3. This last expression shows that their manner of life amounts to a kind of service of Jahweh. For it is a protest against the whole system of culture connected with the settled mode of life, with the tilling of the soil, and, above all, with vine-culture. The life of the nomads in the steppes knew nothing of all this; it was exclusively de- voted to the service of Jahweh, the God of the desert, who manifested Himself, above all, in storm and in battle, against the foes of His people. But,
* Of. L. Gautier’s art. ‘A propos des Récabites’ in Liberté Chrétienne, 15th June 1901.
since Israel had forsaken their tents and appropri- ated all-the benefits of Canaanite culture, they had fallen a prey to the seductive influences which accompanied these, including not only luxury and intemperance, but even idolatry. The only way of escape from this lay in a resolute return to the
re-Canaanite manner, a renunciation of the false
enefits of culture. And it cannot be doubted that this return was coupled at the same time with the rigid observance of the oldest ritual usages in the service of Jahweh, although, un- fortunately, no information on this point has come down to us. In any ease, this oldest type of anchoritism, on the part of a whole tribe, from religious motives, is something very peculiar, and demanding of appraisement: these Rechabites have as good a claim to be reckoned organs of genuine Jahwism as the nébi?’im. The explanation of the circumstance that it was this particular family that felt called on to protest against the cultivating of the fruit-land is perhaps to be found in 1 Ch 2%, where Hammath, the [tribal] father of the house of Rechab, is reckoned among the Kenites. The latter are, according to Jg 4", the descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses. The Kenites who attached themselves to Israel at the Exodus (Jg 18) continued even at a later period to live a nomadic life, partly in the Plain of Jezreel (Jg 5%), partly in the extreme south of the country among the Amalekites (1S 15°). The action of Jonadab may thus have consisted in recalling to the ancient nomad life that portion of his tribe which had adopted settled habits. True, before accepting this explanation it must first be proved that by the ‘house of Rechab’ in 1 Ch 2% is meant exactly the same family as in Jer 35%. According to Neh 3" one Malchijah the son of Rechab helped to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. This seems to prove the continued existence of the guild in post-exilic times. But how can this Malchijah be called at the same time ‘the ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem,’ if he adhered to the tent-life enjoined by Jonadab?
5. ‘Judges’ and kings.—If we include, finally, the ‘judges’ and kings of ancient Israel among the organs of genuine Jahwism, this is justifiable not only on the ground that all of them (down at least to David) were expressly chosen and called by Jahweh to be leaders and saviours of the people, but, above all, because they too were filled with the ‘spirit of Jahweh’ as a mysterious agency, and thereby were fitted for the performance of extraordinary deeds.
1. It is true that P is the first to tell us that Joshua, as a man in whom the spirit is, is conse- crated by Moses to be his successor, by the laying on of his hands (Nu 278), On the other hand, the early ‘hero- narratives’ (and not merely the author of the present scheme to which the book is adjusted, ¢.g. 3!) in the Book of Judges are already aware that the spirit of Jahweh was powerfully at work in those heroes: so in Gideon (6), Jephthah (112), and frequently Samson (see above, p. 657” f.).
2. In the case of the kings, however, the spirit is imparted by means of anointing.* This is ex- pressly recorded for Saul (18 10), David (28 23; the story of the anointing of David by Samuel in 18 16 is a late midrash), Solomon (by Zadok, 1K 1), and Jehu (2 K 9%). From the passage last cited, as well as from 1 § 10!, it is evident that the anointing consisted of no mere smearing process, but of a pouring of oil upon the head. Of all the manifold interpretations of this symbolical action, that one has most in its favour which starts from the oil-libation. This, too, consisted in powring oil over (e.g. the stone of Bethel, Gn 28!8 31%), and
* Of. on this subject Weinel’s art. ‘Mashah [salben] und seine Derivate’ in ZATW xviii. (1898) p. 1ff.
660 RELIGION OF ISRAEL
Ona Ua ret T Scr er N a a
RELIGION OF ISRAEL
imparted to the anointed object the character of something consecrated and sacrosanct. Both these features come out clearly in connexion with the anointing of kings. As one consecrated to Jahweh the king is called frequently ‘my anointed,’ or ‘his [Jahweh’s] anointed,’ or even ‘the anointed of Jahweh,’ 7.e. one who by anointing has been in a special manner assigned or consecrated to Him. On that very account the king is sacred, and hence it is a heinous sin ‘to put forth one’s hand on the anointed of Jahweh’ (1 8 26% + of Saul, 28 192?!) of David). A consecration rite, analo- gous to the oil-libation, is favoured, further, by the circumstance that the anointing is performed with ‘holy’ (7.e. used in the cultus for other purposes as well) oil; cf. e.g. Ps 8971, with reference to David. Zadok in 1 K 1” takes not a but the oil- horn (filled with holy oil) out of the tent (of the sacred Ark) for the anointing of Solomon; and in 2K 9! Elisha hands over a vessel of oil to the prophet who is to anoint Jehu, so that here again the use of any ordinary vessel appears to be ex- cluded. In P, finally, the anointing of the sacred fittings and utensils (Ex 305") is plainly an act of consecration, while in the case of the priests the terms ‘ anoint’ and ‘consecrate’ frequently appear in parallelism (Ly 8! e¢ al.).