Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/141

 History of the Israelites and their Religion. 123 Arabian desert ; whilst Gad and Reuben were content to wrest from the Moabites the grassy slopes of Gilead east of Jordan. During the whole period covered by the immigration, there was nothing in these pastoral tribes, which appeared at various points, claiming a foothold in Palestine, to foreshadow the high destiny to which they were called ; nor that they would constitute themselves into a nation. 1 At the termination of their onward march, when each family had received an allotment, and houses had been erected from one end of Palestine to the other by the new-comers in and about the Canaanites, whom they failed to subdue until the advent of their kings, 2 what was it that prevented these adventitious intruders 1 The only object of this historical summary is to show in what surroundings the temple of the Jews was built. Hence no reference is made to the Israelites prior to their settlement in the Holy Land, because, from our standpoint, the history of the patriarchs, the shorter or longer sojourn of the Israelites in Egypt, and their wanderings in the wilderness, form no part of our subject. Whether Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph be historical characters or heroic and traditional ancestors of the various clans of Israel, does not alter the intrinsic value or the interest which attaches to that charming picture of pastoral life. Nor shall we enter into a critical analysis of the special Genetic and Exodic narrative concerning the Israelites ; for it is a task that has been effectually done by others. If, on the one hand, Egyptian paintings and inscriptions make it probable that a pastoral tribe, driven by famine from the Syrian waste, went to Egypt bearing tissues, skins, and frankincense to the governor of the Delta, in order to obtain corn (Hist, of Art, torn. i. p. 154, fig. 98) ; on the other, the abundant and detailed documents dealing with the period in which similar events are placed contain nothing that bears even a faint resemblance to the biblical account, as to Joseph's governorship, the alarming increase of the Israelites, Moses' career in Egypt, nor the plagues that determined the exodus. It would be important for us to know whether, as has often been advanced, the Israelites were initiated to industrial arts such as are depicted in the second book respecting the ark and the tabernacle, were it not demonstrated that the books containing similar descriptions date from the last days of the Jewish monarchy. On the other hand, frequent passages in Judges, Samuel, and Kings make it evident that down to David, and even Solomon, the Israelites had not advanced beyond the rudimentary crafts known to pastoral tribes or peasantry. Had they been able to execute in the wilderness high-class tapestry, wood and stone work graven and carved, they would not have turned to Phoenicia when they built temple and palaces. Fancy rather than recollection prompted the Jewish writer when he wrote his glowing and minute descriptions ; for those Semitic pastors returned from Egypt as untutored as when driven thither by famine. They left it because of the exactions of some local functionary, just as greedy under the Pharaohs as he is under the Khedive; but without having penetrated beyond the eastern margin of the Delta. If the Jewish mind was influenced by Egypt, it was through Phoenicia in the days of the monarchy, and the Egyptian details observable in the temple were due to Hiram's builders and artificers. 3 "Israel" signifies "God's warrior," and at the outset was probably an honorific name.