ISRAEL
Times,
June
1906,
p.
394),
He
had
come
to
be
regarded
as
a
god
who
manitested
Himself
especially
in
the
phenom-ena
of
storms.
He
is
usually
represented
as
coming
In
a
thunder-storm
(Ps
18,
Ezk
1,
Hab
3,
Is
19',
Job
38),
and
the
regular
name
for
thunder
was
'the
voice
of
Jahweh'
(Ps
29»-,
Job
37').
He
is
also
said
to
have
led
His
people
in
a
cloud
(Ex
13.
14),
to
have
appeared
on
Mount
Sinai
and
in
the
Temple
in
a
cloud
(Ex
19,
1
K
S'"-
");
and
in
the
middle
books
of
the
Pentateuch
the
cloud
is
used
more
than
forty
times
as
the
symbol
of
Jahweh's
presence.
Probably,
then,
the
Israelites
received
Him
from
the
Kenites
as
a
god
of
war
who
manifested
Himself
in
the
storm-cloud
and
uttered
His
terrible
voice
in
thunder.
These
conceptions,
however,
did
not
exhaust
their
thought
of
Him.
The
Israelites
were
Semites,
and
they
thought
of
Him
as
a
god
of
life.
Had
this
not
been
so,
circumcision
would
not
have
been
His
sign,
the
'
pillar
'
and
ashSrah
would
not
have
been
symbolic
instruments
In
His
worship,
the
firstborn
would
not
have
been
offered
to
Him
in
sacrifice,
and
the
genitals
would
not
have
been
the
part
of
the
body
specially
sacred
to
Him.
Barton
has
shown
that
Jahweh
is
an
evolution
out
of
that
primitive
Semitic
conception
which
made
plant
and
animal
fertihty
especially
reveal
deity
{op.
eit.
ch.
vii.).
These
conceptions,
too,
the
Hebrews
in
the
time
of
Moses
held
of
Jahweh.
(3)
The
name
Jahweh,
explained
in
Ex
3"
as
'
I
am
that
I
am'
or
'I
will
be
that
which
I
will
be,'
was
long
thought
to
justify
the
view
that
at
the
time
of
Moses
the
Israelites
regarded
Jahweh
as
the
self-existent
or
uncreated
One.
It
has
now
been
generally
recognized,
however,
that
this
is
only
a
later
Hebrew
explanation
of
a
name
the
original
meaning
of
which
had
been
for-gotten.
In
an
attempt
to
recover
the
lost
original,
many
and
various
theories
have
been
put
forward.
For
a
resume
of
these,
see
Barton
(op,
ett.
^3,
284).
Scholara
are
by
no
means
agreed
as
to
the
meaning
of
the
name.
There
are
almost
as
many
theories
of
its
etymology
as
there
are
different
scholars.
Barton
has
correctly
seen
that
the
name
probably
had
some
reference
to
Jahweh
as
the
God
of
life,
—
the
God
whose
'reward'
is
'the
fruit
of
the
womb'
(Ps
127^),
but
he
failed,
then,
to
see
that
the
etymology
should
be
sought
not
in
Hebrew
but
in
Arabic.
The
Kenites
were
an
Arabian
tribe,
a.nA.
Jahweh
was
no
doubt
an
Arabian
epithet.
Prob-ably
it
is
connected
with
the
root
hawa,
'to
love
passion-ately
'
used
in
some
forms
especially
of
sexual
desire.
If
this
meaning
were
understood
by
Hebrews
at
the
time
of
Moses,
it
was
lost
as
soon
as
the
Israelites
began
to
speak
a
Canaanitiah
dialect.
(4)
It
is
probable
that
the
covenant
between
Jahweh
and
Israel
involved
at
the
time
no
more
than
that
they
would
become
His
worshippers
in
return
for
deUverance,
victory,
and
protection.
In
becoming
His
worshippers,
however,
it
was
necessary
to
have
a
knowledge
of
His
ritual,
i.e.
how
to
worship
Him.
Our
oldest
document
J
gives
a
list
of
ten
commands
or
'
words
'
(Ex
34),
which
its
author
regarded
as
the
basis
of
the
covenant.
As
this
Decalogue
of
J
stands,
it
would
form
a
convenient
summary
of
ritual
law
for
a
nomadic
people
to
carry
In
the
memory.
Some
features
of
it
cannot,
however,
be
as
old
as
Moses,
for
the
feast
of
'unleavened
bread'
is,
as
Wellhausen
and
others
have
demonstrated,
an
agricultural
festival,
which
grew
up
after
the
settlement
in
Canaan.
It
was,
however,
merged
with
the
Passover,
and
its
name
has
probably
been
substituted
for
the
Passover
by
some
editor.
The
Feasts
of
Weeks
and
of
Ingathering
were
also
agricultural
festivals,
but,
as
pointed
out
in
the
preceding
section,
the
latter
goes
back
to
a
nomadic
date
festival.
The
observance
of
the
Sabbath
probably
goes
back,
as
Toy
has
shown
(JBL
xviii.
190
ff.),
to
an
old
taboo.
With
very
little
alteration,
therefore,
the
Decalogue
of
J
suits
all
the
wilderness
condi-tions.
We
may
suppose
that
the
summary
of
ritual
which
Moses
taught
the
IsraeUtes
as
the
basis
of
the
covenant
with
Jahweh
was
somewhat
as
follows;
—
1.
Thou
shalt
worship
no
other
god.
2.
Thou
shalt
make
thee
no
molten
gods.
ISRAEL
3.
The
feast
of
the
Passover
thou
shalt
keep.
4.
The
firstling
of
an
ass
thou
shalt
redeem
with
a
lamb.
5.
None
shall
appear
before
me
empty.
6.
On
the
seventh
day
thou
shalt
rest.
7.
Thou
shalt
observe
the
feast
[of
the
date
harvest].
8.
Thou
shalt
not
offer
the
blood
of
my
sacrifice
with
leavened
bread,
neither
shall
the
sacrifice
of
the
Passover
be
left
until
the
morning.
9
.
The
firstlings
of
thy
flocks
thou
shalt
bring
unto
Jahweh
thy
god.
10.
Thou
shalt
not
seethe
a
kid
in
its
mother's
milk.
These
commands
are
in
part
conjectural,
but
as
they
are
obtained
from
J
by
omitting
the
agricultural
and
later
elements,
they
are
probably
approximately
right.
(5)
It
will
be
noticed
that
the
second
command
is
not
a
prohibition
of
idols,
but
only
of
expensive
idols.
Kautzsch
(Joe.
cU.
629)
thinks
that
the
number
of
refer-ences
to
the
bodily
presence
of
Jahweh
(cf.
e.g.
Ex
33")
may
indicate
that
some
idol
of
Him
existed
in
Sinai.
This
is
quite
possible,
since
the
Decalogue,
as
J
understood
it
in
the
9th
cent.,
did
not
prohibit
such
images.
(6)
Jahweh's
symbol
at
this
time
was
the
sacred
ark.
As
the
Egyptians
and
Babylonians
had
similar
structures
for
carrying
their
gods
(cf
.
Wilkinson,
AndentEgyptians,
iii.
289;
'Isaiah'
inSBOT,
78),
it
is
probable
that
the
ark
was
a
kind
of
movable
sanctuary
for
a
nomadic
people.
A
late
tradition
(1
K
8'-
")
says
that
it
contained
the
Ten
Commandments
written
on
stone.
The
later
versions
of
the
Commandments
differ
so
radically
that
it
is
not
probable
that
an
authoritative
copy
from
such
early
date
was
preserved.
Scholars
suppose
therefore
that
the
ark
contained
an
aeroUte
or
some
such
symbol
of
Jahweh.
Centuries
afterwards,
when
it
was
carried
into
the
camp
of
the
PhiUstines,
it
was
thought
that
Jahweh
Himself
had
come
into
the
camp
(1
S
4).
In
the
J
document
the
ark
plays
a
small
part,
while
in
t
he
E
document
it
is
much
more
prominent
.
J
apparently
thought
much
more
of
Sinai
as
the
home
of
Jahweh.
This
probably
came
about
from
the
fact
that
after
the
settlement
the
ark
was
in
the
possession
of
the
Joseph
tribes
and
became
their
shrine.
(7)
According
to
the
oldest
sources,
there
seems
to
have
been
no
priesthood
at
this
time
except
that
of
Moses
himself.
J
tells
us
that
when
the
covenant
was
ratified,
Moses,
Aaron,
Nadab,
Abihu
and
seventy
elders
of
Israel
went
up
into
Jahweh's
mountain,
but
only
Moses
was
permitted
to
come
before
Him
(Ex
24'-
"■
'■"),
while
E
tells
us
of
a
'tent
of
meeting'
which
Moses
used
to
pitch
at
a
distance
from
the
camp,
and
to
which
he
would
go
to
consult
Jahweh
(Ex
33'-").
and
then
return.
In
this
tent
Joshua,
Moses'
minister,
abode
all
the
time
(Ex
33").
It
is
clear
that
neither
of
these
writers
had
any
conception
of
the
choice
of
the
tribe
of
Levi
for
the
priesthood.
Indeed
E
makes
no
mention
of
the
tribe
of
Levi
anywhere.
Moses
was
in
his
view
apparently
of
one
of
the
Joseph
tribes,
and
how
the
term
'
Levite
'
for
priest
originated
he
does
not
tell
us.
In
Jg
17'
he
tells
us
of
a
Levite
who
belonged
to
the
tribe
of
Judah
(cf.
SBOT,
ad
loc),
so
that
here
'Levite'
cannot
have
a
tribal
signification.
J
tells
us
of
a
tribe
of
Levi
to
which
a
calamity
happened
(Gn
34.
49>'),
and
he
tells
us
also
(Ex
32^-2')
of
a
number
of
men
who
in
a
crisis
attached
(levned)
themselves
to
Moses
for
the
preservation
of
the
religion
of
Jahweh,
and
were,
perhaps,
accordingly
called
'Levites.'
Many
scholars
think
that
the
later
priest-hood
was
developed
out
of
this
band,
and
that
its
identification
with
the
unfortunate
clan
of
Levi
is
due
to
a
later
confusion
of
the
names.
In
the
present
state
of
our
knowledge,
this
is,
perhaps,
the
most
probable
view.
(For
the
great
variety
of
opinion
among
scholars,
cf.
art.
'Levi'
in
JB
vii.
21.)
The
priesthood
is
probably
a
development
later
than
Moses.
3.
The
pre-Prophetic
religion
in
Canaan.
—
(1)
The
conquest
of
Canaan
strengthened
the
faith
of
the
Israel-itish
tribes
in
Jahweh
as
the
god
of
war.
Their
success
strengthened
the
hold
of
Jahweh
upon
them.
A
Semitic
people
upon
entering
a
new
land
always
felt
it
