Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/364

 334 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jud.-ka. Thus the calf of Dan, the serpent in favour at Jerusalem, were both emblems of Iahveh, and their images the object of a cultus which in a certain measure partook of a national character. 1 In most of the high places, and even in the temple of Jerusalem, the images under notice were associated with a thousand Syrian gods and goddesses ; all the local Baâlîm and Ashtoreths (who had a generic name like the Madonnas of Spain and Italy) — Baal was sun-god, master, lord, in whose honour were raised tall cippi, obelisks, Khammanïm, as emblem of solar rays, tongues of fire ; 2 whilst the prophets tell us that Jewish women had a special venera- tion for the crescent moon, Astarte, whose rites they continued to perform in the exile. 3 Then, too, there was Moloch, to whom children were frequently sacrificed — passed through fire, in the Hinnom Valley, in order to propitiate him. 4 There were times in Jewish history when these alien gods were nigh to displacing Jehovah ; 5 or at least reducing Him to the proportions of a local deity ; and they would undoubtedly have prevailed but for the energetic action of the prophets. Under the tent, in the rustic cottage, or the more pretentious town residence, Jehovah ran even greater risk than in the primi- tive sanctuaries ; for here woman's influence was more deeply felt than in the common and collective life of the Syrian waste. Marriages with Canaanite, Hittite, Moabite, or Phoenician women were frequent among the Hebrews down to the exile. As a natural consequence, they imported in their new homes, along with their idols and amulets, the simple teachings they had learnt at their mother's knee ; and these in their turn they transferred to their children. Every household, before and after the monarchy, 1 If we suppose this to have been a winged serpent, of the nature of those met in Egyptian hypogea, we should have to regard it as having furnished the first outline of those sârâfs or seraphim which Isaiah puts around the throne of Jehovah, in exactly the same position as the kerubs of Ezekiel. Hence sârâfs and seraphim would have been derived from the most familiar symbols of Jehovah : i.e. kerûb from bull, sârâf from serpent. Whatever may be the truth, the Hebrew word sâràf is equivalent to serpent in all cases. 2 Hist, of Art, torn. iii. p. 121. Isa. xvii. 8. 3 Hist, of Art, torn. iii. p. 68. 4 Jer. vii. 18; xliv. 15-25. 5 1 Kings xi. 7 ; 2 Kings xxiii. 37, 39; Jer. xxiii. 35; Levit. xviii. 21 ; 2 Chron. xxvii. 3 ; Ezech. xxiii. 37, 39. Most passages having reference to these cults were carefully selected and submitted to the Protestant School of Theology in Paris by Gédéon Jaulmes, 1885 — entitled K Idolâtrie dans le royaume de Juda depuis la réforme d'Ezéchias (in 8° 70 pages).