+ In Hos 111 (MT ‘out of Egypt I called my son’) we should probably read, with LXX and Targ., ‘his sons’ aa
RELIGION OF ISRAEL
RELIGION OF ISRAEL 685
the Book of Deuteronomy labours to impress it upon the people’s minds that it was not on account of any greatness (Dt 7’) or any special righteous- ness of theirs that they were so highly favoured of God. On the contrary, Israel was the smallest of peoples, and a, stiff-necked people to boot. All the more, it is urged, is Israel bound to show heartfelt gratitude to God.
(c) In the closest connexion with the idea of Israel’s election stands the theologumenon of the ‘jealousy of Jahweh.’ The Heb. word (7¥3p) appears to stand originally for angry zeal in general (Zeph 118 38, Dt 29), and very often in Ezekiel; cf. also xixp ‘jealous,’ in Jos 24% and Nah 1°); more specially the zeal of God on behalf of Israel against the heathen, as manifested par- ‘ticularly in the exact fulfilment of His promises (Is 9°, 2 K 19*!, and often in Ezekiel and Is 40-66). If ny3p here already denotes God’s jealous guarding of His honour, no less does the adjective x32 im- pore the ‘jealous’ God who vehemently asserts
is sole right to the love and reverence of Israel, and hence tolerates no kind of idolatry: so in Ex 20° [Dt 5°] 3444, Dt 4% 6, all of which passages are probably not earlier than the Deuteronom. stratum.
(d) Jahweh’s special love to Israel, evinced in the choice of this people, shows itself, further, in the wise guidance and powerful protection He accorded them from the first and all through their history. This is a favourite theme of the prophets, and very specially of Deuteronomy, and it serves in almost every instance as a motive for strong denunciations of Israel’s ingratitude. Thus Amos (2°-) holds up to the people the powerful aid given by Jahweh in the extirpating of the Canaanites, His deliverance of them from Egypt, and His 40 years leading of them in the wilderness. Hosea (11%*-) recalls how, in spite of their disloyalty, God taught Ephraim, like a child, to walk, took them in His arms, and bound them to Himself by cords of love. Isaiah (1?) begins his great arraignment of Israel with the words: ‘I have nourished and brought up children, but they have rebelled against me.’ Micah (6%), too, presses upon the people’s notice the gracious acts of Jahweh after their de- liverance from Egyptian bondage. In Jeremiah (28), again, Jahweh Himself recalls the time of the wilderness wandering as the glorious bridal era of the people’s history; and speaks of His marvellous guidance of them through the terrible wilderness (v.°), and his settling of them in the fruitful land of Canaan. The transfigured light in which the initial stages of the national history appeared to a later age is witnessed to by the Deuteronom. speech of Joshua (Jos 23%), Accord- ing to the latter, none could then stand against Israel: a single Israelite could chase a thousand foes, for Jahweh their God Himself fought for them. A glorious description of the blessings which Jahweh showered upon the people in the days of their youth is contained also in the (prob- ably exilic) Song of Moses (Dt 32°").
(ec) Such numerous and important benefits re- ceived from Jaltweh demand, as a matter of course, Israel’s gratitude and obedience to their God, This leads us now to ask, What does Jahweh, according to the teaching of the prophets, require of the people? In the first place, naturally, there must be abstin- ence from every species of idolatry and of image worship, the images of Jahweh included. This inexhaustible theme of the warnings and re- proaches of Deuteronomy, as it had been already with the great prophets of the 8th cent., will have to be more fully discussed below (see p. 689f.). On the repudiation of the images of Jahweh, see above, p. 6792.
(a) Here the primary question that concerns us
is this. When the prophets repudiate an external cultus, to which even the cult of Jahweh, with its intermixture of heathen ritual customs, belongs, do they at least demand a purified, God-pleasing cultus? This question, if it is sacrifice, the proper centre of ancient worship, that is in view, is to be answered with a flat negative, and this negative — in spite of appearances to the contrary—is to be extended even to Deuteronomy. It is true that the latter law-book imperatively requires (12°* etc.) all kinds of sacrifice to be brought to the one sanctuary chosen by Jahweh, and the offerers are to eat and drink and rejoice there before Jahweh. But, apart from such general prescrip- tions as 12%, there is not a single trace of any importance being attached to the ritual at these sacrificial meals. All that the code is concerned about is that the latter, which are now ancestral, deeply-rooted practices, should be held at the one legitimate sanctuary * which Jahweh has chosen. Only thus is there any security that the cultus shall be so watched over that the relics. of heathen ritual customs shall at length be combated success- fully. Further, it is the case that Deuteronomy (26'*-) no doubt, taking up a long-established custom—requires a basket of the firsttruits of the field to be handed to the priest. But it does not neglect to prescribe to the offerer (v.°™) a prayer (the only prayer for public worship, besides that of v.#-, in the whole Pentateuch !) which gives the true meaning and sets in a clear light the deeper significance of the outward gift as a grate- ful testimony to Jahweh as the bestower of the fruits in question. With regard to the so-called ‘poor’s tithe,’ again, the most important question for Deuteronomy, as 26" shows, is whether the gifts in question have been brought into connexion with practices which are to be regarded as a denial of the pure Jahweh-cult.