tribe. That Deuteronomy should recommend the numerous poor, though in many respects privileged, members of this class to the general affection, was equitable; but while they had already gained great influence and possessions,' they received by the Deuteronomic recommendations and laws what was an almost overwhelming burden for so small a state, and this would certainly have appeared more plainly but for the speedy destruction of the kingdom. 2 2. Yet this work is not without some traces of the commencement of the decline of the general spiritual life. This renovation of the law, which aims at spiritualising and simplifying everything, nevertheless considers the popular custom of marriage with a husband's brother which had been left out of sight by earlier legislation, important enough to be ineluded in its scope. And the repeated injunction neither to add anything to nor to take anything from the divine command,3 indicates a certain scrupulosity which increased in successive centuries. The most important sign of it directly bearing upon that age is the rigid strictness exhibited about the unity of the holy place. The numerous forms of idol worship with which the country had been flooded from the time of Solomon, and especially since Manasseh, as well as the degeneration of Jahveism itself in many places where there had been sanctuaries from ancient times, and the recent motley confusion which permitted the arbitrary erection of an altar of immorality under every green tree,'-all these circumstances certainly left a greater order and simplicity to be desired in the choice of the holy place, and recommended the employment of one spot where a general control might easily be exerted, and where all the highest and most varied sacrifices might be offered with equal ease. Deuteronomy accordingly endeavours to limit the whole cultus of God strictly to one place; it indicates this (as it could not well name it more distinctly) as the place which Jahveh shall choose,' and enjoins the violent destruction of all other sanctuaries, now called simply 'heights." Whether the author intended Jerusalem to be understood by this phrase is left indeterminate-intentionally one might suppose (were not he a Judahite), but for other reasons which confirm the 1 P. 135 sqq. 2 Deut. xxv. 5-10; cf. the Alterthümer, p. 239 sqq. 3 Deut. iv. 2, xiii. 1 [xii. 32]; cf., similarly, v. 29 sq., xvii. 20. This expression appears in the pro VOL. IV. phet mentioned in p. 207 note 2, Is. lvii. 5, in its original freshness, but is subsequently repeated in Deut. (xii. 2) as well as very often in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the present book of Kings. 5 Vol. iii. p. 306. belief that he did so.1 It will be made clear further on how completely this supplied the leading features for a new arrangement of the worship of God. It is, however, easy to see that it was intended that this one sanctuary should be the only place devoted to the offering of sacrifices; while simple meetings for prayer and edification might be permitted everywhere. Moreover, the hope of the Messiah withdrew in this book into the back-ground, and its withdrawal is not wholly unintentional. It is not impugned or denied, but it seems as though it stood at too pure an elevation to find a place here. Both the royal and the prophetic power had already too clearly exhibited their weakness in the course of their history, for anyone to be able to build anything directly either on the one or on the other, with the object of renewing and strengthening the ancient constitution and religion within the limited possibilities of the present. And as experience had shown that the Messiah would not come so soon after all, and prophetism since the time of Moses had proved itself too weak to heal the deep wounds of the state and thus pave the way for the Messiah, it appeared better, in view of the possible improvement of the present condition of the Mosaic kingdom, to point first to the necessary coming of a second Moses, who, like the first, should operate with power, and to whom the people should render pure obedience. In fact, this new conception of the everlasting hope which elevated the nation during those centuries must have been expressed at the time in other quarters, since it is here only briefly mentioned; what little force it possessed in the future will appear further on. 2 The language of this new presentation of the law is exceedingly tender, but at the same time somewhat diffuse, without the terseness and firm grasp of the antique style. B. THE VIOLENT REFORMATION UNDER JOSIAH. I. THE SCYTHIANS. A work like Deuteronomy, which transformed the ancient law with such creative power, so emphatically threatened all Otherwise he might have been able to content himself with the sacredness of the two mountains Ebal and Gerizim, ii. p. 279 sq. And the Levites! 2 This is unquestionably the meaning of the words, Deut. xviii. 14-20, about the prophet like Moses whom God will raise up out of Israel for Israel, and to whom the same absolute attention must be paid as to his predecessor. With this is most closely connected the representation of the same author, Deut. xxxiv. 10-12, that no prophet as great as Moses had appeared since his day. Cf. the remarks in the Gött. Gel. Anzeig. 1861, p. 1415 sq., 1862, p. 1194 sq.-The explanation of these those who despised it with the severest divine penalties, and, on the other hand, spoke with such tenderness and human feeling about its observance, was in every respect adapted to make a profound impression on its readers, and to produce the effect for which it was designed. Written, however, by an exile in Egypt, it certainly required a considerable time to spread as far as Judah and Jerusalem. In the mean time there soon occurred in the great world important events of another kind, which were well fitted to drag Judah out of that condition of internal confusion in which it had been sunk ever since the beginning of Manasseh's reign, and to direct its attention violently to its deficiencies. The Assyrian monarchy could not long maintain the great increase of power which it had acquired under Asarhaddon II. The fresh conquests which he had laboriously secured, were all lost probably under his immediate successor. At any rate, after the Scythian war, king Josiah, we observe, extended his dominion from Jerusalem over Samaria. Whether he occupied these northern provinces before, or not till after the expulsion of the Scythians, is doubtful; but it is certain that the Assyrian power on this side of the Euphrates became too weak to prevent the kingdom of Judah from further expanding its sway. Yet while Asarhaddon had severely oppressed and in part rigorously chastised the eastern nations with the Medes at their head, it was now their turn not only quickly to recover their freedom, but even under king Phraortes to undertake a war of extermination against Nineveh.3 This is the remarkable campaign which Nahum was watching with his own eyes, when he predicted the approaching end of Nineveh, and composed the oracle which has come down to us.1 He lived in Elkosh (or Elkosh is not found expressly named among Elkush), a little to the east of the Tigris and the north of Nineveh. He had the opportunity, therefore, of observing the whole army on its march past against Nineveh, and he describes everything with the fresh and vivid colours which were only possible to one who was himself in the midst of the war. The city was abandoned by all its allies, and after the occupation by the enemy of the eastern border fortresses of its own territory, which was easily effected, it was thrown upon its own resources for its defence; so disgusted were even its nearest neighbours with the sovereignty of the proud city. Its flourishing commerce and extended dominion had, however, in the course of centuries won for it such power and strength within its own walls, which enclosed an unusually large area and were yet well defended, that the issue of the siege proved unfavourable to the eastern tribes who had at that time but little training in the arts of war; and on their retreat, the Median king himself, Phraortes, and the larger part of his troops, all lost their lives. His son and successor Cyaxares2 now made preparations with greater activity and prudence for a fresh campaign against the imperial city. With better organised troops he defeated the Assyrians on the open field, and advanced to besiege Nineveh a second time. While his army, however, was investing the city, he was unexpectedly attacked by hordes of Scythians, coming from the north-east. They not only compelled him to raise the siege, but subjugated almost the whole of Media; so that it was for many years only with difficulty that Cyaxares could hold his own against them. These wandering Scythians had slowly advanced into Asia from the north through the Caucasian passes; and had already driven the Cimmerians before them. While the latter turned westwards into Asia Minor carrying devastation wherever they went, the former marched eastwards into Media; and the whole of civilised Asia trembled before these Cimmerian and Scythian hordes.3 This is unquestionably a sort of prelude to the subsequent migrations of races on a large scale in Europe and Asia; and if this great migration of northern nations did not entail consequences of such importance and permanence as those which took place afterwards, we must still be on our guard against 1 In this also Nah. iii. 12 sq. is entirely in accordance with Herodot. i. 102. 2 Called more briefly 'Arounpos, Tobit xiv. 15. 3 Herodot. i. 103 sq., comp. with i. 6, 15, iv. 11-13; see, further, Strabo, i. 3, 16, Justin, Hist. ii. 3; cf., also, Rawlinson's papers on the great inscription of Bisutun, Journ. As. Soc. x. p. 259, 264, 294. underestimating its results, because we find but scanty record of it in books of history. The rising power of the Lydian monarchy put a stop to the ravages of the Cimmerians; but the Scythians produced a much greater effect on the kingdoms on the other side of the Taurus. There was not one of them to which the unbroken vigour of these youthful nations was not in the highest degree dangerous; and it was at first scarcely possible to offer any successful resistance in the open field against their onset. With their fleet steeds they overran the provinces which they had chosen for their prey, laying waste at first only the level plains, since they were as yet little trained in the arts of a long siege; but they captured many a fortified city by a sudden attack; and their ravages everywhere gave such fearful indications of their presence that their approach was the signal for a general flight of the inhabitants.' So deeply was the memory of them stamped on the nations between the Mediterranean and Persia, that Ezekiel predicts a new incursion of these wild northmen into the kingdoms of the south; for the names Magog, Meshek, and Tubal by which he describes these warlike northern nations, may have been already employed by the Hebrews to denote the same tribes as the Greeks called Scythians. And even the later campaigns of the great Persian monarchs Cyrus and Darius against the Scythians only receive their final explanation as counter-effects of the previous invasions by them of the countries of the south. 3 2 The most remarkable fact in the course of these occurrences is the conduct of Nineveh. So far from suffering from the ravages of the Scythians, it derived an apparent advantage from their ascendency in Asia, the duration of which, reckoned by Herodotus at twenty-eight years, was the precise measure of the prolongation of its own existence. It is, therefore, in the highest degree likely that it employed its treasures as well as its ancient craft in ruling to turn the advent of the Scythians to its own purposes, took many of them into its pay, and pointed them out the way to the east towards Media, and to the south-west, in order by their instrumentality to keep in check in that quarter also the revolted nations. We know for certain that they penetrated as far as Egypt without relinquish This description rests chiefly on the vivid pictures drawn by Jeremiah, cc. iv.vi., of these northern enemies. The example of Askalon, Herodot. i. 105, proves that they conquered fortresses. 2 Ezek. xxxviii. sq.; cf. the Propheten des A. B. ii. p. 517 sq. Ezek. xxxviii. sq.; comp. with xxxii. 26. The name Meshek may be connected with the Greek Massagetes; cf. Herodot. iv. 11. + Cf.. also, Zeph. ii. 13-15. |