cannot here discuss the probable causes of these differ* ences except of the more important ones, the substitu- tion of ]\Ioloch for " your king," and Kaiphan or Rem- phan for Chiun. It should be observed, that if tlic pas- sage related to Ammonitish worship, nothing would be more likely than that JMulech should have been spoken (if by an appellative, in wliicli case a strict rendering of the JIasoretic text w(iul<l read as does the A.V.; a freer could follow the SejDt. and Acts ; but, as there is no ref- erence to the Ammonites or even Canaanites, it is more reasonable to suppose that the Sept. followed a text in which, as above suggested, the reading was DSbp, Mal- cham, or "your lung." The likelihood of this being the true reading must depend upon the rest of the pas- sage. Remphan and Chiun are at once recognised as two foreign divinities worshipped together in Egypt, RENPU, probably pronounced rejipu, and ken, the for- mer a god represented as of the type of the Shemites, and apparently connected with war, the latter a goddess represented naked standing upon a lion. They were worshipped with kiieji, the Egj-^Dtian god of produc- tiveness, and the foreign war-goddess anata. Exclud- ing KHEM, who is probably associated with ki:n from her being connected, as we shall see, with productiveness, these names, renpu, ken, and anata, are clearly not, except in orthography, Egyptian. We can suggest no origin for the name of renpu. The godddes ken, as naked, would be connected with the Babylonian Mylit- ta, and as standing on a lion, with a goddess so repre- sented in rock-sculptures at Maltheiyyeh, near Nineveh, The former similarity connects her with generation ; the latter, perhaps, does so likewise. If we adopt this sup- position, the name ken may be traced to a root connect- ed with generation found in many varieties in the Ira- nian family, and not out of that family. It may be suf- ficient to cite the Greek yiv-ojiai, yvv-ij : she would thus be the goddess of productiveness. Anata is the Persian Anaitis. We have shown earlier that the Babj'- lonian high nature-worship seems to have been of Ary- an origin. In tlie present case we trace an Arj^an idola- try connected, from the mention of a star, with high na- ture-worship. If we accept this explanation, it becomes doubtful that Molech is mentioned in the passage, and we may rather suppose that some other idol, to whom a kingly character was attributed, is intended. Here we must leave this difficult point of our inquiry, only sum- ming up that this false worship was evidently derived from the shepherds in Egypt, and may possibly indicate the Aryan origin of at least one of these tribes, almost certainly its own origin, directly or indirectly, from an Aryan source.
The next was a temporary apostasy. The charms of the daughters of Moab, as Balaam's bad genius foresaw, were potent for evil : the Israelites were "yoked to Baal- Peor" in the trammels of his fair worshippers, and the character of their devotions is not obscurely hinted at (Numb. xxv). The great and terrible retribution which followed left so deep an impress upon the hearts of the people that, after the conquest of the promised land, they looked with an eye of terror upon any indication of de- fection from the worship of Jehovah, and denounced as idolatrous a memorial so slight as the altar of the Reu- benites at the passage of Jordan (Josh.xxii, 16).
2. It is probable that during the wanderings, and un- der the strong rule of Joshua, the idolatr}- learnt in Egj-pt was so destroyed as to be afterwards utterly forgotten by the people. But ui entering Palestine they found them- selves among the monuments and associations of anoth- er false religion, less attractive indeed to the reason than that of Egypt, which still taught, notwithstanding the wretched fetishism that it supported, some great truths of man's present and future, but of a religion which, in its deification of natiu-e, had a strong hold on the imagi- nation. The genial sun, the refreshing moon, the stars, at whose risings or settings fell the longed-for rains, were naturally reverenced in that land of green hiUs and valleys, which were fed by the water of heaven. A
IDOLATRY
480
IDOLATRY
nation thrown in the scene of such a religion and mix- ed with those who professed it, at that period of nation- al life when impressions are most readily made, such a nation, albeit living while the recollection of the deliv- erance from Egypt and the wonders with which the Law was given was yet fresh, soon fell away into the prac- tices that it was strictly enjoined to root out. In the first and second laws of the Decalogue, the Israelites were commanded to worship but one God, and not to make any image whatever to worship it, lest they and their children should fall under God's heavy displeasure. The commands were expUcit enough. But not alone was idolatry thus clearly condemned : the Israelites were charged to destroy all objects connected with the rehg- ion of the inhabitants of Canaan. They were to destroy utterly all the heathen places of worship, '• upon the high 'mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree." They were to "overthrow" the "altars" of the heathen, " break their pillars," " burn their groves, hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of tliem out of that place" (Deut. xii, 2, 3), a passage we cite on account of the fuhiess of the enumer- ation. Had the conquered nations been utterly extir- pated, their idolatrj^ might have been annihilated at once. But soon after the lands had been apportioned, that separate life of the tribes began which was never interrupted, as far as history tells us, until the time of the kings. Divided, the tribes were unable to cope with the remnant of the Canaanites, and either dwelt with them on equal terms, reduced them to tribute, or be- came tributaries themselves. The Israelites were thus surromided by the idolatry of Canaan ; and since they were for the most part confined to the mountain and hUly districts, where its associations were strongest, they had but to learn from their neighbors how they had wor- shipped upon the high hills and under every green tree. From the use of plural forms, it is probable that the Baals and Ashtoreths of several towns or tribes were worship- ped by the Israelites, as Baal-Peor had been, and Baal- berith afterwards was. It does not seem, however, that the people at once fell into heathen worship : the first ."itep appears to have been adopting a corruption of the true religion.