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by Archibald Sayce

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Title: Early Israel and the Surrounding Nations

Author: Archibald Sayce

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EARLY ISRAEL AND THE SURROUNDING NATIONS

BY THE REV. A.H. SAYCE PROFESSOR OF ASSYRIOLOGY AT OXFORD

AUTHOR OF "THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE HEBREWS," &c

London
SERVICE & PATON
5 HENRIETTA STREET
COVENT=20 GARDEN
1899

INTRODUCTION

One of the first facts which strike the traveller in Palestine is the = smallness of a country which has nevertheless occupied so large a space = in the=20 history of civilised mankind. It is scarcely larger than an English = county, and=20 a considerable portion of it is occupied by rocky mountains and barren = defiles=20 where cultivation is impossible. Its population could never have been = great, and=20 though cities and villages were crowded together on the plains and in = the=20 valleys, and perched at times on almost inaccessible crags, the = difficulty of=20 finding sustenance for their inhabitants prevented them from rivalling = in size=20 the European or American towns of to-day. Like the country in which they = dwelt,=20 the people of Palestine were necessarily but a small population when = compared=20 with the nations of our modern age.

And yet it was just this scanty population which has left so deep an = impress=20 on the thoughts and religion of mankind, and the narrow strip of = territory they=20 inhabited which formed the battle-ground of the ancient empires of the = world.=20 Israel was few in numbers, and [pg vi] the Canaan it conquered was limited in = extent;=20 but they became as it were the centre round which the forces of = civilisation=20 revolved, and towards which they all pointed. Palestine, in fact, was = for the=20 eastern world what Athens was for the western world; Athens and Attica = were=20 alike insignificant in area and the Athenians were but a handful of men, = but we=20 derive from them the principles of our art and philosophic speculation = just as=20 we derive from Israel and Canaan the principles of our religion. = Palestine has=20 been the mother-land of the religion of civilised man.

The geographical position of Palestine had much to do with this = result. It=20 was the outpost of western Asia on the side of the Mediterranean, as = England is=20 the outpost of Europe on the side of the Atlantic; and just as the = Atlantic is=20 the highroad of commerce and trade for us of to-day, so the = Mediterranean was=20 the seat of maritime enterprise and the source of maritime wealth for = the=20 generations of the past. Palestine, moreover, was the meeting-place of = Asia and=20 Africa. Not only was the way open for its merchants by sea to the = harbours and=20 products of Europe, but the desert which formed its southern boundary = sloped=20 away to the frontiers of Egypt, while to the north and east it was in = touch with=20 the great kingdoms of western Asia, with Babylonia and Assyria, = Mesopotamia and=20 the Hittites of the north. In days of which we are just beginning to = have a=20 glimpse it had been a province [pg vii] of the Babylonian empire, and when = Egypt threw=20 off the yoke of its Asiatic conquerors and prepared to win an empire for = itself,=20 Canaan was the earliest of its spoils. In a later age Assyrians, = Babylonians,=20 and Egyptians again contended for the mastery on the plains of = Palestine; the=20 possession of Jerusalem allowed the Assyrian king to march unopposed = into Egypt,=20 and the battle of Megiddo placed all Asia west of the Euphrates at the = feet of=20 the Egyptian Pharaoh.

Palestine is thus a centre of ancient Oriental history. Its = occupation by=20 Babylonians or Egyptians marks the shifting of the balance of power = between Asia=20 and Africa. The fortunes of the great empires of the eastern world are = to a=20 large extent reflected in its history. The rise of the one meant the = loss of=20 Palestine to the other.

The people, too, were fitted by nature and circumstances for the part = they=20 were destined to play. They were Semites with the inborn religious = spirit which=20 is characteristic of the Semite, and they were also a mixed race. The = highlands=20 of Canaan had been peopled by the Amorites, a tall fair race, akin = probably to=20 the Berbers of northern Africa and the Kelts of our own islands; the = lowlands=20 were in the hands of the Canaanites, a people of Semitic blood and = speech, who=20 devoted themselves to the pursuit of trade. Here and there were = settlements of=20 other tribes or races, notably the Hittites, who had descended from the=20 mountain-ranges [pg=20 viii] of the Taurus and spread over northern Syria. Upon all = these varied=20 elements the Israelites flung themselves, at first in hostile invasion,=20 afterwards in friendly admixture. The Israelitish conquest of Palestine = was a=20 slow process, and it was only in its earlier stages that it was = accompanied by=20 the storming of cities and the massacre of their inhabitants. As time = went on=20 the invaders intermingled with the older population of the land, and the = heads=20 of the captives which surmount the names of the places captured by the = Egyptian=20 Pharaoh Shishak in the kingdom of Judah all show the Amorite and not the = Jewish=20 type of countenance. The main bulk of the population, in fact, must have = continued unchanged by the Israelitish conquest, and conquerors and = conquered=20 intermarried together. The genealogies given by the Hebrew writers prove = how=20 extensive this intermingling of racial elements must have been; even = David=20 counted a Moabitess among his ancestors, and surrounded himself with = guards of=20 foreign nationality. Solomon's successor, the first king of Judah, was = the son=20 of an Ammonite mother, and we have only to read a few pages of the Book = of=20 Judges to learn how soon after the invasion of Canaan the Israelites = adopted the=20 gods and religious practices of the older population, and paid homage to = the old=20 Canaanite shrines.

A mixed race is always superior to one of purer descent. It possesses = more=20 enterprise and energy, [pg=20 ix] more originality of thought and purpose. The virtues and = failings of=20 the different elements it embodies are alike intensified in it. We shall = probably not go far wrong if we ascribe to this mixed character of the=20 Israelitish people the originality which marks their history and finds = its=20 expression in the rise of prophecy. They were a race, moreover, which = was=20 moulded in different directions by the nature of the country in which it = lived.=20 Palestine was partly mountainous; the great block of limestone known as = the=20 mountains of Ephraim formed its backbone, and was that part of it which = was=20 first occupied by the invading Israelites. But besides mountains there = were=20 fertile plains and valleys, while on the sea-coast there were harbours, = ill=20 adapted, it is true, to the requirements of modern ships, but sufficient = for the=20 needs of ancient navigation. The Israelites were thus trained on the one = hand to=20 the habits of hardy warriors, living a life of independence and = individual=20 freedom in the fastnesses of the hills, and on the other hand were = tempted to=20 become agriculturists and shepherds wherever their lot was cast in the = lowlands.=20 The sea-coast was left to the older population, and to the Philistines, = who had=20 settled upon it about the time of the Hebrew exodus from Egypt; but the=20 Philistines eventually became the subject-vassals of the Jewish kings, = and=20 friendly intercourse with the Phoenicians towards the north not only = brought=20 about the rise of a mixed people, partly [pg x] Canaanite and partly Israelitish, but = also=20 introduced among the Israelites the Phoenician love of trade.

Alike, therefore, by its geographical position, by the = characteristics of its=20 population, and by the part it played in the history of the civilised = East,=20 Palestine was so closely connected with the countries and nations which=20 surrounded it that its history cannot be properly understood apart from = theirs.=20 Isolated and alone, its history is in large measure unintelligible or = open to=20 misconception. The keenest criticism is powerless to discover the = principles=20 which underlie it, to detect the motives of the policy it describes, or = to=20 estimate the credibility of the narratives in which it is contained, = unless it=20 is assisted by testimony from without. It is like a dark jungle where = the=20 discovery of a path is impossible until the sun penetrates through the = foliage=20 and the daylight streams in through the branches of the trees.

Less than a century ago it seemed useless even to hope that such = external=20 testimony would ever be forthcoming. There were a few scraps of = information to=20 be gleaned from the classical authors of Greece and Rome, which had been = so=20 sifted and tortured as to yield almost any sense that was required; but = even=20 these scraps were self-contradictory, and, as we now know, were for the = most=20 part little else than fables. It was impossible to distinguish between = the true=20 and the false; to determine whether the Chald=E6an fragments [pg xi] of = Berossos were to be=20 preferred to the second and third hand accounts of Herodotus, or whether = the=20 Egyptian chronology of Manetho was to be accepted in all its startling=20 magnitude. And when all was said and done, there was little that threw = light on=20 the Old Testament story, much less that supplemented it.

But the latter part of the nineteenth century has witnessed = discoveries which=20 have revolutionised our conceptions of ancient Oriental history, and = illuminated=20 the pages of the Biblical narrative. While scholars and critics were = disputing=20 over a few doubtful texts, the libraries of the old civilised world of = the East=20 were lying underground, waiting to be disinterred by the excavator and=20 interpreted by the decipherer. Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia have = yielded up=20 their dead; Arabia, Syria, and Asia Minor are preparing to do the same. = The=20 tombs and temples of Egypt, and the papyri which have been preserved in = the=20 sandy soil of a land where frost and rain are hardly known, have made = the old=20 world of the Egyptians live again before our eyes, while the clay books = of=20 Babylonia and Assyria are giving us a knowledge of the people who wrote = and read=20 them fully equal to that which we have of Greece or Rome. And yet we are = but at=20 the beginning of discoveries. What has been found is but an earnest of = the=20 harvest that is yet in store. It is but two years since that the French=20 excavator, de Sarzec, discovered a library of 30,000 tablets at Tello in = southern Chald=E6a, [pg=20 xii] which had already been formed when Gudea ruled over the city = in B.C.=20 2700, and was arranged in shelves one above the other. At Niffer, in the = north=20 of Babylonia, the American excavators have found an even larger number = of=20 tablets, some of which go back to the age of Sargon of Akkad, or 6000 = years ago,=20 while fresh tablets come pouring into the museums of Europe and America = from=20 other libraries found by the Arabs at Bersippa and Babylon, at Sippara = and=20 Larsa. The Babylonia of the age of Amraphel, the contemporary of = Abraham, has,=20 thanks to the recent finds, become as well known to us as the Athens of=20 Perikl=EAs; the daily life of the people can be traced in all its = outlines, and we=20 even possess the autograph letters written by Amraphel himself. The = culture and=20 civilisation of Babylonia were already immensely old. The contracts for = the=20 lease and sale of houses or other estate, the documents relating to the = property=20 of women, the reports of the law cases that were tried before the = official=20 judges, all set before us a state of society which changed but little = down to=20 the Persian era. Behind it lie centuries of slow development and = progress in the=20 arts of life. The age of Amraphel, indeed, is in certain respects an age = of=20 decline. The heyday of Babylonian art lay nearly two thousand years = before it,=20 in the epoch of Sargon and his son Naram-Sin. It was then that the = Babylonian=20 empire was established throughout western Asia as far as the = Mediterranean, that=20 a postal [pg = xiii]=20 service was organised along the highroads which led from one city of the = empire=20 to another, and that Babylonian art reached its climax. It was then, = too, that=20 the Babylonian system of writing practically took its final form.

The civilisation of western Asia is, as has been said, immensely old. = That is=20 the net result of modern discovery and research. As far back as = excavation can=20 carry us there is still culture and art. We look in vain for the = beginnings of=20 civilised life. Even the pictures out of which the written systems of = the=20 ancient East were developed belong to a past of which we have but = glimpses. Of=20 savagery or barbarism on the banks of the lower Euphrates there is not a = trace.=20 So far as our materials enable us to judge, civilised man existed from = the=20 beginning in "the land of Shinar." The great temples of Babylonia were = already=20 erected, the overflow of the rivers controlled, and written characters = imprinted=20 on tablets of clay. Civilisation seems to spring up suddenly out of a = night of=20 darkness, like Athena from the head of Zeus.

This is one of the chief lessons that have been taught us by Oriental = archaeology. Culture and civilisation are no new thing, at all events in = the=20 East; long before the days of classical Greece, long before the days = even of=20 Abraham, man was living in ease and comfort, surrounded by objects of = art and=20 industry, acquainted with the art of writing, and carrying [pg xiv] on = intercourse with=20 distant lands. We must rid ourselves once for all of the starveling = ideas of=20 chronology which a classical training once encouraged, and of the belief = that=20 history, in the true sense of the word, hardly goes back beyond the age = of=20 Darius or Perikl=EAs. The civilisations of Babylonia and Egypt were = already=20 decrepid when the ancestors of Perikl=EAs were still barbarians.

Another lesson is the danger of forming conclusions from imperfect = evidence.=20 Apart from the earlier records of the Old Testament, there was no = literature=20 which claimed a greater antiquity than the Homeric Poems of ancient = Greece; no=20 history of older date than that of Hellas, unless indeed the annals of = China=20 were to be included, which lay altogether outside the stream of European = history. Criticism, accordingly, deemed itself competent to decide = dogmatically=20 on the character and credibility of the literature and history of which = it was=20 in possession; to measure the statements of the Old Testament writings = by the=20 rules of Greek and Latin literature, and to argue from the history of = Europe to=20 that of the East. Uncontrolled by external testimony, critical = scepticism played=20 havoc with the historical narratives that had descended to it, and = starting from=20 the assumption that the world of antiquity was illiterate, refused to = credit=20 such records of the past as dwarfed the proportions of Greek history, or = could=20 not be harmonised with the [pg=20 xv] canons of the critic himself. It was quite sufficient for a = fact to=20 go back to the second millennium B.C. for it to be peremptorily ruled = out of=20 court.

The discoveries of Oriental archaeology have come with a rude shock = to=20 disturb both the conclusions of this imperfectly-equipped criticism and = the=20 principles on which they rest. Discovery has followed discovery, each = more=20 marvellous than the last, and re-establishing the truth of some = historical=20 narrative in which we had been called upon to disbelieve. Dr. Schliemann = and the=20 excavators who have come after him have revealed to an incredulous world = that=20 Troy of Priam which had been relegated to cloudland, and have proved = that the=20 traditions of Myken=E6an glory, of Agamemnon and Menelaos, and even of = voyages to=20 the coast of Egypt, were not fables but veritable facts. Even more = striking have=20 been the discoveries which have restored credit to the narratives of the = Old=20 Testament, and shown that they rest on contemporaneous evidence. It was = not so=20 long ago that the account of the campaign of Chedor-laomer and his = allies in=20 Canaan was unhesitatingly rejected as a mere reflection into the past of = the=20 campaigns of later Assyrian kings. Even the names of the Canaanite = princes who=20 opposed him were resolved into etymological puns. But the tablets of = Babylonia=20 have come to their rescue. We now know that long before the days of = Abraham not=20 only did Babylonian armies [pg xvi] march to the shores of the = Mediterranean, but=20 that Canaan was a Babylonian province, and that Amraphel, the ally of=20 Chedor-laomer, actually entitles himself king of it in one of his = inscriptions.=20 We now know also that the political condition of Babylonia described in = the=20 narrative is scrupulously exact. Babylonia was for a time under the = domination=20 of the Elamites, and while Amraphel or Khammurabi was allowed to rule at = Babylon=20 as a vassal-prince, an Elamite of the name of Eri-Aku or Arioch governed = Larsa=20 in the south. Nay more; tablets have recently been found which show that = the=20 name of the Elamite monarch was Kudur-Laghghamar, and that among his = vassal=20 allies was Tudkhula or Tidal, who seems to have been king of the Manda, = or=20 "nations" of Kurdistan. Khammurabi, whose name is also written Ammurapi, = has=20 left us autograph letters, in one of which he refers to his defeat of=20 Kudur-Laghghamar in the decisive battle which at last delivered = Babylonia from=20 the Elamite yoke.

The story of Chedor-laomer's campaign preserved in Genesis has thus = found=20 complete verification. The political situation presupposed in = it=97however=20 unlikely it seemed to the historian but a few years ago=97has turned out = to be in=20 strict harmony with fact; the names of the chief actors in it have come = down to=20 us with scarcely any alteration, and a fragment of old-world history, = which=20 could not be fitted [pg=20 xvii] into the scheme of the modern historian, has proved to be = part of a=20 larger story which the clay books of Babylonia are gradually unfolding = before=20 our eyes. It is no longer safe to reject a narrative as "unhistorical" = simply on=20 the ground of the imperfection of our own knowledge.

Or let us take another instance from the later days of Assyrian = history, the=20 period which immediately precedes the first intercourse between Greece = and the=20 East. We are told in the Books of the Chronicles that Manasseh of Judah = rebelled=20 against his Assyrian master and was in consequence carried in chains to = Babylon,=20 where he was pardoned and restored to his ancestral throne. The story = seemed at=20 first sight of doubtful authenticity. It is not even alluded to in the = Books of=20 the Kings; Nineveh and not Babylon was the capital of the Assyrian = empire, and=20 the Assyrian monarchs were not in the habit of forgiving their revolted = vassals,=20 much less of sending them back to their own kingdoms. And yet the = cuneiform=20 inscriptions have smoothed away all these objections. Esar-haddon = mentions=20 Manasseh among the subject princes of the West, and it was just = Esar-haddon who=20 rebuilt Babylon after its destruction by his father, and made it his = residence=20 during a part of the year. Moreover, other instances are known in which = a=20 revolted prince was reinstated in his former power. Thus Assur-bani-pal = forgave=20 the Egyptian prince of Sais when, like Manasseh, he had [pg xviii] been sent in = chains to Assyria=20 after an unsuccessful rebellion, and restored him to his old = principality. What=20 was done by Assur-bani-pal might well have been done by the more = merciful=20 Esar-haddon, who showed himself throughout his reign anxious to = conciliate the=20 conquered populations. It is even possible that Assur-bani-pal himself = was the=20 sovereign against whom Manasseh rebelled and before whom he was brought. = In this=20 case Manasseh's revolt would have been part of that general revolt of = the=20 Assyrian provinces under the leadership of Babylon, which shook the = empire to=20 its foundations, and in which the Assyrian king expressly tells us = Palestine=20 joined. The Jewish king would thus have been carried to Babylon after = the=20 capture of that city by the Assyrian forces of Assur-bani-pal.

But the recent history of Oriental archaeology is strewn with = instances of=20 the danger of historical scepticism where the evidence is defective, and = a=20 single discovery may at any moment throw new and unexpected light on the = materials we possess. Who, for instance, could have supposed that the = name of=20 the Israelites would ever be found on an Egyptian monument? They were = but a=20 small and despised body of public slaves, settled in Goshen, on the = extreme=20 skirts of the Egyptian territory. And yet in 1886 a granite stela was = found by=20 Professor Flinders Petrie containing a hymn of victory in honour of = Meneptah the=20 son of Ramses II., and declaring how, among other triumphs, "the [pg xix] = Israelites" had=20 been left "without seed." The names of all the other vanquished or = subject=20 peoples mentioned in the hymn have attached to them the determinative of = place;=20 the Israelites alone are without it; they alone have no fixed = habitation, no=20 definite locality of their own, so far at least as the writer knew. It = would=20 seem that they had already escaped into the desert, and been lost to = sight in=20 its recesses. Who could ever have imagined that in such a case an = Egyptian poet=20 would have judged it worth his while even to allude to the vanished = serfs?

Still more recently the tomb of Menes, the founder of the united = Egyptian=20 monarchy, and the leader of the first historical dynasty, has been = discovered by=20 M. de Morgan at Negada, north of Thebes. It was only a few months = previously=20 that the voice of historical criticism had authoritatively declared him = to be=20 "fabulous" and "mythical." The "fabulous" Menes, nevertheless, has now = proved to=20 be a very historical personage indeed; some of his bones are in the = museum of=20 Cairo, and the objects disinterred in his tomb show that he belonged to = an age=20 of culture and intercourse with distant lands. The hieroglyphic system = of=20 writing was already complete, and fragments of obsidian vases turned on = the=20 lathe indicate commercial relations with the =C6gean Sea.

If we turn to Babylonia the story is the same. Hardly had the critic=20 pronounced Sargon of Akkad to be a [pg xx] creature of myth, when at Niffer and = Telloh=20 monuments both of himself and of his son were brought to light, which, = as in the=20 case of Menes, proved that this "creature of myth" lived in an age of = advanced=20 culture and in the full blaze of history. At Niffer he and his son = Naram-Sin=20 built a platform of huge bricks, each stamped with their names, and at = Telloh=20 clay bull=E6 have been discovered, bearing the seals and = addresses of the=20 letters which were conveyed during their reigns by a highly organised = postal=20 service along the highroads of the kingdom. Numberless contract-tablets = exist,=20 dated in the year when Sargon "conquered the land of the Amorites," as = Syria and=20 Canaan were called, or accomplished some other achievement; and a = cadastral=20 survey of the district in which Telloh was situated, made for the = purpose of=20 taxation, incidentally refers to "the governor" who was appointed over = "the=20 Amorites."

Perhaps, however, the discovery which above all others has = revolutionised our=20 conceptions of early Oriental history, and reversed the critical = judgments which=20 had prevailed in regard to it, was that of the cuneiform tablets of Tel=20 el-Amarna. The discovery was made in 1887 at Tel el-Amarna on the = eastern bank=20 of the Nile, midway between the modern towns of Minia and Si=FBt. Here = is the site=20 of the city built by Khu-n-Aten, the "Heretic" Pharaoh, when the = dissensions=20 between himself and the Theban priesthood [pg xxi] became too acute to allow him to = remain any=20 longer in the capital of his fathers. He migrated northward, = accordingly, with=20 his court and the adherents of the new creed which he sought to impose = upon his=20 subjects, carrying with him the archives of the kingdom and the foreign=20 correspondence of the empire. It was this foreign correspondence which = was=20 embodied in the cuneiform tablets. They make it clear that even under = Egyptian=20 rule the Babylonian language and the Babylonian system of writing = continued to=20 be the official language and script of western Asia, and that the = Egyptian=20 government itself was forced to keep Babylonian secretaries who = understood them.=20 The fact proves the long and permanent influence of Babylonian culture = from the=20 banks of the Euphrates to the shores of the Mediterranean, and is = intelligible=20 only in the light of the further fact that the empire of Sargon of Akkad = had=20 been founded more than two thousand years before. Nothing but a = prodigiously=20 long lapse of time could explain the firm hold thus obtained by a = foreign=20 language, and a system of writing the most complex and difficult to = learn that=20 has ever been invented.

The tablets further prove the existence throughout the Oriental world = of=20 schools and libraries where the Babylonian language and characters could = be=20 taught and learned and its voluminous literature stored and studied. The = age of=20 Khu-n-Aten, which is also the age of Moses, was essentially a literary = age; a=20 knowledge [pg = xxii]=20 of reading and writing was widely spread, and an active correspondence = was being=20 constantly carried on from one part of the civilised world to the other. = Even=20 the Bed=E2win sh=EAkhs, who acted as free-lances in Palestine, sent = letters to the=20 Pharaoh and read his replies. The archive-chambers of the cities of = Canaan=20 contained numberless documents contemporaneous with the events they = recorded,=20 and the libraries were filled with the treasures of Babylonian = literature, with=20 legends and stories of the gods, and the earlier history of the East. = Doubtless,=20 as in Babylonia, so too in Palestine there were also in them contracts = and=20 inventories of property, dated in the Babylonian fashion by the events = which=20 characterised the years of a king's reign. The scribes and upper classes = could=20 read and write, and therefore had access to all these stores of = literature and=20 historical materials.

There is no longer any reason, therefore, for doubting that Moses and = his=20 contemporaries could have read and written books, or that the Hebrew = legislator=20 was learned in "all the wisdom of the Egyptians." If we are to reject = the=20 historical trustworthiness of the Pentateuch, it must be on other = grounds than=20 the assumption of the illiterateness of the age or the impossibility of=20 compiling at the time an accurate register of facts. The Tel el-Amarna = tablets=20 have made it impossible to return to the old critical point of view; the = probabilities henceforward are in favour of the early [pg xxiii] date and = historical truth of=20 the Old Testament narratives, and not against them. Accurately-dated = history and=20 a reading public existed in Babylonia long before the days of Abraham; = in the=20 age of Moses the whole Eastern world from the Nile to the Euphrates was = knit=20 together in the bonds of literary intercourse, and all who were in = contact with=20 the great nations of the East=97with Egypt, with Babylonia, or with = Assyria=97came=20 of necessity under its influence and held the book and its author in the = highest=20 reverence.

But besides thus revolutionising our ideas of the age that preceded = the=20 Hebrew Exodus, the Tel el-Amarna letters have thrown a welcome light on = the=20 political causes of the Exodus itself. They have made it clear that the = reaction=20 against the reforms and government of "the Heretic King" Khu-n-Aten was = as much=20 national as religious. It was directed quite as much against the = foreigner who=20 had usurped the chief offices of state, as against the religion which = the=20 foreigner was believed to have brought with him. The rise of the = Nineteenth=20 dynasty marks the triumph of the national uprising and the overthrow of = Asiatic=20 influence. The movement of which it was the result resembled the revolt = of Arabi=20 in our own days. But there was no England at hand to prevent the = banishment of=20 the stranger and his religion; the Semites who had practically governed = Egypt=20 under Khu-n-Aten were expelled or slain, and hard measure was [pg xxiv] = dealt out to=20 such of their kinsfolk as still remained in the land. The free-born sons = of=20 Israel in the district of Goshen were turned into public serfs, and = compelled to=20 work at the buildings with which Ramses II. was covering the soil of = Egypt, and=20 their "seed" was still further diminished by the destruction of their = male=20 offspring, lest they should join the enemies of Egypt in any future = invasion of=20 the country, or assist another attempt from within to subvert the old = faith of=20 the people and the political supremacy of the Theban priests. That the = fear was=20 not without justification is shown by the words of Meneptah, the son of = Ramses,=20 at the time when the very existence of the Egyptian monarchy was = threatened by=20 the Libyan invasion from the west and the sea-robbers who attacked it = from the=20 Greek seas. The Asiatic settlers, he tells us, had pitched "their tents = before=20 Pi-Bailos" (or Belbeis) at the western extremity of the land of Goshen, = and the=20 Egyptian "kings found themselves cut off in the midst of their cities, = and=20 surrounded by earthworks, for they had no mercenaries to oppose to" the = foe. It=20 would seem that the Israelites effected their escape under cover of the = Libyan=20 invasion in the fifth year of Meneptah's reign, and on this account it = is that=20 their name is introduced into the p=E6an wherein the destruction of the = Libyan=20 host is celebrated and the Pharaoh is declared to have restored peace to = the=20 whole world.

[pg=20 xxv]=20

If the history of Israel thus receives light and explanation on the = one side=20 from the revelations of Oriental archaeology, on the other side it = sometimes=20 clears up difficulties in the history of the great nations of Oriental=20 antiquity. The Egyptologist, for instance, is confronted by a fact = towards the=20 explanation of which the monuments furnish no help. This is the curious = change=20 that passed over the tenure of land in Egypt during the period of Hyksos = rule.=20 When the Fourteenth dynasty fell, a large part of the soil of Egypt was = in the=20 hands of private holders, many of whom were great feudal landowners = whose=20 acknowledgment of the royal supremacy was at times little more than = nominal.=20 When, however, the Hyksos were at last driven back to Asia, and Ahmes = succeeded=20 in founding the Eighteenth dynasty, these landowners had disappeared. = All the=20 landed estate of the country had passed into the possession of the = Pharaoh and=20 the priests, and the old feudal aristocracy had been replaced by a = bureaucracy,=20 the members of which owed their power and position to the king. The = history of=20 Joseph accounts for this, and it is the only explanation of the fact = which is at=20 present forthcoming. Famine compelled the people to sell their lands to = the king=20 and his minister, and a Hyksos Pharaoh and his Hebrew vizier thus = succeeded in=20 destroying the older aristocracy and despoiling the natives of their = estates. It=20 was probably at this [pg=20 xxvi] period also that the public granaries, of which we hear so = much in=20 the age of the Eighteenth dynasty, were first established in Egypt, in = imitation=20 of those of Babylonia, where they had long been an institution, and a=20 superintendent was appointed over them who, as in Babylonia, virtually = held the=20 power of life and death in his hands.

One of the main results, then, of recent discovery in the East has = been to=20 teach us the solidarity of ancient Oriental history, and the = impossibility of=20 forming a correct judgment in regard to any one part of it without = reference to=20 the rest. Hebrew history is unintelligible as long as it stands alone, = and the=20 attempt to interpret it apart and by itself has led to little else than = false=20 and one-sided conclusions; it is only when read in the light of the = history of=20 the great empires which flourished beside it that it can be properly = understood.=20 Israel and the nations around it formed a whole, so far as the historian = is=20 concerned, which, like the elements of a picture, cannot be torn = asunder. If we=20 would know the history of the one, we must know the history of the other = also.=20 And each year is adding to our knowledge; new monuments are being = excavated, new=20 inscriptions being read, and the revelations of to-day are surpassed by = those of=20 to-morrow. We have already learnt much, but it is only a commencement; = Egypt is=20 only now beginning to be scientifically explored, a few only of [pg xxvii] = the=20 multitudinous libraries of Babylonia have been brought to light, and the = soil of=20 Assyria has been little more than touched. Elsewhere, in Elam, in = Mesopotamia,=20 in Asia Minor, in Palestine itself, everything still remains to be done. = The=20 harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few.

We have, however, learnt some needful lessons. The historian has been = warned=20 against arguing from the imperfection of his own knowledge, and = rejecting an=20 ancient narrative merely because it seems unsupported by other = testimony. He has=20 been warned, too, against making his own prepossessions and assumptions = the test=20 of historical truth, of laying down that a reported fact could not have = happened=20 because it runs counter to what he assumes to have been the state of = society in=20 some particular age. Above all, the lesson of modesty has been impressed = upon=20 him, modesty in regard to the extent of his own knowledge and the = fallibility of=20 his own conclusions. It does not follow that what we imagine ought to = have=20 happened has happened in reality; on the contrary, the course of = Oriental=20 history has usually been very different from that dreamed of by the = European=20 scholar in the quietude of his study. If Oriental arch=E6ology has = taught us=20 nothing else, it has at least taught us how little we know.

INTRODUCTION

I.=20 THE ISRAELITES

II.=20 CANAAN

III.=20 THE NATIONS OF THE SOUTH-EAST

IV.=20 THE NATIONS OF THE NORTH-EAST

V.=20 EGYPT

VI.=20 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

VII.=20 CONCLUSION

APPENDICES[pg 33]=20

CHAPTER I

THE ISRAELITES

Israel traced its origin to Babylonia. It was from "Ur of the = Chaldees" that=20 Abraham "the Hebrew" had come, the rock out of which it was hewn. Here = on the=20 western bank of the Euphrates was the earliest home of the Hebrews, of = whom the=20 Israelites claimed to be a part.

But they were not the only nation of the ancient Oriental world which = derived=20 its ancestry from Abraham. He was the father not only of the Israelites, = but of=20 the inhabitants of northern and central Arabia as well. The Ishmaelites = who were=20 settled in the north of the Arabian peninsula, the descendants of = Keturah who=20 colonised Midian and the western coast, were also his children. Moab and = Ammon,=20 moreover, traced their pedigree to his nephew, while Edom was the elder = brother=20 of Israel. Israel, in fact, was united by the [pg 34] closest ties of blood to all the = populations=20 which in the historic age dwelt between the borders of Palestine and the = mountain-ranges of south-eastern Arabia. They formed a single family = which=20 claimed descent from a common ancestor.

Israel was the latest of them to appear on the scene of history. Moab = and=20 Ammon had subjugated or absorbed the old Amorite population on the = eastern side=20 of the Jordan, Ishmael and the Keturites had made themselves a home in = Arabia,=20 Edom had possessed itself of the mountain-fastnesses of the Horite and = the=20 Amalekite, long before the Israelites had escaped from their bondage in = Egypt,=20 or formed themselves into a nation in the desert. They were the youngest = member=20 of the Hebrew family, though but for them the names of their brethren = would have=20 remained forgotten and unknown. Israel needed the discipline of a long=20 preparation for the part it was destined to play in the future history = of the=20 world.

The Hebrews belonged to the Semitic race. The race is distinguished = by=20 certain common characteristics, but more especially by the possession of = a=20 common type of language, which is markedly different from the other = languages of=20 mankind. Its words are built on what is termed the principle of = triliteralism;=20 the skeleton, as it were, of each of them consisting of three = consonants, while=20 the vowels, which give flesh and life to the skeleton, vary according to = the=20 grammatical [pg = 35]=20 signification of the word. The relations of grammar are thus expressed = for the=20 most part by changes of vocalic sound, just as in English the plural of = "man" is=20 denoted by a change in the vowel. The verb is but imperfectly developed; = it is,=20 in fact, rather a noun than a verb, expressing relation rather than = time.=20 Compound words, moreover, are rare, the compounds of our European = languages=20 being replaced in the Semitic dialects by separate words.

Perhaps one of the most remarkable characteristics of the Semitic = family of=20 speech is its conservatism and resistance to change. As compared with = the other=20 languages of the world, its grammar and vocabulary have alike undergone = but=20 little alteration in the course of the centuries during which we can = trace its=20 existence. The very words which were used by the Babylonians four or = five=20 thousand years ago, can still be heard, with the same meaning attached = to them,=20 in the streets of Cairo. Kelb is "dog" in modern Arabic as = kalbu=20 was in ancient Babylonian, and the modern Arabic tayy=EEb, = "good," is the=20 Babylonian t=E2bu. One of the results of this unchangeableness of = Semitic=20 speech is the close similarity and relationship that exist between the = various=20 languages that represent it. They are dialects rather than distinct = languages,=20 more closely resembling one another than is the case even with the = Romanic=20 languages of modern Europe, which are descended from Latin.

[pg 36]=20

Most of the Semitic languages=97or dialects if we like so to call = them=97are now=20 dead, swallowed up by the Arabic of Mohammed and the Qor=E2n. The = Assyrian which=20 was spoken in Assyria and Babylonia is extinct; so, too, are the = Ethiopic of=20 Abyssinia, and the Hebrew language itself. What we term Hebrew was = originally=20 "the language of Canaan," spoken by the Semitic Canaanites long before = the=20 Israelitish conquest of the country, and found as late as the Roman age = on the=20 monuments of Phoenicia and Carthage. The Min=E6an and the Sab=E6an = dialects of=20 southern Arabia still survive in modern forms; Arabic, which has now = overflowed=20 the rest of the Semitic world, was the language of central Arabia alone. = In=20 northern Arabia, as well as in Mesopotamia and Syria, Aramaic dialects = were=20 used, the miserable relics of which are preserved to-day among a few = villagers=20 of the Lebanon and Lake Urum=EEyeh. These Aramaic dialects, it is now = believed,=20 arose from a mixture of Arabic with "the language of Canaan."

On the physical side, the Semitic race is not so homogeneous as it is = on the=20 linguistic side. But this is due to intermarriage with other races, and = where it=20 is purest it displays the same general characteristics. Thick and fleshy = lips,=20 arched nose, black hair and eyes, and white complexion, distinguish the=20 pure-blooded Semite. Intellectually he is clever and able, quick to = learn and=20 remember, with an innate capacity for trade [pg 37] and finance. Morally he is intense but = sensuous,=20 strong in his hate and in his affections, full of a profound belief in a = personal God as well as in himself.

When Abraham was born in Ur of the Chaldees the power and influence = of=20 Babylonia had been firmly established for centuries throughout the = length and=20 breadth of western Asia. From the mountains of Elam to the coast of the=20 Mediterranean the Babylonian language was understood, the Babylonian = system of=20 writing was taught and learned, Babylonian literature was studied, = Babylonian=20 trade was carried on, and Babylonian law was in force. From time to time = Syria=20 and Canaan had obeyed the rule of the Babylonian kings, and been formed = into a=20 Babylonian province. In fact, Babylonian rule did not come to an end in = the west=20 till after the death of Abraham; Khammurabi, the Amraphel of Genesis, = entitles=20 himself king of "the land of the Amorites," as Palestine was called by = the=20 Babylonians, and his fourth successor still gives himself the same = title. The=20 loss of Canaan and the fall of the Babylonian empire seem to have been = due to=20 the conquest of Babylon by a tribe of Elamite mountaineers.

The Babylonians of Abraham's age were Semites, and the language they = spoke=20 was not more dissimilar from Canaanitish or Hebrew than Italian is from = Spanish.=20 But the population of the country had not always been of the Semitic = stock. Its=20 first settlers=97those who had founded its cities, who had [pg 38] invented the cuneiform = system of=20 writing and originated its culture=97were of a wholly different race, = and spoke an=20 agglutinative language which had no resemblance to that of the Semites. = They=20 had, however, been conquered and their culture absorbed by the Semitic=20 Babylonians and Assyrians of later history, and the civilisation and = culture=20 which had spread throughout western Asia was a Semitic modification and=20 development of the older culture of Chald=E6a. Its elements, indeed, = were foreign,=20 but long before it had been communicated to the nations of the west it = had=20 become almost completely Semitic in character. The Babylonian conquerors = of=20 Canaan were Semites, and the art and trade, the law and literature they = brought=20 with them were Semitic also.

In passing, therefore, from Babylonia to Canaan, Abraham was but = passing from=20 one part of the Babylonian empire to another. He was not migrating into = a=20 strange country, where the government and civilisation were alike = unknown, and=20 the manners and customs those of another world. The road he traversed = had been=20 trodden for centuries by soldiers and traders and civil officials, by=20 Babylonians making their way to Canaan, and by Canaanites intending to = settle in=20 Babylonia for the sake of trade. Harran, the first stage on his journey, = bore a=20 Babylonian name, and its great temple of the Moon-god had been founded = by=20 Babylonian princes after the model of the temple of the [pg 39] Moon-god at Ur, the = birthplace of the=20 patriarch. Even in Canaan itself the deities of Babylonia were = worshipped or=20 identified with the native gods. Anu the god of the sky, Rimmon the god = of the=20 air, Nebo the interpreter and prophet of Bel-Merodach, were all adored = in=20 Palestine, and their names were preserved to later times in the = geography of the=20 country. Even Ashtoreth, in whom all the other goddesses of the popular = cult=20 came to be merged, was of Babylonian origin.

Abraham took with him to the west the traditions and philosophy of = Babylonia,=20 and found there a people already well acquainted with the literature, = the law,=20 and the religion of his fatherland. The fact is an important one; it is = one of=20 the most striking results of modern discovery, and it has a direct = bearing on=20 our estimate of the credibility of the narratives contained in the Book = of=20 Genesis. Written and contemporaneous history in Babylonia went back to = an age=20 long anterior to that of Abraham=97his age, indeed, marks the beginning = of the=20 decline of the Babylonian power and influence; and consequently, there = is no=20 longer any reason to treat as unhistorical the narratives connected with = his=20 name, or the statements that are made in regard to himself and his = posterity.=20 His birth in Ur, his migration to Harran and Palestine, have been lifted = out of=20 the region of doubt into that of history, and we may therefore accept = without=20 further [pg = 40]=20 questioning all that we are told of his relationship to Lot or to the = tribes of=20 north-western Arabia.

In Canaan, however, Abraham was but a sojourner. Though he came there = as a=20 Babylonian prince, as an ally of its Amoritish chieftains, as a leader = of armed=20 troops, even as the conqueror of a Babylonian army, his only possession = in it=20 was the burial-place of Machpelah. Here, in the close neighbourhood of = the later=20 Hebron, he bought a plot of ground in the sloping cliff, wherein a = twofold=20 chamber had been excavated in the rock for the purposes of burial. The = sepulchre=20 of Machpelah was the sole possession in the land of his adoption which = he could=20 bequeath to his descendants.

Of these, however, Ishmael and the sons of Keturah moved southward = into the=20 desert, out of the reach of the cultured Canaanites and the domination = of=20 Babylonia. Isaac, too, the son of his Babylonian wife, seemed bent upon=20 following their example. He established himself on the skirts of the = southern=20 wilderness, not far on the one hand from the borders of Palestine, nor = on the=20 other from the block of mountains within which was the desert sanctuary = of=20 Kadesh-barnea. His sons Esau and Jacob shared the desert and the = cultivated land=20 between them. Esau planted himself among the barren heights of Mount = Seir,=20 subjugating or assimilating its Horite and Amalekite inhabitants, and = securing=20 the road which carried the [pg=20 41] trade of Syria to the Red Sea; while Jacob sought his wives = among the=20 settled Aram=E6ans of Harran, and, like Abraham, pitched his tent in = Canaan. At=20 Shechem, in the heart of Canaan, he purchased a field, not, as in the = case of=20 Abraham, for the sake of burial, but in order that he might live upon it = in tent=20 or house, and secure a spring of water for his own possession.

In Jacob the Israelites saw their peculiar ancestor. His twelve sons = became=20 the fathers and representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel, and his = own name=20 was changed to that of Israel. The inscribed tablets of early Babylonia = have=20 taught us that both Israel and Ishmael were the names of individuals in = the=20 Patriarchal age, not the names of tribes or peoples, and consequently = the=20 Israelites, like the Ishmaelites, of a later day must have been the = descendants=20 of an individual Israel and Ishmael as the Old Testament records assert. = Already=20 in the reign of the Babylonian king Ammi-zadok, the fourth successor of=20 Amraphel, the contemporary of Abraham, a high-priest in the district of = northern=20 Chaldasa assigned to "Amorite" settlers from Canaan, bore the name of = Sar-ilu or=20 Israel.¹<= /P>[pg 42]=20

The fuller and older form of Jacob is Jacob-el. We find it in = contracts drawn=20 up in Babylonia in the time of Abraham; we also find it as the name of = an=20 Egyptian king in the period when Egypt was ruled by Asiatic conquerors. = The=20 latter fact is curious, taken in connection with the further fact, that = the son=20 of the Biblical Jacob=97the progenitor of the Israelites=97was the = viceroy of an=20 Egyptian Pharaoh, and that his father died in the Egyptian land of = Goshen.=20 Goshen was the district which extends from Tel el-Maskhuta or Pithom = near=20 Ismail=EEya to Belbeis and Zagazig, and includes the modern Wadi = Tumil=E2t; the=20 traveller on the railway passes through it on his way from Ismail=EEya = to Cairo.=20 It lay outside the Delta proper, and, as the Egyptian inscriptions tell = us, had=20 from early times been handed over to the nomad Bed=E2win and their = flocks. Here=20 they lived, separate from the native agriculturists, herding their = flocks and=20 cattle, and in touch with their kinsmen of the desert. Here, too, the = children=20 of Israel were established, and here they multiplied and became a = people.

The growth of a family into a tribe or people is in accordance with = Arab=20 rule. There are numerous historical instances of a single individual = becoming=20 the forefather of a tribe or a collection of tribes which under = favourable=20 conditions may develop into a nation. The tribe or people is known as = the "sons"=20 of their ancestor; his name is handed down from generation [pg 43] to = generation, and the=20 names of his leading descendants, the representatives of the tribe, are = handed=20 down at the same time. Where we speak of the population of a country, = the Arab=20 speaks of the "children" of a certain man. Such a mode of expression is = in=20 harmony with Semitic habits of thought. The genealogical method prevails = alike=20 in history and geography; a colony is the "daughter" or "son" of its=20 mother-city, and the town of Sidon is the "first-born" of Canaan.

Jacob had twelve sons, and his descendants were accordingly divided = into=20 twelve tribes. But the division was an artificial one; it never at any = time=20 corresponded exactly with historical reality. Levi was not a tribe in = the same=20 sense as the rest of his brethren; no territory was assigned to him = apart from=20 the so-called Levitical cities; and he represented the priestly order = wherever=20 it might be found and from whatever ancestors it might be derived. = Simeon and=20 Dan hardly existed as separate tribes except in name; their territories = were=20 absorbed into that of Judah, and it was only in the city of Laish in the = far=20 north that the memory of Dan survived. The tribe of Joseph was split = into two=20 halves, Ephraim and Manasseh, while Judah was a mixture of various = elements=97of=20 Hebrews who traced their origin alike to Judah, to Simeon, and to Dan; = of=20 Kenites and Jerahmeelites from the desert of Arabia; and of Kenizzites = from=20 Edom. Benjamin or Ben-Oni was, as a tribe, [pg 44] merely the southern portion of the = house of=20 Joseph, which had settled around the sanctuary of Beth-On or Beth-el. = Benjamin=20 means the "Southerner," and Ben-Oni "the inhabitant of Beth-On." It is = even=20 questionable whether the son of Jacob from whom the tribe was held to be = descended bore the name of Benjamin. Had the name of Esau not been = preserved we=20 should not have known the true name of the founder of Edom, and it may = be that=20 the name of the tribe of Benjamin has been reflected back upon its = ancestor.

In Goshen, at all events, the tribes of Israel would have been = distinguished=20 by the names of their actual forefathers. They would have been "the = sons" of=20 Reuben or Judah, of Simeon or Gad. But they were all families within a = single=20 family. They were all "Israelites" or "sons of Israel," and in an = inscription of=20 the Egyptian king Meneptah they are accordingly called Israelu,=20 "Israelites," without any territorial adjunct. They lived in Goshen, = like the=20 Bed=E2win of to-day, and their social organisation was that of = Arabia.

The immediate occasion of the settlement of Israel on the outskirts = of Egypt=20 was that which has brought so many Bed=E2win herdsmen to the valley of = the Nile=20 both before and since. The very district of Goshen in which they settled = was=20 occupied again, shortly after their desertion of it, by nomads from Edom = who had=20 besought the Pharaoh for meadow-land on which to feed their flocks. The = need of=20 pasturage from time [pg=20 45] immemorial has urged the pastoral tribes of the desert = towards the=20 fertile land of the Nile. When want of rain has brought drought upon = Canaan,=20 parching the grass and destroying the corn, the nomad has invariably set = his=20 face toward the country which is dependent for its fertility, not upon = the rains=20 of heaven, but upon the annual overflow of its river. It was a famine in = Canaan,=20 produced by the absence of rain, which made Jacob and his sons "go down = into=20 Egypt."

But besides this immediate cause there was yet another. They were = assured of=20 a welcome in the kingdom of the Nile and the gift of a district in which = they=20 might live. One of the sons of Jacob had become the Vizier of the = Egyptian=20 Pharaoh. Joseph, the Hebrew slave who had been sold into bondage by his=20 brothers, had risen to be the first minister of the king and the = favourite of=20 his sovereign. He had foretold the coming years of plenty and dearth; = but he had=20 done more=97he had pointed out how to anticipate the famine and make it = subserve=20 the interests of despotism. He was not a seer only, he was a skilful=20 administrator as well. He had taken advantage of the years of scarcity = to effect=20 a revolution in the social and political constitution of Egypt. The = people had=20 been obliged to sell their lands and even themselves to the king for = bread, and=20 become from henceforth a population of royal slaves. The lands of Egypt = were=20 [pg 46] = divided between=20 the king and the priests; the peasantry tilled them for the state and = for the=20 temples, while the upper classes owed their wealth and position to the = offices=20 which they received at court.

It would seem that the Israelites entered Egypt when the country was = governed=20 by the last of those foreign dynasties from Asia which had conquered the = kingdom=20 of the Pharaoh, and are known by the name of the Hyksos or Shepherd = kings. The=20 Egyptian monuments have shown us that during their dominion its internal = constitution underwent precisely the change which is described in the = history of=20 Joseph. Before the Hyksos conquest there was a great feudal aristocracy, = rich in=20 landed estates and influence, which served as a check upon the monarch, = and at=20 times even refused to obey his authority. When the Hyksos conquerors are = finally=20 expelled, we find that this feudal aristocracy has disappeared, and its = place=20 has been taken by a civil and military bureaucracy. The king has become = a=20 supreme autocrat, by the side of whom the priests alone retain any = power. The=20 land has passed out of the hands of the people; high and low alike are = dependent=20 for what they have on the favour of the king.

The Hyksos dynasties were allied in race and sympathies with the = settlers=20 from Asia. Joseph must have died before their expulsion, but it is = probable that=20 he saw the outbreak of the war which ended in it, and which after five=20 generations of conflict restored the [pg 47] Egyptians to independence. The = Eighteenth dynasty=20 was founded by the native princes of Thebes, and the war against the = Asiatic=20 stranger which had begun in Egypt was carried into Asia itself. Canaan = was made=20 an Egyptian province, and the Egyptian empire was extended to the banks = of the=20 Euphrates.

But the conquest of Asia brought with it the introduction of Asiatic=20 influences into the country of the conqueror. The Pharaohs married = Asiatic=20 wives, and their courts became gradually Asiatised. At length Amenophis = IV.,=20 under the tutelage of his mother, attempted to abolish the national = religion of=20 Egypt, and to substitute for it a sort of pantheistic monotheism, based = on the=20 worship of the Asiatic Baal as represented by the Solar Disk. The = Pharaoh=20 transferred his capital from Thebes to a new site farther north, now = known as=20 Tel el-Amarna, changed his own name to Khu-n-Aten, "the Glory of the = Solar=20 Disk," and filled his court with Asiatic officials and the adherents of = the new=20 cult. The reaction, however, soon came. The native Egyptians rose in = revolt; the=20 foreigner fled from the valley of the Nile, and the capital of = Khu-n-Aten fell=20 into ruin. A new dynasty, the Nineteenth, arose under Ramses I., whose = grandson,=20 Ramses II., reigned for sixty-seven years, and crowded Egypt with his = buildings=20 and monuments.

One of the cities he built has been shown by the excavations of Dr. = Naville=20 to have been Pa-Tum, the [pg=20 48] Pithom of the Old Testament. Ramses II., therefore, must have = been=20 the Pharaoh of the Oppression. The picture set before us in the first = chapter of=20 Exodus fits in exactly with the character of his reign. The dynasty to = which he=20 belonged represented the reaction against the domination and influence = of the=20 foreigner from Asia, and the oppression of the Israelites would = naturally have=20 been part of its policy. Such of the Asiatics as still remained in Egypt = were=20 turned into public serfs, and measures were taken to prevent them from=20 multiplying so as to be dangerous to their masters. The free spirit of = the=20 Bed=E2win was broken by servitude, and every care was used that they = should be=20 unable to help their brethren from Asia in case of another "Hyksos" = invasion.=20 The incessant building operations of Ramses needed a constant supply of = workmen,=20 and financial as well as political interests thus suggested that = merciless=20 corv=E9e of the Israelites which rendered them at once = politically harmless=20 and serviceable to the state.

In spite of all repression, however, the oppressed people continued = to=20 multiply, and eventually escaped from their "house of bondage." The = stela of=20 Meneptah, on which the name of "Israelites" occurs, implies that they = had=20 already been lost to sight in the desert. The other nationalities over = whom=20 Meneptah is said to have triumphed all have the term "country" attached = to their=20 names; the "Israelites" alone are without local habitation. Egyptian = legend, as=20 reported [pg = 49] by the=20 native historian Manetho, placed the Exodus in the reign of Meneptah, = and as=20 Meneptah was the son and successor of Ramses II., the correctness of the = statement is antecedently probable. It was in the fifth year of his = reign that=20 the Delta was attacked by a formidable combination of foes. The Libyans=20 threatened it on the west: on the north, bands of sea-pirates from the = coasts of=20 Asia Minor and the islands of the Mediterranean attacked it by sea and = land. A=20 mutilated inscription of Meneptah tells us how the tents of the invaders = had=20 been pitched on the outskirts of the land of Goshen, within reach of the = Bed=E2win=20 shepherds who fed their flocks there, and how the troops of the Pharaoh, = pressed=20 at once by the enemy and by the disaffected population of Goshen, had = been=20 cooped up within the walls of the great cities, afraid to venture forth. = The=20 fate of the invasion was sealed, however, by a decisive battle in which = the=20 Egyptians almost annihilated their foes. But the land of Goshen was left = empty=20 and desolate; the foreign tribes who had dwelt in it fled into the = wilderness=20 under the cover of the Libyan invasion. The pressure of the invasion had = forced=20 the Pharaoh to allow his serfs a free passage out of Egypt, quite as = much as the=20 "signs and wonders" which were wrought by the hand of Moses. Egypt was = protected=20 on its eastern side by a line of fortifications, and through these = permission=20 was given that the Israelites should pass. But the permission was hardly = [pg 50] given = before it was=20 recalled. A small body of cavalry, not move than six hundred in number, = was sent=20 in pursuit of the fugitives, who were loaded with the plunder they had = carried=20 away from the Egyptians. They were a disorganised and unwarlike = multitude,=20 consisting partly of serfs, partly of women and children, partly of = stragglers=20 from the armies of the Libyan and Mediterranean invaders. Six hundred = men were=20 deemed sufficient either to destroy them or to reduce them once more to=20 captivity.

But the fugitives escaped as it were by miracle. A violent wind from = the east=20 drove back the shallow waters at the head of the Gulf of Suez, by the = side of=20 which they were encamped, and the Israelites passed dryshod over the bed = of "the=20 sea." Before their pursuers could overtake them, the wind had veered, = and the=20 waters returned on the Egyptian chariots. The slaves were free at last, = once=20 more in the wilderness in which Isaac had tended his flocks, and in = contact with=20 their kinsmen of Edom and Midian.

Moses had led them out of Egypt, and Moses now became their lawgiver. = The=20 laws which he gave them formed them into a nation, and laid the = foundations of=20 the national faith. Henceforth they were to be a separate people, bound = together=20 by the worship of one God, who had revealed Himself to them under the = name of=20 Yahveh. First at Sinai, among the mountains of Seir and Paran, and then = at=20 Kadesh-barnea, the [pg=20 51] modern 'Ain Qad=EEs, the Mosaic legislation was promulgated. = The first=20 code was compiled under the shadow of Mount Sinai; its provisions were=20 subsequently enlarged or modified by the waters of En-Mishat, "the = Spring of=20 Judgment."

The Israelites lay hidden, as it were, in the desert for many long = years,=20 preparing themselves for the part they were afterwards to play in the = history of=20 mankind. But from the moment of their departure from Egypt their goal = had been=20 Canaan. They were not mere Bed=E2win; they belonged to that portion of = the Semitic=20 race which had made settlements and founded kingdoms in Moab and Ammon = and Edom,=20 and their residence in the cultured land of the Nile had made it = impossible for=20 them ever to degenerate into the lawless robbers of the wilderness. They = were=20 settled Bed=E2win, not Bed=E2win proper; not Bed=E2win by blood and = descent, but=20 Semites who had adopted the wandering and pastoral habits of the = Bed=E2win tribes.=20 They were like their brethren of Edom, who, though they came to Egypt = seeking=20 pasturage for their cattle, had nevertheless founded at home an elective = monarchy. The true Bed=E2win of the Old Testament are the Amalekites, = and between=20 the Israelite and the Amalekite there was the difference that there is = between=20 the peasant and the gypsy. The fact is important, and the forgetfulness = of it=20 has led more than one historian astray.

[pg 52]=20

The first attempt to invade Canaan failed. It was made from the = south, from=20 the shelter of the block of mountains within which stood the sanctuary = of=20 Kadesh-barnea. The Israelitish forces were disastrously defeated at = Zephath, the=20 Hormah of later days, and the invasion of the Promised Land was = postponed. The=20 desert life had still to continue for a while. In the fastness of 'Ain = Qad=EEs the=20 forces of Israel grew and matured, and a long series of legislative = enactments=20 organised it into a homogeneous whole. At length the time came when the=20 Israelites felt strong enough once more to face an enemy and to win by = the sword=20 a country of their own. It was from the east that they made their second = attack.=20 Aaron the high-priest was dead, but his brother Moses was still their = leader.=20 The Edomites refused them a passage along the high-road of trade which = led=20 northward from the Gulf of Aqaba; skirting Edom accordingly, they = marched=20 through a waterless desert to the green wadis of Moab, and there pitched = their=20 camp. The Amorite kingdoms of Sihon and Og fell before their assault. = The=20 northern part of Moab, which Sihon had conquered, was occupied by the = invaders,=20 and the plateau of Bashan, over which Og had ruled, fell into = Israelitish hands.=20 The invaders now prepared to cross the Jordan and advance into the = highlands of=20 Canaan. Moses died on the summit of a Moabite mountain and his place was = taken=20 by Joshua.

Joshua was a general and not a legislator. He could [pg 53] win battles and destroy = cities, but he=20 could not restore what he had destroyed, or organise his followers into = a state.=20 Jericho, which commanded the ford across the Jordan, fell into his = hands; the=20 confederate kings of southern Canaan were overthrown in battle, and the = tribe of=20 Ephraim, to which Joshua belonged, was established in the mountainous = region=20 which afterwards bore its name. Henceforward the mountains of Ephraim = formed the=20 centre and the stronghold of Israelitish power in Palestine, from whence = the=20 invading tribes could issue forth to conquest, or to which they could = retreat=20 for shelter in case of need.

Beyond leading his people into Canaan and establishing them too = firmly in its=20 midst to be ever dislodged, Joshua personally did but little. The = conquest of=20 Canaan was a slow process, which was not completed till the days of the=20 monarchy. Jerusalem was not captured till the reign of David, Gezer was = the=20 dowry received by Solomon along with his Egyptian wife. At first the = Canaanites=20 were treated with merciless ferocity. Their cities were burned, the = inhabitants=20 of them massacred, and the spoil divided among the conquerors. But a = time soon=20 came when tribute was accepted in place of extermination, when leagues = were made=20 with the Canaanitish cities, and the Israelites intermarried with the = older=20 population of the country. As in Britain after the Saxon conquest, the = invaders=20 settled in the country rather than in the towns, so that [pg 54] while the peasantry was = Israelite the=20 townsfolk either remained Canaanite or were a mixture of the two = races.

The mixture introduced among the Israelites the religion and the = beliefs, the=20 manners and the immoralities, of the Canaanitish people. The Mosaic = legislation=20 was forgotten; the institutions prescribed in the wilderness were = ignored. Alone=20 at Shiloh, in the heart of Ephraim, was a memory of the past observed; = here the=20 descendants of Aaron served in the tabernacle, and kept alive a = recollection of=20 the Mosaic code. Here alone no image stood in the sanctuary of the = temple; the=20 ark of the covenant was the symbol of the national God.

But the influence of Shiloh did not extend far. The age that = succeeded the=20 entrance into Canaan, was one of anarchy and constant war. Hardly had = the last=20 effort of the Canaanites against their invaders been overthrown on the = banks of=20 the Kishon, when a new enemy appeared in the south. The Philistines, who = had=20 planted themselves on the sea-coast shortly before the Israelites had = invaded=20 the inland, now turned their arms against the new-comers, and contended = with=20 them for the possession of the country. The descendants of Jacob were = already=20 exhausted by struggle after struggle with the populations which = surrounded them.=20 Moabites and Midianites, Ammonites and Bed=E2win, even the king of = distant=20 Mesopotamia, had sacked their villages, had overrun their fields, and = [pg 55] exacted = tribute from=20 the Israelitish tribes. The tribes themselves had lost coherence; they = had=20 ranged themselves under different "judges" or "deliverers," had = forgotten their=20 common origin and common faith, and had even plunged into interfraternal = war.=20 Joshua was scarcely dead before the tribe of Benjamin was almost = exterminated by=20 its brethren; and a few generations later, the warriors of Ephraim, the = stalwart=20 champion of Israel, were massacred by the Israelites east of the Jordan. = In the=20 south, a new tribe, Judah, had arisen out of various elements=97Hebrew, = Kenite,=20 and Edomite; and it was not long before there was added to the cleavage = between=20 the tribes on the two banks of the Jordan, the further and more lasting = cleavage=20 between Judah and the tribes of the north. Israel was a house divided = against=20 itself, and planted in the midst of foes.

It needed a head, a leader who should bring its discordant elements = into=20 peace and order, and lead its united forces against the common enemy. = Monarchy=20 alone could save it from destruction. The theocracy had failed, the = authority of=20 the high-priests and of the Law they administered was hardly felt beyond = Shiloh;=20 an age of war and anarchy required military rather than religious = control. The=20 Israelites were passing through the same experience as other kindred = members of=20 the Semitic race. In Assyria the high-priests of Assur had been = succeeded by=20 kings; in southern Arabia [pg=20 56] the high-priest had similarly been superseded by the king, = and the=20 kings of Edom had but recently taken the place of al=FBph=EEm or = "dukes."

The first attempt to found a monarchy was made by the northern = tribes.=20 Jerubbaal, the conqueror of the Midianites, established his power among = the=20 mixed Hebrew and Canaanite inhabitants of Ophrah and Shechem, and his = son=20 Abimelech by a Canaanitish wife received the title of king. But the = attempt was=20 premature. The kingdom of Manasseh passed away with Abimelech; the other = tribes=20 were not yet ready to acknowledge the supremacy of a chieftain who was = not=20 sprung from themselves, and Abimelech, moreover, was half-Canaanitish by = descent.

The pressure of Philistine conquest at last forced the Israelites = with a=20 common voice to "demand a king." Reinforced by bodies of their kinsfolk = from=20 Krete and the islands of the Greek seas, the Philistines poured over the = frontier of Judah, plundering and destroying as they went. At first they = were=20 contented with raids; but the raids gradually passed into a continuous = warfare=20 and a settled purpose to conquer Canaan, and reduce it to tribute from = one end=20 to the other. The Israelitish forces were annihilated in a decisive = battle, the=20 ark of the covenant was taken by the heathen, and the two sons of the=20 high-priest perished on the field of battle. The Philistine army marched = northward into the heart of the mountains [pg 57] of Ephraim, the sanctuary of Shiloh was = destroyed=20 and its priesthood dispersed. It was not long before the Philistine = domination=20 was acknowledged throughout the Israelitish territory on the western = side of the=20 Jordan, and Canaan became Palestine, "the land of the Philistines."

In the more inaccessible parts of Benjamin, indeed, a few Israelites = still=20 maintained a fitful independence, and Samuel, the representative of the=20 traditions of Shiloh, was allowed to judge his own people, and preside = over a=20 Naioth or "monastery" of dervish-like prophets under the eye of a = Philistine=20 garrison. Israel seemed about to disappear from among the nations of the = world.

But it had not yet wholly forgotten that it was a single people, the=20 descendants of a common forefather, sharers in a common history, and = above all,=20 worshippers of the same God. In their extremity the Israelites called = for a=20 king. Saul, the Benjamite of Gibeah, was elected, and events soon proved = the=20 wisdom of the choice. Jabesh-gilead was rescued from the Ammonite king, = the=20 Philistine garrisons were driven out of the centre of the country, and, = for a=20 time at least, a large part of the Israelitish territory was cleared of = its=20 enemies. Saul was able to turn his arms against the Amalekite marauders = of the=20 desert, as well as the princes of Zobah to the north-east of = Ammon.

[pg 58]=20

But the Philistine war still continued. Saul had incorporated in his=20 body-guard a young shepherd of Beth-lehem in Judah of the name of David. = David=20 showed himself a brave and skilful soldier, and quickly rose to high = command in=20 the Hebrew army, and to be the son-in-law of Saul. His victories over = the=20 Philistines were celebrated in popular songs, and the king began to = suspect him=20 of aiming at the throne. He was forced to fly for his life, and to hide = among=20 the mountain fastnesses of Judah, where his boyhood had been spent. Here = he=20 became a brigand-chief, outlaws and adventurers gathering around him, = and=20 exacting food from the richer landowners. Saul pursued him in vain; = David=20 slipped out of his hands time after time, thanks to the nature of the = country in=20 which he had taken refuge; and the only result of the pursuit was to = open the=20 road once more to Philistine invasion. Meanwhile David and his followers = had=20 left the Israelitish territory, and offered their services to Achish of = Gath;=20 the Philistine prince enrolled them in his body-guard and settled them = in the=20 town of Ziklag.

Saul and the priests were now at open war. Samuel, perhaps naturally, = had=20 quarrelled with the king who had superseded his authority, and had = espoused the=20 cause of David. We are told, indeed, that he had anointed David as king = in the=20 place of Saul. When, therefore, David escaped from the court, Saul = accused the=20 Shilonite [pg = 59]=20 priests who were established at Nob of intentionally aiding the rebel. = The=20 high-priest vainly protested their innocence, but the furious king = refused to=20 listen, and the priests were massacred in cold blood. Abiathar, the son = of the=20 murdered high-priest, alone escaped to David to tell the tale. He = carried with=20 him the sacred ephod through which the will of Yahveh was made known, = and from=20 henceforth the influence of the priesthood was thrown against the = king.

Saul had lost his best general, who had gone over to the enemy; he = had=20 employed his troops in hunting a possible rival through the Jud=E6an = wilds when=20 they ought to have been guarding the frontier against the national foe, = and the=20 whole force of Israelitish religion had been turned against him. There = was=20 little cause for wonder, therefore, that the Philistine armies again = marched=20 into the Israelitish kingdom, and made their way northward along the = coast into=20 the plain of Jezreel. A battle on the slopes of Jezreel decided the fate = of=20 Israel. The Hebrew army was cut to pieces, and Saul and his sons were = slain. One=20 only survived, Esh-baal, too young or too feeble to take part in the = fight.=20 Esh-baal was carried across the Jordan by Abner and the relics of the=20 Israelitish forces, and there proclaimed king at Mahanaim. The = Philistines=20 became undisputed masters of Israel west of the Jordan, while their = tributary=20 vassal, David, was proclaimed King of Judah at Hebron. His nephew Joab = was made=20 commander-in-chief.

[pg=20 60]=20

War soon broke out between David and Esh-baal. Esh-baal grew = continually=20 weaker, and his general Abner intrigued with David to betray him into = the hands=20 of the Jewish king. Abner, however, was slain by Joab while in the act = of=20 carrying out his treason, but Esh-baal was murdered shortly afterwards = by two of=20 his servants. David declared himself his successor, and claimed rule = over all=20 Israel.

This brought him into conflict with his Philistine overlords. It was=20 equivalent to revolt, and the Philistine army swept the lowlands of = Judah. David=20 fled from Hebron and took refuge in his old retreat. Here he organised = his=20 forces; the Philistines were defeated in battle after battle, and David = not only=20 succeeded in driving them out of Judah and Israel, but in carrying the = war into=20 their own country. The Philistine cities were conquered, and soldiers = from Gath,=20 where David had himself once served as a mercenary, were drafted into = the=20 body-guard of the Hebrew sovereign.

Before the Philistine war was over, Jerusalem had fallen into David's = hands.=20 The stronghold of the Jebusites was one of the last of the Canaanitish = cities to=20 surrender to the Israelites. Its older inhabitants were allowed to live = in it=20 side by side with colonists from Judah and Benjamin. The city itself was = made=20 the capital of the kingdom. Its central position, its natural strength, = and its=20 independence of the history of any special tribe, all combined to = justify the=20 choice. [pg = 61] Here=20 David built his palace, and planned the erection of a temple to = Yahveh.

Meanwhile the kingdom of Israel was passing into an empire. Joab and = his=20 veterans gained victory after victory, and the Hebrew army became what = the=20 Assyrian army was in later days, the most highly disciplined and = irresistible=20 force in western Asia. Moab and Ammon were subdued; the Aramaic kinglets = to the=20 north-east were made tributaries, and the kingdom of Zobah, which had = risen on=20 the ruins of the Hittite power, was overthrown. The limits of David's = rule were=20 extended to the banks of the Euphrates, and the Syrians on either side = of the=20 river were utterly crushed. Even Edom, which had successfully defied the = Pharaohs in the days of Egyptian greatness, was compelled to submit to = the=20 Jewish conqueror; its male population was mercilessly massacred, and its = ports=20 on the Gulf of Suez fell into Israelitish hands. In the north Hamath = made=20 alliance with the new power that had arisen in the Oriental world, while = Hiram=20 of Tyre was glad to call himself the friend of the Israelitish king, and = to=20 furnish him with skilled workmen and articles of luxury.

The latter years of David were troubled by revolts which had their = origin=20 partly in the polygamy in which he had indulged, partly in the = discontent of a=20 people still imperfectly welded together, and restless under military=20 conscription. His son Solomon secured his throne by putting to death all = possible rivals or opponents, [pg 62] including the grey-haired Joab. Solomon = was=20 cultured and well-educated, but his culture was selfish, and his = extravagance=20 knew no bounds. Palaces were built at Jerusalem in imitation of those of = Phoenicia or Egypt, and Phoenician architects and artisans erected there = a=20 sumptuous temple in honour of the national God. Trade was encouraged and = developed: the possession of the Edomite seaports gave Solomon the = command of=20 the Arabian trade, while his alliance with Hiram opened to him the = harbours of=20 the Mediterranean coast. But the wealth which David had accumulated, the = tribute=20 of the conquered provinces, and the trading monopolies of the king = himself did=20 not suffice for the extravagance of his expenditure, and heavy fiscal = burdens=20 had to be laid on the Israelitish tribes. Disaffection grew up = everywhere except=20 in Judah, where the king resided, and where the wealth raised elsewhere = was=20 spent.

Revolts broke out in Edom and the north. Garrisons, indeed, were = planted in=20 Zobah, which secured the caravan road through Tadmor or Palmyra to the=20 Euphrates; but Damascus was lost, and became in a few years a formidable = adversary of Israel. The death of Solomon was the signal for a revolt in = Palestine itself. The northern tribes under Jeroboam separated from = Judah and=20 established a kingdom of their own, while Judah and Benjamin remained = faithful=20 to the house of David and to the capital, which lay on the frontier of = [pg 63] both. = The Levites also=20 naturally attached themselves to the kingdom which contained the great = national=20 sanctuary, and to the royal family whose chapel it was. The disruption = of the=20 monarchy necessarily brought with it the fall of the empire; Moab, = however,=20 continued to be tributary to the northern kingdom and Edom to that of = Judah.

Five years after the accession of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, the = kingdom=20 of Judah seemed in danger of perishing altogether. Shishak, the Egyptian = Pharaoh, invaded the country and sacked Jerusalem itself. But Jeroboam = lost the=20 opportunity thus afforded him of extending his rule over the south; his = own=20 territories had been partially overrun by the Egyptians, and he was = probably not=20 in a position to commence a war. Judah had time to recover; the walls of = Jerusalem were rebuilt, and the Arabian trade soon supplied it with = fresh=20 resources.

The long and prosperous reign of Asa, the grandson of Rehoboam, = placed the=20 line of David on a solid foundation. The Jewish kingdom was compact; its = capital=20 was central, and was not only a strongly-fortified fortress, but also an = ancient=20 and venerable sanctuary. As time went on feelings of respect and = affection=20 gathered round the royal house; the people of Judah identified it with=20 themselves, and looked back with pride and regret to the glorious days = of David=20 and Solomon. Religion, moreover, lent its sanction to the [pg 64] Davidic dynasty. The = Levitical=20 priesthood had its centre in the temple which had been built by Solomon, = and=20 was, as it were, the private chapel of his descendants; here were = preserved the=20 rites and traditions of the Mosaic Law, and the ark of the covenant = between=20 Israel and its God. The northern kingdom, on the contrary, had none of = these=20 elements of stability. The first king was a rebel, who had no glorious = past=20 behind him, no established priesthood to support his throne, no capital = even,=20 around which all his subjects could rally. The sword had given him his = crown,=20 and the sword was henceforth the arbiter of his kingdom. The = conservative forces=20 which were strong in Judah were absent in the north; there the army = became more=20 and more powerful, and its generals dethroned princes and established=20 short-lived dynasties. Northern Israel, moreover, was not homogeneous; = the=20 tribes on the two sides of the Jordan were never welded together like = the=20 inhabitants of Judah, and the divergence of interests that had once = existed=20 between them was never wholly forgotten.

Israel perished while Judah survived. Dynasty after dynasty had = arisen in it;=20 its capital had been shifted from time to time; it did not even possess = a=20 religious centre. Before a line of kings had time to win the loyalty of = the=20 people they were swept away by revolution, and the army became the = dominating=20 power in the state. There was no body of priests to preserve [pg 65] the = memory of the=20 Mosaic Law and insist upon its observance, and the prophets who took = their place=20 protested in vain against the national apostasy. Alliance with the = neighbouring=20 kingdom of Phoenicia brought with it the worship of the Phoenician Baal, = and=20 Yahveh was forsaken for a foreign god. In B.C. 722 Samaria, the later = capital of=20 the country, was taken by the Assyrian king Sargon, and northern Israel = ceased=20 to be a nation.

Judah, on the other hand, successfully defied the Assyrian power. The = invasion of Sennacherib was rolled back from the walls of Jerusalem, and = though=20 the Jewish kings paid tribute to Nineveh, they were left in possession = of their=20 territories. Edom, indeed, had long since been lost, and with it the = trade with=20 the Arabian seas, but the Philistines continued to acknowledge the = supremacy of=20 Judah, and commercial relations were kept up with Egypt. It was not = until the=20 Babylonian empire of Nebuchadrezzar had arisen on the ruins of that of = Assyria=20 that Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed, and the Davidic dynasty = passed=20 away. But they had accomplished their work; a nation had been created = which=20 through exile and disaster still maintained its religion and its=20 characteristics, and was prepared, when happier days should come, to = return=20 again to its old home, to rebuild the temple, and carry out all the = ordinances=20 of its faith. From henceforth Judah realised its mission as a peculiar = people,=20 separated [pg = 66] from=20 the rest of the world, whose instructor in religion it was to be. More = and more=20 it ceased to be a nation and became a race=97a race, moreover, which had = its roots=20 in a common religious history, a common faith, and a common hope. Israel = according to the flesh became Israel according to the spirit.

Footnote=20 1: (return)=20
See Pinches in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, = July 1897.=20 In a tablet belonging to a period long before that of Abraham, = Isma-ilu or=20 Ishmael is given as the name of an "Amorite" slave from Palestine=20 (Thureau-Dangin, Tablettes chald=E9ennes in=E9dites, p.=20 10).

[pg=20 69]=20

CHAPTER II

CANAAN

Canaan was the inheritance which the Israelites won for themselves by = the=20 sword. Their ancestors had already settled in it in patriarchal days. = Abraham=20 "the Hebrew" from Babylonia had bought in it a burying-place near = Hebron; Jacob=20 had purchased a field near Shechem, where he could water his flocks from = his own=20 spring. It was the "Promised Land" to which the serfs of the Pharaoh in = Goshen=20 looked forward when they should again become free men and find a new = home for=20 themselves.

Canaan had ever been the refuge of the Asiatic population of Egypt, = the goal=20 at which they aimed when driven out of the land of the Nile. The Hyksos=20 conquerors from Asia had retreated to Jerusalem when the native = Egyptians=20 recovered their independence and had expelled them from their seats in = the=20 Delta. Though Moses had assured the Pharaoh that all the Israelites = needed was=20 to go a short journey of three days into the wilderness, and there = sacrifice to=20 their God, it was well understood that the desert was not [pg 70] to be the end of their = pilgrimage.=20 Canaan, and Canaan only, was the destined country they had in view.

In the early inscriptions of Babylonia, Canaan is included in the = rest of=20 Syria under the general title of "the land of the Amorites." The = Amorites were=20 at the time the dominant population on the Mediterranean coast of = western Asia,=20 and after them accordingly the whole country received its name. The = "land of the=20 Amorites" had been overrun by the armies of Babylonia at a very remote = period,=20 and had thus come under the influence of Babylonian culture. As far back = as the=20 reigns of Sargon of Akkad and his son Naram-Sin (B.C. 3800), three = campaigns had=20 laid it at the feet of the Chald=E6an monarch, and Palestine and Syria = became a=20 province of the Babylonian empire. Sargon erected an image of himself by = the=20 shore of the sea, and seems even to have received tribute from Cyprus. = Colonies=20 of "Amorite" or Canaanitish merchants settled in Babylonia for the = purposes of=20 trade, and there obtained various rights and privileges; and a cadastral = survey=20 of southern Babylonia made at the time mentions "the governor of the = land of the=20 Amorites."

The Amorites, however, though they were the dominant people of Syria, = were=20 not its original inhabitants; nor, it is probable, did they even form = the=20 largest part of its population. They were essentially the inhabitants of = the=20 mountains, as we are told in the Book of [pg 71] Numbers (xiii. 29), and appear to have = come from=20 the west. We have learnt a good deal about them from the Egyptian = monuments,=20 where the "Amurru" or Amorites are depicted with that fidelity to nature = which=20 characterised the art of ancient Egypt. They belonged to the white race, = and,=20 like other members of the white race, were tall in stature and impatient = of the=20 damp heat of the plains. Their beard and eye-brows are painted red, = their hair a=20 light red-brown, while their eyes are blue. The skin is a sunburnt = white, the=20 nose straight and regular, the forehead high, and the lips thin. They = wore=20 whiskers and a pointed beard, and dressed in long robes furnished with a = sort of=20 cape. Their physical characteristics are those of the Libyan neighbours = of the=20 Egyptians on the west, the forefathers of the fair-skinned and blue-eyed = Kabyles=20 or Berbers who inhabit the mountains of northern Africa to-day. = Anthropologists=20 connect these Libyans with the Kelts of our own islands. At one time, it = would=20 seem, a Kelto-Libyan race existed, which spread along the northern coast = of=20 Africa to western Europe and the British Isles. The Amorites would = appear to=20 have been an eastern offshoot of the same race.

Wherever they went, the members of the race buried their dead in rude = stone=20 cairns or cromlechs, the dolmens of the French antiquarians. We find = them in=20 Britain and France, in the Spanish peninsula, and the [pg 72] north of Africa. They are = also found in=20 Palestine, more especially in that portion of it which was the home of = the=20 Amorites. The skulls found in the cairns are for the most part of the=20 dolichocephalic or long-headed type; this too is the shape of skull=20 characteristic of the modern Kabyle, and it has been portrayed for us by = the=20 Egyptian artists in the pictures of their Amorite foes.

In the days of the Egyptian artists=97the age of the Eighteenth and = two=20 following dynasties (B.C. 1600-1200)=97the special seat of the Amorites = was the=20 mountainous district immediately to the north of Palestine. But Amorite = kingdoms=20 were established elsewhere on both sides of the Jordan. Not long before = the=20 Israelitish invasion, the Amorite king Sihon had robbed Moab of its = territory=20 and founded his power on the ruins of that of the Egyptian empire. = Farther=20 north, in the plateau of Bashan, another Amorite king, Og, had his = capital,=20 while Amorite tribes were settled on the western side of the Jordan, in = the=20 mountains of southern Canaan, where the tribe of Judah subsequently = established=20 itself. We even hear of Amorites in the mountain-block of Kadesh-barnea, = in the=20 desert south of Canaan; and the Amorite type of face, as it has been = depicted=20 for us on the monuments of Egypt, may still be often observed among the = Arab=20 tribes of the district between Egypt and Palestine.

Jerusalem, Ezekiel tells us, had an Amorite as well [pg 73] as a Hittite parentage, and = Jacob=20 declares that he had taken his heritage at Shechem out of the hand of = the=20 Amorite with his sword and bow. It must be remembered, however, that the = term=20 "Amorite" is sometimes used in the Old Testament in its Babylonian = sense, as=20 denoting an inhabitant of Canaan, whatever might be the race to which he = belonged; we cannot always infer from it the nationality or race of = those to=20 whom it is applied. Moreover, individual branches of the Amorite stock = had names=20 of their own. In the north they were known as Hivites, at Hebron they = were=20 called Anakim, at Jerusalem they were Jebusites. The Amorite kings of = Bashan are=20 described as Rephaim, a word which the Authorised Version translates = "giants."=20 It was only on the northern frontier of Palestine and in the kingdom of = Sihon=20 that the name of "Amorite" alone was used.

The Babylonian conquests introduced into Canaan the government and = law, the=20 writing and literature, of Babylonian civilisation. The Babylonian = language even=20 made its way to the west, and was taught, along with the script, in the = schools=20 which were established in imitation of those of Chald=E6a. Babylonian = generals and=20 officials lived in Palestine and administered its affairs, and an active = trade=20 was carried on between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean coast. The = trade-road=20 ran through Mesopotamia past the city of Harran, and formed a link = between the=20 Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf.

[pg 74]=20

From an early date libraries had existed in Babylonia stored with the = literature of the country. Similarly, libraries now grew up in "the land = of the=20 Amorites," and the clay tablets with which they were filled made known = to the=20 west the legends and records of Chald=E6a. Amorite culture was modelled = on that of=20 Babylonia.

Babylonian influence lasted for centuries in western Asia. In the age = of=20 Abraham the Amorites still obeyed the suzerainty of the Babylonian = kings.=20 Khammurabi, the Amraphel of the Book of Genesis, calls himself king of = the=20 country of the Amorites as well as of Babylon, and his great-grandson = does the=20 same. At a later date Babylonia itself was conquered by a foreign line = of kings,=20 and Canaan recovered its independence. But this was of no long duration. = Thothmes III., of the Eighteenth Egyptian dynasty (B.C. 1503-1449), made = it a=20 province of Egypt, and the Amorites were governed by Egyptian prefects = and=20 commissioners. The cuneiform tablets found at Tel el-Amarna in Upper = Egypt give=20 us a vivid picture of its condition at the close of the Eighteenth = dynasty. The=20 Egyptian power was falling to pieces, and Palestine was threatened by = Hittite=20 invaders from the north. The native governors were fighting with one = another or=20 intriguing with the enemies of Egypt, while all the time protesting = their=20 loyalty to the Pharaoh. Ebed-Asherah and his son Aziru governed the = Amorites in=20 the north, and the [pg=20 75] prefect of Phoenicia sends bitter complaints to the Egyptian = court of=20 their hostility to himself and their royal master. Aziru, however, was = an able=20 ruler. He succeeded in clearing himself from the charge of complicity = with the=20 Hittites against whom he had been sent, as well as in getting the better = of his=20 Phoenician rival. The latter disappears from history, while the Amorites = are=20 allowed to settle undisturbed in Zemar and other cities of inland = Phoenicia.

Under Ramses II. of the Nineteenth dynasty, Canaan still yielded a = reluctant=20 obedience to Egypt. In the troubles which had followed the fall of the=20 Eighteenth dynasty, it had shaken itself free from foreign authority, = but had=20 been reconquered by Seti I., the father of Ramses. Egyptian authority = was=20 re-established even on the eastern side of the Jordan; but it did not = continue=20 for long. Ramses was hardly dead before Egypt was invaded by Libyans = from the=20 west and robber hordes from the Greek seas, and though the invasion was=20 ultimately beaten back, its strength had been exhausted in the struggle. = The=20 Egyptian empire in Canaan passed away for ever, and the Canaanites were = left=20 free to govern themselves.

The kingdom of Sihon was one of the results of this ending of = Egyptian rule.=20 The Amorites became a power once more. A few years later Egypt was again = attacked by armed invaders from the north. The assailants poured into it = both by=20 sea and land. Fleets [pg=20 76] of ships filled with Philistines and Ach=E6ans and other = northern=20 tribes entered the mouths of the Nile, while a vast army simultaneously = attacked=20 it by land. The army, we are told, had encamped in "the land of the = Amorites,"=20 and they carried with them on their farther march recruits from the = countries=20 through which they passed. The Amorite "chief" himself was among those = who=20 followed the barbarians to Egypt, eager for the spoils of the wealthiest = country=20 in the ancient world.

Ramses III. of the Twentieth dynasty was now on the throne. He = succeeded in=20 rolling back the wave of invasion, in gaining a decisive victory over = the=20 combined military and naval forces of the enemy, and in pursuing them to = the=20 frontiers of Asia itself. Gaza, the key to the military road which ran = along the=20 sea-board of Palestine, fell once more into Egyptian hands; and the = Egyptian=20 troops overran the future Judah, occupying the districts of Jerusalem = and=20 Hebron, and even crossing the Jordan. But no permanent conquest was = effected;=20 Ramses retired again to Egypt, and for more than two centuries no more = Egyptian=20 armies found their way into Canaan. Gaza and the neighbouring cities = became the=20 strongholds of the Philistine pirates, and effectually barred the road = to=20 Asia.

The campaign of Ramses III. in southern Palestine must have taken = place when=20 the Israelites were still [pg=20 77] in the desert. Between the two invasions of Egypt by the = barbarians=20 of the north, there was no great interval of time. The Exodus, which had = been=20 due in part to the pressure of the first of them in the reign of = Meneptah, was=20 separated by only a few years from the capture of Hebron by Caleb, which = must=20 have occurred after its evacuation by the Egyptian troops. The great = movement=20 which brought the populations of Asia Minor and the Greek islands upon = Canaan=20 and the Nile, and which began in the age of the Exodus, was over before = the=20 children of Israel had emerged from the wilds of the desert.

In the Old Testament the Amorites are constantly associated with = another=20 people, the Hittites. When Ezekiel ascribes an Amorite parentage to = Jerusalem,=20 he ascribes to it at the same time a Hittite parentage as well. The same = interlocking of Amorite and Hittite that meets us in the Bible, meets us = also on=20 the monuments of Egypt. Here, too, we are told that Kadesh on the = Orontes, the=20 Hittite capital, was "in the land of the Amorites." It was, in fact, on = the=20 shores of the Lake of Homs, in the midst of the district over which the = Amorites=20 claimed rule.

The Hittites were intruders from the north. The Egyptian monuments = have shown=20 us what they were like. Their skin was yellow, their eyes and hair were = black,=20 their faces were beardless. Square and prominent cheeks, a protrusive = nose, with=20 retreating chin [pg 78]=20 and forehead and lozenge-shaped eyes, gave them a Mongoloid appearance. = They=20 were not handsome to look upon, but the accuracy of their portraiture by = the=20 artists of Egypt is confirmed by their own monuments. The heads = represented on=20 the Egyptian monuments are repeated, feature by feature, in the Hittite=20 sculptures. Ugly as they were, they were not the caricatures of an = enemy, but=20 the truthful portraits of a people whose physical characteristics are = still=20 found, according to Sir Charles Wilson, in the modern population of=20 Cappadocia.

The Hittites wore their hair in three plaits, which fell over the = back like=20 the pigtail of a Chinaman. They dressed in short tunics over which a = long robe=20 was worn, which in walking left one leg bare. Their feet were shod with = boots=20 with turned-up ends, a sure indication of their northern origin. Such = boots, in=20 fact, are snow-shoes, admirably adapted to the inhabitants of the=20 mountain-ranges of Asia Minor, but wholly unsuited for the hot plains of = Syria.=20 When, therefore, on the walls of the Ramesseum we find the Theban = artists=20 depicting the defenders of Kadesh on the Orontes with them, we may = conclude that=20 the latter had come from the colder north just as certainly as we may = conclude,=20 from the use of similar shoes among the Turks, that they also have come = from a=20 northern home. In the Hittite system of hieroglyphic writing, the boot = with=20 upturned end occupies a prominent place.

[pg 79]=20

When the Tel el-Amarna tablets were written (B.C. 1400), the Hittites = were=20 advancing on the Egyptian province of Syria. Tunip, or Tennib, near = Aleppo, had=20 fallen, and both Amorites and Canaanites were intriguing with the = invader. The=20 highlands of Cappadocia and the ranges of the Taurus seem to have been = the=20 cradle of the Hittite race. Here they first came into contact with = Babylonian=20 culture, which they adopted and modified, and from hence they poured = down upon=20 the Aram=E6an cities of the south. Carche-mish, now Jerabl=FBs, which = commanded the=20 chief ford across the Euphrates, fell into their hands, and for many = centuries=20 remained one of their capitals. But it was not until the stormy period = which=20 signalised the overthrow of the Eighteenth Egyptian dynasty, that the = Hittites=20 succeeded in establishing themselves as far south as Kadesh on the = Orontes. The=20 long war, however, waged with them by Ramses II. prevented them from = advancing=20 farther; when peace was made at last between them and the Egyptians, = both sides=20 had been exhausted by the struggle, and the southern limit of Hittite = power had=20 been fixed.

The kings of Kadesh had, however, been at the head of a veritable = empire;=20 they were able to summon allies and vassals from Asia Minor, and it is = probable=20 that their rule extended to the banks of the Halys in Cappadocia, where = Hittite=20 remains have been found. Military roads connected the Hittite cities of=20 Cappadocia [pg = 80] with=20 the rest of Asia Minor, and monuments of Hittite conquest or invasion = have been=20 met with as far west as the neighbourhood of Smyrna. These monuments are = all=20 alike distinguished by the same peculiar style of art, and by the same = system of=20 pictorial writing. The writing, unfortunately, has not yet been = deciphered, but=20 as the same groups of characters occur wherever an inscription in it is = found,=20 we may infer that the language concealed beneath it is everywhere one = and the=20 same.

When the Assyrians first became acquainted with the West, the = Hittites were=20 the ruling people in Syria. As, therefore, the Babylonians had included = all the=20 inhabitants of Syria and Palestine, whatever might be their origin, = under the=20 general name of Amorites, the Assyrians included them under the name of=20 Hittites. Even the Israelites and Ammonites are called "Hittites" by an = Assyrian=20 king. It is possible that traces of this vague and comprehensive use of = the name=20 are to be met with in the Old Testament; indeed, it has been suggested = that the=20 Hittites, or "sons of Heth," from whom Abraham bought the cave of = Machpelah,=20 owed their name to this cause. In the later books of the Hebrew = Scriptures the=20 Hittites are described as a northern population, in conformity with the = Egyptian=20 and Assyrian accounts.

The Hittites of Hebron, however, may really have been an offshoot of = the=20 Hittite nations of the north. [pg 81] The "king of the Hittites" accompanied = the=20 northern barbarians when they invaded Egypt in the reign of Ramses III., = and=20 Hittite bands may similarly have followed the Hyksos conquerors of Egypt = several=20 centuries before. One of these bands may easily have settled on its way = at=20 Hebron, which, as we are told, was built seven years before Zoan, the = Hyksos=20 capital. At Karnak, moreover, an Egyptian artist has represented the = people of=20 Ashkelon with faces of a Hittite type, while Ezekiel bears witness to = the=20 presence of a Hittite element in the founders of Jerusalem. But the fact = that=20 Thothmes III. in the century before Moses calls the Hittite land of the = north=20 "the Greater," is the best proof we can have that there was a Hittite = colony=20 elsewhere, which was well known to the Egyptian scribes. The "Greater" = implies=20 the Less, and the only Lesser Hittite land with which we are acquainted = is that=20 of which the Book of Genesis speaks.

So far as we can judge from the evidence of proper names, the = Hittites=20 belonged to a race which was spread from the Halys in Asia Minor to the = shores=20 of Lake Urumiyeh. The early inhabitants of Armenia, who have left us=20 inscriptions in the cuneiform character, also belonged to it. So also = did the=20 people of Comag=EAn=EA, and it seems probable that the ruling class in = northern=20 Mesopotamia did the same. Here there existed a kingdom which at one time = exercised a considerable amount of power, and whose princesses were = [pg 82] married = to the=20 Pharaohs of the Eighteenth dynasty. This was the kingdom of Aram = Naharaim,=20 called Naharina in the Egyptian texts, Mitanni by its own inhabitants. = The=20 language of Mitanni was of a very peculiar type, as we learn from the = tablets of=20 Tel el-Amarna, one or two of which are written in it. Like the Hittites = in=20 Syria, the Mitannians appear to have descended from the north upon the = cities of=20 the Semites, and to have established themselves in them. Mitanni was at = the=20 height of its influence in the sixteenth and fifteenth centuries before = our era;=20 its armies made their way even into Canaan, and the Canaanite princes = intrigued=20 from time to time against their Egyptian masters, not only with the = Babylonians=20 and Hittites, but also with the kings of Mitanni.

Before the time of David the power and almost the name of Mitanni had = passed=20 away. The Hittite empire also had been broken up, and henceforth we hear = only of=20 "the kings of the Hittites" who ruled over a number of small states. The = Semites=20 of Syria had succeeded in rolling back the wave of Hittite conquest, and = in=20 absorbing their Hittite conquerors. The capture of Carchemish by Sargon = of=20 Assyria in B.C. 717 marks the end of Hittite dominion south of the = Taurus.

But the Hittite invasion had produced lasting results. It had severed = the=20 Semites of Assyria and Babylonia from those of the West, and planted the = barrier=20 of [pg 83] = a foreign=20 population on the highroad that ran from Nineveh to the Mediterranean. = The=20 tradition of Babylonian culture in western Asia was broken; new = influences began=20 to work there, and the cuneiform system of writing to be disused. Room = was given=20 for the introduction of a new form of script, and the Phoenician = alphabet, in=20 which the books of the Old Testament were written, made its way into = Canaan.=20 When Joshua crosses the Jordan there is no longer any trace in Palestine = of=20 either Babylonian or Egyptian domination.

Like the Amorites and the Amorite tribe of Jebusites at Jerusalem, = the=20 Hittites were mountaineers.² = The hot river-valleys and the sea-coast were inhabited by Canaanites. = Canaan is=20 supposed to mean "the lowlands" of the Mediterranean shore; here the = Canaanites=20 had built their cities, and ventured in trading ships on the sea. But = they had=20 also settled in the inland plains, and more especially in the valley of = the=20 Jordan. The plain of Jezreel formed, as it were, the centre of the = Canaanitish=20 kingdoms.

The Canaanites were Semites in speech, if not in blood. The language = of=20 Canaan is what we term Hebrew, and must have been adopted either by the=20 Israelites or by the patriarchs their forefathers. Between the dialect = of the=20 Phoenician inscriptions and that of the Old Testament the difference is = but=20 slight, [pg = 84] and the=20 tablets of Tel el-Amarna carry back the record of this Canaanitish = speech to the=20 century before the Exodus.

In person, as we learn from the Egyptian monuments, the Canaanites = resembled=20 their descendants, the modern inhabitants of Palestine. They belonged to = the=20 white race, but had black hair and eyes. They dressed in = brilliantly-coloured=20 garments, stained with that purple or scarlet dye in search of which = they=20 explored the coasts of the Greek seas, and which was extracted from the = shell of=20 the murex. On their feet they wore high-laced sandals; their hair was = bound with=20 a fillet. Their skill as sailors was famous throughout the Oriental = world; the=20 cities of the Phoenician coast already possessed fleets of ships in the = age of=20 the Eighteenth Egyptian dynasty, and their merchants carried on a = maritime trade=20 with the islands of the =C6gean and the coast of Africa. Before the time = of=20 Solomon their vessels had found their way to Tartessus in Spain, perhaps = even to=20 Cadiz, and the alliance between Hiram and the Israelitish king enabled = the=20 Tyrians to import gold and other precious things from Africa and Arabia = through=20 the ports of southern Edom. The Tel el-Amarna letters refer to the = riches of=20 Tyre, and excavations on the site of Lachish have brought to light amber = beads=20 ef the same age, which indicate intercourse with the Baltic. It is = possible that=20 the tin which was needed in such large quantities for the [pg 85] bronze tools and weapons of = the ancient=20 East was derived from Cornwall; if so, it would have been brought, like = the=20 amber, across Europe along the road which ended at the extremity of the = Adriatic=20 Gulf.

The wealth of the Canaanitish merchants was great. The spoils carried = away to=20 Egypt by Thothmes III. after his conquest of Palestine are truly = astonishing.=20 Beautiful vases of gold and silver, artistically moulded bronzes, = furniture=20 carved out of ebony and cedar and inlaid with ivory and precious stones, = were=20 among the booty. Iron, which was found in the hills, was freely used, = and made=20 into armour, weapons, and chariots. It was "the chariots of iron" which=20 prevented the Israelites from capturing and sacking the cities of the = plains.=20 Wealth brought with it a corresponding amount of luxury, which to the = simpler=20 Hebrews of the desert seemed extravagant and sinful. It was associated = with a=20 licentiousness which Canaanitish religion encouraged rather than = repressed.

The religion was a nature-worship. The supreme deity was addressed as = Baal or=20 "Lord," and was adored in the form of the Sun. And as the Sun can be = baleful as=20 well as beneficent, parching up the soil and blasting the seed as well = as=20 warming it into life, so too Baal was regarded sometimes as the friend = and=20 helper of man, sometimes as a fierce and vengeful deity who could be = appeased=20 only by blood. In times of national or individual distress his = worshippers were=20 called upon [pg = 86] to=20 sacrifice to him their firstborn; nothing less costly could turn away = from them=20 the anger of their god. By the side of Baal was his colourless wife, a = mere=20 reflection of the male divinity, standing in the same state of = dependence=20 towards him as the woman stood to the man. It was only the unmarried = goddess,=20 Ash=EArah as she was called by the Canaanites, who had a personality of = her own.=20 And since Ash=EArah came in time to be superseded by Ashtoreth, who was = herself of=20 Babylonian origin, it is probable that the idea of separate = individuality=20 connected with Ash=EArah. was due to the influence of Babylonian = culture. Ash=EArah=20 was the goddess of fertility, and though the fertility of the earth = depends upon=20 the Sun, it was easy to conceive of it as an independent principle.

The name Baal was merely a title. It was applied to the supreme deity = of each=20 city or tribe, by whatever special name he might otherwise be known. = There were=20 as many Baals or Baalim as there were states or cults. Wherever a = high-place was=20 erected, a Baal was worshipped. His power did not extend beyond the = district in=20 which he was adored and to which he was territorially attached. The Baal = of=20 Lebanon was distinct from the Baal of Tyre or Sidon, though in every = case the=20 general conception that was formed of him was the same. It was the = attributes of=20 particular Baalim which differed; Baal was everywhere the Sun-god, but = in one=20 place he showed himself under one [pg 87] shape, in another place under another. = The=20 goddesses followed the analogy of the gods. Over against the Baalim or = Baals=20 stood the Ashtaroth or Ashtoreths. The Canaanitish goddess manifested = herself in=20 a multitude of forms.

As the firstborn was sacrificed to the god, so chastity was = sacrificed to the=20 goddess. The temples of Ashtoreth were crowded with religious = prostitutes, and=20 the great festivals of Canaan were orgies of licentious sin. It was a=20 combination of nature-worship with the luxury that was born of = wealth.

The Canaanites of Phoenicia believed that they had originally = migrated from=20 the Persian Gulf. In Canaan, at all events, according to the Book of = Genesis,=20 the "Fishers" city of Sidon was the first that was built. But Tyre also, = a few=20 miles to the north of it, claimed considerable antiquity. The temple of = Melkarth=20 or Melek-Kiryath, "the King of the City," the name under which the Baal = of Tyre=20 was worshipped, had been built on the island-rock twenty-three centuries = before=20 the time of Herodotus, or B.C. 2700. Gebal or Byblos, still farther to = the=20 north, had been renowned for its sanctity from immemorial times. Here = stood the=20 sanctuary of Baalith, the "lady" of Gebal, of whom we hear in the = tablets of Tel=20 el-Amarna. Still farther north were other cities, of which the most = famous was=20 Arvad, with its harbour and fleet. Southward were Dor and Joppa, the = modern=20 Jaffa, while inland were [pg=20 88] Zemar and Arqa, mentioned in the Book of Genesis and the Tel=20 el-Amarna correspondence, but which ceased to be remembered after the = age of the=20 Exodus. Before the Israelites entered Canaan they had been captured by = the=20 Amorites, and had passed into insignificance.

Between the Canaanites of the coast and the Canaanites of the = interior a=20 difference grew up in the course of centuries. This was caused by the = sea-trade=20 in which the cities on the coast engaged. The "Phoenicians," as they = were=20 termed, on the coast became sailors and merchants, while their brethren = farther=20 inland were content to live on the products of agriculture and import = from=20 abroad the luxuries they required. While Tyre and Sidon were centres of=20 manufacture and maritime trade, Megiddo and Hazor remained agricultural. = After=20 the Hebrew invasion the difference between them became greater: = Phoenicia=20 continued independent; the Canaanites of the interior were extirpated by = the=20 Israelites or paid tribute to their conquerors. Little by little the = latter=20 amalgamated with the conquered race; towns like Shechem contained a = mixed=20 population, partly Hebrew and partly native; and the Israelites adopted = the=20 manners and religion of the Canaanites, worshipping at the old = high-places of=20 the country, and adoring the Baalim and Ashtaroth. The Amorite heads = depicted at=20 Karnak above the names of the places captured by Shishak in Judah show = how=20 little the population of [pg=20 89] southern Palestine had changed up to the time of Solomon's = death.

Canaan was ruined by its want of union. The Canaanitish cities were=20 perpetually fighting with one another; even the strong hand of the = Pharaoh in=20 the days of Egyptian supremacy could not keep them at peace. Now and = again,=20 indeed, they united, generally under a foreign leader, but the union was = brought=20 about by the pressure of foreign attack, and was never more than = temporary.=20 There was no lack of patriotism among them, it is true; but the = patriotism was=20 confined to the particular city or state to which those who were = inspired by it=20 belonged. The political condition of Canaan resembled its religious = condition;=20 as each district had its separate Baal, so too it had its separate = political=20 existence. If there were many Baals, there were also many kinglets.

The fourteenth century B.C. was a turning-point in the history of = Canaan. It=20 witnessed the fall of the Egyptian supremacy which had succeeded the = supremacy=20 of Babylonia; it also witnessed the severance of western Asia from the = kingdoms=20 on the Euphrates and Tigris, and the consequent end of the direct = influence of=20 Babylonian culture. The Hittites established themselves in Syria "in the = land of=20 the Amorites," while at the same time other invaders threatened Canaan = itself.=20 The Israelites made their way across the Jordan; the Philistines seized = the=20 southern portion of the coast.

[pg 90]=20

The Philistine invasion preceded that of the Israelites by a few = years. The=20 Philistines were sea-robbers, probably from the island of Krete. = Zephaniah calls=20 them "the nation of the Cherethites" or Kretans, and their features, as=20 represented on the Egyptian monuments, are of a Greek or Aryan type. = They have=20 the straight nose, high forehead, and thin lips of the European. On = their heads=20 they wear a curi

EARLY ISRAEL AND THE SURROUNDING NATIONS

BY THE REV. A.H. SAYCE PROFESSOR OF ASSYRIOLOGY AT OXFORD

AUTHOR OF "THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE HEBREWS," &c

LondonSERVICE & PATON5 HENRIETTA STREETCOVENT=20 GARDEN1899

INTRODUCTION

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

THE ISRAELITES

CHAPTER II

CANAAN

London
SERVICE & PATON
5 HENRIETTA STREET
COVENT=20 GARDEN
1899