YALE DIVINITY SCHOOL LIBRARY Gift of Estate of Professor George Dahl BOOKS BY PROF. CHARLES FOSTER KENT Published by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS The Social Teachings of the Prophets and Jesus. 12mo «e/ $1.50 Biblical Geography and History. With Maps. 12mo net 1.65 The Origin and Permanent Value of the Old Testament. 12mo . . .net .60 History of the Hebrew People. From the Settlement in Canaan to the Fall of Jeru salem in 586 B.C. With Maps. 2 vols. 12mo. Each net lAO History of the Jewish People. The Baby- Ionian, Persian and Greek Periods. With Maps. 12mo net 1.40 The Historical Bible. With Maps. 6 vols. 12mo. Each ... , net 1.25 Student's Old Testament. Logically and Chron ologically Arranged and Translated. With Maps. 6 vols. Each . . . net 3.00 The Messages of Israel's Lawgivers. Square 16mo . net 1.25 The Messages of the Earlier Prophets. Square IGmo net 1.25 The Messages of the Later Prophets. Square 16mo net 1.25 THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE PROPHETS AND JESUS THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS OE THE PEOPHETS AND JESUS BY CHARLES FOSTER KENT, Ph.D., Litt.D. WOOLSET FBOFESSOB OF BIBLICAL LITEBATCBB IN TALB UNITEBSIIT NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1917 CoPTRIQHT, 1917, BY CHARLES SCBIBNEE'S SONS Published April, 1917 ^ -p <: I PREFACE The discovery that the great prophets and founders of Judaism and Christianity were above all else social teachers and reformers is rapidly revolutionising the study of the Bible. 5iJ The Hebrew prophets and Jesus speak to us to-day more di- -J rectly and convincingly than they did even to their contem- p§i poraries, for we are far more keenly alive to the importance of ,. the social problems which they were seeking to solve. To ap- W predate fully the social principles which they laid down it is C> necessary first to become acquainted with the personality of 4 v^ each of these prophets and with the immediate political and social conditions with which they were dealing. Studied in Q the light of their historical background, these teachings can ¦J then be readily interpreted into universal terms and used as a ^^solvent for the social problems of to-day. P The social teachings of the Bible are so deeply embedded in C^ the Old and New Testament writings that they are not easily •-V^accessible to the general reader. Those of the prophets and of ij their practical interpreters, the priests and sages, have usually -V been treated separately from those of Jesus and his immediate -^ followers. As a matter of fact, Jesus and Paul based their "-"-social teachings directly upon those of the earlier prophets. /* Without the final synthesis and interpretation which Jesus i^gave to these earlier teachings, they are disconnected and in- ^ complete. To be clearly understood both the teachings of the prophets and those of Jesus and Paul must be studied together as parts of a genetic whole. The chief aims, therefore, of this •^volume are to single out the important social teachings of the ¦ — Bible, to translate them into clear English, and then to classify ^and present them so that they may be intelligently studied in eo the light of their historical setting and development. The re- vi PREFACE suit is primarUy a source book; for the modem reader and stu dent desire first of all to know the exact form as well as content of these epoch-making teachings. The final aim is to interpret the principles which underlie them into modern language and thought. In realising these aims I owe much to pioneers like Professor Francis G. Peabody of Harvard and Dean Charles R. Brown of Yale, who have discovered this rich field, but I am especially indebted to Professor J. W. Jenks of New York University and Mr. Frederick J. Kingsbury of New Haven, who have offered many valuable suggestions as this volume has been taking form. These social principles represent the common ground on which conservative and radical, Protestant and Catholic, reformed Jew and progressive Mohammedan — in fact, every man who recognises the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man — can unite and work for the realisation of the ideals of the founders of their faith. These are the fundamental principles which the great prophets of Judaism and Christianity and of every vital religion supremely emphasised. In their eyes the petty differences which to-day divide the religious forces- of the world were utterly unimportant. Deeds, not creeds, spirit, not forms, attitude, not professions, alone are essential. The social teachings of the prophets and Jesus, therefore, furnish the practical working basis on which the social and religious leaders of the world can co-operate in promoting and conserv ing the highest material and spiritual interests of the human race. C. F. K. Yale Collbob, Febrmry, 1917. CONTENTS PART I— THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF THE PRE-EXILIC PROPHETS FAQS I. Moses' Assertion of the Rights of the In dustrially Oppressed 3 The Social Significance of the Bible.— The Political and Economic Background of the Egyptian Oppression. — Ramses II's Policy of Oppression.— The Effects of Ramses II's Policy upon the Hebrews. — The Development of an Indtistrial DeUverer.- Moses' Vision in the Land of Midlan. — ^The Social Problem. — Moses' Methods. — The Great Social and Economic Principles Illustrated by the Crisis in Egypt. — The Social Significance of the Deliverance of the Hebrews. II. The Democratic Principles for Which Ahijah AND Elijah Contended 13 Israel's Social Inheritance. — The Social Transformation in Israel's Early History. — The Long Conflict between the Hebrew Nomadic and the Canaanite Agricultural Ideals. — The Early Conflict between the Hebrew and Canaanite Theories of the State. — The Ascendancy of the Canaanite Governmental Ideals under Solomon. — Solomon's Theory of Taxation. — The Popular Reassertion of Israel's Demo cratic Ideals. — EUjah's Defense of the Eights of the In dividual Citizen. — The Social Principles Established in Is rael's Early History. III. The Social Teachings of the Early Prophetic Story-Tellers 26 The Social Aim in Israel's Early Epic Narratives. — The Divine Ideal for Human Society. — The Ultimate Basis of the Family. — The Unsocial Character and Effects of Sin. — The Making and Treatment of the Criminal. — The Survival of the Morally Fittest. — The Brotherhood of the Human Bace. — The Signiflcance of the Prophetic Portrait of Abra ham. — The Socialising of the Unsocial Jacob. — ^Joseph, the Embodiment of the Agricultural Social Ideals. vii viii CONTENTS FAQB IV. Amos's Interpretation of the Responsibilities of the Rich and Ruling Classes 39 Social Transformations in Northern Israel. — The Political and ReUgious Situation. — The Making of a New Type of Social Reformer. — Amos's Methods of Social Reform. — Amos's Teaching Regarding the Duties of Rulers. — The Ee- sponsibiiity of Judges.-^The Responsibilities of the Rich. — The Universal Brotherhood of Man and Its Obligations. V. Hosea's Analysis of the Forces That Destroy AND Upbuild Society 49 The Personal Experience That Made Hosea a Social Teacher. — Hosea's Conception of the Obligations of Husbands and ¦Wives. — The Effects of Social Immorality. — The Social Effects of Deceit and Robbery. — The Divine Lover. — Hosea's Contributions to Israel's Social Ideals. VI. The Soclvl Ideals of the Statesman Isaiah.. 60 The Social Conditions That Confronted Isaiah. — The Influ ences That Made Isaiah a Prophet. — Isaiah's Denunciation of the Corrupt Eulers of Judah. — Isaiah's Denunciation of Judicial Injustice. — Land Monopoly. — The Economic Sig niflcance of Intemperance and Luxury. — ^Man's Attitude to ward God. — The Rule or Kingdom of God. — Isaiah's Contri butions to Israel's Social Ideals. VII. MicAH THE Tribune of the Common People . . 70 Micah's Origin and Point of View. — ^Micah's Teachings Re garding the Duties of Rulers. — The Responsibilities of Wealth. — ^The Duties of Those Intrusted with PubUc Edu cation in ReUgion and Morals. — The Results of Micah's Social Teaching. — The Prophetic Definition of Eeliglous BesponsibiUty. VIII. The SociiL Reformers of the Seventh Cen tury 78 The Decadent Seventh Century. — ^Nahum's Condemnation of War Prompted by Greed .^The Signiflcance of the Re actionary Reign of Manasseh. — The Reformer Prophet Zephaniah. — ^Jeremiah of Anathoth. — Their Teachings Re garding the Duties of Rulers and Religious Leaders. — The Irresponsible, Unprincipled Rich. — The Aims of the Pro phetic Reformers Who Prepared the Laws in Deuteronomy. — Formal Adoption of the New Prophetic Code. CONTENTS ix PAoa IX. The Social Principles Embodied in the Pro phetic Code of Deuteronomy 90 Domestic Relations: Duties of [Husbands 'to Their Wives. — Duties of Parents to Children, — Duties of Children to Parents. — Duties of Masters to Slaves. — ^PoUtical and Civil Regulations: ObUgations of Eulers. — Duties of Judges. — Duties of Witnesses.-^PubUc Education in ReUgion and Morals. — Economic Regulations: The Ownership of Prop erty. — ResponsiblUties of Employers of Labour. — Measures for the Prevention of Poverty. — Measures for the Alleviation of Poverty. — The Characteristics of the Social Citizen, — The Completeness of the Deuteronomic Social Code. PART II— THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF THE EXILIC AND POST-EXILIC PROPHETS AND SAGES X. Israel's Mature Political Ideals 107 Israel's New Outlook on Life. — The Social Significance of the Messianic Prophecies. — A Prayer in Behalf of a Benign Ruler. — The Portrait of the Prince of Peace. — The Ideal Euler. — The Ideal State of the Future. XI. The Growth of Israel's Missionary Attitude toward All Nations 117 Influences That Enlarged Israel's Social Consciousness, — The Recognition of the Rights of Resident Aliens. — The Open Door to the Heathen World, — Israel's Mission to the Heathen. — The UniversaUty of Jehovah's Rule. — The Psalmists' Vision of the Kingdom of God. — Israel's EeaUsa- tion of its Missionary Ideal. XII. The Second Isaiah's Ideal of Social Service . . 127 The Historical Background of the Second Isaiah. — The Prophet's Alms. — The Prophet's Interpretation of Israel's Destiny. — -The Character of the Servant Whom Jehovah Needed to EeaUse His Purpose, — The Training of Jehovah's Loyal Servant, — The Task and Methods of Jehovah's Loyal Servant. — The Invincible Character of Voluntary Self- Sacriflce. — The Eealisation of the Ideal of the Servant of Jehovah. — The Service That Is Alone Acceptable to Je hovah. X CONTENTS FAQB XIII. The S0CLA.L Teachings of the Wise 141 The Interest of the Wise in Social Questions. — The Rights and Duties of Husbands and Wives, — The Duties of Parents to Children. — The Duties of Children to Parents. — The Eights and Duties of Masters and Servants, — The Eights and Duties of Eulers and Citizens, — Man in His Legal Eo lations. — The EesponsibiUties and Use of Wealth. — The Evils and Prevention of Poverty. XIV. The Good Neighbour and Citizen According to the Wise 154 The Characteristics That Make a Bad Neighbour and Citi zen. — The Fundamental Social Virtues. — The Psalmists' Definition of the QuaUfications of a Worthy Citizen. — The Culminating Old "Testament Portrait of a Social Citizen. XV. The Social Philosophy of Hillel and John the Baptist 165 The Century of Social Inertia, — The Social Reawakening Led by Hfllel, — HiUel's Social Teachings. — HiUel's Stand ards for the SociaUy Minded Citizen, — The Antecedents of John the Baptist. — The Social Standards EstabUshed by John, — ^John's Conception of the New Era That Was Dawn ing. — ^John's Prediction of the Advent of a Greater Spiritual Reformer. — The Significance of John's Work. PART III— THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF JESUS XVI. Jesus' Approach to the Socla.l Problem 177 The Master Builder of Nazareth. — The Evidences of Jesus' Interest in Social Questions, — The Record of Jesus' Social Teachings. — The Social Problems of Jesus' Day. — The Ex periential Basis of Jesus' Social Teachings. — Jesus' Concep tion of the Eelatipn of EeUgion to Social Sendee. XVII. Jesus' Aims and Methods as a Socla.l Teacher 186 Jesus' Consciousness of a Social Mission, — ^Why Jesus Went to Capernaum. — ^Jesus' Work at Capernaum, — The Classes to Which Jesus Appealed, — Reasons Why Jesus' Social Ap peal Was to the Individual, — ^Jesus' Way of Saving Men. — The Brotherhood Which Jesus BuUt Up at Capernaum. — The Breadth of Jesus' Social Plan. CONTENTS xi FAOB XVIII. The Characteristics of the Christian Citizen 198 Jesus' Estimate of the Value of PersonaUty. — Jesus' Doctrine of Social IndividuaUsm. — The Importance of Developing a Complete PersonaUty. — The Pimdamental Importance of SociaUsed Thinking and Peeling. — The Ultimate Motive That Prompts Social Thinking and Feeling. — The Fundamental Social Virtues: Sincerity. — Charitable Judgment. — ^Forgiveness, — Love for En emies. — ^Love for AU Men, — The Attitude of Non-Re sentment. — ^Jesus' lUustration of Social Citizenship. XIX. Jesus' Apprecl^tion of the Social Values OF Recreation and Popular Amusements 212 Jesus' Own Enjoyment of Wholesome Recreation. — Jesus' Sense of Humour. — The Joyous Life of the Ca pernaum Community. — Jesus' Commendation of All Forms of Wholesome Amusement. — Jesus' Condemna tion of the So-CaUed Amusements That Are Harmful. — Jesus' Eejection of the Pharisaic Interpretation of the Sabbath. — Jesus' Example and Teachings Eegarding the Larger Use of the Sabbath. — ^Jesus' Analysis of the Sources of Eeal Happiness.— Conclusions Eegarding Jesus' Philosophy of Living. XX. Jesus' Economic Teachings 225 Jesus' Interest in Economic Problems, — ^Jesus' General Attitude toward Wealth, — ^Jesus' Teachings Eegarding the Perils of Wealth. — The Wrong Use of Wealth, — The Eeasons Why the Mere Quest of Wealth Is Unsatisfy ing, — The Right Use of Wealth. — A Living Wage for All. — ReUef of Poverty. — A Eesumg of Jesus' Economic Teachings. XXL Jesus' Teachings Regarding the Family. . . 241 Jesus' Estimate of the Importance of the Family. — Jesus' Attitude toward Marriage. — Jesus' Attitude toward Divorce. — The Duties of Husbands to Wives. — The Duties of Children to Parents.^ — Jesus' Evaluation of the IndustriaUy Dependent Classes in the Home. — Jesus' Solution of the Servant Problem. — Jesus' Con ception of the Ideal Home.- XXII. Jesus' Teachings Regarding the State 252 The Pohtical Situation in Jesus' Day. — Jesus' Point of Approach to PoUtical Questions, — Jesus' Democracy, — The Rights and Duties of Eulers, — The Duties of Citi zens to the State, — ^The Treatment of Criminals. — Jesus' Teachings Eegarding War. xii CONTENTS XXIII. The Rule or Kingdom of God. PAGB 267 Jesus' Use of the Term Kingdom of God. — Popular Jewish Conceptions of the Kuigdom of God. — Jesus' Own Conception of the Rule or Kingdom of God. — The Two Comer-Stones of Jesus' Conception of the King dom of God. — ^Entering the Kingdom of God. — The Re lation of the Kingdom to Existing Society. — The Reali sation of Jesus' Ideal of the Kingdom in Society. PART IV— THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF JESUS' FOLLOWERS XXIV. The Social Life of the Early Christian Communities 283 The Effect of Jesus' Death upon His FoUowers. — The Reasons Why Jesus' FoUowers Returned to Jerusalem after His Death. — The Personnel and Organisation of the Jerusalem Community. — The Spirit of Brotherhood in the Early Christian Communities. — The Economic Basis of the Early Christian Communities. XXV. Paul's Social and Economic Teachings 290 Paul's Interest in Social Questions. — ^Marriage and Di vorce. — The Mutual ResponsiblUties of Husbands and Wives. — The Duties of Parents and ChUdren. — The Re sponsiblUties of Masters and Servants. — "The Value and Use of Wealth. XXVI. Paul's Ideal of Christian Citizenship. 302 Raid's Two Dominant Social Alms. — The Character istics of a Christian Citizen, — The Crowning Virtues of the Social Citizen. — The Christian's Attitude toward Civil Authorities. — The Christian Citizen's ObUgations to His PeUow Christians. — The Christian's Duty to Non-Christians and Enemies. — The Christian Common wealth. XXVII. The Adoption of Jesus' Social Princi ples During the First Christian Cen tury 316 The Spread of Jesus' Social Leaven. — The Duties of Wives and Husbands. — The ObUgations of Chris tian Servants. — Attitude of the Christian toward Hia CONTENTS xni PeUow Christians. — The Democracy of the Epistle of James. — ResponsibiUty of Wealth. — Social Significance of the Apocalyptic Visions in the Book of Revelation. — The Christian Law of Love, — The ReaUsation of Jesus' Social Ideals in the Life of the Primitive Church. XXVIII. The Application of the Social Teachings OF the Prophets and Jesus 327 Christianity's ConcLuest of and by Rome, — The Effects of Christianity's Long Contest with Paganism, — The [ Trend toward Monasticism and Asceticism, — The The ological Interpretation of Christianity, — The Eedlscov- ery of the Social Teachings of the Bible, — The New Social Awakening. — The Programme of Socialism and That of the Prophets and Jesus, — A Comparison of the Methods of SociaUsm and Christianity ,^The Social Leaven at Work in the Life of the Modem Man. — In the Life of the Faimly. — In the Business World. — In the Christian Church. — In National and International Eolations. APPENDIX I. Selected Bibliography 343 APPENDIX II. Subjects for Discussion and Inves tigation 348 CLASSIFIED INDEX 361 PART I THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF THE PRE-EXILIC PROPHETS MOSES' ASSERTION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE INDUSTRIALLY OPPRESSED The Social Significance of the Bible. Hitherto the Bible has been regarded primarily as a theological text-book. From its pages dogmatic theologians have drawn the proof-texts that have been made the foundations of many diverse creeds. But at last we are beginning to see that the Bible is far more than a theological treatise. Through its vivid records we still gain our clearest and most inspiring visions of the God revealed in the universe and in human history; but now we realise that its authors sought to do much more than to teach theology. Throughout its pages two dominant aims are clearly and con stantly evident. The first is to make plain to men the ways in which they may enter into intimate acquaintance with God and find life and freedom in his loyal service. The second is to show them how they may live in right relations to their fellow men and by imited effort develop a perfect social order in which each may find supreme happiness and complete self- expression. The one aim is in the largest sense religious, the other social. The Bible also makes forever clear the absolute unity of these two aims. Many different voices are heard in the Old and New Testa ments, but clear above them all rise in full harmony those of the Hebrew prophets and Jesus and Paul. They were not vague dreamers but men of practical insight and outlook, who stood together on the higher planes of reality. Their interpretation of the great social problems which confront the individual and society are so clarifying and significant that no intelligent man or age can afford to disregard them. Wrought out and thor- 3 4 MOSES' ASSERTION OF POPULAR RIGHTS oughly tested in the laborg,tory of personal and national ex perience, the religious and social principles which they set forth possess a unique and abiding value. The Bible also records the progressive development and formulation of these fundamental principles. From the very beginning of their national history the Hebrews were endowed with a rich social heritage derived from their nomadic ancestors. In the strenu ous national crises which marked the enlargement of Israel's life aiid thought these inherited social ideals were reinterpreted and expanded by each succeeding prophet until they found their final and complete synthesis in the teachings of Jesus. In this critical, transitional age, when selfish greed and ma terialism have nearly wrecked society, we are inexorably forced to the conclusion that the social principles of the prophets and Jesus are by far the most valuable assets that the past has be queathed to us, for they furnish the only basis upon which an enduring civilisation can be reared. It is this fresh appreci ation of the profoundly practical social idealism of the Bible that is gaining for it a new and pre-eminent place in the thought and interest of the present generation. The Political and Economic Background of the Egyptian Oppression. Chief among the many reasons why Israel of all the nations has proved the leading social teacher of the human race is the fact that its history opened with a titanic social struggle. Its founder was a prophet and social agitator. In the throes of a great industrial crisis the Hebrew nation was born. Political and economic conditions in the land of Egypt during the thirteenth century before Christ were the result of a long process of development. The land of the Nile is naturally isolated. Originally it was divided into a large number of small independent states. Only gradually were they united. The invasion of the Hyksos conquerors about the twentieth century before Christ led them in despera tion to acknowledge the absolute authority of the kings of the Eighteenth (Theban) Dynasty. After a long struggle these rulers succeeded in expelling the invaders and in extending the boundaries of Egypt until they included Syria and Palestine. THE EGYPTIAN OPPRESSION 5 The deliverance was purchased, however, at great cost to the common people. All political power and most of the wealth of the empire were gathered into the hands of a small ruling class. Under the succeeding Nineteenth Dynasty social con ditions grew even more intolerable. The local nobihty disap peared and the kings became absolute despots, holding in their irresponsible hands all the vast resources of the empire and the lives of their subjects. A huge bureaucracy of minor of ficials, who were the paid tools of the tyrant, in his name con trolled all commerce and collected as high as twenty per cent tax on all products of the soil. For the individual citizen there was no redress nor escape from this economic as well as polit ical thraldom. Upon the thousands of captives and foreigners then found in the land of Egypt this intolerable burden rested most heavily. Ramses H's Policy of Oppression. Ramses II, the fourth king of the Nineteenth Dynasty, who reigned sixty-seven years (1292-1225 B.C.), was one of the greatest masters of in dustry that has ever appeared in human history. He was a man of unbounded energy and gifted with a remarkable or ganising ability. He was dominated by a colossal ambition to build memorials so many and so vast that they would make his reign forever glorious. The result is that the land of Egypt is to-day strewn from one end to the other with the evidences in crumbling stone of his overweening ambition. At Tanis in the delta is a huge granite monolith of the oppressor ninety feet high, weighing fully nine hundred tons. At Luxor (ancient Thebes) the ruins of the colonnaded hall of the great temple which he reared still surpass in size the largest build ings of the ancient and modern world. These imposing re mains, as well as contemporary records, reveal the spirit of the man. He planned far more than he could execute. Turning his back on the most sacred traditions of his race, he tore down famous temples and noble works of art and used the material for his own crude building enterprises. Erasing the names of those who had originally reared them, he inscribed his own name on scores of ancient monuments. He was equally ruth- 6 MOSES' ASSERTION OF POPULAR RIGHTS less in his sacrifice of human life. All Egypt was put to work to satisfy his inordinate ambition. At the same time he was lavish in his gifts to the temples and in his public display of piety. Evidently he was eager to win for himself the approval of the gods and to blind his own subjects by the magnificence of his public benefactions. In every respect he was a perfect type of the unprincipled captain of industry; and, thanks to Egypt's malign inheritance, he was able to perfect an industrial system which in its inexorable effectiveness has never been surpassed. The Effects of Ramses H's Policy upon the Hebrews. The nomads from Palestine, who, driven by famine, under the benign reign of an earlier Pharaoh had found refuge and later a permanent home in the pasture lands east of the Nile Delta, were but a small fraction of the horde of foreigners who in the days of Ramses II filled the land of Egypt. Earlier Egyptian records contain references to the Semitic shepherds who came to water their flocks at the pools of Pithom. Until the days of Ramses II the Wady Tumilat, which ran from the Nile delta eastward toward the wilderness, had been given up to shep herds. Here the ancestors of the Hebrews had pastured their herds and flocks undisturbed except for the occasional visits of Egyptian tax collectors. In this favorable environment their numbers rapidly increased. Ramses II, however, was eager to develop the agricultural resources of the Wady Tumilat and to provide arsenals and granaries as a base for his cam paigns in the neighbouring lands of Palestine and Syria. To effect this transformation and to build the store cities of Rameses and Pithom (Egyptian P-Atum = House of the god Atum), the Hebrews were drafted into the royal service. No people are more resentful of forced manual labor than the freedom- loving sons of the desert. But the unorganised Hebrew clans were helplessly caught in the meshes of Pharaoh's industrial system. Their "lives were made bitter with hard service in mortar and brick." As their numbers continued to increase and their resentment became more evident, their burden was made more crushing. With absolutely no prospect of escape, THE EFFECTS OF RAMSES II'S POLICY 7 sullen, sodden, and hungry, these hopeless serfs were compelled under the lash to toil at the vast enterprises which completed their bondage. The Development of an Industrial Deliverer. Moses is the first man in human history with a well-developed social consciousness. He lived long before the days of exact Hebrew records; but his life is so simple and his work so significant that there is every reason to believe that the oldest traditions pre served in Exodus are thoroughly reliable. Interpreted into modern language, they give a marvellous picture of the way in which Israel's first great prophet and industrial deliverer was trained. They also illustrate the pre-eminent importance of personality. Moses was in one sense a product of contempo rary conditions and of the forces at work in his race and age. In another and deeper sense he was the moulder of his race and of new social ideals for humanity. Each factor in his youthful training was essential to his final work. His birth and upbringing as a child aligned him with his race. His later culture gave him a larger outlook and enabled him to understand the baffling social and economic problems which he sought to solve. The supreme crisis in his life came to him in his young manhood — the period when most prophets awaken to their mission. A cruel act of oppression suddenly aroused his loyalty to his kinsmen and so stirred his social conscious ness that he awoke to a vivid realisation of the injustice of Pharaoh's policy. Hot-headed and red-handed, he attacked it by slaying a cruel Egyptian taskmaster (Ex. 2"- ^^). Painful experience soon taught him that violence never helps but always hurts a just cause. His act probably brought only added woe to his kinsmen. Even they misunderstood and openly resented his interference. The trouble was that his zeal was misdirected and his method was not constructive. But his impulsive act forever committed him to the mighty task of delivering his enthralled kinsmen (Ex. 2"-'^*). Moses' Vision in the Land of Midian. Moses' violent assertion of his loyalty to his race and to the principles of jus tice gave him a new perspective. His enervating contact with 8 MOSES' ASSERTION OF POPULAR RIGHTS the ruling class in Egypt was suddenly broken, and he found himself a fugitive in that trackless wilderness from which the ancestors of his race had emerged. He quickly identified him self with the freer, more democratic social life which flourished in those arid steppes and meagrely watered wadies. At their fountain source he drank in the social traditions of his race. In the calm, free atmosphere of the desert he saw more clearly by contrast the colossal injustice of the Egyptian industrial system. The great wrong, which he had in a pitiably inade quate and unwise way attempted to right, still remained, and he could not forget it. Doubtless he listened eagerly to the stray bits of information regarding conditions in Egypt that sifted out into the wilderness. At last the news came that the great taskmaster, who for more than six decades had held the people of Egypt under his pitiless lash, was dead. The book of Exodus has preserved three distinct accounts of the way in which Moses received the divine call to take up his mighty task as an industrial deliverer. Each represents the bold attempt of early tradition to describe a profound spiritual experience. That they differ in details is not surpris ing. It is the points in which they agree that are significant. The background of Moses' call is his intimate knowledge of the needs of his oppressed kinsmen and his burning zeal to de liver them. The great outstanding fact in all the narratives is his vivid consciousness of Jehovah's presence and power. For the first time in human history Moses clearly realised that the God back of the universe is a God of justice and mercy who sympathises with the socially oppressed. Simply and directly the early Judean prophetic narrative states the truth which is the corner-stone of Israel's faith (Ex. 3'- ^): Jehovah said, 'I have surely seen the affiction of my people that are in Egypt, and have heard their cry of anguish because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the power of the Egyptians.' It was this conviction, and not merely the knowledge of the changed political conditions in Egypt, that transformed the MOSES' VISION 9 Hebrew fugitive into the intrepid and tactful champion of a seemingly impossible cause. The consciousness that God is the friend and deliverer of the oppressed not only made Moses a prophet but also guided him in all his subsequent heroic and successful endeavors in behalf of his people. The Social Problem. Human society has rarely presented a more baflBing social problem than that which confronted Moses when he returned to Egypt. The system which was re lentlessly crushing the bodies and souls of his kinsmen seemed to be impregnably intrenched. It was supported by the entire political, priestly, and military power of the empire. The spirit of his kinsmen had been crushed by their cruel burdens and at first they were suspicious of this prophet from the wilderness. Not the least of his tasks was to arouse this ig norant, inert mass. As has been truly said, "Moses himself was doubtless still on the black list of the Egyptian secret service." No champion of ancient story ever attempted a more heroic feat than did he when he stood up single-handed against Egypt's mighty industrial system. The only external factor in his favour was that the merciless tyrant, Ramses II, was dead and Egypt was beginning to feel acutely the weaken ing effects of his rapacious policy. Unobserved, however, by king and people, mighty physical, social, and economic laws were also lined up on the side of the intrepid prophet. The effects of their co-operation are graphically and character istically recorded in the plague stories of Exodus. With the eye of faith the ancient story-tellers saw not the economic and natural forces but the God back of them all, and told their story accordingly. The contemporary Egyptian records re veal still other forces at work: foreign invaders, civil war, and inefficient rulers were rapidly sapping the strength of the em pire. Moses' Methods. The overshadowing figure in this crisis was Moses, for he was not only the champion of his oppressed kinsmen but also the herald of new social principles. In his youthful zeal he had tried to right a great social wrong by violence; but now he carefully avoided the use of force. For- 10 MOSES' ASSERTION OF POPULAR RIGHTS tunately he was not gifted as an orator, and so did not depend upon fervid harangues. Instead he initiated a well-planned campaign. Fu-st he educated his fellow Israelites (Ex. 4^^-^^) : So Moses went and gathered together all the elders of the Israelites, and spoke all the words which Jehovah had spoken to him, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed; and when they heard that Jehovah had visited the Is- raeUtes, and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed low their heads in worship. Later, when conditions were favourable, he organised them for definite action. He also formulated the just demands of the oppressed industrial class which he represented and then personally presented them to the reigning Pharaoh. When these demands were refused he resorted to practical agitation. His frequent stormy interviews with the king were significant, because he was able thereby to impress the right of his cause and the social principles for which he contended upon his kinsmen and upon the people of Egypt. Having exhausted these methods, he depended upon patient, persistent waiting for the outworking of the social and economic laws through which the rule of God is manifested in the life of the world. In his thought, as in the minds of the early Hebrew story-tellers, Jehovah was the personal embodiment of all these laws. He was regarded as the immediate as well as the ultimate cause of all natural phenomena. The foreign invasions, the degener acy of the reigning house, the anarchy, the resulting unhygienic conditions, the pestilences, and the sudden collapse of power, which about 1200 B.C. came in rapid succession upon the once rich and mighty Egyptian empire, were believed by the early Hebrew historians to be special miracles performed by Jehovah at the request of Moses in order to liberate their ancestors. There is every reason to believe, however, that God is the same to-day as yesterday, and that he then as now used natural and economic forces in accomplishing his purpose in human history. If so, this ancient industrial struggle possesses a unique inter est and value for the modern industrial age. THE CRISIS IN EGYPT 11 The Great Social and Economic Principles Illustrated by the Crisis in Egypt. The issue was so clearly drawn, the factors involved were so obvious, and the outcome was so de cisive that the social and economic principles illustrated by this great industrial struggle stand out clear-cut and convincing. The first is that the union of great wealth and political power in the hands of one man or of a few men is fatal to the ultimate prosperity of a nation and to the welfare and happiness of its citizens. It is only through the united judgment and the loyal co-operation of a majority of the people that the economic and political powers of a nation can be wisely exercised. Cen tralised in a few irresponsible hands, it is subject to personal caprice and ambition, as is dramatically illustrated by the reign of Ramses II. The second principle is that when men are unjustly herded together and pitilessly exploited, they inevitably breed con tagion and pestilence as well as discontent and the spirit of insurrection. Furthermore, when the industrial workers are thus exploited, the masters of industry who are responsible for these evils in the end also inevitably feel the dire consequences. Into the royal palace in ancient Egypt the dread pestilence stalked, claiming as its own the heir to the throne. To-day from the congested tenement districts the germs of filth dis eases and the more deadly moral contagions, without regard for social distinction, invade the homes of the rich and cul tured. Furthermore, excessive wealth won by injustice in the end proves in itself a destructive nemesis. It was the vice and luxury begotten by wealth that ultimately destroyed the efficiency of the reigning Egyptian house and brought about its downfall. Human history is full of similar illustrations. Equally significant is the positive principle that is clearly il lustrated by Moses' own experience: violence never avails in correcting industrial evils. The only true method is that of Moses: education and organisation of those industrially op pressed; clear presentation of their claims and rights; patient, persistent agitation in order to educate public opinion; and efficient organisation to protect their interests. These are the 12 MOSES' ASSERTION OF POPULAR RIGHTS methods which won in ancient Egypt in the twelfth century before Christ, and they alone will secure justice for the same classes to-day. The Social Significance of the Deliverance of the He brews. The exodus from Egypt did far more for the Hebrews than merely deliver them from a galling industrial serfdom. It gave them a keen sense of national unity. It also afforded them an opportunity in the free life of the wilderness and in close contact with their nomadic kinsmen to develop the social institutions which they had inherited from their Semitic an cestors. Here Moses was able to impress upon them the moral and social ideals which lie at the foundations of the laws which later generations formulated and attributed to him. The painful experiences of the Hebrews in Egypt taught them to hate political and industrial tyranny of every kind. Involuntarily, their sympathies were forever enlisted in behalf of the victims of social and industrial oppression. No other an cient people showed such tender consideration for the slave, the resident alien, the widow, the orphan, and the hired laborer. Many of Israel's noblest philanthropic laws are reinforced by the formula (e. g., Dt. 5", 24^^^ : Remember that thou wast .a slave in the land of Egypt, and that Jehovah thy God brought thee out from there by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Above all, this signal experience led the Hebrews to think of theu- Deity as a God full of sympathy for the afflicted and dependent and ever eager to champion their cause against cruel oppressors. It is this dominating social element in Is rael's early religion that absolutely distinguishes it from all other primitive faiths. This unique social factor in theu: the ology alone explains why the Hebrew prophets rejected the merely ceremonial and credal conceptions of religion and de fined its obligations ever more clearly in terms of justice and mercy and love to all mankind. II THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES FOR WHICH AHIJAH AND ELIJAH CONTENDED Israel's Social Inheritance. The social ideals of Juda ism and Christianity are the culmination of a long evolution ary process. That evolution began centuries before the an cestors of the Hebrews entered the land of Palestine. In the old nomadic life of the wilderness the primitive Semites wrought out a social creed which they embodied in their customs and institutions and rigorously guarded by taboos and religious sanctions. That creed was the result of an infinite number of social experiments. To a large extent its form was determined by their physical environment. It was the supreme fact in their life. It was so interwoven with religion that in their thought the two were indistinguishable. It was for them the foundation of all ethics; for personal morals apart from the obligation of the individual to the family or clan or tribe were then unknown. The individual survived only by virtue of his membership in this group. The group also could survive only through the loyalty of each member. Hence each man was under solemn obligation to give to it everything which he possessed: his thought, his labour, and, if need be, his life. If any one of the members of his clan or tribe was injured, he must avenge the wrong as he would had his own blood been shed. His social responsibilities were therefore his one constant concern. Within the ancient Hebrew clan or tribe the atmosphere was thoroughly democratic. All worked together for the common social group. All stood on a practical equality. All had a voice, either directly or through the heads of their families, in the councils of the clan or tribe. Such inequalities aa existed 13 14 THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES were chiefly the result of varying degrees of personal ability and service to the community. Even property appears to have been held in common. While the title to it was nominally held by the oldest member of the family or clan, in theory he simply acted as the trustee for the other members of the small social group. The Hebrews, therefore, began their national life with a well-developed social consciousness, with a thoroughly democratic conception of government and an almost socialistic theory of property. The Social Transformation in Israel's Early History. The transition from the nomadic to the agricultural stage was the most significant step in Israel's social history. Fortunately, owing to the peculiar physical character of Palestine, it was gradual. Also the Hebrews always had on their southern and eastern borders a nomadic population with which they were in closest touch." These conditions enabled them to carry over and adjust their inherited social institutions to the settled agricultural life of Palestine. The family remained the primal social unit. The village and city took the place of the ancient clan; but the elders or heads of families remained the chief officials in the new social order. Under the crushing pressure of Philistine invasion the different Hebrew tribes were forced to yield their individual authority sufficiently to make united action under a common leader possible. Thus the Hebrew kingdom was established under the direction of Samuel and the leadership of the Benjamite Saul. This step corresponded closely to the action of the American colonies in the days of the Revolution. The result was not a kingdom, in the generally accepted sense, but rather a federation of colonies or tribes. The head of this confederacy was called a king, but he was from the first regarded simply as an influential tribal sheik. He and his successors were elected or, if nominated by the dying king, as in the case of Solomon, were accepted by the represen tatives of the tribes. The tribes maintained their right to reject the nominee of the king and to elect another in his place. The Hebrew king was originally regarded simply as the ser vant of the people. From the first the Hebrew commonwealth SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS 15 was more democratic than it was despotic. Of all the ancient democracies it was in the truest sense a rule of the people for the people and by the people. The Long Conflict between the Hebrew Nomadic and the Canaanite Agricultural Ideals. When the Hebrews entered Palestine they found its plains and valleys occupied by the highly developed agricultural Canaanites. At first the Hebrew tribesmen settled in the uplands. There they continued to live in tents and to retain their nomadic habits. As their numbers increased they began to mingle with the Canaanites. In the city of Shechem, for example, Hebrews and Canaanites lived together, intermarried, and apparently worshipped their an cestral gods at the same temple, which was called Baal-or El- berith (Lord of the Covenant; cf. Judg. 9*' ^0- The rapid increase of the Hebrews in time alarmed the Canaanites, who united under Sisera, the leader of the con federacy of cities that encircled the plains of Esdraelon, to hold them in subjection. Inspired by the prophetess Deborah and led by the warrior Barak, the Hebrew tribesmen of central Palestine rallied and defeated the Canaanites beside the river Kishon. This signal victory gave the Israelites control of cen tral Canaan, but it did not eliminate the menace of Canaan ite civilisation. A majority of the population of these central cities survived. Many of them intermarried with the Hebrews. Even such a patriotic leader as Gideon married a Canaanite wife. Gradually the Canaanites were reduced to serfdom, al though in a few cities like Gibeon, Gezer, and Bethshean they constituted such an overwhelming proportion of the popula tion that they continued in the ascendancy. Their civiUsation from a material point of view was so far in advance of that of the Hebrews and so completely adapted to the needs of agri cultural Canaan that the conquered race at once became the teacher of the conquerors. Having no local shrines and few religious ceremonies, the Hebrews largely adopted those of the Canaanites. As a result, from the moment that the Hebrews entered Canaan (about 1150 B.C.) until the Babylonian exile (586 B.C.) a persistent and deadly conflict raged between the 16 THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES nomadic Hebrew and the agricultural Canaanite conceptions of religion and government. Not only in the cities and seats of government but in the market-places and in private homes it smouldered and at times burst into a fierce flame. Although modified in many respects, the Hebrew ideals and institutions in the end emerged victorious. What is equally significant, the Hebrews treasured them and clung to them with a tenacity which would have been impossible had they not struggled and fought for them through six stu:ring centuries. No two civilisations were ever more violently antithetic than those of the Hebrews and Canaanites. The conffict centred first about their religious beliefs. The Hebrews beheved in one patron God of their race; the Canaanites in many local deities. The Hebrew God was conceived of as a male Deity; the Canaanite pantheon included both male and female deities, and sex dualism was one of its fundamental tenets. The Hebrews believed that theu* God was a moral Deity, while the gods of Canaanite mythology were grossly immoral. The re sult was that, while the Hebrews maintained lofty ideals of social purity, the Canaanites regarded many acts of social im morality as marks of piety. The Early Conflict between the Hebrew and Canaanite Theories of the State. The age-long contest between the demo cratic and despotic ideals of goyernment was hotly waged in ancient Israel as early as the pioneer period of the settlement. The Hebrew theory was that the state, like the early clan or tribe, was an aggregation of individuals voluntarily associated together for the purpose of protecting the interests and further ing the welfare of all members of the social group. The rulers were the servants of the people, chosen by them to represent and lead the nation and to guard the interests of each individual citizen. As in the ancient tribe, every man had a voice in the public councils; all stood on a practical equality. The Canaan ite theory was that the state is an aggregation of individuals who yield their rights to an absolute and irresponsible ruler in return for the protection which he or his ancestors were sup posed to give to the social group. The ruler is the practical CONFLICTING THEORIES OF THE STATE 17 owner of his subjects and is therefore free at will and for his own purposes to command their wealth and services. The earliest conffict between these two opposing theories came immediately after the death of the first local Hebrew king, Gideon of Ophrah. One of his sons, Abimelech, had through his Canaanite ihother inherited the ideals of that race. As re corded in Judges 9, on the death of Gideon he went to his Canaanite kinsmen at Shechem and persuaded them to sup port him in an attempt to establish an autocracy in place of the little Hebrew democracy which his father had founded. His first step was to slay all the members of his family who might legally dispute his claims. The popular address of the one brother who escaped clearly voices the Hebrew democratic ideals which Abimelech trampled under foot. It assumes the free choice of a ruler by the people and that his task is to serve his subjects. It also implies that even in that early age the strongest men in the community were not always responsive to the call to public service (Judg. g'^-is) . And Jotham went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim, and shouted at the top of his voice, and said to them, 'Hearken to me, you men of Shechem, that God may hearken to you. Once upon a time the trees went forth to anoint a king over them. And they said to the olive-tree, "Eeign over us." But the olive-tree said to them, "Shall I leaVe off my fatness, with which by me gods and man are honoured, and go to hold sway over the trees?" Then the trees said to the fig-tree, "You come and reign over us." But the fig-tree said to them, "Shall I stop my sweetness, and my bountiful crop, and go to hold sway over the trees?" The trees then said to the vine, "You come and reign over us." But the vine said to them, "Shall I leave my new wine, which gladdens gods and men, and go to hold sway over the trees ? " Then all the trees said to the bramble, "You come and reign over us." And the bramble said to the trees, "If in good faith you anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; but it not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon." ' Abimelech, indeed, proved a nettle to the people of central Palestine. For three years he ruled as a tyrant, and then the 18 THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES Shechemites who had supported him rebelled and vainly tried to throw off his onerous yoke. Upon not only the men who re belled but also upon the women as well he wreaked a bloody vengeance. When finally he was struck down by a millstone thrown by a woman, the Hebrews gave devout thanks for deliverance from the rule of this incarnation of the despotic Canaanite ideal of government. The Ascendancy of the Canaanite Governmental Ideals under Solomon. Saul and David, the first two kings of the united Hebrew commonwealth, proved faithful to the ideals of their race. Saul preserved the democratic simplicity of a tribal sheik. He held court under the tamarisk-tree that stood in his native town of Gibeah (I Sam. 22^). Faithfully he strove to serve his people and in the end gave his life in their behalf. David held the hearts of the Israelites as long as he was loyal to their democratic ideas of government. His power with them rapidly waned when, as in his treatment of Uriah, he as sumed certain of the prerogatives of an Oriental despot, so that even his own tribe, Judah, was ready to depose him (II Sam. 15). In the main, however, he remained a loyal servant of the people and strove to guard the rights of all his subjects. This fact alone explains the large place that he held in the es teem of succeeding generations. His son Solomon, however, made the supreme mistake of abandoning the governmental and economic traditions of his race for those of the Canaanites. The explanation is to be found partly in the ambitious, un scrupulous character of his mother Bathsheba, whose first husband was a Hittite and who may have had foreign blood in her veins. The biblical writers also trace it to the influence of his foreign marriages (I Kgs. ll^-^). The despotic Canaanite theory of government suited well his own inordinate ambition for display and magnificence. That he deliberately adopted it is shown by the ruthless way in which he removed by the sword and by banishment all of the older and more powerful officials of his realm who might oppose him, by his choice of officials who were merely his tools, by his erection of fortresses at strategic points so that he was able quickly to put down any CANAANITE IDEALS UNDER SOLOMON 19 rebellion, by the vast sums that he spent in his palace and in the strengthening of the fortifications at Jerusalem, and by the exacting system of forced labour and taxation that he imposed upon his people. Under his reign his subjects were helpless against these royal aggressions on their liberties. Public re sentment smouldered. Only once is it recorded that it burst into a flame. The insurrection was led by Jeroboam, ajabour ^1 leader, who had risen from the ranks (I Kgs. 11^^' *"). It was quickly suppressed, however, and Jeroboam fled to Egypt, where he remained until he was recalled to become king of Northern Israel. Solomon's Theory of Taxation. In keeping with Israel's democratic theories of government, Gideon and Saul and David had apparently maintained their rule by voluntary gifts of the people, by the spoils won through foreign conquest, and by the tribute received from conquered peoples. These sources of revenue did not satisfy Solomon's unreasonable needs. Adopting the Canaanite and Egyptian theory that the land and people belong to the king, he proceeded to introduce the forms of taxation in force in those despotic states. His first step was to impose forced labour on the non-Hebrew popula tion (I Kgs. 9"' =»•'''): This is the way it was with the levy which King Solomon raised: all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the Israelites, their children who were left after them in the land, whom the Israelites were not able utterly to destroy, — of them did Solomon raise a forced levy of bondmen, even to this day. Furthermore, he did not hesitate to impose the same burden upon the native Israelites (I Kgs. 5'^""). In the warning which the later prophetic writers dramati cally placed in the mouth of Samuel there is a vivid portrayal of the evils of Solomon's political and economic policy and of how it affected his subjects (I Sam. 8""") : This will be the prerogative of the king who shall reign over you : he will take your sons and appoint them for himself over his 20 THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES chariots and horsemen; and they shall run before his chariots; and he shall appoint them for himself as commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and some to plough his ground and to reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and the furnishings for his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be perfumers and to be cooks and' to be bakers. And of your fields and your vineyards and your oHveyards he will take the best and give them to his servants. And he will take the tithe of your grain fields and of your vineyards and give to his eunuchs and to his servants. And he will take your men-servants and your maid-servants, and the best of your cattle and your asses, and use them for his work. He will take the tithe of your flocks; and you shall become his slaves. Here we have the later protest of a democratic Hebrew prophet against the tyrannical Oriental measures that Solomon imposed upon the free Israelites. First Kings 4?. 22. 23. 27, as de. scribes the system which he instituted in order to collect the provisions required for his elaborate court. In addition he monopolised Israel's commerce (I Kgs. lO'"'- *'• 2'). Ancient Egypt under Ramses II was apparently no more exploited than the Hebrew commonwealth under Solomon. He was justified in expecting definite support from the people sufficient to pro mote the welfare of the state and of each citizen. With the development of his empire he required a larger income than did his predecessors. The injustice of his system of taxation lay in the false theory upon which it was based and in the tyran nical and humiliating way in which it was collected. Forced labour was the mark of Oriental despotism. The amount raised also appears to have been disproportionate to the total wealth of his nation and to the living conditions of the Israel ites. Above all, many of the objects for which the taxes were levied and expended were unjustifiable. The palace which Solomon reared at Jerusalem and the magnificence of his court stood in glaring contrast to the hardships that his sub jects endured in the tents and hovels in which they lived. One prophet alone in all his realm dared lift his voice in pro test, and that was Ahijah of the Ephraimite town of Shiloh. SOLOMON'S THEORY OF TAXATION 21 Knowing the temper of the northern tribes, he encouraged Jeroboam to raise the standard of revolt and predicted that only Judah, the tribe from which the reigning dynasty had sprung, would continue to tolerate Solomon's disloyalty to Israel's most sacred traditions and ideals. The Popular Reassertion of Israel's Democratic Ideals. Solomon by armed force succeeded in holding his subjects un der the lash; but at his death, as Ahijah predicted, the northern tribes immediately rose in protest. Their attitude was thor oughly constitutional. Their acceptance of Rehoboam, Solo mon's nominee as his successor, was necessary before he could be legally established as king. That they might not be coerced by the armed forces at Jerusalem, their representatives met at the northern city of Shechem and demanded that Rehoboam come to them. The concise narrative of I K[ings 12*-" makes the issue exceedingly clear: And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. And they said to Rehoboam, 'Your father made our yoke intolerable. Now therefore make the in tolerable service of your father and the heavy yoke he laid upon us lighter, and we will serve you.' And he said to them, 'Go away for three days, then come again to me.' So the people went away. And King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men who had stood before Solomon his father during his lifetime, saying, ' What answer do you advise me to give this people?' And they said to him, 'If now you wUl be a servant to this people, and will serve them, and give them a favourable answer, then they will be your servants forever.' But he rejected the counsel which the old men had given him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and had stood before him. And he said to them, 'What answer do you advise us to give to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, "Make the yoke that your father put upon us lighter?" ' And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, 'Thus must you answer this people who have said to you, "Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make it lighter for us"; thus must you say to them, "My httle finger is thicker 22 THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES than my father's loins I And now, whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will make your yoke heavier; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges." ' The old men in Rehoboam's court voice most clearly the vital principles of every democratic government; the young men, who had been reared under Solomon's tyranny, the an> tithetic principles of Oriental despotism. Unfortunately for the house of David and the integrity of the Hebrew kingdom, the lure of despotic power proved irresistible to Rehoboam (I Kgs. 12>2-w): So when all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king bade, saying, 'Come to me the thhd day,' the king answered the people harshly, and did not follow the counsel which the old men had given him, but spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, 'My father made your yoke heavy, but I also will make your yoke still heavier; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges.' So the king gave no heed to the people. And when all Israel saw that the king gave no heed to them, the people answered the king, saying, 'What part have we in David ? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel. See now to thine own house, O David 1' So Israel departed to their tents. Thus at the old Canaanite town of Shechem, even at the cost of the integrity of the Hebrew empire, Israel's democratic ideals were dramatically reasserted. Elijah's Defense of the Rights of the Individual Citizen. Israel's history illustrates the fact that democracy is a posses sion which can be preserved only by eternal vigilance. The people are the easy prey of selfish, unscrupulous rulers. Es pecially was this true in the ancient Semitic world saturated with despotic ideas of government. Apparently Jeroboam I, who was called to the kingship by the northern tribes, guarded ELIJAH'S DEFENSE OF POPULAR RIGHTS 23 faithfully the rights of the people. Later, during the second half of the ninth century, a military leader by the name of Omri was called to guide the destinies of the northern kingdom. He did for it in certain respects what David did for united Israel. His son Ahab successfully carried out his policy and in a series of battles freed Northern Israel from foreign invaders. To strengthen his position by alliance with his western neigh bours, the commercial Phoenicians, he married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, an ex-priest of Baal who had assassinated the reigning king and mounted the Tyrian throne. Ahab was simply intent upon developing the rich material resources of his kingdom. He enjoyed the confidence and loyalty of a majority of his subjects; but like Solomon he was ambitious to build a magnificent palace (I Kgs. 22''). In the hour of his success he also listened to the voice of his Tyrian queen, who had been reared in the school of Canaanite diplomacy. His disloyalty to Israel's well-established democratic ideals horrified his subjects. In the end it led to the overthrow of his family through a popular uprising. At first, however, the only one who appreciated the issue and dared openly defend the rights of the people against Ahab's aggressions was Elijah, the intrepid prophet from Gilead. He had been reared in the east-Jordan region, which lay near the desert and in closest touch with that nomadic life out of which the ancestors of the Hebrews had emerged five centuries before. On Mount Carmel he proved a valiant representative of the God of Moses and of Israel. There he succeeded in awakening the people to an appreciation of their infidelity in trying to remain loyal to Jehovah while paying homage to the Tyrian Baal, whose worship the crafty Jezebel had made popular in Israel. The incident which made clear the issue between Ahab and his subjects is graphically recounted in the familiar story of Naboth's vineyard. It brings out again in clearest relief the contrast between the Hebrew and Canaanite, the democratic and the despotic ideals of government (I Kgs. 2ii-20a, 23)_ Naboth, in refusing to sell his vineyard, stood squarely on the well-established right of every Hebrew citi- 24 THE DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES zen. Ahab bowed before it, until Jezebel poisoned his mind with the Canaanite ideals of despotic government. When she tempted him with the fruits of judicial murder he was unable to resist. But through the voice of Elijah outraged pubhc opinion found vigorous expression. Even Ahab quailed before it (I Kgs. 21"): Now when Ahab heard those words he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted; he also slept on sackcloth and went about quietly. Ahijah and Elijah stood on common ground. Each con tended for the rights and liberties of the ordinary citizen. Each was the foe of tyranny and the misuse of political power. Both were valiant pioneers in that long army of prophets and patriots who through the ages have fought to secure justice and freedom for the weak as well as the strong. The Social Principles Established in Israel's Early His tory. To the student of political science early Israel is a most instructive social laboratory. During these formative centuries many fundamental social principles were worked out in practi cal experience, formulated by Israel's prophets and lawgivers, and enforced by popular action. The first principle is that the state is organised simply to promote the welfare of the social group and of each individual citizen. Rulers are the servants of the people and should be governed in all their public acts by the demands of public welfare. No ruler, in order to gratify his personal ambition, has the right to use his power to deprive even the humblest of his subjects of his freedom or of his rightful possessions. Any tax or levy required to promote the general welfare of the people may justly be imposed, and the individual citizens are under obligation to abide by the decree of their properly appointed rulers. But any tax levied for the mere satisfaction of a ruler or a ruling class without regard to the welfare of the people is a crime. When rulers fail to pro mote the common welfare the citizens have the right to depose them and to take such measures as are necessary to protect ISRAEL'S EARLY SOCIAL PRINCIPLES 25 the public interests. In other words, the ultimate source of all political authority rests with the people, and the safeguard ing of their welfare and interests is the primary aim of all government. It is evident that not ancient Hellas but Pales tine was the original home of true democracy. Ill THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE EARLY PROPHETIC STORY-TELLERS The Social Aim in Israel's Early Epic Narratives. The greatness and the zeal of Israel's early prophetic teachers are shown by the variety of the methods which they employed to impress their social ideals upon their race. Prophets like Ahijah and Elisha depended chiefly upon practical diplomacy. Some encouraged the people to embody their social ideals in definite laws. Others, like Isaiah and Jeremiah, reared up disciples who treasured their teachings and interpreted them to the people. In the days following Elijah there also arose, both in Northern Israel and in Judah, groups of prophets who utilised the stories that had come down by word of mouth from Israel's early past to illustrate the important social prin ciples which they wished to make clear to their contemporaries. The advantages of this form of teaching are obvious. It at once attracts and holds the attention of the young as well as the old. The teachings are conveyed so interestingly and in directly that all opposition is disarmed. Associated as they are with the popular heroes of the race, the principles thus concretely presented were readily and unconsciously accepted. Their epic character lends to them an irresistible charm. It is unimportant whether or not they are all exactly historical. They are true to life, and that is the chief essential from the social teacher's point of view. As types of real life, the hero stories of Genesis possess a universal quality which is lacking in many of the more distinctly historical narratives of the Old Testament. Exodus and the succeeding historical books illus trate the broad political and economic principles that govern the nation and the larger social groups, while the stories of Genesis 26 THE EARLY EPIC NARRATIVES 27 set forth social principles for the guidance of the individual in the home, in his relation to his neighbours, and in his attitude toward God. Hence these vivid narratives richly supplement the other social teachings of the prophets. In point of view as well as literary form they are closely related to the marvellous short stories with which Jesus illustrated his most important social teachings. The Divine Ideal for Human Society. The early Judean prophetic narrative in the Old Testament opens with the second half of the fourth verse of the second chapter of Genesis. The background of the story is the old Semitic tradition of the creation. In the Babylonian version the god Marduk created men that they might build temples for the abode of the gods; but the Hebrew prophetic version of the story interprets the divine purpose back of creation very differently. It is that man may have all that is essential for his best physical, moral, and social development. The God of the prophets was not so jealous of his prerogatives as he was eager to help man to at tain his highest good. In the naive symbolism of the ancient story the tree of the knowledge of good and evil presents the temptation that is absolutely necessary if man is to develop moral strength (Gen. 2'' »¦ "¦ "): And Jehovah planted a garden in Eden far in the East, and placed there the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground Jehovah made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And Jehovah commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden thou mayest eat freely, except of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; from it thou shalt not eat, for in the day that thou eatest of it thou shalt surely die.' The Ultimate Basis of the Family. In the next section the prophet suggests the ultimate basis of the family relation. God is represented as experimenting. The experiment proved that for man's greatest happiness and fullest development he requires the companionship of his fellows and, above all, the 28 THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS intimate friendship and love of one of the opposite sex. Hence the family is the corner-stone of that perfect society which the Creator aims to estabUsh in order that man's happiness and culture may be complete (Gen. 2^^-^*) : Then said Jehovah, 'It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make a helper suited to him.' Therefore out of the ground Jehovah formed all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the heavens, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature that was its name. Thus the man gave names to all cattle and all the beasts of the field; but for the man himself there was found no helper suited to him. "Then Jehovah caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, so that he slept. And he took one of his ribs, and closed up its place with flesh. But the rib, which he had taken from the man, Jehovah fashioned into a woman and brought her to the man. Then said the man, 'This, now, is bone of my bone And flesh of my flesh.' Therefore a man leaves father and mother and cleaves to his wife, so that they two become one flesh. The primitive tradition regarding the method of woman's creation may be rejected in the light of later scientific dis covery; but here is the oldest and simplest and in its ultimate implications the most satisfactory statement of the theory underlying the institution of marriage ever set forth. It teaches that marriage is based upon the innate biological and social characteristics and needs of man and woman. It is, therefore, not only a human convention but also a divinely estabUshed institution. Hence, a man's obligation to remain with and true to his wife is more sacred and binding than even the great debt he owes to his parents. The Unsocial Character and Effects of Sin. The primary aim of the prophetic story of the temptation is to illustrate the origin, nature, and effects of sin. With remarkable skill the early prophet presents his teachings. The dialogue with UNSOCIAL CHARACTER OF SIN 29 the serpent brings out the struggle in the mind of the woman and the fact that she was fully conscious of the higher prompt ings of gratitude and loyalty (Gen. S^*"-') : And the serpent said to the woman, 'Hath God really said, "Ye shall not eat from any tree of the garden?" ' The woman replied to the serpent, 'Prom the fruit of all the trees of the gar den we may eat; only of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, "Ye shall not eat from it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." ' Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You shall not surely die; for God knoweth that in the day you eat of it your eyes shaU be opened, and you shall be like gods, knowing good and evil.' Deep down in her consciousness she knew that only by obedience and loyalty to her divine Friend could she best realise her highest possibilities. She sinned not because the serpent tempted her but because she yielded to the lower or more individualistic impulses: physical appetite, love of the beautiful, and the desire for knowledge. The prophet makes this point very clear (Gen. 3°) : Now when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and attractive to the sight, and desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and gave also to her husband with her and he ate. None of the impulses which determined the woman's act were bad in themselves. The man also was influenced by his love and loyalty toward his wife. She had eaten of the fruit; should he stand apart and leave her to share her fate alone? Milton has well interpreted his feeling: . . . From thy state Mine never shall be parted. Bliss or woe. The impulse to which he yielded was not base in itself. Each sinned because he did not respond to the higher impulse to be 30 THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS loyal to that Friend who was contributing all which divine love and wisdom could suggest to make their happiness and development perfect. Their sin consisted simply in their failure to follow that higher motive. The ancient story also graphically presents the unsocial effects of sin. It destroyed their peace of mind and their normal social adjustment. It transformed the hitherto happy and efficient man and woman into craven cowards who, in their panic to escape the re sponsibility for their unsocial act, did not hesitate to lie and to drag down others (Gen. 3'-") : Then the eyes of both of them were opened, so that they knew that they were naked; therefore they sewed fig-leaves together and made themselves girdles. But when they heard the sound of the footsteps of Jehovah, as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah among the trees of the garden. And Jehovah called to the man and said to him, 'Where art thou?' And he said, 'I heard the sound of thy footsteps in the garden and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself.' Then he said, 'Who told thee that thou wast naked ? Hast thou eaten of the tree from which I commanded thee not to eat ? ' And the man said, 'The woman whom thou didst place beside me, she gave me from the tree and I ate.' When Jehovah said to the woman, 'What is this thou hast done?' The woman replied, 'The serpent beguiled me and I ate.' The story also illustrates the fact that sin at once raises a barrier between the wrong-doer and the one whom he has wronged, whether it be God or an individual or society. In other words, it suddenly transforms the innocent man into a criminal, and all attempts on his part to excuse or palliate his crime but raises higher the wall that separates him from his fellows. The sentence visited upon the sinners in the story was not primarily a punishment: it was the only way — the way of pain and toil — by which the unsocial man and woman could be led to recognise their guilt and its fatal effects and thus regain the normal social point of view. But even these unrepentant criminals were not beyond the pale of divine love UNSOCIAL CHARACTER OF SIN 31 and care, for the ancient story naively but significantly adds (Gen. 3='0: Jehovah made for the man and his wife tunics of skin, and clothed them. The Making and Treatment of the Criminal. The later story of Cain is closely related to the preceding. It analyses in greater detail the successive steps in the making of a crim inal and contrasts the human and divine treatment of this hideous social excrescence. In its origin the story apparently represents an incident in the early history of the agricultural Canaanites and the nomadic Hebrews; but in its present form it is a chapter from the universal history of mankind. In the thought of the ancients prosperity and misfortune were ever regarded as evidence of divine approval and disapproval. The words of Jehovah in the ancient tragedy indicate that the reason why Cain's offering was not acceptable was not its char acter but the mercenary motive which led him to present it. Cain is an elemental, undeveloped character. He, like every criminal, is still governed by the selfishly individualistic motives and ideals of childhood. He regards even religion as a means to a personal end. When he fails to attain this end his anger flames up. The kindly remonstrance and counsel even of Je hovah himself only increase his anger, for he has not learned to rule over his baser impulses. No loyalty to God or man stirs within him to prompt noble action. The culmination of this pernicious tendency is a deUberate act of murder. The portrait throughout is consistent (Gen. 4'-'): Now in course of time it came to pass, that Cain brought some of the fruit of the ground as an offering to Jehovah. And Abel also brought some of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat. And Jehovah looked favourably upon Abel and his offering; but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. Therefore Cain was very angry and his countenance feU. And Jehovah said to Cain, 'Why art thou angry? And why is thy countenance f aUen ? 32 THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS If thou doest well, is there not acceptance? But if thou doest not well, Does not sin crouch at the door? And to thee shall be its desire. But thou shouldst rule over it.' Then Cain said to Abel his brother, 'Let us go into the field.' And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him. As in the story of the temptation, Jehovah gives Cain, the red-handed criminal, ample opportunity to confess his sin and re-establish right relations with society; but there is not a spark of social consciousness within him. Instead, he repudiates all social responsibiUty. Hence, he must learn by bitter experi ence the consequences of this false attitude toward society (Gen. 4»-") : And when Jehovah said to Cain, 'Where is Abel, thy brother?' he said, 'I know not; am I my brother's keeper?' Then he said, 'What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the ground. Now, therefore, cursed art thou; away from the ground, which hath opened its mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand. Whenever thou tillest the ground, it shall no longer yield to thee its strength; a fugitive and wanderer shalt thou be on the earth.' Like his fellow criminals in all ages, Cain complains bitterly of the harshness of his fate; but there is in his words no sugges tion that he recognises that punishment is deserved and is the direct result of his own unsocial acts (Gen. 4"- ^*): Then Cain said to Jehovah, 'My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the ground, and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall become a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth; and it will come to pass, that whoever finds me wiU slay me.' Ancient society had for this type of criminal but one method of treatment, and that was capital punishment. The relent- TREATMENT OF THE CRIMINAL 33 less law of the old Semitic world was "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." He who shed man's blood had to atone for it with his own blood, unless he had the protection of his tribe. The tribal mark was, therefore, not a stigma but a symbol of protection. Human society had refused all such protection to a Cain; but Jehovah's method of treatment was different. He sent him forth alone into the desolate land of wandering to learn by hard experience the inevitable conse quences of his wrongful act; but upon Cain he placed the tribal mark that was to preserve his life and open the door to his return to his fellows when once he was ready to atone for his past and live the life of a social citizen (Gen. 4"' "*): But Jehovah said to him, ' Not so t if any one kill Cain, Vengeance shaU be taken on him sevenfold.' So Jehovah granted Cain a tribal mark, that any one finding him should not kill him. Thus Cain went out from the presence of Jehovah and dwelt in the land of Nod [Wandering]. Thus this ancient story suggests that better, diviner way of treating the criminal which makes punishment not an end but a means of redemption. Society must be protected from the attacks of the criminal. He also must be made to realise his responsibility for his unsocial acts, and others must be warned against committing similar crimes. But, above all, the crim inal must be given a chance and be encouraged and taught by discipline and careful training to become again a loyal member of society. The Survival of the Morally Fittest. Many students of the Bible may have questioned why the strange old Semitic tradition of the flood found a place in Genesis. Its prologue contains the explanation: it was to illustrate a great social prmciple (Gen. 6=-«'"%70: When Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every purpose in the thoughts of his heart was 34 THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS only evil continually, it was a source of regret that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. Therefore Jehovah said, I wiU destroy from the face of the ground man whom I have created, for I regret that I have made mankind. But Noah found favour in the eyes of Jehovah. Therefore he said to Noah, 'Make thyself an ark of cypress wood.' . . . Then Je hovah said to Noah, 'Enter thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I found righteous before me in this generation.' Here is a clear statement of the law of the survival of the morally fittest. Its background is the divine aim in creating man and the universe. It is the aim that is clearly stated in the second chapter of Genesis: to develop a perfect man and a perfect society. To the criminal Cain Jehovah gave an op portunity for social redemption. But the ancient story of the flood teaches that, as succeeding generations failed to improve their opportunities and steadily grew more degenerate, the heart of the Eternal was sorely grieved, for he saw that his benign purpose was being thwarted. When the trend of hu man civilisation was downward, the destruction of the morally unfit became necessary for the ultimate good of mankind. Thus the prophet goes back of the moral law to the underlying reasons. That this law is as definitely operative in human life as that of the survival of the physically fittest cannot be questioned. Each generation seems to present certain excep tions; but history abounds in illustrations of the broad princi ple: ancient Egypt, Babylon, and Rome in their later deca dence, the France of Louis XIV, and the old Spanish Empire. The Brotherhood of the Human Race. In the tenth chap ter of Genesis is found an unscientific and rather uninteresting table of the nations. No one could seriously claim for it great historical or ethnological value; but it contains an un derlying social principle which mankind after many centuries is just beginning to grasp and apply. In the simplest and most direct way it teaches that all nations are bound together by common blood and are the creation of one common God. Each is an integral part of the great human family which is the all-embracing social unit. Thus the ancient group of tra- BROTHERHOOD OF THE HUMAN RACE 35 ditions in Genesis 2-10 begins with the origin of the individ ual family and ends with a broad fresco sketch of the entire human family. Underlying all these stories is the fundamen tal social doctrine of the fatherhood of God and the brother hood of man, which later prophets and Jesus made the guiding principle in their plans for the organisation and regulation of society. The Significance of the Prophetic Portrait of Abraham. Most of the social teachings of Genesis are negative. They illustrate unsocial qualities and their destructive effects. The Abraham and Joseph stories, however, are exceptions to this rule. Lot alone represents the unsocial citizen intent only on his own selfish interests. Abraham, as portrayed by the early prophetic historians, is the perfect embodiment of the highest nomadic social ideals. He is a devoted friend and servant of God and man, ever forgetful of his personal interests in his zeal to preserve peaceful relations with all mankind. Even to total strangers he shows the most delicate attentions that nomadic hospitality could suggest. His ambitions all centre about the future of his family or tribe. To realise these am bitions he is ready to leave home and kinsmen and brave the unknown dangers of a foreign land. His supreme joy is the as surance that his descendants will be many and rich and power ful (Gen. 15). Even for his unsocial kinsman Lot he persist ently intercedes. His every thought and act are prompted by a highly developed social consciousness. He is the tireless servant of the social group. His devotion to his family illu mines the exquisite story of the sending of his faithful house hold servant to secure a wife for bis son Isaac (Gen. 24). The devotion and loyalty between master and servant here revealed are a priceless contribution to the world's social idealism. Al ready Abraham had intrusted to this household servant his material wealth and the direction of all his domestic affairs. Now he sends him out hundreds of miles into the trackless desert with camels laden with his most precious possessions. Moreover, he commissions him to perform a task that not only called for supreme diplomacy but also determined the future 36 THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS prosperity of Abraham's family. The narrative clearly demon strates that the devotion was not misplaced. Like Abraham, this nameless servant is one of the finest examples in literature of a socially minded citizen. He absolutely forgets his own comfort and interests in his eagerness to bring his mission to a successful issue. The story vividly illustrates what the rela tion of master and servant means, if both are governed by the principles of justice, brotherhood, and loyalty to each other and to their common interests. The Socialising of the Unsocial Jacob. From the social point of view the early prophetic stories that gather about the names of Jacob and Esau, the traditional forefathers of the rival Israelites and Edomites, are exceedingly suggestive. Of the two, Esau is personally the more attractive, for he is good- natured, forgiving, and loves the great out-of-doors. But he lacks one quality that is absolutely essential in an efficient social citizen, and that is ambition. As is illustrated by the familiar story of the pottage, he cares more about satisfying his appetite at the moment than about the future of his race. Throughout life he remains an individualist and is, therefore, a negative quantity in the social equation. Jacob at first had many of Cain's characteristics. He was selfish, grasping, and had no regard for his brother's rights. In stealing the birthright by deception he manifested the traits of a criminal. But, as his life unfolds, the unsocial Jacob is gradu ally transformed into a social citizen. Unlike Cain, he endured patiently the consequences of his own unsocial acts. Exile and heartless deception at the hands of the crafty Laban at last did their work. He learned his lessons in the harsh school of ex perience. Moreover, there was a social element in his ambition. He did not think merely of his own personal interests, but con sidered those of his descendants. The result is that the crafty, designing Jacob became in his later days a devoted father and a trustworthy member of society. The social and ethical principles illustrated by these realistic Jacob stories are as important as they are obvious: he who is governed by self-interest and seeks by deceit to get the better THE SOCIALISING OF JACOB 37 of his fellows thereby surrounds himself with a social barrier and creates in his own mind a fearful and distrustful attitude toward society. This attitude is disastrous to his own best development and makes him the enemy rather than the friend of all with whom he associates. In the hard school of experience God is constantly seeking to train men so that even the most selfish and perverse may become useful citizens. If they have within them a spark of devotion to the social order and to the power which works for righteousness, it may be gradually blown into a flame until it becomes the dominant passion. Joseph, the Embodiment of the Agricultural Social Ideals. The story of Joseph is the biography of a thoroughly socialised citizen. As his father's favourite, he revealed while a boy cer tain unsocial traits. If he had remained in Palestine he would probably have grown up egoistical and overbearing. The in justice that he suffered at the hands of his brothers, painful though it was, gave him the training absolutely essential to his social development. The Joseph stories are too familiar and simple to require retelling or detailed interpretation. One of the important social principles that they illustrate is that cheerfulness, courage, and a spirit of helpfulness, even in the presence of adversity and personal wrong, are the sure foundations of individual and social success. Loyalty to God is the star which alone guides men through the temptations and misfortunes of life to the truest happiness and the largest service to society. Men and nations are constantly in quest of trained leaders, but he who would lead must first learn to serve. All men are eager to serve him who is intent simply upon serviug others. The man who, like Joseph, is loyal to his family is the one to whom, as a rule, great public interests may be safely intrusted. Society in all ages is seeking for loyal, efficient servants, and upon them it is ready to heap the highest honours. He who continues to be considerate for all and loyal to his ill-favoured kinsmen in the hour of public success has passed the severest test to which the successful man of affairs is subjected. The place which the Joseph stories hold in the heart of hu- 38 THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS manity is not merely due to their unique literary charm. It is because they present a rounded picture of a perfectly developed social citizen, destined to win success and honour in any well- organised society. They are a fitting crown to the marvellous stories that the author of Genesis has gathered from the lips of Israel's early social teachers. IV AMOS'S INTERPRETATION OF THE RESPONSIBIL ITIES OF THE RICH AND RULING CLASSES Social Transformations in Northern Israel. The long half-century that lay between the work of Elisha and Amos witnessed great social transformations in Northern Israel. Aboujr-^2 B.C. the military commander Jehu at the instigation of Elisha cut down the degenerate house of Ahab. He then sought to strengthen his position on the throne of Northern Israel by paying tribute to Assyria. Israel's old foes, the Ara- means, however, for a quarter of a century overran and merci lessly pillaged the east-Jordan region and sapped the resources of Jehu's kingdom. The middle-class Hebrew who went out to defend his home either died on the battle-field or returned weak ened and impoverished. Early in the eighth century came a turn in the fortunes of war. Damascus was attacked and weakened by a strong rival in northern Syria. Northern Israel recovered its east-Jordan territory. The spoils of conquest poured into the treasury of Jehu's grandson Jehoash and en riched his nobles and favourites. Peace enabled the nobles and richer classes in Israel to develop its naturally great resources. Commerce also brought to them rapidly increasing wealth, for across the broad valleys of Northern Israel ran the main trade routes which bore the rich products of Egypt and Babylonia, of Phoenicia and Arabia. During the first half of the eighth pre- Christian century Northern Israel ceased to be simply a nation of shepherds and farmers. Cities took the place of villages, and the fruits of commerce completed the sudden transforma tion. The powerful nobles and richer classes transferred their homes to the capital or to the larger cities. Meantime the mid dle class, as a result of the changing vicissitudes of war, had been 39 40 AMOS'S SOCIAL TEACHINGS largely reduced to serfdom. Obliged to borrow of the rich nobles at exorbitant rates of interest, they had not only lost their mortgaged lands but their freedom. Heavy taxation and unjust decisions in the law-courts, over which the rich and ruling classes presided, had completed their enslavement. The love of luxury and display had rendered the rich rulers insen sible to the sufferings of the poor, who were the victims of theur greed and legaUsed injustice. To all external appearances Northern Israel was prosperous and powerful; but the major ity of its citizens were sad and sodden, crushed by the small ruling class that wrongfully exploited them. Its social prob lems were those of the modern city and of a developed commer cial civilisation. Special class, privilege, misuse j)f authority, unjust distribution of the burden of taxation^ and the iniquitous exploitation of the masses are the evils which called forth the He brew prophets of the eighth century. It is for this reason that their teachings, interpreted into universal terms, are as ap plicable to-day as they were twenty-seven centuries ago. The Political and Religious Situation. The task of Amos and his fellow prophets was rendered doubly difficult by the fact that Northern Israel was then at the height of its na tional prosperity. Victories and wealth were regarded as con vincing proofs that the nation enjoyed in a unique degree Je hovah's approval. The lavish gifts and elaborate ritual at the national sanctuary satisfied the national conscience and fur nished the insecure basis for the prevailing optimism. This false confidence so blinded the eyes of Israel's leaders that they failed to appreciate the ominous significance of the steady ap proach of the invincible Assyrian armies. Social injustice was strongly intrenched in temple as well as in palace. If the mighty giants of social oppression that stalked abroad in the land were to be slain, a greater than David was needed. Again it was a Judean shepherd who went out single-handed to chal lenge the strong and deadly foes that threatened the peace and prosperity of Jehovah's people. The Making of a New Type of Social Reformer. Twelve miles south of Jerusalem, on the border-land between the stony MAKING OF A SOCIAL REFORMER 41 green fields of Judah and the treeless, almost verdureless wilder ness, stood the little town of Tekoa, the home of Amos. He is described as a shepherd who guarded flocks of sheep and goats such as may still be found among the rocky, rolling hills im mediately north and east of Tekoa. At certain seasons of the year he appears to have found a slightly more lucrative occupa tion in caring for and gathering the figs of the sycamores which in time of need furnished food for the poorer classes. His in stincts and training, however, are distinctly those of a shep herd. In this region where fear and the watching attitude are instinctive, he developed alertness and eyes keen to interpret signs of danger whether from prowling lion or Arab robber. In his constant watching over the defenseless sheep intrusted to his care he learned how to give the quick cry of alarm that was intended to warn the sheep and to summon the shepherds to their defense. In the quest for a market for the sheep and goats he probably often found his way to Jerusalem and es pecially to Bethel, the rich royal sanctuary of Northern Israel. There from the lips of the traders and story-tellers he doubtless gained definite ideas of the larger world that lay outside Pales tine, of Egypt with its mysteriously rising river, of the irresist ible Assyrian armies, of their cruel methods of conquest, and of their steady onward sweep toward the Mediterranean. Possi bly his interests had led him to visit certain of these distant countries. With the experienced eye of the shepherd he was quick to appreciate the ominous meaning of the advance of the merciless Assyrian lion. In imagination he could already hear its distant roar. All his shepherd instincts prompted him to warn the people of Northern Israel, the flock that lay directly in the path of this appalling foe. With consternation he dis covered how ill-prepared they were to resist the coming attack. The more he studied with his experienced eye the social con ditions in the northern kingdom, the more he was convinced that the calamity was coming not because Jehovah was unable to avert it but because Israel richly deserved it. And yet all his shepherd training made it impossible for him to stand by in silence while the Assyrian lion leaped upon its unsuspecting 42 AMOS'S SOCIAL TEACHINGS prey, instead, he clearly felt that his appreciation of the peril ous situation was a divine commission to sound the cry of warning: Surely the Lord Jehovah doeth nothing, Unless he revealeth his purpose to his servants, the prophets. The lion has roared; who does not fear? The Lord Jehovah hath spoken; who can but prophesy? Thus he explained his presence at Bethel when his right to prophesy there was challenged. Amos's Methods of Social Reform. The social and moral conditions in Northern Israel compelled Amos to present his teachings largely in negative form. His prophetic addresses are filled with trenchant invective, stern denunciation, doom songs, and visions of coming destruction. They are character ised by their clear and pitiless logic. Amos always went straight to the point, and yet in his opening address he shows marvellous tact. As he pronounced divine judgment upon the cruel acts of Israel's heathen foes, the Arameans, the Philistines, and the Ammonites, he not only gained an attentive hearing from a hostile audience but he also led his hearers to accept great social principles, which he compelled them by the sheer logic of fact and argument to apply to themselves. Thus he forced them to pronounce their own condemnation. It is evident, however, that beneath his stern exterior Amos carried a warm heart. His ultimate motive was not to condemn Israel but to save it from the terrible but well-deserved fate which awaited it. His positive social teachings are inferred rather than expressed. Sometimes, however, he strikes a strong constructive note which pierces the dark, lowering storm-clouds like a brilliant ray of sunshine (Am. 5"- ^^): Seek good and not evil. That you may live; That this Jehovah, God of hosts, May be with you, as you have said. Hate evil and love good, AMOS'S METHODS 43 And establish justice in the gate. Perhaps Jehovah will be gracious. The God of hosts to a remnant of Joseph. Amos's Teaching Regarding the Duties of Rulers. The earlier prophets like Moses and Elijah dealt with kings and were conscious of having the support of the majority of their nation. Amos arraigned the rich and ruling classes. The only support of which he was conscious was that of the God who sent him and the mute gratitude of the masses whose cause he championed. With supreme courage he confronted the lead ing representatives of the classes which he arraigned and di rected against them his sternest denunciation. He had evidently often sat beside the city gate and witnessed the proceedings of the Hebrew courts. His charge against Israel's rulers is expressed in distinctly legal terms. Jehovah is the plaintiff. With fine sarcasm even the heathen Philistines and Egyptians are called in as witnesses and judges (Am. 3'' i"): Proclaim over the palaces in Ashdod, And over the palaces in the land of Egjrpt, 'Gather upon the mountain of Samaria, And see the manifold tumults. And acts of oppression in its midst; For they know not how to do right. They are heaping up violence and oppression.' The positive principle underlying his stem arraignment is that the first duty of rulers is to protect jealously and valiantly the ri^ts of the poor and defenseless. That which especially alarmed and aroused the hot indigna tion of this shepherd of Tekoa was the groundless optimism and the absolute lack of responsibility that characterised the atti tude of the rulers both of Judah and Israel. With fine sarcasm he characterises them (Am. 6*' '): Alas for those who are careless in Zion, And overconfident on the mountain of Samaria I Men of mark of the first of the nations. 44 AMOS'S SOCIAL TEACHINGS To whom the house of Israel resort I They who would postpone the day of calamity. And yet have instituted a rule of violence. So vividly does he picture these misleaders of the nation that the very men themselves thus characterised must have turned with loathing from the disgraceful picture (Am. 6*-') : They who lie on ivory couches. And sprawl upon their divans. And eat lambs from the flock. And calves from out the stall; They drawl to the sound of the lyre, Like David, they devise for themselves instruments of song. They drink bowlfuUs of wine. And anoint themselves with the finest of oil, But they do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph I In these powerful lines Amos set before humanity a new social principle which the human race has been slow to appreci ate and apply. It is that rulers who deliberately shut their eyes to national perils and continue to indulge their own selfish cravings for luxury and pleasure are traitors to their nation, for they are directly responsible for the ruin that will inevitably result from their neglect of duty. The officials whom Amos denounced were the corrupt, grafting politicians of his day who used public office as an opportunity for private plunder and who felt no pity for the helpless masses whom they were leading on to ruin. Amos was keenly aware of the appalling fact that the weak and innocent suffer alike for the crimes of the strong and guilty. With impassioned zeal he proclaims in the name of Jehovah the direful consequences of the guilt of Israel's rulers (Am. 6'- ^^' '• "-''¦ "*>' °): 'Therefore now they must go into exile at the head of the captives, And hushed shall be the revelry of the sprawlers.' It is the oracle of Jehovah, the God of hosts. Jehovah hath sworn by himself: 'I abhor the pride of Jacob, THE DUTIES OF RULERS 45 And his palaces I hate. Therefore I will deliver up the city and all that is in it. And one shall smite the great house into atoms. And the small house into fragments.' The Responsibility of Judges. Like every true Hebrew prophet, Amos was zealous to preserve the purity of Israel's law-courts. He clearly saw that the perversion of this insti tution was one of the most fertile causes of the economic en slavement of the masses. Ancient Israel does not appear to have had a distinct class of judges. The elders and nobles of each town and city, the royal officials, and, as the supreme court of appeal, the king himself sat in judgment to decide all civil disputes. It is not strange, therefore, that when justice was intrusted to such rulers as Amos found in Northern Israel, the weak were trampled in the mire and the humble were en slaved. Amos's words addressed to those who sit in judgment at the city gates stand as an eternal arraignment of all who, under the^guise of authority ajad_ legality, pervert the cause of justice (Am. 5'' "'12):' Alas, for those who turn judgment to wormwood. And cast righteousness to the ground. Who hate him that reproves in the gate. And abhor one that speaks uprightly 1 Surely I know how many are your transgressions, And how great are your sins 1 You persecutors of the righteous, takers of bribes I Yea, the needy in the gate they thrust aside 1 Responsibilities of the Rich. Riches in antiquity were or dinarily regarded as an index of divine favour. The Oriental is inclined to bow slavishly before a rich man. Amos was the first teacher in Israel's history, if not in the history of human ity, to raise his voice in indignant protest against wealth un justly acquired. He recognised that riches gained by exploit ing the poor and dependent are a deadly menace to society. His words indicate that all the evils of corrupt commercialism were rampant in the Northern Israel of his day (Am. 8*-^) : 46 AMOS'S SOCIAL TEACHINGS Hear this, you who trample upon the needy. And oppress the poor of the earth, saying, 'When shall the new moon pass that we may sell grain. And the sabbath that we may open the corn' — Making smaller the measure and enlarging the weight. And perverting the false balances — 'And that we may sell the refuse of the corn!' With the remarkable thoroughness which characterised all his thinking, Amos traced the cruel exploitation of the defense less masses back to its ultimate source; then with a blunt bold ness which the situation amply justified he turned upon thejsjg^ of the nobles, who had left their country estates and were living lives of idle pleasure and luxury in the capital of Samaria, with this scathing condemnation (Am. 4'-'): Hear this word. You kine of Bashan, who dweU in the mountain of Samaria, Who oppress the poor and crush the needy, ' Who say to your husbands, 'Bring that we may drink.' The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by his holiness: 'Behold, days are coming upon you. When you shall be taken away with hooks, even'' the last of you with fish-hooks. And through the breaches shall you go out, each woman straight before her.' The principle which he here states is universally applicable. Perilous, indeed, is the status of any society in which the women have stifled their natural impulses to alleviate pain and their feelings of pity for the unfortunate and are so completely gov erned simply by their selfish animal appetites that they incite the men to deeds of heartless oppression. The Universal Brotherhood of Man and Its Obligations. Democracy and brotherhood are the two leading ideas that underlie all of Amos's social teachings. He was also the first prophet in Israel's history to state definitely that Jehovah is as active in the history of other nations as in that of Israel (Am. 9'): THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN 47 'Are ye not to me as the Cushites, O Israel ? ' is the oracle of Jehovah. 'Did I not bring up Israel out of the land of Egypt, And the Phflistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir?' In this characteristically concrete way Amos declared the then revolutionary truth that Jehovah _was not merely the God of Israel but of all the great family of nations. In his:; tactful but vigorous introduction he goes even farther. The grounds of his condemnation of Israel's heathen enemies, the' Arameans, the Philistines, and the Ammonites (1'- "), is that in their treatment of their hated foes they have disregarded the universal laws of humanity. With splendid tact and effec tiveness he places the Israelites on the same basis. "For three, yea, four transgressions of Israel," as well as of Aram and Philistia and Moab, Jehovah's judgment is about to de scend. Moreover, upon the thrice-guilty Israelites it was to fall the heaviest. Heathen and Hebrew alike are condemned because they had sinned against their social conscience and failed to treat even their foes with brotherly consideration. The Arameans are condemned "because they have threshed Gilead (i. e., the Israelites dwelling east of the Jordan and south of the Yarmuk) with threshing instruments of iron"; the Philistines "because they have carried away captive all the people to deliver them up as slaves to Edom"; the Am monites "because they have ripped up the pregnant women of Gilead." The same dire judgment falls upon the men of Northern Israel (Am. 2^"*-*), Because they sell the righteous for money. And the needy for a pair of shoes. Who trample on the head of the poor. And turn aside the way of the humble. And a man and his father go in to the same maid. And so profane my holy name; Upon garments taken in pledge they stretch themselves beside every altar, And the wine of those who have been fined they drink in the house of their God. 48 AMOS'S SOCIAL TEACHINGS Cruelty to either friend or foe is the deadliest sin in Amos's decalogue. Justice, brotherly love, and kindness are the car dinal virtues. Fidelity to the demands of justice and human brotherhood alone will, he declared, save men and classes and nations from the uncontrolled greed and hatred that inevitably involve them in utter ruin. Thus the clear-eyed prophet of Tekoa saw and proclaimed eternal principles which, if appreci ated and applied in the market-place, in the public tribunals, in the councils of state, and in the parliament of nations, would long ago have inaugurated the era of universal peace and good will that is still the unrealised ideal of humanity. V HOSEA'S ANALYSIS OF THE FORCES THAT DESTROY AND UPBUILD SOCIETY The Personal Experience That Made Hosea a Social Teacher. Within less than a decade, possibly the same year that Amos delivered his revolutionary address at Bethel, Ho sea, the son of Beeri, began his work as a prophet. He spoke not as an outsider but as a native of Northern Israel. His home appears to have been in one of the villages of Gilead east of the Jordan. He was a man of deep and warm affec tions. He was governed more by his strong emotions and profound intuitions than by cold logic. He reveals intimate familiarity at every point with Israel's traditions and institu tions. He was well acquainted with the complex pohtical sit uation in southwestern Asia and the baffling problems which confronted the statesmen of Israel. As a devoted patriot he analysed the conditions in Northern Israel and set forth his convictions with a boldness and courage unsurpassed even by the shepherd-prophet from Tekoa. At first Hosea echoed Amos's stem, uncompromising message of doom. He dramatically proclaimed it in the names that he gave to his children. "Unpitied" and "Not-my-people" were strange names to give to a girl and boy; but they constantly reminded the people of Hosea's declaration that Jehovah had rejected his people because of their persistent crimes. Fortunately, the prophet has made clear the way in which the great change came in his message and in his interpreta tion of God's attitude toward his people. With breaking heart he tells how Corner, the wife whom he loved and cherished, proved faithless and fled from his home to lead a life of in famy. The tragedy of his family life revealed to the anguished 49 50 HOSEA'S ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL FORCES prophet the deadly effect of social immorality on the home and on society. He realised that not only "they who sow the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption," but that often the innocent, who love the sinner most, suffer most the torturing consequences of sui. In the laboratory of life Hosea discovered the social principles which make his prophecies in many ways the most original and revolutionising contribution to the phi losophy of society that the Old Testament contains. He was Israel's great moral and social diagnostician because, as a result of his own painful experience, he learned to look upon life and human society through the eyes of love. Hosea's Conception of the Obligations of Husbands and Wives. Hosea, not merely by his words but by his supreme act of devotion to his wife, Gomer, established a new stand ard of marital responsibility. Like Cleopatra, in Shakespeare's immortal play, Gomer appears to have been simply an unde veloped animal type. All the laws and customs of the old Semitic world gave Hosea full authority to divorce and forever banish from his home and heart his disloyal wife. Plainly he voices the initial impulse which prompted him to do so (Hos. 22b, u, 4, 6a, b) . For she is not my wife. And I wiU not be her husband; And on her children I wUl have no pity. Since they are children of whoredom. For their mother has become a harlot. She who conceived them has behaved shamefully. Then the prophet tells of the diviner impulse that came to him and mastered his will. It was clearly the powerful love which he still felt for the woman who had so cruelly wronged him. In the later perspective of years he realised that this was, indeed, the voice of Jehovah within him saying (Hos. 3') : StUl go, love [this] woman. Who loves a paramoiu* and is an adulteress. As Jehovah loveth the Israelites, Although they turn to other gods. OBLIGATIONS OF HUSBANDS 51 Even though Gomer had gone rapidly down the precipitous path of sin and had, it appears, been put up for sale by her paramour as a common slave, Hosea did not hesitate to pay the price for her liberation (Hos. 3''' =): So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver and eight bushels of barley and a measure of barley. And I said to her: 'Many days shall you abide for me. You shall not play the harlot. And you shall not be any man's wife. Yet I, on my part, wiU be yours.' In practice society has been slow to accept and apply the lofty principle which Hosea established eight centuries before the greater Teacher of Nazareth commanded his followers: " Do to others as you would have them do to you." Comer's crime appears to have been entirely without palliation. Yet, by his treatment of her, Hosea taught that even though wives prove utterly unfaithful, their husbands are still under moral obligation to use every possible method to reclaim and restore them to a life of purity and fidelity. Moreover, all the logic of Hosea's teachings implies that if the faithless one through true penitence seeks forgiveness and strives to live a life of rectitude, she should have not only the protection but the love of her husband. At least Hosea taught in the most ef fective way possible — namely, by personal example — that di vorce is the remedy for the most heinous of social crimes only when kindly discipline and love have been tested to the ut termost. The Effects of Social Immorality. Hosea lived in an age when the corrupt Canaanite cults had left a deep, foul stain upon Israel's social life. In opulent Northern Israel social immorality was everywhere rampant. Even the public sanc tuaries were scenes of gross licentiousness. Wherever the old Canaanite customs prevailed virtue was sacrificed and the grat ification of the lower passions was regarded as a religious act. 52 HOSEA'S ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL FORCES Hosea was undoubtedly led to analyse these iniquities and to denounce them unsparingly because the hideous evil had laid its hand upon his own home and rendered it desolate. He was apparently the first man in human history to combat boldly the double standard which places the entire burden of guilt upon the fallen woman and lets the man go free. He maintained that not the maidens and the wives but their fathers and brothers were alone responsible (Hos. 4}^-^*) ; For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, So that they have played the harlot from after their God. On the heights of the mountains they sacrifice. And on the hills they burn their offerings. Under oaks and poplars and terebinths. For their shade is pleasant 1 Therefore your daughters play the harlot. And your brides commit adultery. I will not punish your daughters because they play the harlot. Nor your brides because they commit adultery. And sacrifice with consecrated prostitutes. Thus the stupid people come to ruin 1 Hosea also declared that social immorality destroys the in telligence and moral sense of those who indulge in it and that it means in the end the sterility of the race (Hos. 4", O"*") : Harlotry and sweet wine take away the understanding. There shall be no more birth, no more motherhood, no more con ception. The Social Effects of Deceit and Robbery. None of the Hebrew prophets had a warmer heart than Hosea. None were more loyal to their race. None could love with a more passion ate devotion. Indeed, it was because of his profound love for his people that he denounced the sins that were destroying them more bitterly than did any other prophet. He realised that so long as Israel continued to practise these crimes it was im possible for even God himself to heal its social ills and to help it to realise its destiny (Hos. 4'-^): SOCIAL EFFECTS OF DECEIT 53 Hear the word of Jehovah, O Israelites, For Jehovah hath a charge against the inhabitants of the land; For there is no fidelity, nor true love. Nor knowledge of God in the land. But perjiuy, lying and murder. Stealing, committing adultery and deeds of violence. And acts of bloodshed foUow in quick succession. Therefore the land mourns, And all its inhabitants languish. Together with the wild beasts and the birds of the heavens. While even the fish of the sea are swept away. By his use of strong hyperbole Hosea stressed the eternal truth that not only the happiness of the individual but also the welfare of the world were dependent upon men's moral and social integrity. In the light of his own tragic experience he saw that the only correctives for such heinous crimes as perjury, falsehood, and murder were a true love for God and men and an intelligent loyalty to the noble purpose which the Personality back of all history is seeking to realise in human society. In the passage just quoted there appears for the first time Hosea's most characteristic word, hesedh, which is trans lated kme, mercy, and loving-kindness. It is one of the strongest social terms iu the Hebrew language. It describes a love which is expressed not in mere vague emotions but in definite acts of mercy and kindness. It is a type of love which was nobly exemplified in Hosea's treatment of his erring wife. It is the dominant emotion which Paul so gloriously describes in his immortal apostrophe to love in I Corinthians 13. In Hosea's searching analysis of the evils that are destroying Israel, per jury and lying are the antitheses of fidelity and honesty. The supremely unsocial acts of murder, stealing, adultery, violence, and bloodshed are possible because men are not controlled by love. The Divine Lover. Hosea's greatest contribution to re ligion and to the science of society is his teaching regarding God's relation to man. Here he analyses the ultimate motives that prompt right social thinking and living. With a boldness 54 HOSEA'S ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL FORCES that has no parallel in pre-Christian literature he portrays Je hovah as Israel's Lover. The form in which he first presented this revolutionary teaching was largely determined by his own personal experience. It is clear that his impulse to be merci ful to his guilty wife opened his eyes to Jehovah's love for his disloyal people. The analogy is very close. Even as the prophet loved the youthful maiden Gomer, wooed and won her, so Jehovah first loved and wedded Israel. Like Gomer, Israel proved faithless, and yet the divine Lover never ceased to cherish the nation. The second chapter of Hosea contains a marvellous monologue in which the unswerving affection, the bitter anguish, and the ardent hope of the divine Lover are vividly revealed. It opens with impassioned words addressed to the people of Israel, who are entreated to reason with their mother the nation, Jehovah's wife, that she may be led to turn from her crime and thus avert the strenuous discipline to which her divine Lover must otherwise subject her (Hos. 2^»' ''• »> '): Strive with your mother, strive. That she put her acts of whoredom from her sight, And her adulteries from between her breasts. Lest I strip her naked. And set her as she was on the day of her birth, And make her like the wilderness, And let her become like a parched land. And let her die of thirst. The children, however, are blinded by their baneful inheri tance and Israel is still intent upon following the gods of fer tility from which in her ignorance she thinks her prosperity comes. Hence the divine love can be expressed only in dis- ciplme (Hos. 2^- ', cf. »-"): Therefore I am going to hedge up her ways with thorns. And build a wall about her. So that she cannot find her paths. And she will pursue her paramours. But will not overtake them. And she will seek and not find them. THE DIVINE LOVER 55 Hosea fully realised and taught that in the divine economy punishment was never an end in itself but only a means to a higher end. In imagination he pictures the divine Lover as looking forward to the day when discipline shall have done its work and love could find perfect expression. No more stirring love-song can be found in the world's literature, for it voices the love of the divine Lover for human society (Hos. 2"-2'') : Therefore I am going to allure her. And bring her into the wilderness. And speak endearingly to her. And I will give her from there her vineyards. And the valley of Achor as a door of hope. And there she shall respond as in the days of her youth. As in the days when she came up from the land of Egypt. And it shall be in that day, is the oracle of Jehovah, She shall call to her husband. And shall call no more to the Baalim. And I will remove the name of the Baalim from her mouth. And they shall no more be mentioned by their names. And I will betroth her to me forever. Yea, I will betroth her to me in righteousness, And in judgment, and in kindness, and in mercy. Yea, I will betroth her to me in faithfulness. And she shaU know Jehovah. In these impassioned words Hosea sets forth his central so cial teaching. Righteousness, justice, kindness, love, and fidel ity are the essential and only foundations on which an inti mate and abiding relationship between God and mankind can be established. Hosea's figure describes that relationship as closer than even that between parent and child. When once it is firmly established the foundations of a perfect society and a perfect world will be laid. Being a prophet of agricultural Israel and a poet who loved nature, as revealed in the radiant beauty of fertile Palestine, Hosea pictures the ultimate social state in concrete terms drawn from 'the productive vineyards and the waving fields of Northern Israel. He addresses Israel by its ancient name Jezreel, whose meaning, God sows, was now 66 HOSEA'S ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL FORCES a reminder not of Jehu's crime (Hos. 1*) but of the prosperity that awaited the nation whenever it merited Jehovah's favour (Hos. 221-23): And it shall come to pass in that day. That I wiU speak, — it is the oracle of Jehovah, — I will speak to the heavens. And they will speak to the earth. And the earth will speak to the grain. And the new wine and the oil; And they shall speak to Jezreel, And I wiU sow her in the land. And I will have pity upon the unpitied. And I wiU say to Not-my-people, 'Thou art my people,' And they* wiU say, 'Thou art my God.' In a later passage Hosea apparently uses the figure of father in describing Jehovah's love for his people. While the trans lation at certain points is doubtful, the meaning of the passage as a whole is clear. As in a mighty symphony, the two contrast ing emotions of divine love and of human disloyalty struggle together in this wonderful monologue (Hos. 11'-*' *¦ '): When Israel was young, then I began to love him. And out of Egypt I called his sons. The more I called them. The further they went away from me. They kept sacrificing to BaaUm, And making offerings to images. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk. Taking them up in my arms; But they did not know that I healed them; With humane cords I ever drew them. With bands of love. And I was to them as one who lifts up the yoke from off their jaws, And bending toward him, I gave him food to eat. He must return to the land of Egypt, Or Assyria will be their king; For they have refused to* return to me. THE DIVINE LOVER 57 How can I give thee up, 0 Ephraim ! how can I give thee over, O Israel I How am I to give thee up as Admah I make thee like Zeboim ! My heart asserts itself; My sympathies are all aglow. I wiU not carry into effect the fierceness of my anger; I will not turn to destroy Ephraim. For God am I, and not man. Holy in the midst of thee, therefore I will not consume. In the end divine love triumphs. If this passage stood alone it would seem that this triumph was won at the cost of divine justice; but in the light of Hosea's teachings as a whole it is obvious that there is no antithesis between divine love and justice. In the presence of defiant wrong-doing divine justice and discipline are the only possible expressions of love. Hosea makes it absolutely clear that all of Israel's seeming misfortunes, the calamity which overtook the pioneer nation in the valley of Achor (which means sorrow), her earlier conflicts with neigh bouring nations, and even the Assyrian scourge are but Je hovah's method of teaching her the way in which she should walk and the folly of disobedience and disloyalty. As in Thompson's Hound of Heaven, God is unescapable, but his tireless pursuit is prompted only by love. Hosea's Contributions to Israel's Social Ideals. The first impression conveyed by Hosea's brilliant impassioned addresses is that he was a preacher and theologian rather than a social teacher. A closer study, however, makes it clear that he was one of the most scientific of the prophets, for his funda mental teachings are not dogmatic nor metaphysical, but are based on personal experience and a careful study of the psycho logical forces which mould society. He spoke with power and conviction because he stood squarely on reality; but he dealt not merely with external acts but also with underlying motives. He recognised that a man's will, and therefore his every act, is governed as much by his emotions as by his intelligence. Hence he sought to develop normal feeliugs in the heart of the individual and society, so that whatever be the social environ- 58 HOSEA'S ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL FORCES ment a right response would be assured. In other words, for external control through law and custom and public opinion he sought to substitute social self-control. Hosea also revolutionised man's conception of God and the function of human society. He anticipated by eight cen turies Jesus' teaching that God is love and that personal loyalty to him ("Seek first the rule of God") is the essential prerequisite of a perfect social order. Hosea vastly simplified the idea of religion when he declared that God is the supreme Lover and that man is the chief object of his love. With in tuitions sharpened by painful personal experience he recognised that the dominant passion of every true lover is to perfect the character and happiness of the one loved. He saw, too, that God cannot alone perfect society. If love is to realise itself fully it must be reciprocated. Hence, when the prophet saw the perjury, the falsehood, the immorality, the oppression, and the apostasy of the Northern Israelites he realised with horror how far they were from attaining to the social ideal of their divine Lover. In the immortal passage found in Hosea 6*"° the prophet makes Jehovah himself declare in impassioned words these basal truths: What can I make of you, O Ephraim ! What can I make of you, O Israel 1 Since your love is like a morning cloud. Yea, like the dew which early goes away. Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth. And my judgment is like the light that goes forth. For it is love that I delight in and not sacrifice. And knowledge of God and not burnt-offerings. Hosea's analysis of the causes of the crimes which destroy society is as simple as it is satisfying. Men wrong their fellows because they are not inspired by a passionate loyalty to God. They are unfaithful to God because they do not love him. They do not love him because they do not truly know him HOSEA'S CONTRIBUTIONS 59 (Hos. 4') . To the entire group of Israel's faithless teachers the prophet declared (Hos. 4^') : Thy people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea's solution, therefore, of the social problem was as simple as his analysis. If we are to have a perfect social order men must first gain an intimate knowledge of the character and purpose of that divine Lover who created man and is ever seeking to develop a perfect humanity. Hosea firmly believed that "only they who know can serve." He taught, therefore, that religious education is the first step toward any lasting social reform. When once men know God not only through instruction but also through personal insight and experience, they will love both him and their fellow men, who are the chief objects of his love. When they truly love God and their fellow men they will be faithful to all their social obligations. Then, like streams cut off from their sources, the vices and crimes which sweep society on to its ruin will vanish and a perfect social order will be established. The first task, there fore, of Israel's teachers and of all social reformers is, accord ing to Hosea, to make men intimately acquainted with God and thereby to kindle in their hearts that divine love and loyalty which will bind them to their divine Lover and to their fellow men. Thus Hosea proclaimed that real religion is the supreme motive power in all enduring social reform. VI THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF THE STATESMAN ISAIAH The Social Conditions That Confronted Isaiah. During the stirring days when Hosea was laying down his fundamental social principles in Northern Israel, Isaiah, the son of Amoz, entered upon his work as a prophet in Judah. Like De mosthenes, the great Athenian orator and statesman, Isaiah, Israel's greatest orator, began his public career as a social re former. In the sixth chapter of his prophecy he gives a vivid though highly figurative description of the way in which he became a prophet. The underlying reason why he took this important step was evidently because he was keenly alive to the fact that he belonged to " a people of unclean lips." The social conditions in Judah which led him to this conviction were very similar to those in Northern Israel. Judah was not so wealthy nor prosperous nor so much exposed to the influx of foreign ideas as its northern rival; but during the long reign of Uzziah (782-739 B.C.) the belated tide of prosperity had at last swept into the southern kingdom. The king had gained a victory over the Philistines and pushed the borders of Judah out into the western plain. Conquest of the Edomites had also opened up commerce with Arabia and Africa through the port of Elath. Foreign products, customs, and ideas had poured into Judah. Royal favouritism and remunerative com merce had developed a wealthy ruling class. The old simple life and the happy middle class had as a result suddenly disap peared. The same social evils were rampant in Judah as in the north: legal injustice in the courts, misuse of political authority to exploit the dependent and labouring classes, lux ury, debauchery, and incompetency on the part of the rulers. 60 INFLUENCES THAT MADE A PROPHET 61 The Influences That Made Isaiah a Prophet. It is ob vious that the conditions which confronted Isaiah stirred his conscience and powerfully appealed to his patriotism; but it is equally clear that another force was also at work in the mind of the young noble of Jerusalem. He declares that, like all the true prophets who had preceded him, he was inspired and impelled by a clarifying vision of the character and purpose of Jehovah. The God whom he saw in his vision when he went up to pray at the temple, as the startling news came of the death of King Uzziah, was the divine King, majestic and holy, directing in justice and righteousness the destinies of men. At once this vivid glimpse of reality became the motive force in his life. Henceforth Isaiah's great mission was to influence his fellow men to be loyal to the demands of this altogether just and holy Ruler and thus to share ia establishing his kingdom on earth. Wherever Isaiah found injustice or anything that was incompatible with his lofty conception of the divinely per fect state, he tactfully but uncompromisingly assailed it. Con ditions in Judah were so corrupt that most of his social teach ings are negative. Often they are simply a reiteration of the principles already laid down by Amos. At the same time it is not difficult to detect, even in his most bitter invectives, the outlines of the perfect social order which he was striving to establish. Isaiah's Denunciation of the Corrupt Rulers of Judah. With all the force of his brilliant oratory Isaiah attacked the faithless guides who were leading astray his people. In the name of Jehovah he preferred a sweeping charge against the elders and the princes (Is. 3"'>-i6'') • You yourselves have devoured the vineyards. The spoils of the needy are in your houses. What do you mean by crushing my people And by grinding the face of the needy ? Isaiah declared that graft was written all over Judah's public life. Like Amos, he saw that this graft, unless it was removed. 62 THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF ISAIAH meant not only individual suffering but national weakness and rmn (Is. l^i-^') : How hath she become an harlot, the once faithful city I Zion, which was full of justice, where righteousness abode ! Thy silver is changed to dross, thy wine is mixed with water, Thy rulers are unruly and in league with thieves. All of them love bribes and are running after fees; They do not vindicate the orphan. And the cause of the widow does not affect them. Lowell (in A Parable) has clearly interpreted these teachings of Amos and Isaiah into modern terms: Have ye founded your thrones, then. On the bodies and souls of living men ? And think ye that that building will endure Which shelters the noble and crushes the poor? Isaiah, like Amos, also recognised that a nation is in imminent peril when its women are intent simply on their personal adornment and in displaying their physical charms. He was vividly concrete and pitilessly direct. Effectively he draws the sharp contrast between the unnatural display and pride of the age and the horrors of captivity and conquest which impend (Is. 3"- "• ^^-^ 41): .And Jehovah saith: 'Because Zion's daughters are haughty And walk with heads held high, and wanton glances. Tripping along as they go and jingling with their ankles. Therefore, the Lord wiU smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, And Jehovah will expose their shame. And instead of perfume there shall be rottenness; And instead of a girdle, a rope; Instead of carefully arranged hair, baldness; And instead of the beautiful garment, sackcloth; Branding instead of beauty. Thy men shall fall by the sword and thy warriors in battle. DENUNCIATION OF JUDAH'S RULERS 63 And her gates shaU sigh and lament, And she shall sit on the ground despoiled. And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day. Saying, "Our own bread will we eat, and otu own garments will we wear. Only let us bear thy name; take thou away our disgrace I " ' Isaiah's Denimciation of Judicial Injustice. Isaiah, like Amos, was a relentless foe of all forms of official corruption. In words never to be forgotten by the human race he brands these crimes (Is. 5^'): Woe to those who for a bribe vindicate the wicked. And strip the innocent man of his innocence. In another memorable utterance the prophet is apparently deaUng with unjust class legislation (Is. 10^-*'') : Woe to those who set up uiiquitous decrees. And the scribes who devote themselves to writing oppression. To turn aside the dependent from securing justice, To despoil the afflicted of my people of their right. That widows may be their prey. And that they may spoil orphans 1 What, then, wiU you do in the day of punishment, And of the driving tempest which shall come from afar ? To whom will you flee for aid. And where will you leave your wealth? Only as they crouch under the captives. And fall under the slain. Land Monopoly. In the simple life of little Judah eco nomic evils were quickly revealed. Land was the one great natural resource. In Isaiah's denunciation of those who by fair means or foul absorb the hereditary estates of their less suc cessful neighbours until they acquire broad acres in which to dwell in ease and quiet, he enunciated a new and exceedingly important social principle (Is. 5^-'"): Woe to those who join house to house. Who add field to field 64 THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF ISAIAH Until there is no space left. And you dwell alone in the midst of the land. In mine ears Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, Surely many houses shall become a desolation. Though great and fair, they shall be without inhabitants; For ten acres of vineyard will yield but one bushel. And ten bushels of seed but one bushel of grain. It is probable that Isaiah would have condemned all monop oly that is simply egoistic {i. e., that " a man may dwell alone in the midst of the land"). The principle applies equally in the present age with its great private corporations organised to con trol natural resources. When such a monopoly is conducted simply or primarily for the interests of the limited group who control it, it is a foe to society, even though in our modern complex economic organisation the moral crime involved may not be as obvious as it was in the days of Isaiah. The under lying principle laid down by the prophet is all the more impres sive because it was enunciated by one who by inheritance and social standing appears to have been closely allied with the ruling and wealthy class. It stands as an ideal yet to be realised in society. Modern social prophets are still looking forward to the day when all who are willing to work will share in the natural resources of the earth in proportion to their con tributions to the common good. The Economic Significance of Intemperance and Luxury. Isaiah, like Amos, was also keenly aware of the economic and social significance of intemperance and unwarranted luxury. Wealth and personal ability were in his mind sacred trusts to be faithfully administered for the welfare of society. Therefore he bitterly arraigns those who manifest zeal simply in satisfy ing their own appetites (Is. 5""") = Woe to those who rise at dawn To pursue strong drink, Who tarry late in the evening Until wine inflames them. And lyre and harp and timbrel SIGNIFICANCE OF INTEMPERANCE 65 And flute and wine are at their banquets; But they regard not the work of Jehovah, And see not what his hands have made. Therefore my people go into captivity unprepared. And their men of wealth are famished. And their noisy revellers are parched with thirst. Therefore Sheol yawns greedily And to the widest extent opens its mouth; And Zion's nobles and her noisy revellers shall go down into it. Together with her careless throng and aU who rejoice within her. And lambs graze as in a wilderness, And fatlings feed amid the ruins. In imagination Isaiah saw Judah going down to Sheol as a result of the careless self-indulgence of its leaders, and Jerusa lem, its capital, a ruin amidst which the shepherds and herds men pasture their flocks and herds. Hence it is not strange that he turned with cutting irony upon those who were thus betraying their nation (Is. 5'^-^): Woe to those who are heroic in drinking wine. And valiant in miring strong drink I Who for a bribe vindicate the wicked. And strip the innocent man of his innocence I Man's Attitude toward God. Isaiah, like Hosea, real ised that the highest social efficiency was impossible without a right relation to the divine Personality who directs and gives unity to all life. He knew that the reason why he was a so cial reformer was because of his never-to-be-forgotten vision of God and of his holiness which gave a definite objective and unity to all his social endeavours. Hence he denounced as traitors those who taubted him and gloried in their scepticism (Is. 5"), Who say, 'Let what he would do hasten. Let it come speedily that we may see it. Let the purpose of Israel's Holy One draw near. And come that we may receive it I' 66 THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF ISAIAH In the later crisis of 703-701 B.C. Isaiah warned the leaders of Judah (Is. 28"-"^' 18): Therefore hear the word of Jehovah, you scornful men, You rulers of this people which is in Jerusalem: Because you have said, 'We have entered into a treaty with death. And with Sheol we have made a compact. When the overwhelming scourge comes it shall not reach us, For we have made a lie our trust and in falsehood we have taken refuge.' Therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: 'Your covenant with death shall be broken. And your compact with Sheol shall not stand. When the overwhelming scourge passes over you, you shall be trampled down by it.' Even more intolerable to Isaiah was hypocrisy (Is. 29"- "): And Jehovah saith, 'Because this people draw near with their mouth. And honour me with their lips, while their heart is far from me, So that their fear of me is nothing more than a precept taught by men. Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a thing so wonderful and astonishing, That the wisdom, of their wise men shall perish, the discernment of their discerning ones shall be eclipsed.' To a broad-minded statesman like Isaiah the lot of his nation, misled by sceptical, hypocritical leaders, was supremely tragic. The problems of society seemed to him exceedingly simple, for he approached them from the religious point of view. In repeated crises he was able to save his nation by his wise coun sel, prompted by his simple yet profound faith that a just God rules the universe. In one brief couplet he proclaimed the far- reaching principle which ever guided him (Is. 7'°' "*): If you will not hold fast. Verily you shaU not stand fast. THE KINGDOM OF GOD 67 The Rule or Kingdom of God. Isaiah, the statesman, was apparently the first of the Hebrew prophets to set forth clearly the idea of the kingdom or rule of God. It is the underlying thought in his initial vision. Jehovah is pictured there, not as the divine Lover as in Hosea, but as the majestic King, ruling supreme in earth and heaven, who demands the loyalty of a holy and righteous people. This conception of Jehovah's majesty and of his righteous rule was the basis of all of Isaiah's political and social teachings. In the crisis of 734 B.C., when Ahaz and the people of Judah were trembling at the prospect of an immediate attack by the Northern Is raelites and the Arameans, Isaiah declared that these foes would be quickly overthrown, for they were insolently bidding defiance to the divine King. With all the power of his elo quence Isaiah urged the people of Judah not to dread these northern foes and their conspiracy to compel the little kingdom to unite with them in defying Assyria. Rather he declared (Is. 8"): Call ye not conspiracy aU that this people calleth conspiracy. What they fear do not fear nor be filled with dread. As long as the leaders of Judah were loyal to the demands of Jehovah, Isaiah felt certain that the state was invincible. The one thing that made him shudder and predict its desola tion was that they were disloyal to their divine King (Is. 8"- ") : Jehovah of hosts, him regard as the conspirator I Let him be your fear and your dread I For he will be a stumbling block and a stone to strike against, And a rock of stumbling to both the houses of Israel, A trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The same exalted conception of Jehovah's rule was clearly the basis of Isaiah's bold predictions of the overthrow of the mighty Assyrians. In the eyes of the prophet they were sim ply the rod of Jehovah's anger, the staff by which he mani fested his just indignation against his guilty people (Is. 10'): 68 THE SOCIAL IDEALS OF ISAIAH Against an impious nation am I wont to send him. And against the people of my wrath I give him a charge. To take spoil and gather booty, And to tread them down like the mire in the streets. When, however, Assyria became arrogant and declared "by the strength of my hand I have done it," its doom was sealed. In Isaiah's teaching Jehovah is the concrete embodiment of the immutable moral laws which, if disregarded by nations or individuals, in the end work out inexorably to the undoing or ruin of the transgressor. The majority of Isaiah's social teachings are presented in negative form. He was the master of powerful invective, and he wielded this weapon most effectively. His positive teach ings regarding the kingdom or rule of God may, to a great ex tent, be inferred from his denunciations. It is evident that, unlike Amos and his later contemporary Micah, Isaiah did not look for the complete destruction of the Hebrew commonwealth. Rather he hoped that a perfect social order might evolve out of the imperfect society. It was to this end that he unspar ingly laid bare his nation's faults. He laboured to develop a state in which the rulers would be just, faithful, and self- sacrificing, the judges absolutely impartial, the rich and ruling classes ever considerate of the interests of the dependent. He dreamed of a state in which all the natural resources would be administered as a common trust; of a nation in which all the citizens would be absolutely upright and devotedly loyal to their divine King. These ideals are gathered up by later dis ciples of Isaiah and expressed in positive form in such passages as Isaiah O'"', 11, and 32^-^. Once or twice Isaiah himself definitely voiced them. Thus, in his impassioned address to the rulers of Judah, after the Assyrian invasion of 701 had left the land desolate, he urges (Is. 1"°' "): Cease to do evil; learn to do good; Seek justice; relieve the oppressed; Vindicate the orphan; plead for the widow. THE KINGDOM OF GOD 69 Tenderly he continues his exhortation. The destiny of the nation depends entirely upon whether it is obedient to the de mands of the divine King (Is. II8-20) ; 'Come now, let us agree together,' saith Jehovah; Though your sins be as scarlet, they may become white as snow; . Though they be red as crimson, they may become as wool; / If ye willingly yield and are obedient, ye shaU eat the good of the land, But if ye refuse and resist, ye shall be devoured by the sword; For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken it I ' The defiant attitude of these leaders forebodes immediate calamity; but when the dross has been burned away in the fur nace he clearly sees in imagination the ideal kingdom which Jehovah will establish (Is. 1^') : I wiU again make thy rulers as at the first and thy counsellors as at the beginning; Afterward thou shalt be called, 'Citadel of Righteousness, Faith ful City.' Isaiah's Contributions to Israel's Social Ideals. Isaiah did not analyse the psychological causes and the correctives of the social evils of his day as profoundly as did Hosea. His conception of the ideal state was influenced to a certain extent by his conservative and aristocratic training. And yet Isaiah was the first to set forth certain fundamental and far-reaching social principles. He first branded as a crime the selfish mo nopoly of natural resources. He also was the first to point out the injustice and peril of class legislation (Is. 10'- "). He it was who inaugurated the first temperance crusade recorded tn human history. Moreover, he based his arguments on the same social and economic grounds that are giving ever added impetus and strength to that modern world movement. Above all, Isaiah traced in bold outline that ideal of a kingdom or rule of God which was destined to become a central factor in the social evolution of the human race. VII MICAH THE TRIBUNE OF THE COMMON PEOPLE Micah's Origin and Point of View. Micah, like Amos, came from the country. His home was at Moresheth, one of the little hamlets on the outskirts of the old Philistine town of Gath. It lay, therefore, in the rocky, rolling foot-hills that separated the Philistine plain from the uplands of Judah. This region had apparently been colonised by Jews during the strong reign of Uzziah, when the borders of Judah had been pushed westward. It was the part of southern Palestine most exposed to the attacks of the Assyrian armies, for they always approached Judah from the coast plains that skirted the eastern Mediterranean. Apparently, the immediate occasion of Micah's prophecy was the approach of the army of Sennach erib, which in 701 B.C. swept up through the western valleys of Judah, laying waste forty-six of its towns and villages and looting even Jerusalem itself. Micah's point of view is that of a countryman appalled by the crimes of the great city, who regards its corrupt life as a deadly menace to the peace and prosperity of the nation. Like Amos, he was a prophet of passion and fire. It is easy to picture him in imagination surrounded by a group of terrified villagers as he heralded the doom that was about to fall upon Judah (Mi. l'- '• '): For the transgression of Jacob is all this. And for the sin of the house of Judah. What was the transgression of Jacob? Was it not Samaria? What is the sin of Judah ? Is it not Jerusalem ? Therefore I have made Samaria a ruin that is tiUed, And a place where a vineyard is planted; 70 MICAH'S POINT OF VIEW 71 I have poured down her stones into the valley. And I have laid bare her foundation. For the blow that she has received is incurable. Indeed, it has come even to Judah 1 It extends even to the gate of my people I In a later passage Micah predicts a similar fate for Jeru salem. In 6'"^^ he voices his convictions as he observes the so cial evils that are especially characteristic of civic life: Hark ! Jehovah crieth to the city ! Hear, O tribe and assembly of the city: 'Can I forget the treasures of the house of the wicked. And the accursed scant measure ? Can I leave her unpunished because of evil balances. And the bag of false weights. Whose riches are full of violence, And her inhabitants speak falsehood, And their tongue is deceit in their mouth?' Micah's Teachings Regarding the Duties of Rulers. Like most of the Hebrew prophets, Micah went directly to Jerusalem, the centre of the nation's life. Again we can see in imagination this stern countryman, impelled by the dread news of the Assyrian advance, leaving his country home and going up with grim determination and the absolute conviction of a divine call to make known to the greedy rulers of his na tion the woes which they were bringing upon the innocent. He voiced in scathing words, that remind us of the impassioned addresses of certain modern socialists, the bitter cry of the oppressed against their oppressors. Using a figure already em ployed by Isaiah (Is. 9^°' ^^), he calls them merciless cannibals. Instead of protecting they prey on the people intrusted to their charge (Mi. Z^-^) : Hear now, O heads of Jacob, And ye judges of the house of Israel. Is it not your duty to know what is the right ? Haters of that which is good and lovers of evil 1 72 MICAH THE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE They devour the flesh of my people. And their hide they strip from off them. And break in pieces and serve up their bones. As in a pot or as meat in the cooking-pan I In the same way he arraigned the. leaders of the corrupt commercial city because they had perverted justice and to in justice had added hypocrisy and a false trust in Jehovah. He turned upon them with bitter sarcasm (Mi. 3'"") : Hear this, ye heads of the house of Jacob, And ye judges of the house of Israel, Ye who spurn justice, And make all that is straight crooked. Who build Zion with acts of bloodshed. And Jerusalem with crime. The heads render judgment for a bribe. And her priests give oracles for a reward. And her prophets divine for silver; Yet they lean upon Jehovah and think, 'Jehovah is indeed in our midst. Evil cannot overtake us.' For crimes like these he declares (Mi. 3") : Therefore for your sakes Zion shaU be ploughed as a field. And Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, And the temple mount a wooded height. The Responsibilities of Wealth. It is evident that in the days of Micah Judah had reached its lowest social degra dation. The base example of the rulers had affected all classes. True brotherhood and genuine patriotism had almost vanished even from the hearts of the common people. Selfish, blatant materialism was regnant. Israel's noble social ideals were ig nored. Micah has forever dramatised the thoroughly unsocial and criminal type of man who maintains his place in society by keeping just within the law (Mi. 2^'^): RESPONSIBILITIES OF WEALTH 73 Woe to those who devise mischief on their beds. Which in the light of morning they accomplish, for it is in their power to do it. They covet fields and seize them, houses and they take them; So they crush a strong man and his household, a man and his heritage. Micah evidently contemplated with grim satisfaction the merciless judgment which the approaching conquerors would visit upon these human vultures. He dramatically voices the dirge which would then be sung over them. With keen sarcasm he repeats their indignant protest and describes the type of prophet that would delight the soul of these social degener ates (Mi. 2«'^"): 'Prophesy not,' they urge; 'of such things one does not prophesy; The reproaches of him who speaks will not overtake the house of Jacob. Is Jehovah impatient, or are these his doings ? Are not his words favourable to his people Israel?' Yea, if a man walking in wine and falsehood were to deceive you Jsaymg], 'I will prophesy to you of wine and strong drink,' Then he would be the prophet of this people I The Duties of Those Intrusted with Public Education in Religion and Morals. Micah evidently found in Jerusalem a group of official prophets — smug, sleek, and seff-satisfied. Like their forebears in the days of Ahab {cf. I Kgs. 22) they seemed to think that their task was simply to salve the con sciences of the corrupt rulers and to commend their policies so as to secure their public approval. No lofty social ideals haunted them and disturbed their serene self-complacence. The contrast between them and Micah was the eternal contrast between the mercenary priestling and the true prophet. Micah himself felt the tremendous difference and pictures it in vigorous imagery. This countryman from the plain also had a grim sense of humour, and he uses it to lay bare the baseness of these 74 MICAH THE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE men, the betrayers rather than the saviours of the people in the hour of mortal peril (Mi. 3^-') : Therefore Jehovah saith to the prophets who lead my people astray. Who when they have anything between their teeth declare peace. But against one who puts nothing in their mouths, they proclaim a holy war 1 'Therefore, night shaU overtake you so that you shall have no vision. And darkness so that there shaU be no divination. And the sun shall go down on the prophets. And the day shall be dark over them. The seers will be ashamed. And the diviners will turn pale, All of them shall cover the beard. For there is no answer from God.' The Results of Micah's Social Teaching. Micah is one of the few Hebrew prophets who succeeded in making a definite and immediate impression upon the social life of his nation. We learn this fact from an incidental reference in the twenty- sixth chapter of Jeremiah. That valiant prophet had declared, a century later, that the temple and Jerusalem would, be cause of Judah's crimes, become desolate without inhabitant. This prediction so infuriated the people that they would have slain him had his friends not interceded (Jer. 26^'"^') : Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets. This man is not guilty of a capital offense, for he has spoken to us in the name of Jehovah our God. Thereupon certain of the elders of the land arose and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying, Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, 'Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: "Zion shall be ploughed as a field. And Jerusalem shaU become heaps of ruins. And the temple-mount wooded heights." ' RESULTS OF MICAH'S TEACHING 75 Did Hezekiah and all Judah indeed put him to death? Did they not fear Jehovah and appease Jehovah, so that Jehovah re pented of the evil which he had pronounced against them? But we are on the point of doing great injiu'y to ourselves. That a reformation was instituted during the reign of Hez ekiah is also recorded in II Kings 18*"°. Inasmuch as the author of Kings was chiefly interested in the ceremonial side of Israel's religion, he speaks only of the abolition of the sym bols of the ancient Canaanite cults. It is evident, however, from the incidental testimony of Jeremiah 26 and from the nature of Micah's preaching that this reformation struck deeper into the social life of Judah. Micah, indeed, made no refer ence to ceremonial rites and customs. It was solely because of Judah's social crimes that he declared: Zion shall he ploughed as a field. There is ample reason, therefore, for concluding that un der the leadership of Hezekiah, and following the disastrous Assyrian invasion in 701 B.C., a series of drastic social reforms were instituted that for a time at least delivered Judah from the evils against which the prophets of the Assyrian period had strenuously protested. This conclusion is incidentally con firmed by the fact that at the later crisis in 690 B.C., when Sennacherib again threatened Jerusalem, Isaiah declared un hesitatingly that Sennacherib would fall and Judah survive because the one was clearly in the wrong and the other in the right (Is. 37). It is interesting to analyse the reasons why Micah succeeded in arousing the social conscience of the people of Judah even when Isaiah had failed. It certainly was not because of his originality. In all of his recorded addresses he does little more than echo the principles laid down by Isaiah. The first reason, doubtless, is because he spoke from the point of view of the common people and with a simplicity and vigour and direct ness that were irresistible. His teachings were also powerfully reinforced by the deadly fear of imminent invasion that gripped 76 MICAH THE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE the heart of every man and woman and child in his audiences, and by the firmly fixed popular belief that calamity was the certain evidence of Jehovah's disapproval. Micah was the awakening conscience of the nation. He reaped where oth ers had faithfully sown. With sledge-hammer blows he drove home the social principles proclaimed by earlier prophets. The fact that he reasserted truths already familiar to the people but added to their grim effectiveness. The Prophetic Definition of Religious Responsibility. The sixth chapter of Micah contains a crowning epitome of the social teachings of the earlier prophets. In four short lines the prophetic definition of religion, that was first presented by Amos and supplemented by Hosea and Isaiah, is set forth in a way well calculated to arrest the attention of all succeeding ages. The scientist Huxley has said of it: A perfect ideal of religion ! A conception of religion which ap pears to me as wonderful an inspiration of genius as the art of Phidias or the science of Aristotle I To-day it appropriately stands inscribed on the statue of Religion in the Congressional Library at Washington. The historical setting of these immortal lines is apparently the reactionary reign of Manasseh which immediately followed that of Hezekiah. National disaster and apprehension had led the people to ask with intense earnestness (Mi. 6'- '): With what shall I come before Jehovah, Bow myself before the God on high ? ShaU I come before him with burnt-offerings. With calves a year old ? WiU Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams. With myriads of streams of oil? ShaU I give him my first-born for my gmlt. The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? The answer which came first to the popular mind in response to this burning question was suggested by the old ceremonial conception of religion. Jehovah was thought of as a super- PROPHETIC DEFINITION OF RELIGION 77 human King whose favour could be won by a wealth of ma terial gifts or by the evidence of supreme self-denial on the part of his worshippers. Here the prophet repeats those conven tional standards of religious duty which had almost universally obtained throughout the ancient world until the days of Amos. It was the idea of Jehovah and his service which was still held by a majority of the people of Judah. With masterly skill the prophet brings this primitive popular conception of religion into dramatic contrast with the new social ideals which the prophets of the Assyrian period had proclaimed. He declares that religion does not consist in forms nor in creeds but in acts of justice and love towards man and in that receptive, trusting attitude toward God which makes it possible for the individual to live in daily fellowship with him (Mi. 6*) : It hath been shown thee, O man, what is good; And what Jehovah demandeth of thee: Only to do justice and love mercy. And to walk humbly with thy God. Here each of the great social prophets speaks in turn and yet in unison. To do justice is an echo of Amos's fundamental teaching. The Hebrew word (hesedh) translated "mercy" is repeatedly used by Hosea to describe the kinetic love which binds God to man and man to God and his fellow men, and in spires him to express that love in acts of mercy (cf. p. 53). It is love in action. The command is not merely to admire but passionately to love love and its social expression. To walk humbly with God is a reflection of Isaiah's characteristic teaching regarding the majesty and holiness of God. Inter preted in modern terms it means whole-hearted, devoted loy alty. Justice and love toward man and devoted loyalty to God — these are the three basal social virtues, and each mar vellously reinforces the others. He who, like Micah, syn- thesises and makes old traths new and vital forces in human history certainly deserves a high place among the immortal teachers of mankind. VIII THE SOCIAL REFORMERS OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY The Decadent Seventh Century. The seventh century b.c. in southwestern Asia was a period of decadence and tran sition. Under two energetic kings, Esarhaddon and Ashur- banipal, the bounds of the Assyrian empire were extended to their farthest limits. Even the proud domain of the Pha raohs was at last gathered into Assyria's net. Judah and the other small states along the eastern Mediterranean had learned through bitter experience the futility of resisting this great world-conqueror. Spoil and tribute from every quarter poured into the Assyrian treasury; but luxury and moral and social corruption were rapidly destroying its strength. The empire depended for its defense upon the hired mercenaries and sub ject peoples enlisted in its armies. Patriotism and loyalty had practically disappeared. The entire empire was ruled simply for the purpose of satisfying the personal ambitions and greed of the king and the group of rapacious nobles who gathered about him. Assyria, although to outward appearance at the height of its power, was on the verge of that complete collapse which came suddenly in 605 B.C. Like Northern Israel a cen tury before and Rome eleven centuries later, its fall vividly illustrated the great social and moral principles which the He brew prophets proclaimed. Nahum's Condemnation of War Prompted by Greed. The guilt of Assyria and its downfall are the occasion of the power ful prophecy of Nahum. Of the prophet himself nothing is known except what is revealed in the two and a half chapters which have come from his pen. Over the cruel, rapacious em pire this prophet of obscure Judah chants a powerful doom-song. 78 NAHUM'S CONDEMNATION OF WAR 79 In the collapse of the great empire he saw not only a vindica tion of Jehovah's just rulership of the world but also the con demnation of the brutal policy which for over two centuries had involved southwestern Asia in almost continuous war. He strips away all the false pretensions of the great world- conqueror and lays bare the elemental passions which through out the ages have been the chief incentives to war. He declares that the wars waged by Assyria upon the petty nations of southwestern Asia were simply organised murder inspired by the desire to rob and to gratify the bestial appetites (Nah. 211.12): Where is the den of the lions. The lair of the young lions. Where the lion was wont to withdraw. The whelps also with none to startle them? The hon tore in pieces enough for his whelps. And strangled for his mates. He filled his caves with prey. And his lairs with plunder. In imagination he beholds Assyria's foes, inspired by the same ravenous desires, battering down the doors and entering this den of robbers. At last the hour of judgment has struck and the prophet urges on these agents of divine wrath (Nah. 2'- 1») : Loot the silver, loot the gold; For there is no end of the store. The wealth of all precious things ! She is empty and desolate and waste. The heart faints, the knees smite together. Anguish is in all loins. And the faces of all are flushed. Through all this song of doom there runs as a recurring note the divine condemnation of all war that is prompted by the lust for power and spoil (Nah. 2") : Behold I am against thee, is the oracle of Jehovah of hosts. And I wiU burn thy dwellings in smoke; 80 SOCIAL REFORMERS OF SEVENTH CENTURY The sword shaU devour thy young lions; Yea, I wiU cut off thy prey from the earth. The voice of thy messengers shaU be heard no more. Nahum was a worthy forerunner of the modern peace move ment. In an age when war raged almost unceasingly he pro tested passionately against it if undertaken for greedy motives. He had in mind Nineveh, the proud capital of Assyria (Nah. 31, ao. d). Woe to the bloody city. Full of lies and plunder 1 There are corpses without number I They stumble over the bodies I War carried on for such motives Nahum declared is a hideous crime which Jehovah will surely and overwhelmingly punish (Nah.3«'M»): I wiU cast loathsome filth upon thee. And make thee vile and set thee as a gazing stock. And all who look upon thee will flee from thee. And say, 'Nineveh is wasted ! Who will bewaU her? Whence shall I seek comfort for thee?' There is no healing for thy hurt, thy wound is fatal I All those who hear the tidings about thee clap their hands over thee, For upon whom hath thy wickedness not fallen continuaUy ? The Significance of the Reactionary Reign of Manasseh. The seventh century before Christ also witnessed the political and religious decline of Judah. By submitting to Assyria Hezekiah and his son Manasseh preserved the integrity of their nation, but they purchased their deliverance at a terrible cost. Manasseh during his long reign of nearly half a century (686- 641) and his son Amon, who reigned until 639 B.C., repudi ated the teachings of Isaiah and Micah, and opened wide the doors of Judah to the culture and religion of the Assyrian conqueror. The alluring Assyrio-Babylonian culture inundated THE REIGN OF MANASSEH 81 Judah. The one important Palestinian inscription that has come down from this period is written in the Assyrian script. It records the sale of a piece of land in which the contracting parties bear Assyrian as well as Hebrew names. The state ment in II Kings 23^ implies that the Babylonian sun god Shamash and the moon god Sin and other Babylonian astral deities were during this reactionary period worshipped even in the Jewish temple at Jerusalem. The common people were allowed and possibly encouraged to revive the old Canaanite Baal cults (II Kgs. 23°' ''). Equally radical and disastrous was the social reaction. The noble ideals of the earlier prophets were trampled underfoot. Having neither the inspiration of a lofty religion nor of the high moral idealism of men like Isaiah, the rich and ruling classes again began to exploit the people and thus to destroy the very foundations of true patriotism and national integrity. The Reformer Prophet Zephaniah. The eternal law of ac tion and reaction in time asserted itself in Judah. The peo ple themselves began to see the results of their immorality and to grow weary of the intolerable conditions. More important still was the quiet but persistent activity of the spiritual dis ciples of Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah. According to the testi mony of II Kings 211°: Manasseh shed much innocent blood until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other. Undoubtedly the chief victims of Manasseh's reactionary spirit were the followers of the true prophets. For half a cen tury their voice was silenced in public; but the event indicates that they worked privately and ceaselessly to re-establish the principles of the great social prophets as the ruling forces in the life of Judah. At first they depended chiefly upon educa tional methods. Upon the young Josiah they appear to have bestowed their chief attention. Their influence is the only explanation of why the son of a reactionary father and grand father became the leader in a great religious and social refor mation. 82 SOCIAL REFORMERS OF SEVENTH CENTURY Unquestionably chief among the men who moulded the char acter of the young Josiah, who came to the throne in 639 at the age of eight, was Zephaniah. According to the super scription which stands at the beginning of his prophecy, he was the great-great-grandson of Hezekiah and therefore a cousin of the king. From his brief prophecy it is clear that he was intimately acquainted with conditions in Jerusalem and the court. He was also a man of clear convictions and of tremen dous force of character. Like a tempest his fiery eloquence swept aside all opposition. He was the Savonarola of ancient Jerusalem and, like the later prophet of Florence, exerted a powerful influence upon both king and people. His description of the day of Jehovah, which in its Latin translation is known as the great mediaeval hymn, "Dies Irse," is one of the most powerful passages in human literature. Much of his fiery, uncompromising zeal is reflected in the radical reformation that was later carried through by the young Josiah. Jeremiah of Anathoth. Closely associated with Zephaniah was his young contemporary Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a na tive of the little town of Anathoth, a northern suburb of Je rusalem. He was apparently a descendant of the priestly house of Eli, which had been banished from Jerusalem by Solomon. Naturally shy and shrinking, Jeremiah had the per sistency and devotion that have given us the world's great est martyrs. For fully half a century he was, as he declares, "a brazen wall against the kings of Judah, its princes and its common people." During most of this period they fought against him but did not overcome him, for, as he tells us, Jehovah was ever with him to deliver him. In the opening years of Josiah's reign Jeremiah joined with Zephaniah in the attempt to arouse the conscience of the people. The first six chapters of his prophecy contain extracts from the addresses which he then delivered. The event which apparently prepared the way for the public activity of each of these prophets was the approach, about the year 626 B.C., of a horde of Scythian invaders. One of the impressions which convinced Jeremiah that he must assume the r61e of a prophet was the vision of a JEREMIAH OF ANATHOTH 83 caldron, brewing hot and facing from the north, which sym bolised the fact that "from the north disaster is brewing for the inhabitants of the land." In a later address he gives a vivid description of this dread, mysterious, nomadic horde of ruth less barbarians who, like their modern descendants, the Cos sacks, carried terror wherever they went (Jer. 6^^- ^): Thus saith Jehovah: 'Behold a people is coming from the north land. And a great nation is arousing itself from the uttermost parts of the earth. They lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel and merciless; Their din is like the roaring of the sea, and they ride upon horses. Each is arrayed as a man for battle against thee, O daughter of Zion.' The prophet then goes on to describe the effect of their ap proach upon the people (Jer. 6^*) : We have heard the report of it; our hands become feeble; Anguish takes hold of us, pangs of a woman in travaU. With true psychological insight the prophets recognised that the moment at last had arrived when they could effectively appeal to the nation. What the situation demanded was not the setting forth of a new truth but the bold reassertion of the great moral and social principles laid down by the earlier prophets. The work of Zephaniah and Jeremiah is primarily significant because under their teaching these principles were not only accepted by the people but also expressed in deflnite laws which remain as one of Israel's great abiding contributions to the ethical and social idealism of the human race (cf. chap. IX). Their Teachings Regarding the Duties of Rulers and Religious Leaders. Although of royal rank and a citizen of Jerusalem, Zephaniah joined in an unsparing attack upon the guilty rulers of Judah (Zeph. 3'- *): 84 SOCIAL REFORMERS OF SEVENTH CENTURY Her rulers in her midst are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves, who leave nothing over until the morning. Her prophets are braggarts, faithless men, Her priests profane what is holy and do violence to the law. Their guilt was all the more heinous because they knew very clearly what was their responsibility and the disastrous conse quences of disregarding the eternal social and moral principles which govern the life of a nation (Zeph. 3^-') : Jehovah is righteous ui her midst, he doeth no wrong. Morning by morning he establishes his decree. Light is not lacking, an oversight is unknown. I have cut off nations, their turrets are destroyed; I have laid waste their broad streets, so that none passes over them. Desolate are their cities without a man, without inhabitant. I said, 'Surely she will fear me, she will accept instruction. Nothing shaU vanish from her eyes that I have impressed upon her'; But the more zealously have they made aU their deeds corrupt. Jeremiah likewise declared that the hands of Judah's rulers were stained with the blood of the innocent and that they were even more guilty than common housebreakers (Jer. 2'*). Like Diogenes of old, he sought in vain through the streets of Jerusalem to find a man "who does right and seeks after the truth." Equally fruitless was his quest when he turned to the royal court (Jer. 6*' 0: Then I thought, 'Surely these are the common people, they are without understanding. For they know not the way of Jehovah, and the law of their God. Therefore I will go to the nobles and speak to them. For they know the way of Jehovah and the law of their God.' But these have all broken the yoke and burst the bonds. In a later passage, in which Jeremiah contrasts King Josiah and his selfish and reactionary son Jehoiakim, the prophet has THE DUTIES OF RULERS 85 given a remarkably concrete picture of an ideal ruler. The prophecy is addressed directly to Jehoiakim, who, although the ruler of an impoverished nation facing imminent invasion, con tinued to exploit his people in order to gratify his personal pas sion for display and luxury (Jer. 22"-") : Woe to him who bufldeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice; Who causeth his neighbour to labour without wages, and giveth him not his pay; Who saith, 'I will build me a vast palace with spacious chambers; Provided with deep-cut windows, ceiled with cedar and painted with vermilion.' Dost thou call thyself king because thou exceUest in cedar ? Thy father — did he not eat and drink and execute law and justice ? He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was weU. 'Was not this to know me?' saith Jehovah. 'But thine eyes and heart are bent only on thy dishonest gain, And on the shedding of innocent blood and on oppression and violence!' Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah: 'They shall not lament over him, "O my brother" or "O my sister" I They shaU not wail for him, "O Lord" or "O his glory" I He shaU be buried as an ass is buried, drawn out and cast forth.' Even more scathing is Jeremiah's condemnation of Judah's faithless religious teachers (Jer. 5^"' ^i) : Frightful and horrible things have taken place in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely. The priests teach according to their direction. And my people love to have it so I What wfll ye do at the end ? Not only have Judah's professional priests and prophets neglected their task as the social conscience of their nation, but they have also lulled the people into a feeling of false se- 86 SOCIAL REFORMERS OF SEVENTH CENTURY curity. Jeremiah's dramatic setting forth of this truth has made a deep impression upon human literature and thought (Jer. 6") : They have healed the hurt of my people as though it was slight. Saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace I They are not at aU ashamed, nor do they know enough to blush 1 The Irresponsible, Unprincipled Rich. Zephaniah and Jeremiah are equally bold in attacking the economic evils of their day. One of the chief reasons why Zephaniah predicted that the day of Jehovah was "near and rapidly approaching" was because of (Zeph. 1"*"' ¦=) The wealthy who are thickened upon their lees. Who are saying to themselves, 'Jehovah brings neither prosperity nor calamity 1 ' He declared that (Zeph. 1"' "«) Their wealth shall become a prey and their houses a desolation. Neither shall their silver nor their gold be able to deUver them ! By the pregnant figure, drawn from the well-known character istic of old wine, he described the natural conservatism of wealth. The peril of the rich is that they become inert and strive to maintain the existing order, even though it is radi cally wrong, until they have lost the very capacity of action. In the hour of calamity wealth is no protection against the invader. Instead it simply tends to give to those who pos sess it a false sense of security which blinds them to their real danger. Jeremiah has given an equally keen analysis of the effects of wealth unjustly obtained (Jer. 5^^-^^) : Wicked men are found, who set snares and catch men with traps so that their houses are full of the fruits of their crooked dealing, even as a cage is full of birds. Thus they become great THE UNPRINCIPLED RICH 87 and rich, they who have grown fat. They plan wicked things and succeed; they violate justice. The cause of the fatherless and the rights of the needy they do not defend. This description fits the same type to-day as well as in the decadent seventh century before Christ. The principle, which underlies Jeremiah's grim warning, is also equally applicable (Jer. 5^"): ' Shall I not punish such as these ? ' is Jehovah's oracle, ' Or on such a nation as this shall I not be avenged ? ' On a later occasion, when in the presence of foreign invaders the rich landlords of Judah had solemnly agreed to set free their slaves and then shamelessly broken their covenant, Jeremiah unsparingly denounced the ruling classes and thereby declared himself the open foe of slavery and the active champion of individual liberty (Jer. 34). The Aims of the Prophetic Reformers Who Prepared the Laws in Deuteronomy. We have a threefold record of the great reformation which culminated in 621 B.C. One is the testimony of the prophecies of Zephaniah and Jeremiah; an other is the twenty-third chapter of II Kings, which describes the measures adopted by the reformers; the third is in the book of Deuteronomy itself, which contains the laws which were then promulgated. The character of these laws reveals the aim of those who formulated them. Their primary purpose was to correct the evils which had crept into Judah during the reign of Manasseh and to render their reappearance forever impossible. With this end in view the formal religious life of the nation was transferred from the old Canaanite local shrines and centred entirely in Jerusalem. At the same time the re formers aimed to apply the ethical and social principles set forth by earlier prophets to the daily life of the people. In their essence the laws of Deuteronomy are prophetic rather than priestly. It is probable that the men who wrote them were prophets, although priests like Hilkiah, the head of the temple priesthood, who was in hearty sympathy with the pro- 88 SOCIAL REFORMERS OF SEVENTH CENTURY phetic party, may also have had a voice in formulating them. Most of these laws are moulded by Hosea's great doctrine of love to God and man. It was a catholic love which went out also to dumb beasts (Dt. 5", 25*) and to foreigners resident in Israel, who hitherto had few rights under the Hebrew law. The method of these prophetic lawgivers was in most cases evolutionary rather than revolutionary. Ordinarily they aimed to modify or supplement rather than set aside existing laws and institutions. The result is that the laws of Deuteronomy are a vivid, concrete record of the developing idealism of the Hebrew race down to the close of the seventh century B.C. It is not the work of any one mah, but is the embodiment of the idealism of a nation that had learned many important lessons in the painful school of experience and at last was re sponsive to the teachings of its noblest social and religious teachers. In this code all that is finest in Israel's early religion is blended. Formal Adoption of the New Prophetic Code. The twenty-second and twenty-third chapters of II Kings contain a graphic account of the way in which the prophetic code, now embodied in the book of Deuteronomy, was made the law of the realm. This momentous step was not easy. Evidently the prophetic tradition that Moses was the author of all of Israel's laws was already beginning to crystallise. A new code, therefore, that had been written by private individuals, even though it included many of the older laws of the race and rep resented the natural development of the principles earlier laid down by Moses, was in great danger of being regarded with suspicion. This danger probably led its authors to place it in the temple, possibly in the keeping of the friendly high priest Hilkiah, until a favourable moment came in which to present it to the king and people. That opportunity arose when King Josiah, after ruling seventeen years, began to make certain repairs on the temple. Then the prophetic code was brought forth by Hilkiah and placed in the hands of Shaphan, Josi ah's private secretary. After reading it the king was greatly stirred, and sent it to a certain prophetess Huldah, who was ADOPTION OF THE NEW CODE 89 attached to the court, to have its validity attested. Huldah was evidently in full sympathy with its enactment, for she at once confirmed its authority. This confirmation encouraged Josiah to act. The graphic account of the way in which this code was made binding upon the people of Judah and pro mulgated as a law is found in II Kings 23'-': And the king sent and they gathered to him aU the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. And the king went up to the temple of Jehovah, and with him aU the men of Judah and aU the inhabi tants of Jerusalem, as weU as the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hear ing aU the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the temple of Jehovah. And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before Jehovah to establish the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people confirmed the covenant. Acting ia accord with the commands of this code, Josiah at once proceeded to institute a rigorous reform. The priests and the paraphernalia of the Canaanite and Babylonian cults were banished from Jerusalem. The heathen shrines outside the capital city were destroyed and deffled (II Kgs. 23'-") • The enactments of the new code were enforced in the temple, in the court, and in the daily life of the people. Judah entered upon a new social and religious era that made the brief reign of Josiah seem like a brilliant autumnal day, all the more glorious in contrast with the wintry years of exile which quickly followed. IX THE SOCIAL PRINCIPLES EMBODIED IN THE PROPHETIC CODE OF DEUTERONOMY Domestic Relations : Duties of Husbands to Their Wives. The prophets who formulated the laws of Deuteronomy were ardent champions of the defenseless. At the same time they were practical reformers, and therefore did not attempt the impossible. When existing institutions were not absolutely harmful they accepted them. Evil customs they sought to ameliorate by modifying rather than by condemning them. It was because they adopted this mediating method that their laws quickly gained popular acceptance. Thus they made no protest against the old Semitic custom which permitted the victor to marry a woman captured in war, but they commanded that every consideration should be shown for her feelings (Dt. 211"-"). She was to be allowed to put off the garb of captiv ity and to lament for her father and mother a month undis turbed. Then she was to be given the full rights of wifehood. Her husband could never again sell her into slavery. They also enacted that whoever brought a false charge of infidelity against his wife should pay a heavy fine to her father and should never be aUowed to divorce her (Dt. 22"). While they were not able to abolish the Semitic custom which made di vorce easy, they did all in their power to make it more difficult for a husband to put away his wife at will. They provided that he must give her a written statement of the grounds for such action and should never be allowed to remarry her (Dt. 24i-*). Most men would hesitate long before they committed them selves to a statement which the parents of their rejected wife could and in most cases would compel them to prove before a public tribunal. The irrevocable nature of that act would 90 DUTIES OF HUSBANDS 91 also deter them from yielding to a passing impulse. In this earliest of marriage laws the aim, therefore, is not to counte nance but to put barriers in the way of divorce. Duties of Parents to Children. Equally progressive is the Deuteronomic legislation that aims to define the duties of parents to their children. The ancient lawgivers have an ticipated the fundamental principle underlying the modern religious-education movement. Upon the parents they throw the responsibility of teaching their children the essential prin ciples of religion and morals and of utilising to that end every opportunity presented by their daily life together. These lawgivers also appreciated the large pedagogical value of a question asked by the one to be taught (Dt. 6°-'' 20-25). These words, which I command thee this day, shaU be upon thy heart; and thou shalt impress them upon thy children, and thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. Thou shalt bind them as a reminder on thy hand, and have them as bands on thy forehead between thine eyes, and thou shalt mark them on the posts of thy house and on thy doors. When thy son asketh thee in the future, 'What mean the tes timonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Jehovah our God hath commanded you?' then shalt thou say to thy son, 'We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt; but Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand; and Jehovah performed before our eyes great and destructive signs and wonders, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household; and he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in to give us the land which he swore to our fathers. And Jehovah commanded us to act in accord with all these statutes, to fear Jehovah our God, that we might always prosper, and that he might preserve us alive, as at this day. We shall be righteous if we observe faithfully this com mand before Jehovah our God, as he hath commanded us.' Duties of Children to Parents. The Deuteronomic law givers were strenuously insistent that children in turn honour and obey their parents, for they recognised that this attitude was essential to a stable social order and to the development 92 SOCIAL PRINCIPLES OF DEUTERONOMY of efficient social citizens. They appealed first to the self- interest of the children themselves (Dt. 5i°) : Honour thy father and thy mother, as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be long, and that it may go weU with thee in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee. They fortified this appeal by an educated public opinion, for in the formal liturgy, which aimed to impress upon the na tional consciousness the major crimes that must be avoided if the common good was to be conserved, they instructed the officiating Levites to say (Dt. 27") : Cursed be he who dishonours his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, 'So may it be.' Finally, they decreed that dishonouring and disobeying par ents was so grievous a crime that organised society itself should by the most strenuous methods stamp out this menace to its welfare and integrity. There is every reason to believe that parental love always prevented, as the lawgivers anticipated it would, the execution of this grim law, and that its prac tical value was to emphasise dramatically a vital principle. (Dt. 2118-21): If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, who wUl not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and, though they chastise him, will not give heed to them, his father and his mother shaU take hold of him, and bring him before the elders of his city, and to the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, 'This our son is stubborn and rebeUious, he wiU not obey our voice; he is a spendthrift and a drunkard.' Then all the men of his city shaU stone him to death; thus thou shalt put away the evil from thy midst, and aU Israel shaU hear and fear. Duties of Masters to Slaves. Though obsolete, the Deu teronomic laws regarding slaves are still richly suggestive in this modern industrial age, for the underlying principles are still applicable. In contrast to the old Babylonian and Roman DUTIES OF MASTERS TO SLAVES 93 lawgivers, the interest of the authors of the Deuteronomic codes is entirely with the slave. The code of Hammurabi im posed a most severe penalty upon the man who harboured a runaway slave. The Deuteronomic lawgivers, however, with a bold disregard for existing customs and vested interests, de creed (Dt. 23i»'"): Thou shalt not deliver to his master a slave who has fled from his master to thee. He shaU dweU with thee in thy land, in the place which he shall choose within one of thy towns, where it pleases him best, without thy oppressing him. They also provided that the slaves should share equally with the children of the household in the annual festivities which were celebrated at Jerusalem (Dt. 12"'i', 16")- To the primitive law of Exodus 2P, which enacted that all Hebrew slaves should be freed after six years of service, they added the provision that they be generously supplied with the necessities of life so that they would not be again reduced through poverty to the condition of servitude (Dt. 15i'-i'') : When thou lettest him go free, thou shalt not let him go empty- handed; rather thou shalt furnish him liberaUy from thy flock, and thy threshing-floor, and thy winepress; according as Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give to him. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a slave in the land of Egypt, and that Jehovah thy God redeemed thee; therefore I now command thee to do this thing. It is important to note that the generous giving that is urged is not charity which pauperises the recipient, but a just recom pense for services rendered. The social principle here operative is not that of force and might, but of justice and brotherhood and love. As elaborated by the later prophets and Jesus, this is the only principle that will solve the problem of domestic ser vice that looms so large in many modern homes. PoUtical and Civil Regulations: Obligations of Rulers. The democratic principles for which Ahijah and Elijah con tended are definitely incorporated in the Deuteronomic codes. 94 SOCIAL PRINCIPLES OF DEUTERONOMY The entire intent of this legislation is in favour of the common citizen. The king is the free choice of the people (Dt. 17"' "). He is enjoined to be content with a modest revenue and court and not to amass private wealth (Dt. 17i^' "). Above all, he must rule humbly and faithfully in accord with the democratic principles laid down in Deuteronomy 1718-20 ; And when he sitteth upon his kingly throne he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law which is in the charge of the Levitical priests; and he shall have it always with him, and he shaU read in it daily as long as he lives, that he may learn to fear Jehovah his God, to take heed to observe aU the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart be not lifted up above his kins men, and that he turn aside from this command neither to the right nor to the left, in order that he and his descendants may continue long to rule in the midst of Israel. Duties of Judges. The rules for the guidance of judges are eternally applicable. Here the principles for which Amos and Hosea and Isaiah valiantly fought are writ into Judah's national code (Dt. 1") : Ye shall be impartial in judgment. Ye shall give equal hearing to the weak and strong. Ye shall not be afraid of any man, for the judgment is God's. The prophetic lawgivers were exceedingly strenuous in their condemnation of bribery, and their position is doubly significant because its background is the Semitic world in which nearly every private and public transaction was accompanied by a gift (Dt. 16"". 20). Thou shalt not take a bribe, for a bribe blindeth the eyes of the wise and perverteth the words of the righteous. Justice and only justice shalt thou foUow, that thou mayest five and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. They also placed bribery in the list of the twelve deadly social crimes that were to be denounced publicly by priests and people (Dt. 2720. DUTIES OF WITNESSES 95 Duties of Witnesses. The laws defining the responsibil ities of witnesses in the public courts reveal an exceedingly high sense of justice. Their primary aim is to defend the ac cused against unjust charges. The testimony of at least two witnesses is required to convict a man of any crime (Dt. 19", 17^). As in the code of Hammurabi, a false witness is punished by the same penalty that he sought to bring upon the accused. Here the lex talionis is especially fitting. It is an open ques tion whether or not our modern usage is more just than the ancient law (Dt. 19"-"): If a malicious witness stand up against a man to accuse him of treason, then both the men who have the dispute shaU stand before Jehovah, before the priests and the judges who shall be officiating in those days; and the judges shall thoroughly investi gate; and should it prove that the witness is a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his countryman, then shaU ye do to him as he purposed to do to his fellow countryman; thus thou shalt purge away the evil from thy midst, that those who remain may heed and fear, and never again commit any such crime in thy midst. And thou shalt not show pity; lite for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. Public Education in Religion and Morals. The practical prophetic spirit and aim of the authors of the Deuteronomic codes is further revealed by the emphasis which they placed upon public education. They provided that the laws of the land should be made easily accessible to every citizen. To this end they directed that they should be inscribed on plas tered stones set up in a central place (Dt. 271"*- '). Also they directed that at fixed times the law should be publicly read to the people (Dt. 31i°-") : And Moses gave them this command: 'At the end of seven years, in the year fixed for the release, at the feast of tabernacles, when aU Israel come to see the face of Jehovah your God in the place which he shall choose, you shall read this law aloud before all Israel. Assemble the people, the men, the women, and the children, as well as the aliens who reside within your city, that they 96 SOCIAL PRINCIPLES OF DEUTERONOMY may hear, and learn, and fear Jehovah your God, and faithfully follow aU the words of this law, and that their children who have not known may hear, and learn to fear Jehovah your God as long as ye live in the land which ye are going over the Jordan to possess.' Economic Regulations: The Ownership of Property. The Deuteronomic lawgivers were keenly alive to the fact that social welfare to a great extent depends upon economic con ditions. A large number of their laws, therefore, aim to elim inate existing economic evils. They believed in the private ownership of property, and protected it by the laws against stealing (Dt. 5") and against moving the landmarks or bound ary-stones (Dt. 19"). This treacherous form of theft was placed in the list of the most reprehensible social crimes (Dt. 27i')- At the same time the Deuteronomic lawgivers recognised that each man had a certain common right in the natural products of the soil. The way in which they maintained the balance between private and public rights is exceedingly in teresting (Dt. 23^''^'): When thou comest into thy neighbour's vineyard thou mayest eat of grapes to thy fill at thine own pleasure, but thou shalt not put any in thy vessel. When thou comest into thy neighbour's standing grain, thou mayest gather the heads with thy hand, but thou shalt not put a sickle to thy neighbour's standing grain. They also taught in concrete terms the principle that each man is under obligation to respect society's rights in the com mon natural sources of wealth and not to destroy the source of supply (Dt. 22«. '): If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and with the mother sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the mother with the young. Thou shalt surely let the mother go, but the young thou mayest take for thyself, that it may be weU with thee and that thou mayest live long. Responsibilities of Employers of Labour. The oldest labour legislation known to history is found in the code of RESPONSIBILITIES OF EMPLOYERS 97 Hammurabi (about 2000 B.C.). That paternal despot sought by law to fix the wages of different classes of labourers. The first laws, however, that aim to protect the rights of the manual labourer are found in the Deuteronomic codes. They assert the principles that all subsequent labour legislation has simply sought to apply equitably and specifically. The first law limits not the hours but the days of labour and seeks to insure needed rest even to slaves. Here we have the true prophetic interpre tation of the significance of the Sabbath: it is not a ceremonial but a social institution (Dt. 5^^-^^) ; Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to Jehovah thy God; in it thou shalt do no work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy male or female slave, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor the alien who resideth within thy city, that thy male and female slave may rest as well as thou. Thou shalt also remember that thou wast a slave in the land of Egypt and that Jehovah thy God brought thee out from there by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore Jehovah thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. The Deuteronomic lawgivers laid upon employers the solemn obligation not to exploit their employees. They also strongly emphasised the importance of the prompt payment of wages. They suggested no penalty for failure to observe these laws, but they appealed on the one side to the feeling of human brotherhood and on the other to self-interest and the fear of divme judgment (Dt. 24"' "): Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he be of thy own race, or of the resident aliens who are in thy land within thy city. On the same day thou shalt pay him his wages before the sun goeth down, for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it; and let him not cry against thee to Jehovah, and thou be guilty of a crime. Measures for the Prevention of Poverty. The prophetic authors of Deuteronomy thoroughly believed that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." They were also 98 SOCIAL PRINCIPLjis ua ut^vri!^ti01sOM.Y well aware of the evils of poverty. One of their chief en deavours was to prevent poverty by removing its causes. Many of the fundamental methods which they suggest are practically applicable in all stages of civilisation. Certain of the gravest economic evils of the present age have been due to our failure to appreciate the principles laid down by these early but enlightened social investigators and reformers. Sev eral of the laws already considered were formulated in order to prevent poverty. By securing justice in the public courts for poor and rich, for the weak and strong alike, they eliminated one of the fertile causes of poverty in both the ancient and modern world. By preventing the exploiting of the manual- labouring class by their employers they were striking at what still remains one of the leading reasons why, in this age of plenty, millions of human beings live on the verge of poverty or belong to the submerged class. The same economic aims underlie the laws which forbade rulers to amass private wealth or to adopt policies that would tend to pauperise their subjects. The humane regulations regarding the taking of pledges belong to the same class. Each was intended to guard against inflict ing unnecessary hardship on the unfortunate and also to pre vent those who were trembling on the brink of poverty from being pushed over the abyss (Dt. 24'' lo-is): No man shall take the mill or the upper mUlstone as a pledge, for thereby he taketh a man's life as a pledge. When thou lendest thy neighbour any kind of loan, thou shalt not go into his house to take a pledge from him. Thou shalt stand without, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge to thee. In the case of a poor man, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge; thou shalt surely restore to him the pledge at sunset, that he may sleep in his garment, and bless thee; thus thou wilt be counted righteous before Jehovah thy God. The desire to eliminate poverty explains the seemingly im practicable enactment (Dt. 23"' ^°): Thou shalt not lend on interest to thy fellow countryman, — interest on money, on food, or on anything that is lent on inter- THE PREVENTION OF POVERTY 99 est . . . that Jehovah may bless thee in all that thou under- takest to do. In Judah in the seventh century before Christ loans were rarely, if ever, made in order to launch commercial enter prises. Instead, they were made to the man who had suffered some misfortune in order to save him or his children from slavery, which was the penalty for unpaid debt. The rate of interest in the ancient East was usually exorbitant. Hence, if insisted upon ^t hastened the economic ruin of the debtor. In many cases, however, a loan without interest tided the unfor tunate through his period of stress and at the same time pre served his self-respect without pauperising him, as a direct gift might have done. In their zeal to right economic inequalities the lawgivers went farther and declared (Dt. 15i-') : At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the nature of the release: ev^ry creditor shall remit that which he hath lent to his neighbour; he shall not exact it of his neighbour or fellow countryman, because Jehovah's release hath been proclaimed. Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it; but whatever of thine is with thy feUow countryman, let thy hand release it. Here the law of brotherhood is pressed to its fullest extreme. A modern critic would call this law socialistic. The lawgivers themselves feared that it might defeat its own end. They therefore made a powerful appeal to the sympathies and racial loyalty of their countrymen (Dt. 15'-ii): If there be with thee a poor man, one of thy fellow countrymen, in any of thy cities in thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not be hardhearted, nor shut thy hand from thy poor brother; but thou shalt surely open thy hand to him, and shalt lend him sufficient for his need as he wanteth. Beware lest this base thought come in thy heart, 'The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,' and thou turn a deaf ear to thy poor brother, and thou give him nothing, and he cry to Jehovah against thee, and thou be guilty of a crime. Thou shalt surely give to him, and 100 SOCIAL PRINCIPLES OF DEUTERONOMY thy heart shaU not be sad when thou givest to him, because for this Jehovah thy God will bless thee in aU thy work, and in all that thou undertakest to do. For the poor wiU never cease to be in the land; therefore I command thee, 'Thou shalt surely open thy hand to thy brother, to thy needy, and to thy poor in thy land.' The older law of Exodus 231°' " provided that on the sev enth year all the land should lie fallow and every Hebrew should be allowed to gather whatever it produced: Six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in its in crease. The seventh year thou shalt let the land rest and lie fallow, that the poor of thy people may eat; and what they leave the wild beasts shaU eat. In like manner thou shalt do with thy vineyard and thine oliveyard. Here the right of every man to share in the natural resources of the earth is boldly asserted. Not as a gift nor as the result of another's labour, but as the fruit of his own efforts the man is given an opportunity to recoup his fortunes. The detailed plan is not practicable in our modern highly developed civilisation. It is not certain that it was ever rigidly carried out in Judah. The thirty-fourth chapter of Jeremiah indicates that the law of the seventh year of release was disregarded in the days im mediately preceding the fall of Jerusalem. But the under lying principle, radical though it is, is well worthy of considera tion when ninety per cent of a nation's vast wealth is hoarded in the hands of approximately one-fortieth of its population, while millions are herded together under living conditions that are morally and physically destructive of both character and life. The same strenuous endeavour to prevent poverty and to give every man an opportunity to preserve his self-respect and to win a livelihood by his own labour underlies the law regard ing the gleanings (Dt. 24i'-22) : When thou reapest thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgotten a sheaf in thy field, thou shalt not go again to bring it; it shaU be for the resident alien, for the fatherless, and for the widow, that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands. THE PREVENTION OF POVERTY 101 When thou beatest thy olive-tree, thou shalt not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the resident alien, for the fatherless, and for the widow. When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vine yard, thou shalt not glean it after thee; it shall be for the resident alien, for the fatherless, and the widow. Thou shalt remember that thou wast a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command thee to do this thing. In their active campaign against poverty the Deuteronomic lawgivers did not stop with external measures. They sagely advised their fellow countrymen to avoid all loans which would put them under the power of foreigners (Dt. 15^"): Thou shalt lend to many nations but thou shalt not borrow. They encouraged honesty and industry and the fundamental moral virtues which are essential to the material prosperity of the individual and of the state. With superb optimism and conviction they declared that if the people proved loyal to these laws and ideals, poverty should indeed be banished from the land (Dt. 15<'0: Nevertheless there shall be no poor with thee, for Jehovah will surely bless thee in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee to possess as an inheritance, if only thou diligently hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do aU these commands which I command thee this day. Measures for the Alleviation of Poverty. The Deu teronomic lawgivers nowhere encourage indiscriminate giving. Their silence is significant. Their whole emphasis was on constructive rather than merely remedial charity. They set their ideal that "there shall be no poor with thee" in the fore front. The one measure which provided for direct giving was carefully guarded so that it could not be abused nor pauperise those whom it sought to benefit. One-thirtieth of every man's income was turned over to the local authorities of his village or city and was stored up to be used by them to supply the press ing needs of those who had no regular income (Dt. 14*8' '", 26"): 102 SOCIAL PRINCIPLES OF DEUTERONOMY At the end of every three years thou shalt bring out all the tithe of thine increase in that year and shalt deposit it within thy city. That the Levite, because he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee, and the i;esident ahen, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are in thy city, may come and eat and be satisfied, in order that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the work to which thou puttest thy hand. And thou shalt say before Jehovah thy God, 'I have put away the consecrated things out of my house, and have also given them to the Levite, and to the resident alien, to the fatherless and to the widow, just as thou hast commanded me; I have not transgressed any of thy commands, neither have I forgotten them.' The Characteristics of the Social Citizen. In the deca logue of Deuteronomy 5""^"^ and in the public liturgy of Deu teronomy 27i'-^^ every son of Israel is solemnly warned against committing the supremely unsocial crimes of murder, adultery, incest, theft, and bearing false testimony. A fine social idealism underlies the grim curses of Deuteronomy 27i8' i': Cursed be the one who maketh the bUnd wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, ' So may it be.' Cursed be the one who perverteth the justice due the resident ahen, fatherless, and widow. And aU the people shall say, ' So may it be.' The truly social citizen is not only generous but considerate of the feelings of his neighbour (Dt. 24"- ")• Moreover, he is ever on the alert to guard against anything that will en danger the life of his fellow men (Dt. 22') : When thou bufldest a new house, thou shalt make a parapet for thy roof that thou bring not blood upon thy house, in case any man should fall from it. This law sets forth clearly and concisely the principle which in its modern application has found expression in the building, sanitary, and factory legislation that is one of the most hope ful indications of progress in our present civilisation. THE SOCIAL CITIZEN 103 According to the Deuteronomic lawgivers, love is the crown ing characteristic of the social citizen. Although a later law giver (Lev. 19' 8") first formulated the command. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, the prophets who wrote Deuteronomy faithfully applied this principle. The author of Leviticus 1918" had simply in mind his fellow Israelites. The Deuteronomic lawgivers went even farther, for they laid down the noble command (Dt. 10") : Love the resident alien. They also recognised that love to man would be but a flicker ing flame if it was not inspired by a dominating love and loyalty toward God. Hence they repeatedly proclaimed that this love was the crowning characteristic of a social citizen (Dt. 6', cf. Ill): Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with aU thy might. Love meant service, and to serve God was, in the thought of these experienced prophets, to make the principles of social justice and service which they had endeavoured to formulate the guide in every thought and act (Dt. 10'^): And now Israel, what doth Jehovah thy God require of thee but to fear Jehovah thy G