Hebrew Life and Times Part 3

These ideals were reflected in their conception of their G.o.d. Many of their notions about him were crude and unworthy, even late in their history. This was natural and inevitable in the light of the times in which they lived. But in these Egyptian and desert experiences we see a notable beginning of n.o.bler religious ideals. From this time on they were impelled to think of Jehovah, first of all as the G.o.d who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, and who had taken their part, humble shepherds as they were, against the mighty Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. To that extent, at least, their G.o.d was a G.o.d of justice and mercy. Other ideas, which were inconsistent with this, continued for a time, but gradually fell away, until at length great seers arose who proclaimed that G.o.d is nothing else than justice and mercy; righteousness is the essence of his character, and that is all he asks of men.

"Righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy throne."

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

According to all the Hebrew records, the covenant at Sinai was embodied in a divinely given Decalogue, or a set of ten short commands, which could be counted off on the ten fingers. Two Decalogues are given in Exodus, as coming from Moses at Sinai. One is in Exodus 34. 17-28. The other is the well-known Decalogue in Exodus 20. The former has to do largely with sacrifices and ritual observances. The latter, with its stern demands for right conduct toward one's fellow men, and for the wors.h.i.+p of Jehovah rather than idols, expresses well the new moral and religious impulses which came to the Hebrews under the leaders.h.i.+p of their first great deliverer.

In its original form the Decalogue probably read something as follows:

=Thou shalt have no other G.o.ds before me.= =Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven (or molten) image.= =Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy G.o.d in vain.= =Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.= =Honor thy father and thy mother.= =Thou shalt not kill.= =Thou shalt not commit adultery.= =Thou shalt not steal.= =Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.= =Thou shalt not covet.=

STUDY TOPICS

1. Read in Hastings or any other modern Bible dictionary, the article on "Exodus." Note the testimony of modern travelers on the effect of high winds on the upper part of the Red Sea.

2. Where was Mount Sinai? Look up in Bible dictionary.

3. Draw a map, showing the probable route of the Hebrews after leaving Egypt.

4. What part of the Ten Commandments seems most to reflect the influence of the great deliverance from Egypt? Read Deuteronomy 5.

12-15.

5. Test your memory for the Ten Commandments in their brief form as given in this chapter.

6. The records of the events of this chapter are found in Exodus, chapters 6-12, 14, and 15. Read as much of this as your time will permit.

CHAPTER VI

FROM THE DESERT INTO CANAAN

Once safely out of Egypt, the next problem for Moses and his people was to find a way into Canaan. Through all the centuries the wandering shepherds on the edge of the desert have looked with longing eyes on the fertile valleys and plains of Palestine. To have a settled, comfortable home, with cisterns of water as well as springs and wells; to have fields of wheat, vineyards of grapes, and gardens of melons and all luscious fruits--this is the picture that haunts the wandering Arab, amid the hards.h.i.+ps and monotony of his desert life.

THE LAND OF CANAAN

During the twelfth and eleventh centuries before Christ there was an unusually good opportunity for nomads to settle in Palestine. Before and after that time there were strong empires in control of the land protecting it from invasion. The Greeks and Romans long afterward built a line of fortified towns east of the Jordan on the border of the desert, whose ruins may be seen to-day. In similar ways the Babylonians and the Egyptians had occupied and defended the country.

But just about the time when the Hebrews escaped from Egypt, and for a century and more afterward, both the Egyptian and Babylonian governments were weak. And as the various petty kings of Canaan itself were usually at war with each other, there was no strong government anywhere whose soldiers newcomers would have to face.

=The first invasion from the south.=--Very soon after leaving the mountain of Sinai the Hebrew tribes found themselves on the southern edge of Canaan, in what was afterward known as the South Country, south of Judah. Scouts were sent up as far as the town of Hebron, which was afterward for a time the capital of Judah, to investigate and report on conditions there. They returned with a glowing account of the fertility of the soil. It is even stated in the Hebrew traditions that they brought back as a sample of the crops, one bunch of grapes so large that it had to be carried on a pole between two men.

But with the exception of one of their leaders, a certain Caleb, all the men reported that the cities were strongly fortified and the inhabitants so warlike that an invasion was out of the question. The people adopted this "majority report" in spite of the protests of Moses. It is probable that the life in Egypt, with something of ease and luxury for a time, and then so many years of slavery, had sapped their courage and will power. At any rate, after a brief encounter with some of the tribesmen nearby, they fled in panic into the desert again.

THE WILDERNESS WANDERINGS

There followed, for a generation and more, a period of training somewhat like that which Boy Scouts receive, or should receive, on their "hikes" and camping trips. They learned to be independent and resourceful. It was at times very difficult to find food for themselves, or pasture for their sheep, and there was nothing to eat but the "manna," which they believed their G.o.d provided for them, and which was perhaps in the nature of an edible moss or lichen. At times there was a terrible scarcity of water. Always there was the danger of losing their way on those trackless wastes, and in this matter also they learned to look to their G.o.d as their pillar of cloud by day and their pillar of fire by night, guiding them from oasis to oasis in their search for food and pasturage. Then there were wild beasts and poisonous serpents and, worst of all, hostile tribes with whom more than once they had to fight for their lives.

=Gaining a foothold east of the Jordan.=--All these years of wandering were spent mostly in the desert south of Canaan. Later they worked their way around the lower end of the Dead Sea to the east toward what was later known as the land of Gilead, on the eastern side of the Jordan River.

This region is very fertile and was always noted in Bible times for its fat cattle. But its rolling plains lie open and defenseless toward the desert. Here under Moses' leaders.h.i.+p the Hebrews were able to conquer one or two of the petty local chieftains, and thus gained a foothold from which they might some time make a sally across the River Jordan into central Canaan itself.

=The death of Moses.=--In this eastern country Moses died. According to the Hebrew story, Jehovah gave him a view of the land of Canaan from one of the high mountains overlooking the Jordan River, after which death came. And "no man knoweth of his sepulcher to this day."

He had been loyal to the divine call which had come to him so long ago in a flame which "burned and did not consume," loyal to the mother who had taught him amid the luxuries of an Egyptian palace not to forget his own people and their sorrows. He had led his people out of Egypt and its slavery in defiance of the proud and mighty Pharaoh. And he had taught them to turn to Jehovah as G.o.d of justice and to wors.h.i.+p only him.

THE INVASION OF CANAAN FROM THE EAST

It was not long after the settlement east of the Jordan that the Hebrews began to make raids across the river, in part under the leaders.h.i.+p of one of Moses' lieutenants, Joshua. The first town they captured was Jericho, down in the hot valley of the Jordan River, a few miles north of the Dead Sea. They had friends within the city, a woman named Rahab and her family. Since this was the first city captured it was considered to be sacred to Jehovah. The pity of it is that, in accordance with the standards of that day, this meant the ruthless slaughter of every living thing within its walls, including men, women, and little children.

=New conquests.=--In these early raids some tribes, led by the men of Judah, went southwest and captured a few towns in the mountains west of the Dead Sea. Others, led by the strong tribe of Ephraim, went northwest. Throughout their later history, these were always the two leading tribes, Judah in the south, and Ephraim in the north. After the victories of the fighting men, the women and children and flocks would follow.

We can imagine these rough warriors, with their untrained boys and girls, swarming into the houses of these little towns and villages.

Most of them had never been inside a house before; and they would be eager to look at the furniture and to know the uses of the many strange things: for example, the jar of lye for cleaning, the perfumes on the stand, the earthen vessels for water and milk, the lamps, the baskets made of twigs, the pots for boiling broth, the oven for baking, in the door yard, and the wine press on the hillside where the grapes were trodden at the time of grape harvest.

=The right and wrong of conquest.=--One may ask, what right had the Hebrews to attack and kill these people and seize their homes? Ideal Christian standards develop slowly. In these days of which we speak such standards had hardly been thought of. All weak nations were at the mercy of their stronger neighbors, and no one ever questioned the morality of it. It is good to know, moreover, that conquest, after all, was not the chief method by which the Hebrews made themselves masters of Canaan. After they had established themselves, here and there, in certain towns, and certain sections of the country, they gradually made friends with their Canaanite neighbors whom they had not been able to conquer at the beginning. In time their children intermarried with the children of the Canaanites until at last there came to be one nation, which was known as the Hebrews, or the Children of Israel.

STUDY TOPICS

1. Read any one of the following sections: Numbers 11. 13-14, 20, 21; Deuteronomy 34; Joshua 1. 6.

2. Draw a map showing in a general way the movements of the Hebrews described in this chapter.

3. Look up in the Bible dictionary, "Manna," "Spies," "Kadesh,"

"Jericho."

4. Compare the conquest of Canaan with the treatment of the American Indians by white settlers.

5. How should the natives of Africa be treated in the opening up of Africa to civilization?

CHAPTER VII

LEARNING TO BE FARMERS

The wandering Hebrew shepherds were not savages nor barbarians. In many ways Abraham and his friends were cultured, civilized people; but their civilization was of a different kind from that of the settled farmers and villagers of Canaan. So when the Hebrews crossed the Jordan and gradually fought their way to the highland fields and villages where they were able to settle down and live as farmers and vineyard keepers instead of shepherds, they soon found that they had much to learn. The only teachers to whom they could turn were the Canaanites. Very soon, therefore, they made friends with their Canaanite neighbors.

"Tell us how to plant wheat," the Hebrews said to them, for example; or, "Will you please show us how to prune these grape vines?" or, "Won't you give us a few lessons in driving oxen? We can't make these young steers pull."