(6) The Period of the Deuteronomic Legislation. — To protest against religious syncretism had always been a chief part of the prophet's work. The worship of the Tyrian Baal, and the corrupting iulluences of foreign civilization, werespecially dis-
FOREIGNER
FOREKNOWLEDGE
5]
tastefal to Elijah, whose feelin{;s were shared by Elislia and the usurper Jehu (2 K 9. 10). It is signiticant that Jehonadab the son of Rechab is associated with Jehu (2 K 10'^"^), for tlie whole raison (Cctre, of the Rechabite movement lay in opposition to Can. civilization and in attachment to the primitive simplicity, alike in religious and secular matters (Jer 35, cf. W. R. Smith, Proph. of 1st. 84 f.). The attitude of the prophets who have left us their ivritings is equally clear (Am 2" 318 511. a 6» 85, Hos 2'" S" O'" lu" 12'"- W). Speci- ally noteworthy is Hos 9 ' Kejoice not, 0 Israel, like the peoples,' where already ' peoples ' is almost = ' heathen. The same disinclination to foreigners appears in Is 2" 10* 17'" 2S"> SO'"" (protest against forei^ alliances), Zeph l^- ", Jer 2**'- 10-Malthough this last may be a late interpolation) 35'°^- S?"'-. These feelings find e.xpression in the highest degree in the Deuteronomic ' law-book ' of Josiah's reign (2 K 22). Israel is a ' holy people ' (Dt 7"^), and the land must not be ' defiled ' (21^) or ' caused to sin ' (24*). The relation of Israelites to non-Israelites is henceforth determined bi/ laiv. The watchword is separation. The old injunction of Ex 23^"- (JE) is repeated in much stronger terms in Dt 7'"'' 20'^''* (where the present aversion takes the form of a past command to exterminate the Can.), and special stress is laid upon the prohibition of inter- marriages with Can. (Dt 7^, Jos 23'^). Further, in Dt 15' and 23"°, the foreigner (nokhri) is expressly excluded from participation in two of the Israelite's privileges — that of having a creditor's claims waived every seventh year, and that of borrowing without having to pay interest. In Dt 14-' he is allowed to use for food the flesh of an animal that has died of itself, a concession which, although made in the same passage to the grr, is ultimately withdrawn from the latter, and pronounced to be improper for any dweller in the land of Israel (Lv 17''). See (JER.
It is well to remember that universalism as well as particularism may be traced in the conduct and the teaching of the early prophets (cf. 1 K ll^"- Elijah and the widow of Zarepliath, 2 K 5 Elisha and Naaman, Is 2-'*=Mic 4'"' the oracle of the mountain of the Lord's house). This element found expression, however, in the direction of proselytiz- ing the grr, not in that of cultivating fiiendly relations with foreigners proper. For the develop- ment of this subject see Ger.
(c) The Exilic and Post-Exilic Periods. — If an approximation of gpr to Israelite was fostered by the Deut. legislation, and grew as time went on, upon the other hand the gulf between Israelite and /(weiy7jer became always wider. Even in the 'unclean' land of their exile (Ezk 4"'), where sacrifice could not be offered, Israel could cling to her Sabbaths and to circumcision, and probably meetings akin to those of the later synagogue con- tributed to tlie maintaining of her separate exist- ence and manner of life. The legislative pro- gramme of Ezekiel is specially instructive for our subject. The uncircumcised foreigners who kept guard in the temple (2 K ll*"-). and probably pcr- toniied uilier services (see CllKRETHITES), are hence- forward to be strictly excluded (Ezk 44"'°), and sn!!h functions are to be discharged by the Levites (cf. 44" priests to marry only virgins of the seed of the house of Israel or the widow of a priest).
The exiles who returned from liabvlon had to solve the problem of their relations witli the otlier inhabitants of Juda'a and with their ncighliours. A large number of the original inhabitants had never been carried captive at all, Edoinite.s and others had taken possession of unoccupied settle- ments, and the colonists ]ilantc(l by the As.syr. king in Samaria (2 K 17"") Imd probably also encroached on .Iu(ia>a. The majority of tlie old
inhabit.ants, and a section of the returned exiles, were quite willing to coalesce with their nei"h- bours (Neh 13=*, Mai 2"), but, thanks to the fiery zeal of Ezra and Nehemiah, such an incorporating union was prevented. The unsparing rigour with which the two reformers carried out their work is matter of history. See Ezra, Nehemiah. It was a veritable crisis. Weapons of various kinds were used on both sides. It may be that literature was pressed into the service. If Dt 23*'' be, as Well- hausen and Cornill think, a later interpolation, it may date from this period, while the Book of Ruth may have been a manifesto issued by the party of toleration. The triumph of the puritan party was completed when the covenant was sealed (Neh l(P^}, 'that we would not give our daughters unto the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons,' and when the Torali (P) was accepted as the norm of Israel's conduct (Neh 8). The ideal of P, even more than of D, is a holy people dwell- ing in a holy land, and serving God axicording to the prescriptions of His law (Nu 35**, cf. Lv 19-"' ''). The narrative portions of P carefully omit or modify what does not tally with this conception (e.g. no mention of Moses' sojourn in Midian, or his relations with the priest of that people ; Balaam, again, could not be a prophet of J", but becomes a Midianite counsellor, by whose in- strumentality Israel was led into immorality). In accordance with the above conceptions, Ezra de- liberately sought to erect a hedge, not only around the law, but around Israel, and thus to prevent all contact, except what was absolutely unavoidable, with those outside the pale of Judaism. If the gcr had become the proselyte to be welcomed, the nokhri had become the heathen to be shunned. For the further development of the subject see Gentiles, Heathen.