Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/238

 224 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

recorded in the book of Exodus is the first covenant in which there is a tradition of the mediatorship of a social group between the human and the divine parties to the transaction. The cove- nants with the patriarchs in Genesis, on the contrary, have no social background. The fact that the tradition of the Sinai covenant brings to view the obscure and humble Kenites, is one ground for our confidence that here we are in contact with real history. Of course, the editors do not handle the Kenites intelligently. They find these people of the desert to be a bur- den and an embarrassment, of which they could not be rid with- out recasting the entire material of the tradition. But the sig- nificant thing here emphasized is not the way the tradition is handled, but the simple fact that the Kenites are a part of the tradition. Their presence is in complete accord with the usages of primitive religion; whereas the absence of social mediator- ship stamps the covenants of Genesis as unhistorical.

A very significant indirect witness to the change of religion at Sinai is found in the Pentateuchal use of the terms "elohim" and "Yahweh." Our point of departure will now be the accounts embodying the traditions respecting the first interviews between Moses and Yahweh at the sacred mount. If this god had been worshiped in earlier times by Moses and the Israelites, it is natural to suppose that they would know his name. The Moab- ites knew the name of their god Chemosh. The Israelites after the settlement in Canaan were familiar with the name of their god. For all the heroes, kings, priests, and people knew and used the name of Yahweh. The name was a commonplace in the mouths of Gideon, Jephthah, Samuel, Saul, David, Elijah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and all the rest. But, according to the ancient tradition, when Moses meets this god at Sinai he does not know what to call him. So he asks the question, so strange to modern ears, but so intelligible from the standpoint of primi- tive religion, "What is your name?" This item, together with Moses' lack of circumcision, leads to the inference that in the earliest form of the Sinai tradition Moses was not at once initiated into all the mysteries of the Kenite religion. He knew at this time that the god of Sinai was an elohim — a god; but