A Manual of Ancient History. A. H. L. Heeren
hundred and thirty, or, according to others, two hundred and fifty years, it roved about in subjection to the Egyptian Pharaohs—increased to a nomad nation, divided into twelve tribes. The nation, however, becoming formidable from the great increase of its numbers, the Pharaohs, following the usual policy of the Egyptians, wished to compel the Jews to build and inhabit cities. Unaccustomed to restraint, they fled from Egypt under the conduct of Moses; and conquered, under him and his successor Joshua, Palestine, the land of promise.
Moses and his legislation.—What he borrowed and what he did not borrow from the Egyptians?—The worship of Jehovah in the national sanctuary, and by national festivals, celebrated with ceremonies rigidly prescribed, the point of union for the whole nation, and the political bond which held the tribes together.—The caste of Levites, compared with the Egyptian caste of priests.
J. D. Michaelis, Mosaic Law. Gottingen, 1778, etc. 6 vols. 8vo.; translated into English by Dr. Alexander Smith. Lond. 1814, 4 vols. 8vo. The commentator frequently sees more than the lawgiver.
Jews as a federate republic.
II. Period of the federative republic. From the occupation of Palestine to the establishment of monarchy, 1500—1100.
Heroic age.
1. General character of this period as the heroic age of the nation, which, after the gradual adoption of fixed dwellings and agriculture, was engaged in constant feuds with its neighbours, the vagrant Arabs, the Philistines, and the Edomites. Impossibility of exterminating entirely the ancient inhabitants according to the intention of Moses.—Hence the worship of Jehovah was never the only religion in the land.
Constitution.
2. Political organization. In consequence of the division of land, according to tribes, and their separation from one another, the government long remained patriarchal. Each tribe preserved its patriarch or elder, as in the nomad state. All, however, had, in the worship of Jehovah, one common bond, uniting them into one federate state. Magistrates were likewise appointed in the cities, to whom scribes are conjoined out of the Levite caste.
Distribution of the Levites.
3. The permanent union of the nation, and preservation of the Mosaic law, were likewise promoted by the distribution of the Levite caste into forty-eight separate towns, situated in various parts of the country, and by making the high priesthood hereditary in Aaron's family.
Disturbed state of the Jews at the death of Joshua.
4. But when at the death of Joshua the people were left without a common ruler, the tie of religion became insufficient to hold them together; especially as the weaker tribes became jealous of the more powerful. At this time the high priests appear to have had but little political influence; and the national bond was only prevented from being dissolved by the dread of a foreign yoke.
Judges.
5. The Jews were sometimes independent, at other times tributary. In seasons of oppression and distress heroes arose, jealous for the worship of Jehovah, to deliver them from bondage. They acted as chief magistrates and rulers of a part, or even the whole of the nation, and as champions of the worship of the true God. The judges, particularly Othniel, Deborah, and Sampson.—Concerning the marvellous in their history.
Kings, about 1150.
6. Reestablishment of the worship of Jehovah by Samuel. He becomes judge, and rules as Jehovah's minister.—His scheme of making the office of judge hereditary in his own family is defeated by the conduct of his sons. The nation demands a king, whom Samuel, as minister of Jehovah, is called upon to appoint. His crafty policy in the election, which he cannot impede. He chooses Saul, politically speaking, the most insignificant man of the nation; but the tallest and most stately. A formal constitutional act, according to the Mosaic command, is drawn up and deposited in the national sanctuary.
Causes which led the nation to demand a king.—Earlier attempts made, particularly by Abimelech, to obtain regal power.
III. Period of the monarchy from 1100—600.
I. The Jewish state as one single kingdom from 1100 (1095)—975.
Saul:
1. Saul, the new king, strengthened himself on the throne by a victory over the Ammonites; and a general assembly of the nation, in which Samuel laid down his office as judge, unanimously acknowledged his sovereignty. But Saul, no sooner became a conqueror than he threw off the tutelage of Samuel, and ventured himself to consult Jehovah. This was the occasion of a feud between them. Samuel, offended, privately anointed another young man, David the son of Jesse, as king. David acquires fame and popularity by his heroic conduct; but has much difficulty in escaping the jealousy of Saul.—Saul sustains himself amid constant wars with the neighbouring nations; slain about 1055. but at last defeated, he and all his sons, except one, lose their lives.
Jewish government and state under him.
2. State of the nation and constitution under Saul.—The king little more than a military leader under the direction of Jehovah; without either court or fixed residence.—The people still a mere agricultural and pastoral race, without wealth or luxury; but gradually assuming the character of a warlike nation.
David, 1055—1015.
3. Saul was succeeded by David; but not without opposition. Eleven tribes declare for Ish-bosheth, the remaining son of Saul; and David is only acknowledged by his own tribe, Judah. It is not till seven years later, and the murder of Ish-bosheth by his own people, that David is recognized as king by the whole nation.
State of the nation and government in his reign.
4. Complete formation of the nation, and a change of constitution during the reign of David over the united kingdom, which lasted thirty-three years. Jerusalem is made the seat of government and of the national sanctuary. Rigid observance of the worship of Jehovah, the exclusive religion of the nation, considered in respect to its political consequence.
Conquests.
5. Vast aggrandizement of the Jewish state by conquest. A war with Hadadezer opens the way to the conquest of Syria and Idumæa. Extent of the kingdom from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean; from Phœnicia to the Red sea. Gradual decline towards despotism and seraglio government; the political consequences of which become apparent about the end of David's reign, in the rebellion of his sons.
Solomon, 1015—975.
6. Reign of Solomon. The brilliant government of a despot from the interior of his seraglio; unwarlike, but civilized, and fond of parade. New organization of the kingdom for the support of the court. Connections formed with the neighbouring states, particularly with Tyre; hence a participation in the southern trade carried on from the ports of the Red sea, conquered by David; but only as a monopoly of the court.
Declension of the state.
7. The capital enriched by the splendour of the court; but the country oppressed and impoverished, particularly the distant tribes. Gradual internal decay hastened by the admixture of the worship of foreign gods with that of Jehovah; although Solomon, by the erection of the temple according to the plan of his father, seems to have wished to make the worship of the true God the only religion of the country. An unsuccessful attempt at rebellion made by Jeroboam; and by the Edomites, who remain tributary under their own kings: actual secession, even during the reign of Solomon, of the conquered province of Syria by the foundation of the kingdom of Damascus.
Rehoboam.
8. Solomon is succeeded by his son Rehoboam, who has scarcely ascended the throne, before the malcontents, increased in number by his imprudence, break into open rebellion. Jeroboam is recalled from Egypt, and ten tribes acknowledge him as their king. Only two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, remain faithful to Rehoboam.
II. The Jewish state as a divided kingdom, 975—588.
Causes of the long wars between