So far as germs of government and judicial administration of the people thus far discernible are concerned, they had seemingly not progressed farther than the instruction of Moses led them. The years spent in the wilderness after the exodus were very essential to the future welfare of the Hebrew nation. Their government—to whatever extent they possessed one—was closely allied to their religion. There were many experiences met with in these forty years which seemed to prove Jahweh's care and protection over them, and Moses was regarded as his representative on earth, who received his instructions from Jahweh and delivered them to his people.
"His words were Jehovah's message to them. As he led them in their wilderness wandering, they felt themselves under the direct guidance of their God; he attended to the simple ritual of the desert sanctuary at Kadesh; to him, as the representative of Jehovah, were referred the more difficult cases of dispute which arose; his decisions had all the weight of Jehovah's authority. In this way he laid down by practical illustration the principles of that civil and religious law which bears his name. As these cases multiplied, he was led to constitute a rude patriarchal tribunal composed of the elders of the tribes. In this simple organization is found the germ of the Hebrew judicial and executive system.
"Thus Moses was the man who under divine direction 'hewed Israel from the rock.' Subsequent prophets and circumstances chiselled the rough boulder into symmetrical form, but the glory of the creative act is rightly attributed to the first great Hebrew prophet. As a leader, he not only created a nation, but guided them through infinite vicissitudes to a land where they might have a settled abode and develop into a stable power; in so doing, he left upon his race the imprint of his own personality. As a judge, he set in motion forces which ultimately led to the incorporation of the principles of right in objective laws. As a priest, he first gave form to the worship of Jehovah. As a prophet, he gathered together all that was best in the faith of his age and race, and, fusing them, gave to his people a living religion."[5]
Before the time of the monarchy, their darkest years were those wherein the Israelites departed from this Mosaic teaching; their best periods, those in which they assimilated it and attempted to carry it out. To whatever extent they developed strength and stability for their future nation before the birth of their kingdom, such strength came as a result of the Mosaic religious and moral teaching.
[1] Joshua, 24, 2.
[2] Short Hist. of the Hebrews: Ottley, 26.
[3] Ezekiel, 20, 7.
[4] Early Hist. of Syria and Palestine: Paton, 139, 141.
[5] Hist. of the Hebrew People: Kent Vol. I 44.