for the worship of his universal deity. "He was afterwards known as the criminal of Akhetaton.'" Did this royal monotheist influence Hebrew thought? Apparently not. In 1292 B.C. Ramses H came to the throne, and reigned till 1225 B. C. He is regarded as the Pharaoh of the Oppres- sion, a king who indeed "knew not Joseph." He was a mighty builder. To him we owe much of the glory of the temple of Karnak. "He who stands for the first time in the shadow of its overwhelming colonnades, the great hall of the temple, that forest of mighty shafts, the largest ever erected by human hands, crowned by the swelling capitals of the nave — on each one of which a hundred men may stand together — he who observes the vast sweep of the aisles — roofed with hundred-ton architraves — and knows that its walls would contain the entire cathedral of Notre Dame, and leave plenty of room to spare . . . will be filled with respect for the age that produced this, the largest columned hall ever raised by men."* But with all this magnificence, there were in the palace and among the people a gross materialism and superstition. An officer, "afflicted by his deceased wife, wrote to her a letter of remonstrance, and placed it in the hand of another dead person, that it might be duly delivered to his wife." Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people. Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we : come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they also join themselves unto our ene- mies, and fight against us, and get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And they were grieved » Breasted. "History of Egypt," p. iSsS.. The author's high estimate of the kin^i is not fully endorsed by all writers. 2 Ibid., p. 45off. 74 NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [IV-i] because of the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor : and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, wherein they made them serve with rigor. — Exodus i : 8-14. Along with the materialism and superstition, there went an almost unexampled cruelty. The building enterprises of Ramses "were not achieved without vast expense of resources, especially those of labor." In Exodus i: 11, we read of the children of Israel, "They built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and Raamses." In 1883, Naville excavated the city of Pithom, Subsequent investigators have observed that "while certain entire walls showed a free use of straw, the bricks of other adjacent walls were mixed with coarse sub- stances such as chafif, rushes, and stems of plants, and other walls of adjacent rooms were built of bricks made without mixture of straw, stubble, or weed." From the monuments we learn of Palestinian wars carried on by Ramses II, and it would not be strange if these wars led the monarch to fear the multiplication of "enemy aliens" in his land, who at any time might become "alien enemies." His underlings would be glad enough to make "their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field" (Exodus i : 14). Out of this welter of slave life a child was lifted, to grow to manhood in the house of Pharaoh. But Moses, "when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter ; choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season" (Heb. 11:24, 25). Our study now takes us from the palace and the brick- kilns of Egypt out into the wilderness, with its freedom and its suffering. It has been said that "religion alone can turn emigration into exodus." It was Moses whose living faith in a living God transformed the rather contemptible emigration of slaves into an exodus. The life and work of Moses must now chiefly concern us. 75 [IV-i] RELIGIOUS EXPERIEXCE OF ISRAEL Read again the familiar story of the childhood of Moses (Exodus 2:1-10), then consider: I. MOSES, THE LIBERATOR Passages from Exodus 2: 11 to 15: 18. And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown up, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens : and he saw an Egyptian smit- ing a Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he smote the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. And he went out the second day, and, behold, two men of the Hebrews were striving together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? thinkest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said. Surely the thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Aloses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well. — Exodus 2: 11-15. I. Abortive Attempts Our hero's career as liberator begins with his rescue of a fellow-Hebrew from an Egyptian. The vehement young reformer killed the oppressor. The day after this untoward attack upon "things as they are," this John Brown's raid, Aloses saw two Hebrews quarreling. The would-be peace- maker seemed to miss the peacemaker's blessing. "Thinkest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian?" There are always multitudes of men who are eager to remind the young adventurer in brotherhood that he must mind his own busi- ness ; and the only answer is that wherever there are brother men, there is the special and particular business of the lover of men. Moses saw that his doing to death of the Egyptian was widely known and would be widely and inconveniently adver- tised. He sought safety in flight. Moses's sojourn in the 76 NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [IV-2] land of Midian was an epoch in his Hfe. The wilderness gave him many gifts, among them these : a. A knowledge of the "desert" life, which would serve him well in later days. b. The friendship of Jethro (in some narratives Hobab or Reuel), the priest "of Jehovah," who may have done much to shape Moses's thought with reference to the laws and worship of the true God. c. Marriage, which seems not materially to have lessened the tragic loneliness of the man's career. d. A profound experience of Jehovah, and with the ex- perience, a commission from Jehovah. Fourth Week, Second Day. 2. The Liberator Commissioned Read Exodus 3. And the angel of Jehovah appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush : and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said. Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither : put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon ■ thou • standest is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face ; for he was afraid to look upon God. And Jehovah said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people that are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters ; for I know their sorrows ; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey ; unto the place of the Canaanite. and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. — Exodus 3 : 2-8. 77 [IV-2] RELIGIOUS EXFERIEXCE OF ISRAEL The commission received by the shepherd from his God seems to have involved these elements : a. You are to be a Hberator, rescuing Israel from Egypt. b. You are to be a leader, guiding Israel to a land of peace and plenty. c. You are to be a lawgiver, binding Israel to Me and to my laws. It is not necessary to inquire into the story of the burning bush, but it is well to remember Mrs. Browning's word: "Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees takes off his shoes, The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries." And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you ; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, i am that i AM : and he said. Thus shalt thou say unto the chil- dren of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Aloses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel. Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you : this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. — Exodus 3 : 13-15. The name Jehovah,^ or Yahweh, was perhaps not unknown to the serfs in Egypt. In Exodus 6 : 20, we read that the mother of Moses bore the name, "Jehovah is Glory." When Moses returned to 3 "Yahweh," or Jehovah (v. footnote, p. 7) was possibh'- the name of the deity of the Kenite tribes of the Sinaitic peninsula. The origin of the name is unknown. Some would tell us that it comes from a word meaning "to blow": thus Jehovah would be originally the god of the tempest. The writer of the E.xodus narrative thinks of the name as derived from the word "to be," so that it means to him "the God who is," or "the God who will be." To later Israel, the name came to bear the great meaning, "the eternally self- existent One" or possibly, "the vmcreated Creator," or to use the word of the Revelator, the One "who is and who was and who is to come." "Our little systems have their day. They have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of thee, And thou, O Lord, art more than they." 78 NATIOXAL LIFE AXD FAITH [IV-2] Egypt with his message of Hberation, the people seemingly recognized in the name, Jehovah, the name of the God whom they might rightly serve. But with the experience of in- sight and vision there must have come to Moses, as to many another man in the hour of loneliness and inspiration, a new appreciation of the presence and purpose of the God whose old name was now to gain new significance. Like Jeremiah and other prophet souls of the later years, Moses hesitated, felt himself ill-equipped to undertake the appointed mission. But the old story brings its encourage- ment to every man : "I did not choose you because you were eloquent. I knew that you were not eloquent. If I need a man of eloquent speech, I have another to meet the need. What is that in your hand? The rod, the symbol and the tool of the shepherd's trade, shall work wonders for me." And Aloses said unto Jehovah. Oh, Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant ; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And Jehovah said unto him. Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh a man dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is it not I, Jehovah? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt speak. And he said. Oh, Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send. And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Moses, and he said. Is there not Aaron thy brother the Levite? I know that he can speak well. And also, be- hold, he Cometh forth to meet thee : and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him. and put the words in his mouth : and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokes- man unto the people ; and it shall come to pass, that he shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shalt be to him as God. And thou shalt take in thy hand this rod, wherewith thou shalt do the signs. — Exodus 4 : 10-17. If a man knows how to shoot straight with a small stone from the brook, he may kill the enemy of his people. If a man knows how to use well an engineer's equipment, he 70 [I\-3] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL may, like Alexander Alackay, open to the Gospel a land which shall reveal one of the miracles of missions. Yes, if a man has but the "gift of blindness," he may open to the dark world of the blind in China the light of literature. It is noticeable that the commission of Moses makes noth- ing of Moses's own welfare, safety, or salvation. When Lincoln was urged not to utter the first great words of his "House Divided Against Itself" speech he replied, "I would rather be defeated with this expression in my speech, and uphold and discuss it before the people, than be vic- torious without it." As we follow Moses into his subse- quent career, we find him with a like conviction that he must say the great words and do the great deeds, whether he himself go to victory or death. Matthew Arnold queries : "What bard. At the height of his vision, can deem Of God, of the world, of thie soul, With a plainness as near, As flashing, as Moses felt When he lay in the night by his flock On the starlit Arabian waste? Can rise and obey The beck of the Spirit like him?" Thank God, on the fields of home and foreign missions today, and on the fields of battle there are men who "deem" as plainly, and obey as gladly as did Moses — the world's true bards and prophets. We now trace the Liberator from his period of training in the wilderness to his task in Egypt. Fourth Week, Third Day. 3. Liberator or Enslaver? Read Exodus 5, with its valuable hints to men interested in "the uplift." Ramses II, the builder, boaster, oppressor, died, "a hoary 80 NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [IV-3] nonagenarian." He probably would have been more modest if he had realized that some 3,000 years after his death his mummy would be seen in the Cairo Museum by Cook's tourists from a land beyond his ken across the seas. The old king was succeeded, we read, by his thirteenth son, Merneptah IV, thought to be the "Pharaoh of the Exodus." In 1223 B. C, there was widespread revolt against the new king among the peoples of Palestine. In 1896, there was discovered at Thebes a stele on which is inscribed Merneptah's hymn of victory. On this slab occurs the earliest mention of the name "Israel" to be found in any literature. After naming peoples and kings whom he has overthrown, the Pharaoh says. "Israel is desolate, his seed is not ; Palestine has become a widow for Egypt."* The stele makes it clear that while some of the children of Jacob were serfs in Egypt, there were already in Palestine members of the same Semitic tribes, who were sufficiently unified to be called "Israel," and sufficiently powerful to i»e worthy of mention as conquered by the Pharaoh. But the stele also makes it easier for us to understand the civic con- fusion and royal anxiety which may well have met Moses as he returned to Egypt. And afterward ]\Ioses and Aaron came, and said unto Pharaoh, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken unto his voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go. And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice unto Jehovah our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. And the king of Egypt said unto them, Where- fore do ye, Moses and Aaron, loose the people from their works ? get you unto your burdens. And Pharaoh * For picture and translation of the stele, see S. A. B. Mercer, "Extra-Biblical Sources for Hebrew and Jewish History," pp. 88 and 133. 81 [I\-3J RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL said, Behold, the people of the land are now many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. And the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the peo- ple, and their officers, saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore : let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the number of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them ; ye shall not diminish aught thereof : for they are idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. Let heavier work be laid upon the men, that they may labor therein ; and let them not regard lying words. — Exodus 5: 1-9. Moses's first request of the Pharaoh was that he should allow the Israelites to go on a three days' journey into the wilderness to celebrate a racial religious feast' Moses's pur- pose at this juncture seems to have been to quicken the national self-consciousness and the religious loyalty of his people. The monarch's answer was the typical answer of the tyrant: "Who is Jehovah that I should obey him?" In the presence of the most impressive temples and ritual which the world has ever known, the question might well have seemed to Moses a hard question to answer. Who in- deed was this deity of a desert tribe, in whose name a man might confront the Pharaoh and hope to win from him leisure for his serfs to go off on a religious junket into the wilderness? The effect of Moses's first demand suggests one of the notable features of much reform work. Those whom Moses thought to help were scourged to more bitter bondage, and they refused to listen to him, when he tried to show them the banner of their liberty, inscribed, "God and the People." Many a slave has thought with them that his lot *^ would have been far easier if the "liberator" had never spoken of freedom, 4. Liberty in Sight The purpose of Moses was confirmed and expanded by a ' Cf. discussion of Passover, p. 85. 82 NATIOXAL LIFE AXD FAITH [IV-3] series of disasters falling upon the land and the people of Egypt, disasters so terrible and so terriblj^ timed as to leave the Pharaoh and Israel in no doubt that they were due to the intrusion of Israel's God. From these unprecedented calami- ties the Hebrews were free, because of their situation and their manner of life." Read rapidly Exodus 6 to 12, a narrative from which, in the subsequent days of national anguish, seers and singers should gather comfort and inspiration. And it came to pass at midnight, that Jehovah smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first- born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first- born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle. — Exodus 12:29. The death of the first-born children of Egypt recalls the horrors of the Black Death which swept over Europe in 1333-4 A. D. It "seemed not only to the frightened imagina- tion of the people, but even to the sober observation of the few men of science of the time, to move forward with measured steps from the desolated East under the form of a dark and fetid mist. Hecker estimates the loss to Europe as amounting to 25,000,000. The Black Death entered Eng- land in 1348-9; the mortality was enormous. Perhaps from one third to one half of the population fell victims to the disease." From the Journal of the Victorian Institute a writer quotes : "It is a significant fact that after eighteen hun- dred years of oppression, hardship. and«persecution, of the ghetto and the old-clothes trade, the Hebrew race is pro- verbially exempt from repulsive and contagious disease. 8 About the heroic figure of Moses many stories gathered. The later stories, usually attributed to the Priestly Writer, idealize Moses, and especially the priestly Aaron, and idealize the calamitous events which cleared the way for the Exodus. Plagues of lice and flies, of boils and murrain, of frogs and locusts, are not isolated phenomena in the experience of Egypt. The plague of darkness may be a reminiscence of a "hamsin" wind, "an oppressive hot blast, charged with so much sand and fine dust that the air is darkened." Denon says that "It sometimes travels as a narrow stream, so that one part of the land is light and the other dark." We are told, too, that the Nile is sometimes reddened by enormous quantities of minute organisms or "fragments of vegetable matter." 83 [I\'-4] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL They certainly do enjoy immunity from the ravages of cholera, fever, and smallpox in a remarkable degree. Their blood seems to be in a different condition from that of other people." The history of Europe, America, and now of the Orient, is all bound up in the same bundle of life vi^ith the history of the Hebrew serfs in Egypt. The immanent God who wrought upon the mind and will of Moses to make him a coworker with "an Eternal, Creative Good Will," wrought through "natural" laws, then unknown, in a fashion which by Egyptians and Hebrews could be regarded only as the sudden and direct intrusion of a divine hand into the world and ways of men. Men used to journey in a tunnel into which from time to time, as by miracle, rays of heavenly sunlight or flashes of heavenly lightning entered. Now we travel above ground, in a world continually illumined by the divine radiance. Fourth Week, Fourth Day, 5. The Feast of Freedmen And Jehovah spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months : it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household : and if the household be too little for a lamb, then shall he and his neighbor next unto his house take one according to the number of the souls; according to every man's eating ye shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old : ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats: and ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at even. And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel, upon the houses wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, 84 NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [IV-4] and unleavened bread ; with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roast with fire ; its head with its legs and with the inwards thereof. — Exodus 12; i-q. We have already noticed that Moses's first demand upon Pharaoh was that his people might take a three days' journey into the wilderness to worship Jehovah. In connection with the last plague, there is the record of the feast of the Pass- over, which originally may have been identified with the feast to which Moses had wished to summon his people, possibly one of the most ancient religious festivals of the world. "Four or five thousand years ago a rude nomad killed the first lamb (of his flock) and smeared its blood on the tent-poles, that no angry god might smite him with the plague. He then ate the flesh with the family as a sacrificial meal, thanking his god, who was supposed to be a sharer of his feast." But through all the later centuries, even to this day, the feast, developed, glorified, has fittingly served as a memorial of the divine rescue of Israel from Egypt. In the days long after the Exile (586 B. C), we find that when the Passover was to be celebrated, "bridges were repaired, sepulchers wer-e whitened, so that they might be easily seen and avoided, that passers-by might not be made unclean. Fires on the hill tops announced that the Passover month had come." To this day on Mount Gerizim a few Samaritans, survivors of those of Jesus' day, celebrate the ancient feast with sacrifice. In her "The Promised Land," Mary Antin tells of her experiences as a little Jewish girl in Russia : "Another thing the Gentiles said about us was that we used the blood of murdered Christian children at the Pass- over festival. Of course that was a wicked. lie. It made me sick to think of such a thing. I know everything that was done for the Passover from the time I was a very little girl. The house was made clean and shining and holy, even in the corners where nobody ever looked. . . When the fresh cur- tains were put up, and the white floors were uncovered, and everybody in the house put on fresh clothes, and I sat down 85 [IV-5] RELIGIOUS EXPERIEXCE OF ISRAEL to the feast in my new dress, I felt clean inside and out. And when I asked the four questions about the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs and the other things, and the family reading from their books answered me, did I not know all about the Passover and what was on the table and why? The Passover season when we celebrated our deliverance from the land of Egypt, and felt so glad and thankful, as if it had only just happened, was the time when our Gentile neighbors chose to remind us that Russia was another Egypt." May the end of Czardom give to Russian Judaism a new birth of freedom and to their Passover feast a new environ- ment ! For us the Passover has gained a precious meaning. At the close of his earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus said, "With desire have I desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer" (Luke 22: 15). As the host at the feast, he said, "This is my body which is given for you. . . . This cup is the new covenant in my blood" (Luke 22: 19, 20). Paul, writing to the Corinthians about the time of the Jewish Pass- over, says : "For our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ : wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven . . . but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (I Cor. 5:7). When, therefore, we partake of the Lord's Supper, we are linking ourselves with the religious life, not alone of the Hebrew race, but with the upreaching life of the early nomads of the Semitic world, who through the thick darkness of superstitious fear were feeling for the truth be- hind the thought that without suffering there is no redemp- tion. Fourth Week, Fifth Day. 6. The Exodus (The way out) Read Exodus 14, 15, for complete story. And the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon. 86 NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [IV-5] And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto Jehovah. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to bring us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we spake unto thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians ? For it were better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilder- ness. And Moses said unto the people. Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah, which he will work for you to-day : for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. . . . And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Jehovah caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. — Exodus 14:9-13, 21. . Kent describes the departure from Egypt as concisely as possible : "Grievous plagues afflicted the Egyptians, rendering them for the time incapable of checking the shepherds in their sudden flight. With flocks and families, therefore, they set out under the leadership of Moses for Sinai, the abode of their God, and for their former home in Canaan. But cir- cumstances led them to turn toward the south, where beside the arm of the Red Sea they were overtaken by the Egyptian army in pursuit. Their cause seemed hopeless, since they could do little to defend themselves against their well-armed foes. In this crisis a strong east wind arose which blew all night, driving back the shallow waters, so that it was possible for them to pass over and thus escape, while the Egyptians following them perished." The deliverance left deep its mark upon the memory and the literature of the Hebrew people. The psalmists and the prophets alike use the incident as the measure of the mighty redemptive power of Jehovah, ever at hand to save a responsive people. Some such impression of divine de- liverance was made upon the people of England by the 87 [IV-0] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL destruction of the Spanish Armada. Paul, by the way, found for himself a new measure of the power of God. Greater than the power which God exerted in saving his people from Egypt was the power which God exerted when he raised Jesus Christ from the dead, a power ever at the disposal of the Christian (Eph. i: 19-23). II. MOSES, THE LEADER Passages from Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy Fourth Week, Sixth Day, Read rapidly Exodus 16, 17, 18, characteristic incidents of the Wanderings. It is said that the route taken by the Israelites into the wilderness was not that taken by armies on their way to or from Egypt, but rather the path of runaway slaves. Of many incidents which have found their way into the hymnology and indeed all the literature of the Christian world we may not speak. The earlier documents tend to hold to the bald facts of the journey. The later idealize much. The writers living in the memory of the ruined temple of Solomon and of the Exile, were inclined to emphasize wherever possible the divine intrusion into the common events of the wanderings. I. The Challenged Leadership One of the striking elements of the story is the murmuring of the people against Moses. Moses was a great "labor leader" as well as religious leader. And he was despised and hated often by the men for whom he willingly would have died. Amid the trials of the wilderness, the bricks made without straw and the lash of the taskmaster were forgotten, and the leeks and onions and garlic of Egypt sent their appetizing odors across the Red Sea into their very nostrils. NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [IV-6] The murmuring more than once became mutiny. One is re- minded of Lincoln, who was called by one party "nigger, nigger-lover" ; by the other party, "the slave-hound of Il- linois." A cartoon of the dark days of the Civil War repre- sents Lincoln as enthroned upon the bayonets of his in- furiated soldiers. Both men learned what we "Western Goths" may all "Find out, some day : that nothing pays but God, Served whether on the smoke-shut battle-field, In work obscure done honestly, or vote For truth unpopular, or faith maintained To ruinous convictions, or good deeds Wrought for good's sake, mindless of heaven or hell." 2. The Leader and His Aides And Moses' father-in-law said unto him. The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee : for the thing is too heavy for thee ; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God be with thee : be thou for the people to Godward, and bring thou the causes unto God : and thou shalt teach them the statutes and the laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. More- over thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain ; and place such over them, to be rulers of thou- sands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: and let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge themselves : so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people also shall go to their place in peace. So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. — Exodus 1 8 : 17-24. A notable incident of the journey is the visit of Jethro to the camp of Israel. He suggested a division of labor, which 89 [IV -7] RELIGIOUS EXPERIEXCE OF ISRAEL should relieve Moses of the wear and tear of exclusive responsibility. If we could today select our public officials on the basis of Jethro's suggestion, most of our political troubles would pass away like mist before the morning sun. "It is supposed that Alfred the Great, who was well versed in the Bible, based his own Saxon constitution of sheriffs, counties, etc., on the example of the Mosaic division, and thus it may be that the English nation owes something of its free institutions to the generous interest of an Arabian priest." Perhaps in the story of the Seventy Elders (Num. ii: ii- 29), we have an alternative narrative to that in Exodus 18. The record is delightful. Moses found too heavy the burden laid upon him. But God lays on no man a burden heavier than he can bear. He bade Moses select seventy men, good men and true, to bear the burden of the people with him. Two of the men chosen did not appear at the Tent of Meet- ing but began to prophesy, to speak for God, right in the midst of the camp. Joshua, who was one day to know better, rushed breathless to Moses : "Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. . . . My lord Moses, forbid them." How fine is Moses's answer: "Art thou jealous for my sake? would that all Jehovah's people were prophets !" No more murmur- ing, no more backsliding, no more defeats, nay, rather, tremendous impact upon the heathen tribes about ! All Jehovah's people speakers for God ! A prayer to be fulfilled when God's Spirit shall rest upon them, a. condition to be fulfilled when God's people obey God. God giveth his Holy Spirit to them that obey him. Fourth Week, Seventh Day, 3. The Leader's Committee of Investigation Read Num. 13 for context. And they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days. And they went and came to Moses, 90 NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [IN -7] and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the chil- dren of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh ; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us ; and surely it floweth with milk and honey ; and this is the fruit of it. Howbeit the people that dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, and very great : and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. Amalek dwelleth in the land of the South : and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the hill-country ; and the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan. And^Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said. Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said. We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof ; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim : and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. — Num. 13 : 25-33. Passing for a moment the incidents occurring at Sinai, we note the story of the spies. The men who return from Canaan with their evil report are the typical stand-patters of the world. Progress is desirable, obstacles are insuperable. Well may the writer of the Hebrews in the later days bid his Christian friends take heed, lest they, too, fail to enter into the land of rest, because of unbelief (Heb. 3:1-10). Humanity moves onward under the impulsion of high-souled men like Caleb, men who do not ignore the difficulties, who do not give their brains an anesthetic and tell us there are no giants to overcome, but who bid us "go up at once," for God is with us. " 'Dreamer of dreams!' We take the taunt with gladness, Knowing that God, beyond the years you see 91 [IV-7] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL Hath wrought the dreams which count with you for madnes? Into the substance of the life to be." 4. The Leader, and the Men Who Thought They Had "Arrived" Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle; the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying, Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and J^lealeh, and Sebam, and Xebo, and Beon, the land which Je- hovah smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle ; and thy servants have cattle. And they said. If we have found favor in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession; bring us not over the Jordan. And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to the war, and shall ye sit here? And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into tlT£ land which Jehovah hath given them? . . , And they came near unto him, and said. We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones : but we ourselves will be ready armed to go before the children of Israel, until we have brought them unto their place : and our little ones shall dwell in the forti- fied cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return unto our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every m^an his inheritance. For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan, and forward ; because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side of the Jordan eastward. And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will arm yourselves to go before Jehovah to the war, and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before Jehovah, until he hath driven out his ^ enemies from before him, and the land is subdued be- fore Jehovah ; then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless towards Jehovah, and towards Israel ; and this land shall be unto you for a possession before Jehovah. But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against 92 NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [IV-7] Jehovah ; and be sure your sin will find you out. — Num. 32 : 1-7, 16-23. The tribes — Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh — had found fine pasture lands for their flocks and herds, and they thought it would be a beautiful thing to remain on the east side of Jordan, while their friends and comrades were doing the fighting for the promised land. What was the use of struggling, when they could get all they wanted without the struggle? Moses has been designated as the meekest man who ever lived, but he let loose the vials of his wrath upon these tribesmen because they were weakening the hands of their brothers. Finally an agreement was -reached. The men would build folds for their flocks, and fenced cities for their wives and little ones, and they themselves would go ready armed before the Children of Israel, and would not return to their houses until every man should have received his inheritance. The tribesmen were true to their promise, and after the death of Moses marched in the vanguard to win for their brothers the same rights which were theirs. And it may be that the day will come to America, when we shall retain our possessions only on condition that we give ourselves whole-heartedly and persistently to the great fight of our brothers for "a fair chance at all good things." The incidents of the wilderness have stirred the imagina- tion of seers in all the later years. The stories of the brazen serpent, of Balaam, of Og and his mighty bedstead, of Amalek and the upheld arms of Moses — these and scores of others make the wilderness a paradise for poets and preachers. Generations of religious men have thought of their earthly experiences in terms of the wandering. " 'Forward !' be our watchword, Steps and voices joined; Seek the things before us, Not a look behind; 93 [IV-7] RELIGIOUS EXPERIEXCE OF ISRAEL Burns the fiery pillar At our army's head; Who shall dream of shrinking, By Jehovah led? Forward through the desert, Through the toil and fight; Jordan flows before us, Zion beams with light." The Israelites left Egypt, a horde of slaves. Their feeble unity was due mainly to their common dependence upon Aloses, their liberator and leader. Their religion was but the pale reflection of his burning faith in Jehovah.^ In the years of wandering, there were times when the gate to the land of promise seemed wide open. Kadesh-Barnea, the present Ain Kadis, or Holy Well, was the rendezvous of the Hebrews. A traveler, who was guided by Arabs to the place, "found a lofty wall of limestone, at the base of which issued forth a copious spring or several springs, which emptied them- selves into a large artificially constructed basin, then into another of smaller «ize, and, continuing to flow down into the valley, spread fertility on either hand until the waters ultimately disappeared beneath the sands of the desert. For a generation this fertile spot was the goal or the starting point of the wanderings of nomad Israel." In our own time, in the Great War, there was a day when an added ounce of pressure might have forced open the Dardanelles, and brought the War appreciably nearer its close. But as years of agony were needed to strengthen the cause of the Entente forces, to purify their ideals, and to weld them into one army of democracy ; so were the years of wilderness wandering need- ful to strengthen, purify, ennoble the conduct and ideals of the clansmen of Israel. In the wilderness, they learned to think of themselves as a people with a common destiny, bound up with the will of their national God, Jehovah. 7 "The monotheism of Babylonia and Egypt was pantheistic speculation. Hebrew monotheism was a religious experience, and between these two there appears to me to be a great gulf fixed. ... I believe that monotheistic tendencies in the age of Moses, supposing them to have reached him, can have contributed very little to his knowledge of God." — Skinner. 94 NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [V-i] III. MOSES, THE LEGISLATOR Passages from Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy Fifth Week, First Day. Read Exodus 20:2-17; compare Deut. 5:6-21 for final ver- sions of the Ten Commandments. Throughout their recorded history, the Children of Israel looked back to Moses, not alone as Liberator and Leader, but as Lawgiver. Sinai (or Horeb) was considered the earliest seat of Israel's deity, the worthy scene of the great transac- tion by which the divine law was given to Moses, and through Moses to the people. As we now have them, the "Mosaic" laws are of many different ages. Some of the laws reflect the life of an agricultural people; some are directed to the needs of a peo- ple ruled by kings, to the needs of priests serving in a cen- tral temple in Jerusalem. Some express the interests of political and ecclesiastical leaders after the Exile, whose only desire was to preserve a people holy unto Jehovah. Much of the legislation is attributed to Moses, and is well styled the Law of Moses. It is his, or is the varied fruitage of principles enunciated by him. I. The Decalogue (The Ten Words) There are two main versions* of the Ten Commandments, both of which developed from a briefer code, very noble in its conception of duty toward God and man. This simpler code" may have read somewhat as follows : (i.) Thou shalt have no other gods beside me. (2.) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. (3.) Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain. 8 For reference to third variant decalogue, recently discovered, see Bade, "The Old Testament in the Light of Today," p. 94- » For a still earlier "decalogue," see discussion, p. loi. 95 [V-i] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL (4.) Remember the Sabbath day to hallow it. (5.) Honor thy father and thy mother. (6.) Thou shalt do no murder. (7.) Thou shalt not commit adultery. (8.) Thou shalt not steal. (9.) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. (10.) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. The first five commands deal with religion, "piety." The second five deal with ethics, "probity." The first command does not imply the denial of other gods than Jehovah. For at least five centuries Israel popularly regarded the gods of other peoples as alive and sovereign in their territories. The command does insist that Israel shall worship Jehovah only. They are his people, he is their God. The second command would lift the people above idolatry. For hundreds of years in Canaan Israel was to use "without offense" images in worship. That is, this command was un- known or ignored. But we shall see how image worship cheapened and degraded religion among the Hebrews (p. I58ff). The third command may have been intended originally to forbid the use of the sacred name in formulas of magic, such as constituted a great part of the ritual of Egypt and Babylonia.^" To us the command brings an exigent prohi- bition of profanity and irreverence. In many cases, profanity is undoubtedly a skin disease rather than a cancer eating at the heart. But it would be abhorrent for any man to drag his mother's name into the ordinary loathsome camp pro- fanity. Alay one deal more loosely with the name of his God? It used to be said of the Italians, that they ate their bread and cheese on the high altar. It has been said that the practice in the United States is to turn all sacred things into a joke. '0 For a diflferent interpretation, cf. Bade, " The Old Testament in the Light of Today," p. loi. 96 NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [V-2] Fifth Week, Second Day. The fifth and seventh commandments aim to preserve the integrity of the family life and line. It is probable that both commandments were directed to adult males." Children who could be sold into slavery or killed for drunkenness and gluttony (Deut. 21:18-21), probably did not need the fifth commandment. The seventh imposed an obligation upon the husband, such as had always been borne by the wife. The Old Testament offers no remedy for the infinite tragedies of polygamy. Women who hold lightly the bless- ings of Christianity may well recall the scriptural incidents of favoritism, jealousy, and folly, due to the system, and may well remember the words of the traveler, Mrs. Isabella Bird Bishop : "In some countries I have seldom been in a woman's house or near a woman's tent without being asked for a drug with which to disfigure the face of the favorite wife or to poison the favorite wife's infant son. This request has been made of me not less than two hundred times." The home "holds the key to the salvation of the state." Presi- dent Eliot entitles one of his essays, "The Forgotten Mil- lions." He reminds us that as we talk of Fifth Avenue and the "slums," we are forgetting the millions of people in this country who live comfortable, unostentatious, decent lives, love their families, work for the common good. These are the people who ensure the stability of the Republic. Chris- tianity has put new meaning into the old commandment. The ninth commandment insists upon the honor of the lips. It has been noted that the punishment for false witness in Babylonian and Hebrew codes was the same punishment as would have been meted out to a man really guilty of the crime charged. Pope suggests how we today disobey the ancient command : "Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer, And without sneering teach the rest to sneer; Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike, Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike." " Ibid., pp. Ill and ii8ff. 97 [V-2J RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL But "disobedience to this command brought Jesus to the cross." The tenth commandment approaches apparently the lofty- morals of the. New Testament, and insists upon the honor of the heart.'" Many of our own social customs make this last commandment hard to obey. The street cleaner who dodges in and out among the limousines, the little girls whose wan faces peer through the windows of department stores at the amazing array of lingerie — these and others our civili- zation tends to make the victims of "moral overstrain." The Ten Commandments, becoming ever more influential in the life of later Israel, did much to quicken the people's reverence for Jehovah and their sense of obligation, not to all their brother men indeed, but to their brother Hebrews. We miss the positive note of Jesus. Alen do not win salvation by negations. We miss, too, any message of joy- ous and aggressive love for all men everywhere. But it is a striking tribute to these early laws that only one of them, the fourth, has been abrogated, even in outward form, by the increasing revelation of God's will. The Sabbath law is worthy of special study at this point. Professor Jastrow has reminded us'^ that in Babylon the fifteenth day of the month bore the name shabattum. In a cuneiform text we have the equation, "Day of rest of the heart = shabattum." Among superstitious people days of transition have always been days of uncertainty and fear. The day, then, when the moon had completed its growth was a specially anxious time. "The day of rest of the heart was simply a technical term for a day of pacification . . . one on which it was hoped that the angered deity would cease from manifesting his displeasure." It appears also that the days of the moon's quarters were counted in ancient Babylonia as of special religious significance. There is a "link" uniting the Babylonian and early Hebrew Sabbaths. Gradually the Hebrew Sabbath broke from its connection with the phases "But cf. Bad6, "The Old Testament in the Light of Today," p. 128. " Morris Jastrow, "Hebrew and Babylonian Traditions," p. 134S. 98 NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [V-2] of the moon, and occurred every seventh day. In the earHer times the Hebrew Sabbath was a day of festal joy, perhaps not unmixed with fear. The rest from work was incidental. The priestly narrator of the creation story delights in the thought that God rested on the seventh day. And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his "work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it ; because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made. — Gen. 2 : 1-3. He would seek to ensure the rest element of Sabbath ob- servance by suggesting the origin of the Sabbath in the rest of the toiling God. But how transfiguring is the change which has been wrought in the institution of the Sabbath — no longer a day when easily angered gods may be wisely implored to pacify and to rest their hearts, but a day when man may rest from his toil, in the memory of the God who rested from his labors of creative love for his world. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God : in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates : for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day : where- fore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. — Exodus 20: 8-1 1. In the Deuteronomic variant of the fourth commandment we have a further enrichment of the meaning of the Sabbath law. Here the Sabbath is a day of grateful remembrance and refreshment, not only for the Hebrew freeman himself, but for the man-servant and the maid-servant as well. The Sabbath, then, is God's gift of love to the tired, and extends its benediction even to the beasts who toil for man.* 99 [V-2] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy, as Jehovah thy God commanded thee. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work ; but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man- servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates ; that thy man-servant and thy maid- servant may rest as well as thou. And thou shalt re- member that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm : therefore Jehovah thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. — Deut. 5 : 12-15. Neither here nor elsewhere in the Old Testament is there any suggestion that those who had themselves been set free from Egyptian bondage should undertake to abolish the in- stitution of slavery. But we do have here, as in many other laws, the purpose to mitigate the hardships of the slave life. It would be well if in our memorizing of the Ten Command- ments we could use the Deuteronomic version of the fourth commxand. Not so much in the superficial imitation of the pictured act of deity, but in the actual elevation of humanity do we find the fundamental purpose of wise Sabbath law. We shall see that in the later years of Israel, the observ- ance of the Sabbath became a burden too heavy to be borne, a burden evaded by all manner of pious fraud ; but a writer says truly that "the Hebrew Sabbath . . . became one of the most significant contributions of the Hebrews to the spiritual treasury of mankind." Missionaries to Africa tell us that a most important advance upon heathenism is made, when the Sabbath enters with its solemn joy into the sad, endless, brutal monotony of the heathen life. Jesus and his interpreter Paul have set us free from the rigid observance of any set day of the week, and bidden us hold every day, as every duty, sacred to God. Our observance of the Lord's Day is not a twentieth century sub- stitute for the ancient observance of the Sabbath ; nor is it our compulsory submission to a law written upon a table of 100 NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [V-3] stone. It is the act of the Christian, who, as Luther says, is "the most free lord of all, and servant of none." FiHh Week, Third Day, 2. A Decalogue before the Decalogue Read Exodus 34, noting its glorious picture of Jehovah (verses 6, 7) and its description of Moses's shining face. Compare II Cor. 3 : 12-18. Behind the brief code which we have studied, there seems to lie an earlier code of Ten Words. In Exodus 34 : 28, we have the statement, "He [Moses] wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments." As we study the preceding verses, we are able with fair certainty to find the Ten Words to which the verse refers. As trans- lated and numbered by Bade (p. 91) they are as follows: (i.) Thou shalt not prostrate thyself before any other god (v. 14). (2.) Thou shalt make thee no molten gods (v. 17). (3.) Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread (v. 18). (4.) Every first-born is mine (v. 19). (5.) The feast of weeks thou shalt observe (v. 22). (6.) And the feast of ingathering at the turn of the year (v. 22). (7,) Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven (v. 25). (8.) The offering of the Passover shall not be left until the morning (v. 25). (9.) The best of the firstlings of thy ground thou shalt bring to the house of Jahveh thy God (v. 26). (10.) Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother's milk (v. 26). Some writers enumerate the laws differently; some add the Sabbath law (v. 21). In these early laws there is far more emphasis upon ritual than upon righteousness. When our missionaries first went to the South Seas and to Micronesia, they found among the natives a ritual of great influence. As soon as the people Id [V-3] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL became responsive to the new teaching, they were extremely anxious to know just how to practice the white man's wor- ship/* This early decalogue speaks of a time when the grave problem -of religion was this: "How shall I come before Jehovah? What taboo or divine prohibition must one ob- serve ?" But the position of a people is not so important as their direction. These early laws were for the most part moving toward loftier conceptions of the character of God and the task of man. 3. "The Book of the Covenant" Passages from Exodus 20:22 to 23: ig Read rapidly Exodus 21-23: 19 as a study in early law, and a picture of early Hebrew culture. From the maze of laws, civil and religious, which we meet as we study the Pentateuch, we may select as typical and almost certainly early the section commonly called the Book of the Covenant.^' The laws answer such questions as these : "How shall we treat slaves? How shall we deal with the man who borrows and misuses the thing he has borrowed? How shall we treat the man who is careless with fire? How shall we deal with a thief, a burglar, a slave-beater, a kid- napper, a murderer?" They reveal the life of a people feel- 14 A striking illustration of the interest of primitive people in the cultus is given by Jean K. Mackenzie in her "The Ten Tyings," Atlantic Monthly, 19 1 6, p. '796fT. Speaking of the communal life of Africa, she says: "To every qualified Christian many such women come, and men come; wherever the Word of God has been accepted in our region there has begun to be a busyness about the practice of religion. The technique of the art of Christian living has always proved to be a matter of immediate excitement. The little brown hut where the foremost Christian lives, the man or woman most ap- proved as expert by the neighbors, becomes a sort of school of technique. . , . 'And that tying about the day of Sunday, how may you do when the head- man has sent you to the beach with a load of rubber? Himself he walks in the caravan, and in his heart is such a hunger for goods that he hates to sleep at night, let alone rest of a Sunday.' " 's The section is not a unit. It includes the "words," the "judgments," and a group of moral and ethical enactments. Encyclopaedia Britannica article on "Exodus," p. 86. 102 NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [V-4I ing the obligations of a settled society, and looking upon every civil obligation as a religious duty. The following pas- sage may serve to illustrate the character of the laws : If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the shocks of grain, or the standing grain, or the iield are consumed ; he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution. If a man shall deliver unto his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man's house ; if the thief be found, he shall pay double. If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall come near unto God. to see whether he have not put his hand unto his neighbor's goods. For every matter of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, whereof one saith, This is it, the cause of both parties shall come before God ; he whom God shall condemn shall pay double unto his neighbor. If a man deliver unto his neighbor an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, to keep ; and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it : the oath of Jehovah shall be between them both, whether he hath not put his hand unto his neighbor's goods ; and the owner thereof shall accept it, and he shall not make restitu- tion. But if it be stolen from him, he shall make resti- tution unto the owner thereof. If it be torn in pieces, let him bring it for witness ; he shall not make good that which was torn. And if a man borrow aught of his neighbor, and it be hurt, or die, the owner thereof not being with it, he shall surely make restitution. — Exodus 22: 6-14. Fifth Week, Fourth Day. 4. Moses and Hammurabi We come now to one of the most fascinating discoveries of modern scholarship. "In the winter of 1901-2, a French expedition, excavating at Susa, the ancient Persepolis, un- covered the fragments of a block of black diorite, which when fitted together formed a great stele. At the upper end of the front side of this is a sculptured bas-relief representing 103 [V-4] RELIGIOUS EXPERIEXCE OF ISRAEL the king Hammurabi receiving his code of laws from the seated sun-god, Shamash. Immediately below the bas-relief is the longest Semitic inscription hitherto discovered. The whole inscription may be estimated to have contained forty- nine columns . . . and about eight thousand words." While some earlier legal inscriptions have been found, this is "the oldest body of laws in existence, and must henceforth form the starting point for the systematic study of historical jurisprudence." Hammurabi was the sixth king of the First Dynasty of Babylon, and reigned 2250 or 2000 B. C. As we have seen (p. 39), he was a superb ruler, a true father of his people. He writes in his epilogue these words : "That the strong may not injure the weak, in order to protect the widow and orphans, I have in Babylon, the city where Anu and Bel raise high their heads, in E-Sagil, the temple, whose foundations stand firm as heaven and earth in order to bespeak justice in the land, to settle all disputes, and heal all injuries, set up these my precious words, written upon my memorial stone, before the image of me, as king of righteousness." It is wonderful to note how modern are the problems which engage the attention of the ancient legislator. For example : What shall be done to the man who offers bribes to a witness in court? What shall be done to the man who lets his sheep feed upon another's land? What shall be done to the man who doesn't keep his dykes in repair ? What shall be done to conspirators, found meeting in the house of a tavern keeper? The back room of a saloon has been an object of concern to lawmakers and judges for a goodly number of years. But the supreme interest of the discovery lies in the similarities and contrasts between the code of Hammurabi and that of "Moses." The Hebrew lawgiver himself lived at least seven hundred years after the lawgiver of Babylon, and many "Mosaic" laws bear evidences of enunciation in still later centuries. 104 NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [V-4] The similarities between the two codes are, at points, very- striking. Note the law of personal injury: Exodus 21 : i8, 19 : And if men contend, and one smite the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keep his bed ; if he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit : only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed. Ham. 206 : If a man has struck a man in a quarrel, and has caused him a wound, that man shall swear, "I did not strike him knowingly," and shall answer for the doc- tor. Ham. 196, 197: If a man has caused the loss of a gentle- man's eye, one shall cause his eye to be lost. If he has shattered a gentleman's limb, one shall shatter his limb. Lev. 24: 19: And if a man cause a blemish in his neigh- bor ; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him : breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth ; as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be rendered unto him. There are laws of the Mosaic code which formulate one procedure for the free man, another for the slave; but there is no Mosaic law which holds the poor man cheaper than his rich neighbor. Again note the law against kidnapping: Ham. 14: If a man has stolen the young son of a freeman, he shall be put to death. Exodus 21 : 16 : And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. At times the code of Hammurabi seems more merciful than the Mosaic code. Thus : Ham. 195 : If a man has struck his father, one shall cut off his hands. Exodus 21:15: He that smit- eth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death. Usually the more ancient code is harsher, take the fugitive slave law : 105 For example, iV-4] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL Ham. i6: If a man has har- Deut. 23: 15, 16: Thou shalt boured in his house a man- not dehver unto his master a servant or a maid-servant servant that is escaped from fugitive from the palace, or his master unto thee: he from a poor man, and has shall dwell with thee, in the not produced them at the de- midst of thee, in the place mand of the commandant, which he shall choose within that householder shall be put one of thy gates, where it to death. pleaseth him best: thou shalt not oppress him. At this point, the Mosaic law (here the Deuteronomic law) reveals a far loftier humanitarianism than that of Ham- murabi, loftier indeed than that of the fugitive slave law in the United States. The Babylonian and Mosaic codes contain many almost identical laws, and present some cases of- actual verbal agree- ment. This fact means simply that Babylonian influence had extended throughout the Semitic world, and that Israel's lawgivers utilized some of the ancient laws which were adapted to the Israelitish situation. But while the code of Hammurabi consists of the enactments of a benevolent despot, content with one law for the "gentleman," another law for the "poor man," the Old Testament laws are "those of an essentially democratic people." Moreover, the earlier code is a civil code. It deals with certain ecclesiastical affairs, but not with the "religious" aspects of life. While the laws are the gift of the sun-god Shamash, there is no special insistence on religious motives. The glory of the Old Testament laws is their emphasis upon the relation of Israel to Jehovah. The nest of the little bird is not to be mistreated, weights and measures are not to be juggled; why? Jehovah loves justice and dooms the cruel. To the Hebrew, every civil law presents a corollary from the funda- mental proposition of Hebrew thinking : "We are Jehovah's people." Wrong is not crime, alone; it is sin against Je- hovah. Obedience to law is the human response to the divine plea :• "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and 106 NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [V-5] how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto my- self. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be mine own possession from among all peoples" (Exodus 19:4, 5). The discovery of the ancient law code gives us a new appreciation of our debt to the Babylonian civilization. (By the way, it has been suggested that every time a man looks at his watch he acknowledges his debt to the astronomers of Babylon.) It helps us to realize that the laws of "Moses" are not a kind of Jonah's gourd, springing up in a night ; but rather, a great tree with many branches, and also with many roots, a tree fed by heaven's rain and heaven's dew. The discovery leads us to a bigger God, whose light shines not alone upon Israel, but upon every man coming into the world, upon every nation which at any time has sought the peace and the power of justice.'*' Fifth Week, Fifth Day. 5. The Tabernacle A writer says : "The arrival of the Israelites at Sinai marks the greatest of all turning points in Israel's history. We reach what was the core and kernel of the nation's life, the covenant by which all the tribes were united in allegiance to one God, and the laws — ritual, social, and moral — upon which the covenant was based. It was a very small nation, a mere collection of nomad clans. But their supreme importance, greater than that of any other of the great nations of the earth, lay not in their history or in the extent of their territory, but in the fact that they contained the germ out of which grew the kingdom of God. And the germ was planted at the mountain of God." In his religious organization of his people, Moses in- augurated or authorized certain ceremonies, the ritual of the worship of Jehovah. ^6 The entire Code of Hammurabi, with valuable discussion, may be found in H. B. D., extra volume, under title, "Code of Hammurabi." 107 [V-5] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it without the camp, afar off from the camp; and he called it, The tent of meeting. And it came to pass, that every one that sought Jehovah went out unto the tent of meeting, which was without the camp. And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the Tent, that all the people rose up, and stood, every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the Tent. And it came to pass, when Moses entered into the Tent, the pillar of cloud descended, and stood at the door of the Tent: and Jehovah spake with Moses. And all the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the Tent : and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man at his tent door. And Jehovah spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp : but his minister Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the Tent. — Exodus 33:7-11- The tabernacle of the wilderness was — at first, certainly — a tent outside the camp, to which Moses and his attendant repaired to hear the oracles of Jehovah.^' Within the tent of meeting was the ark, a chest not unlike the portable shrines of other Semitic peoples. For centuries the ark was doubtless regarded by the common people not only as the symbol of Jehovah's presence, but actually as "the focus of divine powers." Defeats were attributed to the absence of the ark from the armies, victories were expected from its presence. And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up to the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we are here, and will go up unto the place which Jehovah hath promised : for we have sinned. And Moses said. Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of Jehovah, seeing it shall not prosper? Go not up, for Jehovah is not among you ; that ye be not smitten down before your enemies. For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and ye shall fall by the >7 Later writers, touched by the glamour of the memories of Solomon's temple, glorified the simple cJd tent of meeting, and conceived of it as a kind of movable temple, always in the center of the camp, surrounded by the thousands of thousands of Israel. 108 NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [V-6] sword : because ye are turned back from following Jehovah, therefore Jehovah will not be with you. But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain : nevertheless the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. Then the Amalekite came down, and the Canaanite who dwelt in that mountain, and smote them and beat them down, even unto Hormah. — Num. 14 : 40-45. Compare I Sam. Chapters 4 and 5, But a god who journeys with his people in their journey- ings, fights with his people when his ark is with them, is not imprisoned in or near some definite "sacred" tree or hill or well. Even the crude popular thought of Jehovah was moving toward the conception of a God who could go with those who fight, and stay with those who abide at home, "and be everywhere for good"; the conception, that is, of an omnipresent, benevolent God. Fiitb Week, Sixth Day. Concluding Notes a. The Death of Moses And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And Jehovah showed him all the land of • Gilead, unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the hinder sea, and the South, and the Plain >Df the valley of Jericho the city of palm-trees, unto Zoar. And Jehovah said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, say- ing, I will give it unto thy seed : I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. So Moses the servant of Jehovah died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of Jehovah. And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab over against Beth-peor : but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died : his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. — Deut. 34: 1-7. 109 [V-6] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL "Next to Christ himself, Moses is the greatest 'founder' of reHgion." To him three faiths, Judaism, Christianity, and Mohammedanism, own allegiance. The man himself was greater than his deeds. The crude reformer of the early days, child of generous impulse, disciplined by the lonely years in Midian, inspired by his experience of Jehovah, be- came one of those to whom God reveals himself, one of those who "Rise to their feet, as He passes by. Gentlemen unafraid." His passionate devotion to Jehovah ministered to a passion- ate, self-forgetful devotion to Jehovah's people and their highest interests. One should underscore the dramatic prayer : "Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin — ; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written" (Exodus 32:31-33). He knows no failure but the failure of his people, no success apart from theirs. The lonely man had guided his wayward, stubborn, vacillat- ing people to the border of the Land of Promise. And now he longed to set foot upon the land to which his pilgrim thoughts had been journeying through all the years. But he heard the divine mandate, "Thou shalt not go over this Jordan." But to him, as to other men who seem just to miss their goal, were given certain great compensations : a. He was permitted to see the good land. It's a great thing to see an ideal, into whose realm one cannot enter. b. He was permitted to select and to strengthen the man who was privileged to lead Israel into the land which he himself could only see from afar. It has been truly said that the greatest contribution to life that a man can make is to share with others both the contagion of his character and his best vision. c. He learned, what every brave and disappointed man may learn : "In the will of God is our peace." And so he died, no NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [V-7] and no man knows the place of his burial to this day. It is better so. The master had done his work, and his tomb, if known, would have been through the subsequent ages the goal of idolatrous pilgrimages. "Let the thick curtain fall; I better know than all How little I have gained, How vast the unattained. . . . Sweeter than any sung My songs that found no tongue; Nobler than any fact My wish that failed of act. Others shall sing the song, Others shall right the wrong, — Finish what I begin, And all I fail of win. . . . Hail to the coming singers ! Hail to the brave light-bringers ! Forward I reach and share All that they sing and dare." — Whittier, "My Triumph." At the Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah are seen talking with the Master of us all. The Revelator hears the heavenly chorus singing the song of Moses and the Lamb, the song of the lawgiver and of the Redeemer. Fifth Week, Seventh Day, b. The Creed of an Israelite at Kadesh Could we have questioned one of the more intelligent of the Israelites who gathered about the ancient springs of Kadesh, concerning his people and his faith, he might have answered in some such way as this : "The fathers of our people came from the land of Mesopotamia, and the home of the moon-god. But by an impulse of religion, they were driven from the oldtime home and at last they entered Canaan, the land which even now seems to lie just beyond III [V-q] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL our reach. Forced by hunger some of the family moved down into Egypt, and prospered in the time of Joseph our ancestor. But as our numbers increased, we were made serfs, objects of hate, suspicion, and fear. But a man came at the fateful time to set us free. Moses called us to the worship of the true God, whose name is Jehovah. By a mighty hand our God rescued us from the mighty gods of Egypt. By Moses Jehovah has led us through the wilderness. At the mountain of Sinai we received the laws of our dread and mighty God. If we obey these laws, we live; if we disobey, we die. The sacred ark in the tent of meeting without the camp is the symbol, yes, the throne of our God, and our leader is the mediator between us and our God. Other nations have their gods, living and strong, but for us there is only one God to worship. He goes with us, fights our battles for us. Yet his proper seat is Sinai [Horeb]. Je- hovah is ours, and we are his. His fate is knit with ours, and ours in turn with his. We quarrel often, one clan with another, we are jealous each of the other; ever and again we have proved unworthy of our leader and our God ; but our enemies, our leader, and our God have bound us together, and we are one people, Jehovah's possession." Even while answering our questions, this Israelite might fall in terror before the thunder, "the voice" of God. He would confess to fear when in the neighborhood of certain trees or stones, wells or hills, held sacred because haunted by spirits, bad or good. QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND DISCUSSION 1. Why may the ambitions and enterprises of Ramses II have affected harmfully the Hebrews in Egypt? 2. Compare and contrast Moses's experience at the burning bush with the experience of a man who decides to become a foreign missionary. Why should early attempts at reforma- tion make harder the conditions to be reformed? 3. Discuss the origin and development of the Feast of the 112 NATIONAL LIFE AND FAITH [V-q] Passover. Try to learn how the Jews in your community celebrate the feast. What elements of the feast are preserved in the Lord's Supper? 4. If you had been a witness of the crossing of the Red Sea, what would you have seen? 5. All the "spies" dealt with the same general facts. How do you account for the record that ten brought back an unfavorable report, while two urged immediate advance? Do you meet with a similar grouping of men, who inquire of the promised land of a cooperative commonwealth, a federa- tion of the world? 6. Compare and contrast the "decalogues" of Exodus 34, Exodus 20, and Deut. 5. Would you expect to find among the primitive and "immoral" tribes of Africa much or little observance of ritual in religion? 7. Compare and contrast the Laws of Hammurabi with those of the Mosaic Code. Do you hold views of the Bible which make you afraid of possible "finds" of the archeolo- gists or of other scientists? 8. If a man thought that his god had his seat upon a mountain, yet was present in or near a movable ark, would he have a higher or a lower idea of deity than the man who believed that his god dwelt exclusively near some shrine, some tree, well, or stone? Give reason for your answer. 113 CHAPTER IV Conquest and Chaos The Period of Joshua and the Judges Introductory When the desert tribes of Israel found themselves at last in Canaan, they stood face to face with a civilization already at least fifteen hundred years old. The Canaanites lived in cities with massive walls, were skilled and far-ranging merchants, who offered at once serious obstacles and seductive tempta- tions to the hardy warriors of Israel, Palestine was not a land of far distances. The territory within her usual limits was but "slightly larger than Vermont." There was little unoccupied land to welcome the invaders. Before the time of the Conquest, too, "a Mediterranean people called Philistines , . . had migrated from the island of Crete, to the sea plain at the southwest corner of Palestine. By 1 100 B. C. these Philistines formed a highly civilized and war- like nation,, or group of city-kingdoms.'" Our studies now will give us glimpses of the days in which, by slaughter or enslavement, the Israelites tried to find stand- ing-room, elbow-room, in Canaan. We shall see that the would-be conquerors were often conquered; that local heroes won local victories ; and that now and then the tribesmen heard the summons to wider conquest and to loftier faith. I. VICTORIES AND VICTORS Sixth Week, First Day. I. Joshua and Jericho Read rapidly Josh. Chapters i to 6, to get the atmosphere of » Breasted, "Ancient Times." p. 203. 114 CONQUEST AND CHAOS [Vl-i] the book, and an appreciation of the personality of Israel's new leader. The great adventure into the Land of Promise was left to Moses's successor. Joshua, soldier of Jehovah, is by no means so hispiring a character as Moses ; but he is good to look upon. The record puts into his lips one speech well worthy of the man upon whom Moses had put his spirit. The speech brings before us three permanent, unescapable elements of life: Freedom, Service, Crisis. Now therefore fear Jehovah, and serve him in sin- cerity and in truth ; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt; and serve ye Jehovah. And if it seem evil unto you to serve Jehovah, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell : but as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah. — Josh. 24: 14, 15. You are free, certainly, but free only to serve. You may serve the gods of the heathen round about; you may serve the gods beyond the River and in Egypt; you may serve Jehovah. Don't you want to serve? You will know then a fatal service. "Last night my soul drove out to sea, Down through the pagan gloom. As chartless as eternity. As dangerous as doom. By blinding gusts of no-god chased, My crazy craft plunged on ; I crept aloft in prayer to find The light-house of the dawn. No shore, no star, no sail ahead. No lookout's saving song ; Death and the rest athwart my bow, And all my reckoning wrong." And this day is the day of choice. Why the haste? Are 115 [VI-i] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL there not more summers in the sky? Perhaps, but the new summers in the sky bring only dark, cold, dead winter to the heart. We shall remember Joshua by that speech recorded of him; and repeat for ourselves its closing words : "As for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah." The conquest of Canaan began with the capture of Jericho. The solemn march in silence around the city, day following day; the sharp and sudden shout, the sounding of the rams' horns, may well have deeply impressed the superstitious dwellers in Jericho. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of Jehovah. And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of Jehovah went on continually, and blew the trumpets : and the armed men went before them ; and the rearward came after the ark of Jehovah, the priests blowing the trumpets as they went. And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so" they did six days. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early at the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times : only on that day they compassed the city seven times. — Josh. 6: 12-15. Rahab may have bought the safety of her family at the price of treachery. "That her [Jericho's] walls fell to the sound of Joshua's trumpets is no exaggeration, but the soberest summary of all her history. Judaea could never keep her. She fell to Northern Israel, till Northern Israel perished. She fell to Bacchides and the Syrians. She fell to Aristobulus. , . . She fell without a blow to Pompey ; and at the approach of Herod and again of Vespasian her people deserted her. . . . Her people seem never to have been distinguished for bravery, and indeed in that climate how could they? It was impos- sible they could be warriors, or anything but irrigators, pad- dlers in water and soft earth. No great man was born in Jericho ; no heroic deed was ever done in her. She has been called 'the key' and 'the guardhouse' of Judaea ; she was only 116 CONQUEST AND CHAOS [VI-2] the pantry. She never stood a siege, and her inhabitants were always running away."' Sixth Week, Second Day. 2. The Conquest Incomplete The pitilessness of the wars of conquest may be frankly admitted. The standards of the ancient warriors were not our standards, and yet some of the fighters of the twentieth century cannot afford to throw stones at their predecessors. The tales of destruction are relieved from loathsomeness, partly by the remembrance of the unspeakable rottenness of Canaanitish civilization, partly by the remembrance of the crude and barbaric idealism which made Israel's fight not merely a fight for territory, but a fight for the God of Israel. To the tribesmen of Israel the biggest cause was the victory of their God over the gods of Canaan. To their thought, Jehovah was the inspiration of all their warfare ; to him they rendered thanks for victory; the spoils of war were his. Naturally the stories* of triumph and deliverance have been more carefully preserved than the stories of defeat. Once at least the victory was so complete that an ancient poem, quoted by the book of Joshua, declared that the sun and moon stood still till the long battle was won.^ Then spake Joshua to Jehovah in the day when Jehovah delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel; and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon ; And thou, Moon, in the valley of Aijalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, Until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stayed in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. — Josh. 10 : 12, 13. 2 G. A. Smith, "Historical Geography of the Holy Land," p. 26~S. (an important and stimulating book). 3 How curious it is to remember that Luther said of Copernicus, "The fool will upset the whole science of astronomy. But as the Holy Scripture shows, Joshua commanded the sun, not the earth, to stand still." 117 [VI-2] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL The conquest of the land was far from complete. In the stories of the book of Judges and in those of I Samuel, we note evidences that the Canaanites and Philistines lived their own lives in the land, pursued their own religions, and were now and again the masters of Israel. A writer calls our attention to the fact that there was a zone of Canaanitish cities, which effectually separated southern Israel from the tribes of the north, and prevented therefore the unity of sentiment which would have promoted unity of national life. 3. Caleb, the Veteran Then the children of Judah drew nigh unto Joshua in Gilgal : and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that Jehovah spake unto Moses the man of God concerning me and concerning thee in Kadesh-barnea. Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of Jehovah sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land ; and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt; but I wholly followed Jehovah my God. And Aloses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy foot hath trodden shall be an inheritance to thee and to thy children for ever, because thou hast wholly followed Jehovah my God. And now, behold, Jehovah hath kept me alive, as he spake, these forty and five years, from the time that Jehovah spake this word unto Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness : and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, and to go out and to come in. Now therefore give me this hill- country, whereof Jehovah spake in that day ; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakim were there, and cities great and fortified : it may be that Jehovah will be with me, and I shall drive them out, as Jehovah spake. — Josh. 14 : 6-12, The editor of the book of Joshua has rescued from the debris of the years the story of Caleb, one of the two spies who in the old days had brought back to Moses and the 118 Conquest and chaos [vi-3] wilderness wanderers ^ good report from the Promised Land. " 'Tis not the grapes of Canaan that repay, But the high faith that failed not by the way." With the glorious, all-sufficing faith of the younger days, the aged man asks, not for an easy berth, not for a grant of land bestowed by a grateful people, but for one more hard job, the conquest of the hill country, held by the Anakim, whose cities are great and fortified. The story may be a tale grow- ing out of the life of a clan rather than a man ; but the request of the veteran thrills one as does the word of Tennyson'* aged Ulysses to his comrades : "My purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the paths Of all the western stars, until I die. It may be that the gulfs will wash us down : It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles, And see the great Achilles, whom we knew. Tho' much is taken, much abides : and tho' We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are ; One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." The petty isolated offensive of Caleb gives us probably a fair idea of the sporadic military operations of the Hebrews in the earlier days of their settlement in Canaan. The achievement of Deborah is of exceptional importance, for it reveals an entente of some of the northern tribes,. prophetic of actual national unification. Sixth Week, Third Day. 4. Deborah, the Hebrew Jeanne d'Arc Read Judges 5. . For that the leaders took the lead in Israel, For that the people offered themselves willingly. Bless ye Jehovah. 119 VI-3J RELIGIOUS EXPERIEXCE OE ISRAEL Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto Jehovah ; I will sing praise to Jehovah, the God of Israel. Jehovah, when thou wentest forth out of Seir, When thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, The earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, Yea, the clouds dropped water. The mountains quaked at the presence of Jehovah, Even yon Sinai at the presence of Jehovah, the God of Israel. . . . Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, utter a song: Arise, Barak, and lead away thy captives, thou son of Abinoam. . . . The kings came and fought; Then fought the kings of Canaan, In Taanach by the waters of Megiddo : They took no gain of money. From heaven fought the stars. From their courses they fought against Sisera. The river Kishon swept them away, That ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, march on with strength. — Judges 5:2-5, 12, 19-21. The Song of Deborah is one of the oldest war songs of literature. One must read it aloud to get the swing and the fire of it. The Canaanites are masters. The Hebrew peasants and travelers skulk in the bypaths, no shield or spear among forty thousand in Israel. Then, "I Deborah arose, I a mother in Israel." We can see the tribesmen gather to the conflict; Zebulun and Naphtali gamble with their lives on the high places of the field. Just over there, the men of Reuben sit on the ash-heaps of their villages, listening to the pipings for the flocks, talking, talking, everlastingly talking ; over yon- der Dan and Asher, having a good time by the sea ; ships, cup- races, and all the rest! "Curse ye Meroz . . ." Why this hot attack upon this little town, of which today we have no trace, a town presumably made up of perfectly decent people, who cared for their families and paid their debts as well as most of us? 120 CONQUEST AND CHAOS [VI-4] Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, Because they came not to the help of Jehovah, To the help of Jehovah against the mighty. —Judges 5:23. But the stars fought from heaven, the ancient river Kishon swept away Israel's enemy. The mother of Sisera peers through her lattice window : "Why is his chariot so long in coming?" But it will not come/ "So let all thine enemies perish, O Jehovah." Still divided, still mutually jealous, as were our thirteen colonies before the fires of the Revolution welded them to- gether, the tribes of northern Israel were summoned by Deborah to national unity in the struggle for national triumph, "in the name of the religious ideal." The song, then, marks a distinct advance toward this unity of national life under the national protector, Jehovah. With the victories of Gideon, we see still further progress toward national feeling and effort. Sixth Week, Fourth Day. 5. The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon Read Judges 6, 7, and 8, for portrait of Gideon, for the famous story of the Three Hundred, and for appreciation of social and religious conditions. And the angel of Jehovah came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite : and his son Gideon was. beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of Jehovah appeared unto him, and said unto him, Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. And Gideon said unto him. Oh, my lord, if Jehovah is with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not Jehovah bring us up from Egypt? but now Jehovah hath cast us off, and delivered us into 4 Deborah jubilantly praises Jael for a breach of one of the earliest laws of hospitality. The killing of Sisera was the act of a chaotic and cruel age, which was only beginning to feel the touch of the law-abiding and loving God. 121 [VI-4J RELIGIOUS EXPERIEXCE OF ISRAEL the hand of Midian. And Jehovah looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian : have not I sent thee^ And he said unto him, Oh, Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? be- hold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. And Jehovah said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man. And he said unto him, If now I have found favor in thy sight, then show me a sign that it is thou that talkest with me. Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and lay it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. — Judges 6:ii-i8. At the time of harvest, nomads from the desert sweep over the fields of the tribesmen of Manasseh. Young Gideon is flailing his wheat — where ? Not upon the open threshing floor, exposed to the wind — and to the enemy — but in a wine- press. He hears a divine voice, "Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valor." Gideon thinks to himself, "Mighty man of valor? That is certainly quite a title for the least in my father's house, of a family the poorest in Manasseh; for a man so frightened that he must beat out his wheat in a wine-press." But the voice comes to him again : "Surely I will be with thee and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man." The spirit of Jehovah clothes itself with Gideon (cf. Judges 6:34, margin), and his three hundred men learn the battle cry, "The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon." The cowards gone, the careless gone, Gideon's little band drives the Midianites back into the desert. Says Morgan Gibbon: "You know that large collection of errors, the multiplication table. It is as full of mistakes as it is of figures; but it con- tains no bigger mistake than this, that twice one is simply two, and that ten times one is ten. Nonsense ! Twice one now is not simply two, but two plus their unity. Ten men working together, each man working heartily, what have you? You have ten times one man plus their unity, plus the enthu- siasm born of cooperation, plus all the incalculable energies that are born only when heart is joined to h;eart and soul is joined to soul." 122 COXOUEST AXD CHAOS [VI-5] Gideon has been sometimes styled the first king of Israel. Such victories as his did much to confirm the faith of Israel in Israel's chosen deity, to intensify the national self-con- sciousness. A writer says : "To bleed for others' wrongs, In vindication of a cause, to draw The sword of the Lord and Gideon — oh, that seems The flower and top of life." It is suggestive of the chaos of the times that the narrative soon swings away from Gideon, the astute and courageous vindicator of a cause, to Samson, the joking Hercules, who likes to tie foxes* tails together, and a firebrand to the joined tails, to burn the fields of his enemies, God's enemies. This man is not interested to win "the flower and top of life." He will sleep awhile, and then go and shake himself as at other times, and think up some new riddles, some new deviltry. Sixth Week, Fifth Day. 6. The Weak Giant Read Judges 14 to 16 for character study, and for better understanding of the times. The story of Samson has furnished much food for thought to the small boys of many centuries. On the housetops in the hours of leisure, Hebrew fathers would tell their children of the old days, when there was no king, when every man did that which was right in his own eyes, when Samson arose, the giant who was so strong that he could beat everything and everyone but himself, "stand everything but temptation." A child of prayer, by choice God's devotee, the young man finds complete satisfaction in exasperating the Philistines. And she said unto him. How canst thou say, I love thee, when thy heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged 123 [VI-5] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL him, that his soul was vexed unto death. And he told her all his heart, and said unto her. There hath not come a razor upon my head ; for I have been a Nazirite unto God from my mother's womb : if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philis- tines, saying. Come up this once, for he hath told me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought the money in their hand. And she made him sleep upon her knees ; and she called for a man, and shaved off the seven locks of his head ; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And she said. The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free. But he knew not that Jehovah was departed from him. — Judges i6 : 15-20. The question put to him by Delilah we often ask, for a better purpose, of the Samson-like man: "Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth." In antiquity the hair was supposed to be a seat of strength; but it may be that with Samson, as with the other strong men of the world, the real seat of strength lay in the fact that he was God's man, God's friend. Let him dally with the Philistines, tell his secrets to the enemies of Jehovah, he may not know im- mediately that "Jehovah is departed from him"; he will grind in the prison house with slaves, "blind, blind, irrecoverably blind." In the gallery of memory, one may well hang a picture of the big, blind, blundering giant, whose hair has grown again, whose thought is of vengeance and of God; who feels cautiously for the pillars of the house, beneath and upon whose roof are crowds of his enemies and God's; who strengthens himself with one last prayer that in his death he may kill those who have defied his God.' Samson is not to be thought of as a judge in the modern 6 It is strange to consider that the town of Gaza, with its traditions of the old giant, now carrying off the city gates, now grinding in the city prison, has been in our own day (1917) the scene of fierce conflicts between Turkish and British armies. 124 CONQUEST AND CHAOS [VI-6] sense of the term. He seems rather to have been a crude and boisterous "hero" of the time. His story well illustrates the prevalent social chaos, the frequent subjection of the Hebrew clansmen to their neighbors, and the strange mingling of devotion with unbridled passion and violence, which charac- terized the average Israelite. II. THE WAYS OF RELIGION Sixth Week, Sixth Day. I. The Cruelty of Religion And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to Jehovah, the God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done ; hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua, and said. Of a truth I have sinned against Jehovah, the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done : when I saw among the spoil a goodly Babylonish mantle, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them ; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. And they took them from the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel ; and they laid them down before Jehovah. And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them up unto the valley of Achor. And Joshua said. Why hast thou troubled us? Jehovah shall trouble thee this day. A^nd all Israel stoned him with stones ; and they burned them with fire, and stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones, unto this day; and Jehovah turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called^ The valley of Achor, unto this day. — Josh. 7: 19-26. Of the pitiless character of the early wars of conquest we have already spoken. The story of the Salem witchcraft 125 . [VI-6] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL delusion is a little window through which we may look out upon the landscape of the law and life of our own fore- fathers ; so the story of Achan opens out upon large ranges of the religious life of the Israelites in the early days of their experience' in Canaan. In a moment of temptation a man stole a wedge of gold and a Babylonish garment. He was stoned to death, all his family and all his cattle were de- stroyed, yes, and the very tent he dwelt in. Such was the solidarity of the family and such the sin of stealing from Jehovah the "devoted thing" that Jehovah's anger could be appeased only by the slaughter of the sinner and the destruc- tion of all that might be dear to him. We shall see how Israel was extricated from the cruelty of this type of thought. But even as we note the cruelty, we are bound to note as well the passionate religious conviction lying behind the cruelty : "We are Jehovah's people. The defeat of Jehovah's people is not due to the strength of the enemy, but to treachery within the camp." Among the unthinking populace this con- viction would become mere superstition : "God must prosper us, if we perform the ceremonies of his cult." Among the loftier souls of Israel, this passionate conviction would issue in the mastery of life through trustful surrender to Jehovah. Another tragic illustration of the prevalent cruelty of religion is given us in the story of Jephthah's daughter (Judges ii:3ofif.), to which reference has already been made (p. 50). A vow whose performance would violate every sentiment of humanity and fatherly love must be performed. It seems as if the thought of the Deuteronomic command were always in the minds of the early Hebrews : "That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt observe and do ; according as thou hast vowed unto Jehovah thy God" (Deut. 23:23). 2. The Crudity of Religious Conceptions Read Judges 17 and 18, which show that the early Hebrews were not lacking in humor, even if they were lacking in some of the finer graces. • 126 CONQUEST AND CHAOS [VI-6] In Judges 17 and 18 we have a delightfully humorous story, which gives us almost certainly the religious atmosphere which was breathed by the common people in the days of social chaos," A certain man, Micah, had stolen a considerable sum of money from his mother. Troubled by his mother's curse upon the unknown thief, he confessed. The lady was so delighted with her son's sudden honesty that she "took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image : and it was in the house of Micah." Micah at first installed one of his own sons as priest in his house of gods. But after a while, a young Levite, or theolog, if you will, as he searched for a "position," found his way to Micah's house. Micah made him his house-chaplain. Some raiding Danites — also Hebrews, it will be observed — carried off the several objects of worship. They also cheerfully suggested to the young chaplain : "Go with us, and be to us a father and a priest : is it better for thee to be priest unto the house of one man, or to be priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel?" And the priest's heart was glad ! A religion, this, which is by no means free from idolatry, which is ignorant or oblivious of the second commandment of the decalogue, a religion which finds still in the image "the focus of divine powers," a reli- gion which has little to do with the higher ethics, either in priest or people. The Danites^ raid a land because it is large and because the people are quiet and secure. They want the images because they want God to be with them in their plundering excursions. The priest goes with the robbers because they offer him. a better job. A crude religion, but with the crudity of youth, which is better than the decay of senility. 6 "The nucleus of the story is evidently of great age, and the events it de- scribes may be assigned with some confidence to the generation after the invasion of Joshua." — H. B. D. Ill, p. 358. 7 The story may interest the compiler as explaining the origin of the sanctuary at Dan, one of the shrines most dangerous to the prophetic type of Jehovah worship. 127 [VI-7] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL Sixth Week, Seventh Day. 3. Compromise with the Canaanites Not seldom the conquerors of a country have been them- selves conquered by the culture of the country. The Ca- naanites, with their city kings, w^ith their diplomacy and alliances, with their commerce and their caravans, with their vineyards and olive-yards, with their comparatively elaborate civilization, their society which was called high "though it had run low," introduced the desert tribes of the Hebrews to a new world of wide horizons and great temptations. The gods or baalim of the land were there before Jehovah. Was not Jehovah the god of the desert and the mountains, rather than of the valleys and the vineyards? In India today the Moslems will frequent Hindu festivals, and will adopt Hindu superstitions. At times the Hebrews worshiped the local baals as well as Jehovah. More often they assimilated Jehovah worship to the worship of the Canaanitish deities. Feasts and ceremonies of the "heathen" cult were carried over into the Hebrew worship. The shrines and symbols of local deities became the shrines and symbols of Jehovah. Concluding Note The period, then, portrayed with striking veracity by the book of Judges, with more of idealism by the book of Joshua, was one marked by the entrance of the Hebrews into Canaan, by their conquest of considerable sections of the country, and by their frequent battles for tribal or national existence. During this period, there was a growth of na- tional self-consciousness, accompanied by an increasing con- viction of the protection and power of Jehovah. There was indeed a popular syncretism, or amalgamation, of religions, in which the ordinary worshipers frequently lost the dis- tinction between the God of the Hebrews and the gods of the land; yet Jehovah, the God of Sinai, was no longer a stranger and a sojourner in Canaan. In the worship of Jehovah tliere was much of cruelty and more of crudity, but 128 CONQUEST AND CHAOS [Vl-q] also mach of movement toward loftier conceptions of God and of duty. QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND DISCUSSION 1. Characterize the religious equipment of Israel on enter- ing Canaan. 2. Discuss the religious significance of the victories of Deborah and of Gideon. 3. How would the Hebrews have justified their destruc- tion of their Canaanitish enemies? 4. Discuss the influence of Canaanitish forms of worship, and explain the religious compromises of the Hebrews. Dur- ing much of its career as ruler, the old East India Company, while boasting of its neutrality, openly supported Hindu idolatry. Compare and contrast the position of the Company with that of the conquering Hebrews. Would you expect England today to be more largely influenced by the religions of India, or India to be more largely influenced by the reli- gion of England? 5. Until recently the Chinese have inflicted punishment not only upon the criminal, but upon his family. Could you justify this custom? (Cf. the case of Achan.) 6. Discuss the popular religion of the days of the Judges, as suggested by the story of Micah. 7. Remembering that the book of Judges was to the Hebrews of the later years a kind of picture gallery through which they often walked, what do you think the average Hebrew boy would have gained from his reading of the stories of Deborah, Gideon, Samson, Micah? 129 CHAPTER V Politics and Faith Nationalized Samuel, Saul, David Introductory Seventh Week, First Day, In our study thus far, we have seen the Children of Israel summoned from serfdom into the liberty and priva- tion of the wilderness. We have observed their slow and partial achievement of national self-consciousness, through their common dangers and their common devotion to their God Jehovah. In the Land of Promise they found, as we have seen, a comparatively high civilization. The very name Canaanite was to become another name for "merchant." It was to the temporary advantage of Israel that the Canaanites suf- fered from the lack of political unity. Palestine, with its coastlands, its valleys, its highlands, its striking differences in climate, tended to isolate rather than to unify social groups. The lack of political unity did not prevent the tremendous impact of the Canaanites upon their neighbors. The Philistines had gained territory from the Canaanites, but the Canaanites in turn gave laws, language, and reli- gion to their conquerors. The imposing temples of Philistia were temples of the old Canaanitish deities ; the rites of Philistine worship were the rites taught by the Canaan- ites. The gods which the Philistines took into battle against the Hebrews were gods long worshiped by the ancient people of the land. This experience of a strong and aggres- 130 POLITICS AND FAITH NATIONALIZED [VII-i] sive people, who were to give their name (Philistine) to the whole land of Palestine, was an ominous portent for Israel. What could a few desert clans, with their outlandish worship, do against the ancient, established cults of the land? Surely it was most important for the invaders to keep peace with the gods of the invaded territory. Cen- turies later, when Assyria conquered northern Israel, the new settlers in the land were troubled by lions, and they "spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the law of the god of the land : therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the law of the god of the land" (II Kings 17:26). As the Israelites gradually passed from the nomad to the agricultural life, how important was it for them to know the religious rites which would assure fertility to the land and abundance to the harvests ! It is to be noted, moreover, that the Canaanitish worship was imposing and alluring. There were elaborate shrines with famous and ancient altars. Each shrine had its asherah — apparently a wooden post or mast — and its massebah, or sacred stone. Each shrine had its priest or priests, who performed their rites with passion- ate sincerity, gashing themselves with knives as they cried to their gods. Sacred prostitution was permitted and en- couraged. Probably the most cherished deities were the local representatives of the goddess Astarte, the deity of fertility and reproduction. The baal of a town or region was the consort of the goddess. There were well-known oracles, soothsayers, and wizards, who could lift the veil of mystery which ever hung closely about the life of the Hebrew. In this chapter, we study certain early experiences of the faith of Israel in the land of the baalim, and watch the swift rise of the Hebrew tribes to national unity under the leadership of Samuel the king-maker and of the first two kings of Israel. 131 [VII-i] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL I. The New Faith in Old Canaan The period of conquest and chaos was almost inevitably a period of religious compromise. Jehovah naturally be- came the God of any bit of territory which his worshipers conquered — the baal, the possessor or lord of the land; but Jehovah might wisely be worshiped according to the old and well-tried rites of the Canaanites. As the Hebrews won more and more of the land, Jehovah entered the ancient shrines, as it were, by the front door, while the old faith lingered in the inner and most sacred recesses of the holy places. Breasted suggests that the Canaanites got their promi- nent noses from the Hittites, with whom they largely inter- married, and that "as the Hebrews intermarried with the Canaanites, they received enough Hittite blood to acquire the Hittite type of face." However this may be, it is certain that such intermarriages were very common. The "Mosaic" laws frequently and with good reason condemn these alliances. Women have always been the conservators of religion. It has been said of the women of India that they are enamored of their chains. A Canaanitish woman would not readily surrender the gods of her own country at the behest of a husband, with his worship of a "foreign" god ; nor would she joyfully instruct her children in the ways of Jehovah. The story of four centuries of Hebrew life is the story of the slow and painful extrication of Israel's faith from the serpent coils of the Canaanitish and kindred cults. Very brilliantly does George Adam Smith compare and contrast the story of the Philistines with that of Israel. "Both Philistines and Hebrews were immigrants into the land for whose possession they fought through centuries. . . . Both absorbed the populations they found upon it. Both suc- ceeded to the Canaanite civilization, and came under the fascination of the Canaanite religion. . . . Yet Israel sur- vived, and the Philistine disappeared. Israel attained to a destiny, equalled in the history of mankind only by Greece and Rome, whereas all the fame of the Philistine lies in having served as a foil to the genius of the Hebrews, and 132 POLITICS AND FAITH NATIONALIZED [VII-2] today his name against theirs is the symbol of impenetrable- ness and obscurantism." Seventh Week, Second Day. 2. The Rise and Fall of Saul Read rapidly I Sam. i to 8, noting especially the political conditions out of which the monarchy arose and the reli- gious conditions, revealed by the stories of Eli, his sons, Hannah, and Samuel. As we enter the books of Samuel, we find ourselA^fes slowly emerging from the anarchy of the days of the book of the Judges. The Philistines of the maritime plain, strong in infantry and in chariots, had brought Israel very low ; but here and there were people of the land, who, like Hannah, sought Jehovah with pure prayer and tried to rear their families in his fear. Hannah's son, Samuel, a man of God, who ministered at a high place in the land of Zuph (I Sam. 9:5), was one of those who felt the need of the hour. A young man, coming with his servant to inquire concerning certain strayed asses, was recognized by Samuel as the man whom God would choose for the kingship. Head and shoulders above the rest of the people, Saul commended himself to the seer not less by his modesty than by his stature."^ Now Jehovah had revealed unto Samuel a day before Saul came, saying. To-morrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be prince over my people Israel; and he shall save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked upon my people, because their cry is come unto me. And when Samuel saw Saul, Jehovah said unto him. Behold, the man of whom I spake to thee! this same shall have authority 1 The narrative of I and II Sam. is made up of several different strata of very ancient material, much of which has been worked over by a writer who was supremely interested in the religious teaching of Israel's history. There are two almost complete narratives of the stories of Saul and Samuel and their relations to David. The two accounts of Saul's appointment as king differ in their incidents and in their attitude toward the kingship. [VII-2] RELIGIOUS EXPERIEXCE OF ISRAEL over my people. Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer's house is. And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer ; go up before me unto the high place, for ye shall eat with me to-day : and in the morning I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thy heart. And as for thine asses that were lost three days ago, set not thy mind on them ; for they are found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for thee, and for all thy father's house? And Saul answered and said. Am not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou to me after this manner? . . . Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not that Je- hovah hath anointed thee to be prince over his in- heritance?— I Sam. 9: 15-21; 10: I. Saul soon showed himself worthy of leadership by his daring rescue of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead (I Sam. 11). Saul did not exercise a very effective rule over all the tribes; but his strength and audacity drew after him many men, "whose hearts God had touched" with the patriot- ism which is akin to religion. Successful warfare bound the people more closely to their king. "The enemy makes the nation." The records reveal, however, the growing popularity of a young man of'judah, who won the beautiful and sacrificial friendship of Saul's son, and won at the same time the insane jealousy of Saul himself. The documents leave us in some uncertainty as to the course of David's early career ; but they linger lovingly upon various incidents. Now we see David, the neglected shepherd boy, learning lessons of courage from the wild beasts, and lessons of harmony from the stars. Now we see him playing the harp before Saul to quiet "the evil spirit from Jehovah." Now we see him slaying the giant with the smooth stone from the brook, and teaching the young men of all time not to strive to strut around in Saul's armor. Now we hear the women singing, "Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands." Again we ^34 POLITICS AND FAITH NATIONALIZED [VII-3] see David avoiding the javelin of Saul; again swearing an oath of eternal friendship with Jonathan. The narratives dwell at length upon David's flight and outlawry in the days when he was chased as a partridge through the wilderness. We read of his strange sojourn in the court of the "heathen" Philistine king, Achish of Gath ; of his marriage to the shrewd and gracious woman Abigail. But as our interest cejiters increasingly upon David, we must not forget the son of Saul, whose utter self-abnegation as a friend was matched by his dauntless heroism as a soldier. Nor may we forget, though we remember with a compassion too near neighbor to contempt, the last days of Saul.^ Seventh Week, Third Day. And Samuel said, Though thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And Jehovah anointed thee king over Israel; and Jehovah sent thee on a journey, and said, Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Where- ' fore then didst thou not obey the voice of Jehovah, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah? And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of Jehovah, and have gone the way which Jehovah sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the devoted things, to sacrifice unto Jehovah thy God in Gilgal. And Samuel said, Hath Jehovah as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, 2 Main incidents in the career of Saul: His interview with Samuel, and subsequent election as king. I Sam. 10. His rescue of Jabesh-gilead. I Sam. 11. His mis^ided oath which almost procured the death of Jonathan, and his failure to listen to the best voice he knew. I Sam. 14, 15. His insane jealousy of David. I Sam. 18 to 23. 26. His consultation with the witch of En-dor. I Sam. 28. His battle and suicide on Mount Gilboa. I Sam. 31. [VII-3] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL and stubbornness is as idolatry and terap^im. Because thou hast rejected the word of Jehovah, he hath also rejected thee from being king. — I Sam. 15: 17-23. Saul went out to battle against Israel's implacable enemy, the Amalekites. According to the narrative, Amalek had been "devoted" to absolute destruction, because, in the days of wilderness wandering long before, the robber tribe had peculiarly harassed the weary and beaten forces of Israel. Saul's campaign against Amalek was a success ; but, moved perhaps by cupidity rather than by charity, Saul saved the king of the Amalekites and the best of the spoil. Samuel met Saul with words of condemnation and rejection. "And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before Jehovah in Gilgal. . . . And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death" (I Sam. 15:33, 35)- The old prophet had loved the brave and modest soldier king, and had probably rejoiced in his appointment and in his achievements. One document, indeed, expresses the thought that to Samuel the organization of the kingdom itself was an apostasy from Jehovah. Jehovah himself was to be the only king of Israel. • Whatever may have been Samuel's actual attitude toward the kingship, it is interesting to ask whether the rule of a king is an advance upon a so-called theocracy or rule of God. If Jehovah is the king of Israel, the problem at once arises: Who shall interpret the will of Jehovah? Who, indeed, but the prophet, the speaker for God? Now this is all very well, so long as the prophet is properly identified, and lives and prophesies correctly. But what if the prophet dies, and leaves two sons to abuse his holy office? When Jesus Christ is proclaimed king of Florence, how is Florence to know what Jesus Christ wills for the city? Surely Savonarola will interpret the will of the unseen, unheard Christ. But what if Savonarola misinterpret the will of Christ? The thought that Israel should have no other king than 136 POLITICS AND FAITH NATIONALIZED [VII-3] Jehovah may be the reflection of a later age, which had drunk deep of the bitterness of the rule of a despot. The estrangement between Samuel and Saul led the prophet, not to abandon the monarchy in favor of a theocracy, but to seek and anoint a new candidate for the kingship, David. Saul fought a series of battles against Israel's foremost enemy, the Philistines. At last "he gathered all Israel to- gether, and they encamped in Gilboa. . , . And when Saul inquired of Jehovah, Jehovah answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim,^ nor by prophets," the three ordinary means of supposedly divine communication. And now the night before the battle, we see Saul, in disguise, slipping away from the camp to visit a necromancer, that she may call up his old friend-enemy Samuel from the realm of the shades. It is all very pitiful. Saul got no comfort from his communion with the dead. He and his men went away in the night. Now the Philistines fought against Israel : and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. And the Philistines fol- lowed hard upon Saul and upon his sons ; and the Phil- istines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers overtook him ; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers. Then said Saul to his armorbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armor- bearer would not ; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell upon it. — I Sam. 31 : 1-4. And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son (and he bade them teach the children of Judah the song of the bow : behold, it is written in the book of Jashar) : Thy glory, O Israel, is slain upon thy high places I How are the mighty fallen ! Tell it not in Oath, Publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon; 3 Probably the sacred lot. [VII-3] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gilboa, Let there be no dew nor rain upon you, neither fields of offerings : For there the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away. The shield of Saul, not anointed with oil. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, The bow of Jonathan turned not back, And the sword of Saul returned not empty. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, And in their death they were not divided: They were swifter than eagles, They were stronger than lions. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, Who clothed you in scarlet delicately, Who put ornaments of gold upon your apparel. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle I Jonathan is slain upon thy high places. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: Very pleasant hast thou been unto me : Thy love to me was wonderful. Passing the love of women. How are the mighty fallen. And the weapons of war perished! — n Sam. 1 : 17-27. The exquisite elegy attributed to David states the essential truth regarding Saul. He was the man for his time. ' He became a child of failure, because his God was not at. the hot center of his life. It is probably suggestive that in the earliest days it was Saul's servant, not Saul himself, who knew about the man of God, of whom inquiry might be made regarding the lost asses. As Saul pushed God off to the periphery of his life, jealousy, fear, and superstition found lodgment at the center. As he disobeyed Samuel, he refused to listen to the best voice he knew, the voice of God's man. He contributed to the strength of the union between tribe and tribe; but he added little to the strength of the union between the tribes and their God. Upon his death, the domination of the Philistines was almost undisputed, while 138 POLITICS AND FAITH NATIONALIZED [VII-4] his great armor hung a dedicated trophy in the temple of the Ashtaroth. But Saul did not wholly fail, "No one ever questioned but that the kingdom must continue; he had proved its value too well. . . . Saul died on Gilboa, but he made David possible." How beautiful to dream of what might have been if David, the young harpist of the soldier king, had been able to speak to God and sing to Saul, as Browning conceives : "Oh, speak through me now ! Would I suffer for him that I love? So would'st thou — so wilt thou ! So shall crown thee the topmost, ineffablest, uttermost crown — And thy love fill infinitude wholly, nor leave up nor down One spot for the creature to stand in ! It is by no breath, Turn of eye, wave of hand, that salvation joins issue with death ! As thy Love is discovered almighty, almighty be proved Thy power, that exists with and for it, of being Beloved ! He who did most, shall bear most; the strongest shall stand the most weak. 'Tis the weakness in strength, that I cry for ! my flesh, that I seek In the Godhead ! I seek and I find it. O Saul, it shall be A Face like my face that receives thee; a Man like to me, Thou shalt love and be loved by, for ever; a Hand like this hand Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee! See the Christ stand !" Saul never saw the Saviour's hand throw open the gates of. new life to him. He heard the women sing in David's honor, saw his son superseded in the esteem of men, saw him- self disowned by the nation's chief prophet, and heard his doom pronounced by the necromancies of a witch. Seventh Week, Fourth Day. 3. David, His People and His God Read rapidly II Sam. i to 7, studying the political sagacity 139 [VII-4] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL of David, the scope and limitations of his religion, and the prevalent type of w^orship, in early days of monarchy. For seven years and six months David reigned over Judah only, holding his throne at Hebron, probably at the pleasure of the Philistines, and by a most uncertain tenure. Driven by despair, rather than desire, the northern tribes at last offered him their allegiance. And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spake unto David, saying. Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither ; think- ing, David cannot come in hither. Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion ; the same is the city of David. And David said on that day. Whosoever smit- eth the Jebusites, let him get up to the watercourse, and smite the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul. Wherefore they say, There are the blind and the lame ; he cannot come into the house. And David dwelt in the stronghold, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward. And David waxed greater and greater ; for Jehovah, the God of hosts, was with him. — II Sam. 5 : 6-10. The capture of Jerusalem from the Jebusites was the be- ginning of a new epoch in the history of the Hebrews, and in the history of humanit3^ To realize this, we need but remind ourselves of the dramatic story of the city, its sieges, its destructions, its resurrections, its statesmen, patriots, saviours, its friends and enemies within and without ; we need but remind ourselves of the days of Alexander, of Pompey, of the Crusaders; the days of Allenby,* and of the Zionist dreamers of the twentieth century. David made the city his political capital, the seat of his * General Allenby's proclamation to the inhabitants of Jerusalem in 1917 read: "Since your city is regarded with aiTcction by the adherents of three of the greatest religions of mankind, and its soil has been consecrated by the prayers and pilgrimages of multitudes of devout people of these three religions for many centuries, therefore do I make known to you that every sacred build- ing, monument, holy spot, shrine, traditional site, endowment, pious bequest, or customary place of prayer of whatsoever form belonging to the great re- ligions of mankind will be maintained and protected according to the existing customs and beliefs of those to whose faiths they are sacred." 140 POLITICS AND FAITH NATIONALIZED [VII-5] dynasty, the center, therefore, to which in times of emergency the thoughts of tribesmen far and near would hasten. Again, David made the city the ecclesiastical, and, in a sense, the religious capital of his people. The ark, which had been returned by the superstitious Philistines, but which for a long time had been in comparative obscurity, was brought by David with great rejoicing into Jerusalem. The ark again became the center of national religious thought. Priests were appointed to care for it. With lavish preparations David made ready for the building of the temple which should house the ark. A later psalmist voices the sober facts when he prays : Jehovah, remember for David All his affliction ; How he sware unto Jehovah, And vowed unto the Alighty One of Jacob : Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, Nor go up into my bed ; I will not give sleep to mine eyes. Or slumber to mine eyelids; Until I find out a place for Jehovah, A tabernacle for the Mighty One of Jacob. — Psalm 132: 1-5. Of all the men who have given humanity a new heart, David stands easily among the first. As a man's "life con- sists in relations," we may study some of the man's relation- ships : Seventh Week, Fifth Day. a. His foes. David's first task as king was to make his kingdom secure against foes to the east and west and north. His campaigns were cruel enough. We read: "And he smote Moab, and measured them with the line, making them to lie down on the ground ; and he measured two lines to put to death, and one full line to keep alive. And the Moabites became servants to David, and brought tribute" (H Sam. 8:2). Repeated 141 [VII-5] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL victories knit more and more firmly the fabric of Israel's national life. Discords, occasions of friction, were not lack- ing; but the tribesmen knew that they were the people of David and of Jehovah. b. His friends. Very significant is the friendship between David and Hiram, King of Tyre. We are entering a new age, when as a nation Israel can make alliances with other peoples — a dangerous privilege. David surrounded himself with a group of guards, some of whom were certainly Philistine mercenaries, who served like the "Swiss guards at European courts." Some of these men he bound to him by ties of friendship, beautiful and strong. At the most sorrowful crisis of David's career, when he was fleeing from his son Absalom, Ittai the Gittite, leader of six hundred men of Gath, spoke the generous word, matched by the generous deed : "As Jehovah liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether for death or for life, even there also will thy servant be" (II Sam. 15:21). One of David's most remarkable traits was his power to make friends with men of noble type, friends whose love, alas, he did not always repay with loyalty (II Sam. 11: 14- 25, but see II Sam. 9:9-13). The relation of David to Joab his general is of peculiar interest. Shrewd, able, unscrupulous, cruel, Joab had no hesitancy in killing men who stood in his own way, or in the way of his king. With cold-blooded of^ciousness, he thrust three darts through the heart of Absalom, as on the day of battle the young rebel hung helpless, caught in the branches of the oak; this though David had given express orders that no harm should befall his son (II Sam. 18: 14). But by his complicity in David's plot against Uriah, Joab got a noose around David's neck. Whenever he chose, he pulled it tight. David might struggle and strangle, and pray for mercy; he did what Joab wanted him to do. Never till the day of his 142 POLITICS AND FAITH NATIONALIZED [VII-6] death did David escape the noose which he himself had placed in Joab's hand. c. His family. Read rapidly II Sam. 14 to 19, to be reminded of Absalom's rebellion, and its sequel. Note David's defects and virtues, and any indications of the royal and popular religion. And, behold, the Cushite came; and the Cushite said, Tidings for my lord the king; for Jehovah hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee. And the king said unto the Cushite, Is it well with the young man Absalom? And the Cushite an- swered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise up against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is. And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept : and as he went, thus he. said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son! — II Sam. 18:31-33. In a beautiful psalm we read, "I will walk within my house with a perfect heart" (Psalm 101:2). It would have been well for David if he had made and fulfilled a like vow. He did not extricate himself from the Oriental bondage of polygamy and concubinage. Indeed, by his adultery he broke even the loose marital laws of his age. His treatment of his son Absalom was a singular exhibition of strength and of weakness. The rebellion of Absalom was the natural fruitage of the jealousies and intrigues of the king's family. Seventh Week, Sixth Day. d. His God. Why then does history lavish praise upon the man? Why did prophets of subsequent ages look forward to a deliverer, whom they joyed to call the Son of David? When every dis- count is made, we must recognize in David a man to whom Jehovah was the central and the summit fact of life. An 143 [VII-6] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL evangelist asked a group of young men, "What's the biggest thing in your life?" The biggest thing in David's life was Jehovah, His worship and His will. Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered up thine enemy into thy hand this day : now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not smite him the second time. And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not; for who can put forth his hand against Jehovah's anointed, and be guiltless? And David said. As Jehovah liveth, Jehovah will smite him ; or his day shall come to die ; or he shall go down into battle, and perish. Jehovah forbid that I should put forth my hand against Je- hovah's anointed : but now take, I pray thee, the spear that is at his head, and the cruse of water, and let us go. So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul's head ; and they gat them away : and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither did any awake ; for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from Jehovah was fallen upon them. — I Sam. 26:8-12. In the long days of early banishment and outlawry, believ- ing himself to be the man of destiny, the man of God's own choosing, David steadfastly refused to lay hands on "Jehovah's anointed." Fierce, eager, vehement, he was patient to wait till God's hour for him should strike. The supreme .aspira- tion of the man's life was that he might build a worthy sanctuary to his God. He was cruel. In his vindictiveness, there was a truly Semitic tenacity. In our study of Joseph, we have already referred to the story of Shimei, the blackguard of the house of Saul. David seemed to forgive the man who in the day of mortal agony had thrown dust in the air and cursed the king. But the record has it that on his very deathbed, the aged David remembered his enemy and bequeathed vengeance to his son (I Kings 2:8, 9). But even at this point, he was obeying not alone a law of custom, but the moral code dic- tated by the popular faith. As David sought to do God's will, his obedience became 144 POLITICS AND FAITH NATIONALIZED [VII-6] "the organ of spiritual knowledge," knowledge imperfect but actual. Three incidents may serve us : First, a story of the troublous days of Saul's jealousy which has been rightly recorded by Charlotte M. Yonge in her "Book of Golden Deeds." And three of the thirty chief men went down, and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam ; and the troop of the Philistines was en- camped in the valley of Rephaim. And David was then in the stronghold ; and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Beth-lehem. And David longed, and said. Oh that one would give me water to drink of the well of Beth-lehem, which is by the gate ! And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Beth-lehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David : but he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto Jehovah. And he said. Be it far from me, O Jehovah, that I should do this : shall I drink the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men. — II Sam. 22, : 13-17. It was Palestine's dry, hot season. David was surrounded by his rude soldiery, at any time exposed to attack. "Oh, that one would give me to drink of the well of Bethlehem by the gate!" What did David want? A cup of H"0? No, but that which the water symbolized — the coolness, the refreshment, the balm of the life and the loves of his boy- hood. Three mighty men heard the wish of their chief. His wish was their command. "And the garrison of the Philis- tines was then in Bethlehem." But the three mighty men made their way to the well of Bethlehem by the gate, again broke through the Philistine guard, and brought the water to David. The water had become too precious to drink. Surely water won at the price of blood must have worth in the eyes of God himself. Reverently David poured out the water as a libation unto Jehovah. Thus early did this one man at any rate learn that self-forgetful knightly service for man has value in the sight of God. The man who has 145 IVII-6] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL learned that has passed from the religion of ritual into the religion of life, and is not far from the kingdom of Jesus. The second illustrative incident is the interview of David with Nathan the prophet. And Jehovah sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him. There were two men in one city ; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds ; but the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up : and it grew up together with him, and with his children ; it did eat of his own morsel, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveller 'unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man ; and he said to Nathan, As Jehovah liveth, the man that hath done this is worthy to die : and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul ; and I gave thee thy master's house, and thy mas- ter's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the word of Jehovah, to do that which is evil in his sight? thou hast smitten Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house, because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house; and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly : but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against Jehovah. — II Sam. 12: 1-13. 146 POLITICS AND FAITH NATIONALIZED [VII-6] In shameless fashion, the king had defied the laws of rever- ence for "property," for purity, for friendship, for life. One has well contrasted the rugged, loving, courageous David of the cave of Adullam with the soft and sensual David, who has arrived and has leisure to cherish thoughts of lust and murder. But when Nathan pictured David's sin, and de- nounced him with the word, "Thou art the man," the king made no attempt to "keep face," but in utter penitence con- fessed : "I have sinned against Jehovah." At that season, if not earlier, David saw that each new wrong done to man is "one more insult to God." Nor may we overlook one of the striking incidents in con- nection with the flight of David from Jerusalem at the time of Absalom's rebellion. His friends of the sanctuary brought out of the city the ark of the covenant of God, but the king said : "Carry back the ark of God into the city : if I shall find favor in the eyes of Jehovah, he will bring me again, and show me both it, and his habitation" (II Sam, 15:25). Was not the ark the real dwelling-place of Jehovah? Did not the presence of the ark assure the presence of Jehovah, and therefore the victory of the possessor of the ark? If Absalom could bear the ark of Jehovah to battle, could his forces possibly be whipped, could justice really triumph? But in the hour of his agony, David rose far above the thoughts of the men of his day. He knew that the God he loved was not imprisoned in the ark or near it. He knew that Jehovah was as strong to help him when he climbed wearily up the Mount of Olives, as when he worshiped before the ark in the sanctuary of Jerusalem (II Sam. 15:24-29). Consistent in his thinking? No. Persistent in his fidelity to his God? No. Yet David helped his age, and helps us to finer faith, as does "The catholic man, who hath mightily won God out of knowledge, and good out of infinite pain, And sight out of blindness, and purity out of a stain. "^ 6 Main incidents of David's career, as gathered from various documents: His summons from the sheepfold by Samuel. I Sam. 16. [VII-7] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL Seventh Week, Seventh Day. Concluding Note The life of Samuel began in a period of civic confusion and degradation. While the Canaanites had been annihilated, or subdued, the Philistines of the coast dominated much of Israel's territory. They had their officials and their guards at convenient posts, to gather tribute and to -watch for evi- dences of impertinent independence. They rejoiced in the disunity of the Hebrew tribes. When David's life closed, the kingdom of Israel was a fact which surrounding nations must reckon with. The tribes were reasonably united. The people of the north were jealous of the primacy of Judah ; but the shrewdness and ability of David and the increasing glory of his capital city silenced objectors. The Philistines were friendly, possibly having enough to do to hold their own against inroads from Egypt. A league of friendship existed between the new king- dom and the prosperous mercantile kingdom of TyrQ. When Samuel's work began, the religion and morals of the Hebrews were at low ebb. The civilization and culture of Canaan had begun their work. Jehovah had indeed, in the thought of the multitude, supplanted the baalim of such territory as had been conquered ; but Jehovah, now the supreme baal or lord, must be worshiped in a way har- monious with the religious fashions approved by the past. Thus a most dangerous amalgamation of faiths resulted. For His victory over Goliath. I Sam. 17. His friendship with Jonathan. I Sam. 18, 20. His persecution at the hands of Saul. I Sam. 19 to 24, 26. His relations with Nabal and Abigail. I Sam. 25. His life among the Philistines. I Sam. 27, 29. His appointment as king of Judah. II Sam. 2. His kingship over all Israel. II Sam. 3 to 5:5. His capture of Zion. II Sam. S:6fT. His victories. II Sam. 5, 7, 8, 10. His plans for the ark and the temple. II Sam. 6 and 7. His sin against Uriah. II Sam. 11 and 12. His experiences and activities at the time of Absalom's rebellion. II Sam. IS to 19. His selection of Solomon as his successor. I Kings i : 28fl. 148 POLITICS AND FAITH NATIONALIZED [Vll-q] Hebrew and for Philistine, the ark was both symbol and seat of deity. When Eli saw the lips of Hannah move in prayer he had no better explanation than that she was drunk with wine. Worship at Jehovah's altar ministered to ecclesi- astical greed and graft. Did the days of Saul and David witness any important moral and religious uplift? At first, it would seem that there was little advance. David to the last appears to be a worshiper of Jehovah whose worship is consistent with cruelty. But the period was, after all, characterized by great achievements in the realm of religion and morals. Jerusalem was regarded as one of the oldest seats of the religion of Jehovah. Upon Mount Moriah Abraham had won his tri- umph of faith. The increasing importance of Jerusalem tended to diminish the importance of local shrines, which were ever tempting their votaries to immoral rites and im- moral lives. Again, David's undivided devotion to Jehovah had a power- ful influence upon his contemporaries. He was Jehovah's king, Jehovah's warrior. Every friendship he cemented by a covenant of Jehovah. Every military success he won for the greater glory of Jehovah. And David's character, while far from stainless, tended, as both warning and example, to purify the morals of the people. We have thus studied one of the most significant periods of Israel's history. QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND DISCUSSION 1. How would you explain the fact that the Philistines perished, while the Hebrews survived to become benefactors of humanity? Consider in your answer the geographical situ- ation of each people and its relative political, economic, and religious assets. 2. Characterize the worship of Jehovah at Shiloh in the early days of Samuel. 149 [Vll-q] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL 3. Would you regard the institution of the kingship as marking a civic advance or decline? 4. Characterize briefly Saul, David, and Jonathan. 5. State briefly the political, ethical, and religious achieve- ments of Israel in the days of Samuel, Saul, and David. 6. In what sense does the enemy make the nation? 7. If you had the power to nominate a certainly success- ful candidate for the presidency, would you choose an ir- religious man of transcendent ability and patriotism, or a religious man of equal patriotism, but more modest ability? Justify your answer. 8. Do you think it would have been better for David to drink the water brought to him at the cost of grievous sacrifice? Why or why not? 9. William Blake writes : "I will not cease from mental fight. Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand. Till we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant land." What ideal does the poet cherish? Who or what would be his foes in his mental fight? 150 CHAPTER VI Prosperity, Despotism, and Disintegration Solomon, Rehoboam, and Jeroboam I. Introductory Eighth Week, First Day. For centuries after the conquest of Canaan, the life and religion of the Canaanites profoundly influenced the Hebrews. The book of Judges makes it clear that the annihilation of the earlier population (Josh. lo : 40) was slow and partial. In the local shrines of Israel there were many remnants of idolatry. As Jehovah supplanted a local baal, he assumed, to the popular mind, the aspects of that baal. "Many a town of Italy at the present day would not for a moment identify its particular madonna with the virgin of any other town." In the petty shrines, as well as in the central sanctuary, there were probably arks, which were held very sacred, and were employed in divination.'' But as Jehovah took over the rights and privileges of one conquered baal and another, there was a distinct advance of thought. "With one deity gathering to himself the attributes of all other personifications of natural powers, the tendency inevitably sets in to dissociate Yahwe from any particular personification." The exaltation of Jerusalem, of its ark and sanctuary, did much to further a truer conception of God. The capital became increasingly the magnet of thought and 1 W. R. Arnold, "Ephod and Ark." [VIII- 1] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL the object of pilgrimage. Thus, even to the ignorant devotees of the countryside, the local shrines and representations of Jehovah lost their supremacy. The unification of the nation under David, too, fostered the conception of the one great God, ruler, protector, champion of all the Hebrews. Our present chapter, while brief, is very important, as it covers the period in which the united kingdom flourished and fell ; the period in which was built the temple, upon whose foundations should rest Israel's greatest joys and hopes and loves. I. The Strength and the Weakness of Solomon Read rapidly I Kings 3 to 8 to become better acquainted with the book, and to appreciate the importance of the temple in the thought of the Hebrews. Note especially "Solomon's Prayer." The building of the temple was a task of sovereign impor- tance to statecraft and religion. To this task, David's son Solomon set himself with utter devotion and with complete success. In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of Jehovah laid, in the month Ziv. And in the eleventh year, in the month Bui, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it. — I Kings 6:^7, 38. In his great undertaking he won the cooperation of Hiram, King of Tyre. The writer of I Kings 8 puts into the lips of Solomon a prayer of dedication, which is one of the noblest expressions of Hebrew religion. The completion of the temple was but one evidence of the growing prosperity of the state. Commerce flourished ; trade- routes to north and south were guarded and controlled to the advantage of Israel. For the first time the Hebrews 152 PROSPERITY AND DISINTEGRATION [VIII-i] joined in enterprises which carried them in merchant vessels to foreign ports. And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion- geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon. — I Kings 9 : 26-28. It has been said of Solomon that he maintained by diplo- macy what his father had won by the sword. But the prac- tical democracy of David's day was being transformed into a typical Oriental despotism. Forced labor, the corvee, was established (I Kings 9:20-22. Cf. I Kings 5:13-18). So harsh was the control of this forced labor that shortly after Solomon's death the man in charge of the levy was stoned to death by his victims (I Kings 12:18). The land itself was apparently divided without regard to the old tribal boundaries, for the purpose of taxation, that ample luxuries might flow to the king's table. Still more significant for our purpose is the fact that the increasing commercial interests of the country led to foreign alliances, and these in turn to foreign marriages. According to the book of Kings, the Pharaoh himself gave his daughter to Solomon in marriage. Other foreign wives were added to the king's harem. The foreign wives must bring with them their fathers' gods. Traders from other nations must have in Jerusalem their own shrines. With grandiose and ill- timed hospitality, Solomon welcomed and housed the deities of other lands ; "and his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God." The record has it that Solomon himself was carried away into polytheism. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines ; and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods ; 153 [VIII-i] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL and his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after, Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and went not fully after Jehovah, as did David his father. Then did Solom.on build a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, in the mount that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomina- tion of the children of Ammon. And so did he for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. — I Kings 11:3-8. Actual heathen worship in high quarters must have cor- rupted the religion and the priesthood of Jehovah at the heart. It is an extraordinary fact that the places of "heathen" worship built by Solomon remained practically undisturbed in Jerusalem for three hundred years, until at last they were destroyed by the reforming zeal of Josiah. And the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of cor- ruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had builded for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the children of Ammon, did the king defile. And he brake in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men. — II Kings 23 : 13, 14. And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea-shore And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men ; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol : and his fame was In all the nations round about. And he spake three thousand proverbs; and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spake of trees, from the cedar that is in Le- banon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall :_ he spake also of beasts, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fishes. And there came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.— I Kings 4 : 29-34- 154 PROSPERITY AND DISINTEGRATION [VIII-2] Posterity extolled the wisdom of the temple-builder, but it is probable that the wisdom, at any rate of his later years, was rather the shrewdness of the keen observer, who makes epigrams, writes proverbs, lives "near the church, far from God." His despotic regime sowed the seeds of disruption and corruption in civic and religious life. Had Solomon's successor been endowed with common sense rather than royal idiocy, he might have built upon Solomon's foundations of empire a glorious superstructure. As it was, the "Golden Age" of Solomon paved the way for the ruin of the state. Eighth Week, Second Day. 2. Rehoboam's Folly : Northern Israel's Revolt Read I Kings 12, the narrative of the king who ought to have prayed, "God be merciful to me, a fool !" And the king answered the people roughly, and for- sook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke : my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. So the king hearkened not unto the people ; for it was a thing brought about of Jehovah, that he might establish his word, which Jehovah spake by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. And when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying. What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse : to your tents, O Israel : now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents. But as for the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. — I Kings 12: 13-17. In the days of David, the tribes had been held together with difficulty. It was an easy thing for a Benjamite to blow his trumpet, and draw after him numbers of the northern clans by the simple announcement, "We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse : Every man 155 [\^III-2] RELIGIOUS EXPERIEXCE OF ISRAEL to his tents, O Israel." David's swiftness of mind and Joab's swiftness of action had doubtless saved the kingdom at that time (II Sam. 20). Solomon had suppressed rather than cured tendencies to revolt. Upon his death, representa- tives of the northern tribes, headed by Jeroboam, asked of the new king Rehoboam that he make less grievous the yoke put upon them by his father. Rejecting the advice of the elder statesmen of the realm, the young fop consulted his dear familiar friends, and "answered the people roughly." Speaking of the Great War, and its beginning, a writer says: "Then came the 28th of June. A man and woman were struck down in a hill town of Bosnia. It was the pistol shot which started the race for Hell. Events tumbled one another down like ninepins . . . and in the opening days of August, men by the million were marched to slaughter." Rehoboam played his part on a much smaller stage than the assassin of Sarajevo, but his rough answer set events tumbling one another down. A king who could have better played the role of court fool changed the course of the religious history of the world. It has been said that the American War for Independence was not a revolution; it was resistance to revolution. George III had been seeking to reyolutionize the English system of government, and our fathers resisted. Jeroboam's rebellion was resistance to revolution, or at most, a "conservative revo- lution," due to the despotism of Solomon, which had torn the ancient privileges of freemen from the Israelites of the north, a despotism now to be accentuated by Rehoboam. From this time on for two centuries the ten northern tribes, known as the Kingdom of Israel, pursued their own life, now opposed, now allied to the Kingdom of Judah in the south. Judah "seems to have consisted simply of the tribe of Judah with very little of Benjamin." The Southern King- dom "held not over half the territory of her northern neigh- bor, and about one fourth of the arable land." But we need not spend too much pity upon little Judah. She had certain great assets, which writers have noted : 156 PROSPERITY AND DISINTEGRATION [VIII-3] a. She had a reasonably homogeneous population, and a country well guarded by mountain and desert barriers from the inroads of invaders. On the other hand, the fertile plains of northern Israel were a standing invitation to ruthless nomad hordes, to arrogant Syrian neighbors, and, later, to the monstrous forces of Assyria; a standing invitation as well to the more dangerous because more seductive heathen cults. b. Judah had "a persistent Davidic dynasty" which soon began to gather about itself great memories and greater hopes. c. Most important of all, she had Jerusalem, the old political and 'religious capital of all Israel, where were the throne of David and the throne of deity, the sacred ark, the temple, "the place of the soles of Jehovah's feet." Our studies call us for a time to the Northern Kingdom. Eighth Week, Third Dayj 3. The Northern Kingdom : Jeroboam's Fateful Decision Read I Kings 12:25-14:16, for the story of Jeroboam, and the prophetic attitude toward him. And Jeroboam said in his heart. Now will the king- dom return to the house of David: if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem, then will the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah ; and they will kill me, and return to Rehoboam king of Judah. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem : behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin ; for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, that were not of the sons of Levi. And Jero- boam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fif- teenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he went up unto the altar; so did he in 157 [VIII-3] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL Beth-el, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made : and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places that he had made. And he went up unto the altar which he had made in Beth-el on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart : and he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and went up unto the altar, to burn incense. — I Kings 12 : 26-33. No one could realize more keenly than the able soldier and ruler Jeroboam the handicaps of his infant kingdom. Infancy, whether that of persons or kingdoms, has always been counted "an extra-hazardous occupation." His reasoning seems to have been as follows : "I will try to make my people forget Jerusalem by glorifying the shrines of Bethel and of Dan. Are not these sanctuaries anciently dear to my people? Nay, are there not stories of Abraham and Jacob themselves which make the sanctuary of Bethel more sacred even than that of Jerusalem? Then to make the worship of Jehovah at once concrete and natural, I will establish or magnify altars on which are the representations of Jehovah in the semblance of a bull calf." Jeroboam did not propose to sup- plant Jehovah worship by Baal worship; far from that. We must never lose sight of the fact that Jeroboam was to the last a worshiper of Jehovah. As you kneel down to pray to your God, have you never found it almost impossible to concentrate your mind upon your worship? Have you never almost envied the churches of other creeds, in which images of Christ and of the Madonna woo the undivided attention of the worshipers? How hard it is to make real to one's self the invisible God ! What more natural than that this man Jeroboam, with his great problem of statesmanship, should attempt to solve it by making God seem real to His people by a tangible symbol ! We must remember, too, that Jeroboam in his ofifer of images to his people was by no means an innovator. We have seen images in use from the earliest days. The story of Jacob speaks of teraphim ; in the days of the Judges images were used without offense in Jehovah worship. When David at- 158 PROSPERITY AND DISINTEGRATION [VIII-3] tempted to escape from Saul, his wife "Micjhal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goat's hair at the head thereof, and covered it with the clothes. And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick" (I Sam. 19: 13, 14). In Jeroboam's own day and for nearly two centuries longer, in Jerusalem itself the brazen serpent received homage and the odors of sacrificial incense (II Kings 18:4). If Jeroboam chose to symbolize Jehovah by the image of a calf, why complain? His decision was perilous. a. The moment one seeks to symbolize deity, that moment deity is limited, cheapened, degraded. The degradation be- comes debasement when the symbol is so gross as that which Jeroboam chose. b. The popular tendency of worship by means of the image is to become actual image worship. The Hindus who have been influenced by Christianity will tell you that the images of India are but media of worship-apparatus, if you will. But the ordinary worshiper adores the deity who has been called down into the idol, who sees through the idol's eyes, and lives within the idol's form, and is practically identified with the idol.' Jehovah worshiped by means of an image becomes imprisoned, localized in or near the image, is essen- tially identified with the image. The common people would worship inevitably the Jehovah of Dan, the Jehovah of Bethel, or the Jehovah of some other popular high place, practicing the cult of "polyjahvism." c. A man becomes like the god he worships. If a man worships the image of a beast, he becomes beastly. d. But we have only partially explained the execrations which all prophetic writers after Jeroboam heaped upon his memory. We have said that the story of the Hebrews 2 "The one great broad fact to be clearly grasped is that to the Hindu each idol is a living personal god. The image has been made by human hands, but the god lives in it, using the stone or metal body as the human soul uses the human body. . . . He listens to their prayers and answers them. He hears and speaks, eats and sleeps, moves and acts. . . . The villager goes to the temple 'to see Kali's face.' He believes he looks into her own divine eyes." — J. N. Farquhar, "The Crown of Hinduism," p. 317. [VIII-3] RELIGIOUS EXPERIEXCE OF ISRAEL for centuries is the story of their slow extrication from the serpent coils of the Canaanitish worship. Now the baalim of the ancient faith of the land were frequently represented by images of the bull. The worship was a nature worship, sensual, obscene, cruel. Ever since the conquest, the most serious danger to Hebrew faith, and to the kingdom of God, was the seduction of this cult. Let Israel adore Jehovah by means of a symbol identical with the symbol of Canaanitish worship and Israel's God will soon be assimilated to the character of the baalim, confused in thought with them. All too soon, the priests who ministered at the polluted altars of Bethel and Dan became themselves polluted, and the one thing in Israel which had "survival value" was in danger of death. Concluding Note The brevity of this chapter should not lose to us the sense of the pivotal character of the events discussed. Had David's united kingdom been strengthened by two statesmanlike suc- cessors of David, it might have maintained itself as an independent kingdom for many years. Solomon was like one of Shakespeare's "little wanton boys that swim on bladders," but venture far beyond their depth. His high- blown pride at length broke under him. In the fifth year of Rehoboam. Shishak or Sheshonk of Egypt invaded Palestine ; he came up against Jerusalem : And he took away the treasures of the house of Je- hovah, and the treasures of the king's house ; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the door of the king's house. And it was so, that, as oft as the king went into the house of Jehovah, the guard bare them, and brought them back into the guard- chamber. — I Kings 14 : 26-28. It is all highly characteristic. So long as the king can make a proper show, it matters little whether the shields are gold 160 PROSPERITY AND DISINTEGRATION [Vlll-q] or brass. With faded gentility he still goes up to the house of Jehovah and prays for the welfare of the kingdom, which he has brought to ruin. And yet this cheap and tawdry degenerate perhaps did not do more to nullify the work of Samuel and David than did Jeroboam, the leader of the northern tribes. Consulting the apparent interests of his kingdom, appreciating the impor- tance of religion, missing the meaning of Israel's career and destiny, Jeroboam, the shrewd and patriotic ruler, became known in subsequent generations as "the son of Nebat, which made Israel to sin." It will be our task to trace the streams which flowed, in Judah, from the folly of Rehoboam ; in Israel, from the worldly wisdom of Jeroboam. QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND DISCUSSION 1. What advance in religious thought would you expect the Hebrews to make, as they extended their conquests in Canaan ? 2. Vv^hat facts give special significance to the building of Solomon's temple? 3. How far would you regard increase of commerce and international intercourse as evidence of a nation's "success"? 4. Why were Solomon's foreign marriages specially danger- ous to the religious life of Israel? 5. Does the attitude of Solomon with reference to foreign gods suggest to you the true method of combining tolerance with loyalty? If you were an English ruler in Egypt, among a Moslem people, would you observe Friday or Sunday as the official day of rest? Would you or would you not contribute to the maintenance of Moslem places of worship? 6. What was the cause of the final break between the Northern and the Southern Kingdom? 7. With special care compare and contrast Judah and Israel from the standpoint of geography, government, and religion. 8. Is there anything wrong in the use of images in worship? If so, what? If not, why? It is said that a prominent 161 [Vlll-q] RELIGIOUS EXPERIEXCE OF ISRAEL preacher in his private prayer places before him an empty chair, in which he imagines Jesus Christ to be seated. Would you regard this as a modern substitute for Jeroboam's use of images or is it different? Point out Canaanitish perils to the Hebrew faith, accentuated by Jeroboam's sanctuaries. 162 CHAPTER VII Conflicts and Alliances with Foreign Nations and Foreign Gods A Century and a Half of the Divided Kingdom Introductory Eighth Week, Fourth Day. Before a universal history could be conceived, says a writer, two ideas must take shape in the minds of men: first, the idea of the unity of the human race ; second, the hope of a concerted movement toward a definite goal. "These two ideas blazed up in early Hebrew literature much earlier than elsewhere in the history of man."^ The earliest docu- ments of the book of Genesis give us the thought of the unity of the race, although we shall see that some of the Old Testament writers sadly forget the thought. All of the biblical historians are more or less conscious of a movement toward a definite goal, a divinely guided movement, with which men may cooperate to their blessedness, against which they may fight to their ruin. To these narrators, the his- tory of Israel is strictly "His Story," the story of Jehovah's dealings with his people. Israel is Jehovah's instrument for the accomplishment of his will. One must admire the moral courage and religious confidence of the historians, who, after setting down the record of the buoyant, youthful, hopeful days of David, could set down as well the ghastly facts which 1 Adalbert Merx, quoted in Homiletic Review. 163 [VIII-4] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL we have just studied: the disintegration of David's kingdom; the divorce of all the northern tribes from David's capital ; the demoralization of northern Israel through acquiescence in Canaanitish forms of worship. In our present chapter, we shall follow these religious his- torians as they make riecord of the national life of northern Israel and of Judah for a period longer than that between the Revolutionary War of America and America's entrance into the Great War. A complete account of the events of a century and a half in both kingdoms would be unendurably tedious. The dominant religious interest of the narrators controlled their selection of events. I. THE NORTHERN KINGDOM I. Omri, Defender of Israel Read I Kings i6 : 8-28 for description of northern Israel's early days of civil strife. In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel, and reigned twelve years : six years reigned he in Tirzah. And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver ; and he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill, Samaria. And Omri did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and dealt wickedly above all that were before him. For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sins wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke Jehovah, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities. Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and his might that he showed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria ; and Ahab his son reigned in his stead. — I Kings 16 : 23-28. Stories of conspiracy, drunken bouts, and murder succeed the narrative of Jeroboam." But in 887 B. C. a military genius, - Jeroboam's son, Nadab, was assassinated, and Baasha the leader of the conspiracy became king (I Kings 15: 25-28). Elah, the son of Baasha, was 164 CONFLICTS AND ALLIANCES [VIII-4] Omri, founded a short-lived dynasty in the Northern King- dom. Consider Omri's task: a. His accession to the throne was an incident of civil war, which did not end with his enthronement. "Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts : half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king; and half followed Omri. But the people that followed Omri prevailed against the people that followed Tibni, the son of Ginath: so Tibni died, and Omri reigned" (I Kings 16:21, 22). b. He had to keep watch and ward continually against his jealous kinsmen to the south, the Kingdom of Judah. c. He had enemies to the east to be subdued. How well he succeeded is indicated by the famous Moabite stone, dis- covered in 1868. This stone, "a slab of black basalt, six inches high by two feet wide," was at once recognized by its discoverer to be of great interest and value ; but the zeal of the explorer "aroused the suspicions and cupidity of the native Arabs, who imagined that they were about to be de- prived of a valuable talisman, and consequently seized and partly destroyed it." Happily, squeezes had been made of the stone. Many fragments were recovered, and placed in the Louvre at Paris. The stone describes the victories of Mesha, king of Moab, who lived in the days of Omri's son. Among other significant sentences are these : "Omri king of Israel afflicted Moab for many days because Chemosh [the god of Moab] was angry with his land. Omri took possession of the land of Mehedeba, and it [Israel] dwelt therein during his days and half his son's days, forty years; but Chemosh restored it in my days." d. To the north, Omri faced the strong and hostile forces of Syria. Damascus, the capital of the kingdom of that "drinking himself drunk," and one of his servants "Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him" (I Kings 16:9. 10). Zimri reigned seven days. Omri proceeded to dethrone him, but Zimri "perished in the ashes of the royal palace, to which he had himself set fire." 165 [VIII-4] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL name, must very early have risen to commercial and political importance. Muhammad in his day feared that after seeing Damascus he would not care for Paradise. Even down to our own time the ancient city has retained something of its old primacy. Omri was forced to come to the best possible terms with the rulers of Damascus, who compelled him to make streets in his new capital for Syrian merchants (I Kings 20:34). But it is not likely that the Syrians seriously oppressed Omri, for both Syria and Israel were to face a new foe who was to make all local enmities seem trifles less than light. That foe was Assyria. e. Just about the time that Omri came to the throne one of Assyria's greatest rulers began his reign (885 B. C). Asshurnazirpal "firmly established the rule of Assyria in the northwest and the north, while he extended his empire east- wards, and laid the foundations of Assyria's later supremacy in the west on the coast of the Mediterranean." When any ruler chose to oppose the Assyrian or rebel against him, his city was captured, he himself was likely to be flayed, and his skin to adorn the fortress walls of Nineveh. The victor's inscriptions reek with blood. The world has had to wait till the twentieth century of the Christian era to read, this time in the records of Armenian massacres, stories of such un- speakable cruelty. News of the Assyrian spread swiftly. For the time Damascus and Israel escaped devastation. But Omri's diplomacy must now sweep his little kingdom into the bloody current of world politics. Of Omri's task, the scriptural narrative suggests little. It dwells upon two facts : a. Omri's building of a new capital, Samaria. "Command- ing the roads from Shechem southwards to Esdraelon, and westwards to the coast, and situated within easy reach of the Mediterranean, no better site could have been selected for the fortified capital of the Northern Kingdom." Through the succeeding decades Samaria surpassed Jerusalem in political importance. b. Omri's continuance in the sin of Jeroboam. He "walked 166 CONFLICTS AND ALLIANCES [VIII-5] in all the way of Jeroboam . . . and in his sins wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke Jehovah, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities." Omri was probably unconscious of any wrongdoing. He was a fighter rather than a thinker, a diplomat rather than a devotee. His God was "the God of things as they are," and the convenient shrines of Bethel and of Dan satisfied, while they demoralized, the religious instincts of the people. Eighth Week, Fifth Day, 2. Arab's International Problems and Policy Read all of I Kings 20 for prophetic attitude toward Ahab's diplomacy. Omri left to his son Ahab no easy task. Whether one looked southward, eastward, or northward, the horizon was dark. Fearing absorption by Syria, or annihilation by Assyria, Ahab proceeded to make alliances as he could. Judah for the time forgot her grievances. Ethbaal, king of "the Sidonians" (probably priest of Astarte), leagued himself with Ahab, and gave to him his daughter, the brave and notorious queen, Jezebel. Ahab apparently needed all the alliances his diplomacy could procure. And Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together ; and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses and chariots : and he went up and besieged Samaria, and fought against it. — I Kings 20 : i. Ahab consented to the Syrian's first demands, but rejected further and more insulting proposals. His message to Ben- hadad has become proverbial : "Let not him that girdeth on his armor boast himself as he that putteth it off" (verse 11). The forces of the drunken Syrian boaster were over- whelmed ; but the pedants of the court of Damascus had a ready explanation of the defeat : "Their god is a god of the hills ... let us fight against them in the plain, and surely 167 [VIII-5] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL we shall be stronger than they" (verse 22)). But Israel was again victorious. Ben-hadad's servants "said unto him, Be- hold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings" (Query: How far did their wor- ship of Jehovah influence their attitude toward men?) : "let us, we pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel : peradventure he will save thy life" (verse 31). The inscriptions of Semitic conquerors enable us to picture the scene. Ben-hadad, the great king, with his erstwhile revelers and fellow-drunkards, now adorned with sackcloth and ropes, moving as in solemn procession, caught eagerly the words, "Ben-hadad . . . brother." Those royal words of Ahab meant life. Soon the two "brothers" were riding in Ahab's chariot, and figuring out the terms of a treaty agreeable "all around." To "the sons of the prophets," this act of kingly mercy seemed weak- ness, infamous and intolerable. How shall we account for it? The answer may be given in one word, "Assyria," As has been suggested, the outstanding fact of the ninth and eighth centuries is Assyria. And the Assyrians, with their power and their cruelty, their voracity and remorseless- ness, dictated the policy of every little nation within the sweep of their mighty arms. It was no time for petty quarrels, no time for killing a man who might soon join the king of Israel as a victim of an Assyrian "triumph." So Ahab may have thought. The immediacy of Ahab's peril is suggested by the Assyrian inscription, which describes the campaign of Shalmaneser II in 854 B. C. From the long inscription we select a few sentences : "From Argana I departed, to Qarqar (Karkar) I ap- proached ; Qarqar his royal city I wasted, destroyed, burned with fire. One thousand two hundred chariots, 1,200 saddle- horses, 20,000 men of Dadda-idri (that is, Ben-hadad II?), of Damascus; . . . 2,000 chariots, 10,000 men of Ahab the Israelite . . . these twelve kings he took to his assistance ; to make battle and war against me they came. . . . Fourteen thousand of their warriors I slew with arms ; like Adad I rained a deluge upon them, I strewed hither and yon their 168 CONFLICTS- AND ALLIANCES [VIII-6] bodies ... to kill themselves a great mass fled to their graves."^ In the days of Omri most of the little nations to the west of Assyria had purchased safety by tribute. Ahab tried the method of alliance* and battle. The inscription loudly pro- claims the great slaughter of Shalmaneser's enemies, but no- where does it mention captives or tribute. Ahab and his con- federates were not wholly crushed. The inscription is pro- foundly significant, as the first indication that Ahab's little kingdom now hurled itself in actual battle against the mighty empire of Assyria. In I Kings 22 we find Ahab again fighting against Syria, this time in league with Judah. Ahab disguised himself so that he might not be singled out and slain by the enemy. A Syrian soldier drew his bow at a venture and killed him. But we turn back in the story to consider the aspects of Ahab's career which claim the chief interest of the biblical record. Eighth Week, Sixth Day. 3. Ahab and Jezebel And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made the Asherah ; and Ahab did yet more to provoke Jehovah, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. —I Kings 16: 31-33. But there was none like unto Ahab, who did sell himself to do that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. — I Kings 21:25. 3 R. W. Rogers, "History of Babylonia and Assyria" (an important book, usually obtainable from public libraries). 4 Some writers think of Ahab as compulsory confederate of Damascus. 160 [VIII-6] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL The problems of international policy and of "national self-preservation" were of little intrinsic concern to the writers of the books of Kings. To them, diplomatic success spelled defeat if it diverted king and people from exclusive devotion to Jehovah. Ih the daughter of the priest-king, Ahab found a wife who joined immense influence with utter indifference to morals and complete devotion to her own gods. Soon Ahab was building a "house of Baal" and an "altar of Baal," and was supporting a horde of priests of Baal. He evidently counted himself a worshiper of Je- hovah. He gave his children names compounded with the name Jehovah. According to the record, however, Ahab went so far as personally to worship at the heathen altar (I Kings 16:31). No ruler of Ahab's time, outside of Palestine, would have suffered any qualms of conscience if he had paid homage to Jehovah as well as to his own personal deities. Today in' India, Muhammad and Christ are cordially wel- comed into the ever-increasing pantheon of Hinduism. Through the centuries, insistence upon the exclusive worship of Jehovah has aroused the antipathy of the "broad-minded." Solomon had long ago given the weight of his great name and example to this "broad-minded" hospitality to foreign gods. When Ahab worshiped at the shrine of his wife's god, he probably thought of it as much and as little as would a nominal Protestant of today if he should join in the church worship of his Catholic wife. . But happily there were in Ahab's day men who saw clearly that the king was losing to his people their one fair jewel, and was losing to him- self his soul. A man's religion always affects his relations with his fel- lowmen. Still in Israel the rights of the people to the lands of their fathers were held inalienable. Ahab desired a bit of property adjoining his palace. He just wanted a little garden; that was all. He offered the owner Naboth a better piece of land or the worth of his vineyard in money. But with curious obstinacy Naboth refused to sell, and proceeded to invoke the name of Jehovah, and "to get excited." Ahab 170 CONFLICTS AXD ALLIANCES [VIII-7] the great diplomat, himself so generous to captive kings and to heathen deities, failed to understand this act of near- rebellion on the part of Naboth. He sulked upon his bed, like a spoiled child. Jezebel did not sulk. "Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel?" (I Kings 21:7). False witnesses soon compassed Naboth's death and Ahab arose to go down to his vineyard to possess it. To the Jehovah of the Ten Commandments Ahab's high- handed murder would, of course, be abhorrent. To the Jehovah of the images of Dan and Bethel, Ahab's act would be a peccadillo, washed away by a little blood or even perhaps by a little water. To a God who could live in hospitable proximity to deities of the Sidonians, Ahab would be a good king, who knew how to show his subjects their place, either in the field, in the vineyard, or in the grave. Ahab had not paid for his vineyard. He was soon to meet a man who could tell him precisely what he would have to pay. Our study now leads us to a somewhat more care- ful inquiry concerning the relations of royalty to the prophets. Eighth Week, Seventh Day. 4. Ahab and the Prophets a. Prophetic Guilds. In the early periods of Israel's recorded history we find groups of men called companies of prophets. In I Sam. 19 : 18-24, we come upon these men, going along the country roads with harp and psaltery before them. During their so-called prophecies, they would lie, stripped, in an ecstasy or half-stupor, sometimes for a whole day and night. These dervish-like, fakir-like men were disliked, despised, at the same time feared and sought after, because through them the common people thought to get their most reliable in- formation regarding the world of mystery which ever sur- rounds and impinges upon our life. Today there are women who would not dream of inviting a clairvoyant to dinner, who in an emergency will seek a clairvoyant These "prophets" 171 [VlII-7] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL gathered in guilds, schools, or religious colonies, around some sanctuary like Bethel or Gilgal, where they nursed their reli- gious frenzies and their intense, narrow, but impressive patriotism and devotion to Jehovah. Representatives of these prophetic guilds, "sons of the prophets," played an important part in the life-story of Ahab. But Ahab also came into contact with men who have been called the "false" prophets. b. "False Prophets." The "false" prophets were not prophets of false gods. They were almost certainly members in good and regular standing of the prophetic guilds; but they were nationalistic prophets, who identified the interests of Jehovah with the interests of the nation and thq interests of the nation with those of Jehovah. To them it seemed incredible that ruin should befall the nation, for that would mean the ruin of Jehovah himself. These prophets were doubtless often absolutely true to their lights. They had the sure conviction that the triumph of their deity was inseparable from the triumph of their dynasty. But presuppositions of this sort would naturally lead these prophets to an undiscriminating devotion to the interests of the court. They must not "love the truth too dangerously." How easy it is for patriots in any age to use with an infamous connotation the words, "My country, right or wrong." In the later days Ezekiel was to write of prophetesses who "slay the souls that should not die, and . . . save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hearken unto lies" (Ezek. 13: 19). And Jeremiah, writing a little earlier than Ezekiel, indicates clearly the temptation and the vice of nationalistic prophets of all time : "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means ; and my people love to have it so" (Jer. 5:31). In one episode Ahab appears surrounded by four hundred prophets, who propose to give him, not the word of some heathen deity, but "the word of Jehovah," and who unhesitatingly urge upon Ahab and his ally the campaign which they are themselves eager to enter. 172 CONFLICTS AND ALLIANCES [VIII-7] And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, In- quire first, I pray thee, for the word of Jehovah. Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them. Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king. . . . Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets were prophesying before them. And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron, and said, Thus saith Jehovah, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until they be consumed. And all the prophets prophe- sied so, saying. Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper ; for Jehovah will deliver it into the hand of the king. — I Kings 22 : 5, 6, 10-12. Lowell's contemporary might have sat for a portrait of the average "false" prophet of Ahab's day : "Gineral C. is a dreffle smart man : He's been on all sides that give place or pelf ; But consistency still wuz a part of his plan, — He's ben true to one party, — an' thet is himself." c. Prophets of ''Baal" While Ahab regarded himself as a worshiper of Jehovah, and, upon examination, could point to the fact that he was supporting not less than four hundred of Jehovah's prophets, he "played safe" with his wife and with the Tyrian baal, Melkart. Elijah declared, "I, even I only, am left a prophet of Jehovah; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men" (I Kings 18:22). These prophet-parasites must have sucked the blood from the little kingdom of Israel during the days of famine. But there can be little doubt of their sincerity as well as their fanaticism. We can see them now, as they call upon their god, leap about the altar, cut themselves with knives and lances till the blood gushes out upon them (I Kings 18:25-29). But it was Ahab's good fortune, and ours, that he met another kind of prophet. 173 [IX-i] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL Ninth Week, First Day. d. Micaiah and Elijah. The original designation of the prophet was "seer." "Be- foretime in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he said, Come, and let us go to the seer; for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer" (I Sam. 9:9). The derivation of the Hebrew word "prophet" is uncertain. Some have thought that it comes from a word meaning "to bubble forth," as under inspiration. Others have supposed that the root word means "to announce" or "to proclaim." We have often been reminded that a prophet is a forthteller rather than a foreteller. Prediction is incidental rather than essential to the prophet's task. A man might utter no specific prediction, yet be a very great prophet. "To have a message from God and to deliver it to men, this is the essence of prophetism." The Scripture narrative reverently looks upon Moses as a prophet (Deut. 18: 18). Samuel, the king-maker, and Nathan, David's political adviser and father-confessor, are in the foremost rank of the goodly company of the prophets. In Ahab's time the fusion of Jehovah worship with Canaan- itish worship, and more especially the vicious hospitality shown by royalty to foreign deities, produced a glorious religious reaction, led by two of the most notable men in the prophetic succession, Elijah and Micaiah. Of Micaiah we read only in connection with the incident to which already reference has been made (p. 172). We find in I Kings 22: 1-40 the dramatic story of the great but little- known prophet, Micaiah. As Ahab and Jehoshaphat con- ferred about their proposed campaign for the capture of Ramoth-Gilead, they sought "the word of Jehovah." Four hundred court prophets spoke with vast assurance of the success of the campaign. The unanimity of the prophets was to Jehoshaphat somewhat suspicious. He had met with 174 CONFLICTS AND ALLIANCES [IX-i] , that brand of unanimity before, in his own capital. "Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah besides, that we may inquire of him?" Ahab had to confess that there was one such man; but he added, "I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." Jehoshaphat was not quite happy until Micaiah was summoned. And the messenger that Went to call Alicaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth : let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak thou good. And Micaiah said, As Jehovah liveth, what Jehovah saith unto me, that will I speak. — I Kings 22 : 13, 14. When Micaiah stood before the kings, he began, in satirical imitation of the "false" prophets, to urge the campaign. When constrained to speak frankly, he flatly declared that the four hundred prophets had a lying spirit, sent from Jehovah, to entice Ahab to his destruction. Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of Jehovah from me to speak unto thee? And Micaiah said. Behold, thou shalt see on that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself. And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son ; and say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace. And Micaiah said. If thou return at all in peace, Jehovah hath not spoken by me. And he said. Hear, ye peoples, all of you. — I Kings 22 : 24-28. Ahab had met his master. Four hundred court prophets of Jehovah, hordes of priests and prophets of Melkart, courtiers and politicians by the score, eager to bring Judah and Jehoshaphat into an offensive alliance — all these backed the able and resourceful king. One is reminded of Luther at Worms, of Knox before Alary, Queen of Scots. It is a [IX-2] RELIGIOUS EXPERIEXCE OF ISRAEL good thing to remember Micaiah, and to enter into his thoughts as in his prison he eats the bread of affliction and drinks the water of affliction; to enter into his thoughts again as he learns in the prisonhouse of Ahab's death, and of the miserable, flight of Israel's warriors. Did you ever read Sill's poem, "The Reformer"? "Before the monstrous wrong he sets him down — One man against a stone-walled city of sin. For centuries those walls have been a-building; Smooth porphyry, they slope and coldly glass The flying storm and wheeling sun. No chink, No crevice lets the thinnest arrow in. He fights alone, and from the cloudy ramparts A thousand evil faces jibe and jeer at him. Let him lie down and die : what is the right. And where is justice in a world like this? But by and by, earth shakes herself, impatient ; And down in one great roar of ruin, crash Watch-tower and citadel and battlements. When the red dust has cleared, the lonely soldier Stands with strange thoughts beneath the friendly stars." W^hat became of Micaiah we do not know. He never attained to much fame. Few Freshmen ever heard of him ! "He knew to bide his time. And can his fame abide. Still patient in his simple faith sublime. Till the wise 3-ears decide." Ninth Week, Second Day. Read rapidly I Kings 17 and 18 — Elijah stories, illuminating the li^e of the prophet and his times. Ahab, statesman and general, had already learned to know and to fear a man greater than Micaiah, a man whose name is suggestive of his life, Elijah (Jah is God). He appears suddenly in the story of the Bible, like Melchizedek, "with- out father or mother," his ancestry unknown, his very birth- place uncertain. One day, clothed with a garment of hair, with a girdle of leather about his loins, he swung himself 176 CONFLICTS AND ALLIANCES [IX-2] into the busy haunt of diplomacy and intrigue, Samaria, and said unto Ahab, "As Jehovah, the God of Israel, liveth, be- fore whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word" (I Kings 17: i). To Elijah the long drought was the sure sign of Jehovah's displeasure at the Baal-worship of the court. The story fol- lows the man down to the brook Cherith and thence to a "heathen" city, where he was sustained by a poor widow, who in turn was blessed by the man of God. The drought pressed hard upon Ahab and his land. One day he met Elijah: Is it thou, thou troubler of Israel? And he an- swered, I have not troubled Israel ; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the command- ments of Jehovah, and thou hast followed the Baalim. Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the Asherah four hun- dred, that eat at Jezebel's table. So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel. And Elijah came near unto all the people, and said, How long go ye limping between the two sides? if Jehovah be God, follow him ; but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, am left a prophet of Jehovah ; but Baal's prophets are four hun- dred and fifty men. Let them therefore give us two bullocks ; and let them choose one bullock for them- selves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under ; and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under. And call ye on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Jehovah : and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said. It is well spoken.— I Kings 18: \7h-24. The contest on Carmel ended with the complete vindication of Elijah, the "conversion" of the people to exclusive Je- hovah worship, the ruthless slaughter of the prophets of Baal. The long vigil for the promised rain, the cloud "as 177 {IX-2] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL small as a man's hand," the running of the prophet before the chariot of Ahab — these are unforgettable pictures. Read I Kings 19, for the picture of the prophet's despondency and its cure. The triumph of Elijah was short-lived. Jezebel, most "effi- cient" and malicious of women, vowed the prophet's death. Elijah fled from the woman's fury, and in the wilderness, under a juniper tree, prayed for death. "It is enough; now, O Jehovah, take away my life ; for I am not better than my fathers." To the religious man there is no time so perilous as that immediately after a period of great achievement and exaltation. But Jehovah had further use for his devotee : "Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee." "The journey is too great for thee." Elijah knew that very well. "But," we may imagine that we hear him say, "my God, dost thou know, dost thou care?" The message to Elijah does not end here. If God should merely sympathize with us, we should grow flabby. "Arise and eat." Where God sympathizes, God sustains, sustains to the journey's end. And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there ; and, behold, the word of Jehovah came to him, and he said unto him. What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah, the God of hosts ; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword : and I, even I only, am left ; and they seek my life, to take it away. And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before Jehovah. And, behold, Jehovah passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before Jehovah ; but Jehovah was not in the wind : and after the wind an earthquake; but Jehovah was not in the earthquake : and after the earthquake a fire ; but Jehovah was not in the fire : and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said. What doest thou here, Elijah?— I Kings 19:9-13. 178 CONFLICTS AND ALLIANCES [IX-3] The story of the prophet at Horeb is one of the most suggestive narratives of the Bible. EHjah had been the prophet of the wind, the earthquake, the fire. But not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, was Jehovah to be found. "Lightning and thunder (heaven's artillery) As harbingers before the Almighty fly; Those but proclaim his style, and disappear ; The stiller sound succeeds, and God is there 1" After the fire came a voice of gentle stillness. And the voice bade the prophet not to lie down and die, nor yet to forget his trouble in solitary meditation. "Go, return upon thy way. Not an anchorite, in gloomy self-conceit imagining thyself to be my only devotee and defender in Israel, return, and thou shalt discover seven thousand of my friends, whom thou hast ignored ; go back into the world of politics, and put the fear of Jehovah into the hearts of statesmen ; go back, and lose thyself in the thought of thy successor whom thou shalt anoint to carry on thy work." Ninth Week, Third Day. The Elijah stories make upon us the impression that we are in the presence of one of the great pioneers of true religion. For this man there could be no easygoing tolerance of other religions, no divided allegiance, no false liberality which worships at every shrine, but yawns as it prays to Jehovah. For him there could be none of that shallowness which mis- takes itself for breadth. "If you want to leap about Baal's altars, if you regard Baal as God, serve him. But don't everlastingly limp between the two sides." He struck at the very heart of the vice of many a college Junior, who "limps" between agnosticism and faith. He struck at the heart of the vice of many a business man, who "limps" between Mammonism and Christianity. 179 [IX-3] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL "God will have all, or none ; serve Him or fall Down before Baal, Bel, or Belial : Either be hot or cold : God doth despise. Abhor and spew out all Neutralities." Again, this man saw what Ahab ignored, what most of his contemporaries did not see : that devotion to Jehovah cannot be divorced from devotion to justice. Professor Jastrow tells us that in the ancient Gilgamesh story of the Flood, there is the implication that the workmen appropriated three sar of asphalt and pitch, and the boatman secreted two sar of oil as his share of the graft, while building the ark of the hero. And in later and better times men have undertaken to build the ark of safety for democracy, and at the same time to provide against the rain an ample waterproofing of the gains of the profiteer. But even kings can't stifle the cry of Naboth's blood. In the after days kings forgot, but the Hebrew people and their prophets never forgot, the meeting of Elijah with Ahab, when the prophet told the king what he would have to pay for that vineyard which his judicial murder had won him: And the word of Jehovah came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying. Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who dwelleth in Samaria : behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to take possession of it. And thou shalt speak unto him, saying. Thus saith Jehovah, Hast thou killed, and also taken posses- sion ? And thou shalt speak unto him, saying. Thus saith Jehovah, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee, because thou hast sold thyself to do that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will utterly sweep thee away and will cut off from Ahab every man-child, and him that is shut up and him that is left at large in Israel. — I Kings 21 : 17-21. Elijah taught the peasants of Israel that Jehovah is on the side of the oppressed— on the side, not of despotism, but of democracy. 180 COXFLICTS AND ALLIANCES [IX-3] It has been said of Elijah that he was "among the greatest and most original of the Hebrew prophets ; indeed it is in him that Hebrew prophecy first appears as a great spiritual and ethical power, deeply affecting the destiny and religious character of the nation." A most uncomfortable man he was, a most uncompromising man. Ahab couldn't do a thing with him. He had a way of answering back, which the king could not well bear. "Is it thou, thou troubler of Israel? . . . I have not troubled Israel; but thou and thy father's house" (I Kings 18:17, 18). "His eyes were dreadful, for you saw That they saw God." Elijah is one of the men who have "ploughed rather than written" their names in history. In Malachi, we have a prediction, written centuries later, which looks forward, not to some new prophet, but hopes that the ever circling years will bring back at last the prophet of the older day. "Be- hold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come" (Mai. 4:5). Of John the Baptist it was predicted that he should go before the face of the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah. On the Mount of Transfiguration, the apostles saw in vision beside their Master two men — the one, Moses, representative of the Law, the other, Elijah, representative of the Prophets. To this day in Palestine the peasants think of the prophet as wandering among the caves on the heights of Carmel. Ahab, Ben-hadad, Shalmaneser — "Great captains, with their guns and drums, Disturb our judgment for the hour, * But at last silence comes," And out from the silence we hear the voice of the lonely man who speaks for Jehovah, the God before whom he stands. 181 [IX-4J RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF ISRAEL Ninth Week, Fourth Day. 5. Elisha and His Contemporaries Read II Kings i : 1-8, 3, 9, and 10, for insight into the ways of kings and prophets in EHsha's time. The successor of Ahab was unworthy of his name, Ahaziah (J ah holds, or supports). We spoke of the "conversion" of Israel to exclusive Jehovah worship. We did well to put the word conversion in quotation marks, for the conversion seems to have been transient enough. Almost the only inci- dent recorded of Ahaziah is this : that he "sent messengers, and said unto them. Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this sickness." Elijah sent messengers to him to ask. "Is it because there is no God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub?" (II Kings 1:2, 3)- Elisha prayed that he might receive a double portion of his master's spirit. He certainly needed it, for he inherited the great unfinished task of Elijah. There were probably few men in Israel who felt any inconsistency between Ahaziah's worship of Jehovah and his inquiry of the oracle at the famous shrine of Ekron. In most respects Elisha presents a striking contrast to his predecessor. He is a man of the village and of the city; a courtier, always surrounded by "the sons of the prophets," by soldiers or emissaries of royalty. We see this counselor of kings going with Jehoram of Israel, with Jehoshaphat of Judah, and with the vassal ruler of Edom, against Mesha of Moab. It is his practical advice, given apparently under the inspiration of a minstrel, which wins the battle for the allies. Of rather sinister interest is the relation of Elisha to the conspiracy and enthronement of Jehu, the ruthless murderer and "Defender of the Faith." The slaughter of the kings both of Israel and of Judah, the wholesale killing of "all that remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his 182 CONFLICTS AXD ALLIAXCES [IX-4] great men and his familiar friends, until he left none re- maining" ; the hideous fraud perpetrated upon the priests and worshipers of Baal — all this probably did not disturb the conscience of Elisha, as it did not trouble the narrator of the incidents. And Jehovah said unto Jehu, Because thou hast done well in executing that which is right in mine eyes, and hast done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, thy sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. — II Kings 10 : 30. A century later Hosea was to render a very different verdict upon the political and religious murders of Jehu. Hosea's child was to bear to the descendants of Jehu the message of doom : And Jehovah said unto him. Call his name Jezreel ; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease. — Hos. i : 4. The facts and their chronology are somewhat obscure; but it would seem that Elisha played a most important part in the relations of Israel to her northern neighbor, Syria. The divine foresight of Elisha is said to have saved the king of Israel from his enemy "not once nor twice." In one fascinating story (II Kings 6:8-17) we read that the Syrian king determined to seize upon this man who could tell his king the things the Syrian spoke in his bedchamber. Elisha was at Dothan. His servant cried, "Alas, my master! how shall we do?" Elisha's God opened the young man's eyes, and he saw the mountain full of horses and chariots of fire round about EHsha. It has been said of Phillips Brooks that he lived and moved and had his being in a world which to Huxley was non-existent for lack of evidence. Little Helen Keller said to Brooks, 'T knew all about God before you told me, only I did not know his name." A young soldier of the Great War says : "I do not fear to trust my unknown future to a known God." Some men seem ever to 183 [IX-5] RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF -ISRAEL live with eyes anointed to see the mountains full of horses and chariots. Some men seem to feel that God "presses close And palpitatingly, His soul o'er ours." To other men, the veil of sense hangs dark between them and the face of God. In "A Student in Arms" Hankey says : "True religion means betting one's life that there is a God." No man ever lost that bet. "If with all your hearts 3^e truly seek me, ye shall ever surely find me." And the discovery of God, his horses and chariots, transforms a man fro