Lectures on the origin and growth of religion as illustrated by the religion of the ancient Hebrews

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Preface

Mt purpose in these Lectures is to give a short history, as clear as I can make it, of the Eeligion of the Old Testament. By this I mean that I have endeavoured to group the religious material contained in that book in chronological order, and to trace the historical development, which then becomes visible, from its beginning to its end. This beginning has been but lightly touched upon, partly because of its extreme obscurity and partly because of my own insufficient equipment to deal adequately with so complex a problem ; but more space has thus been won for the delineation of that phase of the Jewish religion in which it stood at the close of the Old Testament period, and on the lines of which it was destined to develop for many subsequent centuries.

I have also found it necessary either entirely to omit or to dismiss with bare allusion many topics which, though connected with the main subject, were of subsidiary importance for my special purpose as here defined. Thus I have said nothing about Alexandrian or Hellenistic Judaism, because, while that phase of religion was of

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great interest in itself, and of great importance for the history of Christianity, it lay aloof from and outside the main course of religious development both in the Old Testament itself and in the Eabbinical literature.

The early or Biblical history of the Je-«^ish religion, as of the Jewish people, is still in many important respects shrouded with obscurity. Some four years ago, in a review of Stade's "History of Israel," Prof. Kamphausen said that in the then existing condition of our knowledge he for one would not have ventured to iindertake the task. That I should have dared to grapple with a subject from which such a scholar as Kamphausen shrinks, may indeed seem to indicate the rashness of ignorance or conceit. My partial excuse is that the subject was allotted to me and not chosen by myself. The rare liberality of the Hibbert Trustees led them to think that it might be interesting to have the story of the Old Testament religion put forward from a point of view little known to or hitherto considered by the general public. Hence it was that, at the close of 1888, 1 received the honourable, but very responsible, olfer of which the present book is the result. Whether in accepting that offer I sufficiently weighed the difficulty of the work or my own incapacity, is, I admit, very doubtful. I am painfully conscious that lack of time and of preliminary knowledge has prevented me from giving to many a disputed question that "discipline of hard and minute investigation," without

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wliieh, as Prof. Cheyne has recently said, a man's opinions on Biblical criticism, as on any other department of human science, are not worth having. How far the somewhat novel point of view, which, I hope, has yet always been compatible with impartiality, may have compensated for these various deficiencies, I must leave others to decide. But the dogmatic appearance of many of my statements is assuredly only due either to the exigencies of space or to a necessary avoidance of that constant iteration of qualification and uncertainty which tends to put too heavy a burden upon the patience of the reader, following M. Eenan in the Preface to his "Histoire •d'lsrael," 1 would say. Be pleased to think that a legion of "possibly's" and "probably's" is scattered over the pages of my book.

It is unnecessary to point out in detail what I owe to previous writers in the same field. But I cannot forbear to mention the names of some distinguished scholars, on the results of whose labours my own small work is chiefly based, and to whom I owe the most both for direct information and for suggestive stimulus. From Germany, then, I must single out Stade and Wellhausen; from Holland, Euenen ; and from England, Prof. Cheyne and Mr. Schechter. Of these five, Kuenen is no longer with us. May I add here that this great scholar, in my single interview with him at Leiden in 1889, showed the most kindly interest in my work, and afterwards more

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than once wrote me valuable (and touchingly modest) letters in answer to permitted inquiries on difficult points? It is a pleasure to be able to associate my book even in this small way with the man who was at his death the acknowledged chief and master of the subject with which it deals. To Mr. Schechter I owe more than I can adequately express here. My whole conception of the Law and of its place in Jewish religion and life is largely the fruit of his teaching and inspiration, while almost all the Eabbinic material upon which that conception rests was put before my notice and explained to me by him.

To several other friends I desire here to offer my grateful thanks : to Mr. Estlin Carpenter, Vice-Principal of Manchester New College, Oxford, who read through , the Lectures in proof, and made many valuable suggestions and corrections ; to Mr. Israel Abrahams, who performed the same tiresome office, and also helped me considerably at an earlier stage ; and, above all, to my old teacher and friend, Mr. Arnold Page, Eector of Tendring, Essex, who read the Lectures in a type-written form and made innumerable verbal corrections. Any measure of clearness and simplicity which I may have reached is largely owing to him.

To Mr. Ashton, the Chairman, and to the Hibbert Trustees generally, I beg herewith to express my very grateful acknowledgments, not only for their great liberality in entrusting me with this task, but also for allow-

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ing me to extend the length of the course beyond what was originally intended, and for much sympathy and encouragement shown to me in the delivery of the Lectures.

That this book, in spite of all the help which I have received, will contain many errors, is certain. The last and not the least of the German commentators upon Isaiah ends his Preface with these memorable words : " If one might not believe that even errors, when they are the outcome of honest work, may have good results, no one would venture to write about religion or the Bible at all." To this I would fain add the hope that I have approached this solemn subject in the spirit of one to whom in matters of religion I owe more than to any other living man. Had not a higher and holier duty constrained, I should have asked his permission to dedicate my book to him ; as it is, he has allowed me to use as a kind of motto a quotation from his printed words. They are simple words doubtless, and some may think their warning obvious ; but how much would the world have gained if the investigation of religion and of the Bible had been always conducted from the point of view and in the spirit enjoined upon us by the Master of Balliol !

Table Of Contents

Lecture I.

ORIGIN AND FOUNDATION OF THE HEBREW RELIGION.

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