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and the natural sanctuary at Bethel. When the Hebrews settled among the Canaanites, they doubtless adopted many traditions connected with the ancient sanctuaries of the land, and with these may have mingled recollections of their early tribal wanderings, and of their own early experiences in the land.1

In the story of Joseph, there is preserved, it seems quite possible, a modified form of one of the most famous of Egyptian tales, The Story of Two Brothers, Anpu and Bata. Even if the Egyptian tale is the original of this narrative of Joseph and his master's wife, it is but an episode in the Hebrew Joseph narratives, and serves to illustrate how completely foreign material might be assimilated.

As the Hebrew narrative advances through the story of the Exodus to the days of the Judges the genuinely historical elements grow more and more prominent, while it becomes evident that this early document is far superior in historical value to the late framework of the Pentateuch. In the narrative of the deliverance at the sea, for example, the Judean history gives an account that does not presuppose the suspension of the laws of physics while the waters stand in a wall on either hand. That conception belongs rather to the late strand of the book of Exodus. In the settlement of Canaan, it has already been noted that these earlier sources represent the conquest as a gradual occupation and settlement among the former inhabitants. The later writers conceived it rather as a triumphal march which has the double disadvantage of being intrinsically improbable and quite out of accord with subsequent conditions as revealed in the earliest, sometimes contemporary, documents. Thus, from the point of view of the historian, the Early Judean History contains usually the earliest and best accounts that have been preserved of ages already traditional when Hebrew writers began to search the distant past. This great example of early prose writing is more than historical chronicle. The wonderful literary genius of Judah, in the ninth

1 See Gunkel, Legends of Genesis, pp. 91-93; Kent, Beginnings of Hebrew History, Introduction I.

2 The story is given in Egyptian Tales, Second Series, by M. Flinders Petrie, pp. 36–86.

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century B.C., gathered together the priceless lore of the past, preserved in song and prose tale, in written document and oral tradition, and shaped it all under the majestic thought that Jehovah had created man instinct with his own breath, and that man's sin and separation from his creator had brought separation from his fellow-man and countless woe; but that there had ever been faithful and obedient individuals whom Jehovah could bless and direct into paths of righteousness and peace. The narrative is alive to every human interest, to the origin of all arts, customs, names even, to the details of individual lives in their loves and hates, their failures and successes, with the whole mass of material so mastered and moulded that these incidental interests do not divert the main stream from its even flow. In rational order, the story is told from the beginnings of all history, through the separation and wanderings of Israel's reputed ancestors, down to a time almost contemporary with the writers. Although this great work has been preserved interwoven with later documents, in excerpts that do not give the whole, yet its comparative continuity of narrative and its progressive unity of conceptions make it one of the most remarkable literary products of antiquity.

CHAPTER VI

EARLY PROSE NARRATIVES OF NORTHERN ISRAEL

(About 850 to 800 B.C.)

It was noted in the previous chapter that the first fifty years of Northern Israel's separate history were marked by at least two assassinations and consequent changes of dynasty. Then the able general Omri established himself on the throne, and was succeeded by his son Ahab, whose two sons reigned after him in succession. These three generations of rulers bring the history down to the latter part of the ninth century B.C. Omri seems to have made alliance with Damascus, whose growing power King Baasha had felt; but Ahab waged bitter war with the Syrian kingdom.

In 1 Kings 20 and 22, we have vivid accounts of two periods in this struggle which probably come from a history composed soon after the events. A brief selection from each may serve to give the flavor of this early narrative.

And Benhadad sent unto him, and said, The gods do so unto me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me. And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his armor boast himself as he that putteth it off. And it came to pass, when Benhadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the kings, in the pavilions, that he said unto his servants, Set yourselves in array. And they set themselves in array against the city.

And they went out at noon. But Benhadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty and two kings that helped him. And the young men of the princes of the provinces went out first; and Benhadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out from Samaria. And he said, Whether they are come out for peace, take them alive; or whether they are come out for war, take them alive. So these went out of the city, the young men of the princes

of the provinces, and the army which followed them. And they slew every one his man; and the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them and Benhadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen. And the king of Israel went out, and smote the horses and chariots, and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter.1

So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and go into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle. Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty and two captains of his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel; and they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out. And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. And a certain man drew his bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the armor: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thy hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am sore wounded. And the battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even; and the blood ran out of the wound into the bottom of the chariot. And there went a cry throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his country.2

The document from which these chapters were taken by the compiler of Kings probably contained the vivid stories of the expedition against Edom in which Elisha participated (2 Kings 3), of the relief of Samaria (2 Kings 6 24-7 17), and of the revolution of Jehu (2 Kings 9-10). Various indications of later additions are found in these sections, especially in the last, but the main kernel may be ascribed to a Northern Israelitish history written not long after the close of the first century of the divided kingdom. We may count these narratives the earliest relics of connected prose writing in the northern kingdom.

The northern narratives lack the full charm of the Saul and David stories, which held a similar position of priority in the literary history of the South, but are still fine specimens of the story-telling gifts of Israel's early writers. How extensive the 21 Kings 22 29-36.

11 Kings 20 10-12, 16-21.

work may have been from which these excerpts were taken we cannot tell, but there is no reason to suppose that it extended back into what were then ancient times. As in Judah, and Britain too, the probability is that the earliest historical writing dealt with recent events.

A brief piece of narrative writing, contemporary with that which we have just been considering, is found on the famous Moabite Stone, erected by King Mesha to commemorate his successes in winning back territory which Omri had taken from Moab. The alphabet and the language are practically identical with those found in the earliest Hebrew inscriptions, while the ideas and modes of expression are quite similar to those of Israel's earliest narratives. A translation follows:

MESHA'S INSCRIPTION

I am Mesha, son of Chemosh . . . king of Moab the Dibonite. My father was king over Moab thirty years, and I became king after my father. And I made this high place for Chemosh in Karhoh (?) in (gratitude for) deliverance, because he saved me from all assailants (?) and because he made me see my desire upon all those who hated me.

Omri was king of Israel and he afflicted Moab many days, because Chemosh was angry with his land. And his son succeeded him; and he also said, 'I will afflict Moab.' In my days he said . . . but I saw my desire upon him and upon his house, and Israel perished for ever. Omri, however, took possession of the land of Medeba; and he occupied it during his own days and half of his sons' days, forty years; but Chemosh restored it in my days.

And I fortified Baal-meon; and I made in it the reservoir; and I fortified Kirjathaim. And the men of Gad had occupied the land of Ataroth from of old; and the king of Israel built Ataroth for himself. And I fought against the city and took it. And I slew all the people; the city (became) a gazing-stock to Chemosh and to Moab. And from there I brought the altar-hearth of Dodoh (?); and I dragged it before Chemosh in Kerioth; and I caused the men of Sharon (?) to dwell there, and also the men of . . .

Then Chemosh said to me, 'Go and take Nebo against Israel.' So I went by night and fought against it from the break of dawn until noon, and I took it and slew them all seven thousand men and women and

1 The Moabite Stone was discovered at the ruins of ancient Dibon, east of the Jordan, in 1868, by a German missionary, F. A. Klein. It is now in the Louvre.

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