Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/209

Rh It was generally an animal—e.g., an eagle, a panther, a buffalo, a bear, a deer, a raccoon, a tortoise, a snake, or a fish, but sometimes one of the winds, a celestial body, or other impressive object or phenomenon.

The Israelites had such badges or totems which have been called standards. The blessings of Jacob and of Moses, which mention several of them, were not merely metaphoric. In the blessing of Jacob, Judah is named as a lion, Issachar as an ass, Dan as a serpent, Naphtali as a hind, Benjamin as a wolf, Joseph as a bough. In that of Moses, four such names occur—Ephraim as a bullock, Manasseh as a bison, Gad as a lion, and Dan as a lion's whelp. From all the evidence on the subject there is reason to believe that these were the leading totems in the tribes mentioned, and the discrepancies in the lists may be accounted for by the fact that the head clans in some tribes had changed in the interval.

David seems to have belonged to the serpent stock. The most prominent among his ancestors bore a serpent name. Some passages in his life show his connection with a serpent totem.

Critics have doubted whether Moses was as much opposed to idolatry as is asserted in the records, for a brazen serpent, perhaps an ancient idol of Jahveh, said to have been set up by him, was in existence until the reign of Hezekiah, who broke it into pieces. True, it may have been an idol of Jahveh, or perhaps it was worshiped as a teraph; but it may have been simply a totem. The lifting up of the brazen serpent by Moses in the wilderness may be more consistently explained by totemism than by idolatry in its usual sense.

Government.—The Israelites in their normal condition were governed by a number of their elders who were presumed to have the greatest wisdom and experience. Special powers were conferred in emergencies upon one man and were intended to be of short duration, but while they lasted they were dictatorial. The judges were despots without a standing army or an organized government. Their selection was due neither to inheritance, to suffrage, nor to violence, but to personal superiority in strength, wisdom, and courage. The usual result was, that the power gained by a ruler was held during his life, and it was sometimes contended for by one of his sons with temporary success. The government of the Indians was substantially the same.

The alliance of the tribes was loose. They seldom hesitated to make war upon one another. Even after nationality had been initiated, the genius of David and the magnificence of Solomon could not permanently weld them together; and doubtless without the later and cohesive establishment of Jahvism they would have often, though perhaps but temporarily, fallen back into an