To Yahweh, or Jehovah, as our English Bible spells the word, the Hebrews had sworn allegiance through a covenant between Jehovah and Moses, a covenant never entirely lost sight of, and renewed from generation to generation by successive great leaders. Through a long period of conquest accompanying their settlement in the land they held tenaciously to the belief that the land of Palestine, or Canaan as it was then called, was Jehovah's permanent abode, and that he had chosen them for his people. Therefore the land was theirs, and its inhabitants, though people of higher civilization than their own, must be driven out in order that Jehovah's people might occupy their place. Every victory thus became a victory of Jehovah, and every defeat was the sign of Jehovah's anger against his people and evidence of his intention to punish them by the temporary withdrawal of his support. The final outcome of such supreme faith was inevitably the belief that Jehovah would eventually conquer the world, and from the land of the Hebrews would be administered the government of the nations.'

The Rise of the Hebrew Prophet. In the history of every people the life of the nation moves forward by distinct stages. An examination of the facts shows the reason of this to lie in the rise now and again of individuals, men or women who are strong enough to impress their ideas upon large groups of people, and to incite them to action. Not infrequently such leadership entails heroic deeds and great self-sacrifice, especially if as in Israel the end at stake be at many points a losing cause when its adherents face. defeated hopes and personal degradation. With the Hebrews, patriotism and religion were one. Loyalty to the land meant loyalty to Jehovah. Desire for the favor of God was inseparably linked with desire to live in his land and to enjoy its benefits. It is natural therefore that the great patriots should have been the great reli

I The movement known in modern times as Zionism, a movement which is leading large numbers of Jews to find homes in Palestine, contemplates the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine under the protection of the European powers. It should not be looked upon as an effort of the Jewish people to realize in this age their old dream of a world power in Palestine, to which all nations of the earth would pay homage. In it, however, we see still persisting the hope of a future for the Jewish people, which is the expression of an optimism upheld through all the ages by firm trust in Jehovah.

gious leaders and that chief among the outstanding figures in Hebrew history we should find the prophets of Jehovah. Regarding themselves as the direct representatives of Jehovah, they fought with tongue and pen, and even life itself, to save the nation from the attacks of its outward foes, and from the social and religious dissensions which disturbed it within.

The office of prophet was not peculiar to Israel. Among all ancient nations the gods, deemed too remote and terrible to permit the approach of common mortals, were supposed to communicate their will to men through a special class of persons whose privilege it was to act as intermediaries between the god and his people, interpreting the one to the other. Seers, soothsayers, the interpreters of the Greek oracles, and the Roman haruspices are familiar illustrations of this primary principle. In Israel the Hebrew word Nabi, translated prophet, designated a man who interpreted the will and communicated the messages of Jehovah to the people. The following passage which presents the answer which Jehovah was said to have made to the hesitancy of Moses, when he was called upon to lead the captive Hebrews out of the land of Egypt, gives a clear idea of the early thought of the office of the prophet in Israel.

And Moses said unto Jehovah, "Oh, Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." And Jehovah said unto him, "Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh a man 5 dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? is it not I, Jehovah? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt speak." And he said, "Oh, Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send." And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Moses, and he said, "Is there not Aaron, thy IO brother the Levite? I know that he can speak well. And also,

behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put the words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy 15 spokesman unto the people; and it shall come to pass, that he shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shalt be to him as God.”

The word here translated "spokesman" is the word regularly rendered "prophet" elsewhere in the English Bible.1

In its beginnings the religion of the Hebrews, while differing from other religions in certain vital ethical principles, resembled the religion of the surrounding nations in its outward manifestations. Its prophets, in their appearance and methods of work, were very like the prophets of neighboring gods, Chemosh of the Moabites, or Baal of the Phoenicians. On every hand in nature and in human life were insoluble mysteries, all of which were attributed to the gods. It was deemed inevitable that the persons speaking for Jehovah, as well as those who represented other gods, should be clothed in mystery. Accordingly we find that in early times the prophets were subject to mysterious states of ecstasy or trance, the cultivation of these states being frequently preparatory to the act of prophecy. For this purpose there were employed such means as the monotonous whirling dance, still seen in Arabia among the dervishes, musical instruments, weird sounds and cries, strange actions which caused the term "mad fellow" to be applied not infrequently to the early prophet. It was supposed that when in this excited state the prophet, possessed by the spirit of the god, could divine his will and communicate his message, and that he spoke in the very person of the god. Only occasionally in the Old Testament and in the early days do we find evidences of these customs and superstitions as prevalent among the Hebrews. We should doubtless find many more instances had not our literature come from the hands of later prophets, who, in accordance with a more intelligent conception of Jehovah, eliminated those elements of the stories of which they did not approve. A striking illustration is furnished by II Kings 3:15, where music is employed to bring on the prophetic trance. When three kings came to Elisha, one of the early prophets of Israel, to ask advice in an important crisis he said, "But now, bring me a minstrel," and the author continues, “and it used to be that when the minstrel played that the hand of Jehovah

I The stories which cluster around the conviction of Moses that he was called to lead his people out of bondage are found in Exod., chaps. 3, 4, of which this selection is from 4:10-16.

came upon him." The effect of this self-engendered excitement, like intoxication of any sort, varied in different individuals. Some persons might be rendered, for the time being, "mad," others silent, while to some would come eloquence and lofty inspiration not possible to them in a quieter state of mind.

But even in these early days while the Hebrew prophets, regarded by the people with superstitious awe, struggled in spiritual darkness to discern and to interpret the God who was so dimly revealed to them, a great human motive-loyalty to their land—drove them to band themselves together in the cultivation of the spirit of prophecy. Jehovah and the land of Palestine were regarded as inseparable. The future of the land was of the deepest concern to his representatives. We know little of the bands or guilds of the prophets in their daily life, but we find them gathered together wherever battles were in progress, war threatened, or a crisis in government was at hand.

During the wars with the Philistines close to the garrison of the enemy was a "high place," a sanctuary held by a band of prophets,3 where doubtless, day by day, they practiced all their arts to overawe the enemy, to encourage the Hebrews, and to induce Jehovah to drive the opposing army out of the land.4

Not all the prophets in these groups were great men, not all were wholly sincere, as we shall see in the study of later centuries in Israel, and it will be necessary for us to devote our attention to the great outstanding men upon whose word, many times, the nation depended for strength in danger, and against whom they as fre

I For other mention of music in connection with the act of prophesying see I Sam. 10:5.

2 High-places: In ancient times it was the custom to establish places of worship upon hills or mountains, as being both remote from disturbing elements, and thus favorable to religious devotion, and also nearer to the gods, who were supposed to inhabit the regions above the earth. When the Hebrews came into Canaan they found many high-places already in use, and doubtless not a few of these were appropriated as centers for the worship of Jehovah, with very little if any changes in the methods of worship.

3 The grouping of prophets in bands or guilds is referred to also in I Sam. 10: 9-12; as "sons of the prophets" in I Kings 20: 35a; II Kings 2:15-18.

4 See I Sam. 10:5.