the field against any other foe. There was apparently a tradition that a great day of Yahweh was not far away, in which he would signally vindicate himself upon invaders of his territory. This optimistic hope lulled the conscience of the people into a false security. Some aggressive movement was needed, more aggressive than was contemplated by the writers of the early narratives, if the religion of Israel was to make any real advance. Such a movement came in the preaching of the great prophets.

CHAPTER VI

THE EARLIER PROPHETS.

ACCORDING to ancient conceptions the gods are not far from any one of us, and they take an interest in the affairs of individual men. Hence the history of religion shows a variety of ways in which men have tried to discover the will of the divinity. Some of these ways were not in vogue in Israel. Observation of the flight of birds or of the conduct of animals, for example, is not alluded to in the Old Testament. Taking the auspices from the entrails of sacrificial animals is also conspicuous by its absence from our documents. Since divination by the liver of an animal slain at the temple was commonly practised in Babylon this absence of allusion in the Hebrew Scriptures is the more remarkable. The Hebrew ritual law enjoins that the liver be burnt on the altar (Lev. 3:15, etc.), probably in conscious opposition to gentile practice. Moreover, astrology, so sedulously cultivated in Babylon, does not seem to have gained a foothold in Israel. There is nowhere in the Bible any allusion to the theory of a close correspondence between what takes place in the visible heavens and what goes on on the earth. Although Yahweh is God of the heavenly armies, prognostication by observation of the constellations is not attempted. The sole exception is the assertion of Deborah: "This is the day in which Yahweh has given thine enemy into thy hand; has not Yahweh gone out before thee?" (Judges 4:14.) Even here the prophetess does no more than express the belief that Yahweh has indicated an auspicious day; in what method we are not told.

The reason why the systematic observation of the heavens

is discouraged by the Hebrews is evidently the fact that such observation was closely connected with the worship of the planets and constellations. A late writer has inserted in the book of Jeremiah a warning against being afraid of the signs of heaven as the other nations are afraid of them (Jer. 10:1f.). The Deuteronomists frequently exhort Israel to keep from this superstition which was rife among the nations, even tolerated in them by Yahweh's own appointment (Deut. 4: 19, etc.). Yahweh's complete control of the heavenly bodies is indicated by the assertion that he has made them to regulate the calendar (Gen. 1:14) and by his making the sun reverse its course (Isaiah 38:7f.). But no prediction is associated with any of these texts. Where the Babylonian star-gazers are alluded to it is in tones of open contempt. Addressing Babylon and anticipating its imminent destruction, the prophet says: "Let now the dividers of the heavens, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up and save thee from the things that shall come upon thee" (Isaiah 47:13). These passages seem to show that astrology, so far as it was practised in Israel at all, was a foreign importation, and, taken with the silence of the documents concerning auspication by the liver, they make it clear that the religion of Israel developed independently of that of Babylon.

This does not mean, however, that various other methods of inquiring the will of the divinity-methods which we call superstitious—were unknown in Israel. The polemic of the Deuteronomist is sufficient evidence: "When thou comest into the land which Yahweh thy God gives thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of these nations; there shall not be found in thee any that makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, who uses divination or practises augury, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whosoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh thy God" (Deut. 18:9-12). The continuation of the passage shows that these ways of ascertaining the will

of the divinity are contrasted with the word of the prophet as the false contrasts with the true. The author indeed regards these not only as false but also as foreign superstitions, but the tenacity with which they were held in Israel, returning after each attempt to suppress them, shows that they were a part of the popular religion. Though violently repressed by the reforming party, they came back into view as soon as pressure was withdrawn, as in the time of Manasseh (II Kings 21: 6).

It is not always easy to discover the nature of the arts denounced by the Deuteronomist. Divination by the sacred lot is certainly one of them. From Ezekiel we learn how this was done. A bundle of arrows was shaken in the presence of the god, and one was drawn from the bundle. Nebuchadrezzar is undecided whether to march against RabbathAmmon or against Jerusalem. At the parting of the ways he consults the teraphim, looks on the liver, and shakes the arrows to and fro. The arrow which comes into his hand is marked "Jerusalem," and this decides the route of the army and the fate of the city (Ezek. 21: 26-28, E. V., vss. 21-23). This passage would not prove that diviners were found in Israel, but in other passages Ezekiel intimates that they were active among his own people, and even brings them into close connection with the prophets (13 9, 23). Isaiah classes them with the judges, prophets, and elders, as pillars of the state (Isaiah 3:2). Reaction against them is shown by Jeremiah, who, however, mentions them in connection with the prophets (Jer. 27:9; 29:8), and the classic expression of this opposition is found in the verse:

"For rebellion is as the sin of divination,

And like the teraphim is obstinacy." (I Sam. 15: 23.)

Another kind of divination is designated by the word which we have rendered augury. Manasseh is accused of it (II Kings 21: 6), and Isaiah reproaches Judah with being full of it, "like the Philistines" (Isaiah 2: 6). Jeremiah

warns the people against the augurs who prophesy a lie (Jer. 279). It is prohibited by the Law (Lev. 19:26). With it we may class soothsaying. The only distinct clue to this form is given in the story of Joseph, where the value of the stolen cup is said to consist in its use for this art (Gen. 44: 15). We conclude that the method was the one used elsewhere

with a magic cup. The cup was filled with water and a little oil was poured upon it. The shape of the drops indicated the answer that was sought. The ascription of this art to Joseph shows that it was not objected to in Israel in the earlier period, though later it was regarded as sinful (II Kings 17:17; 21 6). Its prohibition by the Deuteronomist and by the ritual code followed as a matter of

course.

Another of these methods of getting supernatural knowledge or power is sorcery. As early as the covenant code we find the command: "Thou shalt not suffer a sorceress to live" (Ex. 22:17). This was probably for a double reason; she was in communion with other gods than Yahweh, and she made use of her alleged powers to injure her neighbours in person or property. Ezekiel denounces Jewish women who sew bands for all wrists and make caps for every head, to hunt lives. The purpose is evidently to inflict disease or death upon obnoxious persons, contrary to the will of Yahweh. These women are called prophetesses, from which we are authorised to conclude that they claimed supernatural knowledge, and as they are said to profane the name of Yahweh, we may suppose they claimed to receive revelations from him (Ezek. 13: 17-23). In the time of Jeremiah sorcerers uttered false predictions (Jer. 27: 9), and Malachi denounces them along with other evil-doers (Mal. 3:5). Elsewhere they are associated with Babylon (Isaiah 47: 9 and 12), and with Jezebel, queen of Israel (II Kings 9 : 22). The similarity of ideas in Israel and outside it is indicated by the conflict of the Egyptian sorcerers with Moses, in which they duplicate some of his miracles, although they finally acknowledge his superiority (Ex. 7 : 11).