Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/598

 584 HEBREWS remained, and with the exception of a strictly national part still is, the general code of the Hebrews. Its aims are the moral perfection of the individual and the welfare of society. Its means are chiefly a common and central worship, under the direction of the Aaronites (KoJienim), whose restrictive obligations are, however, not equalled by the privileges they enjoy ; three festivals for the commemoration of great national events, thanksgiving and re- joicing, as well as for the annual gathering of the whole people ; a fast day for repentance ; periodical readings of the law ; general educa- tion through the Levites its guardians (Deut. xxxiii. 10) ; a weekly day of rest (sabbath) for the people and their animals ; the seventh year as a periodical time of rest for the earth, as well as for the extinction of various pecuniary claims ; numerous and most frequently repeat- ed obligations for the support of the fatherless and widow, the poor and the stranger ; an organ- ized judiciary and police ; a severe penal code ; strict rules for the preservation of health and cleanliness ; circumcision as a bodily mark of the covenant; and numerous other rites and ceremonies designed to guard the nationality, or to lead to the preservation of truths and principles. The chief principles are : self-sanc- tification and righteousness, in imitation of God, who is holy and righteous (Lev. xix. 2, &c.) ; brotherly love and equality, for all peo- ple are his children (Deut. xiv. 1) ; freedom, for all are bound exclusively to his service (Lev. xxv. 55) ; limited right of property, for the whole land belongs to him (Lev. xxv. 23). The principal promise of reward is the nat- ural share of the individual in the happi- ness of society ; the principal threat of celes- tial punishment, his natural share in its mis- fortunes. The form of government is the re- publican (though a limited monarchy may be established if the people demand it), with the moral theocratic dictatorship of a prophet (na- ~bi) like the lawgiver, with the sovereignty of the people who judge the merits and claims of the prophet above it, and above all the majesty of the divine law, which can be explained and developed, but not altered. The whole system is entirely practical, containing no definitions of supernatural things, except in a negative form, no articles of belief, no formulas of prayer. But the difficulties of introducing this system of institutions were as immense as those of maintaining the nation in the desert. The first census showed 22,000 male Levites above one year of age, and 603,550 males of other tribes over 20, including 22,273 first born. Provisions were scanty, water was scarce, dangers were constant ; the people were an unruly mass of freed slaves, who often regretfully thought of the flesh pots of Egypt and of the quiet care- lessness of bondage ; a multitude of non-Israel- ites who had joined them regretted the visible gods of their former worship ; envy and am- bition often augmented the existing dissatis- faction. Moses was still on Mount Sinai when the people compelled his brother Aaron to give them, in a golden calf, an imitation of the Egyp- tian Apis, a visible god. Moses, descending, broke the tablets of the covenant in his anger, and restored order by a massacre of the idola- trous rioters, but almost despaired of his mission and desired to die. A pompous worship was now introduced, and sacrifices were ordained, of which a later prophet, Jeremiah (vii. 22), significantly says in the name of God : " For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices." Moses removed his tent from the camp. All difficulties, however, were con- quered by the " man of God," who consoled himself with the idea that a generation educated under his guidance would replace that of the desert. Having passed around the lands of the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites, he con- quered those of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and of Og, king of Bashan (Batansea), E. of the Jordan, giving them to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and to half the tribe of Manasseh, and died on Mount Nebo before entering the land of promise. The man who was " meek above all men that were on the face of the earth" died in voluntary loneliness, and " no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." Joshua, his pupil and appointed successor, an Ephraimite, now led the 13 tribes of Israel, named after 11 sons of Jacob and the two sons of Joseph, across the Jordan into Canaan (or Palestine proper), which was conquered after a war of extermination, and allotted to the tribes of Judah, Ephraim, Manasseh (the other half), Benjamin, Simeon, Zebulun, Issa- char, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan. The Levites, who were to live by tithes, received no separate division, but a number of cities within the lim- its of every tribe, among others the historical places of Gibeon, Geba, Beth-horon, Mahanaira, Heshbon, Jaezer, Hebron, Shechem, Golan, Ke- desh, and Ramoth-Gilead ; of which the last five together with Bezer were selected as towns of refuge for involuntary murderers, while Shi- loh became the central city, receiving the tab- ernacle with the ark of the covenant. Phine- has, son of Eleazar, the zealous priest, and Ca- leb, son of Jephunneh, were among the most distinguished assistants of Joshua. Before his death, Joshua held an assembly of the whole nation at Shechem, in which he called upon them to choose once more between the gods of their ancestors beyond the Euphrates, those of the conquered Amorites, and the God whom he was determined to follow with his house. The people chose their Deliverer and Preserver, and confirmed their choice by a new covenant ; but scarcely were the elders gone who had witnessed the whole work of deliverance and maintained the order of Joshua, when idolatry and anarchy became general. Parts of the country remained unconquered, principally in the hands of the Phoanicians in the N. W., of the Philistines in the S. W., and of the Jebusites