* In order to form an idea of the relative positions
occupied by the king and the high priest, we must read what
is told of Jehoiadah and Joash (2 Kings xii. 6-16), or
Urijah and Ahaz (2 Kings xvi. 10-16); the story runs that
Zechariah was put to death by Joash (2 Chron. xxiv. 22).
** Asa did so in order to secure Ben-hadad’s help against
Baasha (1 Kings xv. 18, 19; cf. 2 Chron. xvi. 2, 3): as to
the revenues by which the treasury of the temple was
supported and the special dues appropriated to it, cf. 2
Kings xii. 4, 5, 7-16, and xxii. 4-7, 9.
*** In the time of Jeroboam II., Bethel, Gilgal, and Dan are
mentioned by Amos (iv. 4; v. 5, 6; viii. 14), by Hosea (iv.
15; ix. 15; xii. 12). Mizpah is mentioned by Hosea (v. 1),
and so is Tabor. The altar of Jahveh on Mount Carmel was
restored by Elijah (1 Kings xviii. 30).
At these centres adoration was rendered to the animal presentment of Jahveh,* and even prophets like Elijah and Elisha did not condemn this as heretical; they had enough to do in hunting down the followers of Baal without entering into open conflict with the worshippers of the golden calf. The priesthood of the northern kingdom was not confined to members of the family of Levi, but was recruited from all the tribes; it levied a tithe on the harvest, reserved to itself the pick of the offerings and victims, and jealously forbade a plurality of sanctuaries,** The Book of the Covenant*** has handed down to us the regulations in force at one of these temples, perhaps that of Bethel, one of the wealthiest of them all.
* The golden calves at Dan and Bethel are referred to by
Amos (viii. 14) and Hosea (x. 5), where Bethel is called
Beth-aven; as to the golden calf at Samaria, cf. Amos viii.
14 and Hos. viii. 5, 6.
** Amos iv. 4, 5; v. 21-23.
*** This is the title given in Exod. xxiv. 7 to a writing
in which Moses is said to have entered the covenant made
between Jahveh and Israel; it is preserved, with certain
interpolations and alterations, in Exod. xx. 23?—xxiii. 33.
It was inserted in its entirety in the Elohist narrative,
there taking the place at present occupied by Deuteronomy in
the Pentateuch, viz. that of the covenant made between
Jahveh and Israel prior to the crossing of the Jordan
(Kuenen, H. C. Onderzoek, i. § 13, No. 32). Reuss tries to
make out that it was the code promulgated on the occasion of
Jehoshaphat’s legal reforms, which is only referred to in 2
Chron. xvii. 7-9; cf. xix. 5. A more probable theory is that
it was the “custom” of one of the great sanctuaries of the
northern kingdom reduced to writing at the end of the Xth or
during the IXth century B.C.
Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a restoration by Naville.
The directions in regard to ritual are extremely simple, and the moral code is based throughout on the inexorable lex talionis, “Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” * This brief code must have been almost universally applicable to every conjuncture of civil and religious life in Judah no less than in Israel. On one point only do we find a disagreement, and that is in connection with the one and only Holy of Holies to the possession of which the southern kingdom had begun to lay claim: in a passage full of significance Jahveh declares, “An altar of earth thou shalt make unto Me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings, thy sheep and thine oxen: in every place where I record My name I will come unto thee and I will bless thee. And if thou make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto Mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.” **
* Exod. xxi. 23-25.
** Exod. xx. 24-26.
The patriarchs and early ancestors of the race had performed their sacrifices in the open air, on rude and low altars, differing widely from lofty and elaborately ornamented erections like those at Jerusalem, which seem to have borne a resemblance to the altars of the Egyptians: the author of the Book of the Covenant advises the faithful to follow the example of those great men rather than that of the Lévites of Judah. Nevertheless this multiplicity of high places was not without its dangers; it led the common people to confuse Jahveh with the idols of Canaan, and encouraged the spread of foreign superstitions. The misfortunes which had come thick and fast upon the Israelites ever since the division of the kingdom had made them only too ready to seek elsewhere that support and consolation which they could no longer find at home. The gods of Damascus and Assur who had caused the downfall of Gath, of Calneh, and of Hamath,* those of Tyre and Sidon who lavished upon the Phoenicians the wealth of the seas, or even the deities of Ammon, Moab, or Edom, might well appear more desirable than a Being Who, in spite of His former promises, seemed powerless to protect His own people. A number of the Israelites transferred their allegiance to these powerful deities, prostrated themselves before the celestial host, flocked round the resting-places of Kevan, the star of El, and carried the tabernacles of the King of heaven;** nor was Judah slow to follow their example. The prophets, however, did not view their persistent ill-fortune in the same light as the common people; far from accepting it as a proof of the power of other divinities, they recognised in it a mark of Jahveh’s superiority.
* Amos vi. 2; with regard to the destruction of Gath by
Hazael.
** Amos v. 26, 27