of Israel?" The legend, as we now have it, is full of contradictions and repetitions, for it is composed, as we have already hinted,1 of two different stories. But the old legend may still be recovered completely, and if we omit the later elements we can read it in its original form. It runs as follows 2: When Israel had reached the southern boundary of Canaan, in the desert of Paran, Yahweh commanded Moses to send twelve men to inspect the land. Moses obeyed, and ordered the spies to pass through southern Canaan as far as the mountain land, and to observe everything closely — whether the people were powerful or weak, few or many; whether the cities were fortified or not; whether the soil was rich or dry, well wooded or bare of trees. If possible, too, they were to bring back specimens of its products. It was just the season when grapes are ripe. The spies fulfilled their task, and penetrated as far as Hebron, which was built seven years before Zoan, in Egypt. Here Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the sons of Enak, dwelt. When the spies reached the valley of Eshcol, close to Hebron, they cut a vinetwig, with a single cluster of grapes, which was so large that two of them had to carry it on a pole between them. They also gathered some samples of pomegranates and figs. It was from the cluster of grapes that they cut there that the valley took its name of Eshcol, that is, "cluster." Thus laden they returned to Moses, in the desert of Paran, and showed him the fruit, exclaiming at the same time: "The land that we have been in is a glorious land, flowing with milk and honey, and see what fruit it bears. But the inhabitants are mighty, the cities are appallingly strong, and we have actually seen descendants of the Enakites there." This was true enough; for at that time the Amalekites lived in the south, the Hittites, Jebuzites, and Amorites in the mountain land, and the Canaanites on the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan. Now Caleb, who was one of the spies, did not dispute the truth of what his companions said, but when he saw that their report had instantly set the people murmuring, he tried to restore their courage. "Let us attack them," he cried. "We shall conquer the land, for we are powerful enough for the task." But the others still declared: "We are far too weak!" On hearing this the Israelites burst into tears, upon which Yahweh said to Moses: "How long will this people vex me by its want of faith, in spite of all the miracles I have done? I will 1 See p. 307. 2 Numbers xiii. 1, 2, 3, 17-20, 22-24, 26 (partly), 27–31, xiv. 1, 11–25a, 39–15. destroy them by a plague, and will make a far mightier nation of your posterity!" But Moses said: "Lord! thou hast made the Egyptians feel that thou hast redeemed this people with might, and they have spoken of it to the dwellers in this land. They have heard that thou, Yahweh, dost abide in the midst of these tribes, and art seen face to face; that thy cloud stands over them, and thou showest them their way by a column of smoke and fire. If, then, thou bringest them all to nought as a single man, it will be said that thou hast slain them in the wilderness because thou couldst not bring them into the land thou didst promise them. Let thy might be revealed, and forgive this people, according to the greatness of thy mercy, as thou hast done from Egypt until now." Then Yahweh answered: "I will forgive them at your prayer. But as surely as I live and as my glory shall fill the whole land, not one of those who have witnessed all that I have done in Egypt and in the desert shall see the land that I promised to their fathers. For now they have tried my patience ten times by refusing to hear me. But my servant Caleb is of another spirit; he has fulfilled his duty towards me. I will bring him to the place he has visited, and it shall be the possession of his posterity." At that time the Amalekites and the Canaanites were still in the valley. Then Moses told all these words to the people. They were terrified and repentant, and, even though Moses forbade it, they were now determined to attack Zephath. But they were repulsed. In this, as in most other Israelite legends, there is more than one object in view. Its main purpose is to answer the question, why Israel wandered about so long in the desert.1 Incidentally the name of a valley near Hebron is explained. This name, Eshcol, is derived by another legend 2 from one of the early magnates of the neighborhood of Hebron; but here we are told that the valley derived its name from the "cluster" that the spies took from it. In addition to all this, however, the person of Caleb plays an important part in the story, and an explanation is offered of the fact that this Kenizzite had gained an inheritance amongst the Israelites. We find the same representation of the case elsewhere.3 Although, as we have seen, this is not the true explanation of the fact, yet it speaks well for the writer's spiritual perception. He could not deny that, extraordinary as it might appear, a stranger had actually obtained a share in the prom 1 See pp. 307, 308. VOL. I. 2 Genesis xiv. 24. 3 Joshua xiv. 6-15. ises which Yahweh had given to Israel; so he found the solution of the mystery in the supposition that this stranger had earned the privilege by his faith, by his fidelity and perseverance in the service of Yahweh. This shows true spiritual perception. If only Israel had remained faithful to this principle, that a heathen might be raised by piety to the level of the Israelite! But it was not so. To most of the Jews after the captivity this solution of the difficulty was by no means satisfactory. Caleb's faith, however great, would have availed him but little in the eyes of some of them; for their chief pride was in their descent and in the purity of their blood. If Caleb was not of the true "seed of Abraham," he was no child of the promise. Away with him then! The men who passed this judgment supposed it to be sanctioned by the practice of their forefathers. They could not imagine it otherwise. If Caleb, then, according to the old accounts, had received an inheritance in Israel, they argued that he must of necessity have been a descendant of Judah. Before long, accordingly, the following genealogy came into the world. Judah had a son Pharez, and he a son Hezron; Caleb and Jerahmeel were sons of this Hezron, and Caleb in his turn had several sons, amongst whom was Hebron (Caleb's dwelling-place). A number of Judæan families were also included among Caleb's descendants. The spirit that inspired these genealogies is that of intolerance. There is but one people, it says, that stands in the grace of God and is good in his sight. That people is Israel. Whosoever does not belong to it is a heathen. But suppose he is full of devotion and love? That has nothing to do with it. He is a mere heathen. But suppose he loves the people of God and does them good? It is all the same. has no share in God's favor. He So completely was Israel's religion petrified! Such was the dream of spiritual pride from which that teacher strove to rouse it who placed the merciful Samaritan above the pitiless Jew, even though the latter was a priest. 1 1 Chronicles ii. 3-5, 18, 25, 42-55. CHAPTER XV. DEBORAH AND BARAK. JUDGES IV. AND V. AVING spoken in the last chapter of the conquest of southern Canaan, we shall now turn to the north again, and shall see how hard it was for the Israelites to maintain themselves there. But first we must say a word or two about the book from which we derive almost all our knowledge of this period. It is the book of Judges. This work embraces a number of old and trustworthy traditions about the centuries between the conquest of Canaan and the time of Samuel, the last of the Judges. The writer has drawn most of his narratives from trustworthy sources, and in following him, therefore, we are, as a rule, treading upon firm ground. Our gratitude to him would indeed be still greater than it is, if he had given us all that he found in his authorities unmixed and unaltered. But to an Israelite historian this seems to have been a simple impossibility. The book of Judges, like those of Joshua, Samuel, and Kings, is a prophetic work,1 and the author makes history subservient to his object of admonishing the people. This tendency, of course, influenced his representations of the past. In the first place he knows but one cause of disaster to a people faithlessness to Yahweh; and but one way to prosperity and power obedience to Yahweh. He tells his contemporaries, therefore, that Israel suffered much, in ancient times, because it was faithless to its god. The Israelites had not rooted out the Canaanites, and they worshipped idols. So Yahweh punished them by selling them to all their foes. But when Israel repented of its sins, Yahweh raised up a deliverer, and as long as he lived and ruled all was well. When he was dead, however, the people fell into sin again, and the same series of events recurred. The writer himself tells us, in a sort of introduction which follows a short narrative of the conquest and precedes the account of the exploits of his heroes, that this is the point of view from which he looks upon the history of the period. But this view of the connection between piety and prosperity and between faithlessness to Yahweh and adversity is not true. We shall even see that the great fidelity of Israel to Yahweh's commands was one of the very causes which now and then seriously endangered its independence during the period of the Judges and at other times. Such a mistaken idea could not but influence the writer's conceptions of the past. Suppose, for instance, that one of the deliverers of the people had been a worshipper of Baal; the writer of the book of Judges would certainly have been unable to believe anything of the kind, and would have represented the hero as a faithful worshipper of Yahweh; for had it been otherwise, he would have thought, how could he have received power from Yahweh to deliver Israel? We shall see presently that this example is not merely imaginary. Again, neither the writer of this book nor any other Israelite historian possessed in any high degree the power of placing himself in imagination under different conditions of national life from those with which his own experience had made him familiar. Our writer knew, for instance, that the Israelites had no kings during the first centuries after the conquest of Canaan; but he had not the slightest conception of the terrible confusion consequent upon this state of things. He imagined Israel to have been quite a compact nation, governed by judges, and waging war or living at peace as a single whole. This conception is utterly untrue. The connection between the different tribes at this period was for the most part as loose as possible. Each one looked after itself, and it often happened that the misfortunes of one gave no concern to another. As a rule, the so-called judges were as far removed as possible from regular magistrates, by the years of whose government the course of the national history could be measured. Only a few of them ever bore the name of prince or ruled over even one or two of the tribes. For the most part they were heroes who rose up to deliver some oppressed district, and afterwards returned to the plough or the crook, with which they had earned their bread before. If they had other gifts, as well as valor, then no doubt for a longer or shorter period their advice was asked by their neighbors in cases of difficulty, and their word carried weight in the assemblies of the inhabitants of the district in which they lived; but their influence was wholly moral, that is to say, it depended entirely upon personal qualities, such as bodily strength, courage, penetration, or |