The History of Antiquity Volume Iii Part 14

The rivalry of the long series of the rulers of a.s.syria in building temples and palaces, which begins with the oldest period of the realm, after the pattern of Babylonia, has preserved for us no inconsiderable remains of a.s.syrian arts, and ocular evidence of the industry and mode of life, of the character and manners of the a.s.syrians--not indeed in the breadth and unbroken succession of development in which the monuments and the inexhaustible sepulchres on the Nile have retained the picture of ancient Egypt. For monuments of plastic art, the ruins of Erech, and Ur, and of Babylon, have been investigated almost in vain.

The ruins of Nineveh and Chalah have preserved a considerable series of works of sculpture. If in the ruins of Babylon, with the exception of outlines on seals or other cylinders, there is scarcely a single image of a G.o.d preserved, there have been discovered at Nineveh some statues of G.o.ds, and innumerable pictures in relief of G.o.ds and demons, on the slabs of the palaces. The most frequent object on these is the image of the G.o.d a.s.shur. On a bearded human head, of grave aspect, the G.o.d wears a round cap or a helmet, round which are horns; the figure extends only to the knees; it is surrounded by a winged disk to which, from the knees of the G.o.d downwards, are attached the tail-feathers of a bird. In battle-pictures the breast of the G.o.d is clothed with a cuira.s.s of steel-plates; his bow is in his hand; he shoots his arrows against the enemies of his nation. On the pictures representing a victorious return, and the seal-cylinders of the kings, the bow rests in the hands of the G.o.d. Nebo, the G.o.d of the planet Mercury (I. 267), is exhibited in standing images, with long beard and bared breast; the robe descends from the breast. Of a statue of Istar, in her old temple at Nineveh, we have at the least the head.[412] The G.o.d Bin also is to be seen on cylinders; he holds the trident of his lightning in his hand, a pointed cap is on his head; his robe falls, not from the shoulders, but only from the hips down to his ancles. The moon G.o.d Sin is seen on a.s.syrian cylinders in a long robe, with a long beard, standing on a half-moon; a second half-moon rises above the tall covering of his head. In a figure swimming in water, with a round horned cap on the head, and ending in the body of a fish from the hips downwards, we may no doubt recognise Dagon. The cylinders most frequently exhibit a sun's disk by the side of the images of a.s.shur, the crescent and seven stars.[413] On the slabs of stone which exhibit to us the forms of the kings, symbolical indications of the chief deities are visible to the left of the kings; we see the sun, the moon, a horned cap, and a winged disk, perhaps the symbol of the G.o.d a.s.shur. In the reliefs winged demons are often to be seen. They wear the high round cap, out of which rise four united bull's horns: occasionally the head is uncovered, and then it is surrounded merely with the narrow fillet of the priests; the arms and thighs are always uncovered. These forms also are frequently found in pairs, guarding the entrance to rooms; at times standing or kneeling in an att.i.tude of blessing or prayer, on both sides of a wonderfully-shaped and adorned tree. In the same way two eagle-headed genii often stand opposite each other. Human figures, clothed in royal attire, with the head and wings of an eagle, are often found. Walking figures of lions with eagle heads and wings, or the back of a man on the legs of a bird surmounted by a lion's head, are found. The gates of the temples and palaces are guarded by winged bulls and lions with human heads. These are always placed in pairs. The height of these images ranges from 10 to 18 feet. At the point where the long, richly-worked wings, which are thrown far back, are joined to the shoulders, rises a grave and solemn countenance, with a strong beard, sometimes wearing a cap, sometimes a tall tiara, round which wind four bull's horns. These figures stand at times entirely detached before the entrance; in others the fore part and fore legs alone are free from the pilasters of the doors, and the figure is continued in relief on the side of the pilaster.

Plastic art in a.s.syria is less forced and typical in the lines, forms, and figures, than plastic art on the Nile: it is not fettered by the unchangeable laws of Egyptian art; it is less solemn, and free from the tiresome parallelism of the Egyptian forms. The sculpture of a.s.syria is more significant and vigorous. Not tied down by the hieratic style, like the Egyptian, it also works for the most part in the softer material of limestone, while the Egyptians prefer granite, the hardest of all materials. The a.s.syrians do not strive after the gigantic and colossal forms of Egypt: the dimensions even of the colossal bulls and lions are on a more moderate scale. Far more nave, they conceive of life more freshly, fully, and powerfully, and aim far more at a true representation of life than the Egyptian. Egypt prefers the sunk, a.s.syria the raised picture. On the Nile the outline is the chief object: in a.s.syria the forms are always modelled full, strong, and round, with energetic expression of the limbs, and muscular to an excess. The movement is more vigorous and full of expression than in Egypt, without, however, sacrificing repose and fixedness, and without destroying dignity in the representation of ceremonies. The feet of the figures exhibit the Egyptian position in profile, but the upper part of the body is full, rounded, and closely compressed. The tall and thin forms of Egypt are not to be found in the monuments of a.s.syria. The clothing is heavy; the position and expression of the face is far more varied than in Egypt. The animals are represented plump and full of life, often with startling truth even in the most rapid motion; though not unfrequently with great exaggeration in the muscles. The great guardians of the portals exhibit a beautiful effect in the contrast of their mighty animal energy, and the quiet dignity of their human faces. Great practice in the treatment of the forms can hardly be mistaken anywhere; in spite of the dimensions, often colossal, the proportions are correctly preserved; and the larger pictures of camps, battles, and marches, if not better than those of Egypt, are more various and free in composition. Within the sphere of a.s.syrian art we are in a position to establish a certain distinction, a progress of some importance. The figures in the palaces of a.s.surnasirpal and Shalmanesar II., the two great princes of the ninth century B.C., are stronger and thicker, more coa.r.s.e, violent, and exaggerated than the reliefs in the buildings of Sargon. In the century which pa.s.sed since that time the plastic art of a.s.syria obviously made technical advances, and attained a more delicate treatment and greater regularity in the exposition. Later still, at the height of its development, a.s.syrian art is seen in the figures of the great palace of Nineveh (Kuyunds.h.i.+k), which Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and a.s.surbanipal built in succession (p. 181).

The architecture of a.s.syria was not essentially different from that of Babylonia. The a.s.syrians had brought with them from the lower Euphrates the habit of building in bricks, and continued to use this style, though harder material lay at a less distance from them than from the cities of the Babylonian plain. The temples and the palaces of a.s.shur, Nineveh, and Chalah consisted for the most part of unburnt brick-slabs, dried in the sun and mixed with straw. This material made it necessary here, as in Babylonia, to make the walls stout, which was also advisable owing to the summer heat. The thickness varies between five and fifteen feet. The stone for the substructure and casing, mostly limestone and sh.e.l.l-stone, was quarried in the adjacent mountains. The buildings were roofed by beams extending from wall to wall: by this necessity the breadth of the rooms was limited. As a rule these are narrow, and the want of breadth is compensated by length. These are the dimensions of the porticoes and galleries which we can trace in the remains of the royal palaces: the great portico of the palace of king a.s.surnasirpal at Chalah (II. 313) has only a breadth of 35 feet, with a length of 154 feet; the porticoes in the palace of Kuyunds.h.i.+k are from 150 to 180 feet long, and 40 feet in width; the great gallery is only 25 feet broad, but more than 200 feet in length. Yet in the palace of king Sargon at Khorsabad, remains of the bases of pillars have been found. The application of the brick-vaulted roof in the form of pointed and round arches is shown in the narrow pa.s.sage in the building of Shalmanesar II. at Chalah (II.

323), and in some remains of door-arches at Khorsabad. The pictures of cities in relief also occasionally exhibit arched gateways. The sculptures in the stone slabs of white, grey, and yellow limestone or alabaster, which cover the walls and chambers to a height of 10 or 12 feet, were painted, as is shown by numerous traces of colour upon them.[414] The walls of the chambers above the sculptures, where they did not make way for window lights, were decked with burnt and glazed tiles, sometimes coloured and enamelled; the beams of the roofs were adorned with carved work of wood and ivory, with plates of gold and silver, and precious stones.[415] The outer walls of the palaces must also have been cased with slabs of stone.

The wealth of Nineveh is called endless by the prophet Nahum. He mentions the abundance of carved and molten images, of costly vessels in the "house of their G.o.d." The monuments exhibit not only the "carved"

images; beside many actual remains, they prove that costly furniture was in extensive use in the temples, at the court, and among the great officers of a.s.syria. The tables, stools, seats, drinking-vessels, vases, harness and bridles of horses, shown in the reliefs of the palace, are wrought with great delicacy and with good taste. The yokes of the chariots, the bows and bow-covers, exhibit very delicate carved work. On the robes of the kings we see groups of wild animals inwoven, partly real in form, as lions, partly mythical, like scenes of hunting and war.

The ear-drops, which the kings and other persons of distinction wear, the bands round the arms and wrists, are of artistic work, and generally closed by the heads of lions, rams, and bulls; the weapons also, the handles and sheaths of the swords and daggers, must have been finished with great care and neatness, and in an excellent style. The not inconsiderable number of vessels of copper and bronze, of pitchers, stained gla.s.s, ivory articles, necklaces, armrings, and eardrops, which have been preserved in the ruins, prove that the monuments represent the possession of the a.s.syrians, without exaggeration of their beauty, that a.s.syria, besides what was brought to her by trade, possessed a school of artisans long trained in the art, and excellently taught, without which such great and excellent works in architecture and sculpture would have been impossible. Of the tombs of the a.s.syrians few have been opened as yet. The coffins, like those in the Babylonian sepulchres, are narrow and small, and only contain skeletons, with bands on the arms and neck, and some simple clay vessels beside the coffins.[416]

FOOTNOTES:

[395] Ezek. xxi. 3-9.

[396] Nahum iii. 17, 18.

[397] Ezek. xxiii. 6, 12.

[398] E. Schrader, "Z. D. M. G." 25, 449 ff.; G. Smith, "a.s.syrian Canon;" Vol. II. p. 328, and above, p. 171, _note_.

[399] G. Smith, "a.s.surb." p. 252.

[400] Isaiah v. 26-29.

[401] Herod. 7, 63.

[402] Isaiah x.x.xvii. 33; cf. 2 Kings xix. 32; above, p. 127.

[403] Layard, "Nineveh," p. 378.

[404] Vol. II. p. 4.

[405] Nahum ii. 9; iii. 16.

[406] G. Rawlinson, "Monarchies," 1^2, p. 254 ff.

[407] Lyell, 'Elements of Geology,' ed. 3. p. 368.

[408] Xenoph. "Anab." 3, 4, 7-9.

[409] Layard, "Nineveh and its Remains," 2, 44.

[410] The so-called Archive of a.s.surbanipal in chambers 40 and 41 on Layard's plan.

[411] Lenormant, "Etudes Accadiennes," 1, 3, p. 67 ff.; E. Schrader, "Jen. Lit. Z." 4th April, 1874.

[412] G. Smith, "Disc." p. 248.

[413] G. Rawlinson, "Monarchies," 2^2, 16, 17; Layard, "Mon." Pl. 69 _note_, 45, 47, 48.

[414] Ezekiel also supports this, xxiii. 14, 15.

[415] Layard, _loc. cit._ p. 327, 328.

[416] Layard, _loc. cit._ p. 304.

CHAPTER X.

JUDAH UNDER MANa.s.sES AND JOSIAH.

Other cares and other efforts than the maintenance of a wide dominion, the erection of splendid palaces, the restoration of impressive works of art, the preparation of magnificent furniture, occupied a small region which obeyed the lords of that military power, and those palaces,--the kings of a.s.shur. The kingdom of Israel, though not annihilated by the arms of a.s.syria, was thoroughly broken by them. Twenty years after, Judah escaped the same disaster, but not without the severest wounds. It was laid waste at that time throughout its whole extent; the cities were taken or garrisoned; 200,000 of the inhabitants were carried away. Only the metropolis was maintained and saved. Afterwards, in the last years of Hezekiah, and under the reign of his son Mana.s.ses (he ascended the throne in 697 B.C.), the land remained unmolested by the a.s.syrians for more than 20 years, till Esarhaddon undertook to subjugate Syria again to the dominion of a.s.syria, which his father had given up after raising the siege of Jerusalem. Some years after this Mana.s.ses joined the attempt of Tyre to resist the king of a.s.shur with the help of Tirhaka (p. 154). We do not know what Judah had to suffer for this attempt of the king: we only learn from the Hebrews that Mana.s.ses was carried away captive, but at a later time restored to his kingdom. In any case Judah beheld for the s.p.a.ce of 20 years the armies of a.s.syria on their march to and from the Nile (673-653 B.C.).[417]

In the first centuries after the settlement of the Hebrews in Canaan, the rites of the Syrians had in isolated instances forced their way in beside the wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah. Under Saul, David, and Solomon the wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah was established and organised, and took firm root.

The earliest prophets, after the division of the kingdom, opposed the introduction of the wors.h.i.+p of Baal in Israel with the fiercest zeal. In the time of Jeroboam II. and Uzziah, the renewed advances of these rites had been successfully met by the great prophets with the deepened and purified conception of the national deity. And now these hostile tendencies once more met in the severest conflict. The Hebrew Scriptures tell us that Mana.s.ses did not follow the example of his pious father; that he turned back after the way of his grandfather Ahaz; that he restored the wors.h.i.+p of Baal, dedicated a place for fire-offerings in the valley of Ben Hinnom, and burnt his son to Moloch. On the roof of the royal palace and in the court of the temple altars were set up, and priests established, "who burnt incense to the sun, the moon, the zodiac, and all the host of heaven;" courtesans and women who wove tents dwelt in the buildings of the temple, and the king even set up the statue of Astarte (Istar) in the temple itself. In vain did the priests set themselves in opposition to this movement; in vain did the prophets announce: "The line and the plummet of destruction will be drawn over Jerusalem as over Samaria." Mana.s.ses caused those who opposed his arrangements and innovations to be put to death; he is said to have filled Jerusalem from one end to the other with innocent blood. "Like a destroying lion," says Jeremiah, "the sword devoured your prophets."[418] The death of Mana.s.ses and the accession of his son Amon brought no improvement. "He did that which was evil, and walked in the way of his father, and served the idols which his father served."

The more energetically the prophets condemned the religion of the Syrians, the more strongly they contended against all customs and sacrifices, against sensuality, luxury, and debauchery, so much the more closely did the elements thus attacked and almost overcome combine together; the more stubbornly did the opposite party cling to the rites of the neighbours, the more eagerly did they collect all the Syrian deities in and round Jerusalem. The highest and the lowest religious conceptions,--the wors.h.i.+p of the one holy G.o.d in heaven, and the rites of sensuality and mutilation--strove once more with each other with all their force; in the one case with the deepest certainty and conviction, in the other with the fierce impulse of the pa.s.sions, and the support of the crown. The last ten years of the long reign of Mana.s.ses seem to have brought the severest persecution upon the priests and prophets of Jehovah which they ever experienced. And when Amon, after two years, was slain in the king's house by a conspiracy of his servants (640 B.C.), and the people of the land slew all who had conspired against Amon, and raised his son Josiah, a boy of eight years old, to the throne, it was natural to the circle of the priests and prophets to guard against the recurrence of such oppression of their faith and lives as had taken place under Mana.s.ses and Amon. This was only possible if the religion which they professed, and for which they suffered, finally obtained a decisive victory, and became the exclusive religion of Judah. If the persecution ceased in the minority of the king, the Syrian rites continued to exist; and if the young king, when he came of age, should join _that_ side, the times of Mana.s.ses would recur. Neither the organisation of the priesthood of the temple, nor their religious influence, was sufficient to retain the kings in the faith of Jehovah, and prevent them from reformations and persecutions in the interest of the Syrian rites. What the influence and authority of the priests failed to accomplish, the mighty religious utterance of the prophets in the fulness of their faith was also unable to avert.

The tendencies of the priests and prophets were already regarded as in a process of a.s.similation. The views of the prophets were not without influence on the habits and usages of the priests. The prophetic word had already begun to penetrate the old narrow views of the tribal G.o.d of Israel, holding a place beside other G.o.ds, the rigid rule of external service, the traditions of the priesthood, with its powerful mysticism, inwardness, and deeper idea of G.o.d; while, on the other hand, the prophets could borrow from the priests clear and established forms, and thereby felt themselves impelled to fix the relation of inspired religion to the rites of wors.h.i.+p. The persecutions of Mana.s.ses had brought these two directions in which the religious life of Judah had developed more closely together than at any previous time. In this union men felt themselves stronger than before. If the crown could be attached to the wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah, if the lasting support of royal authority could be secured for it, if the wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah could be elevated to the position of a legally established state-religion,--if by this means it became possible to apply the penalties of the law and religious influence with equal force in favour of the national religion, the hope might be entertained that the religion could be strictly enforced, that the utterances of priests and prophets, naturally supporting each other, and expressed in a popular form, would secure a lasting victory--that the wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah could be greatly strengthened, the Syrian rites for ever excluded, the position of the priesthood secured, and future dangers turned aside from it.

The chief aim was to fill the hearts of the king and the people with more lively faith; to attach the king and nation more closely to the wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah, and, if possible, to pledge them definitely to support it; to gain the power of the state and the force of the law for the maintenance of this wors.h.i.+p. The ancient writings of the priests contained, as we saw, in addition to the account of the fortunes of the people in ancient times, the ritual, the rubrics for the priests, the rules of purification, the most ancient legal sentences and canons of blood-vengeance and family law, together with all the usages of justice.

The contents of these writings formed a code for the priests rather than the laity; this fact, and the connection in which these regulations stood with the historical narrative, as well as the extent of the whole, made these books ill-adapted for presenting to the king and the nation a synopsis of the most essential duties, and for impressing these duties upon them. The detailed rules for the priests must be removed; a law-book for the laity was required. For this purpose the regulations scattered through the old books were collected and arranged into a compendium of the requirements which every Israelite had to fulfil. The new conceptions of the prophets must be a.s.similated to the old regulations, and these brought into harmony with the deeper views of the prophets. Something was also deducted from any excessive and very ideal demands, in order to give a more certain currency to more moderate rules. Only of such a law could the hope be entertained that it would find adoption and win hearts, and be recognised by ruler and people as the fixed canon, the princ.i.p.al law of the land, and that it could be strictly enforced.

Josiah was of age when his kingdom was visited by a heavy calamity.

Savage tribes from the north suddenly over-flowed Syria and Judah, laid waste the land far and wide, rolled on to Egypt, and then flowed backwards to their homes. If Jerusalem resisted, and perhaps the stronger cities also, the land was nevertheless cruelly devastated (625 B.C.). Judah was again brought to the brink of destruction, as in the days of Hezekiah, and again Jehovah had not made "a full end;" again he had saved his people. The king caused improvements to be made in the temple; for this purpose the doorkeepers collected money among the sacrificers. When Josiah sent his scribe Zaphan to the high priest Hilkiah to receive the collected money; the high priest said, that "he had found the book of the law in the house of Jehovah," and gave the scribe a roll. He brought the book to the king, and read it before him.

Josiah was deeply moved by the contents, and the threats denounced in it against those who transgressed the law of Jehovah. He directed the high priest, Zaphan, and some others to "enquire of Jehovah about the words of the book that had been discovered." They went to Huldah, a prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the chamberlain. The prophetess declared the words of the volume to be Jehovah's words. Then the "king (it was in the year 622 B.C.) a.s.sembled the elders of Judah and all the people in the house of Jehovah, and read in their ears all the words of the book, which was found in the house of Jehovah."[419]

According to this book--the second law--Moses, after the giving of the law on Sinai, had once more, in the land of Moab, on the borders of Canaan, shortly before his death, proclaimed the law of Jehovah, and renewed the covenant of Jehovah with Israel. The introduction to the book is a speech of Moses, which, after the manner of the prophets, is directly addressed to the Israelites, and gathers together the kindnesses which Jehovah had shown to his people in Egypt, and after the exodus from that land. The lofty style of this description, compared with the composition of the older law, is evidence of the effect subsequently exercised by the prophetic mode of conception and expression. But not the form only, the contents also of the new law are determined in essential points by the idea of G.o.d developed in the circles of the prophets (p. 26). Jehovah, who has created earth and heaven,[420] whose is "the heaven and the heaven of all heavens," "the G.o.d of G.o.ds and Lord of lords,"[421] who alone is true being, while all besides is transitory appearance, who guides nature and men according to his word and will, "who does justice to the widow and the orphan, and regards the person of no man,"[422] remains in the new law, as in the old, a jealous G.o.d, "who dips his arrows in the blood of his enemies;"

but in this law he is also, as the prophets taught, a merciful G.o.d who has no pleasure in the punishment of evil-doers, but in their amendment; who, it is true, "visits the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation, but also has mercy on thousands who love him."[423] This G.o.d may not be wors.h.i.+pped under an image; for, as the book of the law expresses itself in an argument drawn from history: "Ye saw no manner of similitude on the day when the Lord spoke to you from h.o.r.eb, out of the midst of the fire."[424]

If the prophets raised their eyes beyond and above the relation of this one Lord of heaven and earth to the people of Israel to the conception of a divine government of the world; if Isaiah had spoken of the plan according to which Jehovah had arranged the fortunes of the nations and lands since the beginning of days; the law is naturally confined to the relation of Jehovah to Israel. But this relation is conceived chiefly in the feeling of the prophets. We saw how the prophets had been led by the conception of the peculiar fortunes experienced by the Israelites to reconstruct the relation of the tribal G.o.d in such a manner that the one Almighty Lord of heaven was regarded as having chosen Israel as his people: a relation which is brought forward by the prophets in the most various applications. Owing to this peculiar relation Jehovah gave Canaan to the Israelites; for this reason he chose Sion for his mountain, Jerusalem for his dwelling-place, and the temple for his house; for this reason Jehovah was, to the prophets, the real king of Israel. Like the old, the new book of the law regards the relation of Jehovah to the Israelites as a covenant, a treaty between two parties, each of whom can stand on his rights; Jehovah on his wors.h.i.+p; Israel on the services rendered in return by Jehovah, on the land granted to him for the service of Jehovah, on the enjoyment of his fields and vineyards, on peace and security against enemies, on the increase of his race and prosperity. Jehovah is the master, and Israel the servant; the servant must serve, but the master cannot keep back the wages. Jehovah has announced his commands to Israel; the Israelites have pledged themselves to fulfil them, and so long as they perform their obligation, Jehovah will not shorten the reward of their service. If on the ground of such a covenant the prophets regard all the evil which overtakes Israel as a consequence of the breach of it; if the "strife" between Jehovah and Israel concerning the observation and non-observation of the contract is a current idea with them, with which is connected the announcement of a day of judgment, and of the severe punishment which Jehovah will execute on those who transgress the covenant (p. 28); the book of the law is here marked by something of the priestly character, inasmuch as it concludes with the blessing which will attend the maintenance of the covenant, and the curse which will follow upon the breach of it: to which Moses adds; "he knows that the Israelites will do evil after his death."[425] In the first case "the fruit of the womb will be blessed in Israel," "the fruit of the fields, the increase of the kine, and the lambs of the sheep, the basket, and the kneading trough," and "Israel will lend to many nations and borrow of none;"[426]

in the second case Jehovah will visit them "with the scab, with boils of Egypt on the knees and thighs, from the top of the head to the sole of the foot; with fever, pestilence, consumption, inflammation; with blindness, madness, and astonishment of heart;" "the heaven above them will be of bra.s.s, and the earth under them of iron; they will be to all the kingdoms of the earth for oppression, and their carcases will be the food of the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field; they will live scattered among all nations from one end of the earth to the other; they will become an astonishment, a by-word, and a derision to the nations."[427]

If the prophets announced the day of judgment and the destruction of the unfaithful, they seldom forgot to describe, in the most glowing colours, Israel's restoration; they remained in the firm conviction that Jehovah's mercy would be as great as his anger: that Jehovah, through the remnant of the faithful and the regenerate Israel, would turn all nations to his service; that again in the future "a shoot would spring from the stock of Jesse;" that the race of David would reign with a renewed divine power (p. 28, 133). These great ideas of the restoration of the renewed and purified Israel, these hopes of the Saviour and restorer from the house of David, are wanting in the Book of the Law. It is simply pointed out, in regard to the kingdom of Israel, "that if Israel returns, Jehovah will lead back the captives, and gather Israel again, and circ.u.mcise his heart."[428]

If it is a subordinate point of view that the Israelites ought to serve Jehovah in order that it may be well with them, this conception nevertheless follows necessarily from the position of the tribal G.o.d to the tribe recommended to his protection--and to any unfettered mind the a.s.sumption is natural that reward should attend good actions; that the good must prosper and the evil suffer on the earth. The centre of this cla.s.s of conceptions among the Israelites is not so much to serve for the sake of the hire, as that the wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah would have this reward as its immediate consequence. But if at the same time the recompense for service was brought more strongly into prominence among the Jews than among any other nation, if in no other people this legal state of the relation between G.o.d and man is established so much in the form of a compact, the prophets had already given an inward and moral meaning to the simple relation of contract between Jehovah and Israel.

They looked on it as a marriage (p. 40), and consequently they did not merely reprove the breach of the contract as an outrage on right, but branded it as faithlessness. The Book of the Law also does not remain at the point of the mere contract. The Book asks: "Whether such a mighty thing was ever done or heard of on the earth, as that a G.o.d had attempted to take a people to himself out of the midst of the nations by signs, and wonders, and war, and a strong hand and an outstretched arm, by great and wonderful deeds."[429] But we are further told, "Jehovah has not inclined to you, and chosen you, because ye were more than all nations--ye were the least of the nations--but because Jehovah loved you."[430] "It is the grace of Jehovah that he has inclined to the fathers of Israel, and to them only, to lead them."[431] If the relation of the protecting lord to his people thus pa.s.ses into a relation of free choice and love, the Book of the Law, on the other hand, requires from the Israelites something more than an external wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah by gifts and sacrifices. "The command which I give thee is not hidden from thee, nor is it far off, that thou shouldst say, Who will go up to heaven and bring it down, or who will go over the sea and announce it to us? The word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart."[432] "Circ.u.mcise the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stiff-necked."[433] "Ye will find Jehovah if ye seek him with all your heart, and all your soul."[434] "What does Jehovah require of thee? That thou shouldst love him with all thy strength, and walk in his ways."[435] "Love Jehovah, thy G.o.d, with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments alway."[436]

If the new law seeks to give a value to inwardness, to lifting up the heart, and love to G.o.d; if it recognises the moral nature of Jehovah in the heart of man, and in this point is fully in harmony with the requirements of the prophets; yet at the same time, in accordance with the view of the priests, the whole sacrificial service was retained, with the regulations for purification. Even if the priests had been able to adopt the point of view of the prophets--the conception of purely inward elevation, and service with the heart--how could this have been brought into force, and established among the people, or with the kings, who found it no easy task to keep up the ritual of the service of Jehovah beside the sensual Syrian rites? The ritual for the priests, the regulations for their rights and duties, were in existence; the new law was not intended to instruct the priests, it was essentially a rule of life for the laity. Hence in this respect the new law had only to work its way as a supplement, to impress more definitely on the people unity of the wors.h.i.+p, and its concentration in the temple at Jerusalem. Thus it was decisively commanded that the Pa.s.sover also should be kept by all Israelites in Jerusalem (II. 210). In order finally to put an end to the ancient custom of wors.h.i.+pping Jehovah "in the high places," the rule was enforced that all sacrifices should be offered in the temple at Jerusalem: every other place of sacrifice was expressly forbidden, and every sacrifice which was not presented by the priests of the temple. On the other hand, in other departments, the new law exhibits greater moderation. At the festival of the new bread it was enough if every one offered freewill-offerings according to the measure in which "Jehovah has blessed him;" but the Israelite was not to appear before Jehovah with utterly empty hands.[437] The new. law moderated the demands for giving the t.i.the to the Levites. The t.i.the of the harvest was still to be offered according to ancient custom as a thank-offering for Jehovah in the temple; but it was permitted to redeem the t.i.the in kind and exchange it for money: finally, the law declared itself content if the t.i.the were duly paid at least in each third year.[438] The t.i.the of cattle was entirely dropped in the Book of the Law; only the claim of the priests to the male first-born of animals was retained: "With such oxen ye shall not plough: such sheep shall not be shorn; they shall be eaten before Jehovah year by year."[439] The new law provided a compensation for the diminution of the t.i.the, by allowing the Levites, like the priests, to have a share in the sacrifices, if they did service in the temple, and by the rule that the Israelites should invite the Levites to the sacrificial feasts at the thank-offerings and festivals.[440] Other requirements of the old law--that a part of the spoils of war should be given to the priests--that in enumerations and levies of the people every one should pay a poll-tax to the temple, were not repeated in the new law.

The most essential point was to put an end to the Canaanitish rites in Israel, and prevent their entrance for the future. The new law therefore had to retain in all its sharpness the opposition to the Canaanites: in the conquered cities at least all that was male was to be "cursed" with the edge of the sword.[441] And not less must the strict regulations of the ancient law be kept up about the exclusiveness of Israel towards all other nations, the prohibition of marriages with them (a rule only relaxed in the case of women captured in war),[442] and against receiving strangers as citizens and partners of the community. Even the closely-related tribes of the Ammonites and Moabites were not to be received, though families of these tribes in the tenth generation were living in Israel. The only exception allowed by the Book of the Law was in favour of the Edomites, the most closely-related tribe (I. 415).

"From the Edomite thou shalt not turn away; he is thy brother?" Edomites were to be received in the third generation. The new law goes further than the old in threatening the wors.h.i.+p of every other G.o.d than Jehovah with the punishment of death, in demanding that every one who served another G.o.d should be brought out to death. Least of all were the next of kin to spare the apostate: they were rather to take the foremost place in the persecution. He who served other G.o.ds was brought before the gate, on the evidence of two or three witnesses, and stoned, the witnesses throwing the first stone at him: but the Book of the Law says expressly that the evidence of one witness was not enough.[443] In the same way false prophets, who incited to the wors.h.i.+p of other G.o.ds, even if they did signs and wonders, were put to death.[444] "If thy brother,"

the Book continues, "or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thy own soul, entice thee to serve other G.o.ds, thou shalt not spare him; thy hand shall be the first upon him to stone him to death."[445] If a city practises idolatry, the inhabitants and every live thing in the city, even the cattle, are to be "cursed" and put to the edge of the sword; all furniture and property is to be brought into the market-place and burnt as a burnt-offering for Jehovah. Then the houses are to be destroyed with fire and never rebuilt.[446]

The Book of the Law sought to avoid the greatest danger of all, by the provision that the people should not choose any stranger to be king. How could a stranger be king in Israel when no strangers were to be admitted into the people? The king of the people which Jehovah chose must belong to the chosen race. But the new law also adds, that the people are "to make him king whom Jehovah shall choose," a regulation which, in so far as it recognises and sanctions the old right of election, must be intended to guard against the influence of the priests on the possession of the throne, and their decision. For the king himself the Book lays down the rule: not to multiply horses and wives to himself, that his heart turn not away, as had been the case with Solomon and Ahab, and not to greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. He is also to make a copy of the law when he sits upon the throne of his kingdom, that it may be with him, and "he may read therein all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear Jehovah, and observe all the words of the law, and that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren."[447]