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a clue to the existence of rational purpose in movements which at first sight perplex the mind by their unaccountable anomalies.

Accordingly it is our duty to estimate the character and object of Israel's spiritual education in the light of its final stage. And if the distinctive element in the religion of Christ is inwardness',' there can be no question that the conspicuous feature of the old dispensation is that it uniformly exhibits a principle of progress, from outward to inward, from legal status to ethical attainment, from external restraints to internal principles, from law to love. The regulation of conduct precedes the cultivation of religious affections; active conformity to a code or system comes before renewal of heart; the sign or symbol prepares the way for what is real and essential; the material and physical for the spiritual and moral. No ancient writer, it may be remarked, has a clearer conception of the educational significance of the Old Testament history than Irenaeus. God,' he says in one memorable passage, 'was all along instructing the people which so readily turned back to its idols, educating them by repeated admonitions to persevere and to serve God, calling them by means of things secondary to things primary—that is, by means of things typical to things real, things temporal to things eternal, things carnal to things spiritual, things earthly to things celestial.'

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Thus, to take the sphere of worship, we must begin by recalling to mind the usual characteristics of early religion. Ritual and practical usage,' says Prof. Robertson Smith, 'were, strictly speaking, the sum total of ancient religions. Religion in primitive times was not a system of belief with practical applications; it was a body of fixed traditional practices to which every member of society conformed as a matter of course... Practice preceded doctrinal theory 3.'

1 Aug. de nat. et grat. lxxii: 'Facere est iustitiam in vero Dei cultu cum interno concupiscentiae malo interna conflictatione pugnare.' 2 Haer. iv. 14, § 3.

The Religion of the Semites, p. 21.

Now the distinctive ordinances of the Hebrew cultus were ascribed to Moses, and were usually sanctioned by the formula, Jehovah spake unto Moses. The study of comparative religion, however, renders it practically certain that the primitive lawgiver selected from an existing body of practices those which might best promote the purpose of moral cultivation. It will probably never be clearly ascertained what usages were thus inherited, and what were newly instituted by Moses himself; what is plain, however, is the principle which guided the organization of Mosaic religion. Whatever traditional customs, institutions, or ideas peculiar to the Semitic race Moses adopted or retained, they were, under divine guidance, so regulated and purified as to become disciplinary agents in the evolution of a higher type of spiritual and moral life; they were consecrated to the service of a purer faith, and were made the instruments of a purpose of grace. As Riehm observes, 'What the Old Testament religion has in common with the other religions of antiquity is to be regarded as permitted by God, and as having a basis in the divine educational purpose' for mankind. Restriction, however, seems to be more characteristic of Mosaism than comprehensiveness. Indeed, the earliest legislation confines itself mainly to prohibition. It rather regulates existing institutions than adds to them, but its dominating tendency is manifest. It 'ever aims at bringing popular custom into conformity with the principles of equity, generosity, and truth. Thus, for example, the rite of circumcision was not set aside, but was retained, and hallowed as a token of the new relationship established between God and man at the exodus. Though its actual origin and purpose is somewhat obscure, there is no doubt that the practice was customary in other Semitic tribes 2. Apparently it was known to the Hebrews in patriarchal times, and was

1 Schultz, O. T. Theology, vol. ii. p. 62.

2

Cp. Riehm, ATI. Theologie, p. 51; Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, pp. 309, 310; Renan, Histoire du peuple d'Israël, bk. i, ch. 9.

then adopted as a seal and condition of admission to religious privileges. Under the influence of Moses it firmly established itself in the national religion. of Israel; and the moral effect of the practice may be inferred from the fact that in course of time the word 'circumcised' became equivalent to 'consecrated,' and could be indifferently applied to the heart, the ears, and the lips. No circumstance could more aptly illustrate the aim and tendency of Mosaic institutions. So, again, the tribal customs connected with slavery, retaliation, the observance of the seventh day, the payment of tithes, divorce, marriage with a brother's wife, and even polygamy, were probably recognized by Moses. Some of these institutions were tolerated in view of the hardness of the people's hearts; others were so regulated and

restricted as to become effective media in Israel's moral improvement-media full of religious significance, and pointing beyond themselves to a spiritual counterpart of all that was as yet purely material and external.

The system of sacrifice itself is a striking illustration of divine accommodation to immature ideas. It is apparently recognized in the Old Testament as a natural means of approach to God2. Man's instinctive way of rendering homage to God and appeasing his own consciousness of guilt was incorporated in the practical system of Mosaism, and the very fact that the institution. was divinely sanctioned raised it to a new level of importance. Israel's sacrificial worship tended to become an elaborate and comprehensive system of spiritual instruction, awakening aspirations which no material oblations could ultimately satisfy. It was, however, at a mature stage of Hebrew civilization, in dark days

1 Lev. xix. 23, xxvi. 14; Exod. vi. 12, 30; Deut. x. 16, xxx. 6; Jer. vi. 10, ix. 25, &c.

2 Lev. xvii. II: 'The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls.' This passage implies that what Jehovah accepts and blesses is in a true sense His gift to man.

of national decline, that the spiritual truths symbolized by sacrifice were brought into prominence'. Hebrew faith then at length perceived that sacrifice was a means and not an end; that it had a value only in so far as it represented an inward act of self-oblation to Jehovah. On the other hand, it came to be recognized that where a man's heart was true, external offerings might be acceptable to God as proof of his devotion. It is the broken-hearted penitent who, after declaring that the only true sacrifice is a contrite heart, utters the fervent vow, Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with the burnt-offerings and oblations: then shall they offer young bullocks upon thine altar 2.

A true revelation, then, of God's character is involved in the very fact that He sanctioned sacrificial worship and such other primitive customs as found a place in the system of Moses. It may indeed be questioned how far Israel in Egypt is correctly represented as a sunken and barbarous race3. Oehler points out that in the Pentateuch the Israelites appear to be rather an unmanageable than an uncultivated people. In any case, however, a prolonged and carefully graduated discipline was needed to lift them above the degraded nature-worship towards which, when left to themselves, they habitually gravitated, and it is analogous to the ordinary method of God's providential government that He should condescend to use existing customs and institutions; that He should even for a while bear with very crude and imperfect conceptions of His own nature and character. This is the significance of the fact that the Pentateuch repeatedly dwells upon the low standard actually exhibited by the people in early times. Indeed, one object of the prophetic book of

1 Cp. Ps. 1. 8 foll., li. 15 foll.; Amos v. 24; Hos. vi. 6; Isa. i. 16 foll.; Jer. vii. 21 foll.

2 Ps. li. 19.

3 See Renan, Histoire du peuple d'Israël, bk. i, ch. 11; Edersheim, Warburton Lectures, pp. 233 foll.; Robertson, The Early Religion of Israel, note xxiv; Oehler, Theology of the O. T. § 26, note 3.

Deuteronomy is to 'dissuade' the people from the opinion of their own righteousness by rehearsing their several rebellions 1,' Understand therefore, says the writer, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people. Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the Lord 2. It is worthy of God that He should deign to be the educator of His people. The mere recognition or toleration of what is rude and morally defective reveals a deity not only righteous and just, but patient, wise, and loving. In the simple precepts delivered to an untutored race, in the directions that were adapted to the circumstances of a primitive age, 'we can recognize,' it has been said, 'the beating heart of the living God 3.'

When we turn from the sphere of religious observance to that of ethical ideas, we see at once how progress depended upon the existence of some well-defined, though simple, conception of the divine character. Nothing short of a belief in the living God was capable of giving impulse and direction to the movement towards a higher standard. In its fundamental idea of Jehovah's character lies the secret of Israel's moral superiority to the surrounding heathen. The ethics of Mosaism are in fact rooted in its theology, just as its theology is based on the historic fact of the exodus from Egypt. I am Jehovah thy God, that brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. As a consequence of its deliverance, Israel entered into definite relationship with a Being personal and moral, a Being not merely possessed of invincible might, but manifesting Himself as righteous; for the overthrow of Egyptian power was a triumph both of grace aiding the weak, and of right

1 Deut. ix (heading in A. V.).

3

Oettli, op. cit. p. 20.

2 Deut. ix. 6, 7.

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